Christmas in Kansas City

Rockin' the Carols, Norfolk-style

I just ran into these four Santas, strolling through downtown Norfolk and playing "Jolly Old St. Nicolas." I suspect they only keep playing because their lips are frozen to their horns.

James with the flu

Poor kid was feeling miserable, but I dragged him out of the house anyway. You can see from this photo how much he appreciated it.

You never know....

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!I saw that photo of Clara and James on the beach, and my imagination just started working. Take a moment to watch (and laugh, I hope).

Neptune Festival

Kate got together with Stacy and the girls, Clara and Elena, again last weekend, this time at the Neptune Festival.






Finally we got some photos of Lucy, too. Thanks, Stacy. Without you we'd have no pictures of our family.

A train, a train!

James and I got together with his daycare friends Clara and Elena and we went to a model train show (Thanks for the tip, Stacy!)



Here's James taking good care of Elena...

Independence Day

July 4th was the last year that my parents hosted there annual party and reading of the Declaration of Independence. After roughly 28 years of hosting a gathering and reading on some scale (4 to 200+ people, depending on the year), they decided to scale back for a family only gathering. Which will be nice and certainly less chaotic, but I'll miss all the hoopla. Mom promises will still have a fruit flag (an American flag made of watermelon, pineapple stars, and blueberries) and ham biscuits, and a reading of course.

This year, Lucy was 13 days old and I was voluntarily sequested in a side room to cut down on germ exposure and any requests to "pass the baby." Lucy slept almost the entire time. James ran around in the yard, as usual :)

Feet on the wall

On Lucy's 2-week birthday, we went back to the Midwifery Center for a "check-up" and she got her footprints on the wall there.

The Stork Came to Fairfax Ave!

The stork man came to our house to welcome Lucy. Here we are on her 7th day, complete with James's naked dance after we took the requisite family picture. Yes, he decided it was a fine evening to strip and run down the block (and back... many times). Not sure if our neighbors were amused or embarrassed. We laughed. And we got a video for his rehearsal dinner. ha ha ha

Lucy at home

Time sure flies when you're on maternity leave! Lucy has been a doll, but I haven't had much time to post these pictures... sorry! These are from the week 2 at home. Note James the affectionate big brother snuggling in. :)

The Lucy Gallery

For anyone interested in getting prints, here's the Lucy gallery at the Kodak website.

stupid internet

So, every afternoon our lovely internet connection goes down for a few hours. BC blames the hot weather. I blame Cox. But whatever, it's inevitably during James's nap and so the perfect time to be online and not be asked if we can play some 'puter games as James calls it. Computer games with James were a fun distraction in the winter when it was too cold or messy to play outside, but he gets kind of obsessed and won't stop. So we stopped with him, at least during waking hours.

My point is that finally I can post some more Lucy pictures I see four green lights on the modem so I'm good to go. But I'm still calling Cox to complain.

On an unrelated note, we received a call from a survey company last night. I love surveys, and always answer them. I particularly like phone surveys, because they tend to be about general consumer habits, many of which I don't share and so I feel like I'm skewing the data. Hee hee. Last night's survey was about TV view habits (of which I have NONE). But the first question they asked was "do you or anyone in your household work for a local TV, radio, advertising or media company?" To which I had to answer, yes. And that was the end of the survey for me. And I was so so looking forward to telling them that I watch 0 hours of TV a week and get my news from the newspaper, NPR and the internet. Oh well. Next time.

Not to be crass...

For those that asked for ideas:

• The Silver Rattle registry: http://thesilverrattle.com/display_registry_products.php?registry_id=100007
• Pottery Barn Kids registry: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/registry/guestsignin.cfm?regid=1856853
• books
• Skip Hop bottle drying rack http://littlefolks.stores.yahoo.net/skhopspbodrr2.html
• Personalized Big Brother and Little Sister Onesie set http://pixieandtheprince.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=BigBrotherandLittleSiblingGiftSet
• fun bibs http://www.abcmoon.com/infantbibs.html & http://www.specialtybaby.com/bibs.html

About that water birth...

Let me just say first how excited I am that Lucy shares a birthday with both her great-aunt Karen and her future pal Lizzie, just one year older. And the Summer Solstice. Although we were hoping for Flag Day, I think the day when the sun reaches its zenith is more appropriate. Soar high, Lucy!

So about the hot tub delivery, let me just say that I never planned nor anticipated nor hoped for a water birth. All I hoped for was as natural and unmedicated of a labor as was safe and possible. BC and I watched a video about a home birth with a hot tub when we prepared for James's arrival as part of our Bradley classes, but that was "too much" for me. I like the hospital. I like the ibuprofen I'm taking. I like the nurses and the immunizations for Lucy and the fetal monitoring. I LOVE the midwives and our doula Nancy. I am lucky that having a labor and delivery in water was an option for me. And I hope that Bon Secours doesn't close the Midwifery Center - that would be a travesty for Hampton Roads and for so many families.

FINALLY!

Lazy Lucy finally launched on Thursday, June 21 at 3:22 pm. She was 8 lbs, 0 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. Right into a hot tub at the [fabulous] Midwifery Center in Norfolk. She's beautiful and perfect and we're going to spend the next few weeks just staring at her. James brought her a truck.

Lazy Lucy, Come Out and Play!

Ok, so I'm now a full week post-date. Yes, folks, 41 weeks and counting. But I got the thumbs-up from my the ultrasound today and my visit with one of the midwives, so we're on for another week before they talk about inducing.
The good news, little miss Lucy is indeed still a girl (I had my paranoid doubts - I guess I can wash all those cute baby girl clothes with tags still on them), and is estimated to be between 8.5 and 9 lbs. I saw her toes and fingers, 4 chambers of the heart, 2 kidneys, and even some hair on the head. Pretty cool.
If only she would come out and play... she apparently is rather comfortable in my large and lopsided belly. I, on the other hand, am not so comfortable. I'm definitely waddling (or lumbering) and moving slower, especially up and down the stairs. We're ready for her. James is asking when she's coming, and when we're going to the hospital :) I wish I knew!

The end of an era

Next week James starts preschool at Ghent Montessori and Deanna gets a few months off.

Lucy is due on Wednesday. Kate's about to take a long break from work.

It's an exciting time.

Yesterday we went out for pizza and took a walk around Ghent. He's a pic of Kate (looking ready to have a baby) and James (in a tree).

June update

AHHH June is here - full of sunshine, berry picking, and new AC for our house. (Thanks to Homer & Jon for loaning us the window units temporarily!)

Baby Lucy is due to arrive in just under a week. As of this morning, I am 2cm dilated, 50% effaced, and the baby is at -0- station. I'm ready, just waiting on the baby to want to come out. The midwife graciously offered to strip my membranes this morning, but I said "no thanks, I want to go to Harborfest this weekend." I have priorities... this is (probably) the last weekend with just the 3 Wilsons, and I'd like to play. There are tall ships to see, pirates, and a VIP tent to check out. And lots of walking and water for me. And I really want to take James to Montessori for his first day on Monday.

James has stars in/on his eyes

"This is my happy face"

Memorial Day at the Beach

Family and perfect weather - what a great weekend!

Abby and James playing ring-around-the rosy.

April-May update

OK - admittedly BC and I have been very behind in keeping this up to date. But we have legitimate excuses! We had a lovely family celebration of James's 3rd birthday. Unfortunately his big partay was cancelled for some sad family news, but he didn't really notice. Still had yummy cake and presents to open. And then he got to see his "cousins by the dozens" when we gathered in MA.

After 8 months of "slumming it" at my parents' home (it was like a really long vacation), BELFOR finally finished reparing our house from the damage caused by Tropical Depression Ernesto, circa Labor Day 2006. And so we moved back in at the end of April - hooray!!!

May brought more house-tweaks, getting James settled into his new big boy room and bed, and... drum roll please... potty training. Halleluiah.

Easter Blizzard

Well, it wasn't exactly a blizzard, but we did have snow for about 2 hours, and James made the most of it.

Trip to Houston

Thanks, Dad, for the fun trip to Houston. We all had a great time.

Another day at Mount Trashmore

Hey, it may seem like no more than a giant pile of trash with grass on it, but it's our local mountain and so we go there to do things like fly kites and run down hills.

In the car, I tried to explain to James why it's called Mt. Trashmore. "People from all over brought their garbage here until it was a pile bigger than a hundred houses. And then they put dirt on top an planted grass seed and now it looks like a mountain."

I wasn't sure if he was getting it, but later when we were climbing it he said, "Where's the garbage? Is it inside?"

"Yes, James. It's inside." Cool.

What it must feel like to fly

James in the Morning

Doesn't every 2 year old read the paper while he eats his breakfast?

Baby Registry

Looking for gift/shower ideas for baby girl Wilson due in June? Ponder no more...

Stroller: see the babies r us list below
stroller accessories: http://littlefolks.stores.yahoo.net/jopaorandcup.html

Registries

• Pottery Barn Kids: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/registry/guestsignin.cfm?regid=1856853
• Dillard's: http://www.dillards.com/wishlist/WLMasterServlet?rType=02&intent=ITEMS&rNum=120919519&orderBy=C
• Target: http://www.target.com/gp/registry/registry.html/ref=cm_lc_em-si-html_viewall/602-6141297-1635026?ie=UTF8&id=2XWINDBRWKG8P
• Babies R Us: http://www.babiesrus.com/ControllerServlet?registryNumber=40769335&target=search

Things we like :)

• books
• Robeez
• Skip Hop bottle drying rack http://littlefolks.stores.yahoo.net/skhopspbodrr2.html
• GR8X swaddling wrap http://littlefolks.stores.yahoo.net/grswwr1.html
• Personalized Big Brother and Little Sister Onesie set http://pixieandtheprince.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=BigBrotherandLittleSiblingGiftSet
• fun bibs http://www.abcmoon.com/infantbibs.html & http://www.specialtybaby.com/bibs.html

But please, we're begging, no stuffed animals... the shelves are full!

thanks for thinking of us!

Virtuality

Here's me (at work):



And here's Kate:

Everyone needs a South Park proxy. They're easy to make at: http://www.sp-studio.de/

Elena's First Birthday

James spends two days a week with a wonderful pair of girls--Clara and Elena. We visited with them this weekend to celebrate Elena's first birthday. Cupcakes were consumed.
Elena opens her card

Clara savors a cupcake

James decorates - part 2

James thought decorating was great--his method involved taking pieces of hard candy and jamming them deep into the soft part of the cake, then covering them over with pieces of chocolate. I don't know if he was aware that the likely consequence of this system would be broken teeth and enraged relatives/friends.

James decorates - part 1

We visited Bridgewater, MA for Christmas with my mom. On Christmas Eve we decorated this shockingly green tree-shaped cake.