Cold Baby Boy and Nutty Sister

Halloween at Berky

I took the kiddos to work today so that they could trick-or-treat (well, Nora trick-or-treated, anyway). Here are some pics of that action:

My little punkin'.


Always with the penguin.


Not sure.


She's getting away from me here.


Aggie loving on Henry.


A shot with both kiddos.


Aggie rubbing Henry's belly.


Nora didn't like the zebra-head hood . . . or being zipped up.


At Daddy's work.

The end.

Counting Steps

Just a moment ago, I heard her coming up the steps and counting as she went, "One, two, three, four, five, SIX!"

Clappy Clap

I don't think I mentioned this before, and I think it's worth mentioning. Whenever I'm switching laundry from the washing machine to the dryer, Nora always wants to help. So, I let her. I hand her a Nora-sized handful at a time, and when I'm not moving fast enough, she does a little clap as if to say, "Let's go, woman!"

It cracks me up every time.

She also says, "Thanks," with every handful, too. I don't think she's thanking me, by any means. I think she says it because I say "Thanks" to her several times throughout the process.

Just a moment ago, I though I caught a whiff of a dirty diaper (Henry's don't smell bad yet). I asked her, "Nora, are you poopy?"

She goes, "Yes. Poopy."

Why, if she knows these things, can't she want to go do that business in the toilet? I ask you.

Nora and Henry Meet Bailey

Jerm and Marlene took these photos, and I did some editing. I don't claim to know what I'm doing.

To see the photos, click on this link.

Nora Wakes up from a Decent Nap

Facebook video link.

Smiley Boy and A-ME-NA!

Wow. I've been rather busy and exhausted lately, so I've not really taken many photos/videos or had time to blog. Sorry about that, those of you who actually read this thing.

Henry started cooing in the last few days. He's gotten really social, and it's so neat! I tried to catch it on video today, but all I got were a few smiles. He does a lot more than what this video shows. He does seem to be a really happy baby (most of the time).

Nora still says a bunch of new words everyday. She has a default word that she always says when she's freaking out about something that she wants (or wants to do). It sounds like, "A-ME-NA!"

I think the translation from Nora's toddler gibberish to English might be something like, "Give that to me, now!"

Whenever she gets on tangents where she only screams that word over and over (which makes anyone a bit nutty), we always say, "Nora! Listen. I don't understand, 'A-ME-NA.' You need to use words. What are you saying?"

Then, when she calms down (and, believe it or not, she typically does when we say those things to her), she finally will say something like, "Juice," or, "Milk."

Sometimes, she'll say, "Beebee?"

That usually happens when she can't reach her penguin because he's still in her crib.

The main point here is that she does eventually explain herself once we can get her to stop yelling, "A-ME-NA!"

So weird.

We can also get her to ask politely for things once she's calm, too. So, we're working on it. Toddlers are a bit tricky.

Nora also still has an obsession with hats, and she always likes to wear as many as possible. For example:

I'm surprised she's limited herself to two here. Also, aren't those pajamas fabulous?

When I get an opportunity, I intend to do another lunch interview with Nora (or, maybe I'll even do a dinner interview that involves Daddy, too). She does a lot of her chit-chatting and gut-spilling during those times. It's fun.

In the meantime, I'm living off of the fumes of the high that came from finally finishing my church's directory project today. I have been dying to get that done since the summer (long before Henry was born). So, I'm doing a little jig over here, and I'm basking in the lack of clutter that is consuming my office. I haven't said this for real in a few years, but I'll say it now with gusto, "Hoot!"

I win.

Oh, and Henry is clocking in at 12 pounds, 8 ounces and 24 inches in length. He's truckin' right through his babyhood. Doggone it.

Gotta peel.

Rant

Why did my OB/GYN decide to stop calling me to let me know that the doctor is over at the hospital delivering a baby during my appointment? I have, like, two kids now.

Nora and Hobbes: Security Team

"Way Down"

Facebook video link.

Recent Photos - Aunt Jody Stopped By!

Henry's Woes and What Nora Knows

Henry has been really cranky the past two days. After talking with my friend, Lena, today, I realized that he probably has gas. So, I gave him some gas drops this afternoon, and since then, he's been crying less. Plus, he actually passed gas a little while after I gave him some, and I don't typically hear him do that. I'll keep trying those. We'll see how that goes. I'm a bad girl, though: I definitely put the dropper into the gas drops, and it says specifically on the bottle that you need to clean the dropper every time and just use the original lid that came on the bottle. Whoops. I don't plan to use it on multiple kids, so I'm assuming it's still okay. I definitely did it impulsively and, of course, didn't see that I had boo booed until after the deed was done.

In other news, Nora's been saying and doing all kinds of things lately. What sad: I'm so stinking tired that I forget a lot of what she does. A few things that I have made great pains to remember have been:

• The other day I had some sweaters drying in my bedroom. One of them, I threw over the bassinet to let it dry. Later, I went to take it off of the bassinet, and I couldn't find it. I knew Nora must've gotten it and dragged it all over the house and lost it somewhere, so I gave up looking for it. Later, I went to open up my sweater tub (that rolls under my bed), and I found the sweater wadded up in there. The little rat put it away for me. I had to laugh.
• Last night, I was picking up toys and discovered the dog's bone in her mail box on her little toy house. I don't know why, but it made me laugh really hard when I found it. Maybe it's because I know she was probably purposely hiding it from the dog?
• Yesterday, she counted to ten all by herself. She said all the numbers perfectly, too. It was amazing. I doubt she'll be able to do that consistently, but, man . . . it was really exciting! (She usually forgets all about six and seven.)
• I don't know where she got this, but when she wipes out, I always go, "Are you okay?" and she goes, "I fine." Hilarious. And helpful.
  
• When she hears Henry cry, she goes, "Sorry, baby." I imagine she gets that from me because I say that to him all the time (because I'll be tending to Nora and can't get to him right away).
• She was yelling at the dog last night from her seat at the table, and she was saying, "Sit down!" She definitely gets that from me.

She has been saying all kinds of other things and doing all kinds of other things, but I really have a hard time recalling it all right now. Henry still has yet to break the three-hour mark when it comes to sleeping at night. He's also just been quite a handful during the day, too. I don't think he's colicky (because I can typically somewhat soothe him), but he's definitely become fairly high-maintenance. That's for sure.

Henry's wailin' again. Gotta go. (Pictures will be downloaded again soon.)

Maggie Russo Rocks!

A link to Maggie's awesome photos of my kiddos.

&

maggierussophoto.com

Henry Passes Out to "The Underdog"

Henry's Cranky

Nora at Lunch: Session II

Can you tell we're sick?

Henry at About a Month of Age

Here's the little guy after a bath.

And here's the little guy cooin' and smirkin':



I like 'im.

Flake

Due to my sleep deprivation and the sickness we've had (well, the kids and me), here is just a list (while it's short, it's packed full of severity) of things that I have done that are killing my buzz:

• Yesterday, I forgot that Willis was storing our hamburgers in the oven (on a resin tray, no less) when I preheated it for my apple pie. He had to defrost different hamburgers after that. I was rather embarrassed: he had told me earlier that day, "Now, remember, there are hamburgers in the oven." (He was prepping them for grilling, and that's his way of hiding them from our psycho dog and cat.)
  
• I left hot water running in my basement utility sink after switching over laundry (I was rinsing out a laundry detergent bottle, and somehow forgot to shut off the faucet) for about 1.5 hours today. (I'm lucky that sucker didn't overflow.) This act depleted our water heater, so I was unable to score my shower that I like to take during the kids' nap time (I was freaked for a few minutes that our water heater might be broken).
• To add insult to injury, I forgot to turn on the dryer. So, when I came downstairs 1.5 hours after switching the laundry, I discovered a half-full (isn't it nice that I still saw it that way?) sink of almost-cold water and a dryer full of clothes that were just as wet as when they went in there. Maybe wetter. I don't know. I just know that I had a moment when I discovered all of that at once.

I quit working for the day after the latest entry. It was safer that way. I took the kids and the dog for a walk, and I think we all feel a little better now. Everyone's in a better mood at least.

I'm just glad I'm not doing nutty things like leaving Henry or Nora unattended in the bath or something like that. I guess the synapses are firing just well enough to keep the kids an myself alive. Thank God for that. Everything else is in danger, though. Boy, howdy. We need to get well, and Henry needs to start sleeping more than just two hours at a time. I'm just sayin'.

Dilly out for right now.

Nora at Lunch

She's pretty funny.

Henry at Four Weeks

The outfit he's wearing in these pictures is from the Bergrens. They also got him a Halloween outfit and a stinkin' cute pair of Nikes. He's not big enough for the Nikes yet, but when he is, you can bet there'll be photos.

In other news, the kids and I are sick. Yep.

Gotta go. Work to do.