Friday, February 27, 2009

Sleep, play, celebration, LIFE




As I sit here trying desperately to catch up on the documentation of our life, I hear Teya mumbling in her sleep (I hope its sleep), "Mama, yes, open the door. Mama, mommy, mommy! Cover me!" This is her waking-up routine. I don't know where the "yes" comes from, but she is habitually consistent in this pattern. Always the question, to ignore or not to ignore. Ok, I think she's done. Ok, maybe not. I sneak in, floor creaking, door squeaking, cover her and tell her I love her. Hope that'll take care of things for tonight.


I never understand how David can sleep through her pleading for bedtime diversion, and I don't get how she seems to sleep right through his fussing at night. They've shared a room since I realized they could, after we all slept in the same hotel room at Christmas.

Sleep....what a beautiful thing. Last week, I packed up pack-n-play #1, which has been set up in our bedroom, where David has napped since he was born nearly 9 months ago. #2 is still set up in the living room, in case he wakes up during the night and needs to be transferred to an area where he won't keep others awake. The past 3 nights, he's slept through, and what a pleasure its been to walk into the kids' room at 7:15 and behold them cheerfully peering out of their beds, not having seen, heard or touched either for 10 hours! Maybe #2 can go into the attic next week. I sure hope so. I'm ready to have my living room back.
David, 8 months.



On sunny days, we've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible. They both love the swingset, given to us by Millie and Popsey and painstakingly assembled by Daddy. We can never swing Teya high enough. As she swings violently back and forth, she yells, "Higher, higher, that's not high enough!" She is a dangerous mix of us, scared of getting hurt (me), but curious about limits and adventure (Philip). Makes for a wierd combo.


The Deck Rocks, even we still have to exit the house via dining room window. Brownie, the poor naked baby, loves to take walks on the deck, which Teya insists is the street. We're not allowed in the street when she's pushing Brownie. We have to hug the side of the house or the railing, which makes for lots of "one-sided fun."


D. enjoys chillin on the deck. He's probably looking for some piece of dirt to consume.


Learning from the best. Teya is learning (in)appropriate celebration following a spectacular goal. Daddy rocks.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Cousins' Christmas

Phil's brother, Taylor, and his wife, Anne, spent their Advent season awaiting the birth of baby girl #4. We joined them for a couple days before Christmas, and spent Christmas Eve with them. Little Hazel was born on the Monday before Christmas, and Anne arrived home with the new babe to a house FULL of Longs. I cannot imagine! She's much more gracious than me and just took it all in stride. Who knows, maybe she was doing quite a bit of crying on the inside, as Teya likes to say ("Mommy, are you crying on the inside?"). Here's the crew taking a break from playing ballerina and dress-up and torturing eachother.




Upon our arrival, snow blanketed the ground, and it only kept coming and coming....and coming. The kids enjoyed about 5 minutes in the snow before Teya took a snowball in the face and Lily's hands froze. Phil pushed them down the front "hill" on a sled into the street, and fun was had by all.They call her "The Lil" because of her "spunky presence." She refused to wear a coat, and I took this picture just before she pulled off the gloves and froze her hands.

Fun times with our sweet family who we never get to see.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

I'll be home for Christmas




First flight for David was an eventful 5-hour wresting match. Of course, we won by sheer force, determination and brainpower. Overall he was a trooper and handled no real naps and a LONG trip really well, but we're glad not to be making that trip again until....June 13, which is not long off. Looking out the window placated him for all of 26 seconds before he started squirming and screeching. Yes, he's a screecher.


Teya was an angel, as usual, though the novelty of flying on an airplane wore off quickly, and we were forced to begin pulling out the airplane Christmas presents in the course of the first hour. A slinky (yes, they're still as great as when we were kids), a mini magnadoodle, one of those awesome 4-color pens. When the wonder of new toys wore off, we pulled out the i-pod, on which we had downloaded 37 Sesame Street episodes. What did our parents do with us on long trips other than let us roll around in the backseat without seatbelts or carseats?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

I'm it

So my college buddy, Elizabeth "tagged" me on her blog. This is new to me, and I have no idea if anyone actually reads this blog, but here goes.

I believe I'm supposed to tag someone else who has a blog and who might possibly be reading my blog. Once again, another stretch.....just in case, I tag:

1. Anna Leggo-Reithmeier (see you soon, Anna!)
2. Sarah Hager
3. Rachel Jimenez
4. Holly Welch
5. Amy Tolson

The tag is to share 6 unique things that make me happy, aside from the usual.

1. Time with good friends....we spent this evening with Amy and Clay Tolson, and it was soooo fun and refreshing to be with them and their small army of 3. We always come away from evenings like tonight resolved to put forth the effort more often because it so fills up our hearts!

2. Eveningtime, just before bedtime when my kids have the gigglies and just want to play as a family.

3. Gardens.... The butterfly garden at the Chatt. Aquarium is a balm to my soul. Unfortunately, my Teya has the attention span of a 2 1/2 year old so we don't spend much time in one place.

4. Vancouver in summer....mmmmm....love it, love it, love it. Long walks by the water, hikes in the mountains, picnics on the beach into the long evening, visits to Pender Harbor, the drone of fans keeping the inside world cool WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING.

5. Experiencing life's firsts again through my childrens' eyes.

6. Brisk walks, with or without the kids (without is even better)!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

All things Fall....

This past weekend, we were invited to a birthday party. This was not just any birthday party; it was an EXTRAVAGANZA for Nancy's great-grandson, Usher Raymond, V (Cinco)! Nancy affectionately calls our kids her "vanilla" children, and she wanted them to meet and mingle with her "chocolate" kids, one of whom happens to be the hip-hop musician, Usher. Daddy and Teya enjoy one of the massive inflatable slides under the big top.

Teya DEVOURED her very first cotton candy. Her lack of restraint left her covered in sticky, slimy purple sugar. She certainly enjoyed herself and the sugar held on the entire way home from Atlanta!




Other Fall notes.....

A new swingset for the kids.....David, the swinging boy


Beautiful sights.....The splendor of fall on display in one of our backyard maples....I'm now spending afternoon naptime raking up the golden carpet before it kills all of our grass!
Halloween.....Four little munchkins, all ready for "Boo in the Zoo!" The cousins scavenged as much candy as they possibly could, Teya clung to Nina in terror of Scooby Doo, and David slept comfortably in the mei-tai. Teya loves her poodle skirt dress that I found at a consignment sale for $4, and David's pumpkin is the one donned by all 4 cousins for their first Halloween.

























Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Exersaucer Partay

At 4 months, David has moved into the next phase of babyhood: the exersaucer. Teya has apparently reverted back to the exersaucer phase with her peculiar desire sit and play in it for long periods of time. No complaining here - captive children enable me to get something, anything done around the house. She also likes to sit in "David's little Bumbo chair" - her words - and his bouncy seat.

Taking turns in the exersaucer....never thought I'd need two of these enormous contraptions.As of Monday, David no longer tolerates time his back. As soon as I set him on his back, he pulls his knees up and rolls to his tummy. He's able to scoot backwards & is interested in pulling his knees underneath, so I suspect we'll have an early crawler. I suspect, too, that with another mobile little one, our life is about to change again.

Teya the artist. Much to my dismay, over the past couple days, Teya has a new favorite color: black. This picture doesn't show it, but she's been choosing to use black paint rather than the rest of the palate. Oh well. I guess I can't control everything, particularly my daughter's choice of color.



Sunday, October 5, 2008