Smile Festival

Cousins

Moses is exactly one week older than his cousin Judah. It appears for a while that older will be the most accurate adjective to use when comparing the two. Judah is clearly bigger. A lot bigger given the 7 day difference.
Size differences aside, these guys are already good buddies and will surely grow up happily together. Here they are enjoying a snuggle.
Here their competitive dads work quickly on trying to become the favorite Uncle.

Moses at 8 Weeks

Believe that! 8 weeks. The little guy has been around for 8 weeks and we are all basically totally used to him being around--as if we started as a family of 4. He just does his thing and we do our thing and everyone seems to get along fine. I realize that may sound boring but our world is far from boring these days.

Moses is a happy, happy boy and in the last few weeks he's become full of smiles and "agoos." He even continues to work on his "Ella" sounding noise. When he says it, she doesn't seem to miss a beat as she responds, "Yes Moses." That's cute! He can really carry on a conversation with his smiles and verbiage.

The sleeping is going really well and we continue to pinch ourselves each morning just wondering if we're really that different as parents or if he's just that different a baby from his big sister. He naps when he needs to without much of a fuss and he sleeps for long stretches of the night and after each one goes right back to sleep. He's been practicing putting himself back to sleep after an early nap wake up with a decent amount of success. If he doesn't fall back asleep he seems perfectly happy to just sit and talk by himself for a while anyway. These are the behaviors that baby sleep books are made of. Let's hope he keeps this up.

He's super-strong with his neck and his legs and can roll half way over. When he figures out what to do with his bottom arm he'll be all over the place. He likes to socialize a lot but he also really likes his time on his own just looking around and taking in the world.

Today is the end of a 4-day weekend for me and he hasn't cried a single tear in the days I've been home.

All that and Moses is about the cutest thing you ever did see.

We love you like you've been around forever, little guy. We all do...Mom, Dad, Big Sister, and hairy older dog brother. And we love you more each day you change and grow and become more and more wonderful to be around.

A Visit From Grammie and Poppi

We just had a wonderful visit from Grammie and Poppi. We celebrated Poppi's birthday, they got to know little Mo a little better, and we just had a whole lot of fun. Some of our fun was very active. See exercises with Grammie above. Some of our fun was just Sunday style chillin. See Poppi and Ella reading below.
Thanks for a great visit! Come again soon, please.

Our Official Endorsement

Here's hoping that the cutest Barak Obama supporter in all the land helps carry momentum for our guy and we wrap this thing up soon.

After all, "We are what we've been waiting for!"

My Turn

Big sister, you talk and talk and talk all day long. Boy can a 3-year-old talk.
I don't say much but when it is my turn I want to be heard! My turn! Shhhh...Agooooooooh!

Moses at 6 weeks

Full of smiles and absolutely adorable. Check out this little guy!!!

Napping

Look at these sleepy twins...

Proud Bubby and Zaida

Here's a picture from Bubby and Zaida's visit from a few weeks back. Here they are with all 5 of their beautiful grandchildren with special hugs for the two new little ones. Thanks for being so wonderful with them all!

An Eye for Beauty

Ella to Moses:
You are so beautiful I could just look at you all day!

Ella to Me (5 minutes later, after a trip to the bathroom, with a piece of toilet paper in her hand):
Daddy, this piece of toilet paper is really beautiful!

That's all true.

Perspective

Ella's pretty tall, huh?

Only 11 Months to Do Your Christmas Shopping...

...And Happy 1 Month Birthday, Moses!

He's beginning to smile!
He's still yawning and sleeping a lot but also awake and happy a lot, a lot, a lot. Time flies when you've got two kids in the house...and when you're having so much fun!

See some Mo' pictures at Flickr

Spoiled

We are closing out Week 3 of Life with Moses, and we have to say, it’s great! Yes, we’re a bit sleepy, and chances are good that at least two of us (Mo + someone else) are covered in spit-up at any given moment… but if that’s all we’ve got to complain about, we are pretty darn lucky. In fact, the 5 of us are feeling positively awash with gratitude these days.

For example, we are thankful for... (Don’t worry, this is not a substitute for thank-you cards- our mothers taught us better than that!)

Our families! Grammie and Poppi and Uncle B got more than they bargained for when they showed up for Christmas! Thanks for coming, and staying, and cooking, and cleaning, and playing, and taking the 2-4am Mo shift followed closely by the 6-8am Ella shift. Then, as if we weren’t spoiled enough, Steve and Marlyn arrived to feed us even more and play grocery store at 6am with a very chipper toddler. And, of course, we also appreciate all of the warm thoughts from the rest of our families who haven’t yet trekked to Durham.

Our friends, who have filled up our email inboxes, our voicemail (sorry, but as you know, we just don’t answer the phone so much… at least now we have an excuse!), and our refrigerator these past few weeks. Thanks for the visits, the free babysitting (especially Josh and Rachel’s midnight visit so the Harrises could some see brand-new Moses!), and the tasty food.

Anna (who helped us welcome Ella into the world), who drove all the way from DC at 4am for what turned out not to be labor after all… sorry for the false alarm! Don’t worry, Moses says he’ll still be your special buddy even though you didn’t get to catch him.

Sharon, my original badass natural childbirth inspiration, who spent her Christmas night at the hospital helping us keep our cool as Moses made his appearance. We just always feel better when Sharon’s around, and Zach didn’t have to cut the cord. (Note: I’ve been trying to think of a way to include a Moses' birth story on this blog, but just can’t do it without including lots of things that some of our gentle readers simply don’t want to hear about. But if you want to hear more about the adventure of Mo’s wondrous, intense, fabulously unmedicated birth, you know where to find us.) As if that weren’t enough, Sharon was also nice enough to have a baby just one week after us, so we can look forward to the dynamic cousin duo of Moses and Judah (look out, NC, something tells me they’re going to be trouble!).

Ella, who has welcomed little Moses with grace and love, and hasn’t minded sharing the spotlight one bit. She thinks his world revolves around her (which will be true eventually once the one-track-milk-mind expands a bit)- every time he cries, she says “He wants me! He’s saying ELLA!” and every time he smiles she says, “He’s dreaming about me!”

And, of course, Moses, who is just such a nice little guy we can’t believe it. Aside from being absolutely adorable and snuggly, he’s quite agreeable, and is happy to hang out, sleep, and eat without fussing much at all.

Whew! Lots of love going on around here. Come by and soak it in!

And check in on some more new pictures here

First Time Big Sister

Having a first time big sister in the house is an awful lot like having first time parents in the house. We see a lot of our old selves in the way Ella worries on Moses. And the way we've changed is highlighted by Ella's adorable behaviors.
When Moses makes a little peep from his bassinet Ella races over and announces he needs to be picked up. We leave him until he gets loud and would you believe that sometimes he falls back asleep. Who knew?
When Moses moves his mouth in the slightest Ella announces that he must be hungry--immediately. We wait until it is time to eat. Sometimes he stops fussing and waits happily until it is time to eat. Who knew?
When Moses is sitting in his chair or his bassinet or his co-sleeper Ella just sits around and stares at him. We let him be.
Every chance she gets, Ella volunteers to hold Moses--sometimes putting off the important things in life like using the bathroom and taking naps.
Again, we're glad to let him be.
And he's doing incredibly. He's happy, healthy, eating, sleeping, well loved and snuggled.

Ella, we're in awe of your love, thoughtfulness, and worry--and we totally get it. We love being second time parents rather than first timers and we love watching you obsess like we did with you. I guess we taught you well. Thanks for being such an awesome big sister so far. Moses is a lucky little guy.

Who does he look like?

Here is Ella trying to look like Moses.

Here's Ella at a few weeks old.

And here's Moses at 1 week old. I think a strong case can be made that these two are related and that Moses looks a lot like his big sister. Lucky guy!

Welcome Moses!

Moses Harris Perin
December 25th, 2007, 9:15 pm
7 pounds, 6 ounces
Everyone is healthy and happy!



To see more of Mo check out our growing Flickr file.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007 was our most eventful yet. But before we get to the largest events of the day here's how our regular Christmas went.

Uncle B and Ella played in the leaves. I'm dreamin' of a brown Christmas, just like the ones found in the South...

Dewey and Grammie waited patiently for Christmas morning.

Ella prepared a snack for Santa and the Reindeer. Brownies for Santa and carrot shreds for the Reindeer. Glitter on top for everyone.
Ella opened presents and had a wonderful Christmas morning...while Kelly started having contractions!

Almost Christmas...

... But Chanukah is not quite over around here.

This morning we woke up to Ella singing loudly from her bed, "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel. I made it out of clay. And when it's dry and ready, Oh Dreidel I will play. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. I made her out of clay. And she's dry and ready, Oh Dreidel I will play. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. I made him out of clay. And when he's dry and ready, Oh Daddy I will play. Hey!"

And PS...no baby yet. Maybe he's waiting for Christmas.

Three is a Magic Number

PART 1: ELLA IS THREE (almost)
We admit we’re not the most objective observers, but any way you slice it, Ella is pretty darn fantastic. As she gets older and more and more fun, we just feel luckier and luckier to have her around. Put simply, Ella sparkles.
Ella is smart and creative. Her pretend-play scenarios get more complex by the day ("…and I am the mommy, and I pack my suitcase to Florida and then I check my computer to see if our plane is on time, and you are the baby and you are going to cry because you don’t want to take your shoes off and give them to the airport man, and Dewey is the big sister but he has to stay home to get the mail…") She reads constantly- to us, to Dewey, to an imaginary audience of kids. She’s crazy observant (see milk post). For some real fun, come on over and take her out to dinner sometime- an uninterrupted hour with some Ella conversation and a pancake from Elmo’s will cheer you up and make you realize how incredibly interesting the world is (especially her made-up world… ask her about the time when she was a little baby and got to drive Santa’s sleigh).
Ella is chill. That may not be a shocker to those of you who know her dad, but we’re constantly amazed by the way she adapts to new situations and stays cool as a cucumber. The potentially Terrible Twos have almost passed with only one screaming tantrum (and really, I felt like crying that afternoon in the Shoe Carnival store too). As the way-youngest kid at her new preschool, she fit right in and even took other kids "under her wing" by the end of week 1 and helps them put on their shoes. She’s even dealing pretty well with me, her 39-weeks-pregnant mom, whose patience has completely evaporated these past few weeks. .We’re beginning to think that she’ll take this new guy in stride better than the rest of us (it will help that she won’t be waking up every 2 hours…).
Ella is loving. She’s not super-snuggly these days, but even better, is just a really nice, empathic girl. It absolutely kills her to hear other kids cry (which hopefully she’ll get over once a newborn comes home). She often mentions people she loves and wants to do nice things for them ("This flower will be for Rachel, because she weally loves purple"). And we get at least a few out-of-the-blue "I love yous" every day. She’s not a bit selfish, even as a toddler. Today, she was sick and laying on the couch, and Dewey was all up in her way, and she just said, "Even when Dewey squishes my feet, I love him" and let him stay. Almost three is a really neat age- Ella’s still little, but we’re getting more and more glimpses of what she’ll be like forever. And aside from the attitude-face she made the other day that I just KNOW I’ll see again when she’s 15, we’re very glad to be along for the ride.
Happy almost Birthday, Ella Bean! We love you so, so much!

PART 2: WE ARE THREE (for a teeny bit longer)
All of the cheesy magazines say that the first few years with kids are the hardest years for a marriage. If this is true, then we sure are lucky because it has been smooth sailing over here since the arrival of our third wheel. Of course, we ARE super-lucky- for real- we’re all healthy, and safe, and have a great family and fantastic friends, and get to do really good and important work every day. And the three of us (four already, counting Dewey, of course) have figured this family thing out pretty well over the past 3 years. We take good care of each other, almost always manage to be nice to one another, and have a lot of fun. Three really has been a magic number for the three of us, for the past three years. But something tells me that four is also a really good number.

Bring it on, Mr. 4! I think we're ready!

The Truth About Milk

I don't drink milk. I don't like milk. I've actually never had a whole glass of milk in my whole life. When Ella started drinking milk when she was about 1-year-old we decided that we wouldn't tell Ella that I don't drink milk so that wouldn't have any reason to think not to drink it. I didn't actually drink milk in front of her, or even pretend, I just talked about liking it. I even made up a few songs.

The other day we were talking about milk and I decided it was time to come clean.
Me: You know what Ella...I don't drink milk and I just don't like it and that's OK. I'm glad you love it so much.
Ella: I know, Daddy. You only put milk in your coffee in the morning.

Oh. OK. On to the next conversation

Reasonable Judgment

Ella has been sleeping in her big girl bed for a few months now. We were very nervous about the transition but she has really stepped it up. She's sleeping better than ever and really, really loves snuggling into her little mattress on the floor each night. The best part has been that she has never gotten out of bed and left her room without permission. Strangely, it is as if she's still behind the bars of the crib and she calls for us to get up every morning. We get no trouble from her at bedtime, she never shows up in the middle of the night, and she waits for us to come get her when it is light outside in the morning...

...Until last Friday night, when she got out of bed without permission for the first time ever. She was having a rough night of sleep, whining a bit, and we went in to check on her a few times. We finally said we weren't coming back to check on her and she should go to sleep. We all went to sleep. About an hour later Ella was calling for us again. We were ignoring her. She was calling. We were ignoring. Next I hear some footsteps and I'm getting ready to be Mr. Tough Guy Dad. She's standing next to our bed, I roll over to tell her what's what, I start to say, "Ella, you can not get out of your bed. You march right back..." And she throws up all over me.

She was right. She needed us and she needed to break a rule to get us. She used the reasonable judgment I think we all hope our children will develop and be able to use as 2 year-olds, teenagers, and adults. I was embarrassed I was about to yell at her and it was really gross, but I was so proud of my big girl and her wise decision.

Art Therapy

Ella's fish, Green Beans, died about a month ago. We didn't mention it on the Blog because it went fairly smoothly and didn't turn out to be too monumental. We gave the little guy a Cosby Show style toilet bowl funeral. We all said a nice thing about the fish, flushed, and moved on. Except for the next day when Dewey was rolling around happily on his back, Ella thought he was momentarily dead, and we had to explain that not all things that are on their backs are dead, this event didn't really turn into much.

Tonight Ella was drawing while I was making dinner. I asked her what she was drawing and she said Green Beans. I asked her if she misses him and out of nowhere she said, "Yes. That's why I'm drawing him. I want to see him. Can you help me draw the plant, please." That is so sweet. I bet it helped.

He was a good fish. Lived to be 10 months old. Impressive for a goldfish. We'll miss you little guy.

E-L-L-A

Check this out. Ella can write her own name. This is Ella writing her name not copying one of us writing it. This is it from memory, the way the rest of us write our names each day.
Backwards Ls...doesn't even matter. E with extra horizontal lines...no worries. The A kind of looks like an H...so be it. I'm very proud of this breakthrough!
While we're sharing breakthroughs in literacy we wanted to share this person with all the parts (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hair, body) that Ella drew.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

We had a wonderful visit from Grammie, Papi, and Uncle B for Kelly's birthday. Here's some of what we did:

This picture is kind of blurry but can't you clearly see that Ella is just having the time of her life with Papi and Uncle B. Here's Papi showing he'll do just about anything for his favorite little girl. Unfortunately some of these things don't end as well as others. Grandfathers weren't meant to fit in playground bunnies. And when you don't fit, you fall out. Thanks again for a wonderful visit. We miss you and can't wait to see you again soon!

Halloween 2007

Here she is...Thank you for your patience. The Halloween Duck that doesn't fly! It was a satisfying reality, a fun Halloween, and a really good costume (great work pulling that off, K).
Here's the Duck and her good friend the Fireman confidently knocking on neighborhood doors.
And here's the yearly documentation of the Halloween ending with a tired Ellaphant, Dewey, or Duck.

High Expectations--A Prelude to the Halloween Post

A bedtime conversation between mommy and Ella…
M: Have a good sleep, because we have a big day tomorrow. Tomorrow is Halloween.
E: Hooray- I get to wear my duckie costume!M: That’s right. You get to wear it to school and then to trick or treating.
E: Where is my duckie costume?
M: The feathers and the orange felt for the feet are in the bag in the living room. I am going to make your costume now.
E: How will you make me fly?
M: Well, we’ll put some feathers on your arms and you can flap your wings like you are flying.
E: But I need to really fly.
M: Halloween is all about pretending, Ella. Everyone just puts on costumes to pretend for fun. Caleb will pretend to be a clock, and you’ll pretend to be a duckie.
E: But Caleb is not a real clock. I will be a REAL duckie for Halloween.
M: It’s just going to be a costume with pretend feathers. You’ll look like a duckie, but you’ll still be Ella. So you can’t fly, because Ella can’t fly. Can you fly for real?
E: No.
M: So we’ll just walk around and say, "quack quack, trick or treat," and you can pretend to be a duck but really underneath you’ll be Ella. Right?
E: Right. (long pause) Except for real I will be able to fly.

Uh-oh. J Maybe the yellow feathers glued on to an old tank top won’t cut it after all…And maybe we'll still be really afraid of masks this year.

More on how Halloween goes coming soon

Reading Buddies

Ella has recently taken to reading to Dewey. And surprisingly, he has taken to being read to. He's a patient boy. And she's reading a book about animals. Obviously the dog would enjoy a book about animals.

A Big Bad World

Ella has been going to a new pre-school for about a month. She is the only two-year-old and most of the kids are 3, 4 and 5. She likes it a lot, is perfectly happy when we leave her there, and never comes home sad or troubled by her day.

Today I got a little insight into the daily goings on. We were talking about "school" at dinner and here's how our conversation went:
Me: Do you play with anyone else besides Claire?
E: No.
Me: You don't play with any of the other kids besides Claire?
E: No. And sometimes Claire doesn't want to play with me.
Me: Then what do you do?
E: I play by myself.
Me: Is playing by yourself fun?
E: YES. No...not really.
That just breaks your heart, huh? Because you can't be there for that moment when she ends up alone and before she finds something to do to keep her happy and make that moment fun. The world is big and bad and we are only just beginning the fun. And she comes home happy each day and loves school. So it'll be OK, overprotective dad.

And then, in true form, we finished our conversation with a laugh...
Me: Do you ever play with your teachers?
E: No. They don't play.
Me: What do they do?
E: Some of them sleep and some of then don't. During nap time. But they all rub our backs.

On to the next activity.