Never before seen footage! Harry on the BIG! RED! MAT!

OMG-- there he is-- on the mat! If Ben hadn't brought home these pictures, I would have never believed it! (that sentence had too many helping verbs, and yet, I feel it actually needed more. Weird).

Harry has never wanted to wheel barrow.

Scaling the "rock" wall

and using LG as an excuse to beat up his other grandpa.



Here we are at lunch. Oaky WTF am I wearing, I know, I know. I have been such a mom hag lately, and I can't help it for some reason. And the boots? Okay, here's the thing-- we got a ton of snow this winter, and now because of global warming it's all freaky warm here, so everything is melting into gray and brown piles of slushy gook, so galoshes are a must. I went out to buy some Wellies, but they were really ugly and pricey (which I know is an odd thing for the girl with 4 pairs of Uggs to complain about), so I got these ones from Target, which are ugly and cheap. But anyway, lunch was fun and delicious. Then we went to a toy store and came back home to play blocks and Wii. An excellent day.

Jack really committed himself to enjoying his sweet potatoes. He just dove right in head first.

Spiderman and Other Spiderman are snuggling on a couch I built them out of blocks. Then Harry buried them in the rest of the blocks, which he called a blanket. And then he built them a block TV.

Wii with the J grandparents-- these videos need no further introdction

Untitled from sarah on Vimeo.


Untitled from sarah on Vimeo.

Good news and bad news

Good News: Jack slept ALL NIGHT LONG in his own bed! (the pack and play in our room, I mean)

Bad News: Ben slept here:

And I slept here:

Apparently, Jack is not a cosleeper. Every night, we have been putting him down at 7:30, and then we end up waking him up no matter how quietly we creep into the room when we come to bed at like 10:30. I think he smells us or something. He comes into our bed, and everyone gets a crappy night's sleep. Last night, I passed out in the chair and slept uninterrupted until Harry came downstairs at 4:30, which woke everyone up and turned our pleasant night's sleep into Thurber's "The Night the Bed Fell" only with more poop and less hilarity. But even though I have been up since 4:30 (not ON MY FEET, but awake-- well, that's not true, I drifted off again a little after 5-ish, only to be woken up by Ben who was frantically searching under all my covers for Jack-- who was happily back to sleep in the crib in Harry's room-- Harry was asleep on the couch), I feel better rested than I have in 10 months (Jack is 9 months and 3 weeks, but that last week of pregnancy sucked sleep-wise).

Bad News: Our cute little 26 inch TV that we bought the day after we got back from our honeymoon broke last night. Right before dinner-- the crankiest time of Harry's day. Harry lost his crap when the screen stayed black and Mommy and Daddy couldn't find a picture of Dora to match her words. I have never seen the kid so inconsolable. He kept wailing "I can't see T E!"
Good News:


Despite the crazy bed switching party we had this morning, we're all in unusually good spirits




I think until further notice, Ben and I will be sleeping in front of the tube.

when in doubt, just throw them in the tub

this time, we tried our no-fail boredom cure with swim diapers and no water-- ironic, huh?

a masterpiece if ever there was one


harry is used to such madness, but jack was all, what the hell guys? this is cold and kind of dumb. also WASH MY ORANGE NOSE!


see that brown thing sticking up at the bottom of the frame? that's my hair in a bang ponytail. don't worry. i got a haircut since that picture was taken. when i told my stylist about the bang pony, she said if i should ever go out in public like that again and if anyone should see me and inquire about my hair, i am not supposed to tell them who cuts it.


it thawed a bit here, so after nap, we are going to put on our new rain boots and take a walk through the slush. because i got an email from the babycenter.com yesterday, telling me that my preschooler needs to play outside everyday. and just when i was shaking my fist at them (hard to shake your fist at cyberspace) and saying how dare you make me feel guilty babycenter? we live in a frozen wasteland and besides my preschooler walks from the car to the gym playroom 5 days a week-- that's plenty of outdoor time, we got a fabulous 40-degree heat wave. (and you might think this sounds kind of bleak, but I guarantee you there will be people walking around downtown with no coats on eating ice cream because that is how people celebrate a thaw in these parts.)

he's excited about the prospect of fresh air.

He comes in peace

Untitled from sarah on Vimeo.

Under Pressure

Ben and I? Not good when we're stressed. Duh.

I am so tired because Jack is sick and not sleeping. And Ben is sick because the child watch area at my new gym is teeming with all kinds of new viruses, and Harry and Jack brought them home and shared them with us.

This morning while rushing around trying to get out the door we decided that we should either A) stop co-habitating or B) have me quit my job. Both totally rational, reasonable, and perfectly proportioned responses to morning dressing and breakfasting stressors. Also, I didn't even get dressed, deciding to take a shower, put on sweats, pull my bangs in a ponytail (WTF?) and have a working breakfast at Panera (yum) before heading to the gym. So I had to pack up my clothes, make up, and flat iron, also my work bag and my gym bag, and then I had a temper tantrum about how unfair it is that I have to carry so much stuff, and Ben (who is only working a half day today eve though he has way more than a half day's work to do because I have a meeting that falls outside our normal childcare hours) just stood there gaping at me, with his mouth open and green stuff coming out of his nose while I whined about HOW HARD IT IS TO BE ME.

That man. He is very patient. I love him a lot.

Another thing I love? This Spiderman costume.

Also family game night Friday (to which Jack is not invited because he can't play games) is pretty lovable. Here we are playing Elefun. And it is. Ella Fun.

Seriously, I look like a beauty queen in this terrible picture compared to what I look like today. Which is ridiculous. I just got up to refill my coffee and noticed that one leg of my fleece pants is tucked into my boot. And I left it that way. Also Harry looks a little pensive for Friday Family Fun Night.

How cute is this angle? He looks like a BABY. Sigh. He was such a sweet little baby.

Remember?


Okay. Want to hear my plan? 1. Inbox (it's a mess) 2. Conference submissions. 3. Book chapter I am co-authoring. And that's just my breakfast plan!

Update your blogs, everyone. I have a lot of internet time today.

Buckets of Fun

Phew! Preschool enrollment period is OVER. He is enrolled. I am happy. (and I just might still send our stuff to the cute little church place that we'll never get into just in case, but I swear I am not going to talk about it at all, and if we get in, I probably won't even mention it because that's how cool I am).

(also, I am not that cool, and I will talk about it a lot. Sorry Ben).

Hey! Another new semester of Little Gym started last weekend (our 6th), and my parents came into town to join us for both classes. 2 classes in a row? That's a lot of BIG! RED! MAT! time.
Look at how seriously Jack is listening to his teacher

His feet! They are getting so big!

I love the way he's baring his teeth here-- more of a growl than a smile

He likes yellow and orange veggies so much that his nose is kind of orangish all the time. That's cool-- it matches his wispy hair.

Jack and his gradma deep in conversation

Right after I took this picture, Jack did an unscheduled flip over these bars

Which was ironic because the theme of the week was "spot your tot."

He was fine-- well, as fine as he could be in those silly pants.

Then he poked another baby while all the other kids popped bubbles. Jack has no interest in bubbles. I thought maybe he had a vision problem-- that's how blank he is when it's bubble time. I took him to the eye doctor who said he is totally fine and maybe he just doesn't like bubbles.

After J's class, Ben got to go home and give Jack a nap, and I had to (got to) stay for class #2. Lucky me.

Speaking of huge? Look at this guy-- he covers me up!

Harry refuses to do warm ups on the BIG! RED! MAT!, but the teachers always tell the parents of wanderers to stay on the mat and do the routine to encourage their kids to come back. Ha! My kid is never encouraged-- he just runs around playing on all the equipment while I walk, gallop, and jump all by myself looking like a giant asshole.
I think he does it on purpose.

Harry spent the majority of his class tackling my dad. This activity looked so fun that other kids toddled over and tackled my dad, too. So hear that parents, and don't spend money on toddler gym-- just round up some old men that your kids can jump on. Awkward but cost efficient.







Oh snap. I hear the boys waking up upstairs, and I have a massive basket of laundry calling my name-- seriously, it's all "Fold me Sarah. Fooooooooollllldddddd meeeeee."

So I'll leave with this, which, Dad, should totally be your Facebook profile picture.