Snow! Again. Again.

It snowed again! Big time. And this time it snowed in the middle of the week, so we all were home for a snow day on Wednesday and Mommy and Sean are home on Thursday, too. This storm was a doozy - slushy, sleety, snowy, windy and even thundersnow-y! So we used the time inside to study, play, nap, bake (did you enjoy that whole loaf of banana bread, Pepper?!?), shovel, watch movies, eat, crawl, and walk! Sean is suddenly walking really well with assistance - I'll have to get that on video this weekend!

I can do it myself!

Sean's been trying to take the lead at mealtimes and Mommy needs to learn to let this happen. It's not that I don't want him to be a big boy and it's not that I mind mealtimes taking two or three times as long - it's just that this tends to happen:

Heyyyy - what's down there tickling my feet?

Oh... hi Pepper!

You like blueberries and bananas, too?

Nom nom nom...

Snow! Again.

We're making it through "Snowmageddon" 2K10! We made sure we were stocked up on diapers and formula, and that we had good food and liabations, as well :-) After a night of sipping Manhattans and playing board games, we woke up to about 16 inches of snow and now it seems to have finally tapered off, leaving us with over 2 feet of the white stuff on our driveway. Amazingly, our neighbors came by with their snowblower to give us a head start, so I bundled up Sean and brought him outside to thank them. Sean seemed a little more excited about the snow this time, but something tells me he has warmer climes in mind:

"Seal me up, mom - and address it to MIAMI!"

Maybe I can convince Sean to stick around long enough to help me bake a "Thank You" gift for the neighbors. Besides, I'm not sure any box can contain him.

Buh-bye

That's what we said to the pool table on Sunday. Peter came by with his friend Grant to take it up to his new place in Saratoga Springs. Sean was excited to watch Daddy and the guys load up the truck:

Two of a Kind

Dear Sean:

I love you sweetums, but please don't clamp your mouth around my ear and scream at full volume. I love when you get up close and giggle in my ear, but it's not so fun when you scream because you are SO CRAZY-LOUD!! Save those antics for the PepperDog, mmkay? Thanks, Seanybear. I'll toss some extra Gerber puffs on your tray at dessert tomorrow night.

xoxo Mommy

Mirror Mirror

Sean and Mommy went suit shopping with Daddy this morning - and what did we find? Sean's favorite - a mirror to see himself and even better - dozens of images of himself!

(self-portrait)

racecar

Last week at the pediatrician's, we were put in the racecar room -

Look out, Sean!

Better now!

Sean seems like he's feeling better these days - he's alert, social, and as wiggly as ever. We took a trip up to see his (Corcoran) grandparents yesterday and Sean rolled, inchwormed, and wiggled all over the living room and showed us that even though he isn't crawling, he's mobile!

8 months!

Sean! You're eight months old today! We celebrated at home since you're too sick to go to daycare. We brought the party to the pediatrician's office, who told us that you are battling bronchiolitis and a mild ear infection. This nasty virus gives you a wheezing, hacking cough, so you have to use a nebulizer for a couple of days and then we'll go to the pediatrician again to hopefully get the all-clear.

Besides all this, here are some notes on this past month:

-Seany, you are sweet as pie. Even when you're fighting a nasty virus and have all sorts of goop all over your face, you are just the cutest, happiest little thing. The doctor even remarked that you are a "happy wheezer."

-Just in the last week you've started to babble in earnest, using consonants and making up your own words. It's pretty entertaining to try to interpret what you say to us, like: "hi dada" and "hi dog".

-You've got all the elements together for crawling, but haven't quite put them in motion yet and that's okay since we need to put up and Pepper-test the new babygates we got. Babyproofing has begun - daddy attached all the tall bookcases in the house to the walls this weekend in case you get any Spiderman-like inclinations soon.

-You no longer use the infant carrier carseat! You now use a big boy carseat! This is a huge deal for us because it's one less piece of equipment we need to lug around. The only downside so far is that if you fall asleep in the car, we usually wake you up while getting you out of the car.

-You had a great first Christmas, visiting with family and friends and had a fun first road trip up to Massachusetts to visit with the Sooys.

Cough-cough

Sean's got his second big cold - runny nose, clingy-cuddliness, hacking cough, pink cheeks, and fever - the works. And this time Sean is sharing the wealth - Thom John and I are ailing, too. Since Sean's not welcome back at daycare tomorrow, we'll swing by the pediatrician's and see if something can be done. Poor little babybear - add this to a night of hardcore teething!

Moose Feet!

. . . because puppies hibernate in the winter:

Crawling?

Not yet. Almost. Maybe. We're trying!

Got 'em!

Two New Teeth!

Sean is working on the two front teeth on his top gums - as of this morning, both have broken through and they seem to be causing the babe a bit of distress. I'm trying to capture a picture of these elusive new additions, but Sean will only let chewable objects near his mouth for now.

Bathing beauty

Remember this little guy? He used to lounge in the newborn-sized sling in his little bathtub and tacitly let me give his skinny little limbs a good scrubbing.


Now he sits like a big boy in his little tub and is too busy playing and chewing on his washcloths to let me near him!

Happy New Year!