Ms. Annabel

Here's a few recent photos of Annie: One where she's playing guitar on the pizza spatula. One showing off her new rain galoshes (and her sunglasses). And one sporting a chocolate grin after eating one of Ma B's chocolate covered pretzels she sent for Valentine's day.

Biking in Boise

Almost all the snow has melted here so we got out the bikes yesterday and took a ride down to the river. It was Harry's first time in the bike trailer. As you can see, he wasn't too happy about wearing a helmet, but otherwise he had a good time. Annie sang "Hush Little Baby" to him on the way back home and he fell fast asleep. We're heading out again today to bike downtown for some coffee and yogurt with fresh blueberries at our favorite spot - "the Flying M." We've got lots of extra bikes for all you to come out and ride with us!

Mr. Man

That's Annie's pet name for Harry. We sometimes call him "mister" and sometimes "little man," so this must be her combination - either way we think its pretty funny. They have been having some good times together. He gets so excited to see her and loves playing peek-a-boo with her. Annie has fun teaching Harry things like how to shake his head side to side really fast. They sit across from one another shaking their heads and laughing. Of course we think its hilarious. Its funny how different the kids are - Annie had probably a dozen signs by now, but was virtually immobile. Harry is all over the place, but really only knows the milk sign. Now that we're all getting plenty of sleep its easy to say that we're thrilled to have had another child - its so interesting to see their differences and I can't think of anything more precious than watching the two of them laugh and play together.

Nana and Poppy were in town last week-end which was great. We took the kids to a fun play-ground after lunch on Sunday where Harry had his first swing ride and went down the slide a couple of times. He wasn't so sure about the slide, but he LOVED the swing. He'd hold his breath on the way back and then giggle on the way up. Of course none of us had a camera to capture the moment. Nana and Poppy also took Annie for a fruit sorbet which was in a candy store. Annie got one foot in the door and froze as she was faced with an entire row of suckers -- all colors and all sizes. Poppy had to practically push her the rest of the way in so he, Harry and Nana could get through the door. Needless to say she left the store with a strawberry sorbet AND a sucker. They told her that she could only have her sucker after dinner and if Mommy said so. She immediately wanted to call me (Grady and I were skiing Bogus Basin) and then announced that it was dinner time. I'm certainly not regretting waiting until she was 2 + years old before giving her candy - she's had plenty of sugar since then!

Oh, Obama!

Annie canvassed for Kerry in utero and went to her first political protest at 6 weeks old (anti-Iraq war rally), so Harry had some catching up to do. We got up early on a couple of Saturdays ago to go listen to Barack Obama speak at BSU. We loaded up the kids in their PJs and headed out only to get a flat tire. We hurried back home, put the carseats in the subie and were on our way. We had to stand a some VERY long and very cold lines, but Annie and I made it in and found some seats. Grady and Harry were behind us because they parked the car and just as they got to the front of the line they closed the doors. Grady begged for them to let him in saying, "my son is freezing." They said sorry. Harry turned on the tears just in time. They begrudgingly let Grady and a screaming Harry in the doors. I'm still a Hilary supporter, but I have to say that Barack is pretty amazing and I'm glad we went to see him. Annie has gotten quite good at pronouncing his name and thanks to her dad, tells everyone that she's voting for Barack Obama. Harry still isn't quite crawling (thank goodness) but he's getting faster at inch worming around and he loves to stand up which requires parental assistance so I spend a lot, a lot, of time on the floor holding up a 20+ pound baby in standing position. He has pulled himself up (from sitting position) a couple of times. He's been imitating us a lot more - clicking tongues, chewing, bouncing and making more sounds also - da-da-da and ta-ta-ta, sometimes even ma-ma-ma.

Downward Dog

Well we finally sold our SLC house and bought our Boise house. It came with mixed feelings: we won't miss paying mortgage and rent every month and we love the house in Boise, but it really finalized our move which is both exciting and sad. Harry is very determined to crawl which is terrifying. The other night he rolled/scooted half way down the hallway, and he is a yoga master- check out his downward facing dog!!! He also loves to stand-up and play. His bottom two teeth have FINALLY broken through. He's been blowing raspberries with his tongue and enjoying eating anything you give him including whole beans, rice cakes, and chunks of bananas. Annie is keeping us on our toes too. She's really into singing right now - its very cute and we're amazed at how many songs she knows. The kids are still starting to play together more - they had a blast in their first bubble bath together.

"Please Leave!"

This title has two meanings:
One, its one of Annie's favorite phrases. Actually, she usually just says, "go away!" But since we're working hard on teaching her manners we try to get her to say, "Please leave," instead. She actually has been telling us this for a long time, its just before she had the vocabulary she'd just say, "bye! bye! bye, bye!" I guess we should be feeling fortunate that she likes to spend so much time alone (especially because she's usually being really good - just reading books or playing with her toys.)
Two, I'm sure its what my parents are thinking in their heads since we've overtaken their house for the last 4 weeks. They'd of course love the kids to stay on permanently, but its time Grady and I got a move on. So its back to Boise next week. We've had a great time in Utah (thanks to all the baby sitters we've taken advantage of). We've been able to have several kid-free dinners with friends at actual restaurants that serve their meals on real plates, and you don't even order at the counter. Its been great, but we're ready to get home too. Annie occasionally says, "I miss Boise mommy, I miss my toys." It'll be like Christmas all over to see her old toys again.
Hope lots of you reading this come out an visit us soon in 2008!

Harry in 2008

Harry has a lot of new things to report in the new year: He's been getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth. He's even pushed himself backwards a few times. He's very determined to get moving so he can get what he wants (everything) and put it into his mouth. He signed "milk" for the first time on 1/10. We're still working on eat and more (two words he probably shouldn't learn since he obviously gets plenty to eat). He started making his "m" sounds, and when he gets grumpy it sounds like he's saying ma ma. Even though I know its not on purpose it still melts my heart. Harry has also been using a sippy cup for the past few days (just for one feeding) and he can hold his only bottle for the rest of his feedings. Yesterday we gave him "purely Os" (organic cheerios) and he loves them! He doesn't have the dexterity to pinch them up by himself yet so we do that part for him and he opens his mouth wide like a baby bird and leans forward to put it in his mouth. Very cute. He's such a good eater - beats, pinto beans and broccoli recently joined his repertoire.