Dear Silas,

I always knew I wanted another baby.

I always knew I didn't ever want to be pregnant again.

But I always knew it'd be worth it.

Because I love Sister so very much.

But I didn't know you'd be a 20 milky pounds of deliciousness 5 month-old.

That cellulite could be so gosh-darn cute.

That you would smile all. the. time.

Except every night between 7pm-11pm. Then you'd cry inconsolably.

That your laugh would be so incredibly dorky and endearing and sweet, all at the same time.

That I'd once again think I had a teething child that produces no teeth. Just copious amounts of drool.

I didn't know that you'd have my eyes. At least I think you do. And so does Dada.

And I didn't know that I could love another person as fiercely as I love my Sadiecakes.

Well, darlin', I do.

Love,

Your Mama

Yesterday

I was driving down the road, on my way to Trader Joe's.

Brother Bear was in his seat smiling and Sadie was explaining to me how she was trying to Catch the cars with my hands, Mama! I'm pretending I can catch the cars. That's silly!

I felt strangely buoyant. Excited. I actually wondered why for a minute.

Two happy kids.

Nothing pressing to do.

Lots of books to read.

Lots of silliness to create.

Lots of projects to make.

Treats to bake.

Babies to kiss.

Worms to find.

Fun to be had.

Then I realized that I was just really happy.

I love it when that happens.

Schriends

Some pictures from our little preschool/playdate group we've got going on 'round these parts. Or, as Sadie calls them, her schriends.

They were making pancake snowmen.

Here's one of Sadie's.

And I say "one of" because she must have eaten 7. They were pumpkin pancakes. They were delicious. Weren't they, Sadie?

I'll take that as a yes.

The Couch

We got a new couch recently.
The old couch was old and dingy and only had spots for three bottoms.

But we still found it a good home on Freecycle.

The new couch is big but it somehow makes our house seem bigger.

The new couch is a sectional.

With an ottoman. And room for many bottoms.

The new couch inspires jumping!

But there's no jumping allowed on the new couch. Sorry, Charlie.

The new couch inspires sitting.

Silas can now sit up for 15-30 seconds at a time, or gorilla-sit for a few minutes.

See? Gorilla-sit!

The new couch inspires lounging.

As all good couches should.

Self Portrait(s)

Dance in the pants

Sadie is into her fourth week of dance class this week.

And, yes mom and dad, I know that is more than I did. For all of those not in the know, when I was a wee child I quit ballet because I thought I knew everything already and they didn't let you wear a tutu.

This was serious ballet. You don't get to wear a tutu until you're performing Swan Lake.

I am not serious. I wanted to wear a dang tutu.

Well, whatever the reason then, I did complete an entire semester of ballet in college. And that was tutu-less as well. Just so you don't think I'm that much of a flake.

Notice I didn't say so that you think I'm not flaky. I can't try to dodge that bullet.

So, Sadie's class. She loves it. Look at her face.

Look at her cute little knees and arms.

Look at those tap shoes. We have been treated to a good bit of house tapping.

Hours of in-house tap-shoeing. Good thing I'm not driven crazy easily.

See, being flaky pays off sometimes.

Well, here I am trying to post pictures

and Blogger is being a pain in the arse. So no pictures tonight.

No teeth either. Though still lots of chewing.

I'm not complaining, nursing babies can wait for teeth as far as I'm concerned. Sadie got her first at 1 year.

Someone once told me to really enjoy those cute gummy grins because you never to see get them again once the teeth come. And it's true.

Well, unless they are old and their dentures are out on the table. But I don't think that kind of gummy grin is gonna be too cute.

So I'm enjoying it now.

Well, more to come tomorrow. Hopefully.

Goodnight!

Be on the lookout...

for some teeth. This kid will not take his hands, his toys or anything else out of his ever-chomping mouth. Not even to smile.

Sadie didn't get her first tooth until 1 week before her first birthday, so I wasn't anticipating teeth anytime soon. But, man, I've never seen a baby working his gums like this kid.

I'll keep you posted.

Marry Me, M?

Sadie has been talking quite a bit about getting married. I'm not sure why, but I think an episode of Little Bear a year ago may have inspired it.

Over the past year she has had us pretend to walk down an aisle and give a kiss and then says, Now we are married!

She was asking recently, Why people get marry? I told her it was because they love each other. And they get to have a party? Well, yes, if they want one. I will want one, she says, jumping on the bed.

When I get bigger (jump, jump, jump) I will get marry (married & marry are interchangeable) and wear a dress and have a party!

Do you know who you are going to marry, Sade?

Auntie M!

You know Auntie M is married to Uncle E? Are you going to marry her too?

Yes. And we will sit next to each other and Uncle E will sit on the other side. Uncle E can make the party.

OK, that will be fun!

YES!!!

So there you have it. Auntie M, you may still be able to have that Disneyworld wedding after all.

Two is Enough**

Some of you may know we are done done done having kids. Yes, really. Yup.

Oh, I guess I never mentioned how much I dislike being pregnant, did I? Well, I don't like to complain...

Heh. I'll bet y'all are excited that we are done just so you never have to listen to 9 months of whining and nauseousness ever again.

Anyway, that's all she wrote, so Will agreed to get a vasectomy. Hey, he offered! I did agree to carry 2 children- if we could have switched I would have been first in line.

So he has spent the weekend recuperating after the procedure. Sadie had to know a bit of what was going on as she is always jumping on Dada, and doing so this weekend would have been painful to say the least. So she knew Dada had to have surgery on his testicles. She was pretty interested in the whole thing and took it in stride- the way 3 year olds do.

But that doesn't mean she remembered not to jump on him.

But, anyway, we were leaving this afternoon to run an errand and Will had stopped home between classes. And here's the conversation between them:

S: Are you going to work Dada?

W: Yup. I love you and I'll see you later.

S: Have a good day with your testicles!

She's bananas.

**This vasectomy-related blog post has been approved by the vasectee.

Fatty McFattenheimer & Sister

We had our 4 month and 3 year check ups today. Both monkeys were pronounced charming, ravishingly gorgeous & extremely intelligent by the doctor.
Oh wait, that was me.
But they were both pronounced healthy and wonderful. Seriously.

Silas is still off the charts- now both in height and weight. He is 27.5 inches and 19lbs 9oz!

He may be a monster baby but at least he is in proportion.
No wonder my back has gone out 8 times since he was born. Where's that nanny I ordered?

Sadie is now 35 pounds and 38 inches. And the bunnies that live in her ears are dancing in the left ear and reading books in the right, according to the doctor and Sadie.

And here is a shot of them from today...

Now, don't you agree with my earlier assessment?

Dance!

Sadie loves to do ballet. So I asked her if she wanted to take a ballet class. Yes!

So I found one for 3-4 year olds and signed her up. And yesterday was her first class. Her teacher was a nice lady named Miss Dawn.

Now, knowing that dance instructors can be particular I told Sadie we should wait to pick up all of her dance accessories- leotard, skirt, shoes, etc. I didn't want to find out that we needed a very specific outfit and had purchased the wrong equipment.

Fast forward to class. Everyone except Sadie and another girl arrived decked out from head to toe in ballet regalia. Sadie didn't care, though. And, yes, I suppose I am a dork.

Here she is, following some moves:

Notice how they are all standing on those two blue lines. Well, close enough:

Um, not quite sure what's going on below. I think it might be Sadie's interpretive dance portion of the class. What's that? Is it an interpretive dance class?

Well...no...

And here? Well, Sadie needed a better view of Miss Dawn's feet. I kept getting a sneaking suspicion that Sadie has all the grace and poise of her mother:

And y'all know that that is a vast yawning cavern of emptiness. With one small speck of poise stuck at the bottom. But what we lack in ability...

We make up for in enthusiasm!

Hamantashen

The other day Will had the word hamantashen stuck in his head. Say it: Hamantashen. Hamantashen.

It gets lodged in there, doesn't it?

Anyway, he finally asked what the heck a hamantashen is. A delicious cookie, I said. A triangle cookie! I said.
Yum! Sadie said.

Hamantashen, Will said.

Which then lodged the thought of delicious cookies in my head.

And since the last piece of the carrot cake I made was consumed last night it was time for another baked good. Hmmm, I'm thinking the mystery of why those last 10 baby pounds are still attached to me has been solved.

So, how 'bout we make some cookies?

Yes! Says Sadie

Cutting out the rounds of our dough.

Well, that's sort of how to fold it...

Hmmm, nice try, but...

You did it, Sade! This one is just about perfect...

These pictures of my counters have brought home to me just how unattractive my counters are. My landlord must have gotten them for free. No one in their right mind would pay money for that color.

Speaking of landlords, did I ever mention our landlord sounds exactly like Dr. Phil? Exactly.

But I digress.

We made 2 flavors: marionberry & chocolate. Here they are, all cooked up...

How are they, Bubba? Tasty?

Judging by the chocolate around her mouth I'm gonna go with yes.

In Hot Water

We went to the hot springs the other day. The ones we usually go to require a 4 mile hike in the snow to get them during the winter. We passed.

So we went to the springs that are piped into a big mineral-rich pool. It's pretty awesome.

Sadie & Dada had a good time floating around.

Then Dada got out to hang with Brother, and I got in the glorious water with Sadie.

They only let potty-trained kids in the pool.

Poor Silas. He doesn't know what he's missing, though. He was just happy to be out in the woods.

Me too.