Frosty the Finger-Pickin' Snowman

Guess which child is mine?

That's right--the one who, at his preschool performance debut, picked his nose for all the world to see. I couldn't be more proud.

Really, though, his preschool program was darling. If you couldn't guess, Will is Frosty the Snowman and below they are singing the "thumpity-thump-thump" part, while placing their hands on their knees and bouncing up and down.

And Santa was there and Will was jazzed about that.

Will, you make one fine Frosty, if I do say so myself.

Somebody's Tired....

. . . and it's not just me. The other night at dinner, Josh was holding Lucy and she just fell asleep like this:

It was too cute (and unfortunately, too rare) so we had to snap a photo.

A Mother's Sacrifice

The last few days Lucy has been having some terrible, painful gas (pleasant topic, I know)--waking her up from every sleep period. One night, in tears of exasperation and exhaustion, I decided I better go off dairy since that seemed to be the common instigator of said gas (plus, it was a problem for Will, too, when he was a baby). Two days off the dairy and sure enough, Lucy is already doing better. Then yesterday at a Relief Society function, I enjoyed my fair share of some homemade bread sticks, only to discover they had been slathered in butter. Sure enough, that night Lucy was up again with gas. So no dairy for me for a few weeks, which is a tragedy at this time of year. Everything worth eating has dairy, especially at Christmas time. All my favorite treats--mint M&Ms, mint hot chocolate, candy cane Hershey's kisses, any and ALL cookies, cheese balls, etc., etc., etc., are off limits. And let me tell you, abstaining is no easy task. One day, when longing to grab a handful of mint M &M's, it occurred to me--a mother's role requires much sacrifice. I sacrificed so much to even get this sweet baby here--endless doctor's appointments, innumerable shots, invasive procedures. Then I sacrificed my body for nine months to carry the babe, suffering weight gain, indigestion, and the like. Then I sacrificed again, delivering her, without an epidural. Then I sacrificed again, recovering from a bad tear and then, of course, there is the sacrifice that is nursing--oh the pain and the indignity. And let's not even talk about the sacrifice of sleep. Oh, how I miss sleep. But when it's all said and done, those sacrifices are all worth it and I'd do it again for our Lucy Lu. But take away my mint M&M's, my Candy Cane Hershey kisses, my mint hot chocolate? That's where I draw the line.

All Smiles

Lucy's smiling! And what a cute smile she has. She is happiest when in the bath (sooooooooo not like Will. He hated baths for the first few months of his life), so we snapped some photos of her smile sans clothes. And the photos beneath are of some of her first smiles at around 6 weeks. I may be just a tad bit biased, but I think she is a doll.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was spent how we spend it best: with the Vermont Madsens. And the thought that it is our last Brothers Madsen Thanksgiving makes the tears start flowing freely. The festivities were dampened a little by one baby Lucy (why didn't anyone remind me that newborns were so much work?) but we did manage to have some fun. Two trips to Five Guys (of course), two mountain bike rides (for the big boys), one trip to Target, a visit to the Albany Museum, a Thomas the Train movie in the theater and, obviously, the making and eating of a dreamy homemade Thanksgiving dinner. None too shabby, I'd say.

Will loved having his cousins come and the excitement at their impending arrival was palpable. He helped me clean the whole house for his cousins with gusto and not one complaint--all I had to say was, "We got to clean this or that for our cousins" and he was all help (not his typical reaction when asked to clean). Plus, he called Amy at least a dozen times, asking when they were coming. And when he was waiting for them to arrive at the window and they finally got here, he dashed into my room and shouted with joy, "Our cousins are here! Our cousins are here!" And the next day, when Josh got home from work, he proclaimed, "Dada, our cousins are still here!" It was priceless. Whatever are we going to do without our Vermont Madsens?

Of course, this Thanksgiving I am grateful for my little family. How blessed are we to have Will and Lucy Lu in our lives? I could never fully verbalize how grateful I am for those two little rug-rats, even if they are the world's least photogenic children, as evidenced below:

Sam, Beth, Will and Lucy (barely) sitting, ready to eat a Thanksgiving feast (where is James? Who knows??)
And here is a better one of Sam and Beth but check out Will. I'll bet those of you who know him know what he is saying, "I am tired." A mantra he chats from 5:00 on.

And my two kids. Aren't they prizes?


Happy Thanksgiving!

Janelet

Our favorite Aunt Jane also came to help out with the babe and Will. It was uber nice of her to give up a weekend of living large in New York City to spend it with us happenin' folk in Schenectady, participating in such exciting things as cleaning out the pantry/fridge, Thanksgiving shopping at BJ's and going to bed at 10:00 (the earliest, she claimed, she'd been to bed in ages). It was so nice to have an extra set of hands around--she held baby Lu Lu all through church so I could run around and do my Relief Society responsibilities and Josh could do his Young Men's. I think I need Jane at church with me every week. We seriously adore our Aunt Jane and are so glad we finally got a picture with her (I made everyone snap a photo before church). And my kids are her hair twins, which couldn't make me happier. Isn't she beautiful? Love you, Jane. Come back and soon!

Granny Came, Too

I'm seriously easing into this whole parenting-two-children-gig. And it's a good thing. It's not for wusses (how anyone cares for more than two children is mind-boggling to me). I've had lots of help come my way, saving me in these times of sleep-deprivation, never-ending nursing sessions and constant diaper changes. And let's not even talk about Will. After Josh went back to work, I flew solo for two days, then my mom came. After she left, I had three days by myself until Josh's mom came. Then she left and I had four days alone before Aunt Jane came. And immediately following Jane, Amy and the kids came to play with Will for a week (and spend Thanksgiving) and let me sleep in every day (because we all know Will is a notorious early riser--especially when his cousins are around. Sorry, Amy). Now I am facing my longest stretch yet--two whole weeks all by myself (not including weekends, of course) until my dad comes (I called home and begged for him to come. We can't wait). Let's see if I can handle these two weeks (one week down and I barely survived).

We were so very happy to have Granny (Josh's mom) all to ourselves for a week. The day she left, Will ran into the bathroom while I was taking a shower and cried, "I miss Granny." I quickly told him, "I miss Granny, too, buddy." And trust me, we still miss Granny. She got up with Will every morning, cooked us 14 batches of enchiladas to go in our new freezer (that she got for us because where else were we going to fit 14 batches of enchiladas?), made us dinner, took Will to get some trains, colored with Will (as shown in the pictures below. Castles were that week's fascination), snuggled baby Lucy lots and just spoiled us rotten. We love you, Granny and we miss you lots!