Christmas week!

Christmas is coming soon!
(there are now many presents under the tree where the kids are sitting in this photo!)

Josie loves to help with wrapping the presents.

It's a pattern

"It's a pattern!" is possibly every other sentence out of Max's mouth. Sometimes it is truly a pattern, but mostly we think he sees patterns the same way John Nash did. However, if Josie initiates peek-a-boo, then there is definitely a pattern of hide-reveal-giggle-hide-revel-giggle...
As you can see, she's getting very stable and comfortable on her feet. Some free-standing and an occasional step, but not quite a true sense of walking, so we are holing out on declaring "first steps".

We are counting down the days to many things: all the candles for Hannukah, sleeps until Christmas, and most importantly- sleeps until Max can see Uncle Gary's trains again. (see posting in June for out last visit). We hope you are all enjoying your holidays and staying warm. It's very cold and windy here, though none of the 15 inches snow that has stopped everything for our friends and family in the UK.

Happy Hanukka!

And, suddenly it's December already!

Max has been having lots of fun at school, learning the dynamics of social groups. He has also started telling us about his dreams as well as making up stories. If you ever wondered why the spot on Jupiter is red, Max can tell you! You see, when you go down the steps into the spot, you see that the dragons are fighting with lots of red fire. If a dragon climbs up the stairs it cannot have fire anymore because it is a robot.

Josie is climbing on everything and nearly walking. She climbs up bookshelves, and is seen here trying to climb over a 5-gallon water bottle from a watercooler. She will say "ma ma" which indicates that she needs attention of some sort. I swear she also said "more!" when I was not giving her food fast enough, but it may have been a coincidence.

It's November already!

Josie is exploring sounds and music, while Max is learning about "the people in your neighborhood" including firefighters and hotel workers today. We've all been suffering with a virus that has hit us each differently, but poor Josie had it the worst and was on Pedialyte for 24 hours to stay hydrated. I think we're all OK now.

Josie has 2 bottom teeth, but we have not been able to get a picture of them. She is standing up very confidently if she can hang onto something, and has just started to stand on her own for a few seconds now and then. She loves to climb up stairs, onto furniture, and all over other people.

Max is learning about rhyming words and comparing the size of different objects or people. He is also very determined to run fast, as there is a group of boys in his class who all chase each other on the playground and I get updates on his current status in the pack. "Today I was faster than Sophocles but not as fast as Marco."

Learning and having fun

We've been so busy that it's hard to keep the blog updated. There have been wonderful visits from all grandparents. Max is working on phonics to read some on his own. He's become a real competitor at Uno, too. Other skills include greater dexterity with food prep, like cutting red pepper and grean beans! Josie is on the go. She loves to stand and cautiously cruise along. Three teeth so far and loves cheerios. Her food prep skills are still ornamental...

Watch out world!

While putting the kids to bed last night, I turned around to see Josie standing in her crib! Yes, she can now pull herself from sitting to standing, and then cruise along furniture if it is the right height. She apparently did this at her childcare along their stuff several times yesterday, too. We'll drop the crib mattress to its lowest setting so she cannot reach to pull up on it, but it seems like we'll have a toddler with us sooner than we expected.

And, we discovered that she will clap to music or clap when someone else is clapping. This is the first step towards baby sign language, so we're pretty excited for knowing more information about her demands in the next few weeks.

Having fun

Having fun and learning lots of new things at school! Max is a very caring big brother. Although Josie is pretty bald and squirmy, Max is actually holding a doll in the picture. Josie is experimenting with new textures and sounds. She is also cutting her top, center teeth. This is not much fun and we are very thankful for ibuprofen.

On the move

Crawling

It's not pretty, but Josie can now crawl.
Slowly, in a determined forward motion without falling on her face.

England, part 1

We had a great trip to England to visit friends and family. Josie is growing so much - now enjoying lots of yummie foods like lamb stew, which is available as jarred babyfood there! Her 6-month visit to the pediatrician gives us new data on her progress:

28 1/2 inches tall (95%)

16 lb 7 oz (50%)

Max had a fantastic time playing daily with his cousins, Lucy and Issy. They were having so much fun that we did not take as many photos as we probably should have.

Grandma Pat borrowed the train table from school - a huge hit!

Summer Fun

Max has been having fun at school and at home - still very interested in vehicles. This month was insect month at school, so the magnifying glasses were in use for any bug that found its way into the preschool. Next month will be spent exploring ocean creatures!

Josie is growing up so quickly - sitting pretty well with minimal support, trying very hard to crawl, and eating simple foods like rice cereal and sweet potatoes! She loves to play peek-a-boo and sing songs with Max in the car.

Kid Stuff

Josie can now keep herself sitting up for long periods of time without just toppling over right away. If she does topple, she can now push herself back up, too!

Max is apparently beginning his astronaut training early.

Exploring Textures

The kids are exploring new textures at school.
Josie gets a kick out of the crinkly plastics.
Also, her stats at 4.6 months: 14 lb 6 oz (60%) and 26 inches (92%)

More School Fun

Train-tastic!

More from Iowa - we spent a few hours with Gary in his excellent train room.Then, for father's day, we went for a train ride with Thomas the Tank Engine
Josie is doing very well, growing and getting very strong as she like to sit up and stand whenever possible. She has stopped sleeping through the night, so it's very lucky that she is so cute or else we might consider being less happy about seeing her at 2:30am.

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

Yes, she's rolling all over the place.

Dubuque, Dubuque!

Last week we went to visit some friends and family. Few of them had met Josie, and many of them had not seen Max since he was a baby, so it was a great visit.




Max and his cousin, Olivia, were fast friends, exploring the closet and having a great time.

Josie was also very pleased to sit and play with Great-Grandma Burds.
Josie can now roll over, back-to-front and front-to-back!

Fun at School

Both kids are having a lot of fun at school. Today Max helped to take out the recycling and Josie has been enjoying all the new toys.

Josie is now at MIT!

After 2 weeks of wonderful care at the same center where Max spent his infant year, Josie luckily got a spot at the MIT childcare center. It is much more convenient, and you can see that she's enjoying her new friends! At her 3-month checkup she is just over 24 inches and weighs 13lb 2oz. (75% for both)

Baptism

Then friends and family joined us for Josie's Baptism.

And their skills were put to great use fixing some of the new furniture!

The Connor Clan

We've been very busy. Grandma and Grandad were here for Easter week. Yes, we got some new furniture.

Growing like weeds

Max had his 3 year appointment with the pediatrician today...

37 lbs and 41 inches

Josie's two month stats...

11 lbs 7oz and nearly 24 inches

Happy Easter

Easter Day was a fantastic 84 degrees and sunny. Max loved hunting for easter eggs and it was perfect for the opening day of baseball - Red Sox beat the Yankees!

Global Warming -Floods!

As part of the wonderful effect of global warming, we have experienced record rainfall not once this month, but twice. First we had a record 8.8 inches in 72 hours just before St. Patty's Day. Our house was built in 1938 and (according to neighbors who have lived here 50+ years) the house NEVER had standing water before. We had about 4 inches in the basement rooms that we pumped and cleared over and over using wet-vacs. This effort saved our washer, drier and boiler, which was better than many homes.

Now, we are supposed to get 6 inches in 48 hours. The ground is still saturated from that rain and the rains we have had since then. So, the basement is already showing seepage after about 14 hours of rain. It's going to be another rough week, I think.

In all of this, we have not even taken any new photos. Sorry. I'll try to snap some before I begin bailing us out. Josie has started to smile at us and is growing like crazy. How the time flies.

Lots of Photos!

This software and I do not agree on layout. So, here's a random layout of recent photos.









Scenes from Max's 3rd Birthday party, including his bus cake and bubble dance.














Max got signals for his train set from Uncle Gary, and we took some family photos.





Josie,
in her various outfits.

Grandma's visit

A fun week with Grandma Terry! Josie is getting bigger and more alert, looking around with purpose and is cooing some. Her hair is growing and she has about a 35% success rate of getting her pacifier back into her mouth if it is nearby.

Max turned 3 and the pile of great presents is shrinking slowly as he spreads out the goods over the week. He had a super day at preschool with his favorite bus cake, crown and bubble party.

Other big news is that Josie has a spot at the childcare center where Max went as an infant. It's a HUGE relief. More photos soon.

Growing!

Josie's 2-week appointment was today. She now weighs 7lb 12 oz. She is still having trouble with something irritating her digestive system, so that's not great, but at least she's able to take in nutrients and thrive in spite of it. Thank you to Ben and Erin for recommendations on non-cow, non-soy foods to help Aurora to make less disagreeable milk. We'll see a specialist next week if it's not better by then.

Max and Josie are getting lots of extra hugs and snuggles with Grandma Terry visiting this week. We've got massive rains and winds, so it's nice to stay inside and cuddle with kids.

Josie has not lost the dark hair she was born with, and her eyes are darker than Max's were at this age, so we think she will take after Chris' coloring.

Hello to our followers at the Santa Fe Opera!

Gaining Weight

Josie's 1 week pediatrician visit was yesterday. She left the hospital weighing 7lb 2oz. Now she weighs 7lb 6oz. This in spite of two minor complications that (1) she seems to be sensitive to cow's milk and (2) she is slightly tongue-tied. That is to say, the thin strip of membrane that attaches the underside of the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is not quite as long as it should be, so she has trouble sticking her tongue out and sucking efficiently. So, she had her first minor surgery with an ear-nose-throat specialist and he snipped the membrane a tiny bit. I say surgery, but it did not even bleed and she cried for about 10 seconds total. She can now stick her tongue out in normal baby insolence.

Max was also sensitive to cow's milk, so it's not unexpected. In fact, it took 2 months to figure this out with Max, but knowing the signs, we're able to help Josie much sooner.

Doing well at home

Here we are, leaving the hospital on Friday afternoon.

We took Josie to her pediatrician, who measured twice, and we are now certain that Josie is 20 inches long, not the 18.5 that was reported by the nurse at birth.

From the pediatrician we went directly to Max's preschool so that he/we could show her off. The preschool girls flocked around. The boys ignored her presence entirely. Then Max held court in his old toddlers room as they were all excited to see a baby.

Josie sleeps in good, 3-to-4 hour stretches, even at night (knock on wood) and we're getting into the new groove. Max is very sweet and even gave her his Victor lovey when she was crying yesterday.

Welcome Josie!

Today Max got to ride the bus and two trains to the hospital to meet his new sister.

Josephine Thalia
born 2/10/2010 at 7:15pm
7-lbs 10-oz and 18.5 inches long
We call her Josie.

We chose Josephine simply because we liked it, though it is also a family name as Aurora's great-grandfather was Joseph.
Thalia is the Greek muse of Comedy and we also just liked it.