Juner is 18 pounds 5 ounces (around 45th percentile) and 27 1/2 inches (around 49th percentile) and exceedingly pretty (10,000th percentile).
She checked out great, although she was in the low range on her hemoglobin test, so we'll just have to give her some baby cereal with supplements to boost her iron intake.She's pulling up, which puts her right on track. She also had two shots. She cried but I sang her "Happy Birthday" to make her feel better.
I also had a good check-up. I was 37 inches tall. The first time I weighed 33.8 pounds. Mama thought it was a bit heavy, so later when she changed my diaper and took off my clothes, she asked them to weight me again, and I only weighed 32.8 pounds. That must have been a full diaper.
The doctor asked me a bunch of questions. I told her that I liked school and that my favorite food was a butter sandwich (peanut butter, that is). I also told her that my favorite TV show was Little Einsteins. She said it is fun to watch TV but not too watch too much.
I didn't have to get any immunizations today, but I did need a flu shot. the doctor gave me the choice between the shot and the nasal mist. Because I was jealous of Juner's band-aid, I choose the shot. I was very brave through the shot, but cried when we got in the car because my leg still hurt.
We were so pleased about the good check-up that Papa and I celebrated with a little slow dancing.
Papa gave Juner some chocolate as a reward for her good check-up.
I wanted Juner to pretend she was ob the Buulder, but she was still grumpy from her shots.
We told the doctor that I know my letters and the doctor said that I must be a very smart little boy. So tonight papa let me play some Word Girl games online to expand my vocabulary.
We have a normal naptime routine at our house. Everyone heads upstairs, Henry tried to bargain with me to get June to sleep in his room. I refuse on the grounds that I want everyone to take the longest nap possible. Then Henry gets to play in the car room while I put June down for her nap in our bedroom. Afterwards, I let him play for a few more minutes before he goes down for his nap.
Today I walked into the car room and said "Two more minutes until nap." Henry replied "Five minutes." I then gave him the option of one minute or two minutes. Henry answered "What if i had one minute plus two minutes?" I told him if he could tell me how many minutes that equaled he cold play that long. He very quickly yelled "One plus two is three minutes!"
Henry is suddenly very interested in time (normally in the context of what time papa gets home and how long until that time) and adding on his fingers. We're pretty sure this means he's a genius. Too bad he will still only sings songs to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," including tonight's classic "Building, building, building, building."
Two days ago, June didn't climb stairs. But yesterday she surprised everyone by climbing an undetermined number of steps and subsequently falling. I was coming downstairs when all this happened. Mama was in the kitchen making supper. She's not sure how far June actually made it up the stairs, as I have have been giving inconsistent reports as to the actual events of the incident, but she did the telltale thumping of baby falling.
The good news is that Juner made it through with no injury. She did cry for a while, and then cried even more because it was supper time and mama didn't have food ready. But after she ate a very generous portion of beef stew, she was in much better spirits.
Now we've got the car seat box guarding the stairs (much to my dismay-it really cramps my style) until we head home to Ohio to pick up the gate Aunt Jenni has waiting for us.
We're all getting really excited for the holidays. I'm excited because we're going to Washington D.C. to see two different model train shows! Juner is excited to get back to Ohio because both of her grandma's pay very close attention to her and want to rock her to sleep. Papa is excited to be finished with the semester. And mama's excited because she booked tickets to go to New Orleans! Tickets for two! With no kids! (Okay, she did book a spot for Juner, because they've never gone longer than 8 hours without being together and we're not sure how Juner is going to handle being away from her BFF, but we have 3 weeks to get her ready for the big day so that she can stay with me.)
Tonight we went back to Tanglewood Park for what I like to call "Tree Lights in the Park."
We almost didn't go because I refused to eat any of the beef stew mama made. But finally I ate 3 bites and we were allowed to go.
The pictures don't really do the light show justice, but we'll give it a try. This is the snowflake forest. It twinkled as we drove through it.
Mama played with the shutter speed on her camera. This is with a 2 second speed. This horse was really fast, but now we can see 4 of it.
We drove underneath these big candles. I counted 2 plus 2 equals 4 candles.
This trumpet spewed stars and cheer. You can't tell by the picture but it was about 40 feet tall.
Another slow shot. Instead of 1 deer jumping over the street, now there's a deer arch.
This is the real reason we went back. I wanted to see the "crocodile." Mama loves that the dragon is wearing a santa hat and the pirate ship is filled with trees and poinsettias. This display was cool because it was huge and in the water.
Another magical forest- this one was filled with bells.
This funny Eskimo caught fish and threw them to the polar bear.
Grandpa and Uncle Kevin- this guy is for you.
This was a real train decorated with lights.
Papa wanted this shot. The golfer hits his ball really fast over and across the road. You can see the 50 "balls" shoot really fast.
Look at how big this arch is compared to the truck driving under it.
Juner liked the scene of Santa and his reindeer flying over a town.
Finally, there have been those of you (Grams Crackers Cooper) who have been upset that I don't know much about the big man- Santa Claus. Well Grandma, you'll be glad to know that I am now an expert in all things Santa. I informed mama and papa that his job is to hand out candy canes and he rides a fire truck. Not bad huh?
This weekend Mama and Papa were both sick with colds. Hopefully this is their Christmas cold, so they can be healthy over Christmas break. Since they were sick, Henry and I pretty much had the run of the house. We got to make a mess of everything and watch a ton of tv! It was awesome. They did manage to pull themselves together long enough to take us to the Winston Salem Christmas Parade. It was so much fun. Their main features were radio station trucks and marching bands. The band part of the marching band doesn't seem to be so popular, but the dance teams fith the marching bands were great! Most high schools just had a drum line and a dance squad. Mama's favorite band didn't even attempt to play, they all just danced while carrying their instruments. Grandpa, could you spin your tuba all the way around you when you were in marching band?
Mama was feeling better and was ery proud of the outfit I'm wearing today. We think Aunt Jenni would approve istead of giving us a hard time.
She was also feeling good enough to take us out to run errands. We had quite the adventure when we visited our post office (inside the Ace hardware store). They don't accept credit cards, so we had to visit 2 more stores to try and get cash, but they didn't have any (seriously!), so we walked across a big parking lot to the bank to cash a check, only to realize we lef the check in the van. So we walked back to the van, then back to the bank, cashed the check, then walked back to the post office, and bought 80 stamps for our Christmas cards. Mama was hoping the post office would have a meter to stamp our cards for us, but the post office is iside a hardware store, so really what could we hope for? Then we spent the next 15 minutes sitting on the floor of the Ace putting stamp on our letters. We were determined to get these finished! And it only took an hour and a half to make the first two stops!
We even made it to two more stores before mama decided she wanted to come home for a nap.
Finally, if you're looking for a last minute gift for mama, she's decied she wants the Snuggie. It's a big blanket/poncho with sleeves. Talk about stylish! And look at all the things you can do while wearing it! I think it would look good with her big pink house boots.
Okay, we said we we're going to post any Kenny and Dolly videos, but a few more are available this year on the YouTube.
" I believe in Santa Claus." Whimsical and philisophical? What more could you ask for? Plus that Mrs. Claus is smoking hot!
"With Bells On" You don't know how many time mama wishes that Dolly would come to her church and sing. That would sure beat the normal Christmas cantata.
Henry's been pretty nice about letting me play near him. He's been having some sass issues when he talks back to mama, but timeouts and the loss of many toys have helped clear that up. Last night we went to an awesome Festival of Lights. It was 4 miles long and was spectacular. Tonight, we got out the walker so I could practice walking. Henry spent most of the time showing me how is works: "It goes like this Gugger. It goes like this."
Then I got to give it a try. I took a few little steps, but mostly I only cared about chewing on the yellow sippy lid that I found in the cupboard.
It tipped over a few times, but I didn't mind.
I did give it a few more tries, but this expression really conveys how much I don't care for the walker right now.
Later, mama coerced us into cleaning up the house by telling Bubba he could go upstairs and park cars. He was worried about me getting in the office and crashing all his cars, so mama kept me with her while she put away laundry. While she was in the closet, she saw my baptism dress and figured it would probably fit me pretty well right now.
Too bad I wouldn't sit still for a good picture.
I managed to crawl in a dress that's twice as long as me, but standing was really hard.
Mama took off the dress and it was much easier to get around. This picture is a little out of focus, but as usual, it was too adorable not to post.
Before bed, mama gave me my very own toothbrush. Even those two little teeth need the proper care. Thanks for the toothbrush Aunt Kathy!
Henry was confused why my brush didn't play songs like his Thomas the Tank Engine brush. Not all of us can practice proper dental hygiene to the chorus of small British children.
Lastly, Aunt Jenni brought up a good point on her blog today. We love Christmas around here-LOVE Christmas, but there is some bad Christmas music out there. And since papa is working late grading papers and mama has been celebrating the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition with Old Fashioneds and sauerkraut (papa won't let her eat it when he's at home), we'd like to add to her list of songs we never want to here again.
1."Please come home for Christmas"- The Eagles. Mama's disdain for Don Henley doesn't stop just because it's Christmas. The Eagles are lame.
2. "Santa Claus is coming to Town"- Bruce Springsteen. Mama just can't stand this guy. Here's hoping we never have to move to Jersey. 3. "Do they know it's Christmas"- Band-Aid. First off, the song pretty much says that they don't have water or the ability to grow a single thing in Africa. Maybe things were different in the 80s. But mama really wonders "Do they care that it's Christmas in Africa?" Probably not. If she had one wish, it wouldn't be to bring Christmas to Africa, it would probably be to bring mosquito nets or malaria shots.
(Papa, we know you want to add the Oak Ridge Boys to the list, but you've been vetoed and we're keeping it on the favorites list. ) But mama's not a bah humbug. She does have a soft spot for a few songs. Namely, anything by Randy Travis, George Strait, Ray Charles, Anne Murray, or Reba McEntire. Josh Groban is fine, but we think he overdoes it a little. When it come to "Oh Holy Night" we prefer the simple harmonies of the Judds. Of course the obvious choice for all Christmas music is Kenny and Dolly. We won't make you sit through the videos of the Kenny and Dolly 1984 Christmas Special, but just in case you want the link- here's our blog entry from last year with mama's commentary (trust us, you'll want to go back and relive those moments again): Kenny and Dolly Videos
This year mama has an especially soft spot for "Please Celebrate me Home" by Kenny Loggins. She's not sure what even qualifies it as a Christmas song, but she can't get enough of it. Now, this may be the sauerkraut and Old Fashioned talking, but mama saw this video and the long curly 90's hair and big flowy shirt made mama swoon a little for Kenny Loggins. (We know she called Don Henley lame, but cut her some slack.) Aunt Jenni said she didn't know the song, so we found a YouTube video. You don't need to watch all 9 minutes, unless you want to see some awesome sax playing and lady-skatting by K.Logs.
She's pulling up, which puts her right on track. She also had two shots. She cried but I sang her "Happy Birthday" to make her feel better.
