February begins

The first month of the year has come to completion. It has been somewhat stressful keeping tabs on a baby while taking care of Ellie and myself. Tom has been busy with work. Winter has kept our outdoor time to a minimum. Because of these things, I am delighted to say goodbye to January. Moving on to a new month encourages me to note progress underway, such as Julia being slightly more cognizant of our daily routines, Ellie enjoying dance, me signing onto a ladies tennis team and Tom doing his best at Rotary Club and work. Overall the best change I made last month was to begin parenting the two daughters together, instead of always caring for the baby and the 4 year old on separate terms. I moved their rooms so that they sleep in one shared room and play in another room. This lets me be with both of them all the time and offer more consistent care as much as possible. I feel Ellie is more secure when she has me nearby. Another benefit is that Ellie is quite a good helper when she is always observing me caring for Julia. She can babysit her for short periods of time while I make sandwiches or something. The two girls are able to play together more all the time, although Julia is still a sort of baby King Kong wreaking havoc over Ellie's carefully planned out train cities. Ellie reads books to Julia. This help is great when my hands are full but also make Ellie feel the sense of belonging that she is always seeking. Looking ahead to February, I see more of the same schedule. There aren't many options when you have an infant and winter. Just got to roll the days along and try to celebrate the little moments of joy like bath time, sledding, shopping, playing with favorite toys and being silly. This morning the kids are at school so I'll be cleaning up and possibly giving the dog a walk on the frozen tundra.

Here is another sledding clip.

Sledding Action

We've enjoyed sledding in our backyard frequently this winter.  

Kids on the treadmill

Here are Ellie and Julia playing on the treadmill.  Ellie says she needs to go on the treadmill to "get energy".  When I tell her it's time to get off she says "No, I need more energy!"  Julia is fascinated with the treadmill too but she cannot yet verbalize why.  Naturally I would rather my baby did not climb onto the treadmill but her curiosity cannot be deterred so today I decided to go the other way and let her have a run at it.  I suppose if either of them become professional athletes one day, this video will become famous.

Baby oh Baby

Taking care of a baby is no picnic.  Oh sure, she's adorable and loving and charming.  But she's also growing a strong will and strong body, which she uses to try and explore with no sense of danger whatsoever.  I've concluded that most of my stress and exhaustion stems from constantly predicting and circumventing risk.  It's nearly impossible to totally safeguard her while also allowing her to enjoy independence and learn about her world.  Not to mention I have to also keep up a conversation with a lively four year old.  Not to mention whatever task I might be trying to do for myself like walk, speak, cook, shop, etc.  Usually I'm trying to clean up whatever she just explored, in the case of the above video - banana!

Thankfully, it's only the cumulative effect of this situation that wears me down.  So long as I get significant breaks from baby care taking, I find the times we do have together to be as wonderful as people who do not currently have children to look after suggest it should be.  

Julia is doing well.  Her newest advancement is suddenly learning to put a ball into a toy giraffe, which laughs when the ball goes inside.  This is quite a step forward because up until today, she's only been able to throw the ball in the general direction of the giraffe, with no dexterity to place the ball into the opening in the toy.   As for walking, not yet.  She has taken a step.  And then she'll sit down.  Any time now it will happen.

First winter outing

Busy day today.  It snowed and then rained and then snowed.  I had to wait for Julia to nap before I could snow blow, which was nearly impossible due to the heavy, wet snow.  When Julia woke up, Ellie came to the window to signal me and I came inside.  Just then the sun came out.  I took Julia and Ellie outside.  This was Julia's first time bundled in snow pants and first touch of snow. She seemed intrigued but it was hard for her to remain seated upright in the bulky clothing. I took her in the backpack carrier also to feed our neighbor's horses. This afternoon we needed to get out.  We drove to the city and hung out at the bookstore and toy store. It just happened to be the grand opening of Babies R Us so we got to meet Clifford in person and get free balloons, cookies and frisbees. After one more stop for coffee and a fresh bottle, we finally wrapped up the day and came home for dinner, baths and settling down for the night.  Where do these kids get all this energy? 

Usually when the kids are at preschool, I use the hours to power-clean as much of the house as I can, then do some kind of exercise before the afternoon gets by me.  I like to pick them up about 3 o'clock because it seems the right time between not long enough away from them for me and too long away from me for them.  Today my usual routine is altered by snowfall.  It takes hours to snow blow our long, looping, hilly driveway.  Today there is so much snow that I'll need to do the snow blow routine twice.  In between these tiring (but fun) rounds, I'll be grabbing a quick (lean cuisine) meal.  Also I need to try and rake some snow off the roof, shovel snow off the two sets of front steps and the backyard steps.  I also need to shovel some snow from the back patio.  And oh yes- I need to sled down the big hill in the backyard at least a few times.  I insist on sledding on days like this so that I can enjoy the snow.  It shouldn't be all hassle and hard work.  When you get as much snow as we do, it's important to savor the great bounty of white fluff.  It's beautiful and makes for a unique playground.  Today is mostly work but the next several days will probably bring sunshine and chances for skiing and sledding.  Winter snow days like today bring a calm and quiet simplicity.  You hardly see anybody so the world seems less populated and less busy.  You only have time for necessary snow control.  Priorities like work and school start late and close early.  The basics like walking around and driving become exercise.  And all this hard work burns calories and makes you hungry so food tastes really good.  I wouldn't want to have winter all year round but having it for a season is enlightening and interesting.  

Weekend wrap-up

Times are moving along.  Julia now has 2 teeth.  Ellie is wearing toddler child size 12 shoes, the last size before the new set of sizes beginning with 1.  Although it often feels I will forever be wearing a shirt with cookie and banana smudges on the shoulder, the reality is that the girls are growing up.  Ellie is leaving the toddler era.  Julia is coming to the end of the infant era.  The more independent they become, the more I can relax and enjoy it all.

The big news of the weekend is that I signed up at an indoor tennis club.  I have not played tennis since June 2006.  Getting back into my favorite sport has always been on the master plan.  At the moment, it's hard to appreciate this happening.  Hopefully it won't take long to start feeling that tennis-spring-in-my-step feeling again.  I feel sure tennis can keep me young until I'm 100 years old.     

Also this weekend we attended a birthday party for twin 4 year old friends from Ellie's class. Here's a look at Julia and I tasting the birthday cake.

Ellie's first pancake

We tried to beat the boring rainy day by heading out early this morning.  I took the girls to IHOP for their first time.  Ellie ordered a big pancake with a face on it.  When I was finished the waiter came and took our plates.  Ellie started to cry.  Apparently she was still eating and he didn't notice.  I didn't notice either because I was trying to keep Julia from throwing anything and everything onto the floor.  It wasn't very crowded so everyone noticed and the waiter rushed back with a new pancake!   The girls worked off their calories at the mall's play area, where they and a lot of other rainy day children climbed and ran around the ocean themed play structures.  We burned off some time looking at bunnies and lizards at the pet store.  We popped into Baby Gap and Macy's but nobody had inexpensive short sleeve bodysuits for Julia's size.  The drive home was also very rainy.  At home we did the usual things like play with toys, watch Baby Einstein videos, snack, change diapers, read books, etc.   Ellie is starting to work on Valentine's Day cards.  The weather is supposed to change over the weekend, back to sun and cold.  Snow is not in the forecast.  Apparently choosing skiing as your exercise source has its drawbacks.

Ellie at dance class

Ellie is back into dancing now.  She's starting with a new school that offers a morning time creative movement class.  She'll be learning some new moves for the summer recital, where the little girls will dance as elephants in the school's production of Aladdin.  It's nice that Ellie sees dancing as something special she chooses to do.  It fits in well with her artistic nature and she seems to be increasingly talented at her creative hobbies.

Julia not walking

Julia is so close to walking but chooses not to try it yet.  I'm sure she can walk as soon as she decides she can.  She can stand with great balance.  She can walk along the couch while holding onto the edge.  Somehow I doubt I'll have the video camera in hand on the day she first takes off and walks over to me.  I remember that moment with Ellie and actually I did have my camera in my hand at that moment.  She just let go of something and took off walking.  She was just under a year old I think.  Julia's time is coming soon.

Ellie building blocks

Ellie requested I make a movie of her building blocks.  

Picking Julia up at school

It's fun to pick up Julia at preschool.  She always looks surprised to see me.  Julia seems to be doing very well at preschool on her 3 day per week schedule.  She likes her class and plays a little with the other babies.  She doesn't nap long there like at home but hopefully that will change when she gets to the age where they have more organized napping in a quieter setting.  She eats well and plays well and seems to weather the day well, not getting to exhausted.  She especially loves the baby bouncer swing they have in her class.  Certainly the schedule is working well for me, giving me time to clean house and exercise.  I am happy I started Julia in the preschool setting at an early age.  

XCountry Skiing

Today was a warmish, melting day.  Only three people were at the ski area.  The snow was wet and heavy, which translates to slow skiing.  I had a hard time getting much glide to my steps.  I still had a nice time.  Maybe more importantly, I had another great workout.  I tried to take a couple videos of myself.  It isn't easy to do, especially on skis.   A video clip of skiing is a challenging way to convey the joy of the sport because the viewer cannot feel the "runner's high" elation that comes with an hour and a half of shushing along the trail.  The birds chirp in the trees.  If you take time to look up, you notice how big the trees look and how blue the sky is on a clear winter day.  If you take a break from watching where you are going, you might notice deer tracks or the interesting path of a brook over ice formations.  Avoiding taking a break can also be fun because you feel more of a rush if you allow a competitive streak to urge you around the next corner as efficiently as possible.  I take pleasure in noticing my technical progress in the sport each time I ski.  

Holiday Party

At first I was amazed how far things have come since I last had a website, many years ago.  It was hard to organize the page and upload photos.  Videos were unthinkable due to delay and file size. But now there is YouTube and Blogger and all these places with free and easy websites that have video in real time.  Or so it seems.  Now that I am trying to do it myself, I'm spending hours getting it going.  The uploading takes a long time.  Some places don't show the video that well. Sometimes I can't hear the sound.  Sometimes I don't like the layout options.  Ugh.  It's frustrating.  I hope I can find the right answer for me before I give up and wait another several years.

No thank you, YouTube

I have deleted my YouTube account.  It doesn't seem like a very nice place to have my videos.  I felt disturbed at how many viewings there were of my children on video in such a short period of time.  Making my channel "private" seemed both overly restrictive (25 named, listed viewers) and untrue (YouTube owns the video content you post).  The bottom line is the overall YouTube environment feels like a bad neighborhood to me.  A simple search brings up all kinds of videos you did not want to see.  

My privacy concerns are on alert for this Blogger experiment as well.  It is a challenge to create a blog that is semi-private.  I would like to share my videos, photos and ideas with friends and family.  Beyond that it interests me to be a part of a little bit larger community of bloggers, especially moms or people who share my experiences or points of view.   Balancing this interest in community against my desire to remain private, safe and unbothered in my own life is seemingly simple and totally impossible at the same time.  

At least when I have ventured out to see one or two other blogs, they have been impressive and clean cut. 

Holiday party

We had a very nice family party yesterday.  It was fun to see the girl cousins play together.  We all enjoyed a lot of eating and relaxing.  And then there were the gifts!  My goodness, we all raked in the goods yesterday during our stockings and christmas present exchange.  It's hard to wait for a postponed holiday but it is fun to see people open their gifts in person.  

Playing on the bed

Thursday's Skiing

We are in a cold snap - single digit temperatures.  Yesterday I skied an hour and a half.  The trail area is big enough that you don't feel like you are doing laps; but small enough that you don't feel alone in the woods.  There are plenty of times I ski for 15 minutes without seeing anyone.  But mostly every so often I say hello to passerby skiers.  Amazing variety of people do cross country skiing.  For me it's turning out to be the perfect solution to winter exercise in a busy mom schedule.  I enjoy the thrill of my day out there racing up and down the trails, then have a coffee and pick up the girls at preschool right up Main Street.  This is what small town living should be: more quality time, less hassle, crowds, driving and time spent doing things you never intended to do like walk through parking lots.  

The skiing is going great.  I am getting a feel for the snow beneath my skis.  I'm starting to maintain a higher speed for longer bits of time.  I look forward to the terrain.  The only trouble spots left for me on the trails are the black diamond trails where there are steep hills on top of sharp turns near trees.  Crashing into a tree would not make for a good day.  So I stay on the beginner and intermediate trails, cruising along.  It's not graceful most of the time, but I'm at least getting the hang of the basic movement.  It's as much fun as I could have hoped for.