planning her party...

Abby will turn 6 years old this January (16th). Up until now, the rush of the holidays (plus Matthew's birthday falling on Dec. 21st) has left me bedraggled by the time it comes to a kiddo party. Abby has had celebrations, but nothing really well planned or anticipated. This year, she has asked for a "Ratatouille" party--a chef party with a Parisian-restaurant setting, inspired by the new Pixar film. Now, I'd LOVE to celebrate her birthday in Paris; heck, I'd let her rent real rats if it meant going to Paris, but we're going to attempt to transform our humble apartment in Davis into a chic Parisian and save a few thousand dollars.

So far we're set on letting her friends decorate their own cupcakes with real decorating gear. We're going to have chef hats, etc. I've been searching for an Eiffel tower lamp or something, but no dice so far. I know I have a few readers out there, so PLEASE write in with your brilliant ideas about cool ways to make the party tres tres chic and not just kitch. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!

little momma

little momma
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

Abby is AWESOME with Noah. She gets tired of him from time to time, but she enjoys him too. Abby is excited about her similarities to mom and dad: she now has homework, like us; she goes to school, like us; she can eat burgers, shrimp, thai food, and dessert, like us. But Noah can't--he's "just a baby." I feel a real kinship with Abby, a friendship and a closeness. This pales when she is whiney or grumpy, but then I'm sure I'm much less pleasant when I'm whiney and grumpy too.

self-portrait

self-portrait
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

Not much time to write at the moment, but had to post a couple of pics. This one needs a happy John Denver song playing in the background...Sunshine, on my shoulders makes me happy...

growing boy

Noah weighs 13.9 pounds! He is in the 35th percentile (or so) for weight and 60th for height. He is as healthy as can be and doing everything he is supposed to for his age (even without subtracting the extra four weeks!). The shots caused a fever for a day and a half, but all's well now. More pics to come soon.

fish face

fish face
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

M always did this to Abby's face when she was an infant. Actually, he still does it; there's just not as much to squish.

Matthew just told me that Noah said "Elmo" earlier today. Noah talks a ton to Matthew--not so much to me. Me, he bites. And we're talking hard bites on sensitive places (if you know what I mean, nursing moms...). But then he smiles at me and I forgive him.

ABBY fish face
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

Ha! I found proof. Here is M fish-facing Abby back in 2002.

I'm 4 1/2 months old!

I'm4 1/2 months old!
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

Little Noah likes to stand (and drool, and and pant like a puppy, and grab hair, and smile...). We think he weighs about 13.5 pounds now, but we will get the official weigh-in tomorrow at his 4-month appt. with the doc. Yes, shots come along with this appointment, so we're probably in for a couple of icky days and nights. Stay tuned for his stats...

climbing

climbing
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

A friend of Matthew's took some great pics of the Pearsons4 yesterday. Here is one of Abby climbing at a park near our apartment.

Deflated

How do you spell disappointment? Abby was invited to her friend Blake's birthday party at a place called "Pump it Up!" This is a huge bounce-house place--a veritable air and plastic heaven for 5 year olds. Well, I just got a call from Matthew and there is a power line down somewhere and NO power to run the air generators. The poor kids are sitting in a dim room at picnic tables, eating pizza and feeling truly sad about not bouncing their fool heads off. I feel like crying for Blake, for Abby, for Blake's parents. I mean, what a serious bummer--to look forward for weeks to a big bouncing party and to be met with flattened dreams. What a stunning visual--all these kids looking out at a sea of lost potential, and all they need is AIR to make the place come alive. It seems a moving image of what we are without Christ's spirit: Emptied out and incapable of serving the very function for which we were designed, needing only to be made full and able by the power which cannot be self-generated, the breath of life.

I'm praying that Pacific Gas and Electric arrives soon and "saves the day." I'm also hoping that Abby can collect herself and realize that this day is about celebrating Blake, not about bouncing. That may be asking too much of a disappointed 5 year old. SIGH.

first day of Kindergarten!

first day of Kindergarten!
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

Here is Abby this morning, all ready for her first day of Kindergarten. She chose her uniform last night, laid it out on her chair. This morning she wanted a braid and a bow (robin's egg blue ribbon, please), and little blue dot earrings. Oh, and we touched up her pink nail polish too... Shopping for school supplies was as fun as I remember it being. Abby brought her list and checked off the items as they went into our cart. Actually, she checked each of them about four times (multiplying that wonderful sense of completion and acquisition in a bright pink crayola marker). The "pink" eraser was a little on the reddish side for her taste, but she agreed it would do the trick. Watching her choose between glue sticks (the two pack or the three pack, hmmm.) was great. She opted for sensible yellow Ticonderoga No.2 pencils; the fancy pencils will make their way to school after she scopes out the kind of pencils other people bring. She likes fitting in, not sticking out, it would seem. She made other sensible choices, passing the candy aisle with comments about how candy isn't good for our bodies and how we can have treats from time to time but that we don't need candy (this just before we ate coldstone creamery ice cream). She mentioned to Noah that he didn't need to buy anything because he is too little for school. Noah looked at her with sleepy eyes and nodded off, giving us some space to finish our shopping. Abby chose the blue box of Kleenex, not the pink (I wonder how much of her affinity for blue is a desire to be like momma). But when it came to her new nail polish, only the pinkest of pinks would do. Watching her run to the car with her braid and blue ribbon bouncing, her eyes sparkling, and her anticipation rising, I grinned and felt a sweet sense of joy. Our little girl is really growing up. As Matty pulled away, I ducked back into the house to make my latte and post this picture. I am so thankful for Abby. What a gift she is.

blast off!

blast off!
Originally uploaded by gennabby.

To infinity and beyond! Abby spontaneously made a space suit out of newspaper yesterday. She was making a scrapbook page from a Montana paper with her grandmother, Mia's, picture in it, and after cutting the picture out, she decided not to let the rest of the paper go to waste. I don't know how much tape was used in this endeavor, but it was a hoot hearing her crinkle around the house in this astronaut gear, complete with face mask. I think the meteor shower and shuttle news of late, along with an outer space episode of Reading Rainbow, have led to this sudden interest in things celestial. I personally like the blast off sounds she makes: pshhhhhhhhhhhhh...

found 'em!

I found my long-lost keys! They've been gone for at least a month, probably two or three. I think I lost them before Noah was born! They were in the front office of our apartment building, in someone's drawer. Thank goodness!

Oh yeah, and Noah is still sleeping in his crib (it's been almost an hour)! This morning we've found the keys, painted Abby's nails, begun a diaorama (a small cardboard box for Abby's Ratatouille Rat party), had a latte, started cleaning up G's desk, made the bed, blogged twice, and put the dishes into the dishwasher! And all of this while wearing a bra and DAYtime clothes! Well, Abby is in her jammies still, but that's ok.

Seriously, once you have an infant, you realize how much you can do in a short period of time if they'll just take a quick nap in the crib!

waaaaaah

Noah has begun napping in his crib. This went swimmingly well yesterday and the day before, with Noah nodding off for every nap with less than a minute's worth of protest each time. This morning he is trying a different tactic: cry HARD, sound really MAD...Why today? Well, probably because Matthew is gone for the whole day working on the car in a friend's garage and Abby is home for the last weekday before the start of Kindergarten.

I guess I'll be less "productive" today than I thought. Sometimes I feel sorry for myself as much as I feel sorry for Noah. I have to remember how quickly these days go by and how much of an opportunity I have to love and care for this little one. When I look out at the next two years, I think: We're entering the long stretch of babyhood in which we all try to understand one another's needs (and try to meet them the best we can). It seems like a long time, but I know that it is gone in the blink of an eye, and then they are borrowing your clothes, asking questions you can't answer without help (if at all), and needing new levels of independence and freedom which require that you trust the foundations they have and that you trust God to do what you never could: guide and protect their steps. Sigh.

Life is such a mixed bag! Speaking of which, I've lost my keys--if anyone finds them, let me know. There are about 7 keys plus a blue and gold VW keychain. Tennessee and St. Louis folks, don't worry--they were lost before we came out there for a visit.

WAAAAAAAHHHHHH

p.s. Noah is now asleep in his crib. It took about 3 minutes in the rocking chair and he's out. Coffee time.