to pacify or not to pacify?

Picture us driving from MN to IA, a 3 hour ride, and the older kid is happily playing in the backseat but the one month old baby begins to wail because he is just not a car seat lover. I reach back to pat his tummy and sing soothing songs. Nothing works. We just stopped for a feeding and diaper change 20 minutes ago. Then I stick my pinky near his mouth and he grabs on with fury. Would you sit for hours with you body twisted to the back, with one hand holding a book reading to one kid and the other hand on your baby with a finger in his mouth? yes, you would if it meant happy, quiet kids. So now I have found something that sometimes keeps Adam happy in the car. The dilemma is this: aren't I just acting as a human pacifier? Why not get him a real one? I have always been so glad that we didn't use or need a pacifier for Laura. They just seem like so much hassle and can cause such problems. Keeping them clean, always having one handy, constantly shoving it in the kids mouth, possible speech problems, sucking on the evil PLASTIC all day, finding a way to get rid of it when they are 5. None of that sounded like something I was willing to do. But I'm thinking its not too sanitary for me to stick my finger in my mouth, wipe it off on my jeans and stick in my kid's mouth while driving down the road? And that is certainly a pain, too. Maybe we'll just never leave the house again?

Since I'm admitting bad parenting habits, lets keep rolling. Is it terrible to realize that your kid's diaper has leaked in the middle of the night (oh, and he's sleeping on you, so you have pee all over you too) and decide to just wait until the next feeding to change him since he's so quiet and asleep? 

Oh ,and I let Laura mix playdough colors today. It drove me insane, but she loved it.

Here's a nice little tape recording for you (don't worry, there's not supposed to be any video):

Happy baby

disposable camera

Here are some cute pictures from a disposable camera that we have been losing and rediscovering for a couple of years. It was lots of fun to check out pictures that we had forgotten about. I think I'll get another disposable and do the same thing.  

Jim's parents kept an outfit that Aunt Rosemary had bought him when he was a kid. Here's Adam in it this year:

And Laura in 2006:

Christmas

Christmas at our house was very busy, but wonderful. Jim came home early on Christmas Eve and we opened presents that afternoon. As you can see, we made out pretty well for just being the four of us! My mom and dad had left our presents here and those in the back are the ones we brought to Jim's family. 

The bathrobe from Gramma Ann and Grandpa Phil was the biggest hit of this day's gifts! 
We went to church Christmas Eve evening. It was a beautiful service and the kids did well. I just loved this dress that Laura wore. The hat it a little silly, but very cute and she loved it!
Christmas Day, we woke up late and opened stockings after breakfast. Then we went to my cousin Barb's house for brunch with that side of the family. We left from there to go to Jim's brother's house in Iowa. The kids did pretty well on the trip down and OK on the trip back. Adam's not much of a car rider, but he held out pretty well. Laura did awesome the whole time. The above picture is Gus, Bob and Kate's dog. He's such a good dog. Laura was very nervous about him, but I hope it helped her to spend time with nice dogs.  

pretending

Laura has been teaching me how to be creative. Its never been my strong suit, but she's a good teacher. Lately, she's been really big into pretending that our family members are part of another family or group. Here are some examples of who we've all pretended to be in the last couple weeks:

Sesame Street characters

Wonder Pets

Santa Claus and various sizes of rudolph (big, baby, etc)

members of my cousin Bill's family

members of our friend Dana's family

members of our friend Michelle's family

Big Big World characters

Dora characters

Mary Poppins characters

She just wakes up and says "I'm _____ and you're _____" and thats what we call each other for days. I know there are more, but this is what I remember

beauty shop

While trying to fill time on a snowed in weekend, Kim suggested we play "beauty shop".

a few pictures

his hair is falling out! receding hairline already
kim and laura playing in the snow. they were about about 30 min and seemed to have a blast!
kids showing off their skills

back

Well, I haven't written the last few days because I got hit with a killer of a cold and had no energy.  But it seems like since we got the sleep thing figured out just a little bit better, the cold dissipated. So it must have been a low immune system thing.

I'm typing this one handed while I nurse Adam and it reminds me of all the entries I posted in Manila on the little itouch with one hand. ahhh memories. 

besides the cold, we've been good here. Kim visited this weekend and we are going to Bob's on Christmas day, so we'll get to see family for the holiday. I'm also looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas with just our little family at our house. And we might stop by my cousins' house for the annual Christmas brunch before leaving for Iowa, so that will be even more family.

Adam is full of little grins and coos. its very cute and rewarding. he has accepted sleeping next to me, rather than on me, which has improved my sleep dramatically. but he is soooooo noisy at night. the loudest sleeper ever.

Laura has realized this baby is here to stay and here to take away some of her attention. but she takes it out on me, not him, so that is good. 

Lots and lots of pictures

Click here to see my attempts to get a good photo for a Christmas card.