What's in a Name?

11.13.2008

perfect day

Sometimes we have these amazing picture perfect days that remind us why we have made the choices that we have made. One of these days was on Tuesday when we took a family trip to the zoo. Andy had the day off of work and the boys were off from school, so we made a day of it. We drove the hour+ to the zoo in Columbia while Isabel napped in the car and the boys watched a movie. The day was beautiful; sunny and fall-like (or football game weather, as I like to call it) and everyone in the family was excited. The boys were obsessed with doing it all. We saw the trainers feeding the sea lions, we watched the lion cubs playing, we fed the giraffes , we saw penguins and more cool birds than I could ever name. Other than a minor scuffle over the map (which was quickly alleviated by obtaining a second map), the boys were well behaved. Isabel was absolutely content to be pushed around in the stroller and watch her brothers run around.
My friends in different situations sometimes comment that they can't imagine having three little kids, but this what we wanted. I often miss our friends and family in the North, but I absolutely love the weather here. Andy sometimes wonders if he should have pursued something more entrepreneurial than banking, but his job has afforded us a lifestyle that we love.
Devin's favorite part of the day was seeing the elephants, Alex's was the tigers, and I am pretty confident that Andy's was seeing the penguins. My favorite part was spending the beautiful day outside with my family. I can't imagine anything better.

11.11.2008

big girl!

It's official. Isabel is a big girl. Well, let me clarify... she is still a baby but she has made huge strides this week. First of all, she can officially feed herself. Granted, at least half of what we put on her tray lands on the floor, but the other half goes in her mouth, and that makes her a very happy little girl. Second, she is mobile. She can get anywhere she wants to go within about a six foot radius, although how she gets there resembles more of an inchworm than a proper crawl. Third, she can push herself up to a seated position. It's pretty wild to walk into her room to get her out of the crib and see her sitting there looking for you. I think we will need to lower the crib mattress again.
But here is the biggest news - Izzy finally cut a tooth! It's not visible yet, but I felt it today. She seems to be in a fair amount of pain, so I hope she'll get a bunch of teeth now and just get through it all at once. My baby is getting big!

11.03.2008

laundry boy

I have a cold. It knocked me down hard on Sunday and I am still losing the fight. So taking care of two little ones (Dev is at school) seems like a daunting task today. However Alex has been wonderful. In fact, Alex decided that he was running low on underwear (he has three pairs), so he proceeded to empty all the hampers for me. That means that Alex threw all the clothes out of the hampers (in his room, Devin's room and my room) onto the stairs and played in them until he eventually got them all down to the first floor. Then he loaded the clothes onto his blanket and dragged them into the laundry room for me. I love that he took this chore on all by himself, and figured out a way to get it done. Now if I could only teach him how to work the washer...