Mama Bird and Little Red Robin

Stretch those legs!

Watching Wimbledon

Go, John Isner, go!

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

Who's the prettiest bird of all?

Hellloooo, gorgeous!

Yes, there is a mirror on the bottom of that cow. And boy, does she like to look at her little self. Here's a blast from the past -- June and July 2008:

Catching Up

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since you've had an update. I can explain. First of all, even though we don't accomplish much, we are really busy. Sometimes a whole hour will go by where all we do is eat and change diapers. Also, we've had company -- but more on that later. And, Mommy has been having some sort of existential crisis about work and me and Cordelia-bird and what to do and when to do it and all that. She has been a little distracted and too busy to blog, so I'm taking matters into my own hands.

First things first: Guess who came to see me (and Cordelia) this weekend?!


They come a lot. I tell Mommy they might as well just move to Virginia. I LOVE having them here! And they helped me hold Cordelia-bird!


Next, I took Pop-Pop to the sprayground. He hadn't seen it yet, and we had a guys-only adventure.

When we got home, we decided to wash the new purple car! We were already wet, after all, so it just made sense. It was awesome. Pop-Pop is excellent at car-washing. He showed me all kinds of tricks. I showed him some of my tricks too.


But he seemed to be laboring under the misapprehension that there would be a dry, sparkly car at the end. Doesn't he know that the whole point of washing cars is to use the hose over and over?

For Father's Day, Pop-Pop gave me Mommy Daddy this awesome chair for our deck! (We gave him a new surfboard for when we all go to North Carolina!)

And because I was in such a good mood, I didn't even mind when he cuddled with my sister.

Thanks for such a great, GREAT visit, Granny and Pop-Pop! I love you and I miss you!

I found my fist!!!

"Cody and Mommy Time"

These are from the other day, when I left a bottle with JVL and Cody and I had some together time at the sprayground.



Yesterday was rainy, and around 4:00, Cordy zonked out for her pre-bedtime nap. Cody, who was rather sensitive all afternoon, ran over to the swing, turned around and said, "Mommy! Cordelia-bird is sleeping. Now we can have Cody and Mommy time! Please Mommy? Want to bake cupcakes? Just the two of us!" In such moments, the heart swells and cracks at the same time. So many moments of the day, I wish he weren't so vulnerable and were a bit tougher. And then he says something like that, and I know I will someday look back longingly at such voluntary affection and ineffable sweetness. (We baked them. And ate the batter.)

But in good news, I left him alone with her for a moment while I ran upstairs to get something. I asked him to keep her company. When I got to the top of the stairs, he was leaning over her saying, "Don't worry, Cordelia-bird! That crane might come back again to do some crane-lifting! You might get to see it again!" (He was talking about a crane doing some work in the school behind our house; of course he just assumed she would be just as into it and just as concerned about its potential return. : ) And when I came down he said to me, "Look Mommy! You are holding Cordelia-bird's hand! You are helping her with her binky! You are a great big brother!" (He means "I" when he says "you.") And again, my eyes filled with tears.


These are the moments I don't want to miss, and I hope I won't forget.

I love my little Hooverers

Aunt Hannah, this is for you.


It's like synchronized swimming, only much more awesome.

Birdie's First Shampoo Horns

Behold.


And here she is before church this morning, rocking out in her party shoes!

As Promised, The Chunk

She was a bit cheerier yesterday. Today, cranky so far, but it's only 12:30. There's still time!

Red Robin's First Shots

I'm pleased to report that Cordelia-bird, at two months old, weighs in just an ounce shy of 11 pounds. Cody, if you'll remember, was THIRTEEN POUNDS, NINE OUNCES at this exact age. Nearly three pounds heavier, and an inch longer. She's positively petite. She's now 23 inches long, her head is 15 1/2 inches in circumference, her temperature was 98.6 degrees, and she was deemed "absolutely perfect" by the doctor. I could not agree more. I was so happy...until Nurse Ratched came in with the syringes. It was traumautizing. The tears, the sobs, the trembling limbs, the racing heart, the terror, the stabbing pain, sense of betrayal. And that was just me.

But we survived. And here she is now, recovering:

I'll get a picture of her chunky, band-aided legs later. Meanwhile, Cody's hopes were dashed this morning when Cordelia stayed in her cradle while this happened:

He said softly, repeating what JVL told him yesterday, "We would never put her in the garbage truck?" with a very definite hopeful uptilt in his tone. It was still a question/possibility in his mind, though he did sound at least a little bit resigned. He was somewhat cheered, though, by seeing someone's kitchen chair get tossed in and crushed. "Mommy, that's a chair! The leg is BROKEN! They can't SIT on it anymore! They threw it in the garbage and then the garbage truck CRUSHED it in the hopper and CRUSHED it! It crushed a CHAIR, Mommy!" And then we saw this on our 6:15 walk (which was just the two of us, though that didn't seem to help our relationship much):

Hopefully, he will soon be happy about what's on his shirt.

Until than, miserere nobis and dona nobis pacem. And of course, SERENITY NOW!

Cody the Grouch

Well, it's been a tough couple of days at the Last household. However, before complaining, I should focus on the positive. There have been several significant triumphs -- namely, that for two days in a row now, I have managed to get both kids to nap at the same time, and instead of napping in the swing, as she has been doing all the time, I've gotten Cordy down in her cradle!! I know it's still too early to do sleep training--and once she hits 4 months or so and realizes I am actually leaving the room we'll have to start all over--but it doesn't hurt to establish good habits. She, like her brother, is a champion sleeper. And at least for the moment, she has fallen into roughly the same nap/bedtime schedule as Cody (would that HE took three naps!). This is great in theory, but in practice, it's not so great when they both need me at the exact same moment during bedtime.

Her brother has been having a tougher time. It just breaks my heart to see him struggling, yet grates on my nerves to listen to him whining. We are trying to keep it all light and positive, but we don't always pull it off. There are some wonderful days -- generally sunny days when he can be outside running around a lot, or weekends when there is one of us for each of them. There were a couple of downright glorious days when Granny was here -- it is amazing how much difference two more hands can make. And I'm fairly certain Mom doesn't believe me when I tell her Cody is being a grouch or throwing tantrums or refusing to eat, etc. He's a total gem for her (and has undivided attention) and besides, she is incapable of finding fault with him. This is the greatest trait a grandparent can possess (don't I know it!). Anyway, they had a great visit:




Lately, we have been going outside early on Mondays and Thursdays to watch the garbage trucks do their thing. We then set off in the stroller for an early-morning "garbage truck hunt," which is just about as amazing and awesome and stinky and fantastic as it sounds, provided you are a two-year-old boy. He has become fascinated the the concept of trash permanence -- he likes to hear (and then repeat) about all the things that go into the trash, and then, once they are "crushed in the HOPPER, Mommy!" go away...forever. He tells me all the time about how sock/toe fuzz, diapers, boxes, nose gunk, q-tips, tissues, etc. are all going to go into the trash can, into the hopper, and "THEN THEY ARE ALL GONE, MOMMY!!!" with great excitement.

All of which leads me to what he said this morning: "Daddy? Please can we throw Cordelia in the garbage, please?"

Tomorrow is Thursday. Trash pickup day. The saddest and sweetest part is that he was so careful to use his good manners, clearly hoping that would seal the deal.

I found myself humming the Litany of the Saints all morning. "Holy Mary, Mother of God...pray for us." Serenity NOW!

8:11 pm UPDATE: Complete and utter bedtime fiasco. For both children. Two steps forward...three steps back? : )

Say Cheese!

Cordy and I did a little photo shoot of her in her baptism gown, since we really didn't get too many photos the day of the ceremony. She was quite the diva at first, and preened like the little robin she is.



But suddenly it was all too much for the little bird, who needed to be resting in her nest. (She actually seemed to get suddenly freaked out by seeing my face covered by the huge black scary camera. :)

Sprayground Revisited

So remember how last August, I took Cody to the sprayground, and he was fascinated by the little fountain that "disappeared" and then "reappeared?"



He was endlessly delighted. I thought for sure I was making a memory. Well, turns out we finally found a black hole in his otherwise freakish steel trap of a memory -- we went yesterday, and it was all new, all over again. This time, though, he explored every fountain with joy ("That's an ARCH fountain Mommy! That's a shower fountain Daddy! That's a geyser fountain!").


His favorite, though, was this fountain -- no surprise there. It was a little like Groundhog Day, only this time with him shrieking, "Where'd it GO, Daddy? THERE IT IS!!!"