In Like a Lion....

..and definitely out like a lamb. How did we miss March? It's over and I know we participated in it because we were incredibly busy. One of life's paradoxes - to be so busy and not remember that you did anything at all.
We watched Irish Step Dancers and listened to harp music at the Irish Faire at the fairgrounds. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the participants and were even approached about having Hallie in commercials.

Anna was moved into the big bathtub (tub within a tub) and Hallie, literally, jumped in to help.

On a particularly beautiful day, Hallie pushed the stroller to the park, without our help, thank you very much. She slid on the slide and ran around to her sister's delight. Anna went on the swings for the first time and watched Hallie's every move. The girls love to be outside and don't miss a thing that goes by.


On St. Patrick's Day, Anna turned 7 months old and we celebrated at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Anna's eyes opened very wide at the sight of the big tanks. She liked the jellies and, of couse, watching Hallie run around. She listened every time Hallie pointed something out to her or explained about the animal. Everybody except Daddy enjoyed a nice nap on the way home.

The following weekend we celebrated Anna's baptism. Many family and friends attended the church service and enjoyed lunch at Great Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Mike's house. Anna received some very special gifts (as did Mommy since we celebrated her birthday as well)

Well, I guess after spending time with all those who walk upright, Anna decided being horizontal was passe. The next day, while briefly stationed in her crib, she pulled herself to standing. We have always anticipated that she would skip crawling and go straight to walking but didn't expect this move quite so early. Of course, it was followed by "Hey Sweetheart, come look at Anna before...she...(conk and crying)..falls." AMENDMENT: It's good that the little bruise on her forehead was where it was because the one she got about three weeks later covered it nicely.

There was more time with family and more fun for the girls as the last weekend in March was as full as the rest. We visited Grammie on Saturday to see her new furniture and go shopping. On Sunday, the sisters played with Daddy, Charlotte and Natalie in the beautiful spring sunshine. The girls had a great time together and got a chance to know each other a little better before Nat went home.
As busy, and sometimes hectic, at it was, we had fun. We will have wonderful memories with plenty of pictures to remind us How wonderful to be able capture those moments - basically so we remember that we had some of them at all!

Updated Baby Registry

We've all seen the email about how we somehow managed to survive through lead painted or metal toys, no car seats and collapsing playpens. I too always think - yeah, it's amazing we all survived. I know there's a reason for refining of products, their subsequent recalls and discontinuation of things altogether. It would however, be much more practical to make household objects child safe. Forget fashion colors and flashing lights. The black or grey of a remote control and an actual light/flashlight do the job - so much so that, when faced with an actual government approved toy, the child will not be distracted from the things they see Mom, Dad and big sister touch all the time. I guess if we played with their toys all the time instead of turning on appliances, writing checks and reading the paper, the babies would like all those brightly colored, smiley faced noisy things in which we all heavily invest. That said, the true baby registry, showing what babies actually like, would read as follows:

Water bottle (Arrowhead preferred)
Things that are red
Remote control
Shoes
Cabinet knobs
Light switch
DVDs (the cases to which Anna can open and empty)
Television screen
Magazine/Catalog pages
Extra sets of fingers/toes
Earrings/necklaces
Spoons
Cold Soda can
Straws
Telephone
Papers (only those of real importance, you understand, not junk mail but school registration papers and the like)
Anything loose/about to fall off
Now, if all of these things were child safe, our household would see a lot less jumping and grabbing and would definitely be more tidy. It would be without most protests as well. Alas, no such luck. I'm thinking the baby companies are a pretty good stock choice.

Sadly, it is not our reality at this point-maybe by the time we are grandparents. So for now, our registries request a million plastic devices to tie up or block off appliances and doors, Consumer Reports rated car seats(and just about everything else), and insist on only certain brands or colors of food and toys.

Through the ages, it's been the gift that gets played with less than the box which held it and it's the pots, pans and spoons being banged mercilessly in the kitchen that are preferred. True, children need the creativity of playing with boxes and beating out a symphony for stockpot and colander in a~minor but we can make it more safe. We are raising children in a world where we know too much and it can actually be a good thing. We may not have grown up with latches on the cleaning cupboard and doorknob covers (which many adults can't figure out by the way) but, please don't mock what we think we need to keep our children safe (or roll your eyes to your friends) We are faced with so much that is scary in this world - which, incidentally, is not of our making - that we want to try anything that might save us the trips to the emergency room that the previous generation laughs about. It doesn't have to be a part of life. There are those who staunchly insist that nothing can substitute for good supervision - the flip side of that is that we've all said, "I just looked away for a minute!" We should remember however that, like history, it's always the survivors or those unaffected that write those things in the first place.

When one becomes a parent , one grows weary of hearing the "With you we just...." and "We never worried about...." and the ever popular "You turned out fine." The things that other generations may pick on or criticize to their peers (out of earshot of the, according to them, 'oversensitive parents') are really not what matters. We all know the people who give unsolicited opinions or advice and follow up with their disdain for having been told what to do with their children. Whatever happened to "I won't do that to my kids" or "...grow up to be my mother/father?" It's okay that we want more than a drawer for the baby to sleep in and that we don't want to let our children suck on someone's keys. It's a good thing that we put covers on restaurant high chairs and shopping carts. In case you haven't noticed, the stores have sanitizer outside and it's not for babies. Why go along with the new 'things' that are out there now? Because, each generation has new and different information and is trying to do what's best with what they've been given.

With any luck, the village raising this generation of children will see past the things they view as unnecessary, and see the efforts of their best parenting shining through. Hopefully, they will find that, regardless of what we were allowed to lick or eat off the floor, it's okay to reinvent the wheel on this one. With any luck, each generation has added to their parents' hard work and adds new skills in hopes of raising happy, well adjusted children who will contribute to society through their demonstration of the things they've been taught.

February Portraits

Anna- 6 months

Hallie- 4 yrs 3 months

Both- Beautiful!!