Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

Here's William today and a recap in my best goo-goo voice of what we had done thus far. Whee!

So...this is from a couple of weeks ago. There was a lot of fresh snow outside and two severely bored children inside (yes I know--why didn't we take them out into the fresh snow?). Hans went to the PX and bought two of the biggest and baddest NERF guns in stock. Totally worth it.

The new antique Working on the "Happy Baby" pose (admire the thighs) Do you think he gets his sneer from me or Hans? It's hard to say...

My five days with Gen have come and gone. I took her to the airport yesterday morning, early. We have perfected the fine art of the quick, perfunctory hug when parting. The quick hug is much less painful than the long, tight hug, which invariably leads to a lot of crying and heartache. Yes, we almost didn't hug when she left, we have gotten that good. Instead, I gave her the hug I would give someone I barely knew...from about 2-1/2' away and with one arm. Regardless of the quick hug and suppresed emotions, I spent the rest of the day in a funk. It's so nice, when one is so far from home, to have another person around who loves me...because the few people who DO love me are either the same ones I see every day (Hans, Josiah, Annika, Will) or they live thousands of miles away! And it's not that I don't appreciate the love of my little family, because I do, very much--probably more because everyone else is on the other side of the world. It's just nice to have some...

Someone left a current issue of Parents magazine on the counter at the mail room the other day (for others to pick up). The cheap gene in me gave a silent hurrah and quickly nabbed it. I read it on Saturday and remembered why I cancelled my subscription a year ago. Questions like these: I know that babies aren't supposed to watch TV, but does that mean I shouldn't turn on late-night reruns of The Office while I'm breastfeeding? And even better: I drove over a speed bump with my son in his car seat. Could the jostling have damaged his brain? For reals ladies? Holy crap! What else are you supposed to do while you sit there and breastfeed? And yes, I did breastfeed Josiah for three months before I threw up my hands in defeat, so I have done it...for hours and hours and hours. I frequently read (and no, not to him, but to myself--I'm just selfish that way), but I'm sure there was some TV watching in there. Heck, I watch TV while I feed Will his bottles. Will can actua...

Willverine is napping, Josiah is illustrating yet another book and Annika is downstairs (finally!) playing with the neighbor girls. Oh, and Hans went to the PX to buy us each a Nerf gun, because earlier this morning we had a rowdy battle with our solitary Nerf gun and decided that it would be the most funnest ever if we each had a gun. How much do you want to bet that Hans ends up with the biggest, badest Nerf gun? Hmmm, something about this seems to appeal to the little boy in him, strangely enough. Not that the little boy is that repressed or anything... And who is Willverine? Well, he's like Wolverine, only he's Willverine because he's very fond of scratching with his adamantium claws. OK, just his fingernails, but he'll leave marks. Like Meg Griffin. Will is also very fond of pulling hair and pinching whatever skin he can grab on his unwitting victims, who are drawn to his adorable cuteness... Hmm, so what else has been happening? We have no important news ...

It's been kind of a harrowing week and it's not over yet. But in the meantime, here's some video of Will having his breakfast/lunch...he eats his solids at 10:00 and 4:00. I guess it's sort of like brunch then...!