"We're going to Easter!" was what Emma squealed as we piled into the car and headed to church on Sunday. She was quite excited thanks to all the talk of eggs, bunnies and, of course, ducks over the past few days.
She was a perfect lady during the service at Santa Margarita UMC, reading along in the hymnal and snoozing during the sermon, just like all of the adults. She even knew the secret fourth verse in "Up From The Grave He Arose" which goes:
Duck duckie duck duck caaaaar!
Duck car, car, duck car car.
House duck car duck duck car duck duck,
Duck car car duck duckie caaaar!
Grandpa Northcutt was in town on a business trip, so we were able to spend Easter together for the first time since 1995. He went on his first Easter egg hunt in probably twice that long, hiding eggs for Emma. (Henry didn't participate.)
I'm really floored by how much she's changed since last year. She still looked a little like a baby last Easter, but she's lost most of that now and is a little girl. Sniff... sniff...
Speaking of the passing of time... do you see a resemblance here?
My mother brought along this picture on her last visit, taken when I was a few months old in 1973.
I didn't feel this way with Emma, though I'm sure Marla did - see the evidence here, but I often get the really weird feeling with Henry that I'm looking at myself when I was a baby. I suppose that's normal for any parent, but it's a first for me.
@ 6:47 AM by TNorthcutt | Comments (2)
More proof that marketing works. Emma was thumbing through an issue of Parents magazine a few weeks ago and spotted an ad for Oreos.
It featured a cute boy dunking his Oreos in milk. She instantly turned to Marla and said, "Emma wants to dunk some Oreos."
The result were a few days of absolute cuteness where Emma and Mommy performed synchronized Oreo dunking, sure to be a Winter Olympic sport in the very near future.
You'll also spot some new pictures of Henry, making his way outside onto the patio for the first time. After torrential rains for what seems like weeks he joined us outside enjoying the warm sunshine.
@ 10:01 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (2)
Oh, hello. Are you still reading this?
Things have been slow on the site but busy, busy at home. We've had Grandma Northcutt visiting for the past two weeks and Daddy was out of town for a week at the Game Developers Conference.
I've got a gargantuan gallery of photos from the end of February to make up for it. (Yeah, I know March is almost up.)
You can also enjoy a few choice tidbits from Emma, who continues to impress us with her vocabulary. They don't quite have the same impact when you can't see her face or hear the tone of her voice, but hopefully some of it will come through.
"Daddy, I think somethings going on here."
"Emma, you're so original!"
"That's not recycle, Daddy. Emma just wants to look and see some couches and chairs to buy." (as Daddy tried to toss out a Crate and Barrel catalog)
"Emma don't like Van Halen, Daddy."
"Those peas are too snappy for me!"
"Emma wants you to go back to Sweden and get me some car snacks."
"I can't go back to Sweden, darlin'"
<Emma pauses>
"Emma wants Vahn to go back to Sweden and get me some car snacks!"
"I want you to buy Emma one like that, Daddy." (with tears in her eyes, after being told she couldn't play with Daddy's iPaq.)
@ 11:56 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (3)
My parents were out last week for their first visit since Henry was born. Grandma Northcutt stayed with us while poor ol' Granpaw Northcutt had to go to work each day. She enjoyed her visit with Henry immensely, as you can see.
It's amazing what a difference just a week can make when you are dealing with infants. When the Mandels were here, Henry was still "asleep" and not aware of much. The week my parents were here he was much more alert and aware of his surroundings.
This week he's batting at the stuffed toys on his play mat, fascinated by his mobile and grinning at Mommy and Emma throughout the day.
There's no grinning at night, though. There's generally not much but crying and restless slumber from about 6 to midnight each night and he then settles down for a few extended naps in the night.
I'm not sure if we're ready to call it colic, but he's certainly fussy in the evening for no good reason! Our pediatrician tells us that colicky babies are generally more intelligent... so maybe there's a silver lining behind all that fussing!
And, for those keeping score at home, Henry's now weighing in at a mere 8 lbs. 13 oz. (141 oz.), just barely keeping up with his cousin Bailey. If you recall, I had predicted approximately 300 oz. by this point. So much for science.
@ 1:08 AM by TNorthcutt | Comments (1)
