March 18 - Morning at the Zoo

Last Thursday was one of our beautiful days (followed, of course, by a snowstorm), so I took the boys to the zoo. It's a pretty big place, so you can never see everything in one day, but we always see the lions as we walk in.

This time, we focused on the rides. Below, Jonah loved his first train ride.




Sofi was there too, with her little sister and mom. Isaac seems to like Sofi a lot. She's just his type - low-key, all girl but not a bit prissy. When she climbed onto one of the rows on the train, Isaac slid in right next to her. There was no room in that car for Jonah and me, so Sofi's mom squeezed in with them while we went several rows down. Isaac didn't seem to mind.



I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of them sitting together, so I tried to get them to stand next to each other after the ride. Sofi was very cooperative, but Isaac just kept walking away. Finally I at least got them in the same frame:


Next was the carousel. I had to hoist Isaac up on this tall Tiger while holding Jonah in my other arm. He started to slide off before the ride even started, so I stood next to him with an arm around him. But I'd forgotten that the Tiger moved up and down...




Once the ride started, I was struggling to stay on my feet while the carousel spun, Jonah squirmed in my left arm, and my right arm was aching with the effort of holding Isaac on as the Tiger kept moving up almost out of reach, and Isaac kept sliding toward me!

I realized that I did NOT want to spend the whole ride like that, so when the Tiger was on its way down, I slid Isaac off the side and onto the floor. Then I tried to keep my balance as I carried a baby on my left hip, held Isaac up with my right hand, and we walked slowly forward on the moving carousel, squeezed through the moving animals and feet and legs hanging off of them, and made it to a (thankfully) stationary polar bear. I lifted Isaac just enough for him to swing his legs over and hold on. I think we were all a little relieved when the ride stopped.

Then home for a quick lunch: almond butter on a brown rice cake (Isaac's favorite right now), apple, milk and water.

March 16 - Jonah's first time outside on a blanket

This past week was typical March: a few days near 70 degrees and the inevitable snowstorm to follow. On Tuesday, Isaac took a great nap, but Jonah hardly napped at all - just while nursing. So as we waited around for Isaac to wake up, I took him outside to lie in the grass and enjoy the warm air.



He likes to hold his feet and toes whenever he is on his back, chewing on the toes if possible.





My baby has blue eyes...There is no question about that now.





















Okay, time to do something different now...






Below, the camera angle gives him an alien head, but you can see that he is upright with no support...not exactly sitting, but it's a start.

Feb 27 - Brothers

Everyone always thinks our boys look practically identical. I usually disagree; I think they have very different features, though their overall look may be similar. But this picture (above) might prove me wrong. 2 pairs of bright blue eyes, 2 button noses, 2 sets of rosy cheeks, long eyelashes on each, though Jonah's are pale blond and hard to see in this photo - as everyone always says, they definitely look like brothers.



One Saturday morning, I came home from an appointment to find the boys happily snuggling in our bed. They were pretty cute, so Adam was taking cell phone pictures:







Below, Jonah is trying to give Isaac a kiss. I love those open-mouthed, poorly-aimed baby kisses so much...

Isaac tries to give him one back:

Then they held hands. Isaac loves to hold Jonah's hands, and Jonah loves to hold, well, anything.



When I saw them, I had to go get our real camera, which inspired the typical response in Isaac: anything to avoid being photographed.


But then he came back out to give Jonah some hugs.












Our boys really seem to love each other so far. Jonah gives Isaac his biggest, widest grins when he sees him every morning. Isaac always notices what Jonah is doing and will often dump his favorite toys in his lap for him to play with. He looks on with such a proud smile when Jonah rolls over or sits up (about 20 seconds at a time so far). But the best moments are when one boy makes the other laugh, and I see them looking into each other's faces, laughing together.

Feb 21 - Backyard Bonfire in the Snow

Adam has an ongoing battle with the stump of a tree we had to cut down in our backyard. While I was away with Jonah one evening, it turned cold and snowy. It was the perfect night, of course, to put on snow clothes and spend a few hours outside. The perfect night for hot chocolate (Isaac's first) by a bonfire (i.e. build a big cool fire and possibly wear down the stump a little at the same time).



This is not the kind of thing we do when Mama is home. I came home to two wet but very happy boys. Jonah didn't know what he was missing.



Above, downing hot chocolate.

Below, a close-up of The Stump, which has been burned, scalded with boiling water, hacked at with sharp tools, and climbed on, jumped on, and picked at countless times. Each spring, the new, leafy branches shoot out of its side - The Stump is still alive.