KO'd on Boxing Day

So Boxing Day was probably one of the most miserable days the Hill household can remember. Both Chris and I came down with a case of either food poisoning or the 24-hour stomach flu. It's bad enough for one of us to get sick, but for both of us to get sick simultaneously is awful.

We couldn't hold down food or water and it was painful to get up off the couch, but those are things a toddler and a baby don't understand. So we did the best we could to entertain, feed and care for them while feeling like we'd been run over by a truck. Z got to enjoy more than his normal share of his "Here Come the 123's" DVD, and now I understand why people call the TV the "electronic babysitter". Things were actually pretty good for Mei-mei, because for once she wasn't being carted all around town when she'd rather be at home napping.

I've never known what "severely dehydrated" felt like until I experienced having a stomach virus, being unable to drink, and having to nurse a baby every 3 hours.  And this is coming from a former marathoner and a rock climber who was senseless enough to go climbing in the desert without bringing along any water.  Thankfully I was able to start drinking a bit of water again late Saturday night and my temporary dehydration doesn't seem to have impacted my ability to nurse.

We both felt quite a bit better on Sunday and were able to take the kids out for a walk to enjoy the sunny day.  I made some shi-fan with sweet potatoes and various pickled veggies, and we were able to eat that for dinner.  So it looks like our bout of sickness was brief, albeit incredibly painful.

I know of parents who refuse to fly on the same flight for fear of being in an accident together, thus leaving their children orphans.  I understand that fear (although I'd guess that it's probably riskier, statistically, for them to ride in a car together), but right now I'm thinking that it's more prudent that we never eat the same food again in order to avoid getting sick at the same time.  If it was food poisoning, that is.  If it was the 24-hour stomach flu that's going around, how in the world did we manage to catch it at exactly the same time?  Couldn't we have at least staggered it by 24 hours??  What are the odds of that happening?  Should we buy a lottery ticket?

Our three babies on Christmas

I posted more Christmas pictures on Flickr.  Click here to see them!

The calm before the storm

The calm before the storm, originally uploaded by Wenmei.

Post-Santa, pre-toddler

Ho ho ho!

Merry Christmas!!

Going Inside

Going Inside, originally uploaded by Wenmei.

Zachary loves to scoot behind the chair (backwards, on his hands and knees) to play with the answering machine or the magazines on the bookshelf. He calls it "going inside". This video also shows why we never get any messages that are left on our home phone.

Some of Z's favorite things

1.  His fire engine, which lights up and has a loud siren.
2.  His sister.  Or at least, whatever toys his sister is playing with.
3.  His dog Li'l Blue.  This is the dog who used to be just "Blue", but has been renamed due to the arrival of Big Blue.  Big Blue is the result of my attempt to find a back-up for Li'l Blue.  The back-up looks just like Blue, but is nearly twice his size.  Oops.  Now I'm back to just keeping my fingers crossed that Z never loses Li'l Blue.
4.  A remote control.  Any remote control.

Game day

4 month feeties

When Z was a baby, Margaret and I made a footprint frame for him.  So in the interest of equity (I don't want Mei-mei to come to me when she's 16 years old, noting that the house is filled with mementos from Z's babyhood while there's no sign of her until she started getting school pictures at age 6), I went to Paint the Town to make a matching frame for Mei-mei.  The picture inside each frame was taken the day the frame was made, and they are both 18 weeks old at the time.  It took about half a dozen tries to get Z's footprints (you can still see where they are smudged) because he kept kicking, curling up his toes, and moving around.  Mei-mei, on the other hand, did her footprints in one try.  She quietly watched me as I painted the bottom of her feet, and then allowed me to press them onto the frame without making the slightest twitch.  Since I have a fair amount of experience with teenage girls and know what is facing me in about 12 years, I will enjoy this phase of calm serenity as much as I can.

pointbaby

I haven't had a chance to update the blog recently, thanks to the variety of illnesses that has been passing through our household.  We've had a cold come through twice and now we are in the midst of the stomach flu.  I will try to catch up once things have settled down a bit around here.

In the meantime, here are some headshots of the latest Point B* baby model.  Do you have a company or product you'd like advertised on the belly of the cutest baby ever?  Our rates are very reasonable.



*Point B is Chris' company

Fingertips

This afternoon we were celebrating Festivus with friends when Z got his finger smashed in a door hinge.  He was very brave and let us hold an ice pack on his hand to keep the swelling down, and after a few songs, cuddles and kisses, he was ready to sing to They Might Be Giants again.  We don't think the finger is broken, but it's very swollen and there's a small cut, and I'm sure the entire thing will be black and blue when he wakes up tomorrow.  He avoids using it (he says, "finger hurt" and holds it out to be kissed), but he can bend it a bit and uses it when he forgets that it hurts.  So it will probably be fine.

The problem is that it's the middle finger on his left hand:  the one he sucks on to comfort himself.  He holds his Blue dog and sucks on his fingers to help himself fall asleep, and it just broke my heart to see him put Blue up to his face, start to put his fingers in his mouth, and pull them out again saying "finger hurt".  He kept trying to put his fingers back in his mouth, but couldn't do it.  The poor sweet boy.  I hope that he's able to fall asleep tonight (he's in his crib singing TMBG songs to himself right now).

Incidentally, TMBG has a song called "Fingertips" that used to be one of my favorites.

Bribery at its best

Today I tried out my new form of bribery in order to make leaving playtime a bit easier.  As I unbuckled Z from his carseat, I said, "Now we're going to go play at Sozo!" "SOZO!  SOZO!!  FUN!!" "Yes, we're going to have fun at Sozo, and when we're done playing, we'll come back to the car and you can have a tangerine while we drive home."  "Gerine gerine?  Gerine gerine car!"  (Bribe set up.)

While I was taking Z's coat off so he could play, I said, "Yay, we get to play at Sozo!  And when we're ready to leave, you'll get a tangerine for the car ride home!" (Bribe reinforced.)

We played at Sozo for a little over an hour.  Z was getting tired and cranky, so I started to get him ready to go.  The gateway bribe:  "Are you ready to go wash your hands?"  "Shi shou!  Shi shou!"  He ran over to the bathroom door, trying to open it.  "First let me put your socks and shoes back on, and then we can wash our hands."

Socks and shoes on and hands freshly washed, I walked him over to the coat rack.  ""Let's put on your coat and then you can hold the tangerine until we get to the car."  I put on his coat, handed him the tangerine, and turned around to get my coat and the diaper bag  (I was wearing Mei-mei in the Babyhawk).  By the time I turned back around, Z had run all the way across the gym to the front door, and was trying to convince the man watching the door to open it for him.  He was showing the man the tangerine, saying, "Outside!  Gerine gerine, car!  Open.  Door.  Gerine gerine car!"  (Bribe deployed.)

I took his hand (after thanking the man for keeping Z inside the gym) and he pulled me to the car, saying, "Gerine gerine car!  Please!  Gerine gerine!  Mama peel!"  I buckled him into his car seat, peeled the tangerine, and gave him a couple segments as I put Mei-mei into her car seat.  Z happily ate his tangerine as we headed home. (Bribe fully executed.  Success!)

This was SO much better than our usual way of leaving Sozo.  Our typical exit generally includes lots of kicking, screaming and flailing on the ground, and often involves carrying the kicker/screamer/flailer out under my arm.  Meanwhile, parents of younger children (or girls) look at us in horror while parents of older children smile at me in commiseration.  As you can imagine, this is not my ideal exit strategy.

I don't know what I'm going to do when tangerines are out of season.

Einen frohen Nikolaustag...

...wünschen wir euch!!

Headshots

I can't claim credit for two of the following photos, but I wanted to post them because I really like them.  I'm not sure if the actual photographers want their full names posted on this blog, so I'll stick to first names for now.  Once they become world-famous photographers, I'll be sure to give them full credit!

The first picture was taken by MaryB at a Christmas gathering we had this morning.  Mary is the amazing founder and organizer of the Mamas with Cameras group.  This morning, a few of us met at Eve's house to share Christmas goodies and do informal family photo shoots for one another (since we mamarazzas so rarely get to be in pictures with our children).  You'll notice, however, that my family shot only includes half of the family.  That's because Chris was at home waiting for Mei-mei to wake up from her nap.  Unfortunately, she didn't wake up until Z and I were already on our way home.

The second picture was taken by me in our bathroom as Chris was getting Sophia ready for her bath.  Looking at the first two pictures side by side, you can see that our genes are pretty much split right down the middle:  Z got my half and Mei-mei got Chris' half.

The third picture was taken by KellieO at the Me Ra Koh workshop in November, where Mei-mei and I were baby/mama models.  There are a ton of wonderful pictures from that day, and I can't pick a favorite.  This is just an example of how great they all are, and I will try to post the whole set soon.

Mama share

I got up to answer my phone during lunch, and when I turned around, this is what I saw. Z had taken apart my sandwich and was licking the jelly off of the bread. He laughed and said, "Mama share!"  I guess that's what I get for answering my phone during lunch.

Compare & Contrast: Hooded sweaters at 17 weeks

A funny thing about these compare & contrast pictures is that I'm not purposefully setting up these comparisons. Apparently I have an inclination to dress my children up in very similar outfits or put them in similar poses at the same ages.

Snowball fight

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Santa 2009

Are both children clean and presentable?  Check.
Sitting (relatively) quietly on or near Santa?  Check.
Not crying?  Check.
Looking at the camera?  Um, no.  But Santa is -- does that count?

And they're not exactly smiling either.  But hey, they aren't screaming, looking terrified, or trying to escape!  We definitely consider this picture a resounding success.

(Click here to see last year's not-quite-as-successful Santa picture.)