Visit from Gigi and G-doc Crosby

We wrapped up Christmas by welcoming Gigi and G-doc from Georgia. They were good sports about surviving in our arctic house, and they brought lots of presents!

They created this cool 3D painting of a firetruck,
complete with wheels and a firedog, for Jack's room!

Three generations of Crosby men relaxing.

G-doc helping me build legos. Thanks Aunt Cara and Uncle Jack!

 After having a second Christmas, we all got in the car and headed to South Lake Tahoe. I was surprised at how close it really was - who knew that good Rocky Mountain skiing was only four hours away??

We all relaxed Tuesday night with a family soak in the outdoor hot tub. Jack did NOT want to get out and his little eyes got so red from the chlorine, but he didn't care!

We interrupted his swimming for a photo op... he was not excited :)

 On Wednesday, the skiers enjoyed a morning on the slopes while Jack and Gigi hung out so Mommy could get a prenatal massage (HEAVEN!) Then, all three adults hit the slopes after lunch while Mommy and Jack went back to the room for a nap. First, we rode the gondola up to grab lunch on the mountain. Jack loved the ice and snow, and was so upset that he couldn't ski! (They can start Ski School at 2, but their feet have to be a certain size to fit the boots, and they have to be tall enough for the shortest skis. Unfortunately, Jack is neither. Poor kid.)

Family on the slopes! (No, Mommy didn't ski. And also,
it's a miracle that Mommy's coat zippered over her belly! Holy cow,
baby girl is getting big and heavy!)

Daddy and Jack playing on the icy slope. He loved sliding down!

So happy!!!

Jack and Gigi in front of the ice fountain at the hotel. It was so warm,
and they had gotten hardly any snow in weeks. Very strange!

Daddy and Jack on the gondola ride.

Trying out Daddy's skis. 

I want to ski LIKE THIS!!!

Trying to make him happy!! Not working. 

Gigi attempted to make me smile...no such luck. I wanted to PLAY!!

Look at that face!

I like walking on the snow instead of sitting on a rock taking pictures :)

After waking up in the hotel. I had my own room with a giant fireplace next to my bed!
It was awesome!

 We got home on Thursday afternoon, and enjoyed a BRAND NEW furnace and parts that night. We are all nice and toasty warm now, thank goodness!! It's so nice to have heat again. You don't know what you have until it's gone...

Mommy made spaghetti dinner on Thursday night, Jack's FAVORITE dinner....

YUM-MEEEEEEEE

And Gigi finally had success in making me wear my fireman hat...now if only we can get a picture with Susu's firetruck slippers too!!

"My help people!"

We are looking forward to New Years Eve tomorrow, and ringing in 2012. It will be another big year for us, that's for sure!!

Christmas in the Crosby House

Christmas dawned cold and early in our house. After our disaster on Thursday, we had been living with space heaters, which we moved from room to room as needed for the weekend. I was really upset, and worried that Christmas morning would be too cold for us to enjoy (amazingly, it's been getting down to 25 or 30 at night here!) Anyway, Justin, in a stroke of sweetness, got up at 4am Christmas morning to move all the heaters into our living room so that we could enjoy opening presents. It was very much appreciated. 

This was the first year that Jack really knew what was going on. We spent the day "tracking" Santa on the NORAD website, and relaxing together at home baking cookies for Santa. He got excited about leaving cookies and chocolate milk for Santa, and seeing his loot under the tree when he woke up...

Jack dictated the note for Santa. :)

The full effect, right before Santa's elves went to bed for the night!

Of course he decided to sleep in Christmas morning...
when Justin and I were up and excited waiting for him!!

After opening presents...he was mad I made him
stop to take a picture!

We spent a leisurely morning opening each gift, and then playing with most of them. The biggest hit has been by far the garbage truck, which was his special request from Santa. He has slept with it most every night in his bed, and he likes it to eat dinner with us. I've heard that some kids have an imaginary friend when they are expecting a sibling, and I think this is Jack's manifestation of that. He makes sure that his fire truck and his garbage truck are sitting on the bench next to Daddy at every meal, and he makes their plates with his pretend food from his kitchen. They get all the same treatment as Jack - sippy cups, eating their vegetables, and wiping their hands and mouths when they are done. :)

Here are a few snapshots of our morning. I will post the whole video on You Tube soon!

Figuring out who gets which present...

Merry Christmas!!!

"Here Mommy Mommy" (No idea why he repeats everyone's name twice now)

Big smiles!

Opening a present from SuSu and Pop Pop!

Super fun :)

Okay, so opening presents takes awhile when he wants to
inspect every square inch of the package :)

Here's another one!

Making Mommy breakfast from my toy kitchen. It was yummy.

Justin was the photographer, so unfortunately we have very few pictures of him. But I promise he was there! We are looking forward to enjoying all of our toys and gifts in the coming weeks :)

Early Morning Excitement

Things are finally starting to calm down in our house. This morning, around 6am, we were woken up to all the smoke alarms in the house going off, and thick smoke billowing throughout. It was like something you'd see in a movie...Justin and I panicked, trying to grab blankets and jackets, and get Jack out of the house quickly. He was sound asleep through all of it, and he was super scared at first when I picked him up to get him out of the house. But once we got outside, and the firetrucks came, he thought it was super cool! Especially because it was so cold, and so they let Jack and I camp out inside the truck for a good hour. I'm sure he will talk about it for days!

Anyway, it turns out that the inside of our furnace (as Justin put it) died a slow and fiery death. Once the fire department secured the house, PG&E (the gas company) came and did their own inspection. They "condemned" our furnace, capped all of our gas lines, and so we will be without heat until the furnace can be replaced. (Next Thursday!) It should be interesting "camping" out with my boys until then.

Here are some pictures of our very exciting morning.

Firetruck coming down the street...while we waited outside.

Jack LOVED sitting in the firetruck!! He thought it was really cool.

Firemen at the front door of our house. Yikes.

Luckily, we are all okay and everything is okay in the house. Just trying to get rid of the smoky smell now! And waiting for our furnace. Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Santa's Message To Jack

Santa sent Jack a very special Christmas message! Check it out.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gh-UaiP2QzEcsexJMs-6r9Q

(Thanks, Sam! This is awesome!)

Jack's New Preschool :)

I am so excited! Today, I finished enrolling Jack in his new preschool. He went this past fall to Cupertino's public preschool program, which was great and a blessing while we figured things out. However, I think he needs something more structured, and more days a week, so Justin and I decided that this was best. He will start off going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30am - 1pm, but they have room for him to expand his schedule as we get more comfortable with the routine (or after the baby comes.) He is starting on January 3!

I have looked at A LOT of preschools in our area, but I finally decided on Little People Christian Preschool, which is at a church about a mile from our house. When the weather is good and I am feeling okay, I can easily walk to pick him up (which will be a nice routine when the baby arrives.) Also, it's on Justin's way to work so he can do drop offs. Most importantly, I liked the Director and the feel of the school. Here is a little more information:

• Jack will be in the Penguin Class. The starting age is 2.5, so he is right on track to start with the youngest kids in the class. When he turns 3, he will move up to the Duckling Class, and at age 4 until kindergarten he will be in the Robin Class. 
• The goals for the Penguins include introductions to the seasons, the months of the year, and the days of the week. 
• They will work on pre-writing and pre-reading including recognizing their name, number words, rhyming words, consonant sounds, and working with these skills through stories, poems, nursery rhymes, word games, and finger plays. They will also be introduced to Chinese words and symbols.
• They will develop a mathematical understanding of 0-10, recognize positions (up, down, left, right), recognize shapes, match geometrical forms, and classify things by color. 
• Each week they have different breakout sessions for different skills, including muscle coordination and physical fitness, music, art, physical science, life science, earth science, and the Holy Bible. 
• They will focus on knowledge of the Bible including the following: Christmas and the birth of Jesus, Easter, forgiveness, parables, obedience, love and kindness, friendship, and promises. 
• Finally, the Penguins will learn responsibility. They will be responsible for transporting their own clothing, jackets/sweaters, and art projects for the day. They will demonstrate the ability to obtain, use, and put away materials and toys correctly. They will build cooperation and teamwork in clean-up responsibilities, and learn to wait in line and take turns. 
• The kids have a chef who comes in daily to prepare snack and lunch. The sample menu I received includes: chow mein, veggie lasagna, edamame, tomato soup and cheese sandwiches, spaghetti and turkey meatballs, teriyaki chicken, waffles and sausage, etc. I think I want to eat lunch there! The Director said that they don't force kids to eat things they don't like, but they don't want us bringing food from home unless there's an allergy. I don't think Jack will have any problems. :)
• Finally - potty training. They require that all kids be in pull ups and that they all have set bathroom times (as well as any other time they ask.) They require the kids to manipulate their own pants (hence the pull ups.) I am really looking forward to seeing how this goes! 

So that's the important stuff. I am really excited that we found a place that is small, loving, and that he seems to like (they were having the Music Man in for dancing and instrument time today when I took his paperwork in....and he did NOT want to leave!) 

So that's our big news. I am really excited about getting into a schedule in January, and having time to get ready (physically and mentally) for the baby. She will be here before we know it! I think I have grown a lot in the past week or two...she's a lot heavier now and things like walking and sleeping are getting harder. Especially sleeping. I am sooo tired, a lot of the time. But it's all going to be over soon :) 

Justin got me an iPhone for early Christmas present, so I am doing better at on-the-fly pictures. Here are a few!

Nom nom nom, eating dinner.

Playing with the goats at Happy Hollow.

Helping Daddy butcher a filet ... YUM!! (No he isn't eating raw beef, he's eating grapes) :)

Scared of the fake spider in the bath :)

REALLY REALLY MAD (in his own words)

Enjoying playtime at the mall!

Just a few quick things...

If I don't post this, I will forget, because I am sure it will change soon. But it's so cute!!

Jack's new things:

• VERY PROPER ENGLISH. All of a sudden, when you ask him a question, he answers with a very proper full-sentence answer...although his grasp of the correct pronouns is still lacking. We have no idea where this came from, but it started very recently and it's hilarious. For example: "Jack, do you want an orange?" "Yes, my do."OR "Jack, don't spill that!" "No, my not." OR "Jack, do you have a poopy diaper?" "No, my don't."
• "I'm so happy!" He says this ALL THE TIME. It's really cute and makes me feel good because I think it means he likes whatever particular thing we are doing at that moment. Today, I was letting him drive his cars all over my arm and he looked up at me and said randomly, "Mommy, I'm so happy!"It's very adorable. :)
• Babies - his new obsession. I think it's because of all the baby talk in our house, but anytime he sees a baby he gets SUPER excited and either starts squealing and pointing, or tries to pet the baby. Other parents alternately think this is cute and/or slightly creepy. I explain that he's getting a little sister soon and they seem to understand.
• "TA-DA!" He will build a fort, house, or just make a pile of stuff and say "TA-DA!" like it's the greatest invention in the world. :)
• "It has scary eyes!" I also don't know where this came from, but any time something seems scary to him, he tells me it has scary eyes. Hmm.
• "Don't tell me!" When he's doing something bad, and he knows I am going to tell him to stop or tell him no, he pre-empts me by saying "don't tell me!" I can't help but always respond with "well if you weren't doing XYZ bad thing, I wouldn't have to tell you..." and I am not sure he understands that response, but really, what else do you say??
• Playing airplane. I guess we really have taken the kid on too many airplane trips, because now it's a (VERY LONG AND INVOLVED) game. We start by getting dressed, putting on our shoes, getting our tickets, boarding the plane, sitting in our seats, buckling our seat belts, giving the flight attendant our tickets, watching a movie, going night night, waking up, landing, deplaning, telling the pilot thank you, getting off the plane, riding the train, riding in the stroller, going to the car, and going home. Yes, really. He knows every step!

Baby update

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, baby girl is starting to look like a miniature newborn! Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside the womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily. 


Here is what she looks like!


And here is what Mommy looks like...whoa!

Ahh, the life of a two-year-old

Justin and I are so lucky to have such an entertaining little boy. He makes life interesting on a daily basis!  Friday night, for example, we put him to bed just like normal. He gets a little bit of TV time before bed as long as he's quiet, stays in his bed, and doesn't whine. I put him down, gave him his water and his taggies, and tucked him in. I went back out to the living room to relax.

About 15 minutes later, I figured I'd go in and turn off the TV so he could get to sleep. I walk in, and he's balanced on top of a stack of wicker baskets (that we use to organize his toys, which had all been dumped out), silently dropping everything he owned into his fish tank.

I almost died. Remote controls (yes, 2), the charger to his nightlight, his dinosaurs, his toy lizards and frogs, and best of all - two FULL containers of fish food. We disciplined him, and told him how bad it was of him to do that, and how long it was going to take to clean it up and how he may have hurt the fish...and all he did was look at me with giant, teary eyes and say, "Mommy, I wanted to feed the fish. They were hungry."

I mean really!!! Melt.

Quick shot of the fish tank before the massive cleaning began...

 The good news is that all the fish survived (none gorged themselves to death on massive quantities of food!) And little man has now had it drilled into his head that he is NOT to touch the fish tank!!

In other news, he's still Mr. Orderly and loves to line things up. Here, you will see cars, trucks, trains, and a random ornament off the Christmas tree.

Jack is super excited for Christmas, Santa, and his presents. We have enjoyed seeing all the holiday decorations in the stores and around town. We can't wait to celebrate this special holiday soon with our very funny little man :)

Our baby girl is doing just great! She is always, without fail, awake and kicking me from 9pm - 12 midnight every night. It's like she has gymnastics class in there or something! ("Party time! Excellent!!") Anyway, I enjoy feeling her freely move around in there because I know soon she will get too big and this will be more painful for both of us. I am hoping that this already-very-predictable schedule means she will be born on a natural rhythm and be in a great schedule, even as a newborn. (HA HA.) :)

Til later...

Jack's Quarterly ENT Checkup

This morning we went to Dr. Kita for Jack's quarterly ENT checkup. (He has to go every 3 months now that his tubes are more than a year old. There is a chance they will fall out at any time.) However, they are still snug in each ear, still draining, and still working perfectly! This was evidenced by the fact that the doctor, in the process of looking in his nose and throat, said "did you know he has a pretty bad cold?"

Um, Mommy fail. I knew he was runny, but I figured it was just the seasonal stuff going around. This may explain the fact that he's waking up so much at night.

Anyway, yes, he has a cold. Nothing severe, and it's very reassuring that this didn't turn into either a sinus infection or an ear infection. Way to go, little green ear tubes! Jack's been eating and acting fine, but the doctor recommended Mucinex, chicken soup, Vick's, his humidifier...all the normal cold stuff. Oh, and the dreaded nasal aspirator (Jack HATES having his boogers sucked out!) He said it should be okay in a couple of days, and if not, call back. Oddly enough, poor Spencer woke up this morning with a coughy, runny mess too, so I bet the boys have the same thing! Poor little guys.

We had a Vick's bath before nap time, and we are going to try and get a good rest this afternoon. As Mickey Mouse would say, "Toodles!!"

Apple Holiday Party

On Friday night, Apple's Hardware Engineering Division had their annual holiday party. It was really nice to meet all of Justin's coworkers (and bosses!) and we got to enjoy a night out. It was here: www.mountainwinery.com and they had about six tents with food, drinks, and dancing set up outside on the top of this beautiful mountain. Fun was had by all! Here's a few of our snapshots from the professionals:

Christmas Educational Project FAIL

Today I had a lot of shopping to do (as we realized last night when Jack had his nightly constitutional and we realized that no, in face we did not have an entire box of new diapers in his closet.) He was a good boy while I grocery shopped and got some other things, so I picked up a special treat - a gingerbread house kit. He was so excited, he talked about it all the way home. I figured it would be a good educational experience ("you build a house this way,") so we got home and broke out the box.

Here is a photo montage of our success (failure.) 

Jack's proud of his house...
even if he does have evidence of snacking on it on his chin!!!

Daddy will be disappointed. We have some structural integrity problems with the roof...
I don't think we will be issued our Certificate of Occupancy anytime soon.
Also - only our front door is snowed in. Odd!

Aerial view. I followed Jack's exact specifications with the icing,
and he placed (ate) all the candy. It looks a bit like the
Abominable Snowman threw up all over it :) 

Overall, we had a lot of fun ... but I don't think anyone will be hiring us on their architectural staff this year!!

Wake up, wake up - It's the first of the month....

Last month, we discovered Home Depot's kids workshops, which they do on the first Saturday of every month. The kids get a project, tools, and their parent (DADDY) gets to help them build that month's item.

Today, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to the Depot. (It's one of Justin's favorite places anyway!) Here are a few snapshots of the two engineers hard at work building a snowman napkin holder...

Opening the package: "Ohh what's that??"

Here Daddy, let me help you.

Jack is a good helper! And totally enthralled with building things.

Video of Daddy and Jack doing their Home Depot project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAvoGFM-Wrg

I caught a random moment the other day. Jack woke up from his nap and was watching Superwhy (one of his favorite shows all of a sudden.) It was all about how Superwhy was helping his friend the grasshopper find food, because he didn't have any. I was in the kitchen and I came out and Jack had taken his goldfish snack and made a little pile in front of the TV. He told me, "Mommy, that's food for the grasshopper! He can have that!" I thought it was adorable! Here is a short (bad) video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqGgYJtr7i4