The Grand Finale

Just for Heather and Juju, I will now recount for you what I am wishfully dubbing the Grand Finale of the SSFs (Sara Silent Fits, for those of you who haven't been keeping up with the latest lingo here at In Over Our Heads). I did not capture it on video for reasons that will become readily apparent. But I will attempt to paint a picture for you. Allow me to set the scene:

Wednesday, 5:15 pm, picking up the kids from day care

I go into the school and get Hallie and Sara first. This is going well, I think. They are both glad to see me, have apparently had good days, and are excited about going to church.

We go get Brooks. We enter his room, and I set Sara down so that I can gather Brooks and all of his paraphenalia. (The girls have graciously decided to carry their own bags on the walk to the car, which was a blessed divergence from their M.O. earlier in the week that involved a comparably horrendous scene at the day care...but I digress.) Again, this is going well. I gather Brooks, his bottles, and his bag, and I walk toward the door. The girls are following me.

And then it happens. Sara realizes: Mommy. Isn't. Carrying. Me!

And just like that, the serenity deteriorates. Sara starts crying. I coax her out of the classroom with promises of church, Archie in the car, a sucker from Mr. Danny at the front desk before we leave. I'm pulling out all the stops. We make it four paces down the hallway, and I see her lowering to the ground out of the corner of my eye. Of course, I am carrying Brooks and all of his luggage, so there is not a whole lot I can do about this. I stand in the hallway pleading patiently with my toddler, who is completely ignoring me, to puh-lease come to the car. I have all but promised her a pony. I have tried pretending to walk away. I have tried to reason with her, explaining I cannot physically carry her and Brooks at the same time. I have threatened that she will be "in trouble" if she doesn't get up. Sensing my inability to follow through on any of this, she is nonresponsive. I am approaching the end of my rope.

As I am standing at the end of the hallway, just out of Sara's line of sight, hoping she will be inspired to get up and follow us (and shamelessly asking my lookout Hallie for updates regarding her position), I hear an adult voice talking to Sara. It's another mom--a mom of twins, actually, God bless her--who is carting her two bundles of joy to her car via double stroller and who literally cannot get through the hallway because Sara's facedown protest is horizontal in placement and takes up 3/4 of the walkway. For some reason, this makes some degree of sense in that little head of hers. She reluctantly gets up, and, still furious, follows me down the hall and out the door.  By the time we get to the car she is over it.

And that, ladies and gents, is my latest lesson in humility, brought to you by Sara Frances Head.

Telling His Toys All About It

Brooks has started to really study his play mat, including the star that plays music. He gets all excited and kicks and punches the air. Tonight he played on it while I took to the girls to choir and Jason stayed home to work on recovering from a sinus infection. In this clip, he kinda yells at the star instead of cooing, but it's cute anyway... :)

Little Man Update

Brooks had his 2-month checkup today.  He weighed in at 14 pounds even, and he's 25 inches long (97th percentile on both).  His head circumference is in the 50th percentile.  So, he's still growing like a weed!  Dr. Anderson declared his growth "impressive" and said he looked great. 

We did have to get four shots, but Brooks was fairly cooperative about this.  He screamed but let it go pretty quickly with a little cuddling.  He didn't seem to have any side effects after the shots either--hopefully there won't be a delayed reaction tomorrow.

In other news, Brooks is the Sleeper of the Year at my house.  Last night he slept from 9 to 6, when we had to WAKE HIM UP to get him ready to go to the doctor!  To say this is unprecedented in our infants is an understatement.  He has slept exactly 9 hours the last three nights in a row, and I am crossing all my fingers and toes that he can keep this going for his first full week at school and my first week back at work next week! 

It is hard to believe how quickly these eight weeks have flown by, and how fast he is growing up.  He is having more and more "wake time," and he actually seems to like his play mat now that he really studies the little things hanging from it...and even reaches for them sometimes.  He coos every once in a while, and I am still waiting on a big gummy grin all over his face, but he has given Jason a few little smiles.  (They've all smiled at him first...either they like him more or he's just funnier looking...I'll let you guess which one I believe.)  :)

Go Uncle Gray!

We took the kiddos to Uncle Gray's baseball game tonight.  Hard to believe it's one of his last baseball games...I can't even remember a time when he wasn't playing and Dad wasn't coaching!  The girls enjoyed watching him play and entertaining the grandstands.  Brooks liked it too--he was wide awake the whole time!

Sara's Silent Fit, Take Two

 

Can't believe I almost forgot to add this one...Sara threw another silent fit at the ice cream shop (yes, on the nasty ground outside), and James managed to snag a picture before I scooped her up and she snapped back into reality.  I honestly don't even remember why she was mad at me.  But she was very careful to make sure I was watching before easing herself onto the ground for her protest.  Unreal.

Ice Cream!

After the church picnic we headed to the ice cream shop.  Sara got blue ice cream...and ended up wearing it.  Hallie opted for the rainbow sherbet.

 

 After we ate, we marched around the fountain.  Uncle James met us for ice cream too!

Church Picnic

We went to the church picnic this afternoon, where Hallie rode the big slide and bounced in the bouncy houses.  Sara wasn't so sure about the bouncy houses and just watched her big sister...maybe next year!

 

The girls also got their faces painted.

 

And we ate dinner with our good friends the Gothards.

  

Brooks and Ruby chilled in their strollers during dinner.  The girls showed off their face paintings.

 

Hallie "took care of" Ruby for a little while after dinner...such a little mama.  And Jac cuddled with Brooks.

Good Morning!

Jason walked into the playroom this morning to discover Hallie playing with her underwear as her hat.

Week in Review

Well, I've been a little lax in my posting this week.  We are still here--just not up to anything extraordinary.  That said, there is the usual chaos to report, so here's a little recap for the friends and family who are kind enough to care about our minutiae...

1.  Last night as the girls were going to sleep Jason and I overheard Sara calling out names like she had the mic at a square dance and Hallie inserting those names into "He's Got the Whole World," which she was singing with gusto.

2.    Tonight I observed my girls with their dolls (and incidentally, I love to watch them take care of their dolls--I don't think I ever really played with dolls like they do), and noticed that Hallie's dolls are always going somewhere.  Usually to the store, but occasionally she'll throw in the beach or some other adventure.  Sara?  Her babies are always having a bottle and going night-night.  With blankies, of course. 

3.  Brooks (or "Brooksie," if you're Sara) went with me to choir practice last night.  He was perfectly behaved and really seemed to like the music.  He fussed only once--between songs.  As long as there was noise, he was quite content.  Of course, there IS always noise in his world...  Anyway, that will be his first and last adult choir rehearsal since he'll be old enough to go to the nursery next week.  Glad he made such a good impression.

4.  Brooks also went to school for the first (and second) time this week!  He happened to throw a total fit on his first day.  So much for good first impressions there.  Thankfully, his second day went far better, and I like his teacher very much.

5.  We are having showdowns at bedtime these days.  If it's not one, it's another.  Sigh...

That's about it for us this week.  Other than digging our way out of the piles of artwork that our girls keep bringing home from school, of course.  If you can't find us, we're here underneath the paper-streamer windchimes and stained glass tissue paper windows.

Ready for Church

This was supposed to be a picture of my girls in matching dresses, but...well, you saw the Sara picture on Easter morning...so we just took one of the big girl before she headed out the door.

Chillin on the Porch

The kids played outside and enjoyed their snacks on the porch yesterday while Mommy and Daddy worked in the yard. Pretty cute cheering section, I think.

Parent Pizza Picnic Day

 

We had beautiful weather this year for the Parent Pizza Picnic at the girls' school.  The girls (especially Sara) got good and messy with their pizza and cookies, and Little Man came too.  We got to meet his teachers and a couple of his new friends after the picnic.  He slept right through the introductions, but Jason and I got to talk to them for a little bit.

Couple of Cuties

Tonight is Gray's senior prom.  Hope y'all have a great time, Uncle Gray and "Big Hallie."  :)  You look great!

Fun on the Swingset

Third Time's the Charm

Granddaddy's camera managed to catch both my girlies looking ahead, and Hallie's even smiling!

Fun Family Weekend

Uncle Ted came to visit this weekend!  The girls loved spending time with him, of course, and Hallie informed me this morning that Ted and Carolyn are her friends.

On Saturday night, we celebrated Melissa and Ted's birthdays.

We played outside and ate dinner.  And then the girls "helped" them open their gifts.

Brooks snuggled with Gigi.

On Sunday we went to Gigi's for lunch.  We managed to get a couple of group shots.  Brooks chose to nap instead of participate in the photo shoot...and the girls, well...

Isn't the back of Sara's head lovely?

And I'm not sure what's up with H's pouty face in this one.  Oh well.  Maybe one day they'll both cooperate in the same picture.  Maybe.

We had a great weekend, and Happy Birthday to Iss and Ted!  We love you!

Sunday Afternoon Nap