Ten on Tuesday.

1. Alla's lizard hatched today. She's off on her new 16" bike to go show Canton the little fella. Pretend lizard, of course.


2. Alla's friend, Leigha, told her a birthday joke at her party on Saturday. It was too cute to hear her try and master the knock-knock variety:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Iguana.
Iguana who?
Iguana wish you a happy birthday!

3. Sometimes it snows in April. Prince, who is from the Twin Cities, knew exactly what he was talking about.
4. Alla woke up to a half-inch on her birthday, which confirmed that we had indeed made the right decision to have her party inside!

5. Elizabeth, thank you kindly. The cookie decorating was a hit. Although my own daughter didn't do so much decorating as dumping half a bottle of blue sprinkles onto a partially frosted cookie and then just scooping mounds of blue into her mouth. 6. Doesn't she just look so gracious. She just wanted to sing sing sing all day, and then it comes time and she just kind of gets quiet and, I want to say, awed, which is how I always feel, like, wow, all this is for me?

7. I'm kind of alarmed that as I sat there photographing her blowing out the candles I actually forgot to tell her to make a wish. I think I might have thought she just knew that. We might have to have a do-over this weekend. More chocolate cupcakes! Or something:)

8. Did you know that when you put on your new princess dress from Nana and Pappi that you must then go and grab your stool and stand upon it, otherwise you are not a princess.

9. Fisher slept through the entire party. Well, except for one little feeding.

10. And...the official six thirty-seven photo.

Happy Birthday, Al.

Because tomorrow will be filled with birthday festivities, I'm posting this tonight. To celebrate my daughter love.

He smiles.

He really, really does. Big ones. Wide ol' gummy ones with his eyes mouth and cheeks. I just love it.

It happened.

He turned one month old. Without our permission.

Three for Thursday.

Maybe this will be a weekly occurrence. Maybe I shouldn't make promises I can't keep. It is a lot easier to blog on Thursdays, though, when Miss Alla is in school and Fisher is napping, than it is on Tuesdays when all three of us are at school and half the day is gone when we get back home.

Yesterday Fisher somehow decided he would suddenly become four weeks old. We did not give him permission, seeing as how doing so would only lead to other such events. Turning one month old, for example. But since it did happen, I made sure to document it.

Alla is forever wanting to hold him. He was pooping while she held him so she placed a burp bloth under him so he wouldn't get poop on her bed. Then she pulled it up between his legs like an extra diaper. I love this one because it's his face so clearly, this is just him, what he looks like at four weeks, beginnings of baby acne and all. Love you little Fish.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The babe's cord fell off a week ago and so we gave him a bath. We call this a success, having bathed him before one month old, which is how long Alla had to wait til we got around to it.

2. I really wanted to include a nakey bath shot here but thought better of putting his parts out there like that.

3. Here's why I initially thought it was so important to show the nakey baby, though: took him to the doctor yesterday for a check up and learned he is up to TWELVE pounds, FIVE ounces. That's a gain of more than two pounds since birth. And more than that, actually, since they lose weight initially. He is definitely getting round, and obviously has the nursing thing figured out.

4. Good thing about the weight gain: we can now move onto cloth diapers! Excited as I was initially, I tried one out yesterday and was all thumbs. I guess we better just get started so we can figure it out.

5. See I told you he was starting to smile! This is the best we can capture at the moment, but it's much more pronounced than this, the whole squinty-eyes and big grin thing. We love it.

6. This is so sweet. After much reprimanding about how we don't use the measuring tape on our baby brother's feet, arms or head, she finally put it down and just kissed him.7. I love these two. Kinda out of focus and all since it's me there holding the camera and the babe's hand, but it's kind of something you have to document I think, how teensy the hands are.8. Just me and my littlest love.9. While I post this, Alla is getting into my scrapbook cupboard and getting out all the 'punchers' and putting them into the other cupboard and is now using my ruler to 'count the numbers:' sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five. I didn't know my ruler was so big.

10. We need to find a way to order an entire case of Trader Joe's Apple Strawberry fruit leathers. She's obsessed. And she calls 'em fruit weather.

Three for Thursday.

This has been our first week without Daddy home.

I'd say we're doing alright, especially considering that Alla is getting over the cold that she gave to Fisher. Argh. The joys of having a big sister, right, little man?

I've certainly learned that there are few things I will give up sleep for. Actually I can't think of one off the top of my head. Definitely not for blogging, or even photographing, let alone editing. If both kids are asleep I run to my bed, close my eyes super tight and pray for immediate sleep.

But in one of my productive awake periods yesterday, since my son is now three weeks old, I captured this. And in my head I imagined lots of comparison posts so you could see how he and Alla are just spitting images of one another at this age, but that would require spending loads of time downstairs on my computer, and, let's face it, I'm spending loads of time in my own bed. He barely fits in this basket. And I thought it was a big basket.And, it's too elusive for me to photograph at the moment, but my son is making attempts at smiling. It's this big toothless double-dimpled grin when you nuzzle into his cheekies. Gotta get that on video at least. Or maybe this weekend Daddy can hold the camera and I can get him to do the grin. Stay tuned.

We are ready for spring here but apparently Mother Nature feels we haven't had enough winter yet as another storm with measureable snow is on its way tonight. Sigh. We'll get spring one day, right?

And with that, I'm glancing over at my son all swaddled up snug as a bug and seeing his eyes grow very heavy, so that means, you guessed it, run to my own bed and pray for immediate sleep. Ta-ta!

Family outing.

To the mall with the merry-go-sel (some people call them carousels, some call them merry-go-rounds, but our daughter likes to combine the two). But when we got there she wanted nothing to do with it.

Got her some new pajammies (also her term) for this warmer (58 degrees) weather we're having.

And a new filter for our fridge.

Exciting stuff, I tell you, for a Saturday morning. Not really, I guess, except that it is, when you have a newborn and a trip to the mall is a trip out of the house and an opportunity to put on makeup and feel like you didn't just stumble out of bed.

And, funny story, while we're driving there, looking at all the construction happening on the sides of the freeway, Alla is remarking on how 'they' need to clean up all that mud and sand. So I ask her, 'What people?' And she says, 'THOSE people, Mommy! Jesus.' And you know the tone she used for that last bit, right? It was just more than a whisper, an exasperated whisper. Like, DUH MAMA. Ron and I just burst out laughing. That girl.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Here's how we roll in Minnesota, several inches of shovel-able (yep that's a word) snow on March 31st.

2. I have a nephew! My sister had her bouncing baby boy on Easter Sunday...little Brian.


3. My friend Marie had her baby exactly a week after I had Fisher...little Charlie.


4. My dear friend Samantha had her baby, too! Little William, born four days ago. Ah, four days. Wishing I could go back to four days. Oh, except for the pain at four days. And the rash from the iodine. OK, I'll take thirteen days. But no more.

5. My sister-in-law, who is carrying my other nephew, started a blog. Hooray! This is great news since they live in Japan and it's not likely that we'll be traveling that far to see little Ryan.


6. My dear friend Sara also gave into the peer pressure and started a blog, and has been quite the little poster! Now we can see her 2 little guys on a regular basis.


7. Look what Alla did at school last week. Is that not amazing penmanship? She puts those little dots on the ends of the letters 'to protect the letters,' she says.

8. Alla woke us up at three a.m. to tell us she farted. It's, like, not as satisfying if she doesn't tell someone that she's done it. She's also obsessed with singing Fisher Fisher Bo Bisher Banana Fana Fo Fisher, Me My Mo Misher, Fisher. Obsessed.

9. My son can go through some diapers.
10. Can you even resist itty tiny baby feet? I cannot.

Bonus #11 (Feel free to pay me in extra sleep). I swear my son kisses me.


** That quilt came from my virtual baby shower, is made by Petunia Petunia, and no we did not put two and two together before Fisher was born, to realize that those are indeed fishes on that quilt, even though we did indeed have his name picked out while that lovely quilt lay waiting on his crib. Nor did we realize that he would be a Pisces, the symbol for which is, yes, a fish. Appears that Mommy brain began while he was still in utero.