Baby Pictures and Big Brothers

It's been hard to get a good picture of the little miss, but there has been some grumbling on the lack of baby cuteness so I now give you grumpy with a bow on top.........

.....and bored and trying to eat her hand, again with a bow on top.........

The boys all love her and just keep telling me about how cute she is and how much they love her tiny feet.  Henry did also said that we should have named her "Mary Poppins Margaret Angela Darling" and my argument that it might be a little long didn't seem to take the edge off of his disappointment although he did throw out "Princess Leia"as a shorter option.    I guess we'll just have to save that one for the next baby.

We were most worried about John's reaction but surprisingly (so far anyway) he just loves the baby.  He keeps coming up to her and kissing her head and pointing and smiling and saying "new baby!" in the sweetest way you can imagine.

Hopefully all of this sweetness lasts even once Margaret's big enough to steal their toys and they can't do anything about it because you can't make your little sister cry.

Brotherly Love

Chris and I walked into this yesterday and sneak captured the cuteness.  Henry asked David to read him one of our new library books and David happily obliged.  Horrible video quality alert--but hey, it's my blog and I do what I want :)

Don't worry, it's not too long--we were busted before he finished reading the whole book......

You can't hear it but he totally sounded out "quiver" and "shiver" all by himself which pretty much made this mamma fit to burst with pride :) This is pretty much the boys favorite book right now, we might actually have to buy a copy of our very own.

Brotherly Love

Henry:  "Mom!  If you squeeze the baby it makes noises!"--cue maniacal Henry laugh.......

I think I'm in trouble.......

Brotherly Love

Best Friends Forever....or Stop Strangling Your Brother

David and Henry have begun to play with each other and not just beside each other.  It is beyond exasperating to David that Henry wants to play with everything he's playing with so we've been brainstorming better ways to handle these irksome situations.   We've been practicing saying things like:  "Henry, I was playing with that.  Would you like _____ toy instead?" in lieu of the ever popular, "Hey, that's MINE!" followed by a shove to the floor for good measure. We've also been practicing, "Excuse me Henry, may I scoot around you?" instead of "Get out of my WAY!" again followed by a shove for good measure.  All in all things are improving, but I have a feeling it may take some time.....it makes it all worthwhile though, when I walk in the room and find things like this:

Of course their friendship means nothing but trouble for me.  They've banded together against me!  Take this for example....Now how did the giant caboose get turned over and two children end up inside the "fort"?  David's answer......"Henry did it."  Hmmm.....

And then there's the daily question: "Where is your brother?"  You never really know what kind of an answer you'll get to that one.

Today it was:  "In the window.  Can I climb in the window too please?"  Like brother, like brother I suppose. I should have known I'd have two climbers.

Brotherly Love

David took a break from playing this morning to decorate Henry......



I'm sure one day Henry will appreciate the fact that he has a big brother and be able to overlook things like this......

Brotherly Love

Henry is pulling himself up on everything now and he's pretty proud of his new accomplishments! It has caused some tension between the boys when he pulls himself up to the train table and upsets the layout, but David doesn't seem to mind sharing the play kitchen with his little brother!

Henry vs. David

First David lulls Henry into a false sense of security....he's all smiles and hugs....

Then, the hug takes a turn for the worse and it turns into a body slam.....accompanied by the classic line, "Henry fell down" complete with the innocent, I don't know what happened look from David.....

Peace is restored as the boys perch in their favorite spot in the house--the back of the sofa--looking out at the squirrels. It's the favorite spot of dogs and children everywhere.....But Henry will soon get his revenge....

Ah, brotherly love...why do I have the feeling things are only going to get worse from here....

Brothers are for Sitting On

This is one of David's new favorite pastimes. He thinks it's hilarious to climb under Henry and let him bounce on him, Henry also enjoys the brotherly attention.