Paces. Consider yourself gone through.

So this post is delayed due to a plague on our house. I came down with some sort of weird could-be-strep-but-the-quick-test-isn't-positive, virus, flu-like thing in the middle of the week where at one point I had a fever of 101.5--WHILE ON ADVIL. Annie had been sick since the Friday before with the cold that wouldn't die and then I'm pretty sure it morphed itself into a mix of my illness and hers for a lovely germ cocktail that Oscar seems to have just dipped his pinky toe in, because he's the healthiest out of the three of us with only a bad stuffy nose (knocking firmly on wood). The BEST part though was Jay taking his first business trip in not-so-recent memory this weekend and being gone all of Saturday and today. Still waiting on him. Murphy, I hate your laws.

But other than that and a profound lack of sleep because of that, we are working our way up to the surface of the germ pool and hope to rejoin civilization soon. Annie is starting to see the effect she has on our little Oscar. Oh, the power. But she's also torn by the fact that it's not just the Annie Show any more. Now she has an annoying co-host who can't talk and drools a lot. There have been some jealous outrages and some rough pretend play with the doll-house family where people and things are scolded and thrown. And I feel so bad for our cats. But, I try to let some of it fly because I figure it's better she vent the frustration now and enjoy Oscar rather than take it out on him. He's got a mean right hook, but he just doesn't know it's his yet. Also, if I didn't let it fly, I would constantly be correcting Annie and I just can't bare to be that person. How sad is that Mom Job? So we're all doing our best. Rest assured, there are moments like when she asks to hold Oscar, or she goes up to him to make him smile, or when she tells me not to take her upstairs to get her shoes otherwise "Oscar will be all by himself," (in his bouncy seat) that make the hard parts of my job a little easier. Exhibit A:

(I'd like to apologize to Oscar for the shirt he's wearing in this video ... Sorry, kid, this is where the lack of speech or control of your arms kind of bites you in the butt.) On a happier note, we'd like to wish Oma a happy birthday coming this Wednesday and Nana and GranBob a happy anniversary this Thursday!

Annie and Oscar 2-10

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We're definitely not in Houston anymore

We've been enjoying some winter weather here in Louisville. I love it. It reminds me of my childhood in Connecticut and the snow has been infrequent enough so as not to put a bad taste in my mouth. Today we got our biggest snowfall of about 6" and Annie donned her snowpants, and I my cap to frolic in the snowflakes and make a snowman while Annie perfected her snow angel technique. She got pretty good, although she had a little trouble with the dismount. I haven't lost my touch with my snowman-making abilities either, I must say.

Oscar looked on from the observation deck (aka the living room), as Papa was snowed in from work, but he too was excited for all the white stuff outside (babies love contrast), as you can see in this photo. We finally got a photo of him smiling. This was a feat. Every time he was giddy and I got the camera out, it was like a deer in headlights. "What is that shiny machine!?" He's becoming more of a player in this family, crying less, making more conversational sounds. He loves having his diaper changed. I guess he's a neat freak like his mom. His sleep is slowly improving as well. Last night he went from about 8:15 until 3. Still not stellar but I'll take it. I have to watch myself comparing him too much to Annie otherwise he is going to get a complex. Annie, as you may remember, was the dream baby sleeper. I remember calling the nurse when she was 10 weeks old complaining that she wasn't doing the 8-10 hour stretches she had been doing just nights before. I'll never forget what the nurse said: "How old is she? ... She's not supposed to be sleeping that long. Count yourself lucky." Well, the rules of equilibrium are certainly at work in this house. I just pray he's as good an eater as Annie is. Fingers crossed.

Lost in translation

As much as I like to expound on the joys of Oscar's newness, it is his sister on whom I'd like to focus today, partly because Oscar's on my list for not sleeping more than 5 hours at a time at night, but mostly because Annie is hysterically cute these days (whereas Oscar is cute in a less humorous way). Don't get us wrong, there are days when we are convinced that 3 is the new adolescence just with less vocabulary, but for the most part, we are still very much in love with our little Annie. The thing that kills me on a daily basis and keeps me coming back for more each day is her immense dedication to sounding older than she is. Today while I was writing my grocery list (I know, the glamour!), Annie started talking to me using words like "normally," "the truth," "so...," dropping sentences from books we've read over and over again, and using many other common phrases and the like she's picked up from us grown-ups, only ... wait for it ... she wasn't using them in ANY intelligible form WHATSOEVER. It was like a 2-minute stream of consciousness performance art piece. I finally looked at her and said, "Annie, I have no idea what you're talking about." She just smiled that grin of hers hoping that maybe, just maybe, at least one of the things she said was used in its appropriate context. Sadly, no. This video is a strikingly accurate, if not eternally embarrassing example of this phenomenon where Jay caught her doing some light reading whilst on the commode. I've watched it several times and although it would seem otherwise, I swear she's not on drugs.

Also, Annie has a very vivid imagination when naming characters in play. If you ask her to name a doll, or if she's roll playing and you ask her what her name is, you'll always get a response that is neither intelligible, previously existing, nor able to be repeated nor remembered. Never will you hear her say, "My name is Jane," no, you'd more likely hear, "My name is Kalikahn Makah Doozey." Of course.

Just so Oscar doesn't develop a complex, I'll give you a nutshell update. As you'll see in the video below, he smiles, no, he GRINS. Those huge wide-open mouth grins where he even sticks his tongue out a little. And he loves to babble, I think more so than Annie. Annie made you work for her coos. Oscar belts them out to us, the characters attached to his bouncy seat, the cats, sometimes a doorknob ... whomever will listen. It's great and makes up (partly) for the enormous amounts of sleep I have sacrificed in these last three months. Watching the video I posted for the last entry, I feel like he's so much bigger now than he was then. Strange how fast even infants seem to grow up. It's just a matter of time until he and his sister are having nonsense conversations that they completely understand but whose parents are at a loss ... See!? EXACTLY like teenagers.