Oh, Nuts!

---

---

Henry Gets Ready For A Change

I've been meaning to get some video of Henry talking for a while now. This is what I took yesterday. It makes it a bit tougher to understand him with his fingers in his mouth, but when he's got his dog, he's sucking his fingers. Oh, well. He also sort of played along with me as I prompted him to do some of the things he likes to do and say and have close at hand during diaper changes. Anyway, this is a good look into his verbal development, which has exploded since late January.

Pre-Christmas Run-Down

I know it's been a while since I last posted. My apologies. There has been lots going on in the Gates Home, and finding the time to sit down and play with photos and write has been tough. Kid stuff is a bit overwhelming right now. Work has been busy in spurts. During the down times at work I've been writing an essay with colleagues from Kentucky and Pennsylvania with the goal of having it published in JAVMA.

You read that correctly... I'm working on getting a piece published in a scholarly journal. I recall my high school days when I was writing term papers and preparing Works Cited pages and saying, "Why do I have to do this? I'm never going to have to do this again." The answer was always, "You'll need to know how to do this in college." Then, by the time I got to vet school, the answer was, "If you ever publish, you'll have to know." And my answer was always, "Yeah, right. I'm going into private practice and never entering the realm of academia again." Well, guess who has been managing the Works Cited page. That's right, and it's been a blast from the past.

So, catching up...Lydia got moved to a toddler bed. After climbing out of her crib for about a month and not caring a lick when we'd tell her not to do it, we bit the bullet, got the toddler bed (Craig's List... speaking of things I swore I'd never do again...), and now she can climb back into her bed....... except when she doesn't want to.Lincoln had his Christmas program at preschool. And on the note of preschool, we received a glowing report from his teachers about his progress and abilities. They're challenging him, and he's rising to the challenges.Oodles continues to stalk the kids. Sometimes they care that "he's reporting to Santa." Most of the time they forget about it and naughty sibling behavior rules the day.After purchasing an artificial tree for our family room, Jenn, Lincoln and I still wanted to continue our family tradition of going to the tree farm, so Lincoln and I cut down a smaller tree today and lit it for our front porch. He and the other kids wanted to put lights up on the front of our house, so this was a compromise I was willing to make.And then on Saturday evening, Jenn and I went to our annual ABF Christmas Party. Jenn looked stunning (and her gold shoes didn't make the photo, but... wow!) and I was more than happy to be seen with her.

Spring Video

When I leave for the weekend it's hard to keep the blog updated. Jenn does a fabulous job keeping up with the home and kids, and when I get back, she's spent, and then it's catch up for the two of us. So I haven't had the camera out much lately. But here's some stuff from the past month.

Lincoln's Fort

There are a few interesting things that have happened in and around the Gates home over the past couple of days. All of this has been happening in the midst of coughs, sneezes & runny noses, but Lincoln and Lydia have not been letting their symptoms stop them.First of all, Lincoln and Mommy built a fort in his room! He's napped and spent the night in his fort, and he's really into it! The details are in the video below.This morning Lincoln made a finger-paint piece for his fort, and that was a lot of fun.There are a couple of robins that have made our back yard their home, and one of the females is trying to build a nest on our deck. She's not having much luck right now, but she's persistent, so we're waiting to see if we'll have a finished product along with eggs then nestlings.As far as Lydia's solids go, there are some times when she's interested and other times where she's not. Today was a "not."Her coordination is getting better, though, and she's been taking her pacifier in and out of her mouth with better skill.Also, she's been experimenting big-time with her voice. She's funniest after she wakes up, and we'd laugh in the morning if she didn't wake us up 1 hour earlier than any of us really need to wake up.

Also, Atlas Shrugged pt.1 comes out in less than a week. Here's another scene from the movie:

Fun Video

More fun at the Gates Home!

Anatomy of a Cry:

The Lip

The Wail

The Recharge

What did she want? To be held by Daddy.

January Video

Fun w/ iSight

Bedtime Routine

After a lengthy absence, it's video time on the Gates blog!!!

Lincoln and I have a bedtime routine. He even refers to it as... "My routine." First I say, "I think you need to tell Mommy a few things."

Lincoln then finds Jenn and says, "Goodbye. Night, night. Love you," and gives her a hug and a kiss. Then we go up stairs to his room. He goes potty, brushes his teeth, puts his nightime diaper on, puts his pajamas on, gets Bear from the top bunk, we read stories together, he climbs into bed, we sing songs, say our prayer, and then finish with a kiss and a hug. Sometimes we'll play a bit between the steps, but we always go in that order. What follows was a portion of our routine this evening.