The Life Aquatic, with Simon Zissou

Simon has recently taken to choosing his own outfits. This practice was limited to pajamas just a couple months ago, but recently it has extended to ALL clothing--including footwear and outerwear. Of course, at times we have to refuse something he really wants to wear, but that generally results in tears, so we try to avoid it if possible. Here is what he wore to child care yesterday...it reminded us of Steve Zissou (he has recently discovered this hat--one of Jess's that is a little tight on her--and has been wearing it 24/7!):

Most awesome-ist outfit of recent memory: "Mommy's hat," terry cloth swim shirt (you know, for that beach weather we're experiencing...), almost-too-small brown pants, too-small monkey slippers, and a onesie somewhere under there (and yes, he wore a coat and mittens before actually leaving the house, and we sent boots and a sweater along to child care, too!)

And, in other news, little TaterTot just keeps on keeping-on...now kicking Jess on and off throughout the day, and causing me to eat enough to feed 3 normal adults (or so it seems on some days!). A couple weeks ago we had a 20-week ultrasound, and baby is a-okay :).

So this view is a little creepy, because it looks like Poppy has a bionic eye...in actuality, that circle is the lens of the eye. Andy and I thought it was pretty amazing that we could see the lens of our little one's eye on the ultrasound!

And here's your more traditional side view--the bubble is Poppy's stomach, filled with amniotic fluid which means s/he has been practicing swallowing.

Christmas Recap

We are getting around to taking our Christmas decorations down this weekend, so I thought I should probably get around to blogging about Christmas, too, before its all a distance memory with the day-to-day stresses of the semester (starting next week).

For us, Christmas Eve and Christmas were a bit different, as its the first year we've been a pastor's family--Andy was quite busy with 4 different Christmas Eve services, followed by Christmas morning, and then due to the timing of Christmas this year, Saturday night & Sunday morning services immediately following Christmas.

While he was busy working Christmas Eve, Simon and I busied ourselves making some sugar cookies! Simon helped with every step, except those involving the hot oven...and he had quite the wonderful time, right up until it was time to put the sprinkles away because we were out of cookies to decorate. Then the mini-tantrum started. But until that part, it was a lovely time :).

Steve, Marilyn, Karlie, & Peter came to stay with us Christmas Eve and through Christmas Day. We went to church, opened presents, slept, opened stockings, went to church, ate, opened presents...hmmm...there was a lot of present opening, wasn't there? We decided to follow a tradition my family had when growing up far from our extended family--on Christmas Eve we got to open the "out of town" gifts. So all those gifts that had been sent by grandparents and others collected under the tree until Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas day more gifts from each other and Santa appeared under the tree.

Mom & Simon, at stocking time

Karlie & Steve...I'm guessing it had been a few years since they had last opened stockings!

Peter modeling one of his Christmas gifts

Simon got a basketball hoop! Here he is helping everyone try it out by passing the ball around so we could each take a shot.

We went to Appleton to see Jess' extended family, as well. While we were there, we went to a great children's museum with Jess' cousins and their kids. One room was full of balls and air-powered tubes for the balls to travel through, with levers and other settings the kids could change to alter the paths the balls took once in the system. Simon mostly liked collecting as many balls as he could hold...but Andy and Jess thought the room itself was pretty awesome.

Simon and Clara playing in the water room.

The motivation for our trip was to attend Jess's cousin, Jim's, wedding reception--here are Erin & David, and Jim & Ally (married abroad over Thanksgiving).

After Appleton it was back to Rochester briefly (with Sarah & Josh in tow), and then on to Red Wing for another Christmas celebration. Here Peter is checking out his gift from cousin Aaron--a HUGE octopus kite from China!

One of the most unusual, and as it turns out, beloved, gifts that Simon received was this huge stuffed fish from Uncle Mark. He loves to cuddle/tackle it! (If you ask what the fish is named, he'll say Dorothy...he hasn't quite gotten the idea of naming stuffed animals yet, but Elmo's fish is named Dorothy, so I think when he was first asked he was a little confused by the question and came up with the only fish name he knows--but it has stuck, and Dorothy now lives on our futon!)

2 and 29

I will eventually blog about Christmas, but I decided to go in reverse order and start with the birthdays--Andy turned 29 on December 29th, and Simon turned 2 on December 30th. Most of the fanfare was directed at Simon...

Out to eat in Appleton, WI with Jess' extended family on the 29th, everyone surprised Simon and Andy with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and...

...ice cream sundaes! Simon, in particular, thought this was an awesome way to end dinner.

In Red Wing on January 2nd, the boys were treated to a birthday breakfast and present opening. Here Simon is opening a wooden train set! We still need to figure out a good way to set it up (i.e. a low, flat, stable surface that isn't the middle of the dining room floor), so in the meantime we set up a mini-version (a one-loop track and train, no bridges, mountains, or other cool accessories that came with it) on the carpet in the basement. Simon has been busy experimenting and learning that if the magnetic train cars don't "stick" one way, he can just turn the car around and try the magnet on the other end.

Simon received many wonderful gifts for his birthday--here he's playing with a wooden birthday cake, made by Melissa & Doug. We love Melissa & Doug toys (he also got their Stamp & Sort Mailbox and unit blocks)! They are sturdy, non-battery-operated, and clever--this cake can be "sliced" thanks to velcro holding the pieces together, and different toppings and candles can be put on top via velcro spots. (Simon's godmother Sarah came to visit and was here for all the birthday festivities!)

Here I am, melting chocolate for the (non-wooden) birthday cake--actually, this was the first cake I've EVER baked, so I was a little concerned it might not turn out...but all the party-goers seemed to approve :). (Also, check out that belly! We are in full maternity-wear mode over here.)

Simon's party was the afternoon of the 2nd--it was very loosely based on Blue's Clues, in that I had made a treasure hunt with pawprints labeling the clues (the last clue led to a little treat bag). Here he is excited to find his first clue, hanging on top of his stocking. Due to our unfortunate last-minute no-shows (we hope you are all healthy now!), Simon actually did multiple treasure hunts, since I had them already made and he got such a kick out of it.

Of course Andy was a birthday boy to, so he had a treasure hunt as well...his clues were slightly more difficult than Simon's. Here he is giving me a quizzical look because he can't figure out his next clue!

Not your average two-year-old's birthday meal--while we had planned on just ordering a pizza, Josh (Sarah's boyfriend who was also visiting) offered to make homemade fettuccine alfredo--how could we say no?! It was delicious.

Due to timing right after the holidays and last minute illness, none of the invited kids were actually able to make it to the party--luckily, at age 2, Simon didn't mind having a small party and full attention from all the adults. Here he and Miss Lisa (his daycare provider) are looking at our birthday gift to him--a farmer doll that Jess knit.

The finished cake!

Blowing out candles...or attempting, at least. His aim is generally quite off when it comes to blowing out candles--this was actually taken right after they were magically extinguished by a nearby adult!

Happy birthday Simon!

And of course, playtime with all the new toys...being so close to Christmas, we actually had to clear all the Christmas presents out and relocate them to the basement and upstairs to make room for new birthday toys we knew were on their way! After the excitement and newness wears off in a week or so, we'll sneak some away and go back to our usual rotating-toy system, where we swap out toys every month or so from our closet rather than overwhelming Simon (and our house!) with all of them out at once.

Fun Video Day

Well, this was going to be a catch-you-up-on-our-holiday-adventures post...but as I was going through photos I came across this video gem that didn't make it to the blog earlier. As some of you know, Simon has been sick (fever since Sunday--finally down to 99.8 degrees last night), and the poor thing has been rather miserable. So I thought it would do Andy and I some good to have a reminder of the happy, goofy Simon we've been missing the past few days!

New Trick--Blowing Raspberries (a.k.a. "I am SO hilarious!"):