Cookies with James

James and Tim (and I!) all love Grandma's oatmeal cookies, so today on a gray day James and I decided to bake up a batch from her recipe.  I premeasured out all the ingredients (I learned as a nanny that relying on a small child to make accurate measurements while baking was completely unreasonable) so that James could just dump in the appropriate bowl.  

What he loved most of all was the flour.  Here he is mixing in the salt and baking soda.  Note the flour all over his shirt.

Walnuts in...

Most of the chocolate chips going in (some were diverted to his mouth).

And two of three pans baked...the first (top left 6 cookies) are a bit dark and crispy due to my attempts to multitask while they were baking.  I did get the woodstove's fire lit, but while doing that I head Robert fill his diaper- so upstairs we went to change it and it was a blow-out diaper so while dealing with that I heard the timer go off downstairs and couldn't get back down right away.  But they couldn't be that bad as only 6 of the original 12 remained by the time I took the picture.  James just kept going into the kitchen and grabbing one to eat.  On his third trip I caught him pulling one down off the counter and he looked up at me with big eyes and said "you want one too?".  I think he thought I was giving him a look because he hadn't offered one to me, not because I thought he'd already had plenty cookies seeing as it was before lunch.  But as Sharon says- they have oats and nuts so they can't be all that bad for you.

Robert's "bone"

Robert and James "playing" together this morning.

Before bringing Robert home from the hospital we asked the nurse if they were going to take off the clip from the umbilical stump and she said yes.  But when we got home and changed his diaper we discovered it still on.  James was there when we made the discovery, sitting on the bed next to me and he asked me if we could take off Robert's "bone".  I suppose it does look a bit like a bone, pale & skinny.  Not too bad a deduction for 3-yr old.
After looking it over and not seeing an obvious way to remove it I called the hospital and asked if there was a trick to getting it off.  I was told that they have a special knife they use to cut it open and I could just bring him in- alternatively the nurse told me that there is a way to use a safety pin to pry it open.  There was no way I was making the  30 minute trip into the hospital at that point (I was still incredibly sore and uncomfortable from the c-section) so instead Tim got out his clippers we used when putting up the deer fence around the apple orchard and I held the clip as steady as I could so as not to pull on poor Robert's tender belly button and Tim snipped the end of the clip open.

Robert is wearing the sweater I knit for James- he is so nice to snuggle in his baby alpaca squishiness!

Still Not a Raisin (March 5th)

On day 17 of Robert's life his umbilical stump finally fell off after holding on by a thread of tissue for almost a day.  So far he is following James' schedule who also gained a belly button on his 17th day.

These pictures were taken the morning of March 9th- a few days later than the event, but such is the life of a second child.

Post nursing picture...hence the stream of milk on his right cheek.

Still not a raisin!

A little trim to get ready for the beach! (Dec. 16, 2012)

 For Christmas 2012 we decided to meet Tim's sister, Tonya, on Grand Bahama to celebrate as she couldn't make it back to the states from Botswana.  James' hair was getting quite long and I didn't want it ruining his beach fun by dripping in his eyes all week long.

 Sharon offered to trim it- and when I asked James who he wanted to cut his hair he also requested that she do it.

He did a great job holding still and cooperating with instructions to move this way and that.

Tanglewood (Dec. 11, 2012)

 James got to enjoy his first Christmas light viewing at Tanglewood in North Carolina thanks to my parents.  He was thrilled to get to be unbuckled in a MOVING car and sit in his Nana's lap up front.

 He was pretty fascinated as you can see.

 The hardest part for James was getting long enough to see and absorb each display.   As with all 3-year olds his attention span for some things is surprisingly long.

 I think he'll look forward to seeing them again next year!

Cutting down the Christmas tree (Nov. 29, 2012)

 One wonderful thing about having 4,500 Christmas trees in your backyard, is that it is so easy to go chop one down for your holiday celebrations!  After work one day we all bundled up and headed out the door.

 We have some brambles on the path so James opted to be carried over those.

 I think James was irritated by the camera flash in this one.

 We had scouted out the tree a few days before when family was over and picking out theirs.

 James is wearing a hat I made for Tim a couple of years back.  Tim is wearing one that I made to match the cardigan I made him two years ago.

 We didn't get a picture of the decorated tree this year, but I think an annual tree cutting picture trend has begun.  Ironically as I write this post (March 3rd 2013) the Christmas tree is still in the tree stand on our porch!  Some day we'll get it down and let it dry thoroughly before making it the centerpiece of a bonfire.

11th Anniversary

 While I put James down for the night, Tim made a delicious dinner of ribeye steaks with mushrooms and parsley sauce, au gratin potatoes, and homemade caesar salad (including the croutons and dressing) all the while holding Robert. Note also the handwashed dishes in the background he had done before taking charge of the baby. Then he gave me the most wonderful present- a ring of the same kind he gave me after James arrived- this time with pink sapphires (James' ring had blue). How blessed am I!