Baby Blog

November and December were busy months! Blake attended her first CNS board retreat while Sebastien and Archer went to the CNS book swap. (We’re all “divide and conquer” these days!) We went to Max Racine’s house for a dinner play date for his 4th birthday and managed to mostly have a three-child good showing. We celebrated Thanksgiving at Dani and Eric’s house and the boys had a blast playing with their cousins.

In December, Blake was baptized surrounded by all her family at St. Mary’s Church and we celebrated with a lunch afterward at Figs. Ashlyn and Ben were tapped for godparent duties.

Grammie and Pop Pop stayed for a visit and took Sebastien and Archer to see Big Hero 6 and later, the Penguins of Madagascar. Archer successfully sat through both movies (with an assist from big quantities of chocolate and popcorn). We visited Santa at the Burlington Mall – and no one cried! Hooray! We saw him again when we rode the Polar Express up in Portland, which everyone loved again. Pop Pop parent helped in Sebastien’s class and I spent the morning with Archer (who is in the most chill toddler classroom ever). Nick and I made an appearance at the PwC Christmas Party but only stayed long enough to realize we were too old to have fun at that thing! (The pre-party was legitimately nice though.) We went to Vuono Christmas down in RI and Blake got to meet the whole Vuono side. Grammie and Pop Pop babysat while Nick and I went out to dinner at Craigie on Main to celebrate his 36th birthday and had an amazing six course tasting menu. We also celebrated with ice cream cake and presents at home. Jared, Margaret, Ashlyn and Ben came up on Christmas Eve and we lunched in the North End, ice skated at the Steriti Rink and went to mass in the pouring rain. Christmas was more low-key, with our traditional waffle breakfast, opening presents and crown roast dinner (plus a lovely trip to the ER for me to get a shot of penicillin for strep throat). Sebastien got his much wished for electric guitar and Archer got a new keyboard so we will be making music all year long. Grammie, Ashlyn, Blake and I wedding dress shopped, then bridesmaid dress shopped and had success on both counts. When it wasn’t pouring rain, we took trips to the Science Museum and Planetarium and out to Sturbridge Village. We finished out the year with a *slightly* earlier than midnight (cough 7:30pm cough) New Year’s Eve celebration with balloons, noise makers and a countdown with fireworks from Melbourne on youtube, then promptly put everyone to bed!

Sebastien, you started hockey (although year one is just learning to skate) and it is your new favorite thing ever. This is the first time I’ve seen you REALLY excited about a sport and it’s fun to see you counting down the days each week until hockey day. You skate the entire hour and wish it was even longer. You had another visit at the Learning Project, where you will attend kindergarten, and played with some new peers who will be in your class next year. You had ear tubes put in and your adenoids taken out just after Christmas. Dr. Cohen was truly impressed with how big your adenoids were and thinks that was the root cause of all the fluid in your ears. Hopefully this will take care of the reduced hearing situation! You did great with the surgery and were back to yourself after a few days of rest and ice pops. A few new fears have cropped up lately, namely escalators and giants. I’m not sure where either of them came from, but the escalators is a tough one. We have had a couple of situations where Dad or I start heading down the escalator thinking you are stepping on too, only to find you still at the top and us trying to run our way back up the down escalator. Comical to all observing, I’m sure. And your new thing is saying, “Goodbye, I love you!” and giving a hug at school drop-off and, “Goodnight mom, sweet dreams, I love you!” at bedtime. These might seem small but they were so NOT your thing just a few short months ago. I will admit that I love them (even though sometimes I question your sincerity when you say them after you have *just* told me how mean I am. Ha.)

Archer, you are SO two years old lately. So sweet and adorable and cuddly but also such a little stinker. You continue to HATE holding hands, especially in the street or parking lot and especially when there are puddles to stomp in. This makes getting anywhere with you and Blake rather difficult because I often can’t just pick you up and end up quickly parking Blake on the sidewalk in the stroller to chase after you as you head toward the street. No amount of “freeze” or “not safe” shouting seems to make any difference to you in these situations. I finally had to bite the bullet and buy the second seat for the stroller (even though you are so very close to the weight limit) because getting you home from school was so incredibly difficult. You wouldn’t listen to me when we tried to walk, you wouldn’t stay on the skateboard when we tried to stroll, and I would end up either chasing you up the hill, praying there were no cars in the street you were about to run into, or carrying you up the hill while pushing the stroller. So now you can be firmly and safely buckled into the stroller and all is right with the world again. (This sounds like such a little thing, but you’d be amazed the amount of stress it caused in my week.) You are still “Blakey’s” number one fan, whether it’s smothering her with hugs and kisses or trying to unfold her fists to give her high fives. And Blake received your first spontaneous “I love you,” lucky girl. At Christmas time, you serenaded us with many renditions of Jingle Bells and you loved the Little Drummer Boy. You still love watching music videos and popular ones these days are “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars, “Blank Space” and “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift, and “All about that Bass” by Meghan Trainor. You’re really interested in counting things lately and can count to twenty no problem plus count objects pretty reliably up to five or six. You’re such a smart kiddo. And in the last month or so, your speech has really picked up. You are using amazing full sentences and we’re finally getting a peek into all the little things going on in your head. (A: “Mommy is 20. Blakey is 3.” T: “And how old is Archer?” A: “Some twenties.”)

Blake, you had your two month pediatrician appointment and measured 24 inches and 11 lbs, 11 oz putting you in the 89th percentile for height and 59th percentile for weight. I went off dairy in November for two weeks but it didn’t seem to make much difference in your spitting up habits so went back on after Thanksgiving. You are starting to look more and more like Sebastien (although he firmly disagrees, ha) and less like Archer, although you still get both comparisons. Your first laugh was on 11/17 and you continue to be the chattiest, cooing-est little babe. Grammie, the pacifier whisperer, finally got you to take a “ba” while she was visiting in December and you miraculously started falling asleep on your own on 12/11. You are trying SO hard to roll over (and getting really close) and you only want to be sitting up these days. Giving you cheek and neck kisses is a surefire way to get you to smile and you are our first kid so far who can be talked out crying with a big smile!