A Little Announcement

Our big sister in training.

Sorry I haven’t been posting many updates recently. The reason is that I was afraid I was going to let the big news slip. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we are officially expecting another little Booker. It feels so good to finally be able to spill the beans!

Not that everyone hadn’t figured it out already anyway. I’ve been dry-heaving twice a day like clock-work since Christmas. Good times. Plus I’ve been showing since I was about eight weeks along. Seriously. They are right when they say you show much earlier the second time around. But it’s not even the good “I’m-so-cute-with-my-little-baby-bump” type of showing. It’s more like the “Jeez, she’s-really-put-on-a-lot-of-weight-recently” showing. 

Harper has already picked out names for her new sibling:

Spider for a girl and Butter for a boy.   

My due date is mid-August, so we figure anytime in August is fair game for D-Day. Harper was two weeks early so I’m hoping this one will be too. (Let’s be honest, what pregnant woman doesn’t want a full-term but a little on the early-side baby, right?) Truth be told once 37 weeks hits I turn in to a bar tender at closing time; “All right kid, I’m not saying you’ve got to go home but you can’t stay here.” 

I'm a little anxious about how we'll juggle two but I guess we'll figure it out. Everyone does eventually, right? Right??? 

   

Anyway, I’m a lot more relaxed this time around. Brad says that will change. He might be right. Last time as soon as five months hit I started nesting like crazy. I was actually on a ladder five feet off the ground finishing the detail work on the mural in her room at 36 weeks pregnant. I’m not in any way justifying my actions, just relaying the facts here as I recall them.

But I do feel like we’ve got all the stuff this time around. All we need is the baby.

She has been very clear that she is happy to share everything with her new sibling except her dinosaurs. A girl has to set boundaries, you know.

Of course, I have been meaning to repaint the living room. And the tub in the front bath needs to be recaulked. And I’d love to retile the hearth. And I'd really love to plant a kitchen garden in the backyard…

Stay tuned for more of our wacky journey to multiple kid-dom! 

I can't imagine loving any kid more than I already love this one. 

   

Like Mother...

I walked in on Harper organizing her threading beads by color tonight. I am so proud!

I think.

Is this one of those things she'll be discussing with a therapist one day?

  

Annual Visit

Every year the Haines family pack up their three kids and load an immense amount of supplies into their SUV to trek across the country from Kansas all the way to the North East and then, finally, to Florida, where they enjoy a week at the beach with family. Seth Haines and Brad served in the Marines together back in the day and Seth's wife, Shana, is a kindred spirit, so we always enjoy seeing them. We have been lucky enough to join them for a day or so the past couple of years and, on Thursday we met them in Boca Grande for our annual visit. It is always so much fun to catch up and see how much the kids have grown each year and this year was no exception. 

Seth and Brad pretty much look identical to how they looked in the Corps circa 1992.

Look at those handsome guys!

Seth, just standing around looking charming.

The beach, unfortunately, proved to be a bust as a red tide bloom forced our early departure, but we had fun back at the pool at their vacation rental. The kids swam until they were blue and shivering and were forced out of the pool by concerned parents. Then we all ate sandwiches and junk food and enjoyed being around other adults while the kids warmed back up in the sun. 

After their core body temperatures had stabilized we all walked to a nearby school where the kids impressed us with their never ending energy at the playground. At the last minute I remembered I had brought the camera and snapped some pictures of Seth and Brad together. Brad was also able to get some video of Sunny and Harper playing on the slides.

It was a lovely visit and, although abreviated, we were so glad we had a chance to spend the day with them.

Thank you for your hospitality, Haines family. We can't wait to see you again next year!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season this year. As for the Bookers, we were pretty busy. Christmas preparations happened just in the nick of time and, although done with love, were fairly scant. 

Every year Brad and I go back and forth on the pros and cons of getting a Christmas tree. I really do have a major ethical dilemna with slaughtering a helpless tree who is just miding its own business, photosynthesizing its heart out, so it can be gussied up like a cheap tart only to be displayed in our living room for a week or so. But I do love a Christmas tree, too! I love to turn off all the lights in the house but the strand or twenty decorating the tree and cuddle up on the couch watching the lights dance while sipping something Christmas-y. So we split the difference this year and, on December 23rd, went to Home Depot where we bought a cone-shaped ornamental shrub which we will plant in our yard at some point after the holidays. In theory. It was a good compromise.

We own a total of nine Christmas tree ornaments. Note how they are strategically placed so as to maximize their visual impact.

I guess we were pretty good this year because Santa was very generous with us. Harper must have been a saint for the loot she raked in. Her gifts from mommy and daddy this year were a wooden train set and a dolly bed, but they paled in comparison to the bevy of dinosaurs she received. In fact, when she saw her doll cozily tucked in the little doll bed under our Christmas tree on Christmas morning, she literally picked up the doll by its ear and tossed it across the room to spend the next two solid hours tucking and retucking her dinosaurs in said bed. No plastic dinosaur ever had it so good.

Harper is so tricky to get any footage of these days. If she sees the camera at all she wants to look at videos on it, so you have to sneak up on her. Please note the dinosaur T-shirt on over her Christmas pajamas. Santa also brought Harper a cold for Christmas.

Her new dinosaur acquisitions include:

One dinosaur Christmas tree ornament (thank you, Santa)
One set of squirting dinosaur bath toys (thank you, Uncle Ed)
One set of mini plastic dinosaurs (thank you, Nana and Pa)
One set of giant plastic dinosaurs (thank you, Santa)
One set of dinosaur flash cards (thank you, Wayne and Jan)
One dinosaur puzzle (thank you, Grandma and Grandpa)
One restickable sticker book with dinosaurs (thank you, Bauer Jrs.)
One dinosaur T-shirt (thank you, Brandons)
Several dinosaur books (thank you, everyone)  

Of course, there was other stuff, too. And I'm sure she'll love it all, right after this dinosaur kick is over. 

We wish we could have spent this Christmas with every one of you. Maybe next year, after our investments in the lottery pay off. Even though we are far apart please know our thoughts are with you this holiday season.

Love, the Bookers

The Holidays Are Here!

The weather forecast this morning said today was supposed to be overcast and dry (perfect photo weather!), so I stuffed Harper's new Christmas dress in my back pack and we biked to Hyde Park Village for a holiday photo shoot.

Of course, the weather forecast was wrong. It turned out to be pretty sunny for most of the morning, which made things tricky because our little camera can't handle anything except absolutely perfect lighting. Perhaps, if we are very good, Santa will bring us a new camera for Christmas someday. 

Temptation! It had rained the night before and Harper had such a hard time keeping her hands off of the wet display. 

But she did play a little hide-and-seek between the giant packages.

"You're it!"

Eventually I was forced to pull out the big guns and had to get "Dina" the Christmas Dinosaur out of my backpack to keep her focused. I love the lighting in this shot. And dinosaurs make everything better.

Look over there, mom! Santa Claus is sleeping on the sidewalk in front of that wine bar! 

This was taken just after I told her I had forgotten pennies for the fountain. It was one disappointment after another all morning long.

 

By this point she was pretty tired of my shenanigans.

After a short apple cider break at the local coffee house she was in much better spirits.

Then it was back to the fountain, wishing for pennies.

Twirling!

They had a huge Christmas tree on display in the main square.

Harper was fascinated with the ornaments on the tree.

I threw caution to the wind and finally decided to let her play in the water in the hopes of getting a couple of candid shots. 

 

Don't you think she looks like a little present snuggled in there with that bow on her head?

Then the splashing really started! I'm not kidding... I have probably twenty unusable shots like this with her eyes closed. But she sure had fun!

Soaked and sated. That dress is going straight to the cleaners. Two year olds and taffeta do not mix. I don't know what I was thinking.

 

One last time checking out the ornaments.

Our pretty Christmas girl in Santa's sleigh. 

 

A Holiday Thank You

Happy Thanksgiving! The Bookers had a quiet holiday this year. Brad has been working some crazy hours for the past few months and had the entire day off so I absolutely insisted we stay home and rebuffed any would-be company.

Harper pronounces it "Shaun the Shipe", just like any good Irish lass should.

Our Thanksgiving (or Great Feast of Starch, as we call it) was simple. Since I am vegetarian and Harper is too (thus far), Brad opted to barbeque a couple of turkey thighs for himself while Harper and I were sated with poultry-esque veggie patties. We feasted on all the standards; mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, dressing, green beans, buttermilk biscuits, cranberry sauce, and finished with pumpkin pie for dessert. (Yes, store bought pumpkin pie. I am not as hard-core as you Bess “I’m going to whip up a couple of homemade pies on Thanksgiving morning and make everyone else look bad” Bauer.)

Those of you who have kids know that teaching manners gets big around two years old. So I thought a perfect way to reinforce saying thank you could be taught during the meal.

When our plates were served but before we started our meal we explained to Harper that Thanksgiving is a day when we say thank you for the things we love. Then I started by saying I loved daddy so thank you for daddy, and I love Harper so thank you for Harper etc. When I was done I asked Harper what she loved.

She looked down at her plate and said, “Sweet potatoes.” “Yes, sweet potatoes,” I encouraged. “Thank you for sweet potatoes.” “Thank you (cranberry) sauce,” she said. “Yes. Thank you for cranberry sauce,” I agreed. She went on. “Thank you green beans. Thank you chicken.” By this time she really was in the spirit of things and looked up from her plate. “Thank you dinosaurs. Thank you parks.” It was so sweet and heartfelt and I really feel like she understood the meaning behind the exercise. What a special moment to cherish and remember! Then Brad said his thanks and we ate.

Brad is totally going to love this movie some day, if he ever catches up on sleep. 

 

After dinner we all sat around in a carbohydrate coma for about an hour. Later, after we had washed the dishes and put everything away and after I was able to pry Harper away from Shaun the Sheep to put her to bed I finally, after two years of prodding, got Brad to watch The Princess Bride. Or, rather, it was playing on the DVD player while Brad slept through it.  

Oh well. Maybe next year.  

Season’s greetings from the Bookers!

Dress Up

I wish these photos were better but I had to live in the moment and snap what I could before she stripped everything off. I know, I know, we need a better camera.

Harper picked out her nap time ensemble this afternoon...

then she took a minute to check herself out in the hall mirror.

For the record she's wearing a fleece snow hat, fleece gloves, Chinese silk paiamas (thank you, Karen), pink striped leg warmers and fuzzy silk slippers. She also insisted on wearing her underwear over her diaper.