Not a creature was stirring...

'Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring
(mostly because they were all tired from wrapping presents)
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care (but not until after the fire in the fireplace).

The children were nestled all snug in either their crib or Grampa's lap.
The process was interesting, due to fatigue and excitement.
Tears were shed and tantrums were thrown
But thankfully, we're all safe at home.

...He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Well, as promised, time is moving quickly around here. Between the holidays and the new addition to the family, we're keeping busy!

Luckily, our new addition is proving to be a keeper. While he hasn't been as great a sleeper as he was at the beginning (and very few of them are), overall, we aren't complaining. He is generally pretty easy to soothe to sleep, and though he isn't sleeping super long stretches at night like his sister did at this age, he did have one blissful 7 hour stretch the other night, and he averages about 3.5 to 5 hours at night. He has a good natured disposition, only gets fussy when his tummy is bothering him (and like Molly, it seems like he has a little more tummy upset than average). No social smiles yet, but it's right around the corner. He's a healthy little guy, with an unofficial 1 month weight check at just over 10lbs.

Molly is an awesome big sister, so far. She loves her little brother, loves to give him hugs, loves to "help" soothe him (her developing fine motor skills impede this impulse, so we typically have to distract her because she's a little too rough with him right now). She helps me pick out his clothes and helps bring things like blankets, diapers, and pacifiers. According to those who watch her when she's away from the house, she talks about "Baby Wes" (her nickname for him) all the time. We're not sure how long this attitude will last, but we're enjoying her positive outlook while we can.

Unexpected donation

This afternoon we decided to spend some quality time with Molly by taking her to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We had it all planned out: my mom would watch Wes while we went to Baltimore with Molly after she woke up from her nap. We purchased our time specific tickers online and got everything ready to go. Usually it is about a 45 min drive so we gave ourselves extra time and left an hour early.

Well, as the old saying goes, no plan survives first contact. In this case the enemy was DC traffic. Our 45 min trip turned into a 1.5 hour stop and go fest. And that only got us within 20 miles of Baltimore. At that point we gave up. The aquarium's box office had already closed so we wouldn't be able to get on anyway. Needless to say we were not thrilled. And we still had to fight traffic to get home.

The one saving grace through all of this was Molly. She was amazing the whole trip and barely made a fuss. Although she probably did think we were a little crazy to take a 2.5 - 3 hour car ride just to end up at a restaurant that was 10 mins away.

At least our ticket money went to a good cause.

Holidays

 We missed the last two holidays on this blog so here are some pictures to make up for that.

 But first let's start with two pics of Wes taken in the last day or two.

 

For Halloween we partook in the Del Ray Halloween parade (basically a bunch of kids and their parents walk down the main drag of the section of town and show off their costumes).  We, of course, forgot to bring the good camera and only had a few pictures on our phones.

Thankfully, we also went "trick or treating" (the quotes are there because you can't really trick or treat with an 18-month old - everyone knows who's really getting the candy) the next street over and remembered to bring the camera.

 Molly was very good about taking only one piece of candy when offered some.  It'll be interesting to see how long it takes her to grow out of that.

 The 'backpack' aka leash was extremely handy in this situation.  The city blocks off the street for about six or seven blocks and there are hundreds of people trick or treating.  Being able to maintain some control of Molly was essential.  As you can see, she a) doesn't mind it and b) is thrilled to have a Milky Way candy bar.

 Her costume was Pegasus, but because of the frog backpack most people didn't see the wings so they thought she was a unicorn.

 Here she's modeling for Grammie and Gramp via FaceTime.

 ...and then Wes showed up.  We managed to get a few good shots of him at the hospital, but not too many.  Overall the whole experience at the hospital was extremely different with Wes than with Molly, mostly because we had some knowledge of what to expect and were not extremely stressed/freaked out.  It also helped that Wes was a pretty good sleeper.  Let's hope he keeps that up.

 Once we got home it didn't take us too long to break out the baby wearing stuff.  Hopefully he'll get used to it and will allow us to do it often.  Otherwise I'm not quite sure how we're going to chase after Molly while holding Wes.  Our arms are strong, but not that strong.

 On Thanksgiving day Molly helped make an apple pie with Grammie.

 I'm not quite sure what caused this look.

 Helping Grammie roll out the crust.

And the final product.  We both expect Molly to be a master pie-maker now and hope to have her making them on her own by next year.

 A picture of everyone gathered around the 'adults'  and 'kids' table.  Unfortunately I didn't switch out the portrait lens.  Oops.

This year especially, we are thankful for family.  Both the newest addition and those who have been around a little longer.  This second time around with Wes has been less stressful by orders of magnitude both in part to our having done it before and to having both sets of parents down here to help.  I cannot imagine having to do all of this by ourselves from day one.

Hi. I am Wes

At 8pm sharp Wesley Matthew Magoun was born. He was 8lbs 7.2oz and 20.5 inches long. So far he is much quieter than his sister was at this age and he seems to have this whole sleep thing down. Let's just hope that continues.

A Hardie sling

For those of you who don't know, we're pretty into wearing Molly. It gives us the ability to contain her while still having both hands free. There are multiple ways to wear a child. One such way is with a ring sling.

For awhile I have been making offhanded comments to Katie about how it would be neat to gave a sling in the fabric of one of the Scottish clans I can claim. Well, after my cousins wedding in Nova Scotia (i.e. New Scotland) and my uncle's history lesson on how the bride and groom actually come from the same clan (hundreds of years removed), we finally decided to get serious about the ring sling thing.

So here it is. Likely the world's first clan Hardie ring sling (I claim Hardie on my maternal grandfather's side) The fabric was woven in Scotland and then turned into a ring sling here in the States. I would have shown a picture with Molly in the sling, but she was going to bed as it showed up.

Pretty cool.

All bundled up

It seems winter (or at least winter temperatures) has decided to make an appearance.

Awesome neighbors

We just got back from a baby shower thrown by our neighbors. The event was yet another reason we love our neighborhood. The pictures are Molly hanging with Audrey and Ann and a handmade quilt for the little one. The quilt is just amazing.

The Faces of Molly