Springtime in Michigan

During the two week gap before Elise started her new job, we traveled to Michigan to visit Aunt Pauline. This was our first time flying with both children, and it was an exhausting experience. The flight is only one hour from Washington, but getting to the airport, clearing security and keeping Henry in his seat during take off and landing was quite an adventure. Somehow we managed to get there and back in one piece. Along the way, we had a wonderful visit with Aunt Pauline and our friends Jenn and Steve Lathom and their son Matthew. Below are some pictures from the long weekend. As you can see, Henry was both fascinated by and slightly apprehensive of Aunt Pauline’s dogs. He was particularly interested in the Labrador puppies. He also enjoyed riding around the property on Aunt Pauline’s Gator and looking for mushrooms. For her part, Vivian rolled with the punches, as she usually does. She slept for most of the plane ride and spent the rest of the time observing her bother’s antics with a bemused smile.

Things Vivian Likes: Sophie the Giraffe

Vivian is now six months old and is developing into quite the young lady. She is sitting up, learning to eat baby food and attempting to scoot on the floor. She enjoys spending time in her exersaucer (an invaluable gift from the Powells; we can’t believe we didn’t have one for Henry!) and playing with her brother’s toys.

One of her favorite distractions is a rubber teether called “Sophie the Giraffe.” We received two of these from friends, and heard that it was the hip new toy with the Hollywood crowd (or least those with babies). The company website explains that Sophie was created in Paris in 1961. She is made from natural rubber from the Hevea tree and is named after St. Sophie, the saint whose feast day (May 25th) is the same day she was invented. Apparently Sophie has been popular in France and across Europe for many years and is now all the rage in America.

As it turns out, there is something to this Sophie phenomenon. Vivian really enjoys her rubber giraffe -- something about the shape and perhaps the texture and taste of the natural rubber make it ideal for chewing. She also squeaks! The real test for Sophie will come in the next few weeks when Vivian begins teething. If Sophie can get us through that, she will be something we really like too!

New Job

After several years at Unity Health Care, an underserved clinic in Washington, DC, Elise accepted a new position as an instructor in the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown University. She will be working in their teaching clinic in Fort Lincoln, Maryland. Elise has precepted at the Georgetown clinic for a number of years, so she will be very familiar with her new practice. However, unlike her current job, the new position will be full time. That means life will be getting even more hectic for the Morris family. To help manage the chaos, Bryant altered his work schedule to leave at 4:30pm. With any luck, we all will be home by 5:30pm each night. We had some trepidation about Elise working full-time, but the Georgetown position was too good to pass up. Elise will miss her friends at Unity and the patients to whom she was so dedicated, but she’s also excited about this new opportunity.

Easter 2010

Easter was glorious this year. After a long, hard winter, we were finally rewarded with some nice spring weather. Right on cue, the daffodils sprouted and the cherry trees blossomed. We spent as much time as possible outside over Easter weekend, talking long walks through the neighborhood and playing at our local playground. On Saturday evening, Henry and Vivian hunted for eggs in the backyard. After Henry discovered that the eggs had candy inside, he stopped hunting and started stuffing as much candy as possible into his mouth. On Easter Sunday we kept up our tradition of going to mass with the Powell family and having brunch afterward at Clydes. And in the afternoon, we had another egg hunt with Joey, Andy and Sara. Below are some pictures from the weekend.

That's Entertainment

After Sesame Street Live in December, Henry got to see two additional shows this spring. In February we went to Disney Live and in March we saw the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The circus was definitely Henry’s favorite. He loved seeing the elephants and zebras and kept assuring himself that the tigers behind the cage “can’t bite me”. Henry also got his first taste of popcorn at the circus and ended up eating the entire box (plus a snowcone).

Underwear!

Henry has been doing great with his potty training. We were pleasantly surprised when his teachers suggested he was ready to begin wearing underwear at school. For the past several weeks, he has been wearing undies during the day and keeping them dry (no accidents so far). We’re slowly expanding our underwear collection: we began experimenting with Thomas the Train, moved on to Buzz Lightyear and friends and are now ready for a full cast of Super Heroes.

Growing Up

Vivian joined Henry at the SEC daycare center in March. Two of her teachers—Ms. Louis and Ms. Gloria—cared for Henry when he was in the infant classroom, so we knew we were leaving our little girl in good hands. Her other teacher, Ms. Chichi, has been wonderful. Vivian is the youngest child in the classroom and definitely one of the favorites. The first week got off to a rocky start when Vivian refused to take her bottle at school. We had been giving her a bottle from time to time during Elise’s maternity leave to avoid such a problem. But Vivian decided to cause her parents’ some serious stress before she finally started cooperating. Now she eats and sleeps just fine. Her favorite activities at school are going for walks outside with her friends and turning the knobs on a musical play gym. She is now rolling over and pushing up on her stomach. She is intensely interested (and often amused) by everything her brother does and even managed to grab his arm the other day in what will surely be the first of many sibling tussles. Below are some pictures of Vivian at three months.