About a month ago I put Roman down for his noon nap on the basement couch simply because we were down there and he fell asleep. Well, he slept really well and it kind of turned into a habit. Now he takes his afternoon nap on the couch every day, and sometimes he sleeps for up to 4 hours! It works out well because Harper naps at the same time, and being on opposite ends of the house they don’t wake each other up. I’ve sectioned off a little corner of the sofa for him and lined it with a nice clean blanket. He loves his little bed!

And for all of the panicky parents reading this, don’t worry – he can roll over just fine and is OK sleeping on his tummy! Also, I don’t leave the basement while he is down there, just in case he decides to roll off.

Harper and Roman have a new "cousin!" Oliver James Sandifer was born at 1:02am Wednesday. Oliver’s daddy, Tim, is Portman’s best childhood friend from England, and we remain very, very close to their family. We are so happy for you guys and can’t wait to meet him!!

Harper loves to dress up. We have lots of old purses and hats that we gave her to play with, and she is usually wearing something funky. This morning she put two purses over her shoulders, then declared "need hat!" She found her hat, put on two shoes – mismatched, both left feet – then got her baby stroller. She turned to us, said "bye mommy! bye daddy!" blew us kisses, and strolled her baby into the living room. She returned a few seconds later and declared "Trip! Yaya’s house! See Pop-Pop! Outside pumpkin!" It was obviously a very exciting "trip."

Mismatched left-feet shoes:

The whole ensemble:

We celebrated Thanksgiving 2008 with a box of Kleenex and a nose aspirator. Both kids were sick all week with bad colds, and Portman stayed home sick on Wednesday. In addition to my usual 2 wake-up calls per night from RoRo, Harper has been waking up each night because she is having a hard time breathing. Needless to say, it’s been a fun week of no sleep!

On Wednesday night we went over to Portman’s mom’s ("Nonna’s") house in Great Falls for a pre-Thanksgiving Indian food dinner with their extended family. Nonna’s parents, brother, sister and their kids were all in town for the holiday. Harper immediately latched onto Portman’s 12 year old cousin, Zoe, and didn’t leave her side. Zoe was so sweet to play with her and we left at 8:30 with Harper rubbing her eyes saying "more Zoe!"

Both kids were up by 6:30 on Thanksgiving morning with coughs, runny noses, and severe sleep-deprivation. I spent the morning cooking, then after 3 hours of "getting ready," we finally were on our way to Nonna’s house. Harper immediately found Zoe and I didn’t see her for the next 2 hours, at which point we realized that she hadn’t had lunch or a nap and was on the verge of a major meltdown. Portman ended up laying down with her in the basement and they napped together. It was very cute.

The good thing about having lots of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins around is that I didn’t have to hold RoRo all day! He had a long nap in the morning but was kind of grumpy and having a hard time falling asleep in the afternoon. He finally fell asleep in Portman’s cousin Bennett’s arms, then was transferred to his Aunt Karen:

The nap was short-lived, and as I was changing his diaper he put my finger in his mouth and… ta-da… teeth! No wonder he was so uncomfortable! I took some pretty terrible photos, but I put them on Smugmug anyway. Here are a few more highlights:

RoRo and his great-grandparents, Gaga and Pop-Pop:

"White Elephant" gift exchange with all 19 of us. Harper played the elf:

Today I went to Trader Joe’s. I couldn’t find a spot in the parking lot. I had to park 6 or 7 rows away from Trader Joe’s and walk across the K-Mart parking lot to get there. Once I got into the store, it was completely packed. I did my shopping, then waited in the checkout line with 4 people in front of me. My total bill was about $70 and I left with 3 very full bags of groceries.

After Trader Joe’s I went to Whole Foods to get a few other things. I was able to park right in front of the store in the first spot in front of the door. There were probably only 20 other people shopping. I got 4 things, went to an empty checkout line and paid… $50. For FOUR things. And this is why I love Trader Joe’s.

I told Portman my story when I got home and he immediately said "oh interesting, so Trader Joe’s must be counter-cyclical." That’s my budding economist

Apparently all you need in this weather is flipper slippers and a puppy hat:

Harper and Rachael had a fun morning! It only took them about an hour to do this to the playroom:

This is the cutest tradition! Last week the "elf" appeared on a shelf in our living room. He "watches" Harper to make sure she is being nice, and each night he reports back to Santa. Every morning he is in a new spot and Harper has to find him. She runs through the living room shouting "Pelf on Self!" We’re pretty sure she understands the concept because she says "pelf on self watch Harper." I don’t think she gets the Santa part yet, but we’ll do it again next year!

http://www.elfontheshelf.com

Two weekends ago we traveled to Black Mountain, NC, just outside of Asheville, to visit Harper and Roman’s great-grandma Abie. Harper and Roman and I drove down to Charlottesville on Thursday night to celebrate La La’s birthday, then the four of us (with La La in tow for back-seat entertainment) drove to Black Mountain on Friday. The kids were amazingly well-behaved in the car. Roman literally slept the entire way, only waking up briefly at Wendy’s to have a bottle. Harper colored and watched The Little Einsteins ("Rocket") for 4 hours straight, then napped for the last hour of the trip. Portman flew to Asheville after work on Friday and we picked him up after dinner.

The weekend featured gorgeous fall weather and the leaves were only a few days past their "peak colors." On Saturday we showed Portman around Montreat, then Portman and I went to the Biltmore while La La and Abie played with the kids. Saturday was the first day of the Biltmore’s Christmas season, so the house was completely decorated for the holidays. This was Portman’s first visit to the Biltmore and he was shocked at how beautiful it is. We both agreed that it is more spectacular than any of the castles that we’ve visited in Europe!

Apparently there was some sort of Corvette convention in Asheville and Saturday was the day that they all visited the Biltmore. There were literally hundreds of Corvette’s in the parking lot, so we took the opportunity to park Abie’s 1995 Toyota Corolla right in the middle of a line of them!

View from the back of the house:

On Saturday night we celebrated La La’s birthday at the Red Rocker Inn, our favorite southern eatery in Black Mountain. The food was everything you could hope for in a home-cooked southern meal. Portman and I stayed at the Red Rocker both Saturday and Sunday nights and enjoyed our first time away from the kids together in almost a year! As you might guess, the front porch of the Red Rocker Inn features… red rockers.

Finally, on Sunday Portman and I took Harper into Asheville to visit "The Health Adventure," which is the Asheville children’s museum. It was honestly the best kid’s museum we have ever seen. It was full of all sorts of hands-on projects for the kids to explore, and we got lucky and caught the special Curious George exhibit! There was a huge room with slides, dress ups, dolls, a kitchen and more that was just for kids under 5. I can’t even begin to describe how much fun this museum was!

Harper’s favorite things at Abie’s house were the "bu bird" and her "sopping cart:"

It took us 30 minutes to get ready to go on a walk today. Here’s why:

Equipment required:

• 1 double stroller (stored in car)
• 2 sleeping bags for stroller
• 2 fleece pullovers
• 2 winter coats
• 1 "baby bunting" bear suit
• 2 hats
• 1 juice cup
• 5 ‘Nilla Wafers in a pumpkin baggie… regular zip-loc does not satisfy
• 1 water bottle
• 1 cell phone

The plus-side was that I got some exercise and RoRo was super cute in his bear suit. The bear suit was a gift that I got for Harper but it was way too big for her in the winter. It fits Ro perfectly and is great for chilly days like today!