Four month birthday . . . and some other stuff

We've been:

putting on makeup, 

 reading with Daddy,

 hugging baby dolls,

 dressing koala bears,

reading stories,

 hanging out with Aunt Breanna,

 playing Cooties with Brian,

 and turning four months old!

Henry had his four-month doctor visit today and he is now 13 pounds 12 ounces. This is a 2.5 pound gain in just under a month. He is now in the 25th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. Go Henry (and me)!

Anytime I hold a naked baby/child, I have to stop by a mirror to check them out; I don't know why.

Eating the fruits of my labor (No, not the kids)

When Kate and I were looking at housing options in New York, we gave bonus points to apartments that had access to a private garden area. Fortunately, there is actually more private 'garden' area in the city than you'd think. Unfortunately, a lot of it looks like this.

But with very thick gloves on and with broom and hoe in hand, Kate, Elizabeth, and I embarked on a disgusting adventure to clean up 15+ years worth of trash, biomass, and neglect, including a few rusty propane tanks, countless peanut shells and candy wrappers, a lot of bird-poop-and-cat-poop-stained patio furniture, and a lot of weird stuff like a car stereo, sports equipment, partially liquified cardboard boxes, and moldy rug padding.

Here are some progress shots. 

Here are some post-clean-up / pre-garden shots.

And here are some early garden shots (including Elizabeth playing in her kitty-poop-proof sandbox).

And here's what it looks like now:

I thought I would enjoy gardening more than I actually do. To be fair, most of what I've done is not so much gardening as it is cleaning up. The part I've liked the most is 'harvesting,' which is mostly done by Elizabeth.

We like to have Elizabeth pretend like she's helping by getting her all dirty and giving her the hose for a few minutes. Cuteness entails. 

This is the cutest picture I've ever posted. Double click.

Teddy Bear Doctor

This weekend we had a Bay Ridge kind of weekend which included a trip to the library for a special event, hosting a La Leche League meeting, and a venture to Owl's Head Park on the north side of neighborhood. 

The special event at the library was a visit from the teddy bear doctor. Kids were encouraged to bring their teddy bears to have them examined by real doctors. Elizabeth loves all things doctor related and is not scared of checkups at all. In fact, she gets upset any time she is excluded from anyone's doctor visit. It was a really cute event and she had a good time.

The bear she brought is named Kate Koala ("Just like mama") and is three months old. She had a fever and runny nose. We also were also told by one of the doctors that her foot was a little bit broken (she had a thread hanging off it).

Ready to go -- Kate Koala is dressed in H's clothing and sporting a diaper:

 Waiting in the "waiting room" -- the amount of waiting room time was very realistic:

 Still waiting:

 Nursing in the waiting room while waiting to see another doctor:

 Kate Koala having her blood pressure taken and getting a shot to try and bring her fever down -- it was 102!:

 Checking out the "X ray" of Kate Koala's foot:

 Today we ventured to Owl's Head Park where Elizabeth checked out the skate park:

 And played with ABC gum in a puddle. We didn't realize what she was doing until she excitedly yelled, "Gum!"