in and out

I feel like it has been a looooong time since I've updated. And it's been over two weeks, so I suppose it has been quite a little while. I think I've hit one of those points where I feel like there's not anything exciting enough to worry about sharing with the general populace. But I think that's some sort of denial, because when I get down to actually summarizing the past several days... it is a daunting prospect, indeed.

FIRST of all, I am an aunt!! Scott's brother Brad and his wife Becca were expecting a baby boy at the end of January, but he decided to make an appearance a month early. His name is Elijah James Hewitt.

He had to stay in the hospital for several days while he adjusted to life on the outside, but he's doing great now. The scariest part to me was the fact that without warning, Becca's water broke and by the time they got to the hospital, they had to immediately do a c-section because he was ready to come out, hindquarters-first. It's amazing how much can happen in an hour and a half! Thankfully, everyone is fine and home. They are staying in Australia for another month or so, and then they come back to Texas for awhile before heading to a new home in Mexico.

Then, my mom came to visit for a week. We had a great time, of course. The photographic highlight was our trip to the zoo with the babies. (My brother Michael got us a much-appreciated season pass to the zoo, so it will definitely NOT be our last trip!) Apparently not a lot of people wake up on Monday mornings in January and think, "Hey, we should go to the zoo!" We saw maybe a dozen other visitors the whole time, and a lot of attractions were closed!

Also, as a side commentary: Why aren't zoo exhibits more short-people friendly? At every cool little animal enclosure we got to, I would try to get the babies to look at whatever animal was there. But I would usually realize that, no matter how obvious and cooperative the animals were being, the only view my kiddos were getting was a fence rail or an iron bar. At this point, they don't know enough to care--they're equally impressed with lions as with plant life.

But aside from viewing issues, it was a nice day and we had a good time.

The best part was the parakeet house, where you go into this aviary-thing where a few hundred parakeets and cockatiels are flying around. They sell sticks covered with honey and seeds that you can hold to attract the birds. Noah and Lily LOVED them.

Oh yeah, and I got a haircut. It is short.

In other baby-related news, Noah and Lily have been on the outside of me almost as long as they were on the inside of me. As much as they have changed in the past almost-eight months, it is still incredible to me to think that the same amount of time previously took them from nonexistence to beautiful newborns.

Currently, we still have no baby teeth to speak of, but Noah is trying to change that. He's got a little bump on his lower gum that's gradually getting harder and whiter. It hasn't seemed to bother him too much except for some occasional fussiness. Ironically, it's Lily who's figured out how to "chew" her food. So she'll be well-prepared, I suppose... assuming she will ever HAVE teeth. Seriously, how many babies make it to eight months without even the shadow of a tooth? I was four months old when I got my first one. She's still going to be teething when she goes to kindergarten.

...and that is all. For now.