Let's hope that this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship...

Our Resident Hiccup Champ at Two Weeks

I hope to add more photos soon, but in the meantime here is a short video of Avery at two weeks.

Welcome Avery!

At 9:19 this past Tuesday evening, November 29th, Avery Wallace Korson slipped out of the dark and exchanged nothingness for the possibility of everything. She weighs 7 pounds 9 ounces, is 21 inches long, and (for the time being) has a head full of brown hair. Her arrival was a quick and ideal one--SO much easier than her big sister's.


This time around, Avery, we know from experience just how profoundly your mere presence will change us: amplifying our love for life and our faith in humanity, while challenging our perspectives and our expectations. Whatever will come to pass between now and when you read these letters--whether your lot will be exceedingly fortunate or entirely other, we cannot know. Our deepest hope, however, is that with the help of our love, you will thrive and delight in living. And just as we have promised your sister, we have every intention of helping you to change--to become your best self, humble and dauntless, equal to the impediments and opportunities life has in store for you.

The Nine Month Bump (and our darling daughter on the mandolin)

Only about a week and a half until "baby sister" is due!

Anika's Ever Expanding World

Playdough Potty Time

Photos from a weekend at Stonybrook

Photos from the Big Day

Great fun was had by all at our small celebration at home over the weekend. Anika especially liked receiving a "Rody Horse" (both bouncy and rocking) and a pint-sized piano from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Mary. Here are some photos:




Contrary to our talk on the video, Anika did not eat the kitty cake, and is mildly despondent now when she recalls that it's sitting mutilated in our fridge.

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Update: Summer 2011

Thus far, the summer has been bust for us. I just finished an internship (two days a week) at the Museum of Fine Arts in their Education department, though I may return to help out a bit in the fall. Andrew has finally enjoyed three 50 hour work weeks, which he'll have roughly half-time now that he's in his second year of residency. During these past three weeks we had TWO day weekends--something we haven't enjoyed in months (aside fro a few days vacation in late June).

Two of those weekends we spent up at Andrew's family's place in New Hampshire, and the last we spent celebrating Anika's birthday at home. On our first weekend, our good friend Paul, from Portland, OR, joined us. Turns out Paul is AMAZING with toddlers. Anika still gets excited when we talk about him. Anyhow, here are some photos from our time up there:


Quite the avid hiker, plainly.


We took Anika out in our kayak twice. She loved it, and really loves wading in the lake.


Of course, she also loves ice cream... and picking blueberries in our field...


She definitely ate more than she ever contributed to our collections.


And now to back-track: in May, Anika and I (accompanied by Grandpa Wally and Grandma Karen) went to California for my graduation from the San Francisco Art Institute, and then traveled down the coast to Big Sur, Lompoc and Santa Barbara to visit family and friends. As usual, California and its company were lovely.


In June, Anika and I attended a Mullarkey family wedding in Wisconsin (complete with grandparents and a tour of Grandma's old stomping grounds). Then Andrew, Anika and I all got to go to upstate NY to attend a friend's wedding and visit several members of my beloved NY family. Here's a photo of Mama and Anika hula hooping on the farm (at our NY wedding):


In other news. Emdrew Two is steadily growing, as am I, and appears to be perfectly healthy. It's nice to feel so much less anxious this time around, both because QM 2 doesn't have any high-risk issues (like Anika's umbilical cord) and because I'm just an experienced baby vessel this time around. Now that I'm past all the illness of those early weeks, I feel great. Unfortunately, we aren't getting the fancy ultrasound photos we did with Anika this time around (nor extra ultrasounds, as with Anika), but here she is:


At this stage, she looks just like her sister. Maybe they all do? Nevertheless, we still think this one also destined to have Andrew's nose.

And Anika is thriving. As she enters her third year of life, we're delighting in her ability to really talk with us. She's occasionally using a full sentence or two, such as, "I see a squirrel," or "I play soccer," but still mostly relies upon two and three word phrases. However, her vocabulary is immense. She readily tries out just about any new word we introduce, and we're able to have little conversations about recent events.

Her Spanish skills are also really improving. Since I don't speak Spanish, it's hard for me to gauge how much she understands receptively, but she uses probably fifteen to twenty Spanish words. She can say several animals, a couple numbers, and a few other objects and expressions.

Last week we attended Toddler Yoga for the first time. She's painfully clingy and shy in new situations, so she didn't take full advantage, though she did very much enjoy trying out a few poses. Our favorite: downward-facing dog with her feet on the wall. Mama had to help her out a bit, but she was so excited to walk up the wall. I think we have a budding yogini/gymnast on our hands (Lord knows she loves climbing all over the couch).

After Anika and I go to Denver for a couple weeks here at the end of August, I'm going to try to get her into swim lessons and art class (in addition to some more yoga). Fun times!

Here are some sonograms of Emdrew 2, taken today at just over 12 weeks gestation. This ultrasound was done, in combination with some bloodwork to rule out Downs Syndrome and a couple other chromosomal defects. The tech says that everything looks good from the ultrasound, and that there's a 60% chance we're expecting another girl.

We'll know for certain come late June.

Question Mark Korson Strikes Again!

That's right, the Enigmatic Anika Mary is suddenly less a mystery than her soon-to-be-sibling.
Of course, at this stage Emdrew 2 is a mystery to Anika most of all...

This little larger-than-a-grape-smaller-than-a-plum of a person is expected to make an appearance some time in late November or early December (my due date is December 3rd).

Thus far, he/she is making his/her mother extremely tired and nauseous. My hope is, however, that these first trimester woes will ease off here within the next few weeks, leaving me more capable of making the most of Anika's now limited months as an only child. Bring on the swim lessons!

Easter Photos

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Tom's visit, and consequently our visit to the Jamaica Plain Unitarian Church, provided an excellent opportunity to wear our Easter dress. Thanks Great-Aunt Jolene! I'm thinking this dress may also make a couple appearances at weddings in June.

Singing the ABCs

She's also quite fond of "Twinkle, twinkle little star". This video was the best I could do, as Anika hates not being in control of the camera.

Anika in March

Yes, that's right, Anika is now using her potty. She's not particularly interested in telling us when she needs to go, but using it is pretty fun. Especially when Baby Einstein videos are involved.

The following photos are just of us, in and around our home in March (and yes, I'm aware we;re halfway through April).

Enjoy!

Overdue Mexico Photos

Well, this vacation seems like a distant memory now (we departed nearly a month ago), but here it is. The picture above is of Andrew entertaining Anika at Immigration in Cozumel, Mexico. We spent five nights there during Andrew's two week (gasp!) vacation. Escaping the cold and snow here in Boston (which still haunts us) was amazing.


Here Anika and I are enjoying the kiddie pool at our hotel. On the whole, the kiddie pool "bath" was much more appealing to Anika than the ocean "bath". The water and the fish were exciting, but a bit much. Sand is also not her favorite. This is why:



This is what happens when your parents smear sunscreen all over you and then you do a faceplant on the beach. This sticky-sand phenomenon is the primary reason sand did not go over well (although she was pretty unfazed by this particular incident).

The photos that follow are merely proof that we spent lots of time relaxing and soaking up the sun (despite the fact that our busy toddler rarely let us sit still).



Cozumel was much more touristy than it was when I visited about 20 years ago, which was unsurprising, but a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, it was fun, and really did feel like Mexico. We (er, Andrew) spoke lots of Spanish and ate Mexican fare at every meal. Anika came home singing "La Bamba" and saying "Hola!" when answering her phone. She and Dada also very much enjoyed imitating cruise ships (which say "blaaahhhh") and fish (which say "glub glub").

Incidentally, she's picking up quite a bit of Spanish at "escuela". She's still only really producing "hola", "si", and possibly "adios", but she clearly understands some simple phrases, colors, animals and objects.





As you may have guessed, our trip included lots of time on the beach. We did, however, go on a glass-bottomed boat/snorkeling tour. I think this was Anika's first time out in a boat (aside from a ferry). She did enjoy the fish, but ended up asleep in Mama's lap for much of the outing.

The towel here is shielding our slumbering kiddo.

Okay, Andrew just got home, and we both ought sleep, so I'll leave it at that. Good night!