Dad Time

One of my favorite things to do is to watch and listen to Jim and the kids interact when they don't know I'm watching or listening. At the end of my pregnancy I wasn't sleeping well at night so Jim was always the first one up and some mornings Ally would get up before I did. Jim would get her cereal and they would sit and eat breakfast together. One day I was sort of feeling guilty and thinking about getting up but then I realized that these moments were very good father/daughter bonding moments (plus it gave me an excuse to sleep longer ;)). So, instead of getting up, I would just lie in bed and listen to their conversations, which were mostly dominated by Ally. Jim is the same with Andrew. It's fun to watch them watch sports together. Jim will flip between games and each game he changes to Andrew asks who they are cheering for. Jim will sometimes tell him the team (St. Louis or Boston in baseball) and sometimes, if he doesn't care, he lets Andrew choose the team, with Andrew usually choosing the team that has the most points. Jim is always willing to answer Andrew's questions about each sport which is quickly developing another sport fanatic in our house. As you can see by the picture, Jim is enjoying interacting with Vanessa even though she's not too responsive right now. He has been so wonderful and helpful with her and Andrew and Ally while we've been making the adjustment to having a newborn in the house. It's great, more observation and enjoyment for me!

Saturday Vanessa was having a hard time taking her naps. She'd fall asleep on one of us and then once we put her down, she'd only sleep for 10-15 minutes and then she'd be up again. As the day went on she got crankier and crankier from lack of sleep. Another great photo opportunity came when I walked into our front room and saw this...


Vanessa, like her sister, already has Dad wrapped around her finger or maybe all of them.