Car Songs

Claudia enjoys singing and this morning made up her very own song, complete with swimming or some sort of flowing hand motions:

"Swimming in the water, Swimming in the ocean with your Daddy, swimming, swimming, that is a song."

Then asks - "Do you know that song Mama?"

I did not, but now I do!

Walter, Walter I've been thinking ...

Recent adventures

Baby Love

Walter is growing and changing - we are getting coos and smiles!
Henry loves Walter, as he puts it, more than a baby blue tailed skink. Aawww!

Three's a charm

A Day at the Lake

We had a great afternoon at the lake - making it Walter's first trip to Hyco. He was a champ getting in a little life jacket. Henry and Claudia enjoyed splashing around, swimming and riding in the boat.

More pictures

Sorry for the delay, some of these are a few weeks old. We'll get some more recent ones downloaded to the computer soon. Walter is definitely not a fan of bathing or diaper changes, as you can tell from the screaming shots of his first bath.

Be sure to read the post below for recent kid stories as well

Kid quotes

Just a few quick exchanges:

Rachel: "We need to go to the grocery store today because we don't have anything to fix for lunch"

Henry: "We could just have Cheetos and watermelon"

Rachel: "That's what you had for lunch yesterday"


Claudia has inherited my fondness for baby toes (and gently squeezing them). She also has a cute propensity to use the wrong pronouns, so she's often coming up to one of us holding the baby swaddled in a blanket and saying "Where him toes?" or even "I need him toes". And the cycle begins anew...

It's a Boy!

Walter Daniel Stinehelfer was born this morning at 10:36am weighing in at 7 lb 6 oz and just shy of 21 inches long. He looks great! Currently sleeping. Mom is good - pictures below!

Baby Three - What will you be?

As many of you know we like to beat ourselves up and not know the gender of our kids until they are born. Same kind of scenario for names - right now we have Eleanor and Walter as front runners, but no promises.
It is funny, but Henry and Claudia both want a girl baby and are pretty firm about it.
The other night Henry said I really hope the baby is a girl and I said that even if it is a boy we will still love him. Henry said - I really want it to be a girl. No concessions there - I tried.
Then this morning I asked Claudia what the baby should be named and she said Eleanor. I said if it is a boy it will be Walter. Walter, she said, no, it will be Eleanor.
We'll see how far this whole "mother's instinct" thing works out for me.

A kid by any other name

Henry talks about wanting to be a grown-up more than I would expect at the ripe old age of four. He sometimes says how he wishes he weren't a kid which is sad to me, but I know I had the same thoughts. Anyway, he and I were riding back from school the other day and had this conversation.
H: Henry and Claudia are not grown-up names. They are kids' names.
R: They are kid names now when you are kids and they will be your grown-up names when you are grown-ups.
H: Can I change my name when I'm a grown-up.
R: Yes - you can. What would you change it to?
H: (thinking) Josh.
R: Wow - like your uncle.
H: Yes.
R: Is that a grown-up name?
H: Yes.
R: What should Claudia's name be?
H:(more thinking) Rachel

Counting Down

Just 25 days until the baby's due date. All my doctors visits have gone well and the baby has assumed the correct head down position. Now ... it is like watching water boil. Once there is news it will definitely be posted here and probably facebook too! Wish us luck! And for those sports fans out there - yes, soon we will be playing zone.

Happy and Messy Kids

We are settling into our new home and really enjoying it. MOST of the boxes are unpacked. Danny and his mom have been painting away and the nursery is just about the last room to finish - just in time! 6 weeks and COUNTING! We have been really busy but found time to go to the zoo and Henry and I went strawberry picking with his class. Fun times!

We are lame

I have no real post, I have no pictures. We are officially lame.

Our quick updates:
Claudia is a singer and is a true 2 year old and becoming more willful everyday - "Me do it!"
Henry is a super 4 year old and really enjoying school
Danny is finishing his last month of pharmacy school and has a job at Forsyth Hospital starting mid-May
Rachel is still pregnant - it takes longer to grow the third one, trust me
We are moving into a house in Winston in early May - yay! - two and a half times the size of the one in Durham - echo, echo, echo

All the news that's fit to print!

Henry, the bird savant

Henry has an amazing knack of identifying all sorts of birds. The boy loves birds! We do have lots of bird books, but I am totally amazed by his memory for birds. We also have several feeders in the yard and he can name pretty much every type of bird that comes to the feeders. The other day he was looking through a bird ID book and was pointing out herons, egrets and then really surprised me and pointed to the cormorant. Wow - he is good!

Me, Claudia

Claudia's vocabulary and sense of self is moving right along.
Whenever she has done or will do something she says: Me, Claudia.

R: Who spilled juice all over the floor?
C: Me, Claudia (and pats chest)

D: Who's gonna give Daddy a kiss?
C: Me, Claudia (smooch)

CHEESE

baby on the move

Well - as most of you know, we like to torture ourselves and not find out the gender of our kids until they pop out. So ... I would like to make an official prediction - this kid is already kicking at 15 weeks - like pow - kick! My theory here is that it is a boy. Henry kicked the fire out of me and I hardly ever felt Claudia. However, if this active kick-boxing lemon sized baby turns out to be a girl - I think we are in trouble!!

Carolina bowl game

Danny, his sister Susan, his Uncle Dennis, mom Kathy and dad Dennis all took in the Carolina v. West Virginia bowl game. Sadly, Carolina lost in the last seconds.

Biltmore vacay

Danny and I were able to get away for a couple of days without the kids. We went up to Asheville and got to eat at "adult" restaurants and go to a movie and take a 2 hour walking tour of the Biltmore house. Oh - and eat chocolates - for the baby! ;-)