Five weeks, or the first real two-kid post

Well... it's been 5 weeks of parenting two, and we're settling in-- and celebrating by inaugurating a new blog. I can't even keep up with one (Sam's old blog), so there was no chance of keeping up with two, so instead of adding Frida to Sam's, I figured we'd document them both here. (Frida's initial blog was really just to add her name info to the birth announcement email we sent, so I won't be updating that any more.)

First order of business: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped us get through the first crazy month: to our parents for bringing/cooking/buying us food, doing our dishes, landscaping our garden, holding Frida, taking Sam to the aquarium and the Science Museum and minigolfing (twice!) and reading him books and giving him gifts and making him feel loved; to our siblings for staying with Sam while we were at the hospital welcoming Frida into the outside world, for playing with Sam and doing our dishes and bringing us food, for bringing and sending lovely newborn girl clothes and soothing Frida so I could nap; to our friends in town for watching Sam and playing with him, for cooking us food, for assorted lovely gifts and flowers and toys; to our more distant friends and family for gifts and phone calls and good wishes. We are so grateful to you all! (And also: it's so kind of all of you to remember Sam-- we lost count of the "big brother gifts" he got, and I can't imagine he felt under-gifted at all.)

Second order of business: Some pictures! I'll update with text some time... no promises, given that I can make big plans and not be able to even make a dent in my list because F. won't let me put her down without screeching (errands that can be run on foot are the only way to deal with this); other times she sleeps and sleeps, but I'm so tired from being up with her that I can't function enough to be any kind of productive. But we have photos, so here are some highlights...


FridaBean asleep in my lap, end of August (so about 2 weeks old). She is happy on a lap, on a chest, in the sling, in the ergo... basically anywhere in contact with a human.



Sam made a neato design around the Bean (early September).



Sam was pretty wiped out after his second full day of kindergarten (especially since we then hung out at the newly redesigned and amazingly cool Cambridge Common park, with Uncle Markus, for a couple of hours, then had barbecue-- Uncle M. requested it because he can't get good BBQ in Tokyo-- all together with Uncle Dan and Aunt Sara).




Sam loves to hold Frida, and she finds him totally fascinating.



First (real) bath, earlier this week at one month old:



Apple picking yesterday (us and the entire rest of New England, from what we could tell):







Sam dancing around with his harmonica. Frida was transfixed.