MadHen's New Room

Now that Henry is one full year old, we thought it was time to change the heading of this blog to actually include him in the family. Ok, you're right. It's been on my list of things to do for about, oh, 11 months. It's a long list, folks. A long, exhausting list.

But alas. Better late than never, and I think it was well worth the wait. Doesn't it look great?! My fabulously talented husband (who still doesn't think he is a graphic artist) created it with the inspiration from a little nickname Mimi has taken to calling the kiddos: MadHen. I like the nickname but I also like the image it conjures -- a slightly crazed mama bird squawking and clucking about. I can really identify with that bird at this time in my life. Not all of the time or even the majority of the time, thank God. But certainly much of the time. At any rate, I love the new graphic and I'm genuinely impressed with Kurt for his artistic eye.

This might be one of my favorite photos ever:

The Olmsted children are nothing if not expressive.

In other news, we moved Henry into Madelyn's room over the weekend. We have been fretting and stewing and plotting about this event for months and finally decided that there was never going to be a good, calm time to move two busy, giggly, easily distractable kiddos into the same room. So we ultimately just did it and didn't think too much about it. It hasn't been without complications, but oh my goodness...the amount of cuteness coming out of that room between 7:15 and about, oh, 9:00 when they finally can't keep their eyes open anymore is worth it all. The first night, Kurt and I kissed them both goodnight, shut their door, and then promptly sat down in the kitchen on the other side of the vent in their room to eavesdrop on their first parent-free sleep-over. Henry, in new surroundings, cried a bit when we left, but our girl Maddie really rose to the occasion. "Oh buddy, they hear you crying, but you'll be ok. I'm here. Do you see me over here? You can't? Ok, how about a back scratch? You have to lay down, Henry. Henry, you have to lay down. Lay down, Buddy. There you go!"

Henry then began chatting back to her "dadadada" over and over again and probably began pointing around the room because at one point she said "that's the humidifier...I don't know what it does but we run it every night." They got the giggles and chatted some more and there was a loud bang at one point. It took a few gentle reminders and about an hour and 45 minutes, but they did it. And they seemed to have a really good time, so that makes a mama's heart happy.