Almost Perfect

When the idea came to me, I imagined something simple. Brendan could be a fireman, Aubrey a dalmation. How cute would it be to construct a simple fire engine fitted to the stroller? But this is what you get when you ask an engineer to do the job...

Needless to say, this does NOT fit on the stroller and has been retro-fitted to be "worn" by an unnamed parent (my vote is for the one who ignored the suggestions to make it smaller and more easily manageable...)

(I'm going to have to lock it up or the man will keep "adding on" and we'll never get it out of the house... my husband the perfectionist...)

11 months

She's becoming her own little person. Less and less my snuggly little baby. I take joy in every chance I get to hold her, soothe her, rock her. And the chances are coming fewer and farther between. I hold her in my arms as she lays her head on my chest, arms clinging to me tightly, and it pulls at my heart knowing that these moments won't last forever.

And just to show how difficult it is to get her to sit for this picture these days, I decided to post the one that was taken just seconds after the first...

She's pulling herself to standing, feeding herself well, tries to comb her own hair, loves to play the "pickup" game (how many times can I throw this on the floor before mommy will stop picking it up for me?) gives hugs and kisses to her dolls and animals and loves her big brother like he's the best thing in the world. She calls the bottle "boob" but hey, it delivers the same results right? She waves and says bye bye and has taken to telling me "no-no." We're in for some adventurous toddler years...

one of those days

My good friend Tracey, her son Kian and her newborn baby girl decided to stop by to let the boys have some good old play time. We've known for some time (the poop story will have to be documented at some point) that when these two are alone and quiet, something bad is going on. But this time there was no silence, we just couldn't see them. Brendan came running into the living room stark naked (who knew he could take his own clothes off??!) and upon further investigation I found Kian in the coat closet with nothing on but Brendan's fireman coat and boots. I couldn't stop laughing and grabbed the camera. This was the funny part... the not so funny part was the half gallon (or more) of carpet shampoo that they emptied onto the closet floor (and all over the toy basket.) So while Tracey laid a very hungry crying baby down and Aubrey proceeded to notice that everyone had left the room, I attempted to soak up the mess while she rinsed off the toys. I kept telling her that of all the things to dump on the carpet, (aside from water) carpet shampoo had to be the best.

I contemplated posting the hilarious picture that I took but decided against it after remembering the recent media events that landed an Arizona couple in the middle of a lawsuit for bathtub pictures that were taken of their children. But picture it if you will, our two toddler boys naked as a jaybird, not thinking twice about it... hilarious!

weaning

The process has started. This sweet baby girl will soon no longer need her mommy as a source of nutrition. It's been a mutual decision. She doesn't like to sit still to nurse and I'd gladly like my body back. But it's a bittersweet moment as I realize that a part of me will be longing for the time we got to share together.

Another benefit? The bottle allows mommy to do a little multi-tasking. This picture was taken just before I jumped in the shower as she laid on my bathroom floor contentedly giving HERSELF the bottle!

Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out yesterday to find the perfect pumpkins. Besides trying to keep Aubrey from climbing out of the wagon, we really had a great time and it was a beautiful day for pumpkin hunting.

Sunshine Smiles

Detroit Lake

Being the crazy people that we are, we decided to ignore the warning of possible mountain snow last weekend and head to Detroit Lake to get in one last camping trip before the season is over. Again, let me remind you that "camping" (especially with near freezing temps at night) means sleeping bags and makeshift beds in the comfort of my parents' fifth-wheel trailer. So we left Bend with sunny clear skies while Detroit Lake welcomed us with clouds and intermittent rain. But it didn't stop us from venturing out. The biggest surprise was coming home to an unexpected (and unforecast) 4 inches of snow!

Bath Buddies

I have to add honestly that Joe and I sat laughing hysterically as we plastered our children with foam numbers and letters. Afterall, children are God's gift as a source of entertainment right?