Out in the Yard

I have a feeling I will be seeing this face a lot in about 10 years. Look at that expression!

Land sakes, is my daughter really only 3?

Geez, Sade-a-laide, it's just a picture!

OK, that's better.

Old Broth was too unhappy at being separated from the all-consuming and completely enthralling task of pushing around the metal kid-sized shopping cart to sit happily for a picture.

Sadie and Dada, a little wet from the sprinkler.

Mama and Sadie.

Happy Birthday, Dear Silas,

Happy Birthday to You!

This year has gone so fast. So very fast.

And he amazes me every day with his cuteness and smiles and silliness

and huge, beautiful, blue eyes. I try to drink it in, I know how soon that baby boy will be replaced by something just as awesome, but older.

We opened presents. A music table and ride-on toy.

The ride-on toy may be the best present ever. He loves it.

And we had some cake. Carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Yum.

He liked it. Sorry there's no video.

Do you have any idea what box we packed the video camera in?

Yeah, me neither.

But here he is in all his deliciousness:

All his sweetness.

All his cakeness.

All his ONE-ness.

Where are we?

Well, we are crazy busy. Packing, getting ready to move. Realizing how much junk we have. Swearing we'll never move again. We'll never collect this much junk again. But can I bring myself to throw out those felted sweaters or all the granny squares I crocheted a few years ago? Of course not!

Sunday is D-Day. I promise pictures very soon.

Oh, and cutting two teeth. Teeth numbers 7 & 8. Teeth that have taken almost 3 weeks to arrive. One is in, the other is halfway through but continuing to torture all.

12 more to go...12 more to go...

At the current rate of teething that should only add up to 150 more sleepless nights.

A cakewalk. Yep.

Summer, How I Love Thee.

You Learn Something New Every Day

Sadie: Mama, I don't need a fork for my eggs.

Me: You don't? How are you eating them?

Sadie: With my hands.

Me: Oh, you don't want to use the fork?

Sadie: No, mama, I'm a butterfly and butterflies don't use forks to eat eggs!

Me: Oh, yes, I think I've heard that before.

Theme of Today

I'm sensing a current theme here. Why am I always posting pictures of children eating?

We don't really eat that much. I mean, I did come home with 13 donuts yesterday. But we didn't sit at the table to eat those.

And, yes, there are a few left.

Or a couple, I can't remember which.

Anyway, pictures. Yes, I think it's because so much of my time is spent doing damage control.

Like this: No, Silas, stop grabbing cords. Oops, you knocked that over. No, no, no throwing dog food on the floor. Sadie, please stop trying to jump rope next to Silas, you're pulling him over... Uh oh, poor baby, are you okay? You went boom in Sister's rope!

Oh, that's nice, Sadie, are you giving him a hug? Awww...OK, ok, I think that's enough hugging. It's a little too tight. Sade...let go. Now.

Oh, Sy, you're OK.

And so on and so forth.

So it's these times when everyone is trapped in a seat that I am sometimes able to take out a camera and catch something.

Without worrying that a baby is going to grab the strap somehow and crash it to the floor.

And, though my photo times have been limited, I still catch some nice moments.

Even if they are messy ones.

Cutting Out the Middleman

Who needs hands? That what mouth is for!

(You are supposed to say that last bit in Cookie Monster voice)

Country Fair

The time of Country Fair has come and gone. And we've kept our streak of Sadie going every year of her life so far. Hey, I guess Silas too.

We made our fairy wings and flowers.

We put on our Sunday best. Or at least our Sunday best that we don't mind getting filthy.

Aunt Shelby was in. Our plan of convincing her to move back to the U.S., preferably somewhere west, might just be working. I think Country Fair may have helped.

And even Silas loved it. Not that you can tell.

Country Fair may be fun, but man, it's tiring!

Wherein Silas answers the question, "How big is Silas?"

Riveting. And surprising. And, as usual, 55 seconds too long.

However, in that 55 seconds you do get to see Silas get down on his belly to look under the couch for toys.

Which, for some reason, absolutely kills me. Especially when he pulls one out. I have no idea why.

Who knew he was so big? You heard it here first.

On the Importance of Keeping Things Out of A Baby's Reach

Sy had a new treat tonight. One I hadn't planned on giving him for quite while yet. But Sadie left her little cup of dessert on the table and wandered away.

Can you see the blue drool on his chin?

That's right. A blue M&M. He seemed to enjoy it, judging from his 65 later attempts to get another one.

A Video Only A Mother Could Love

Or maybe a grandparent. But, aside from being incredibly boring to anyone not directly blood-related to us, it does show him crawling and yelling. So if you want 2 minutes of crawlin' & yellin' here you go:

A Few Things

Silas has been crawling for a few weeks- since 9.5 months. Same as Sadie. He now has the power to get into things that you forgot were even there.

I have a video that I have to upload.

Sadie was never into that into messing with everything. Like outlets: I thought those covers were totally not necessary for Sadie because she never even feigned interest in our electrical outlets.

Silas? He caught sight of an uncovered outlet the other day and made for it and immediately tried to stick his fingers in. Yikes.

Sadie has been in hog heaven (almost literally) recently. The sun has come out- summer has finally arrived- and every day she is dirtier than the next. Today she was not only covered in mud, sand and watermelon juice, she also managed to dip her head into her friend Elias's cupcake and had a glob on blue icing on her hair. Aren't you supposed to get neater as you get older?

But, when not dressed in dirt she has been dressed in something fancy. Boas, dresses, fairy wings, playsilks, whatever she can find. I love it. And of course you have to wear your boa and playsilk to see the magician. Of course you do!

And I realized something the other day. I know second kids always complain that there are fewer pictures of them than the first kid. It's always assumed that the parents were just not into taking pictures of them, that by then it was old hat. Well, that is not true. I am just as enamored of Silas as I was of Sadie. There's just less time. Someone always needs something.

I am trying to get better about it.

Oh, and Silas? My love, my very special, squishy, sweet baby? If you would just let mama put you down for an hour or two while you slept, maybe, just maybe, there would be more blog posts and therefore pictures of your delicious countenance.

'Tis the Season

For pulling the gingerbread house kit that you forgot about out of the closet, seeing it's still edible, and figuring you might as well make it since the weather is acting like it's December anyway. It's driving me crazy. Crazy, I tell you.

Recital

Sadie's first recital was on Sunday. They did one ballet and one tap piece.
She really didn't like the lights. They were bright. Too bright. But she said she had shun!

That's all that matters.
And, in true Sadie fashion, she did it her own way. Enjoy!

Dog Food Breath

The other day I was holding Silas and doing something in the kitchen. Dada passed by and gave him a big kiss over my shoulder.

Then he said, Hey, Broth, you smell like dog food.

Then, as he's walking away, he says, What's he eating, a cracker?

Me: Um, nothing. I didn't give him anything to eat.

I turn him around and look in his mouth. Sure enough, there's a nice chunk of kibble in there. And he's enjoying every suck.

Let's just hope he doesn't acquire a taste for it.

We All Scream for Ice Cream

From the ice cream truck...er...minivan.

We heard the tell-tale music and the gang ran down the driveway. It was the first time we ever got ice cream from the tr...minivan. So I thought I should snap a shot.

By the time I made it there they were almost done so I got a far away chain-link fence shot. And imagine my surprise to see a champagne colored minivan instead of the ubiquitous white truck. But I got the picture, dang it.

Because who doesn't remember fondly all the childhood visits from the ice cream minivan?

Cuckoo-Bananas

That's what I call these kids. Here they are hamming it up the other day.

Sorry for the short post. Having two kids is kicking my booty this week.

Inchworm

Silas is inching his way around. Here is a far too long video showing you his new move.

If you get to the end you will get to view his chunktastic legs. That's a reward in itself.

Hosers

A beautiful day at Danielle's lovely new house.

Warm enough for some hosing around. Sans, clothes, of course.

Ah, the joys of being three.

And Then There Were Four

Both of Silas' two bottom teeth have come in and now his two top teeth have finally (finally!) come through. It took them about 10 days. Yes, TEN nights of Motrin and misery. Poor guy.

And while I am happy that they're through, it will change his little baby gummy smile. Sadie didn't have teeth until 1 year and I was told by someone in the know to enjoy those toothless grins while I could. It would be the only time I'd get to.

After all, toothless old folks just aren't cute, you know?

So here are some pictures from today. Counting down the days until we have two cute little bunny teeth in his big grin. I'm trying not to be too sad about it.

Just thought of something that struck fear into my heart. If each tooth is taking 5 nights to come through, as all four have- and we have 16 more teeth to go- that's 80 nights of teething.

Um, help.