Asleep

Tonight I watched H fall asleep. He was sweet smelling and clean from his bath and very sleepy. Usually after some snuggling in the rocking chair and a goodnight prayer he gets tucked into bed and left to let the sand man do his work. Tonight I stayed longer to smooth my finger across his hairline, he loved it. His eyes were so heavy he couldn't keep them open. Once he managed to flutter them open just for a moment - enough for him to see that I was still there and I saw a sleepy smile spread across his face. Sweet dreams my firstborn.

A good read

A personal tradition this time of the year is to read Unafraid by Francine Rivers (my favorite author). It's a short book about Mary that helps lead my heart back to the tenderness of the season. Mary, the mother of Jesus, who were you? A very young woman of uncommon faith. The unlikely chosen to birth God's plan for reconciliation to His creation. Thank you precious Father for perusing undeserving me.

Merry Christmas . . . see you in court

The boys were tucked in their beds this afternoon snoozing their nap-time zzzzzs. So far, no one had thrown-up and there had been no major coughing fits for the day (amazing!). I sat down next to EH for a bit to flip through the mail in anticipation of Christmas cards. One, two letters and then I saw it . . . something about the words "Jury Commissioner" in the upper left hand corner made my insides cringe. I suppose I shouldn't feel dread but rather pride in the fact that I've been called upon to serve my county . . . maybe it will come later. Rather I feel inadequate to step into the shoes of justice defender. I'll be "phoning-in" the end of January. In the meantime, I'll be filling out the qualification questionnaire so that I'm not guilty of a crime.

The big mall

We took a trip to an indoor mall yesterday. H has had little opportunity to explore the wonders of 100+ stores with all the Christmas glitz and glimmer glowing. He was fascinated to say the least! As we approached an escalator H viewed it with a bit of fearful fascination. On our way down he awkwardly clung to my hand/arm, tried to grasp onto the side as it slid past him and maneuver his feet so he would stand on one step rather than two. I prepped him to jump at the end to get off and he did wonderful. While waiting for Grandma to make a purchase we found another escalator and went up and down, up and down, up and down again. As we were leaving the mall, without any hesitation, he declared the escalators were his favorite!

Move over Rachel Ray. . . I have just discovered the joy of whacking a garlic clove with the side of your knife to get the peels off. Aahhh, the power hiding in the heel of your hand!

H is singing his very first memorized cartoon theme song these days. It's the theme to Wonder Pets - one of his favorites! EH's trying to find the lyrics for me so I can try to memorize it too (we'll post them when we locate them cause they're adorable!). H tried and tried to get me to sing it right today but the poor boy doesn't know what he's up against. I have the great ability to remember about 5% of the words to any song - then I just hum the rest or repeat what I do know.


Little e took three steps last Friday! In the week since, he's been practicing off and on. He took four steps by E yesterday. It's wonderful fun to see how excited he gets over it. He has a total of four teeth up top now and there are two more (for a total of four) trying to break through on the bottom. I sure do hope he gets a teething break after these ones are through - he's had to work sooo hard and long for each one.

P.S. H has taking 3 naps this week!

Sianora Siesta

Farewell beloved nap time. H has ceased his afternoon snooze . . . I guess I knew that it was coming, I was just hoping for another year or so of it - I've heard that there are children out there who will take an afternoon snooze till they're five! Ah well, he now has an afternoon quiet time - though I'm not sure how quiet it actually is with all the crashing of Legos that I hear.

Yesterday in the car I heard little E let out a screech of frustration and an "Ah oh!" (does that qualify as a first word?). I had finally readjusted the baby mirror so I could notice that his snugly fleece hat with ear flaps had rotated about 90%, (so the ear flap was over his nose) he looked like a shrieking Viking! It was hilarious! Much to his relief I pulled the car over and fixed it.

A while ago, H was in the backseat of the car getting a bit squirrly so I offered him a snack. He quickly accepted the fruit leather I handed him. HOWEVER, something was very wrong. In the midst of all the crying and high pitched whining I heard "I'm not familiar with this!" Hmmm, what could that mean? He'd had fruit leather before lots of times. I offered to take the snack back and that ended things for awhile. About five minutes later he started up again and kept repeated the previously mentioned phrase. To my great horror I realized that I had opened the fruit leather wrapper horizontally rather than vertically! Mystery solved . . . adjust the wrapper to open the "correct way" and I had a very happy camper.

Last night little E woke up crying about a very dirty nappy. His hollers woke up his older brother who started his own wailing outside little E's door. After quickly taking care of the duty, I snuggle little E close and went into the hallway where H whispered "Mom, I'm in a very scary situation!". My heart went to mush.

Post Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dishes are nicely packed away, the folding tables waiting to be stored and the left overs almost all polished off. We hosted EH's family and many of my own this year. One look at all those tables and chairs organized on my main floor told me we were going to have to either refuse our family second servings or move the tables down to the basement where we could sit comfortably. We opted to move the tables. So we sat to dine with wedding china and borrowed goblets surrounded by our newly sheet-rocked walls. What a joy to have walls and not 2x4s and insulation! EH has worked diligently these past weeks to finish off the family room. Bless his heart and his hard work - I can hardly wait to practice summer salts with H on the freshly installed carpet . . . not sure when that's happening but I look forward to it! I'm grateful for sheet-rock - and the hands who labored to install it (our dads and good friend R)!

Thanks to the Internet I think I can say I'm over half done with my Christmas shopping. What an enjoyable way to shop! And Amazon's super saver free shipping helps me to not feel guilty about shopping from my seat versus hauling my little guys around a store having to visit and revisit and revisit items waiting for me to make a decision on what I want to finally purchase. This way I can take all the time I want and feel no pressure!

I have lots more family updating to write about, but this is all for now.

I leave you with H's comment this morning at breakfast - it was very dark and thunder-storming:
"I see a streetlight pretending to be Mr. Sunshine!"

Heel Pooch

As I was tucking H in for bed a few nights ago he was again pretending to be a puppy. He wanted me to give him a name . . . the only thing that came to mind was "Pooch", the name of my brother's dog when I was a kid. H loved the name and it has stuck. Tonight I was trying to think of a creative way to get him to obey me in a way that would avoid resistance. :) So I said that dogs are very obedient to their masters and whenever their masters say "heel" they come right away. It worked. Later as it was time to brush his teeth he even requested that I give him the command. I'm going to cherish this little gem and bring it out on "special" occasions. I can just see the looks now as I say "heel Pooch" to H in the grocery store.

Little E took a surprise dunk in the tub tonight. The way he leans over the edge of the tub as it's filling, I knew it was going to happen sometime soon. Fully clothed and soaked through and through . . . it took him a bit to gain his composure but he was smiling and laughing at papa's clowning around soon enough.

By the way, I just found a wonderful website for kids coloring and activity pages. Should have thought of this a long time ago: www.crayola.com. Great stuff for toddlers and older kids. Eddy has a printer to test at work so I'll be sending him lots of stuff to print out for us.

A chip off the . . .

Remember little E's independent excursion to the bath tub last night? In his excitement he slipped and bonked his mouth on the edge of the tub - happens maybe once every week or two. Only when I was trying to look in his mouth this morning (I was hoping to see some teeth finally breaking through) I saw that his beautiful top right tooth has a jagged chip in it. Ack! I didn't know a fiberglass bathtub could do such a thing! I'll follow up on this after we've decided what to do.

Update: A few years later (2011) it hasn't fallen out yet but you can't even see the chip anymore.

Don't hug the dust wand

I haven't felt very inspired to write lately. I think it might have to do with the lack of sunshine. . . and business. I picked up a full-spectrum light bulb to help with the one issue and things have settled down a little. It feels like so much has happened. I'll try to pack in as much as I can in a small amount of space.

Today I had to explain to little E that the dusting wand is not a stuffed animal to cuddle. He loves to snuggle stuffed animals (and people too) and tried to do so with the wand. He has been busy standing at the kitchen chairs and pushing them around. Tonight (once freed from his high chair) he heard the bath tub filling upstairs and made his own way up the stairway and right into the bathroom to go check it out.

Two more very important milestones in little E's life. First, he started sleeping through the night this week! Thank the good Lord! My intention to get a full nights sleep when we were away for our anniversary was rudely interupted by a rather loud wedding reception taking place below our room, a stuffy/cold head, a bed that would not give comfort. And my final note regarding my little E . . . he has weaned himself. Sniff, sniff, wail! After nursing H for 14 months I had every intention of doing the same with little E. Apparently he (at nine months) had other plans so he's drinking organic formula from a cup till he passes that 1 year mark and can digest cow or goat milk. I think I'm still greiving this loss as I just about cried in the grocery isle tonight picking up another can of formula.

Well on to my big boy H. Tonight I noticed him crunching on a dry spaghetti noodle. For anyone who spent any amount of time with me around the age of 10 you know that this was a standard "snack" for me. I think I even convinced a few of you to join me in partaking of them. I have since lost any interest in putting my teeth through such an excersice.

We had a great time visiting with my brother and his family from ID as they were in town this last week. H had a blast with his cousins - this morning he was still talking about them and asking "but why did they have to go home?" H and his cousin G spent their final hours together dressed in elephant cosumes. At my request, S&M rearranged the furniture in my living room and I feel as though I've been a part of one of those decorating/design shows that are always on TV.

I think there's more to write but EH just asked "Good land what are you typing!?" because I've been sitting here so long. I'm going to go read a few pages before bed now.

Three more days

Why do I even bother to answer the phone these days? It's just going to be another political remember to vote call. I WAS excited to go vote. Voting in the preliminaries just gets me excited for the "real thing" but I've gotta say that all the political phone calls and the ten pieces of political mail that I toss each day really diminishes the good old American pride of voting. Now I just want it to be over - true I want it to be over my way - but over just the same. Just three more days and counting.

Sauced, dried, baked and fresh

So what actually happened to the 30 pounds of apples that I brought home a couple of weeks ago? Well besides eating most of the honey-crisps fresh, we're stocked with 10-12 pints of frozen apple sauce, 4 quarts of dried apple chips, and two apple pies. Yum!

The other day while watching some bread in the toaster oven H asked me "Are those light sabers in there?"

Yesterday H asked me what lips are for and if they grow. . . . :+

The other night H and EH sat on the couch for a good 45 minutes looking through all the exciting toy magazines that are flooding our mailbox almost daily. I'd sometimes hear "I want that one papa, which one do you want?" and then the silence of pages turning every once-in-a-while. I think H's dreams must be full of what's on those pages . . . I know that somehow there are more fire engines in them.

If H went through this stage I think I intentionally forgot about it - little E is busy sounding off with all sorts of shrieks and screams these days. Sometimes he's just talking (or screaming) to himself though it seems most of the time it's directed at me in hopes of a spot on my hip.

Tunnel Magic

Playing "cave" is all the rage at our house since Ga (G-ma L) introduced it to H. It takes place on the downstairs couch with the usual cushions piled high and a blanket roof and lots of stuffed animals tucked inside. Today we added a new dimension. We hauled out the collapsable tunnels for passageways. It never dawned on me that this was something little E knew nothing about. Poor little E was horrified to see H disappear (and shrieked to tell us so!) into the tunnel and very startled to see him pop out the other end. We tried all the tricks (gently of course) to help him become more comfortable with them but I think it will just take time for him to get used to the "tunnel magic". I'm trying to encourage his disappointed big bro that it won't be too long before little E will be chasing him through them.

Our first baby needed a bit of prompting to enjoy bath time (and sometimes still does) so it was to my delight that little E is enthralled with it. Any passage through the bathroom is waylaid by little E hiking himself up onto the edge of the tub (full or empty) and leaning as far in as he can - he hasn't actually fallen in yet but I know that is coming! I've heard the tails of cousins and other babies loving the water and it is so fun to see this in little E. This photo is a frequent site . . .

I think H's loud snores and exaggerated exhales have turned into actually napping now so I'm going to take a look at the "To Do" list and maybe start packing for a weekend away (late anniversary celebration) with my sweetheart - and my first night away from little E. I'm trying not to think too much about it . . . my heart breaks about leaving little E but at the same time I'm longing for the full nights sleep that I haven't had in over a year.

Oh . . . smell deep. Can you smell the roast in my crock-pot? I can't wait for dinner!

H the Rescue Hero?

I must hear the words "H the Rescue Hero!" at least two dozen times each day. He's usually jumping off of something, or swooping around the house with Mr. Kitty gallantly stuffed under the arm pit. Most of his rescue attempts have been either imagined or delivering a toy/nuk to little E. Recently, Little E has become very curious about the stairs. H has been very good to notify me (thus come to the rescue) any time little E gets within 6 feet of the "drop off"; however, today I discovered a twist to the game. I happened to notice that H was strategically placing enticing items (stuffed animal, puzzle, etc) at the edge of the steps to bring on more "rescues". That sweet stinker! By the way, little E mastered a climb up the steps for the first time this last Sunday and his two top teeth have arrived.



This last Sunday, we adventured past our comfort zone into the world of "growth groups". We joined some other couples from our church to dig into our pastor's Sunday message and to apply it to our daily lives. (His series by the way has been very good and applicable as it's all about marriage relationships: online at www.constancefree.org) I have these vague memories of my parents partaking in these, but other than that the concept has been daunting to me. I'm happy to say that we survived and we're even planning on going back. It's always interesting watching your kids in new situations and this was no disappointment. H made himself at home right away. The home that we were at hosts a dog and H has had limited contact with the creatures so he was very interested. In fact he had great fun "playing dog". EH and I could barley keep from laughing as our eyes followed him climbing on all fours under the furniture and legs propped up on the coffee table as he followed the dog around the house. To my horror, I even saw him lick something! Thankfully the home owners have two kids about the same age as ours so nothing was new to them.

May I say how very thrilled I was to hear today that my dear childhood friend MT and her husband are expecting their second baby! Congratulations to you - my heart soars with joy for you!

A Decade Celebrated

"You have been my yesterday, you are my today, and you will be my tomorrow.

Though it was as children that we first met, we choose today as adults to spend our lives together.

As we build our lives, may we remember the best qualities of that time we passed together. Never doubting each other, never forgetting our commitment and never wavering from our true selves, may we draw on our storehouse of memories and from Christ for inspiration as we build on our future as husband and wife together.

Today I, S, accept you, EH, as my friend and partner. With you, I am aware of the promise of our past, and secure in our commitment for the future."

Words spoken 10 years ago today. I'd say them again in a heartbeat.

Where are all the mommies?

What a day . . . nothing major happend, just lots of little things and I'm bushed, beat, creamed. I gotta find a better diaper cover for little E - I think he soaked through four outfits today! H has been bouncing off the walls today, where on earth does he get his energy from?!

Well I just wanted to make a quick post about some of H's quotes for the day. One very endearing conversation while we were at McDonalds today (yes I do take him to McDonalds on occasion-much to my own chagrin!)
"Mom, where are all of their mommies?" He's referring to grown up construction workers he sees. I told him that when boys and girls get grown up they sometimes go out to eat by themselves without their mommies and sometimes live in different houses. He very tenderly looked at me and said "I want to live with you forever mom!" and then he gave me a little snuggle. Sigh . . .

And here's just a chuckle. You know how things are just out of your mouth before you realize that you are going to spend the next five years trying to explain it to a child. Well sometime ago I said something about H's food going down the wrong tube because he was coughing a bit on something he ate. I have been asked and reasked what exactly that means at least a gazillion times since then. Tonight was one of those nights but something new came up. Tonight I said that when your food goes down the right tube, your food goes right into your stomach. So H very seriously looks at me and says, "so if it goes down the wrong tube does it go straight to your arm?" Oh the smile on my face stretched far and wide. Just what I needed to break the unessesary frustration over answering this question for the umpteenth time.

Well my tea is just about gone so I'm off to bed to read for a few minutes before turning out the light.

Costume in a pinch

It's that time of year where some of us are racking our brains trying to come up with some type of costume to wear to our Hallows Eve festivities. Here's a tip from H (freshly emerged from the bath tub still sporting his birthday suit): Grab a pair of undies and snug them over your head, one side slightly tugged down to cover one eye. Presto . . . Instant pirate! We chose not to make it a Kodak moment in case he decides to run for president someday.

Some old overalls, H's painting shirt, EH's boots, my garden gloves and a lot of leaves . . . our first scarecrow!



Congratulations are in order for H these days. A couple of days ago he announced that Mr. Kitty was expecting baby kittens. On the way to church last night he announced that the baby kittens had been born and that Mr. Kitty was busy cleaning them off (in the seat next to him). We didn't even try to explain the whole issue about Mr. Kitty being a mister. So bubble gum cigars all around.

P.S. I've finally been enlightened on how to add pictures to my posts so you may want to go back and look at a few of my old posts for some pictures.

Summers End

A surprise meet my eyes as I was holding little E to look out the window the other day. There was a beautifully puffed up bird sunbathing in my pedestal bird bath. The bath has been there for a year and this is the first actual bird bathing sighting I've had. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I finally cleaned out the bird feeders and refilled them with fresh seed - we've see our bird population grow again. Well it brought satisfaction to my soul to see something so sweet.

We've got a thick carpet of leaves covering our yard - it's beckoning to be crunched in. I think we'll have to haul out the rakes after nap time today and start some piles. H will inevitably want to make "airplane piles" to sit in and fly to Idaho to visit the cousins. Something he remembers us doing last year and apparently loved!

The garden is calling to me to be put to sleep for the season. I'm holding out, hope that those few remaining tomatoes will ripen before the frost comes. I can always haul them inside to ripen, but on the vine means one less thing on my kitchen counters.

Oh . . . apples! A dear friend from WI delivered 30 pounds of apples to me yesterday. Soon we'll be in the midst of apple pies, crisps, sauces and dried slices for snacking on. Mmmm . . . anyone have any good sauce recipes?



Yesterday we enjoyed what could be our final picnic of the year. We went to visit the college campus I used to work at and sat by the lake for a leisurely lunch. The battery on my watch has died. I lOVE schedules but I have to admit that it's nice not to always have my watch around to keep us on track. We stayed at our picnic much longer than planned but it felt so nice to have the boys toppling over themselves on the blanket, little E tasting a few leaves, H's face and hands deliciously covered in chocolate from the cookies we baked this last weekend and wriggling our feet in the grass.

A few quotes from H to top off this very long post:
- "I'm cleaning it for the next baby, and the next one, and the next one . . ." as he's swiping a nuk back and forth across his jeans.
- "I want a girl next time." Yep he's referring to a baby sister. By the way, his papa and I have no announcements to make at this time, nor are we expecting to make any in the near future.
- "Boopers" I have been informed is what you call pancakes in Spanish

That's ALL for now folks. Happy leaf crunching!

Congrats Little E!

Dear Little E,
Welcome to the wide, wonderful world of mobile exploration! Yesterday marks your first official rock, scoot, and crawl of a few feet. That second bottom tooth of yours popped through last week and I saw you eyeing the car keys again - hold up a bit will you? I want to smother your chubby little bare legs in kisses for awhile longer. I want you to keep burying your head into my neck for snuggles and to hear your belly laugh when we tickle you.
"I'll love you forever, I'll love you for always. Forever my baby you'll be."
Love,
Momma

Roar! Did I scare you?

Just a quick summary of H's most recent quotes:

"God's a rescue hero mom!"

"Roar! Did I scare you?" over and over and over again . . .

"I need some salad mom, my muscles are all gone!"

"Mom, you look handsome."

and just this morning before our outing with the cousins and G-ma L:
" . . . and Jesus give us wisdom at Chucky Cheeses."

Life Spoken

For the past year or two I have been thinking more seriously about my health. If I believed in luck, I'd have said that the cards have been stacked against me. It seems everywhere you look in my history there's a record of cancer. I've had this feeling to rush and have babies soon so that they can be older when I get the diagnosis. It hasn't been a fearful thing, I don't fear death, but I also want to spend as much time with my children as possible, and certainly my husband whom I hope to grow old with. I've heard before about how genetics really has so little to do with cancer and that it's mostly environment/habits but it didn't sink in. That is until last week, my mom sternly spoke words of life into my life. I feel like I no longer have a death (or life of illness) sentence over my head. While there is still the possibility that it will be something that I have to struggle with, I no longer expect it. We'll continue to avoid as many of the pesticides, chemical hormones, GMOs, man-mutilated foods and environmental hazards as possible, but then there is still LIFE.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." -John 10:10

Thanks for life mom, again!

H is on a roll . . .

H seems to be rattling off the greatest questions and comments these days. Here are a few:

"What does gum grow from?"

Today in the car he had a huge smile on his face as he bent and unbent his arm saying "Elbow! Arm! Elbow! Arm!" - such a great revelation!

And my favorite of the week is where he and I are coloring a jungle picture (that was our preschool theme for the week, by the way, packaged coconut milk is not the most appetizing jungle treat!), he handed me the hot pink to color with and I said the name of the color out loud and he gave me a funny look and watched me color with it. Pretty soon he reached out and touched the spot where I had colored and said, "but Ma, it's not hot!"

I love this boy!

Give Blood

Today little E & H joined me at a local church for a blood drive. Part of me was sure I was crazy for attempting to donate and maintain the care and management of two small children, but having declared to my mom that it would be "no big deal", I was out to prove it. I could see the nurses cringing as I walked in pushing my diaper bag laden stroller, infant and toddler in tow. By the end of the "private" little meeting about what I have and have-not been doing for the past 6 months, I think the nurse was pleasantly surprised by my boys - that is until H knocked over the partition. Oops, anybody could have done that! On to the next stop, I could hear the man's thoughts through his eyeballs as I approached - they weren't pleasant. I had this feeling the nurses were quietly whispering who would get stuck with me and my boys. Soon we were settled and before I knew it my little boys had all those skeptical nurses wrapped around their little fingers. H awed them all with his use of the word "stabilize" - I asked him not to climb on the bed while the needle was being inserted into my arm (sounded like a good idea) and he said "but mom, I'm just stabilizing it!" Little E dazzled them all with his amazing ability to hold fast to a dangling stethoscope. We were the hot spot to visit. At the conclusion, I heard the nurses discussing how well behaved the boys were and what a relief it was to them. Ah, that was honey to my soul, cause of course I know how it COULD have gone. Thank you Lord for moments when everything goes right!

P.S. I just have to add that today H requested a pet dog, a pet cat, and a pet fish . . . I was hoping a pet baby brother would work for a little longer!

Nap time bliss

The boys are snuggled into their beds happily napping. One dreaming of fire engines, the other of a cutting block where he can gnaw those teeth the rest of the way in (last night I felt the actual edge of the tooth - hooray little E!).

Where to begin today. . . well about two hours ago I was happily hanging E's nappies out on the line in the warm sunshine (diapers flapping in the breeze is one of my favorite sights and I have to relish it while the weather is nice because no matter how much I love being "natural", I'm NOT going out in the middle of winter to hang wet laundry - that's when gas dryers have a slightly "natural" ring to them). Ah well, as I was so happily engaged, my mind wondered over the lovely things I'd love to share.



Probably the top of the list would have to be that today was H's first day of preschool at home. I found a program that has it spelled out for me - just the way I like it (it doesn't hurt that it was also free!). We made a "Learning Poster" where we post ABCs, 123s, a theme, a verse, colors, shapes, etc. He knows most of this stuff already but I thought it would be good review so he has a solid foundation. He loved all 20 minutes of our "school" and came up with games of his own. I think he had almost my entire lazy susan emptied out onto the kitchen table so we could play store with pennies. Reminds me of the day when my dear mom would save cereal boxes and beef jerky cans so I could play store up in the loft (any of you remember doing that with me?)

Both of the boys are snoozing at different elevations these days. E finished sanding, staining, varnishing, sanding, varnishing, sanding and . . , you get the picture, h's bed yesterday. So H has an official bed, only now he looks like the prince and the pea! His bed is so high I don't think I have to even bend over to tuck him in! We've had to lay down firm "no jumping off the bed" rules. I'm having my own personal flashbacks to my days of saving humankind as wonderwoman - those days were rudely interrupted by a broken leg.

Little E on the other hand has had his crib mattress dropped to the lowest position. He's anxious to pull himself up on the rail and topple out after his big hermano (sp? my days of Espanol have long since past!). Ack! I think little E heard me typing about him, I can hear him humming to himself - stay sleeping just a little longer sweet bug (the prayer of many a mother!).

Ah well, my time has come and gone. I'll go blissfully stare at my flapping diapers for a moment before I go off to answer the call of motherhood.

My Hero

I had a pretty good day yesterday (with the satisfaction of a quilt project complete still corsing through me!). EH had the car so the boys and I stuck to home and our schedule. To top off a very nice day, as I was finishing dinner, EH walked in from his long day at his grindstone, he swept up the boys and hauled them off to "train world", AKA our basement, since H's beloved auntie and cousin on the other side of the St. Croix River passed on bins and bins of trains, tracks, bridges, cranes and more (Thank you!). Before leaving, EH hooked up the iPod and soon I was surrounded by Andrea Bocelli's serenades. So I peeled carrots with the soon-to-be-fall breezes streaming through the window and heaven playing on the stereo. EH, you are my delight and my hero! Thank you.

It is finished

I just put the final stitches in little e's baby blanket - what a relief! Yes I should probably be doing the dishes, rearranging the clutter, balancing the checkbook or something. . . but I wanted to do something that would last for more than five minutes. Now no matter what I get done for the rest of the day, I'll feel like I truly accomplished something. Little e is just over 7 months now, he still sleeps in the office among a myriad of computers, paperwork, scrap-booking & sewing supplies but now it feels like he has "come home" to something that is just for him. Now, I've got to get on his baby announcement!

First Batch

I have considered blogging for only a little while but the idea stuck. I enjoy reading other's blogs but the thought of my own blog was a bit intimidating because I don't really have great insights to share with folks. Then I thought it would be an enjoyable way just to journal about the goings-on in my family. So here's to the first batch of "granola" from our place.

After spending the day working out at my mom & dad's place E and I decided that waiting for speckling compound to dry is as boring as waiting for water to boil-actually worse. Thinking we might only have to wait an hour or two until we could sand and paint we stuck around . . . four hours later and still the walls are wet, we decided to call it a day. My father-in-law (who knows all!) kindly informed E that it takes 8+ hours for it to dry. We'll be back again tomorrow - I hope it doesn't need another coat!

This evening as I was giving little E his bath, H hollered up from the kitchen where he was eating his Julie's Organic vanilla ice cream (my favorite!!) "Is E still in the bath?", "Yep" I said. He slurped down the rest of his treat as fast as he could because one of his favorite things to do is to take a bath with little E. My heart goes all to mush over it! He scrambled up to the bathroom as quickly as he could and practically dove into the tub fully clothed. They love to splash each other - little E usually starts it off and H quickly joins. In my opinion, when it comes to kids, one is good, two is better, three . . . we'll see, but I suspect the theory rings true again.