Fun and Frolic
Anyone want to come play?
- posted by Lenise @ 9:29 AM |

 
Georgia on My Tires
We're back! The boys and I were out of town from Thursday until Sunday thanks to the able assistance of their Aunt Mindy. She flew into town Wednesday night to help me with the kids and the cars, and we all ended up in Columbus, GA the day our brother Todd graduated from Basic Training Plus. Unfortunately, we were not at the ceremony- our parents had scoped out the situation on "Turning Blue" day, and advised against our bringing the kids out in all the traffic and all the rain. We did get to spend some time with the shorn enlistee, but neglected to photograph it. This was a common theme for the trip, as all the photos I got are below. A whopping three pictures (OK, those plus a poorly-focused image similar to the Isaac-on-the-blanket below). Jay didn't even make it onto the base to see the tanks and flying things. All the more reason to plan a trip to Ft Bragg when Uncle Todd comes "north" for a while!

We got to see a couple of college friends of mine, though not quite as many as I had hoped: two out of three ain't bad, as they say. One is an Army officer who will likely ship out to Iraq in January. He's always struck me as noble, so it wasn't too much of a surprise when he left the reserves to serve full-time after September 2001. My other friend introduced us to his charming wife and a good Greek-Italian restaurant near the gracious home of my parents' hospitable friends, where my family (as assembled) spent Saturday night. Apart from a dead battery, one unenthusiastic traveller, and some arthritic activity, it was a good trip. Paul missed out!
- posted by Gary @ 10:52 PM |

 

The bear tastes the same, even though the scenery has changed!
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:51 PM |

 

The same scene before Grandpa vamoosed
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:51 PM |

 

Grandma and Jay singing "Hallelu". I'm not sure who's enjoying it more!
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:50 PM |

 

Playing on Uncle Todd's Army fleece
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:49 PM |

 

Standing at the window
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:49 PM |

 

Some archaeology
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:30 PM |

 

A place in the sun
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:30 PM |

 

After painting, before furniture moving
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:27 PM |

 

New office color
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:26 PM |

 
Quick Kiddie Updates
Isaac is really starting to get around. Yikes! He's also good at sitting up. He has rolled back-to-front, but only a couple of times, and only while holding onto something and pulling himself over. He's come frighteningly close to climbing out of the co-Sleeper. Time to move to a different bed, I'm afraid.

Jay was jumping tonight, both feet off the ground, not holding on to anything. He even said "one, two" appropriately once tonight. These days, he's quite good at thanking us for juice or food. I can't recall thanks for videos, though... Jay is getting better and better at mimicking what he hears, and is getting more and more intelligible by the day. He even says "ball" now instead of "gmmm".

Isaac and Jay are fun to watch. Isaac likes to watch Jay, Jay likes to wrench his more prized possessions from the little one's iron-clenched grasp. Paul was bouncing Isaac on his knee tonight, Jay was jumping nearby, and everyone was laughing. Jay will occasionally approach Isaac, plant a kiss on his head, and look at me, saying "'weet!" Indeed it is =]
- posted by Lenise @ 11:10 PM |

 
That Hurts Like the Dickens!
No, no anvils were dropped on my head* (thankfully!), but I managed to contract a considerable injury yesterday evening, nonetheless.

There I was, dutifully spooning pureed meat and vegetables into my infant's mouth. There said infant was, spinning his head this way and that and swinging his arms in front of his face like one of the windmills at a miniature golf course. There was number 1 son, providing yet another distraction, motoring his big dump truck around the dining room.

My verbal banishment of Jay had no apparent effect, so I went to take matters into my own hands, picking the child up and heading for, heaven forbid, the play room (OK, so it smells like paint). Here is where disaster came crashing down on my arthitis-bent toes like a dump truck. It even looked like a dump truck.

I mouthed a not-very-nice word as it bounced off my foot, and figuring that would be the worst of it, continued my efforts to move Jay to the next room. Feeding Isaac the rest of his dinner over the sounds of his brother wailing was not a particularly successful endeavor, so before long, I had given up on that.

Unfortunately, every time I got up to go somewhere, the pain in my foot was worse than the time before, so once I was safely ensconced on the futon (after Jay had gone to bed), I requested a large Ibuprofen, something to wash it down with, and an ice pack.

I suppose these things have helped, and I'm able to walk on a larger portion of my foot than I was this morning, but that was quite a blow. That sort of thing never happened to me when I was 32.

* VeggieTales reference, from "Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler"
- posted by Lenise @ 12:29 PM |

 

Someone was a VERY good husband yesterday. Happy anniversary to you, too, dear!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:34 PM |

 

Aaaaa!!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:32 PM |

 

Squawk!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:31 PM |

 
Negotiations
Jay rejected many VT videos, but I finally got him to agree to Lyle, the Kindly Viking in lieu of LarryBoy. I was really hoping he'd sing the "Gated Community" song for me, but Sheerluck Holmes was pushed back towards the shelf immediately.
- posted by Lenise @ 4:04 PM |

 
The Toddler, On the Other Hand,
Is not for sale. Today. He's picking up some new cute tricks, like if you ask any question that begins "How many...", the answer is "One, two, bibe, two, bibe!" Jay also demonstrated his new spinning skill tonight, along with his new dizzy skill. On top of all that, he unearthed his Baby Tad (by emptying the toybox all over the playroom floor, but that's not so hard to undo), and was singing along with Tad on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", clapping along on "If You're Happy and You Know It", and doing his level best to perform the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider". The sweetness factor was heightened not a little bit by the fact that he followed Isaac and me upstairs and performed all these songs sitting happily in the doorway as I changed #2 son's diaper. Awwwww!!!
- posted by Lenise @ 9:46 PM |

 
Anybody Want a Baby?
Not yet eight months old, low mileage, many options including continuous wail and auto-wake when placed in bed.

What a difference six days make!
- posted by Lenise @ 9:41 PM |

 
Inconceivable

- posted by Lenise @ 3:11 PM |

 

Roll over? But why?
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- posted by Lenise @ 11:00 AM |

 

This is fine.
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:59 AM |

 

No, this is NOT allowed!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:59 AM |

 

Holding onto big brother
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:58 AM |

 

Trying on Daddy's shoes
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- posted by Lenise @ 10:58 AM |

 
Tuneful Toddler
Jay has been known to throw in a syllable of a VeggieTales song every now and then (at least if it's Madame Blueberry and the song is "Blue"), and lately he's been throwing together random syllables in imitation of the alphabet song or the William Tell Overture (while riding his sheep, of course) but today he astonished me by taking it to a new level. We were watching our copy of Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler (courtesy of Heather) and Jay joined in with the "Gated Community" song- "uh-uh-TEEE!" I was fairly impressed, so we did the sing-along with Larry afterwards. In the beginning lines, Jay was more or less with the song on the words "boy", "house", "tree", and "fence". As this is every noun that appears in those lines, I was floored. Well, then comes the part where Larry starts in "Can I have my ball? Can you get my ball?", so Jay went right on singing "Gmmm, Gmmm!" So much for my hopes that he'd get THAT word right ;)

Meantime, Isaac cut tooth #7 Friday or Saturday. He's still working on crawling (often bear-stance), and is getting further these days. He's also working on pulling up, but it'll probably be a while longer. Still no back-to-front roll!
- posted by Gary @ 6:40 PM |

 
What a Difference a Day Makes, or "We Had This Baby Replaced With Folger's Crystals. Let's See if Anyone Notices."
Someone slept almost continuously from 8-ish last night until 7-ish this morning. Let's hope this is the first in a series...
- posted by Lenise @ 8:55 AM |

 
Very Funny
So now I can't breathe. I'm mentally preparing myself for the coughing fits to come in the days ahead. Or I would, if I knew how.

I'll find out how the boys' digestive systems are when I get home.
- posted by Lenise @ 3:23 PM |

 

Leaning on the fabric animal blocks
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:10 PM |

 

Fangs =[
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:09 PM |

 

Jay gets a closer look
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:08 PM |

 

Larry Boy!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:08 PM |

 

Good times
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:07 PM |

 

Hangin' with the big folks
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:07 PM |

 
House of Poop
I'm really hoping Jay's and Isaac's big messy diapers are unrelated. Isaac's was bigger and runnier than usual, though. Jay had a lot of sugar this morning, so maybe that's all that's causing his bowel to behave as it has!

On an unrelated note, my cold has been shockingly mild and non-contagious, so maybe I can serve in the nursery, as planned, on Sunday.
- posted by Lenise @ 2:40 PM |

 
I.. AM... THAT... BOY!!!
Wouldn't you know that LarryBoy would inspire Jay's first attempt at a sentence? He used to just say the hero part, but now he goes with the rest of the declaration and seems to have substituted "boy" for "hero". I've got to get it on video- it's adorable =]
- posted by Lenise @ 1:07 PM |

 
Woooould You Believe...
Six teeth?! Three on top and three below. Two days ago it was four...
- posted by Lenise @ 1:47 PM |

 
Worshiping While Infirm
I was afraid this would happen. There was an elementary-school-aged boy in the family ahead of us who kept coughing and looking at his parents, first one, then the other, to see if he'd get a reaction (or another cough drop?). He was also doing disgusting things with a big stack of paper towels. At first, I was annoyed. Then I was worried- that boy was very thin and I started wondering if he wasn't seriously ill. "Maybe I should ask his parents if I can pray for him," I thought. But as it continued, it was not looking like a chronic situation, since the boy could not possibly expect this much attention from his parents if he were like this all the time!

So, sure enough, I woke up with a sore throat this morning. Lovely. Maybe I'll ask our shepherding group to pray that the kids don't get it for once!!

I should have paid the extra for OJ with my Sunday AM McDonald's breakfast.
- posted by Lenise @ 11:37 AM |

 

Playing together!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:37 PM |

 

Thanks for the circus, Aunt Mindy!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:36 PM |

 

Seven months old!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:36 PM |

 

Peek-a-boo!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:35 PM |

 

TIMBER!!
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- posted by Lenise @ 9:35 PM |