I'm 1!

Creepy kids' television.

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I'd share the things I find frightening about children's television.

The kids in Clifford only have 3 fingers and a thumb.
Cookie monster's fingers are floppy. They are just fur. It's gross.
When Elmo dances.
When Elmo wears clothes.
Mr. Noodle.
The way Ernie's arms are attached.
The sunshine baby in Teletubbies.
Telletubbies.

I'm 2!

These pictures are Baby's original birth day, 3 months old, his 1st birthday, and today's big blowout party! We had a live band and everything.













This is a birthday post in progress! BB is now walking around in his cast. I made him sit down to rest a bit and watch "Cars." We'll have a 1 and 2 year old birthday party at elevensies and I'll post some pics soon.

Happy Birthday today, BB!

Update

(Or maybe just an excuse to post more pictures of the casted baby on my blog.)





Well, BB is already trying to walk on that cast. The doctor said that's fine, but maybe not less then 24 hours after getting it on! He's having to learn to crawl again in a new way, but is such a trooper and really doing great with it. I can't believe what a strong spirit this guy has! LB is enjoying being able to keep up with his big bro.

Tomorrow is BB's 2nd birthday! We let him open a present from Grandma early so that he would have something new to watch since we thought he might be sitting a lot more for the next 3 weeks. Nope. He's off in the hall crawling around and chasing his brother. Talk about resilience!

Tough guy!

Our first broken bone! BB went down a slide today and landed wrong on his foot, fracturing his tibia up near the knee. It is not a serious fracture and should heal perfectly, but it is in a huge purple cast. He was a brave kid all day, as it happened at 9:45 or so but I didn't get him to the doctor until almost 3. The doctor sent us right to children's orthopedics who x-rayed the leg and put on the cast right there. He should be in the cast for 3-4 weeks. We have a follow-up appointment in exactly 3 weeks.

So it's been quite the busy afternoon for us. LB is getting over a cold and missed his afternoon nap because of the doctors' visits, but he did great. Randy was able to get to the doctor for the casting process. It was pretty nifty. Here are some pictures of BB pointing (his favorite activity) at the cast. He was really digging the sucker he got at the doctor, too.

Look how cute our tough guy is!

Day at the park

Contemplating why he may have fallen down.


Mr. Adventure


Sinatra


Pure joy!


Hey bro, wait for me!

Brothers don't shake hands...

Brothers hug! BB and his Little Bro hugged today for the first time. Usually when you say, "BB, give LB a hug," he just puts his head against LB's head. (Sometimes not quite that gently.) This afternoon before nap BB actually put his arm around LB and hugged him. LB put his arm around his brother, too. So sweet!

This morning I started to blog about a cute exchange I witnessed between the two of them. I usually put LB to bed for his morning nap with BB running around. BB is pretty good about it, and it doesn't usually seem to get his baby brother too riled up. This morning as I lay LB in bed BB stuck his hand in the crib slats and waved night-night. LB waved back with a big smile on his face and huge doe eyes. They then touched index fingers like the Wonder Twins or "The Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel. It was about the sweetest thing ever.

They fight, too, but this is a lovey-dovey post. I love my guys!

Baby's first burrito!

Well it's a breakfast taco really, but he loved it! What a mess!

Stock Market

I am far from a economic expert, and the following may come off as naive, but I had some ideas earlier while watching the news.

I'm tired of this.

I was uncharacteristically watching the news earlier, when some dour newscaster spoke of how the Dow was down again today. Ya' think? What a shock. Isn't this like why you're not supposed to weigh yourself every day if you are trying to lose weight? As soon as you see the scale go up a few ounces you lose heart and have a nice eating binge.

OR, like if all of the people on a boat floating on the sea stand on the right side of the boat it leans that way (at least on Sesame Street). So in panic the nice people all go to the other side of the boat and it leans that way. If everyone stayed where they were in the first place, would the ship settle out?

I guess it's likely I am being a little cavalier about these economic issues, and we have tightened the budget so I can't say it hasn't effected us. I guess I shouldn't watch the news if I don't want to worry about it every evening when that sour-faced guy comes back on.

That's all from the peanut gallery.

10 things I love about my mother-in-law. (OK, 11 things!)

Having just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary, I appreciate the family that I married into! You should meet my mother-in-law. She's really neat. Here is my top 11 list for her!

In no particular order:

1. She raised a wonderful, caring, considerate son to be my husband!
2. She always has something chocolate for me to eat when we come to visit.
3. She taught me how to crochet.
4. She likes to play card games and dominoes, and we usually eat dessert while doing so. She taught me how to play "Shanghai." Maybe when the kids can put themselves to bed we can actually play again.
5. She loves to play with her grandchildren, even when all they do is drool.
6. When she came to visit last she lay down on the floor with BB and helped him do a back flip over her head!
7. She has taken loss and turned it to wisdom and new beginnings rather than bitterness and fear.
8. She makes us big breakfasts when we come to visit when what she would normally eat is a bowl of cereal.
9. She has a beautiful garden but doesn't point and stare at me because I can't grow a cactus.
10. She loves Jesus and has a servant's heart.
11. She saw me at my postpartum craziness and didn't call the authorities!

Do you have someone like this in your life? You should. Go get one!

Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow is our 6th anniversary! I thought I'd post pictures of the last few versaries, and then post our picture from tonight.

The first picture was taken right before we attended our orientation at Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services. The second picture was taken the day we found out we would be parents to our sweet BB! The third picture, last year, is obvious. It was a few weeks before LB was born almost two weeks early. A lot of interesting things happen near our anniversary, including the big UT/OU football rivalry. My anniversary present to my dear husband was to go buy Velveeta and make queso. Happy anniversary, dear!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today is our Grandma's birthday! Our grandma is really nice and very smart. She thinks we're both brilliant - that's how we know. Our Grandma loves to send us books and clothes. Our mommy is always getting compliments on our outfits and she always says, "It's from Grandma!" We wish we could see our grandma more often, but when we do see her it's always tons of fun. She loves to be outside and so do we. She loves dogs and so do we. She likes ice cream and guess what? So do we! isn't that amazing?

Happy Birthday, Grandma! We'll see you in exactly three weeks. We love you.

More pumpkins.

I love this 100% genuine smile. BB is into the squinty smile for pictures these days. I think he looks so pleased here!

Fall Fun

Today we went with our Sunday school class of young married adults to a fall festival at Sweet Berry Farms. We had a picnic, pet some goats, went on a hay ride, walked through a tunnel, and brought home some pumpkins. Although being 90 degrees it did not feel like fall, it was a fun afternoon. BB is really into tunnels right now, and it is one of his few two-syllable words. The tunnel was a big treat. BB picked out a pumpkin for himself and a smaller one for his baby. It was so cute.

I've got a few more pictures but it's taking too long to upload them. I'll add them soon.

Happy fall!

Big boys go to school.

Look at this big kid going to school! OK, so he's not quite 2 years old, so he's not really a big kid. Our guy really enjoys school. When I drop him off he doesn't even look twice at me, he just starts learning. After I pick him up his little brother is so happy to see him. They giggle at each other in the car and then more at home. BB gets a nap at school so we just play the rest of the day. On Tuesday we met with some friends at a park so the kids could play. It was a good day. It's too hot, though!