all that braiding hair in high school paid off

The many expressions of my almost 3 year old.

little devildog

We went to the National Museum of the Marine Corps yesterday - it was really cool and a great place to go (without toddlers, so you can actually look at stuff). David found this in the gift shop and couldn't resist.


Thanks for the cute bib, Uncle David!

Baby Bear

Around the time Alison was born there were 2 baby pandas, one at the San Diego Zoo (where we were living at the time) and one here at the DC Zoo. We were all enamored with the Panda cams and watching these delightful little cubs interact with their mothers. It was a little uncanny how the interactions were not that different than ours with our own children. My mom got Alison this bear when she came to see us. The bear hugs, makes noises, and slurps its bottle. It's really pretty cute. But it was too much for a little baby at the time, so it got put away.

The other day while I was cleaning out Alison's closet, I found it. It is perfect for her right now and she loves taking care of her baby bear. It's pretty cute. She's pretty happy taking care of her animals. Last night she was in her room showing Andrew all of her stuffed animals and telling him what each of them were.

She got confused as to where the bottle goes here, I guess. She really loves Andrew. They love to be around each other. He lights up when she comes into the room and she is always asking for "my Andrew". Like the other day when she was upset in bed, "I need my Andrew!!".

I also overheard her one day calling to him from her room, "Andrew, come here! I NEED you! I really love you!" She gets frustrated when he doesn't come when she calls for him. And right now, he's just woken up and she asking, "can you go get Andrew, mommy?"

I better get going!

practice

I took Andrew outside today to practice with my camera. I got some good shots, but halfway through realized I was overexposing them with my aperature setting. So now, he just has an angelic glow.

Here I fixed the setting. But you can also see the evidence of that tooth that came through today. I was wondering why he was drooling all over the place!

the cookie monster

Andrew loves cookies. He really just loves food. He eats pretty much anything I give him. It's a good thing his first tooth broke through today! (or maybe it was yesterday...)

swing induced daze

Wrestling

Nick and Andrew were having a wrestling match the other day. Andrew was protesting.

Free at last.

Alison in Wonderland

and Andrew at the park

I made a bag for my friend Julianne from High School. She works at the Disney store. The Alice dress accompanied her check to me. Alison, before she even had it out of the wrapping, "I love it! I love it!" and once it was on, "It's SO cute!

Andrew was loving the swings today.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce

That is what I say to Andrew when he gets in the jumper. He likes it a lot more now than he did at first. He's pretty easily entertained by it.

Story time with grandma Jan.

Behold, Princess Alison

Alison takes her role as princess VERY seriously. She has been playing dress up with her friends and we aren't stocked up on dress up clothes here. So even though I've been saving this dress for Halloween this year, we pulled it out the other day.

She stood there in awe of her dress that was, "just like Kate's!!" She literally stood there for several minutes, with her hands clasped at her waist contemplating her new role as princess. I think she was so enamored that she owns such a beautiful dress that she was rendered speechless. I finally got her smiling after a few minutes. It was so funny!

I now have more leverage. If she isn't nice like princesses are then we have to take the dress off. Like the other day when she not so nicely took something from Andrew. . . this princess stuff is serious business.

Andrew's bed!

I finally got Andrew's crib put together. I really think being in a real bed (no more packnplay) will help him nap better. Plus he seems to really like it! He had to break in the bumpers first thing.

I think I should rename him Kilroy.

He was being really cranky while I was putting the crib together and tying on the bumpers. Probably because I wasn't holding him. Anyway, I decided as I finished up I would put him in the bed. He LOVED it!! Smiles all around and stopped fussing! And earlier, he woke up from a nap (too short) and I left him for a few minutes and he settled back down! Woah. I think I may be on to something here.

He had to practice pulling himself up and I think he was pleased to find that the bars are much easier to grab onto than the mesh on his old bed. Between this and feeding him more, I think we may have a happier baby in our midst!

I plan on getting the binding on that quilt sewn down while I listen to General Conference next weekend. I want to make some sheets too. I have so much of that fabric, I think it needs to be used!

A day in the life

Andrew looks so cute in his first pair of overalls. I hope it cools off so he can wear them again before he grows out of them! Well, he can always wear them to church - it's always cold there. He's also got on his first real shoes. Alison loves to play with him, and she's usually pretty good about following the big sister rules: Be nice. Have fun!

Why, why doesn't the crazy lady put the camera down?

Someone picked out some new pants to go with that shirt. And it wasn't me. SOMEONE is obsessed with changing her clothes. Not me. This was pair 2 of 5 pairs of pants put on yesterday within a couple of hours.

Andrew loves the car. He's can reach the floor with his toes and he likes to dive off when he's done. I had to replace the batteries this morning from all the playing it's been getting.

An Andrew Fix

I had some great light the other day and was able to snap a few great shots of my little guy. Is this really the face that only a mother could love? Or are you smitten too? (and why do people keep asking how old my baby girl is??)

P.S. He can ride in the cart now, but he still prefers the bjorn. And he's crawling - hands and knees...

Proof

that if my kids have bad manners it's not my fault.

A Glimpse of N.C. Road Trip

Breakfast of Champions - steel cut oats, blueberries and peaches!

Buried


Somebody loves the sand.

and trees. . .