Happy Halloween, Again

St. Jude was fun until we got tired. We're resting up for round three this evening.

Happy Halloween

Pre-Halloween costumes are on and we're waiting for dad to come get us to help with St. Jude trick-or-treating. Can't wait!

Happy Halloween Take II

Note to mom and dad: Turning on the lights, doesn't mean the lightbulbs aren't burnt out. We got off to a slow start.

Happy Halloween Take III

Halloween is much more fun when there are trick-or-treaters.

Halloween Quote of the Day

Oh how wonderful! Look, they have the baby dressed up as Satan!

The Toddler Room

Well they don’t mess around. Benjamin took two little steps at daycare, and off we go to the toddler room. Move over guys, we’re coming in. Of course, we knew it was coming. Poor Seth has been there a few months now, and he’s younger than we are. We go for an hour this morning, then a little more, and then a little more. Next week we start full time. Although, the price break doesn’t start until December, hmmm…. Mom’s already found Benjamin over there eating a fake hot dog in the afternoon, so she doesn’t really understand the conversion process. But she says she’ll let them have their rituals. New toys for us! The little chairs those kids sit in to eat lunch and snack look like they’re full of opportunity. Do you suppose they’ll try to make us stay still? They are so low to the ground and easy to jump out of. We’ll let you know how that goes.

Don't Cry Over, Uh What's This Here Sauce?

Lesson Learned: The fastest way to Thunderdome is to dump a glass bottle of Worcestershire Sauce out of the fridge and onto the tile floor.

First Steps

Yesterday the daycare ladies told dad that I took my first two steps. (It seems they’ve told him that before…). He was so glad to let them know that he and mom had already watched this a few times and it was not surprising. Last Saturday mom was on the phone with Uncle Brian when I decided to show her that I really can just stand there. More shocking, to even me, was later that afternoon when I was watching her cross the kitchen. It finally clicked what she was doing as I watched her. She watched me watch her, sat down on the floor and opened her arms. Five little steps later I fell in a heap in her lap laughing. That was fun. Dad was sitting at the table with his mouth hanging open. I’ve given over the Fisher Price walker to Nicholas now. He's following faster and faster, so I guess I better suck up all the attention I can with this new trick before he's doing it too.

My Mom Went to Baltimore

And all we got were these sunglasses. You can't even see out of them. Anyway, she left us with dad while she was gone. When we were at the pediatrician's office after she got back, she explained to the doctor that she'd been out of town and wasn't sure about a few things. The doctor looked a little shocked and asked who we were with? Mom said dad, and the pediatrician started asking how that went because her husband had fed their kid a cheese and ketchup sandwich at some point and she worries about kids left with dad. Mom told her confidently that dad probably does a better job than she does. Truth be told they do about equal. We'll reserve judgment yet on whether that is equally good or equally bad. There are a lot of adult years coming and adult problems for us to blame on them.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Is it really a happy day? Yes. I’m on antibiotics and feeling better from double ear infections and a cold this week, which earned me a shot at the doctor’s office on Wednesday. It also earned me my first referral to a specialist—Ear, Nose, and Throat. I’m so proud, specialists aren’t just for Nicholas any more. More to come on tubes in the future most likely. And Nicholas was so excited for today that he got up at 5:00 this morning, and got everyone else up as well. So we had enough time for a picture session in our creepy apparel. Mr. Potato Head’s hat is a little small for me, but I think it completed the look nicely. And mom wanted to give you all a sneak peak at our Halloween costumes—Guano Boy and Devil Dude will make appearances at the end of the month. I think dad is making an ARRRGGG! sound in that first one; he says that's what pirates say.

Freaky Friday

Ms. Mildred said that I would not be riding any motorcycles today (my shirt says I'm part of some Vampire Motorcycle Club of some sort) when mom picked me up for my doctor appointment this morning. I can't let Benjamin get an ear infection and not get one myself you know. I was trying to tell those people at 5:00 this morning that I wasn't feeling well, but mom seemed to think that the doctor wouldn't see me until sick hours at 9:15 this morning. Mom was going to take us both home and hang out, but Ms. Mildred thought it would be fine to stay, which is good because she gave me puffs to eat. Mom had to go back to work...

2-2

The Chiefs won in a very close game on Sunday. Dad was telling me that one of the first things we did on our first day home was try to watch football. They had come in the hospital room in the morning and told mom that she could go home that day if she wanted, and for some reason she wanted. So they got us dressed, got her dressed, packed up and waited. The game started at 3:00 that afternoon, but they didn’t get checked out until after it had started. We were so tiny and floppy that we couldn’t keep our own heads up in those gigantic car seats. It was good that dad drove home so fast because by the time we got home Benjamin’s head had flopped over and he couldn’t get it back up. Then they got us inside and felt so stupid because they had these babies and didn’t know what to do with us. And, football was on television. We made sure they didn’t really see that game though since we had so much to comment on being home for the first time and all, and you do know the only way a baby can communicate don’t you?

Delta Red Beans and Rice

Delta Red Beans and RiceFrom Southern Living1 pound dried red beans
6 cups water
1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage, sliced
1/2 pound cooked ham, cubed
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Hot cooked rice
Place beans in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water 2 inches above beans; soak 8 hours. Drain.Bring beans, 6 cups water, sausage, and ham to a boil in a Dutch oven. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 hours.Sauté onion and garlic in hot oil in a large skillet until tender. Add to bean mixture. Stir in green onions and next 9 ingredients. Cover and chill 8 hours.Bring bean mixture to a simmer; cover and cook, stirring often, 1 hour. Serve over rice.

The Fallen Hero

The Diaper Champ. What can I say? Was it really a match for two baby boys at one time? Is there any diaper containment, other than burial, that could withstand the beating? The seemingly permanent dinginess in the air cannot really be blamed on the diaper champ. Posterious Crappus (common name Nicholas) has made it his goal to beat the Diaper Champ. And I believe he has won the war. There have been many discussions regarding the Diaper Champ. A beleaguered champ, but a champ none-the-less. Mom and dad have thought maybe it just needs more bleaching. Maybe they should keep bleach in our room? No. Maybe move the diaper champ to the garage. It’s still getting into the 90’s here. No. Maybe fling the diapers out our window into the yard, hope they make it to the curb for the garbage men? Unlikely. Start “elimination communication” (http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-diap/46-infant-potty-training.htm)? No, and again I say no. No, we will have to muddle through and spray the Lysol and bleach when we have time and fight the pop-up disinfecting wipe dispenser through many, many more diapers. How many? We've lost count, but a new supply of 500 arrived just the other day.

October's New Pajamas

We got new pajamas from Aunt Cynthia, and mom let us wear them for the first time Saturday night. They were so comfy. And mom told us about her most comfy nights too:On laundry days in the summer, mom would hang the sheets to dry outside. Butterflies would visit the floral patterns, and the blue hues of my brother’s sheets seemed to draw the sky down to touch the yard at our feet. Three rows of blowing cotton created a maze, billowing with cool from the moisture and wind.I think mom had a recipe somewhere that told her just how long to let those sheets soak in the summer air. It seemed that I could play and stay near those sheets hanging on the line all day. I couldn’t reach the wooden pins that held the bed clothes firm, but mom would hand them down, and I could just manage getting them to the opening of the mustard yellow hanging bag. I would return the pins to their home, waiting for the next weekend and my next opportunity to help.Some time later while it was not yet night, bedtime would approach. How wonderful to turn out the light and not have to leap through the darkness, toes touching the floor for the briefest of moments as the hairy arms and hands from under the bed barely missed grasping their targets. Instead, on laundry nights in the summer fresh pajamas met fresh sheets while light still cast shadows around the room. Somehow the spider shadow from the wrought iron bed frame didn’t seem so unfriendly. She was more of a Charlotte keeping watch to gather only the most precious of dreams.Dad would come in as I was melting in, surrounded by the scent of outside that had been magically captured within those sheets. We would say prayers together. A fluid breeze was pulled in the window by the attic fan whirring just outside my room. And sleep came sweetly on laundry nights in the summer.

Soy Boy

On Saturday mornings mom and dad play this game now. When we wake up, one of them brings us our bottles and lets us have them in bed. Then they go back to bed. Well, whichever one of them couldn’t drag themselves out of bed to bring us first breakfast, comes up the second time. The second time is to clean out the bottles and our pants. (We do have good, regular German heritage you know.) To get back to things, mom lost on Saturday because dad managed to get out of bed first to bring us the bottles. She was mumbling something about being too slow and reaching in to grab my empty when her eyes actually opened up. Now, I thought it tasted funny, but it all tastes like crap so I didn’t turn it down. She picked up the yellow bottle from my crib and turned to Benjamin’s. She grabbed the purple bottle from his crib and grumbled. She wasn’t really mumbling so much this time as grumbling. I just figured it was a Saturday morning thing. Later, while she was giving me my apple puffs, I heard her saying (grumbling) something to dad about my soy allergies and the reason for the different colored bottles. They said they’d watch me and see. Last time I got blotchy red all over my head. This time—nothing. We’re hopeful. Did you know that one of the ingredients Gerber puts in fruit puffs is soy?

Nothing New Here

It's just been a happy week here. Ten Months coming up on Sunday. Can you believe that mom got these shirts on sale?