It’s official! Myles has joined the land of the speaking! Today he has said his first word, besides Ma-ma and DA! His first word was, (drum roll) “No!” 
It’s true, he says it so clearly too that it couldn’t possibly be any other word. I’m not yet sure if he “means” no when he says it, but because it’s the word he hears the most from his big brother and TO his big brother from Mommy and Daddy, he decided it was pretty important and he should start to say it too. 
It’s the cutest thing, now. Hopefully he’ll learn more words quickly before the real meaning of “no” catches on with him. Right now it’s a novelty and he’s been saying his new word many times over and over this afternoon. I just can’t believe he’s talking!!! Where did my baby cakes go?
Well, that’s the exciting news to report. Other than that I’ve been busy busy still trying to get the house organized from our return from the summer. I’ve also been photo editing, which takes a LOT of time considering the volume of photos we had to start with. Then today I actually baked some banana bread! Yum!!
This week is going to get a bit crazy because we are going to begin putting on a new roof! It’s much needed and we’re very excited about it, but the process is the crazy part. Stu’s sis and bro-in-law are here to help and the inlaws will be joining us on Thursday night. Then I will be hieing myself away for a ladies retreat. Should be interesting, if nothing else. But it will be a break from the chaos so that’s good.
Will report back later. I couldn’t do photos today because Stu’s been working on our photo library and I can’t import anything right now. Hope you can manage without them for now. Toodles!
Archive for August, 2009
First Words
08.26
Smellin’ of the rain
08.22
It smells so good outside! I want to open all of the windows and doors and let the wonderful rainy smell come wafting in!! We saw 4 “rain bugs” (according to Stuart) on our after dinner walk last night so I guess they were predicting this. So far nary a drop has fallen, but I’m sure it must be out there with the way it’s smelling anyway. The lads are napping, so I wont throw open the house to the wind just yet. Well, Myles is napping… I just heard Qade knocking on his door, but as no one opened it, I guess he decided to amuse himself with something in his room.
The boys have been napping separately recently. We are trying to work through some sleep issues with them. For one thing in the evening, Myles is READY for bed and goes down no problem. But Qade has decided that it’s great fun when it’s his “turn” to go to bed to jump up, turn on the light (with the help of a book) and wake up his little brother by pouncing in his bed. Hmmmm… this does not make for a happy Mommy. I really look forward to evenings with Stuart without little people crawling and tugging and fussing at me constantly. So the past couple of nights we’ve put Qade to bed first, which he does NOT like because it’s still light outside! Once he’s sleeping soundly Myles gets his chance to go to bed. Poor Myles though, doesn’t like to “have” to stay up because of big bro’s issues, so I’ve been putting him down in the spare room to start out, then when Qade has gone away to dream land, I move him to his ‘real’ bed. It’s a lot of back and forth and kind of a bother, but until Qade can learn the importance of staying in his bed at bedtime it seems to be the best choice.
Anyway, the new computer is behaving beautifully! Now we are looking for a small deskish type thing that will go under it for my keyboard and mouse. It’s great to have it on the wall for movies and such, but when I want to work on it I have to use the coffee table, and let me tell ya, my knees don’t appreciate sitting Japanese style on the floor for very long. So we’re looking for something, and Stu has some great ideas, he’s good about that!
I have been photo editing from the wedding I shot last weekend. It’s lots of fun! I should have started doing this earlier. There are hundreds of photos to sift through, so I’m sure they will end up with a lot of pretty pictures of their special day.
I’ve been feeding a flock of humming birds lately. Usually they feed one at a time, and chase each other away. However there have been swarms of them around my feeder!! I guess they are tanking up for their flight South or something. I have to fill the feeder 2 times a day to keep up with them! I took some pictures that hopefully I’ll post on here sometime soon, and in one of them I counted 17 hummers at one time! They are attracted to bright colors and will “buzz” down to investigate Myles’ exersaucer toys, even when he’s sitting in it!
Well, the lads are both awake and talking so I should get them up to move too. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend. I shall post again soon with pictures!
Just breathe!
08.16
I feel like I’ve been running a bunch of little races lately. It’s been busy! A weekend ago we were at Stu’s parent’s place. Well, we had a wonderful kidless anniversary at a really nice bed and breakfast! That was fun! Then I had a CCW course so that I can be a pistol packin’ mama. Now to wait the 75 days they have to even look at the application before I can get the license… but that’s okay. Gives me time to shop for a nice bag. Anyway…
This weekend… well week, I was taking wedding photos for one of our “camp couples.” Two of our summer staff from previous summers got hitched at camp! What fun! They asked Stu and I to do their photos, so we did, mostly I did. We had a photo shoot on Wednesday with just the bride and groom, then did the regular wedding photos on Friday for the wedding. I begin to understand why most photographers charge so much! It’s exhausting work!! But it IS fun too. 
I enjoyed it, and am glad for the experience. We also did the digital video so we’ll have to work on a lot of post processing for both the photos and the video. Those were the 2 elements that we were disappointed in with our wedding, so we tried to do a great job so this couple wouldn’t feel the same. Of course we PAID our photographer, and he still did a lousy job! We made sure to let our couple know that we are NOT professional so not to have those kinds of expectations. Still, I think we got enough really good shots that they’ll be very happy with it. Wedding photography is something that I could totally get into as long as I get to know my camera better and am confident with it. I’m sure I could do a swell job, and I like to do creative, non-typical stuff too, so we’ll see if that ever goes anywhere.
There’s a ladies retreat coming up that I and several of the other “camp wives” will be going too. I’m really looking forward to it. One, it’ll be a break from the kids and laundry. Ha! And two, I’ve not been to a ladies retreat since I was the ‘youth speaker/singer” at one 4 years or so ago. Anyway, I went to one in high school and it kind of turned me off to ladies retreats. The women stayed up all night talking about child birth and playing pranks on one another. Hmmmm…. well, I’m sure this one will be great! Hopefully it’ll make me want to go back again.
The boys are doing well. Qade is learning to share, slowly. He has learned the ever popular word “mine.” Especially when it comes to his treasured cars. He has 10 of them or more, but heaven forbid Myles try to touch one. Even if Qade is not playing with them at that moment, he NEEDS it as soon as Myles makes a move to touch one. Qade is learning to use his words more though. He now will say “No, thank you” instead of just yell NO if he doesn’t want something. He’s also learning to tell us what the problem is or what has happened to him rather than scream…. sometimes. Just a couple of days ago several times he would laugh at something then say “funny.” It’s so fun to watch him learn and apply concepts. I mean really, how would you explain funny??
Myles is pulling himself up on EVERYTHING now! He’s even figured out how to get back down! I thought it would be awhile before he figured out the lowering part. I had to rescue him several times at nap and bedtime when he was “stuck” standing up, but it was only a couple days till he figured out how to get down by himself. He’s not nearly as cautious as Qade was. Myles doesn’t mind just letting go and flopping on his rump, but Qade would absolutely not let go unless he could come down gently. It’s been fun to watch the boys play together. Myles probably would enjoy some solo play more often. Qade tends to follow him around everywhere trying to instigate a wrestling match by pushing him down on the floor or sitting on top of him. Myles has figured out that he can “holler” for help if brother is becoming too much. They do get along though and enjoy each other’s company. They would rather be together with all of the ‘irritations’ involved than to be by themselves. Cute!
Well, I’ll stop gabbing for now. We’ve been in computer transition lately with Stu getting a new laptop because of all the issues with the last one, so that’s part of why I’ve been neglecting my blog… that and the aforesaid business. So hopefully when MY computer comes in this week, yes I get one too!!!! I’ll be able to post more consistently. But first I must get through the photos and wedding video editing. Wish me luck!
Love that “HOME” feeling!
08.04
We’re back!!! Love being home! Wow! I don’t think I knew just how much I missed home till we actually got here and the HUGE sense of relief and joy that washed over me while we unpacked. Ahhhhhhh! (Contented sigh) Stuart said he thought I didn’t care for our lil town, but I helped him understand that it wasn’t the town or even the house it was just “home.” At least I think I helped him understand. It’s really hard to describe that feeling. So yesterday we were busy busy trying to get stuff done. Well, I had to go grocery shopping, so that was most of my business, but Stu was vacuuming and steam cleaning all the carpets!! What a man! He also mopped and organized while he put things away. The floors are amazing! They feel so good on our feet now! There were gobs of cat hair all over the place when we got home. Unfortunately our sweet lil kitty has longish hair… we’re thinking of getting her shaved. But I told Stu that I’d ever so much rather have cat hair than be infested with mice! Today I still have a bit of unpacking to do, but the light at the end of the tunnel is very bright!
Qade has been working on being our big boy. We still have to work with him daily on the whining thing, but we can see progress too. He was “wigging” on Sunday when we packed up our “Mary and Laura” cabin to come home, but again I think it was just the insecurity of seeing his “home” being pulled apart. I remember him doing it too when we were packing to GO to camp. So I sat down with him for a minute and explained that we were packing all of our things to go to our house where we’d see our dog and cat, and that Mommy, Daddy, Qade and Myles were ALL going to get in the car and go. After that he sat on the couch with Buford and did much better. Even lil’ guys need explanations sometimes. Speaking of Buford. The other day Qade brought him out, laid him on the floor and said, “Change diaper.” Now Buford was NOT wearing a diaper, but Mommy put one on him anyway for Qade’s sake. Maybe we can get Buford some “big boy underwear” in a little while too. I got Qade’s potty seat and a little stool and some “unders” that have cars on them!!! He was interested in those for a little while yesterday, just to see the cars. We’re gearing up for sure. Ha ha ha!
Last evening at the table Qade was mimicking Myles’ squeals. He does it pitch perfect too, it’s amazing, but it can also be annoying to have 2 squealing babies. So we told Qade to use his words to “talk” to Myles. It was so funny because Stuart would say a sentence for Qade to tell Myles, and then Qade would repeat it in this high little voice that he uses when he’s talking “nice” to Myles. Cracked me up!
Myles is doing great with our move home. He doesn’t seem to be bothered with it like he was that one weekend. Poor guy has a little shiner, complements of his big brother throwing a book at him! And he had a little knot on his forehead too from falling on his face. Poor lad looked like he’d been in a row! He’s a speedy little crawler now, though most of the time it’s still one foot and one knee. He looks funny! Yesterday while I was cleaning in the kitchen I heard him squalling in the back bedroom. I knew Qade was in there with him so I assumed that Myles was being tackled again (something Qade has decided is his favorite sport) so I walked in. I saw Qade on the floor at the end of the bed looking under and poor Myles had somehow completely gone under the bed and was stuck and NOT very happy about it. It was actually pretty funny. I pulled him out and he was fine, but I told Qade that he could come ask Mommy for help for Myles. He was just sitting there watching the whole time. The boys do enjoy each others company, but have their “moments” as I’m sure you can imagine. They are both learning to share, and I’m sure they’re going to be the fastest friends growing up.
Okay, well that’s enough of my ramblings. I wrote a fantastic blog post full of wit and fun the other day and accidentally lost it when I tried to publish, so that totally disheartened me from writing again too soon. Hopefully this one will make it out to cyber space and y’all will have the chance to waste time reading all of this. Ha! Have a sparkling week!
