What is your favorite Christmas Carol?

And who performs your favorite version?

A wonderful gift

Smile!

My baby smiled at me shortly after he was born. Eyes open and everything. This is a hard thing to prove, because it doesn't generally happen--and, I have to say, I wasn't sure it was "real"--you know newborns--other things can cause a "smile." But then he did it a few more times, just for me, the past couple of days, and I started to think he knew what he was doing. Still, no other witnesses, so no proof.

Today, however, he decided to show a few other people. New Dad grabbed the camera. Without further ado, weighing in currently at 6 lbs. 2 oz., and not quite 3 full days old....BABY! (who doesn't have a full name yet):

I think he is happy to be here (and, I hope, happy that I'm his mommy).



Oh, how I love that baby!

Dr. Hall, who we love, came in to the room wearing his scrubs and announced that he was going the make sure the first thing baby saw was the insignia on his hat. Being in the kind of labor I was in, I didn't even care.


The next day, New Dad showed up wearing his red as well. Baby's cousin provided the blankie...



People are conspiring early, but we'll just see how it all plays out, now won't we. It's good to see that Baby looks like he isn't so sure about it all.

Tomorrow is the Day

"...can't go over it, can't go under it, I'll have to go through it..." :)

We will let you know when he is here, and hopefully have some cute pictures--or ugly ones, depending on what type of alien he looks like.

5 Years

Happy Birthday, son! We love and miss you.

I was looking at this photo, and feeling sad that he wouldn't be here for the birth of his little brother this week. And then I had the thought, "oh yes, he will!" He won't miss it. He may not be in the photos, but he'll be there.

Another Favorite

My favorite part is actually the second half (not into slamming husbands)--Golfing with a friend, but getting NO info. Classic. I watch it when I need a good laugh.

and the baby in the belly
did the disco in the darkness
while the mommy on the mattress
was supposed to be sleeping.

and the mommy said,

"baby in my belly,
i'm delighted that you're dancing!
--but i would sleep much sounder
if you discoed in the daytime."

"maybe a slow waltz for night?"

so the baby in the belly
did the bouncing baby boogie--
which didn't feel much different
to the mommy on the mattress

who laughed

and rubbed her happy belly
and thought of things to come.

This

is one of my all-time favorite Dave Barry articles. Especially the cleaning part. Cleared up some things for me... I'm glad they re-posted it.

Oh-I must also note that my husband does not lounge around on the couch all day, watching NFL highlights. He is actually extremely helpful around here. He just periodically misses the snow tires in the dining room--not every time, just sometimes.

Bonus Footage

Sometimes when I download pictures from my camera, I find that I have "bonuses." Or when I go to iPhoto to get pictures for somebody's birthday post, I find those bonuses already in iPhoto, complete with photo editing already done.

Kind of like when you take toddlers to the store with you and you get to the checkout line and you have a whole bunch of packs of Kool-aid in your cart that you didn't put in (some with bites out of the corner), or oreos, or shoelaces, or whatever...

My kids aren't toddlers anymore, so they don't put extra stuff in my cart (very often), but they do steal my camera from time to time...

This is what I found most recently:

A typical Sunday afternoon...or is it atypical?


I'm thinking maybe youngsters shouldn't watch Monk, no matter how harmless it seems...

Is that a hint of fear I detect?

Yep. Fear.

"Yeah. He's scared alright. Heh, heh."

Huh? Oh, this must be a different person...

The hair tipped me off. Not sure why he's going to jail, though.

James Bond, maybe?

PTP is blogging again...

The Boy is 8!
...as of September 17. I'm late on my posting...

That can't be right. Seriously--My baby boy is 8? I went back through 8 years of pictures, just to check. Sure enough. He's 8.

And what an awesome 8-year old he is! We LOVE him SO MUCH!

A look back (mind you, these aren't even close to all, or even the best, but you'll get the idea):

7 lbs. 7 oz.

He got stuck after pulling all the toilet paper off. I left him in there screaming while I got the camera. This picture made me think of two things: 1st--"That is hilarious!" 2nd--"Wait a minute, do I really want to deal with these sorts of things again?" I know--too late.

Things he loved--Balls and...

...toilets. Or, even better, Ballsandtoilets. Toilets make a a really fun, wet "hoop."

We have numerous photos of him with his arm like this. When some kids see a camera, they immediately smile. When the boy saw a camera, it was his cue that the camera person was going to play "catch" with him. When I approached him with a camera, he would huck whatever ball he had in his hand at the time--full speed--at me. Note: It is hard to catch a ball and take a picture at the same time. I got hit more than once (thinking, "he won't throw it this time").

Another picture with the "throwing arm." You will also notice that on this particular occasion, I managed to capture the ball coming at me--not by trying, mind you. As I recall, I managed to move just in time. A golf ball would have hurt me or the camera, or both. When I looked at this picture afterward, I couldn't believe I managed to get both the boy AND the ball IN FOCUS, as I remember moving very quickly out of the way.

The other funny thing about this photo is what was transpiring at the time. We had gone to the golf course to look at the ducks in the pond. The problem was that the pond is also right next to the practice putting green. We could not keep the boy at the pond. He was not interested in ducks. What he was interested in was picking up people's balls and dropping them in the cups for them. I'm not sure people were amused. We left shortly after this picture was taken.

No explanation needed here.

Love that little face--ice cream and all. (Actually, I love both faces)

Love that little face too.
Those of you who lived here the first summer we moved into this house, may remember that this was the age the boy was when you would see his naked, tanned, little body with it's white, white bottom running around the back yard, swimming suit in hand--trying to find me to help him put it on.

TOUGH KID--the boy is one tough kid. His determination to overcome his challenges is HUGE!

Spinal Surgery:

His cool scar--he now has cool scars on his arm and leg, too.

In his wheelchair before he re-learned how to walk.

Thanks to Derrick for the following snow pictures:

I could not have been more proud at this moment. The boy decided to enter the school's race last year. He worked hard to prepare and did his best. To think of all the years of physical therapy work he had done previous to this, so he could run at all, is mind-boggling!

4th of July this year--he wanted a mohawk for the children's parade--we made it awesome!

Lookin' Cool!

He still loves balls with hoops and water.

He also loves his siblings. The imagination frequently runs wild around here.

Happy Birthday, my Sunshine!

Found these of S when I was looking at the Boy's photos for his birthday post...

Seriously Classic.