Blue Suckers are GOOD!

Baby Viking

Words that Have (Already!) Come Back to Haunt Me

1. I leave Cate and Ben in the living room for a few minutes while I change out the laundry. On my way out of the room I tell Cate, "Keep an eye on Ben and let me know if he crawls toward the cords."

I'm on my way back in the room when I hear Cate say, "Ben, look at me. We do not chew on cords."

2. We are playing Little People and Cate wants me to give her the Farmer. I'm sitting a few feet away and I gently toss it into her lap.

Cate looks up, frowns at me, and says, "Mommy, we don't throw things."

3. Chris is giving Cate and Ben a bath in the big bathtub. Chris squirts Cate in the tummy with a water toy.

Cate says, "No Daddy! That's only for grown-ups!"

Word of the Day: Nexturday

nexturday

\nekst-er-day\

noun. 1. a day following today. 2. a future period or time.


Example:

Mommy: Cate we need to get ready for Tiny Tots.

Cate: Is Daddy gonna' be there?

Mommy: No, Daddy can't come today. He has to work.

Cate: Okay. Maybe Daddy come nexturday.

One last post for today...

For the entire eight months of Ben's life, people have immediately commented on how much he looks like Chris.

Maybe it's because we just spent a week with my mom's side of the family but I am beginning to see a bit of my brothers in Ben as well.

I'm posting a photo of Ben that, in my opinion, looks exactly like my brother Mike's baby pictures. For those of you who know my brothers and know Chris, let me know what you think!

In other news...

Ben is mobile! He started crawling three weeks ago and hasn't stopped since. He's actually more like a steamroller than a baby as he chooses to simply climb over the top of anything (Mommy, Cate, Sadie, books, chair legs, toys, pillows) that is in his way.



He's also figured out how to pull himself up to a standing position, an activity that he's started practicing on a daily basis as a ploy to avoid going to sleep.

Cate Steps in the Lake for the First Time

The first morning we were at the lake my dad and Devin took Cate down to the pier. They counted ducks, skipped rocks, and found some crawdads and fish to look at. Sand started seeping into Cate's new sneakers and it didn't take long before she decided that she needed to rinse her feet in the lake.

(As you can imagine, this was a cycle that repeated itself endlessly as sand sticks quite nicely to already wet feet).

Cate splashed in the lake and proudly announced, "My feet takin' a bath!"

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

My apologies for the long delay in posting...The kids and I went to Hackensack, MN over the 4th with my parents and Uncle Devin. Given the "rustic" setting and the fact that it required an eight(!) hour car ride to get there I had very low expectations for the trip.





Luckily Uncle Devin kept Cate entertained (and vice versa) during most the of trip. He probably answered the question, "Watcha' doin' Uncle Devin?" at least 1,347 times during the course of our stay in MN.


















We stayed at Evergreen Lodge on Woman Lake with my mom's side of the family. It was great! I completely underestimated the sheer WONDERFULNESS of vacationing in a place where you can open the door and the kids are immediately at the beach, on the lake, at the playground---everything was literally outside our little cabin.

Feeling sentimental...

Cate and I were looking at pictures tonight after Ben went to bed and I was struck by how much the munchkins have changed in the past seven months. How did my 18-month old and newborn babies become a toddler who asks about dreams and rainbows and a 7-month old who is crawling and pulling himself onto any stable (or not so stable...) surface?

Dreams

It's 7:00 on Wednesday morning. Cate, Ben and I are sitting at the kitchen table, eating our respective breakfasts.

Me: Ben, did you have a good night's sleep?

Cate: What Ben dream about Mommy?

Me: I don't know. What do you think he dreamed about?

Cate: Cows. I think Ben dream about cows.