Cause that's how my mom rolls.

I mentioned that I didn't have the picture from the big visit, and poof, a CD arrived in the mail! My mom is quick like that. Some of my favorite picture of Makendra still didn't work, but there are still a lot of nice ones!


Final beach days.Pumpkins...
Tim, the maestro chef.
Pretty Tamara.
Public Servant Jean.



Maybe time for a haircut?Good Ol' Warren.
Even Opa limped through the orchard! (Love you Dad)

REALLY happy to be there.
My seldom seen Aunt Katie and Uncle Bill. They live in Canada. A real treat to see them.
My cousin Makendra's Luke, who is four months older than Makili.
My family! Wow.
My smiley guy.
My cousin Makendra's baby, Faith, who is two weeks older than Remick.
And my cousin, Makendra

Tractor and Sumo Wrestler

Remick who just this week weighed in over 18 pounds at his 4 month doctor's appointment was a sumo wrestler for Halloween. He wasn't very cooperative at picture time, but he didn't actually mind it much.

Makili has talked for weeks about being a yellow bucket tractor, NOT a farm tractor. But when the big day came and the big kids were wearing scary costumes, there was no chance he was going to put that tractor on, which as it turned out was sort of okay, since the final product was a little front heavy. So we took the obligatory pictures, but he was actually a skeleton for trick-or-treating. I had fun making it though.

Rockin Gifts

I should be sleeping right now while I can, but I can't. So I'm going to saya few words about some amazing gifts I've received recently from dear friends. Because we are still suffering form space issues on our computer, I don't have all the pictures to tell the gifts story, but let me be clear that we have received some beautiful!!! gifts for both Makili and Remick (and me and Raph too), and they are certainly not all mentioned here, but heartfeltedly appreciated!

So recently we got a package from my friend Becky in North Carolina. She sent us an awesome poetry book that I had never seen before and has been a hit around here. AND this adorable bib, which a whole level above the ones that I had made a while back, because it has a snap up catching trough. I rEALLY want to learn how to put in snaps. It was awesome.

Then I got this AMAZING package from Ana in Rhode Island, who sent us a slew of cool stuff, but this name banner for Makili's door was my absolute favorite and sent me into bouts of depression about how I don't have time to make anything anymore. It isn't for lack of ideas and deserving friends and relatives! I'm still working on Caroline's prize! In any case, tell me this isn't the coolest!
And then my local buddy Nadine gave me the most welcome new mom gift that ever was. Seriously. She got my kitchen and bathroom cleaned for me by a professional. Can you believe that? I went outside with my kids and someone else who I didn't have to feel indebted to came in and scrubbed my toilet and bath tub. Talk about luxury. Screw the spa. Toss the massage. To me there is absolutely NOTHING more luxuriant than someone else cleaning my house.

I am eternally grateful for all of the wonderful gifts we've received from our dear ones. One of these days, my hands will be more free and I can return the favor. I'm anxious to get started, but trying to savor the baby moments too. Thank you dear friends.

Some forgotten pics after he heard me.

I hope to clear enough room from our computer today to download the Halloween photos from yesterday - Makili's tractor costume which he only wore in the driveway and Remick's Sumo wrestler costume. I realized I never posted any of these picture from our trip to Baltimore to see my brother, Amanda and little Kaylee. So here they are.


Oh and apparently complaining about his sleep publicly works, because he did MUCH better the last two nights. Waking to nurse about every four hours. He woke a few times in between, but put himself back to sleep before I got to him. I'm so thankful.

I've had it.

Seriously. I've had it. I know babies are supposed to rotten sleepers at Remick's age, but every hour? Really. I feel like I've tried everything. Rocking. Nursing. Swaddling. Swing. Belly (and that is taboo!). Sleeping with me. Sleeping in the cradle. Pacifier. No pacifier. Letting him settle himself. I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! I cannot function on this little sleep. It'd be one thing if after a tussle to get him to sleep he'd stay asleep for a few hours - like I'd be happy with 3 at this point - but he wakes up again after 45 minutes. I'm losing my shit.

Makili thankfully has been sleeping great except for the fact that he's peed in his bed every night for the last three and his crib at naptime. I had to buy another crib sheet last night because I haven't had time to do laundry. We take turns sleeping in his room so that we can actually get a few hours of sleep, which is easier for Raph than me, since I can still hear him crying with Raph over the incredibly loud fan in Raph's room. I've seriously had it.

Boohoo

I lost a whole lot of nice pictures. Pictures of a fabulous week in Maine with my parents, my aunts and uncles, my cousin and her kids. Pictures of fall at its finest, with leaves and slanty sunshine and apples and pizza and all things warm. Boohoo. I think my mom will send me them as they were downloaded onto her computer first, but by then I might be onto new things and it will jsut be a photo reminder. But it was a blissful week, like coming upon this apple heart in the middle of an orchard. Someone else has been loving this season.

I really need to download some photos

I have so much to write about, but haven't downloaded the photos and can't seem to find the time. Here is a washed out picture of a quilt I finally finished It is actually very bright and colorful, though you can't really tell. At this point, with my head barely above water, I am just damn proud of finishing anything.

My First Friend

I got to meet up with my oldest friend Alex when I was in Pittsburgh briefly last week. We were friends before we were born and she shaped so much of my childhood and adolesence and I suppose also the person I am now. She was always self-confident and funny and I always wanted to be like here when we were young. She always had a throng of boys flocking after her, so I wasn't the only one who was attracted to her confidence and humor (though her big boobs mights have been an attractor for the boys as well.) In many ways, Alex was the trend-setter in our group of friends, always bold enough to like new things and go against the norm. I really wasn't so much, as I wasn't quite confident enough at that age to be different.

It was fun to introduce her to my kids as she is expecting a daughter in January. I think about my boys' childhoods some times and wonder who will be their Alex...

Remick's First Hockey Game

They didn't win (or lose for that matter - they tied!), but we had a LOT of fun! Our friend Ryan hooked us up with some tickets and we got a sitter (Mom!) for the night for Makili. It was great! My only hesitation was contributing to further sleep deprivation, which it is honestly hard to imagine MORE sleep deprivation than I'm already experience. I've been meaning to write about that, but it will have to wait a bit...

Fall Fotos

My little skeleton collecting leaves. This is a serious task for him. We filled his whole wheel barrow with individually picked leaves. He tends to like the yellow ones with black spots. I've got to work on that.
The McCall clan came over to help collect the buckeyes in our front yard (so that I have less trees to pull in the spring) and they were super cute. I took some glamour shots of Morgan, who was an obliging model.



And this is Makili ready to go see grammy - backpack and all. Nevermind that he's not wearing pants. He thought his outfit was just fine.

First Flight

En route to Baltimore to see Blair, Amanda, and Kaylee...

Discoveries: Honey and Tongues

Remick has discovered his tongue. He spends a lot of each day licking his chops.

Makili has discovered two dangerous words: why and honey. Why follows most statements these days. Today when I snapped at him for doing something after I told him not to, he said, "Why you grouchy?" Got me there. And honey. I'm not entirely sure where he got this. I do say honey occasionally to Raph or Makili, but Makili has fully latched onto it. He calls everyone honey and adds the word onto EVERY thing he says. "Is this the red tractor, honey?" "Can we go outside honey?" It is amusing and annoying at the same time sort of. It was more amusing than annoying at first and maybe he'll say it so many times that it will go past being annoying and return to the absurdly amusing level. We'll see. He has really been cracking me up with how he talks to himself. Today at naptime, he was laying in bed talking about his Halloween costume to himself. "I'm a bucket tractor. No going to be a farm tractor. I'm going to be a bucket tractor..." And today in the car, he asked to hold this horse that we were donating to a sale. He held it for a minute, then looked at it and said, "I don't like horses and doggies. I like tractors." And threw it on the ground. (For the record, he doesn't like dogs, but horses was news to me. And in case you need to know, his favorite color is red, and his second favorite color is yellow, like Opa.)

I discovered that Remick can sit unassisted. I mean he's only 3.5 months. This is both a happy discovery and a "he can't be doing that already!" sort of discovery. I'm happy that he can be more independent to use those graspy little hands, but boy I can't believe infancy is really over. Already. My little guy is a baby. (A baby who never sleeps and is grouchy most of the day, but a baby nonetheless!) I can't believe it. It makes my chest seize up.

The festivities

It's been a week and a half since I ran my first 5k. Its been a long week and a half, with the swine flu and all, but I'm on the mend and so I thought I'd post a few pics from my big day.

Here I am crossing the finish line:Fireworks the night before. Makili didn't really like them too much.
Fun with McCall kids as well - glowing bracelets, dancing (boy does Sam have some great moves), cheap hermit cookies, cover bands. the works.

And my big cheerleader.