Standing, Cats, Pizza, Crawling-- It's All Here

This has been Sam's latest accomplishment for a couple weeks-- pulling himself up to standing. No cruising yet, but give him time. Oh, and sticking his tongue out. My pal Kindra's boy, Elijah, does this. She calls it "the Village Idiot" face. I concur.

5.17.09

I'd come in from the garden and for once Sam was excited to see me. Most of the time he's excited to see Charlie and fairly apathetic about me. Meh.

Smiling with Superlamb before breakfast.

The Moms and Boys hanging out at Greenlake this week. I brought out the Cheerios and it turned into an orgy.

Sam, Zach and Rudy are above, with Rudy feeding Zach (or grabbing Cheerios from his mouth, it's unclear which) and Elijah looking on below.

Sam in his "King of Bugs" shirt
Kindra in the background with ALL THE BOYS.

Rudy, eyes shut. Rudy is waaaay into declaiming right now. Greenlake is a 2.8 mi walk and I swear he spent the entire time proclaiming to the world . He holds one hand up in the air while he does it. HIGH-larious!

Sam's first pizza. Charlie's favorite food is pizza, so when we had some on Thursday, I decided Sam could try it. He was moderately impressed, but Charlie was proud.

I'm Trying to Remember That I Love My Kid

Well, it happens. Every day is not sunshine and roses. My mother recalls when I was 12-13 with shudders of horror, my father recoils at the thought of me at 17. Sam's durn charming and I do love him, but ach. Some days. So I'm posting some things to help me get over myself.

5.7.09

This is Lisa's mom, Marcia. She's GREAT! They came over with cupcakes so Lisa and I could visit while Marcia romped with Sam. I'm not sure who had more fun. They brought him a couple books-- one on baby animals (SO appropriate for those of you who were in the PhD office with Lisa, Mimi and I) and NOT THE HIPPOPOTOMUS. It's an existential crisis disguised as a kid's book. I love it.

In our house, we call this "riding the Dad." This photo was 8.1.08...

And this was early May '09

Note the differences.

Sam doesn't really crash out on us anymore. It's a kind of bittersweet by-product of really teaching him to fall asleep in his crib. So when he snuggles up on Charlie, both are truly happy.

Okay, I admit I'm biased, but he's freakin' adorable and I feel better about being a mom now.

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

We're just about off to go visit with Rudy. Sam's banging on the heating register in my office. I thought I'd get some pics up. Approaching the one year mark with this kid-- kind of surreal and amazing. Aside from trying to walk, one of his major entertainments is books. Big board books are a real hit right now-- GOODNIGHT,GORILLA and DO YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND? are preferred right now. So, books or electrical cords. I mean, he's 11 months.

Our pal Zip is doing a dramatic reading of IS YOUR MAMA A LLAMA? while Sam and Jeanmarie look on.
Look Mom, HE HOLDS HIS OWN BOTTLE.

A couple weeks ago I caught Sam feeding Monk on the sly. He knew he shouldn't, because when I turned around, they both looked and Sam's hand retracted sharply. Little monsters. I swear, they egg each other on.

Oh, and Sam is eating cheese, so no wonder Monk is all over him.

For Tiffany...

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

Only for you.

The April Adventure

I know some people are going to get their knickers twisted over how we,once again, ventured into the CA and DID NOT COME SEE THEM! Well people, we've got three grandparential groups in two cities, one baby with a nap and feeding schedule, and limited car action. We seek forgiveness. That said, here are some pix from the adventure. Just a warning, for the faint of heart, there is an enormous amount of Cheerio eating recorded here.
We arrived in Fresno. I was bored.

Easter at the Krauters

Ryan and Dylan hunt in front of Pop-Pop and Nana K's.

Lounging at the Krauters. This is Sam learning to crawl by working on his "revving."


Ryan baking with Nana

The Krauter Men Eat Cheerios.

Four Generations of Krauter Men
(Trust me, Sam digs it)

Taking a bath at Nana M's

Lounging on Great Auntie Royce Ann
Oh God, he likes it.

Ah, but now he looks worried. There is hope.

(Grandad and Sam look at Grandad's wooden banjo)

Goofing with Grandad

Grandad's backyard farm. All in WA, please note this is April in CA. Why we live up here, I do not know.

Great Grandma Marsh and Sam

The bear Sam is playing with was one of many that my Great Aunt Geri Skinner made. Geri and my Grandma were sisters who married two best friends from Red Oak, IA. Geri's youngest daughter, Debbie, sent a baby hat to Sam that had been knit by her . I loved my Aunt Geri-- still love her, even though she's gone. Things like the hat and these bears make the distance a little less.

Road Cheerios.