Thirty-two!

I'm so happy all of these men were born.

Night night, baby.

Goodnight.


Keep growing into the big boy you are becoming.


I'll see you tomorrow, when you're two.

Today's Words, By Aidan

Mushroom (he said this all by himself after seeing a mushroom on my computer screen)

Mammal

Oboe

Cello

El Gatito Nuevo - Aceituna

Olive is growing bigger almost everyday and it's astonishing to see such rapid growth. She plays hard and sleeps hard, all while steering clear of Ermie, who has turned into an grumpy, old, growling lady.

Luke is especially taken with her. He carries her around nonstop and I can tell these two are going to be napping buddies, once she's a little bigger, of course.


As for these two, they have an interesting relationship. He sneaks up on her when she's sleeping and scares her half to death, while she jumps on him around my bedtime and starts attacking his feet. Aidan laughs with sheer delight, but I sure hope these two learn to get along. Even in this picture she's trying to bite our baby!


Her biting really is a problem. It's annoying. It's painful. Thank goodness she's just learned to respond to our emphatic no's. If it weren't for that we really would have followed Jay's suggestion and renamed her "Bug." Man, does she bug.


But we just love her sweet little face.


And her adorable little leopard markings.


And just when she's fooled us into thinking that she's finally growing up and is ready to act like a lazy old cat, she'll go and remind us what she really is.

I Guess This Is Why We Have Bibs.

I have no idea why I forgot to put it on, but I did. Oops.

The Best Hubby/Daddy of the Year Award Goes to...

He gives me back rubs mostly every night, too.

You Might Think...

That presents are necessary for Christmas. You might even think that's what my boys want.

Nope. They've stopped playing with those toys. Except the helicopter and the light-up moon. But that's it!

What they really want is a box! At least this year.


It must be one in which they can sit or hide.


A box that's big enough for the both of them is great, too! Such fun!

If it's big enough, I can be quite a jokester. "Hey Be, here's a present I got for you. Open it up!"

(Excuse my mess, please. My hair, too. I was trying to mail Christmas cards.)

"That's not a present! That's Ermie!"

Then after much laughter, Ermie gets scared and runs away. Poor kitty.

Step one- open the box. Step two - put a cat in the box. Step three- make kids open that box! Yes, that's a much nicer version of a similar song.

First Words?

For today, my issue is....

Is this Aidan's first word? This was recorded when he was 8 weeks old:



Or was it yesterday when we were feeding him rice cereal:

"Mmmmm, rice cereal. We're about to eat. Can you say eat?"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

(Jay and I laugh!)

"Yes! Eat! Can you say EEEEE-T?"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee-pllT"

(Jay and I look at each other wide-eyed.)

He has also said "yeah" and "hi" to people, but it's just too weird (and early) for speech.

Twinkle, Twinkle!

On December 1, 2008, we experienced a real treat!

Right before the sun went down, we discovered that Jupiter and Venus would be extremely close to a beautiful crescent moon. Supposedly you could have even seen Juipter's ring that night, even with a cheap-o telescope.

But ours wasn't performing even to the cheap-o standards that night, much to my dismay. Yes, the lens cap was off. Jay couldn't figure it out, either. Later on we figured out that the focusing knob's screw was stripped. :P

"It's okay!"


Luke was excited beyond belief upon seeing Jupiter and Venus. "Look! I see Jupiter! I see Venus, too! Wow!" Then he repeated this about 30 times with joyful laughter in between each observation. We had to keep reminding him that it was Venus and not Mars that he saw. To him it made much more sense to see those two planets together, not Venus and Jupiter, of course. After he was done looking at these two planets he asked, "Mama, but where is Mercury and Venus and Earth and Mars and Jupiter and Saturn and Uranus and Neptune and Pluto and Ceres and Eris and Haumea and Makemake?" I replied, "I know that Venus and Jupiter are right there, and we are standing on Earth, but as for the others, we'll have to look them up, okay?"

"Oh....okay." He was slightly disappointed. But only for a minute.


Amazing! Venus is the brightest star closest to the bottom in this picture. Jupiter is the one on the right side.


Isn't it beautiful? I loved knowing what I was looking at, but I must admit that it freaked me out. Those planets seemed close! I'm a little bit more comfortable with a little bit more elbow room. You know, should we happen to collide and stuff. I'm just sayin'. I know that's not going to happen...anytime soon!


Even baby brother had some fun, too! (The light you see with the boys is Venus.)


We will definitely be spending more nights under the stars, especially with Luke's growing interest in astronomy.