Trick or Treat-

-smell my..beak!

I am a pink flamingo!-much more portable. You can catch me here in my golf-cart-seat (compliments of daddy- somehow the golf cart get-up seems to have escaped the blog until now...it is a pretty nifty contraption daddy rigged up for us) on my way to the pre-party! At the party I hung out with one of my "mommy's helpers" Calyn and of course, mommy.

We had lots of fun. Daddy went and stood guard at our house while mommy took me to just a few houses of friends to visit. I did grab a piece of candy at one house- my choice: skittles.

Hallo-WHAT?

I do what with the bag? Collect stuff I can't eat? That seems wrong...I heard there are costumes involved...surely the bag is a costume, no? That at least makes more sense than a collector of useless items- let' see

Yes, this will do...I am a chef, or a bag lady or perhaps just a jumping baby with a big head in the middle of a rain forest, yes- that's original. Mom has brought up the slight complication of traveling from house to house in my jumperoo...oh well, we had a good run; have to think of something else...

I've been booed!

We were recently introduced to the phenomenon of "booing". Apparently, several weeks before Halloween, children go around "booing" each other to spread the Halloween spirit. This "booing" consists of putting together some kind of gift (tricks, treats, anything appropriate for the holiday), waiting til dark, then ringing the doorbell of the boo-e and running...ah to grow up in a world where the whole scheme of collecting entirely too much sugar in one night just isn't enough anymore.

In addition to the gifts that were left on our doorstep at night, we have received several left on the doorstep by the UPS man as well. We tried to get all my Halloween goodies in a picture together, but you can see how well that went. Thanks to everyone who has sent us something to help Blayne celebrate her first Halloween in style.

In tradition of "booing" the idea is to "boo" two other people after you yourself have been booed. We of course continued to spread the wealth with our neighbors, but we wanted to "boo" all of our blog fans as well...or as much as you can via the Internet. So in that last picture there, I am wishing you all a happy Halloween and BOO to you (notice I'm waving...or flailing my arms, either will work)!

*Also take a glance at the middle pic- I choose that pose all on my own...man, daddy's in way over his head...

Don't mind me-

...just trying to keep up with the Jones. These days everyone has updated their blogs to look so nice and professional. Well...as you can see, we're doing our best to re-do ours. Mommy isn't exactly HTML savvy, so it is a bit of a trial and error thing we've got going at the moment, so stick with us...we'll get there.

Green is surprisingly good

You are what you wear

So- Mia, Bucca and Aunt Haley sent me this (what we thought was a) super cute jammie for Halloween. Mommy thought it was adorable so after my bath last night she got me all bundled up in it and ready for my bottle. Well, after a record high 6 times mommy drug herself out of bed last night to attend a screaming baby, the jammie is just more of a statement and not such a cute piece of clothing after all ;-)

On what can we blame this all night charade- a new tooth? getting sick? not enough to eat? No, no...I think we simply have to accept that sometimes we are what we wear. Needless to say, we'll go back to my sweet bunny PJs and save this for a day when daddy's on duty...after all, that seems appropriate given I'm his little monster.

New Hands!

So, I knew I had two, but four!?! This is great news. I have been using them to kick things but never showed much interest in grabbing them tonight in the tub. All of a sudden I just grabbed my foot and stuck it in my mouth! Mmmm...it's no butternut squash, but it'll do.
I am a rolly-polly chunk of love so there are lots of folds in my skin when I bend like this, but- despite appearances, I assure you these photos are G-rated.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary to my mommy and daddy!


Daddy always says he checks the blog to see what mommy really thinks of him and his adventures (this stands true more for the house blog than mine, but either way), so we wanted to give him a big public hurray and thank you!



Daddy did a bang up job this year for the anniversary! He brought mommy a bouquet of beautiful roses, a big bin of new bath towels, kitchen towels and arranged for an evening out at a fancy restaurant- WAY TO GO DADDY!



He even arranged for me to stay at home with my Aunt Steph who takes care of me when mommy and daddy are busy. So daddy, when you read this, we send you a big hug and thanks again for a great second anniversary.



P.S. Mommy says it will be hard to top- so you better start planning for next year ;o)

5 months!

Yeah! I am five months old! Can you believe it? At five months I am learning everything and loving everyone more each day! Let's see, my resume...

I can smile and laugh and I'm a little ticklish (mainly under my chin), I have mastered the roll over- both ways-, I have accomplished forward propulsion (not to be confused with crawling, but definite forward motion) I can sit up when supported and I can swallow food when my hands don't get in the way. I make sounds like high pitched squeals, ahh and bbbb and like to roll my tongue around in my mouth- I still snort when I'm mad.

My favorite things to do are jump in my jumperoo, play on my activity mat - which is getting smaller everyday with all my movin', watch my puppies, play in my excersaucer and go for walks- any walk will be fine- bjorn, backpack or stroller.

I prefer butternut squash and apples to anything else, but as long as you don't come near me with rice cereal and you mix any other fruit or veggie with the preferences listed above, I will be happy to put them in my belly.

I can confidently say that at 5 months I am living large, super happy and loving every minute!

Pulling Teeth

Mommy says it is like pulling teeth to get daddy to take a picture of the two of us...and in fact, Marlena took this, not daddy. We asked daddy and he picked up the camera and took one silly shot and thought that would do. He needs to learn that girls need choices! Luckily, we had extra help to step in and get a good shot.

P.S.- For those of you who haven't seen mommy in a while, yes she got all her hair cut off. Apparently it is what all the mommies are doing these days because we saw a few weeks ago that Noah's mom cut hers too (and it looks GREAT, by the way)! My mommy said a few less inches wasn't a stretch after I pulled most of it out...cutting it shorter raised the stakes, but don't worry, I can still get my sticky little fingers around it! So mommy keeps threatening it cut it even shorter but daddy keeps threatening divorce...so we'll see what happens ;-)

Big changes

We got together this weekend with some friends of ours Andy and Marlena. One of the last times we were all together was the Jimmy Buffett concert (above) when mommy was eight and a half months pregnant and Marlena was only about 8 or 9 weeks pregnant (She made a really good non-drinking partner at the concert...although Andy and Daddy partied it up in true Buffett style).

Here we are six months later, Blayne in my arms and Marlena about eight months pregnant! Pretty crazy! Luke Daniel is scheduled to join us on Thanksgiving Day, the 22nd of November! We can't wait to meet him...that's all Blayne needs is another boyfriend.

Gone Fishin'

I caught one!

One of Daddy's friends at work, Pam , bought me this super cool caterpillary thing to play with! I was having a lot of fun kickin' it and pulling on it until...I got caught! Even Mr. Pineapple Man couldn't save me. Eventually the caterpillar and I made up and are on good terms again, but for all those babies out there with caterpillars, watch out- if you're not careful- they'll get ya!

Apples, Bananas and Pears, oh my!

I have been having lots of fun trying new foods! I have pretty much exhausted the list of foods for babies about six months old. We borrowed a Cworkbook -compliments of Aunt Peggy and Uncle Luke- and mommy has been having lots of fun cooking baby food.

By about five months all the baby books say that you should start to really see my personality develop. Well, I don't know about that, but I can tell you that the one thing I am is independent, and I have been since day one. It is no more blatantly obvious than when you feed me.
Many of you probably remember how at a mere 9 weeks, I was feeding myself a bottle at night, well just because we're now involving a spoon doesn't mean that anything has changed. No, no, I prefer to do it myself. Try and feed me, I dare you, and I will grab the spoon with my left hand, shove it in my mouth and proceed to grab the food out of my mouth with my right hand and shove it back in. That way I am sure to get a change of clothes after every meal.

What- gone? It can't be- I'm not completely covered yet! More, please!

The Roll-over: Not so fun for mom

Ah yes, this is what nap time looks like now. After much struggling with the whole napping thing, Blayne and I had finally reached a point where I would lay my sweet baby down on her side and she would quickly shut her eyes and fall asleep. Not anymore. There is too much to see and do. Nap time has somehow been replaced with acrobatics and gymnastics of all sorts to ensure that no sleeping will be done. It is a great time to practice rolling over and even attempting some forward motion. If and when she does fall asleep, there is no telling where she will be when she wakes up!

Mirror mirror on the wall...

who is the cutest baby of them all? (We had to replace the word fair with cute...without doing that I would have never had a chance!)

I do enjoy this cute little baby...I hope she comes over to play more often!

Roll-over Revelation

I spent the whole day last Sunday in New Jersey practicing my roll over techniques with my Zara. And I tell you what, whatever we did, it worked because I have totally mastered the roll-over and I love it! I use it to turn the world upside down, and turn it back right side up too. I sometimes combine 2 or 3 roll overs to get me to the other side of my mat to visit one of my friends, and sometimes I do it just for fun.

I have changed my mind. The roll-over (now that I can do it) is FUN! Thanks Zara!

Facing fears

Mommy and I went back to visit Dr. Johnson, the first person I ever saw in this world. At first I was not very happy to see him (zoom in and note the tears), after all he did take my away from everything I knew to be safe and comfortable, but after I realized he wasn't planning on uprooting me again, I decided to let him hold me...as long as he promised to give me back to my momma.

Every kid needs a jumperoo!?

Well, momma had some stuff she needed to return to Babies r' Us and it was enough credit to buy me somethin' nice! Even though clothes might have been a more responsible choice...I chose this fantastic new toy!

It is so great- I can stand and jump and watch the puppies and just be up and involved in everything that is going on around me!

I think it goes without saying that I very much love my new toy and I think every baby should have one!

I went to NYC and all I got was this T-shirt ;-)

Not a picture- not one- do you believe it? Not one of me at Ground Zero, not one of me in China Town, not one of me where we ate lunch in Little Italy, not one of me on 5th Avenue, not in Central Park, not on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral, not at Rockefeller Center, NOT A ONE! And we did all those things and more!

I did get a great T-shirt out of the deal but I had to explode out of my diaper all over my clothes (and some of Aunt Katherine's- who was such a great sport) to convince everyone I needed some kind of relic to prove I was there! Luckily Aunt Katherine wasn't too put off by my behavior and bought me this beautiful T-shirt to remind me of her and our trip to NYC...and so that I would smell better.

Punch Drunk

What happens when a 4 month old decides she needs 10oz of milk at breakfast? You find her passed out shortly after- right in the middle of playing with the monkey and the caterpillar.

Not to harp on the subject, but take note of the color of my outfits the last three days...I think the color bias might be getting worse; we may really have a problem. I'll keep you posted...

The Tongue: A clever tool

Laugh if you must...some call me Mulligan, some call me Michael (Jordan that is), but sticking my tongue out has finally come in handy.

I caught a stinky cough earlier this week and my daddy came home with the best medicine ever invented! You know those Listerine tabs you just stick in your mouth and they dissolve on your tongue? Well, who knew, but the make those for babies just smaller and with medicine on 'em!

Daddy says it is kinda like givin' peanut butter to the puppies, whatever that means...

Color Bias

So, I think my mom might have a problem...if you really take notice and look around- everything is orange. The house is orange, most of my clothes are orange, my jammies are orange and now the only food she'll feed me is ORANGE!

Between carrots, sweet potatoes and now butternut squash, I have -to this day- only ingested milk and orange mush. I think she is secretly trying to turn me orange...of course, with the food, the plan is almost complete.