End of summer...

How to Occupy Yates at the Beach

"See that bird?"

"Go hit it with your hoe."

"OK. I believe I will."

Phase 1

We all just got home from a long vacation. Part of the vacation was intentional, the second part was not. We all went to Laguna Beach with Michael's family and had a great time. Stella Jane looooooved the beach and sand, maybe a little more than necessary. I had never seen anyone get so much sand caked on themselves.

Yates tolerated the beach and sand. This was his first trip to the beach and he really didn't love it. He did a little better each day but would prefer a nice clean swimming pool. We kept a bucket of beach water for him to wash his hands in and he really liked that idea.

There was this great little section of beach that was secluded, much calmer and had an old concrete sea water "swimming pool" that was built ages ago. It had a teeny bit of water in it most of the day and both babies loved it over there. I think that little area really helped Yates be ok with the whole beach thing.

The Grabhams rented a wonderful house with plenty of room for us all, amazing views and it was right at the beach access stairs. We loved watching all of the people and puppies come and go. While we were there we got to meet our new niece Baby Charlie (Cha-Cha) who is such a sweet little doll. Stella and Yates loved her to pieces; a huge relief with a baby of our own on the way. We also celebrated Anne's 30th birthday. For some reason S and Y were pretty terrible at every single meal we had so the birthday dinner was a struggle but it was still fun.

We got to do lots of fun things like ride the trolley, eat lots of ice cream, shop for art, eat great food and be with family. It was a really fun trip and I wish we could have stayed for ever. That weather is amazing!!!

We discussed staying longer over and over but finally decided to head home. I decided that I would rather have Michael's help on the flight home. (The trip there was a sweaty exercise in remaining calm and being a pack mule.) Yates had gotten some sort of rash across both cheeks that was worsening each day and I was starting to worry about it. Yes, me, worry. It looked pretty bad. We also were fairly confident that it would be safe to return home to the freshly repainted house, given the fact that the builder and painter had a very clear deadline.

WEEEELL, we made it home, super late to a full blown construction site! They had moved all of our furniture, unpacked the entire kitchen and removed every single drawer and cabinet door. There was plastic and paper covered in wet paint all over the floor and the fumes were toxic. There is absolutely no way 2 toddlers, a dog and a pregnant person could stay in that mess for any length of time at all. So, we immediately got right back in the car at 11:30 pm and headed to Palestine, leaving our poor daddy to work and live in toxic filth.

Phase 2

We got to Palestine and just relaxed and played in the pool. My aunt Lia and her two daughters came over to bring some poodle puppies for my mom to look at. You know what happened... We ended up with a puppy, which we needed like a hole in the head! Its going to be fine though. He is very, very good. The day the puppies came, Bop brought Stella and Yates a wounded butterfly. Thats what they're sharing in the picture below. SJ named it Butter and loved it to death... really. When the puppy came, SJ named him Butter too. We have since changed his name to Oscar... Oscar Butter Grabham.

After the puppy adoption, Michael came to Palestine stay with us for the weekend and we got to have a secret sonogram. My dad has a friend that does sonograms at the hospital and he let us in on Saturday for a sneak peak at the baby. Michael was going to be in Seattle for the sonogram that would tell us the sex of the baby, so this was a huge deal. Anyway, we found out, very clearly its a boy! Yay! What a huge relief. Yates and little RHG will have super close birthdays and will be able to grow up doing their dude things together. We are very excited.

Phase 3

We return home to the freak show we call home. Poor Michael had done lots of clean up and put back while we were in Palestine, but still! Ridiculous! The retards should have just finished when they were supposed to and here's another idea: how about clean up after yourselves! Paalease! What a mess. Like thats what you want to come home to after being gone for 2 1/2 weeks and toting that much dirty luggage. And where did all of the toilet paper go? I had the huge Costco supply before we left and I get back to 4 rolls. SICK!!! Go to 7 11! This is not a public facility! (I had a big huge list of the junk that was messed up, but I removed it b/c I am turning a new leaf... the fake nice leaf... : ) See. )

Swim Day with Mommy

am I snoring...

Its nap time and I want a nap too.

Why am I typing?

I don't know.

Oh wait, I do know.

Because if I close my eyes someone will call my name from upstairs.

Yep, thats it.

If I prolong my sleepy misery, I can also prolong the shhhhhh-nothing-sound I am enjoying.

Since I'm here... we had a fun birthday party across the street today for Alice Anne's 1st birthday. The babies all played and had so much fun pulling out every last toy that the Belfs own. Sorry Emily. I know how much fun it is to re-sort every last bristle block, plastic food part, puzzle piece, ball and Little Person into the correct retentive container. I do it too.

Going to Alice Anne's Birthday Party

Yates got his first bloody nose and a busted lip courtesy of sister dear at the party. Just as I was saying, "Stop! Do not let get go of that or it will..." she let a baby swing that she was holding above her head of course fly. Poor little Y was positioned at the apex of that swinging pendulum's path. (That sounds nerdy, engineer daddy must be rubbing off on me ; ) It hit him hard and his little head snapped back. Fabulous. Nothing like getting smashed in the mouth and nose by a big red swing. Stella cried more than Y because she got in trouble for not obeying. Yates just said, "swing. mouth. swing. nose..." over and over until we got home and on to the next thing.

Here's an update on those blasted birds. They're gone. All of them, and I have to say, I'm glad. (Minus one carcass on the porch, SICK) They were starting to get on my nerves; bad manners, rude, loud. Those 4 eggs turned into 1, yes 1, and only 1 bird. The mommy and daddy made millions of trips wagging worms, bugs and lizards to those babies and only one made it. They probably shouldn't have gone on vacation way back there when those birds hatched. And you know what the baby birds did? They pushed their sick siblings out of the nest until they fell to the ground! Thats when I broke up with the birds. I know they're animals, but that is mean. I was trying to give them space and let them do their thing, no more. Now I can water my poor plant and feed my own babies without having to be separated by a pane of glass from a no manners animal family trying to do the same thing.

Pregnancy update. Went to the doctor yesterday. Was trying to finagle a sonogram to find out the sex of the baby and it back fired in a big bad way. It went down a path I was not wanting to go down and I'm pretty sure the doctor thinks I'm a nut bag now. Seriously, she gave me the number of a psychologist and an "exam". Whatever I said was wrong, wrong, wrong. I should have said, "Can I have a sonogram please?" Didn't even think of that. We are 17 weeks along and I can't believe it. Thats as good as half way. I would like to skip all of this pregnancy part and go straight to the delivery room. Any girl name ideas anyone?

play-doh Round 1

and Round 2