Blue Moon

It's been long known to me that full moons bring out the worst in people. This is especially true for third graders, and even more true for third graders on a 95 degree day in no air conditioning with 13 days of school left. This explains the martini glass.

Despite the craziness that full moons bring, they also bring babies. I know they say it's not true, but Ian was born on a full moon (explains a lot!) and today my new baby cousin was born. Kayleigh (I think I spelled that wrong!) was born today around 10:00am. I'm so excited that Ian will have some cousins that are close to his age. He has another cousin due in August. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to go see Kayleigh and maybe I'll be able to post a picture.

Speaking of pictures, I got a new lens tonight. Well, I don't have it, but I ordered it. I could bore you with the technical details of it, but I won't. I'll just thank my husband for being an idiot and ticking me off and forcing me to subdue my anger by shopping on amazon.com. I can't wait to do some pictures with it!

Ian has a few words that he really likes. We know he likes them, because when you say them he laughs. For some reason, king and binky make him laugh like crazy. Tonight, Ian also got to take a shower. He thought the shower was awesome. It was late and he was tired and I was sweaty, so Ian took a shower with me. It's not so easy to shower with a baby, especially one that doesn't stand alone. Then he didn't want to get out. When we finally got him out, he peed all over Rob, and he had to go back in to get cleaned off, and then we had to extricate him from the shower again. In the amount of time it took to give him a shower, he could have had a bath. Oh well. TGIF (almost!).

I wish I had something to say...

It's been my goal to blog more, but I somehow have nothing to say. We haven't done a top five lately, so here we go.

Top Five Things Ian Likes
1. Fruit
2. Cars
3. Wheels
4. Playing in the sink
5. Moose and Zee

Top Five Things Ian Hates
1. Cows mooing and Roosters crowing
2. Getting his diaper changed
3. Dogs
4. Being told "No"
5. Vegetables

Top Five Toys
1. Little Leaps Leap Frog Book Thingy
2. Wooden Blocks
3. Books
4. Spinning Wheels
5. Balls

We'll Make Music Together... or something

We've been doing music class for about 8 weeks now, and it seriously gets harder every week. Now that he's more mobile, he wants to be all over the classroom. I'm torn between letting him explore, and teaching him the right way to act. Of course I don't expect him to sit still for 45 minutes, but it would be nice if he would at least sit/stand/crawl in the general vicinity of me! To make matters worse, everytime a new instrument comes out, there is the inevitable meltdown that follows when the toy must be taken away. So tonight we had bangy blocks, and instruments, so that equaled two tanrums. Then there was the other massive tantrum during the lullaby song. The instructor kindly asked if Ian was afraid of the dark. No, I replied, he's just mad because the lights are off (because he loves to stare at the lights). She seemed baffled by my remark. My husband attended tonight and as we walked out he said that I was crazy for voluntarily taking Ian to that class after working all day long. I love what I think he's getting from the class, an appreciation of music, learning to share, being with other kids and learning that sometimes, things can't always be his way. But now I'm wondering, is he getting any of this, or am I just wearing myself out?

Despite all this, I have fun singing the songs, plus it's a real workout dancing around with Ian, so I guess that has to count for something.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy first unofficial day of summer! Today Ian and I went to a parade. Apparently, there is a parade that goes down the road near my house every year. This is the first year that I have been up at 8:30 on Memorial Day, and I heard the parade from upstairs. We caught the last ten minutes, which was perfect. Ian liked the drums and the fire trucks.

Well, back to work tomorrow, but there's only 15 more days of school left! :)

A Wedding

On Saturday we went to Dawn's wedding. It was on the beach and really nice. We had a good time. Thanks to Titi Missy and Uncle John for babysitting! :)

What do you think of the middle picture? I really like it and was thinking of blowing it up for them, but I'm not sure. Do you like it?

Baby Pool

We blew up Ian's baby pool today, and he got to play in it. Unlike many other things, the pool actually kept him occupied for about 45 minutes. It ended badly though when he fell over in the water. He was fine, and he flipped over, but he was pretty scared (and so was I). All in all, the pool was a hit!

Happy Birthday Dada!

Today was Rob's 31st birthday. :) He's officially in his 30's, while I'm still in my 20's (yay me!). We celebrated with yummy steak and chocolate cake. Ian loved the cake, and cried when it was all gone.

Summer Pests are Here!

Oh. Wow.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I have taken in a while. You have to enlarge it (click on it) to see it better, but I got great catchlights in his eyes. Catchlights is the reflection of "stuff" in the eyes. If you were to zoom in, you can see the reflection of the trees on the other side of the bridge reflecting in his eyes. I need to actually play with it more in Photoshop, but I really love the color in this picture. :) I'm very proud of myself! :)

Eating Blackberries is hard work!

Seriously...

This is why we NEVER let daddy pick out the clothes. Just so know you, that "shirt" that he's wearing is really one of those one piece shorts sets.

Some things I learned today...

1. Do not overplan your child's day. Be a good mother. Write things down and actually consult the calendar before you make commitments.
2. Do not take your 14 month of child to Wendy's by yourself. It can only end in disaster.
3. 14 month olds are old enough to fall for the mass marketing ploys of big industry (translated: Ian screamed and cried for a kids meal toy after seeing the attractive display placed at toddler-eye level at Wendy's and then, after the 10 minutes of screaming, took the toy and threw it to the ground)
4. Do not waste your money on the healthy alternative of yogurt. It will not be eaten.
5. Target diapers are not as absorbant as regular diapers. If your child is wearing a Target diaper, pack extra clothes.
6. If you forget to pack extra clothes, your child will go to music class wearing a onsie and sneakers, looking all ghetto and trashy.
7. If you child is already having a bad day, music class will likely only make things worse. There are many landmines here, such as sharing, putting away the instruments, and the turning off of the lights during "lullaby time".
8. When you finally walk in the door at 7:30pm, and your husband is not home from work yet, crying, screaming, and/or drinking heavily can help erase the stresses of the day.

Just thought I would share.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Today I had a nice brunch with my mom, dad and Aunt. Ian and Robert where there as well. :) After brunch we went to the farm for a bit, and then the rest of the day was filled with the normal Sunday night stuff, dinner cooking, lunch making, and laudry folding. The next thing on the list should be lesson plan writing, but I have to play with my mother's day gift. "Ian" bought me Photoshop Elements, so now I get to do even more playing with my photos! :) That is, if I can keep my eyes open that long!

He crawls!

Ian finally learned to crawl. He's still mixing it with his butt-scooting, but I'd say at least 40% of the time he crawls to get where he wants. I never thought I'd be writing that.

More pictures!

A walk in the woods

We're lucky to have so many nice places to visit where we live. Over the weekend, Ian and I took a ride to Sayen Gardens. Everything was in full bloom, and there were lots of people there taking photos. Unfortunately, my subject did not cooperate, but we did manage to get a few good shots before the mosquitos came out in full force!

A trip to the farm

Today we went to Terhune Orchards in the afternoon. Ian liked seeing all of the animals. I did NOT like seeing the huge geese. They had all kinds of neat stuff there, and in a few weeks, pick your own strawberries starts, and I think that will be like Mecca for Ian. :)

Watch out ladies! Here I come!

14 month old baby feet!