I'll Be Back

Hey ya'll.  Hello?  Anybody there?  Probably not.  I'm sure no one has noticed, but yes, I have been rather quiet for a bit.  At least it feels that way because I have all sorts of things I want to post about, but haven't gotten around to.  The biggest reason is because we've had computer drama.  I don't have a working computer at the moment, in fact I've just shanghaied Brian's 'cause he's not up yet. :0

So my detailed and pictured posts will have to wait for another day.  But just so I don't forget, here's a couple topics I don't want to forget

Hollyn's words
Brian's b-day
Brennan's crush
Soccer
Asher's explanations (scientists, how people are made (of soup ;-), etc)
Room redo
School starting and affects on life

Hmmm, maybe that's it.

The Problem with Growing Up

 Hollyn is now over 16 months old.  I'm looking VERY forward to nursery in a month a a half. :-)

One of her current endeavors these days is that, after having learned how to open all our cupboards and what items are in each, she hits the snack-food cupboards all day.  There are granola bars and cracker packages ALL OVER my house, because Hollyn spends all her waking moments fetching an item, and handing it to me.  Unless I give in and open it for her to eat, I usually just accept it and set it down in the nearest convenient location.  If you're wondering about the package of pistachios and the bag of cereal on my desk, that's why it's there ;-).  If I don't open the food item for her, she silently walks back to the cupboard to grab another one and try again.  If/when she gives up on that, she starts going through all the other drawers and cupboards leaving things scattered all over the floor and often hiding them in other drawers and cupboards. *sigh*  As if I didn't have enough trouble keeping up on the housework.  And it isn't just the kitchen.  She loves to notice when the upstairs bathroom door is left open, and has a ball carrying my feminine products all over the house.  I keep having to throw away tampons that she opens (paper-wrapped) and chews on. (Of course they're no good once they've gotten wet.) I usually pretty much feel like I'm about to lose my mind.  I don't have enough space to move everything from out of her reach so I suppose I'm doomed to just do what I can until we move past this stage.

Still, we sure love this little girl!  With all her gettin' into stuff I'm starting to call her Goldilocks. :-)  Seems like a good fit.  Brian still likes to call her "Smallyn" because she's so tiny.  At 18.5 lbs she's in the 10th percentile for height and weight.  I like my tiny one though.  So much easier to carry and clothe than a big chunker.

She loves to play with her brothers.  It's so fun to watch her "get" the games that they're playing.  She also loves to color (at least for a few minutes).  She still says "Up-mmm" instead of just "up" and FINALLY will say "Mama" on command.  She doesn't call me that, but can at least repeat the sound now.  She loves to snuggle things close to her face while we say, "Oh sooo pretty..."  She has a huge tantrum if someone goes outside and doesn't let her come along.  The other day I went to deliver a cake to some neighbors.  I left her home with Brian and even though I snuck out the back door she noticed her brothers go out the front.  And immediately started crying.  I didn't give it much thought when I ended up staying and chatting with my friend for a while.  About half an hour later Brian came in delivering Hollyn to me because she'd apparently not gotten over her upsetedness.  Oh brother am I in trouble.  Luckily it's a some-what easy fix at this point.  If I let her step outside for even just 30 seconds she usually feels satisfied.  I'm not sure what we'll do come rainy winter though.

 Also still likes to "talk" on the phone.

 

Remember that cake I took to the neighbors?  It was sort of a joke because they moved next door to themselves, from the 3-bedroom across from us to the 4-bedroom diagonal from us.  But I brought them a "welcome" cake anyway.  I made two smaller cakes out of the recipe so we could have some.  The boys kept asking "which one is ours?" so I used some icing to make it more clear ;-)

 My cute boys!

Yay!  Mom let me walk outside for a bit!

How They Talk

Both of the boys are slow talkers.  Well, more like over-fast thinkers.  So they take a while to get to the point.  They go about it differently though.

Asher:
Asher sort of stutters.  Not in the traditional sense however, where a person has trouble getting past a first sound.  Asher repeats the ending syllable.  "When I was a grown-up, I used too-oo-oo drive to the beach and see-ee-ee the ocean!"  That's a made up sentence, and even now it doesn't seem like quite a good example.  It's taken me so long to get around to recording this that I think he's starting to outgrow it.  Anyway, that's the technique Asher has used when his brain is going faster than he can spit stuff out and needs to buy himself some time.

Brennan:
Brennan takes forever to get through a statement because he starts over repeatedly.  And he throws in "Mom!" every couple of words. "Mom! I had an idea!  If you wanted, Mom!, if you wanted to go to the store but, Mom! If you need to go shopping but not me,  hey Mom!, if I don't want to come shopping, then maybe I could stay home and Mom!,..."  Brian and I get a kick out of it while also trying to help him just get it out for goodness sakes.  Sometimes for every time he exclaims "Mom!" I immediately interrupt with "What?!?"  But that distracts him and makes him take even longer to get to the point.  It's really interesting to hear your name exclaimed every other second.  I sure love this kid. ♥

Can you imagine how our dinners go when both boys are fighting to get their stories out at the same time? :-)

Family Camping Trip

The little nature trail bordering the campground

 You know what's really sad?  Because I relied on Brian to take pictures on his cell phone, we have basically NO pictures of Hollyn on her FIRST camping trip. :-(  And we're not camping again any time soon.  These pictures you see are it.

Still, despite the lack of evidence, we had a great time.  Just 2 nights, but that was the perfect amount.  Concerns:
Hollyn Sleeping: Although she took hours to fall asleep the first night and nap time, she was quiet and didn't disturb any neighbors.  The first night around 3am she spent about two hours moaning, "mmmmm-nnnn-mmmmm-nnnn-mmmm-nnnn..."  It was cute.  I think a result of being so chilly in the tent.
Hollyn hanging around campsite: She was rather a beast to watch around the campsite, but thankfully when I picked out our site months ago, I picked one that bordered the playground.  It could not have been MORE perfect!  We had a straight-shot view between the trees which allowed us to send Hollyn with Brennan, and I could keep my eye on him playing with her. :-)  Brennan basically lived at the playground as it was the hangout for a whole bunch of boys who made up a specific game of tag with a slew of rules and terms ("You forgot to say 'upsies'," "no cherry picking!" "You have to say one two ten!")

We stayed at Beverly Beach, and just as you can guess, it's located at the beach. :-)  Although very hot in the valley, the coast was in the low 60's with some awfully chilly wind.  We spent a couple hours playing there and had fun, but spent most of our time in the non-windy campground.

Visiting the Bay Front on our way home