Miss E Likes to Label Her World

Please note the strange dog collar she is wearing. She loves to wear that around when we go to shops.

Bonesteele on the Toy Pony

Bonesteele Crawling

This video is a few weeks old, when Bonesteele first learned to crawl. He wasn't very fast, so he spent a lot of time trying to catch Miss E while they both laughed delightedly. Now he is much faster and Miss E runs to me crying, "I'm scared of Bonesteele!" Am I supposed to take that seriously???

Mrs N Needs

Here's a funny little thing swiped from my friend Lisa - at the Google page, type in "(Your name) needs" and then list the first ten results.

1. Mrs N needs...to hire a Goon.
(Well, I'm sure one would come in handy.)

2. Mrs N needs...to be more careful with her voodoo.
(I'm seriously not making these up.)

3. Mrs N needs...help adjusting her body regularly, because sitting in one position makes her hips sore, but her body is too weak to move.
(owwwww...)

4. Mrs N needs...to reconsider her hurtful attitude.
(Duly noted.)

5. Mrs N needs...to regain custody of her son.

6. Mrs N needs...the following info for your demand to count.
(So cough it up.)

7. Mrs N needs...to create names for her imaginary friends.

8. Mrs N needs...musicians for her wedding.

9. Mrs N needs...to write another book SOON.

10. Mrs N needs...to take the invitations to speak out.
(Is that even English??)

Nud!ty

Some of my gentle readers have commented on the amount of clothing usually seen on the children. Rather, the lack of clothing. I am here to show you that n@kedness is a common state in the N household.

Miss E often announces, "I wanna be n@ked!" Fortunately, this means still wearing a diaper. She actually hates to be diaper-less. She can get her pants off, but shirts are a struggle. Mr N likes to pull her shirt halfway off (i.e., up over her face, with her arms stuck inside) and then pretend to lose focus. Then she careens around blindly, shouting, "Take my shirt off! Hey! Hey!" as her cruel parents laugh. Things to look forward to, you childless readers. (Think back fondly, grandparents.)

Bonesteele is a messy eater. So after meals he is often found sans clothes as well. They both seem happier this way.

That pig oinks when you press its tummy. It's a big hit here. Thanks, dollar bin at T@rget!

Chatty Kathy

For a cute post about the illustrious Miss E, go here.

What a good helper!

Illness Strikes

Last week we were struck by a nasty little flu. Bonesteele contracted it first, and it lasted a few days in him. I thought perhaps it was just a little baby thing, but a day later the rest of us were all struck down. On the same day. That ought to be impossible. Luckily Mr N and I just felt miserable, but nothing actually occurred. This made tending to poor Miss E more manageable. She threw up several times. Miss E felt so ill (she is so sweetly pathetic while sick) that she fell asleep on the floor in this position, hours before her normal naptime:


Bonesteele felt fine - he crawled all around us, wondering why we were being such lazy slugs! Fortunately within two days we all felt better.

Sunday Walk

Do not be fooled by the sunniness of these pictures. It was FREEZING.

Note the very tiny Snow White on Miss E's sunglasses. She is all about princesses right now. Even her shirt says "Princess."

Miss E trying to pretend like she doesn't care that Daddy is asking her to smile. As you can see, the most she can manage is to keep her head turned away.

My Little Boy is 9 Months Old!

January has been a very exciting month for Bonesteele. He now sleeps unswaddled! (See below pictures for proof.) The unswaddling process was stressful for me with both children. I guess midway through the process I freak out and envision myself still having to swaddle my child when he or she is five years old. Ha ha Miss E really loved being swaddled and getting her out of that blanket took a month. Bonesteele was much easier to unswaddle. It really only took a week and a half. He was moving around so much at night that he became unswaddled anyway, and then cried. So for a week I swaddled him with both arms out, which he liked pretty well. Then I just started putting him to bed. It took about three days for him to really get used to it. There was quite a bit of crying those days, quite a bit of not napping. My friend Margaret sent a little Australian stuffed koala and kangaroo for the kids - both are now in Bonesteele's bed, and he loves cuddling up with the kangaroo. (Miss E seems to have peacefully relinquished all rights to the kangaroo, which was hers.) He also likes to cuddle with the big snowman you see in the pictures below.


Before you tell me, yes, I know about bumper pads. I have some. They survived mostly intact through Miss E, but just a couple of weeks with Bonesteele and he managed to flatten them into strange cushions that did not do a bumper pad's job, so I took them out. He doesn't often get stuck in the slats. And as you see above, even when he is a bit stuck, he doesn't seem to mind too much. :)




Bonesteele's other big news is on Saturday he figured out how to crawl forwards! (He's been crawling backwards for a couple of weeks.) It's Tuesday and he's already scarily fast at getting where he wants to go. (Usually to where a coveted toy is laying.) I don't think he's quite realized that he can crawl anywhere. He just goes for short spurts, and then once he's reached Miss E's Mrs. Potato Head/My Little Pony/blocks/books/etc., he immediately lays down. Now that he has that mobility he is more assertive in trying to get Miss E's toys. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he also realizes he can grab toys back from her. He is also selective about his ability to crawl. For instance, if he wants me to pick him up, he is suddenly and completely unable to crawl. He will not crawl to me, only to toys!

"I don't know, Miss E, I don't think I'm going to like whatever you're about to do!"

He also sprouted his third tooth on Saturday. That makes three on the bottom.

He is suddenly really into food. He loves Kix and graham crackers. His favorite baby food is butternut squash that I make myself. He also enjoys little pieces of dinner rolls. Gnawing on an apple slice keeps him quite entertained.


Speaking of entertainment, Miss E and Bonesteele get along very well right now. (I say right now, I hope it lasts forever!) She loves to show him things, tell him that when he's older he can do something, grab his toys and then at my insistance give him other toys (usually the lame ones ha ha). She tries to get him psyched up: "Do you want to go to the Smiths', Bonesteele? Yeah! Let's go to the Smiths'! He is fascinated by her, and she finds him quite amusing. He loves to grab her and give her kisses while she laughs hysterically.



Bonesteele loves to play rough and tumble, he loves to be tickled, and have raspberries blown on his tummy. These were things Miss E didn't care for as a baby, so Mr N is having a great time tickling and playing with little Bonesteele! He continues to be our little lover - giving kisses, cuddling. He loves to be close to us, and loves to be held. So far he has shown no signs of stranger anxiety, and will go to anyone! (This is very handy at church.) His attitude seems to be, "Oh, you are going to give me love? Sure, you can hold me!" He is already a flirt and flashes irresistable grins at the ladies while ignoring most men. His daddy and mommy and big sister are definitely his favorite people.

Miss E Helps Out II

...in which she gives herself props.

Miss E Helps Out

It's a New Year

Yeah, I'll post about Christmas later. I have Bonesteele on my lap and am typing one-handed. A few recent pictures is all you get for right now!

Miss E loves her new princess sunglasses!

We bought two more chairs for our dining room. They came in these large boxes, which Miss E dubbed swimming pools. Thus she is in just a diaper - the clothes had to come off so she could swim. I thought they looked like coffins. Thus I am laying motionless (and fully dressed).

Reading Together

Reading If You Take a Mouse to School...

and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Little Cutie

My little baby is 8 months old already. He has started going up on his hands and knees in the past couple of days, so crawling must be around the corner. Eek! Today I started the process of deswaddling - one arm out during nap time. Turns out Bonesteele loves being swaddled as much as Miss E did. I think she was 8 or 9 months before she slept without swaddling.

Bonesteele continues to be my little snuggler, lover, cuddler. And just like a boy, he is really into nursing. Ha ha He gives kisses liberally, and will smile at anyone. He lets anyone hold him.

Bonesteele is a big vegetable fan, which makes me happy. (Miss E was and continues to be a fruitaholic.) His favorites are peas and butternut squash. He also enjoys graham crackers, which are the only solid food I have been able to get him to eat.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We've got tons of snow here, which is extremely unusual for western Oregon. We're loving it! This weather makes Mr N and me want to move somewhere that gets more snow. We are really over the rain.

Miss E has been having a ball playing outdoors. Yesterday Mr N put the kids in a toboggan and dragged them around. Miss E laughed delightedly the entire time. The funniest part was that Bonesteele had no expression whatsoever on his face the entire time.

All Bundled Up

Christmas Finery

Miss E's outfit provided by both grandmas. She loved dressing up in her pretty Christmas clothes!

MaNiC MoNdAy - Celebrating the Holidays

Celebrating the Holidays!
First Folder: Days since Thanksgiving....14
Second Folder: Days until Christmas....14
(If you do not have a sub-folder add the second and third numbers together and choose your photo that way)
Picture to post: Days until New Years....21

MaNiC MoNdAy - Two-fer...on a Wednesday!

I'm behind on my manic Monday posts...but both pictures turned out to be weird (see below), so I'm posting a couple of the kids in addition.

This might be my favorite picture of Miss E and Bonesteele EVER.

The name edition...
First folder is the number of letters in your first name.....7
Sub-folder is the number of letters in your middle name....5
Posted pictures if the number of letters in your last name....6
The seventh folder would be my eBay folder, so you get a lovely picture of maternity jeans!
Nor did the Thanksgiving edition turn out so hot.

The first folder to select will be #17. This is how many letters there are in "Happy Thanksgiving."
The sub folder selection will be the total letters in the STATE where you celebrated thanksgiving....we were in Oregon, so my subfolder is 6.
My 17th folder happens to be my sample pictures...where I stick all the random clipart and pictures I download off the web.



So, yeah. Hopefully Monday's edition gives me a little better fodder. :D

Bonesteele Closes His Eyes in Pictures Quite Often