The Proverbial Nickel

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25680107

Every morning Liam opens Sarah's door, says "Good morning Baby Sarah," climbs onto the bottom rung of her crib and gives her a little pat on the head. It is completely heartwarming. And then she crawls within arms reach of his (bus, hockey stick, spatula, cereal, dinosaur, puppy or ______) and all that sibling adoration evaporates and I am left to recite the following for the rest of the day:

"Share your toys."
"Liam, give that back to Sarah."
"Do NOT take that away from her."
"Yes, Sarah can play with that too."
"Give that back RIGHT NOW."
"Time out."
And......Repeat.

But if you could hear him say "Good morning Baby Sarah" you'd think that maybe, just maybe, today will be the day he offers her that coveted plastic saw toy. And then I wouldn't have to sneak it into her hands when he's napping!

Babies in Backpacks

We recently realized that our little dumpling is no longer a good front-carrier candidate for more adventurous pursuits. As Sarah expands, so too does our baby backpack collection! We loaded up our dueling Deuter's and hit the trails for an inaugural ride....

You can see where Sarah gets the "Pudgy Mouse" moniker....

The highlight of the trip....we lost both of Sarah's socks somewhere along the trail and found BOTH of them on the return trip! Net sock loss for the weekend: 0! That's got to be a record...

Our Lake

We're pretty fond of our lake. Just a few minutes away from home it feels more like a backyard to us than our actual backyard does! Year-round, we spend a lot of time AT the lake....


.....but we spend very little time IN it. It is a rather chilly mountain lake after all! But as we were enjoying our picnic tonight Matt announced he needed to go for a swim. Now.
There is nothing more fun to a 2-year old than a spontaneous splash with Dad!


"Mom! Leak!"...

Beach Babies

Today was a big day of firsts for Sarah:
* first toe dip in the ocean
* first sand-in-every-skin-fold experience
* first nap on the beach
* first....french fry?
Turns out she's not really anti-food after all. So glad I've been making all that homemade, organic baby food.....



Liam had a great time playing with clams, shells and moving sand (and Grandma!) all around the beach.


He decorated his castles with some creature-filled shells which he later covertly adopted. He reluctantly handed over 5 when I noticed a suspiciously closed fist in the car, but I have since found 2 more in his car seat. (Matt, if you're wondering about that smell....)


Now that Sarah has her crawling legs there is no hope of confining her to a beach towel. She had sand EVERYWHERE.....

....but she didn't seem to mind!


Liam had sand everywhere too....

There's something about that ocean air....

Sarah's In The Mood For...

....CHEEKS!

Hard to believe our little girl is 7 months old already. She's changing so fast I keep reminding myself to "freeze" the moment in my mind before she's not a baby anymore! So in light of that, here are some other highlights at 7 months....
* she started crawling 5 days shy of the 7 month mark. I thought I was busy before.....
* she tugs at my hair every chance she gets, but when she's really tired she will pull big fistfuls of her own, right on top. It looks painful but seems to have a calming effect!
* she is way more entertained by toys than Liam was at this stage - he's always been more taken with the packaging! She is currently very intrigued with all things farm-related.
* she is not a pushover. If she's playing with something and Liam swoops in and takes it away (happens an average of 47 times per afternoon) she will protest. Loudly.
* Liam does not think Sarah should have toys. When she heads for one of Liam's more precious posessions (ie. hockey stick or Puppy) we ask him to provide an alternative toy for Sarah. And he usually comes back with a plastic spoon. How's that for a peace offering?
* she still has just one tooth on the bottom, none on top.
* she is still not convinced that a solid food diet is the right choice for her. To date she has sampled (and rejected): rice cereal, bananas, pears, watermelon, potato, peas.
* she is about 18lbs and quickly catching up to Liam....we only have to buy one size of diapers!
* we call her "Baby Sarah" and have started to wonder if the name will stick. Kind of like "Baby Lisa" of Dog: Bounty Hunter fame. No, we don't get out much.
* Liam calls her "Baby Sarah" now too. I only mention this because for the last couple months he was sure her name was Jackie.
* her feet are still repelling socks at an alarming rate. Looks like we lost another one....

Mini Matt

We were playing upstairs this morning when Liam made an announcement: "Cereal!" This marks his first request for food that is not one of the following: Banana. Cookie. Juice.
Progress!
So I poured him a big bowl and got him seated at the table. After one bite came his second demand: "Newspaper!"
One look at this scene and 2 things became clear:
1) This was not snack time, this was Liam playing "Daddy".
2) I'm going to have to find Matt a turtle bib of his own to play along!

While Liam was napping....

These days it seems that taking a photo of Sarah is only possible when Liam is asleep, but the following photo with a hockey stick "teether" would definitely not be Liam approved!

We Take "Time Outs" Seriously....

....but it didn't stop Liam from having a great Daddy/Son day at the air show!
Liam is picking up new words every day, but a few were quite topical this weekend....
1) Jet! (Always with a very big grin)
2) Be Careful! (More like "beeeeeee carefow")
3) Slow Down (Always spoken in a whisper)

Breakfast and Bobcats

I bought new dishtowels last week.
They make me happy in all their snag-free, unstained glory.
And although my new dishtowels have very little to do with breakfast and absolutely nothing to do with Bobcats, they are my link to understanding the enthusiasm my boys share for loud, dirty construction machinery. The connection is this: I'll never get it. Just as they will never appreciate my thrill for new linens.
It's a fuzzy analogy, but there it is.
One thing we can all agree on....Stampede Breakfast at Bobcat Calgary was GOOD!

Flattered

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. Not sure who is being complemented here - Sarah or Mojo. But Liam obviously holds one of them in very high regard!