The blowfish

I discovered some fun pictures that were hiding away on James's camera, so we'll be time-traveling again for a few days.

These were taken in Sheboygan at Uncle Ben's house, as we were in the driveway saying goodbye to all the cousins. Augie had been playing by himself inside the car when Uncle Todd taught him how to blow a kiss against the window. In the reflection you can see me, Gwenn, and Uncle Todd.

Settling

After 5+ days back home, I'm finally starting to feel settled. Sure, we still have plenty of work to do (you should see the kitchen!), but I'm finally starting to feel relaxed and excited about our summer in New Jersey. We even started back up with our music classes today, which felt great (for me).

I haven't mentioned anything about what Augie's doing in so long, and as yesterday he reached the 17-month mark, here are a few updates:

• last week at Grandma & Grandpa's, he added a new word to his repertoire: "uh-oh"! He now has four words: "mama" (used indiscriminately for me and James), "baba" (sometimes used to refer to James), "da-da or dad-dad" (used indiscriminately to refer to any of his four grandparents), and "uh-oh" (used properly to refer to dropped items); it's possible he's also saying "bah" for "ball"
• I can just see the tippy tops of two new molars popping out. I realize this isn't really something that he's accomplished, but it's still a development (that's been affecting us deeply around here
• he's regularly waving bye-bye - to people, to the water that goes down the toilet, to the blinds when we pull them before bedtime or naptime, to his dinner when he's done eating
• he's starting to take more interest in other kids; sometimes he takes things from them, sometimes he gives things to them, and sometimes he tries to kiss them
•  he's feeding himself with utensils with accuracy (though he sometimes still uses his hands, and he sometimes dumps his food in his lap); he's also mastered drinking from a regular cap
• he's starting to have more and more preferences, and has begun to really let us know when something doesn't make him happy. By screaming. Loudly. He hates having his diaper changed, and having his shoes put on, and getting dressed in general
• he's starting to hug and cuddle us more (though not all the time), and as a corollary, he's starting to push us when he's unhappy. He's especially fond of pushing my face  when I won't nurse him overnight. I am not fond of this.
• he sleeps in his own bedroom for the first time, and for the most part he sleeps through the night (not infrequently, he awakens somewhere around 4- but usually goes back to sleep, with or without nursing) 

Oh, I'm sure there's so much more! But that's all I can think of right now.

 

 

Lincoln Park Conservatory

(After this post, I'll be done playing catch-up!).

On a wintry spring day in Chicago, Augie, James and I went to the Lincoln Park Conservatory to get a much-needed infusion of green. My uncles took me here years and years ago (I think!), and it was such a pleasure to return.

I know this is out of focus, but I love that little smile:

My favorite fern, the maidenhair:

Little explorer:

Like son, like father:

Oh, how I miss all that shaggy hair!

Just inspecting the water lines and drainage systems:

While I'm at it, might as well check Baba's teeth:

Definitely gonna need some work done:

Last Michigan pictures

Fun pictures from our week in Michigan.

Grandma's pond

We've landed back home and are slowly settling in. While it was nice to get back to our home and our stuff, I have to admit that it's also been a bit overwhelming - all this stuff! Clothes, toys, books, odds and ends - we've lived for four months without it all, and there's a sort of shock in coming back to it and having to deal with it. That said, it's also nice having the right cooking pan for the job and more than three shirts that fit. And we have so much more unpacking, organizing, and getting rid of to do before we even think about packing for real in a few months...

One thing that Augie really enjoyed doing while we were in Michigan was "helping" Grandma (and Grandpa) with the pond. He'd pick up a skimmer or the grabby thing (sorry, don't know technical names for backyard pond equipment) and poke around in the water. I imagine next time we visit we'll really be able to put him to work.

(I still have Chicago pictures to post! Yikes!)

Bedhead

Eventually I'll catch up with posting (I'm so far behind!). Enjoy this for now:

Maggie and Augie

We'll be time traveling for a couple days on the blog, as I go back and forth between our time in Chicago and what we're up to now in Michigan.

In Chicago we stayed with one of my very best friends, Sabrina, and her husband and baby. Maggie is about three months older than Augie. They spent most of their time pushing each other and saying "mine, mine, mine", and taking turns climbing onto things they shouldn't.

Augie's first haircut

Augie's needed a haircut for a while, but we haven't been willing to do it - his hair is so beautiful. We finally went in today. Surprisingly, he sat still on my lap for the entire thing; he was mostly scared and confused about what was going on, occasionally tickled by the hair falling across his face. I haven't made my mind up how I feel about it yet. What do you think?