Tulips

I love how tulips brighten up an otherwise boring corner of my home.

First Steps

Today we were hanging out with Lyndsey and Lexie and Ephraim took 3 steps! I was not ready for it so I don't have any pictures, but will try to get some soon!

Waiting for Daddy

Finally

We finally put up the letters in Ephraim's room. We have only been planning this since he was born. Forrest made the letters and I painted them. The numbers I bought on sale at Pottery Barn Kids.

The Government Must Think We Are Morons

I will be the first to shout it from the rooftops that I did not vote for Obama. However, I have also been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he does before I make blanket judgments on his presidency. So far - I am not impressed. The Stimulus Bill is driving me bonkers/crazy/plain ole mad. I have SO many issues with the way the money is being spent and what it is being spent on and the amount of money is atrocious. My biggest issue with the Obama Administration thus far is how they label things. They call things "Tax Relief" that are not actually tax relief. I can't do anything about the stimulus bill - its been voted on, signed into law - fine. But, don't try to trick me by mislabeling what the money is being spent on. If you go to www.recovery.gov on the front page is a bar graph of where the money in the stimulus bill is going. (I am always wary of bar graphs - the first thing you learn in statistics is that you can make graphs say whatever you want them to say). Tax relief is the largest bar. You then click on the graph and it takes you to another page that has circles. At the bottom of the page is this:

* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

That adds up to 123 Billion dollars that is not tax relief and going to other places - leaving 165 Billion for tax relief. Why label it as something that it is not? It would be like if I labeled all of the food in my kitchen as health food and then had to add the disclaimer "Healthfood includes chocolate, doritos, soda, candy and ice cream." It is ridiculous. If you have to use an asterisk to make your self look better - you are better off not using an asterisk at all and just being honest. My opinion of the Obama Administration would be higher if they would do that.

Home Improvement

The past two weekends have been full of home improvement projects for us. Here is our new bedroom fan. The old one's motor completely died so we needed to replace it.
Forrest also replaced the bathroom ceiling fan. This the hole in the ceiling before he put the new one in. Due the angle of the ceiling Forrest was basically standing on his head.
Forrest in his home improvement get up.
This past weekend we replaced the lights in our kitchen (Thank you Costco - 5$ each!) and bought a new light for our guest room bath.

Blueberries = Yummy

Hear Me Roar... Take 2

Okay... I realize that the first video I posted did not have Ephraim roaring. Forgive a first time mom who was so excited about her son's new trick that she posted a video of a terrific example of how not to roar.

I am now making it up to you. If you can't hear the roar in the first one... I don't know what to tell you. The second video has more roaring and you can hear his version of "uh-oh" when he drops his book.

Once Upon A Time...

There was a beautiful and clever Mommy who decided to build a barricade.

"Ha! Ha!" She thought to herself. This will keep my small child in the living room so that he cannot sneak up the stairs!


At first her fantastic and well thought out idea worked well.


Then she caught her little monkey doing this...


Which ended like this.
And lead to this.

Moral of the story: This beautiful and clever Mommy needs another gate.

10 Months

There is something about this little guy's blue eyes that just melt me. He has been learning so many new things this past month it has been a lot of fun.
He is a master bear crawler - and zips around our house at break neck speeds. He is constantly on the go. He has mastered climbing the stairs and loves to try to sneak up them when I'm not looking.
His tongue is one of his new toys and he loves to roll it around and stick it out.
Check out those chompers. As of last night he has five teeth. He is eating more solids and has figured out how to get them into his mouth on his own. He has learned how to "roar" and we are working on making other animal sounds. He is getting really good at trying to stand by himself and lets go whenever he can. The longest he has stood has been 10 seconds, but he hasn't tried to take any steps.
We are working on baby sign language with him. He understands milk, more and all done. He can't do them on his own, but you can tell that he gets it. Sleeping is still an issue and every time I think I develop a way to combat the sleep issues that I have helped him create - we go on a trip, or he is teething, etc. He goes down to sleep on his own much better though - so at least that is an improvement.

Hear Me Roar

I Won!

A Contest that is. I almost always enter giveaways on blogs and this time I actually won! I even have the email from Big Mama to prove it! I am very excited to read my Marla Taviano book and use my 25 dollar giftcard to Target!