Baby Brothers are No Fun

Just as I predicted Grace has changed her tune about how nice baby brothers are now that Ethan is a bit more mobile. Every time he reaches out to grab or climb on something she considers hers she freaks out. She pushes, kicks, yanks things away, and otherwise behaves very meanly towards the poor little guy. I have a feeling we're in for another decade or more of this fun sibling behavior and I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better.

Happy Eight Months Ethan!

Ethan turned eight months old today! Here's a little bit about what he's up to:

• He started crawling forwards last night! Finally! He's not very fast but I doubt it will take very long before he's greased lightening.
• He loves to eat solid foods and just started eating two solid meals a day
• Peaches are his favorite solid food

• He's wearing size 6-12 month clothes and 9 month onesies and pajamas. Wears a size 2 shoe.
  
• No teeth yet but close!
• Absolutely hates to lay on his back for diaper changes. He immediately tries to roll over and sit back up since apparently laying down is for the birds.

• Loves any and all toys that make noise or taste good
• Is in desperate need of his second hair cut, can you believe that?!?
• He's started pulling up on things and I've found him standing in his crib....good thing we lowered the crib to the lowest setting a week before that happened!

• He wears a size 3 diaper still, which funnily enough is only one size smaller then Grace wears
• Babbles a lot and gets quite a bit of inflection in his voice. It's pretty obvious when he's babbling happily or is voicing his displeasure!
• He sleeps on his stomach even though I always put him down on his back which is exactly what Grace started doing at about the same age.

A Sweet Treat

David is working from home today so I had the liberty of putting Ethan down for a much needed nap and taking just Grace with me to run errands. Grace thought that running errands just the two of us was pretty gosh darn fun and it sure is easier to do it with just one child in tow! We dropped off a ton of packages at the post office and then picked up a d'lite Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner tonight. Since she was behaving so well and Starbucks is right next door to Papa Murphy's I thought it'd be fun to stop for a quick treat together. I enjoyed my coffee treat and Grace slurped on her child size hot chocolate and quite enjoyed herself. i really wish I had the camera with me because she managed to get chocolate all over her face which was pretty cute! After finishing our treat we stopped at the Dollar Store to pick up a few things and come home. It was definitely naptime by the time we finished and I noticed Grace's eyes were starting to flutter when we pulled up by the house so I made an extra big loop around the neighborhood before heading home which did the trick. Now she's sleeping in bliss with a hot chocolate mustache. And even better yet, Ethan is still napping and Mommy gets some free time to fold laundry in relative peace!

We love Hanna and Bicycle Helmets

I drove up to Portland today for the Hanna Andersson End of Season Sale today and it didn't disappoint. We scored some good deals on pajamas and some odds and ends and my favorite find of all...Grace's new summer Hanna dress! Also scored a super good deal on Primigi white patent leather shoes which will be perfect for Grace's flower girl gig later this summer. Grace was most excited about her new pair of hot pink slippers and package of underwear. In fact she's wearing the new underwear right now.

This is Grace wearing her new playdress saying "It's a princess dress!"



And this is Ethan chewing on the tags of his new pajamas. You can tell he's super impressed.



The other exciting happening of the day is that David got his bicycle back from the repair shop so the bike trailer is currently on it's inaugural voyage! Grace was fairly humming with excitement when she opened up her present from Daddy to find a pink helmet. She knew exactly what it was for!

Here's the father/daughter team trying to figure out how to attach the trailer to the bike



The duo hit the road!



Ok, crocs aren't going to cut it so can somebody get me some tennis shoes?

Teething just plain stinks but baby deer are cute!

So Ethan's bottom front two teeth have decided it's time to try and pop through his tender gums which means my normally happy baby has turned into a Teething Monster. He cries a lot, he drools more then normal (I didn't know that was possible!), and he seems to think the only cure is to nurse and nurse often. I don't mind being his sole source of comfort up to a point, but eventually my body has had enough and if I know he's not hungry he's going to have to live without it. This afternoon was one of those times and it resulted in almost two hours of Ethan screaming at me. I was about ready to throw him out the window and instead just put him down on the living room floor (Grace was actually napping in her room and he doesn't exactly stay put on our bedroom floor). He eventually fell asleep on the floor and as I write this is snoozing nose first into the carpet. Yeah I feel a little guilty about it but on the other hand I have my limits!





Oh, and as a lovely surprise I found these pictures of deer in the backyard when I downloaded the Ethan sleeping pictures from the camera. See my dilemma? I want to yell at the deer to quit eating my flowers but then they go and bring their twin spotted fawns and I just lose heart. The baby deer are welcome to eat all the scraggly azaleas they want :)



Oh no.....the Teething Monster woke up!

Meet the Parry Family: Zoe

Last but not least it's time to meet the canine member of the Parry family...Zoe!

• 
• Zoe was born September 6, 2003 and came to live with us that Halloween day!
• Zoe doesn't realize she's a dog. Sometimes she thinks she's a cat and other times she thinks she's a goat or even occasionally a human.
• She hates spending time outside by herself and will sit by the sliding glass door staring in at us until we let her back inside
• 
• She can sit, stay, roll over, and play dead as long as you have a treat in your hand
• She goes nuts any time she hears someone outside the front door or when someone comes in the house but calms down after about 5 minutes
• Zoe was the last one born in her litter but the only one that wasn't solid black. Solid chocolate cocker spaniels are actually pretty rare and highly prized in some parts of the world.
  
• She spends most of her days passed out asleep on the couch
• 
  
• She's not as tolerant of the kids as Boo is, mostly she does her best to stay out of their way!
• She also loves popcorn, something she learned from her pal Boo
• Zoe really doesn't care for car rides
• Grace puked on Zoe when she was a baby and it took about two years for Zoe to get over the trauma. Seriously.
• 
• Zoe will eat pretty much any food dropped on the floor or left anywhere she can reach. She's even been naughty enough to swipe food off the counter which she got in Big Trouble for!
• Zoe's favorite person in the whole world is David, though her friend Deb ranks a very close second.
• Zoe is as non-aggressive as a dog can get. She's totally submissive around other dogs and actually seems a bit scared of them.
• 

We have to quit looking at Craigslist

We've been enjoying Craigslist just a little too much lately. Last week I scored an awesome wooden doll house and accessories for Grace's birthday for a super deal and yesterday David got himself a bike trailer to haul the kids around. Saturday afternoon he took his bicycle to the shop for repair and while he was there looked at the bike trailers and decided he wanted one. As we all know that means he was destined to own one within about 48 hours. So on to Craiglist he went and found the brand he wanted for a really good price down in Corvallis. Somehow or another he managed to get all of us down to Corvallis Sunday morning by 9am (!!!) and 30 minutes later we became the proud owners of a Burley d'lite bike trailer with stroller attachment.


After an afternoon spent in Salem shopping at Costco, Lowe's, Old Navy, and lunch with the Jones' we headed home Sunday afternoon with sleeping kids in tow. David was chomping at the bit to try out his new toy but since his bicycle is in the shop (and will be until Thursday) and the tires on my bicycle were flatter then flat he decided to try out the stroller function of the bike trailer. So he loaded the now awake children in the trailer, tucked a blanket in to help keep them warm, and we headed off for a walk to Safeway. It was actually a good thing we tried out the stroller function since we discovered that it's pretty awesome and will come in really handy for outdoor events like going to the fair. On the way home he let me push the stroller for about 20 seconds before he took it back. The whole time he kept saying "I'm really glad we got this!" and "I really like it!" which I think means he can no longer give me grief regarding the much cheaper baby carriers I've bought.

So now all we need to do is buy David and Grace bike helmets (Grace wants to have matching pink princess helmets...we'll see if David is up for that one!) and they're set to roam Dallas. Ethan will wait to join the fun until next year. He can ride in the stroller though!

Oh.....and I emailed a guy on Craigslist this morning about a dresser. But we actually do need one for the kids' room. Three potential Craigslist purchases in less then a week!