More later, but let me just say that I prefer dealing with the Big V rather than the Big D. Unfortunately, Reeves has both!

Post Bathtime Fun

I don't know why I haven't put this robe on him before. Actually, I have, but it was when he was itty bitty, and he didn't really enjoy it. I suppose that's how it made it's way to the back of the closet. Anyway, I brought it out last night after his bath, and he loved it. He also didn't have a diaper on, and I know he loved that freedom too! He was hamming it up in front of his mirror. I put this at his level in the back of the hall. He was so impressed with himself. I think there is some sort of inside joke going on here between Reeves and Reeves.
I wanted to get the paci out of his mouth, but he would have none of it, and not wanting to ruin the happy enjoyment of the moment, I let him keep it.
Seeing him cavorting in his little (6-9 month, hence the shortness) robe, I kept thinking of Steve Martin in "The Jerk". All I need is this robe. This robe and this paci. This robe and this paci and this mirror. That's all I need.

Playgroup

Monday, I was lucky enough to be able to get out of work a bit early, pick up Reeves, and meet the girls for playgroup. It was such a treat. I treasure every moment Reeves gets to spend with all of your children because they are such wonderful people. It is so amazing to see each parent reflected in their child. They are all so sweet and fun and kind. Of course, given their parents, how could any of these children be anything but special. They are each a blessing, and Reeves is so fortunate to have them as his friends. What perfect role models.
Mae and Mills are too cute in all of their almost 8 month maturity. It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for them to get here.
I can't believe how big all the chilluns are getting! These days of blanket time are rapidly coming to an end with each passing week. Mobility, here they come!
Reeves was fascinated with DuBose, following him everywhere. And D was super sweet to share his chalk and show Reeves how to climb on the table. Maybe it was the matching red shoes!

DuBose was perfectly contect watching Spencer and MK on the seesaw, having no desire to get on it himself. I love how he has his arms crossed here.
Spencer's big trick was "falling" off of the seesaw. It was a bit frightening at first, but we were all quickly convinced that there was indeed no accident here. MK and D cracked up everytime.
I'm so glad playgroup has been moved to the afternoons. Hopefully, we will be able to make it more often.

If Only I'd Had My Camera

While getting ready this morning, I must have turned my attention from Reeves for a moment. That gave him just enough time to go into our bathroom, find the toilet paper which we had inadvertantly left within reach, and unwrap the whole thing. I knew it was too quiet! When I found him, hidden between the shower and the toilet (sneaky little thing!), he was happily perched upon his pillow of Charmin. I gave him a very half-hearted (because he was so darn cute and proud of himself) rebuke and tried to salvage what was left of the TP. Hasn't this happened to every parent?

To Do

So, I'm sitting here, trying to come up with something to write because, Lord knows, I have nothing else to do, and I think that maybe, if I just keep typing, something brilliant, no, something interesting, no, something slightly amusing will come out. Umm, so far, not so good. And just so you know, staring at the screen doesn't make it any better.
As such, I will take this opportunity to steal an idea from another blog. We have had quite a bit of fun with it this morning. It's like a "Fill in the Phrase" Mad Lib.
Complete this sentence:
Even though ______ , you still can't ________ .
Please leave your witty phrases in the comments.

Eewww, Gross!

To The Guy in the Beat Up Pick Up Truck in Front of Me This Morning,
I do NOT appreciate the loogie you sent flying my way this morning. It was disgusting. By some miracle, it didn't hit my car because if it had, I think I probably would have had to sell the thing right then and there (this incident was not far from the Volvo place) because I could never be able to bring myself to gaze upon, much less go about the business of cleaning your bodily fluid off of my car. It was like I saw my life flash before my eyes. Time slowed down as I watched you arch your back, purse your foul lips, and thrust your dirty face and undoubtedly smelly body sideways towards your open driver's side window. I saw the offending glob of mucus exit the window, then something almost magical happened. What had been a tight ball of spit and mucus was transformed, by the wind, into a neuron of germs. Had it not been one of your disgusting organic byproducts it might have been beautiful. BUT IT WASN'T! It was frightening. Just because you are by yourself in your car, please remember, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Have some modicum of respect for those around you. Honestly, I would have rather you tossed a cigarette but out of your window than your own DNA. I am only glad my son wasn't in the car with me at that time. I just might have offended his virgin ears. Oh yeah, and it didn't get any less repulsive the SECOND time you did it. Please man, take some medicine or have a chest x-ray or something! You have got a problem!
Thank you.

Caroline und Stephen, Gute Fahrt und Schöne Ferien!

I know it's a day early, but we hope you have a wonderful holiday in Germany.

In order to help, here are some useful phrases for you:

I don't understand. Ich verstehe Sie nicht.
Please speak slower. Sprechen Sie bitte etwas langsamer.
Would you write that down please. Könnten Sie das bitte aufschreiben.
Could you explain that please. Könnten Sie das bitte erklären.
How is that pronounced? Wie spricht man das aus?
How do you say that in German? Wie sagt man das in Deutsch?
What does that mean? Was bedeutet das?
Can you repeat that please? Könnten Sie das bitte wiederholen?

We will miss you while you're gone.

Update

Two things:
1) What a sweet husband. Bryant said that I should reward myself with more than just not making dinner. Oh, hell yeah! But actually, not doing something is not really much of a reward. I think I need some sort of outside-the-home reward. Perhaps something involving a gift certificate to Urbanna Nirvanna.... I'm just sayin' is all.
2) Thank you, Judy and/or Julie, for sending leftover pizza home with Bryant last night. It was delicious and just what we needed.

Arrgh, It's Driving Me Nuts!

Ahoy there, mateys! Not sure if any of you were aware of this, but it's "International Talk Like a Pirate Day." So don those eyepatches, bust out those swords, and make all your prisoners walk the planks. It's anarchy on the high seas!

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream - You Wish!

FYI, this was not something I saw last night!

I knew it would happen. I knew if I even mentioned, or thought about the fact, that Reeves was back to his old sleeping habits, I was doomed to have a bad night. Well, last night, it hit. Reeves went down great around 8:30. All quiet on the toddler front. I spent most of the night on the phone, straightened up a little, brushed my teeth, and got in bed. [Side bar and important to note for later - Bryant was watching Monday Night Football with "the guys".] I had almost drifted off to sleep when I heard it - the first wimper. It quickly escalated to full blown screaming. I let this go on for quite a while with no weakening in the volume. When I got to his room, he practically jumped into my arms. We rocked, he calmed down, and I put him back in his crib. Screaming again. But I left. It went on. At this point, it is nearly 1:30, there is still no Bryant, Reeves is nearly hoarse from crying, and I have to be up in 5 hours. I caved. I put him in bed with me. I know, I know, I shouldn't have done it, but I did. And, for the most part, it worked. After only a few minutes, I was able to put him back in his crib, he cried a bit, but then went radio silent. Perfect. 2:00 am. Enter the husband. To his credit, he was trying to be good. He wanted to check on Reeves (without consulting me first to see how soundly he was sleeping) and empty the Diaper Champ since it was garbage night and I had forgotten to do it. Well, guess who scares his father by standing right up when he walks in the room. I actually heard Bryant's scared yell. There goes any amount of good the last two and a half hours had done. Reeves was up. And what is this? Bryant brings him into our room. Great! It's like déjà vu all over again. Except that this time I have a snoring husband next to me. Oh, but before he fell asleep, and while Reeves was trying to crawl off the bed to play, Bryant, sensing my frustration, suggests, I suppose in an effort to *help*, "Why don't you just let him down. He'll play and then fall asleep somewhere." WHAT!?!? I couldn't even form the words in order to express to him how ridiculous he was being. Thankfully, one of them fell asleep shortly thereafter. Yadda, yadda, yadda…After still not falling asleep, I put Reeves in his crib, he cried a bit more, then he fell asleep…just like he had done about an hour earlier - before his father came home.
Momma deserves a reward. Momma needs a nap. Momma's day is going to be about six hours too long. Momma is NOT cooking dinner tonight!

Neal Jameson Golden

DOB: August 17, 2006

We got to meet Reeves' newest cousin, Jameson, on Saturday. Neal and Gretchen are the parents of this beautiful little boy. He has more hair than Reeves can even fathom. I can't wait to watch these two grow up together. I have a feeling, much like Reeves and Henry, Reeves and Jameson will be two peas in a pod as children. Looks like we're all going to have our hands full!

Elizabeth, FYI, here's what a 15 month old and a newborn look like!

Glimpses Into Our Past

We visited with the Humps this weekend. It was so great to watch the boys play together. It takes a while for them to get warmed up to each other, however. That usually involves Reeves kissing Henry's tummy and playing with all of Henry's toys and drinking Henry's juice and generally being a bit of a rude guest - all while Henry patiently watches. But once that is done, they start laughing and screaming and truly enjoying each other. Watching them together, I often wonder what David and I were like at that age. Are our personalities reflected in our children? How much of who they are comes from our spouses? Does the fact that they are both boys and we were girl and boy make a difference (at this age)? I know I've said it before, but I am so glad these children have each other. For my whole life, David has been such a special person to me. I can't imagine my childhood, and now adulthood, without him. I hope and pray Reeves and Henry and Leeze realize early on what a treasure each is to the other. Their parents certainly do.

I'll trade you this wind up car for those age-inappropriate keys.

Umm, well, see, what we were trying to do was FIX it.

And here's my head....

Oooooo, Henry, did you see how dangerous it is in here? Think of the mess we could make with this stuff!

Enough with the pictures, you parents! Reeves and I are going BLIND here!

457 Days

Fifteen months today. One and one quarter years old. I am constantly amazed by this child. His fine motor skills are getting more and more refined everyday. He has mastered screwing on and unscrewing the tops to any and all of the numberous tubes of ointment (valuable balm!) applied to various and sundry places on his skin. He laughs at the door knobs in our house. I use the term "door knobs" very loosely because we don't have actual knobs. They are more like toddler friendly levers. These, of course, were chosen when we were ignorantly pregnant and not thinking about how easily our child would soon be able to move from room to room. He is so impressed with himself, poking his head into the room, just to make sure you see what he has been able to do. For now, the locks on the handles work to keep him confined to a particular room - like when you're showering and he is on the loose - but it won't be long before he figures those out too. I have already seen him focussing on them. He still has quite the temper and will pitch his little fits when he feels you have not done right by him, like stopping him from crawling in the oven or playing with knives. Luckily, these fits are getting fewer and farther between. He has also learned to behave differently around different people in order to get what he wants. He knows that behaving like a Hollywood prima donna will get him absolutely nothing from his father and me, but he can use this power over his grandparents with great effect. And, oh, does he use it!
He loves reading his books, with any book containing animals being his favorite, in particular, cats. Once, when he pionted to a pig, I made the mistake of saying, in a loud and funny voice, "Suuwweeee!" Needless to say, we are constantly turning back to the pig pictures now. It actually starts to hurt my throat after a while, but I would do it until the cows come home because he doubles over in laughter each time. And his laughter makes all my insides twitter with happiness. Bryant and I have now settled into the week/workday routine of me taking Reeves out and Bryant picking him up. It works pretty well except that, of course, he never gets home early enough for my liking. That is not Bryant's fault. It's just a result of the fact that I have to be away from him all day so any second after 5:00 is too late. Judy is now meeting me at the BP at 162 and 17. This has been a huge (uge!) help. This has taken about 20 minutes off of my round trip, allowing me to leave the house at 8:00 instead of 7:40. The only drawback of this new arrangement is that most mornings, I am having to wake Reeves up in order to get him ready on time. I hate doing that. Although, I must admit, I kind of do prefer it to the three or four mornings that he decided 5:00 am would be the end of his night, and the start of our day. I was going to post about that while it was happening, but I was afaid that if I gave it a voice, it would continue, and I wasn't ready to start going to bed at 9:00. Luckily, he has resumed his - nevermind, I'm not going to write it. You know what I mean.
On the hair front, we think the troops are amassing at the border and are preparing to make an all out assault. There have already been noticable increases in volume and coverage since the birthday. I know you can't really see it in this picture, but there is actually a little curl off the back of his head. (It's the little things, people.) While we are fairly certain Reeves is going to be a toeheaded little boy, we have had to give up on the hope that he would retain his blue eyes. Looks like that Messervy yellow/green is too powerful for my genes. I find it unbelievable that I can love this child any more than I do already, but I know that I will because each day he brings even more love and joy to his father and me. I love our snuggle time. I love that he is starting to put his arms around me in a real hug now when we sing and say our prayers at night. I love that he likes for me to bite his toes and his fingers. I love that he has to kiss each ceramic animal on his bookshelves, the bear from Russia, and a picture of Grandmother Andy each night before he goes to bed. But most of all, I love that we are the ones God chose to raise this incredible boy. Thank you, Reeves, for every moment of your first 457 days.

Belated Beach Birthday Party Post

This post is for Reagan. I realized last night that, in addition to not posting anything about the family birthday party at The Ark, I hadn't even put the pictures on fotki. How rude. Here, RayRay travels all the way down from DC, waits patiently all week long for the BDP because we Bairs were in Kanuga, spends super quality time with the babes, sees my flash going off all the time (because, Lord knows, that's what I do), and then never sees the pictures on the web. "What could have happened?", she wonders. "Perhaps Kak has been kidnapped or her computer has blown up, or all of her fingers were cut off, because certainly, those are the only things that would keep her from posting those pictures that she knows I want to see." I imagine she was in a state of near panic and worry over what my fate might be. But then, in September, she checked fotki and was crestfallen. "What is this? She has posted pictures from Hartsville? But that was long after the family BDP. What has happened? Is Kak deliberatley trying to be mean to me? Why is she taunting me with these pictures I care nothing about? WHERE ARE THE PICTURES OF THE BABES!?!" Oh, Reagan, a million and one apologies. I don't know what I was thinking. It was terrible of me to withold these photos. Please know it was because of no reason other than absentmindedness. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. And now, my captions...

This is a picture I will always treasure. Looking at makes me think of how lucky we are to have four generations together. Here is Grandmother pushing Reeves in the hammock on the front porch of The Ark, and while the hammock may have been replaced, thirty years ago, you could have found her doing the same thing with me, and fifty-odd years ago, she would have been a new mother herself, pushing my mother, Reeves' grandmother, in the hammock on this porch. There is something about this porch. It forces you to relax. And having your great-grandmother push you in the hammock *almost* makes you close your eyes and take a nap.

We have told Poppa that we don't want Reeves drinking until he is old enough to open the bottles himself, but he just doesn't listen. At least he puts it in his sippy cup so Reeves isn't all "in your face" with it. I think it still counts as an open container violation if he gets on his tractor.

Leeze and Reeves. Don't they look precious? What you don't see is that they are precariously perched on the edge of the steps, only taking these few seconds out of their up and down continuous loop to pose for this picture. Me, I'm fine with it until they get up to about the seventh step, then my fear of heights kicks in, and my fanny starts to tingle. Why couldn't Reeves have inherited a bit of prohibiting caution from either one of us?

Well, we finally had a pool put in at The Ark. It's one of those above ground ones. You wouldn't believe how the insurance went up because of it. I still can't believe they haven't fenced it in. Here you see the chilluns performing for anyone who would watch. Oh, and I'm sure any one of us would jump in front of a speeding bullet to save our children, but sit in the sun on a hot day to watch them? You MUST be kidding!

Reeves may not have inherited my fear of heights, which I had inherited from my father (currently being called Pops), but he did inherit Pops' tongue-sticking-out-during -periods-of-deep-concentration trait. I remember, as a child in particular, seeing my dad doing this while hammering nails. It's funny, the things that stick with you.I'm pretty sure this is Big Laura's first appearance on the blog. Congratulations, Laura! I hope it's everything you thought it would be! Don't you just love how Reeves' towel coordinates with her shirt?Finally! Time for the cake! Not so fast, Reeves! There's butter and eggs in that thar cake. Ah, yes, the caramel cake made it's umteenth-hundred appearance. Thank you, Gams, for starting this tradition!

Happy Birthday to you, all you summer Andersons, Phillipps, Moseleys, and Bairs!

Fordham's Second Birthday Party

What a perfect day for a poolside party - not too hot, not too many bugs, lots of friends, and of course, lots of precious chilluns!

We had such a wonderful time at Fordham's BDP. Reeves loved the playground and the planes and the pool. My favorite part - the kiddie pool. This means there is absolutely NO reason for momma to take off her clothes and expose this bathing suit bod! Thank you, Smiths, for thinking of us mothers!

Fordham assures Reeves that a missing wing is no problem on his planes. Daddy can fix anything!

Mills and Anne took over the roles of airplanes after the jumbo jet broke in half. (They didn't fly quite as far as the styrofoam ones, but they were a bunch cuter!)
James is just about ready to take off and play with the other kids. If only it weren't for this pesky "not being able to walk" thing! What a relief it is when you don't have to hold them the whole time!
Millie Lewis, here she comes! Eliza was quite the bathing beauty.
Spencer and DuBose show Reeves how the big boys roll.

Spencer is waiting patiently for the cutting of the super cute airplane cakes.

More eager anticipation. (And, unfortunately, my only picture of MK. How did that happen? Time for a photo shoot.)

Fordham, what's it like to be the son of Betty Crocker? Caroline, your cakes ROCKED!

Jackson either a) has really mean parents and was only given a teeny piece, thereby allowing him to clean his plate in one bite, b) is a super neat eater and never gets icing anywhere on him, or c) loved it so much that, even though he was given a normal size piece, was still prompted to chipmunk the whole thing, savoring the flavors while simultaneously enjoying his mobility. And, even if the answer is (a), his parents are still not as mean as Reeves mother who, without thinking, had her child sit at a table where cake was being eaten all around him, knowing that he couldn't even have a taste. Thank goodness for infant amnesia. I don't think Reeves is old enough to remember this, so it shouldn't come up in any of his future therapy sessions! I did, however, allow him to play with a water bottle. Don't say I neva gave ya nothin'!

Fordham - hmmm, not such a neat cake eater, but equally as effective!

Finally, some pictures of the Birthday Boy and his first love!

Thank you, Smiths, for a great morning! Happy Birthday, Fordham!