First Sick Baby Visit

Okay, so Frederick has had the sniffles a couple of times in his life, and the odd, unexplained fever, but he finally had his first sick visit this week...for a rash.

Yes I ran him off to the doctor and dropped $20 for a rash when he's due for a well baby visit in a couple of weeks anyway.  In my defense, he was exposed to Scabies a few weeks ago, and the rash showed up JUST around the end of the incubation period. 

Apparently, since he wasn't itching it, she declared it contact dermatitis.  So he had some reaction to something he touched, but I have no clue what he may have come into contact with on the inside of his elbow.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed that he hasn't had a sick baby visit before now.  She asked if he was waving yet, and I said no.  And she said, "Oh, nevermind, we'll ask those questions when he comes in for his 9 month visit." 

But TODAY.  Today my baby started clapping.  A very cute, noiseless kind of clapping (you know, since his fingers still get in the way), but clapping none the less!

Love that little man.

If You Give a Girl a Camera...

she's going to want a new lens to go with it! 

I feel like I am living my own version of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..."  Photography is the most expensive hobby I have ever had (that I have paid for myself - pretty sure the horse-ownership thing cost a quite a bit more.) 

If you give a girl a camera, she's going to want a new lens to go with it!  First she'll realise how awesome her new prime lens is, but will then realize that even with it's low-light ability, it still doesn't work in dark rooms, so she'll want a flash and diffuser to go with it.  Eventually, she'll feel constrained by the prime lens and want something with a little more versitility and pay out a pretty penny for a lens with a little red line around it.   The nice new lens, however just doesn't go with her entry-level DSLR and she will want a new camera body to go with it.  She starts to come up with reasons that she needs the newest technology (HD video!).  She will want to buy the newest photo-editing software.  With all of the new gear, she'll want a pretty new girly bag to carry it in.  And on, and on, and on.

I'm pretty sure it is only going to get worse as the kids get older and I want things like a super zoom lens to take pictures of them playing sports and whatnot. 

Loves His Daddy

Just in case you were wondering, this little man LOVES his Daddy.   In the morning, when he has a opportunity to chase either of us down, use a leg to pull up to a stand, and hope to be picked up, Frederick almost always goes for his Daddy.  As he crawls furiously out of the room after his Daddy, leaving me in the dust, he excitedly cries out, "Dada, da, da, da!"  His face erupts into a big smile when he reaches his Daddy and gets pulled up into his arms. 

He's such a happy, happy, boy.  I love how much he loves the people in his life.

Padre Island

Wondering what we were up to while I was away?  We took a nice vacation of course.  We spent a few days at Hyatt Lost Pines, followed by a long weekend with the Knickerbockers at their condo on Padre Island.  I just LOVE beach vacations, don't you?

We had a great time enjoying good food, walking on the beach, sitting by the waves, building sand castles, playing in the pool, enjoying frozen beverages, and playing card and board games. 

I also loved this vacation, because it really gave me a chance to play with our new camera lens (a 24-70mm f/2.8L USM).  I wasn't quite sure about it at first (and the price tag was giving me a little buyer's remorse), but the more I use it, the more I love it.  I was able to score some really great memories:

I love the reflection in the water on this one.

and the water droplets in this one:

You can only imaging that Charlotte was worn out at the end of each day!

It was a great escape from the real world! 

New Look!

So.  I totally just wasted 3 hours of my time creating a new blog look (with some help from the cutest blog on the block). 

I totally don't have enough time to do stuff like this, but I sure had fun. 

Hope you like it!

I'm Ba-ack!

Not that things have changed much around here, but my babies keep getting older, so I need to get moving and get with the program.

This little man, for instance:

at 8.5 months old he is growing and changing before my eyes! On August 10th his first tooth (finally) broke through.  Now I can see one of his top teeth is about to cut through as well. 

Little Man crawls faster than lightning all over the house, usually saying, "da! da! da!" when in a good mood.  If he's upset, he's usually crying, "ma, ma, ma, ma," although lately he's also started saying, "Na! Nah, Nah, Nah," when he doesn't like something. 

He can walk across the room pushing a walking toy, and cruises around the coffee table. 

I love snuggling with him and holding him close, because someday, he won't be a snuggly baby anymore.

This little lady, turned THREE in my blogging absence.  Can you believe that?

For her birthday, Helen made an awesome cake and we rented a bounce house and had some of her friends over to the house to celebrate.  After it was all over and I was taking off the princess costume gift she'd insisted on trying on before bed, she asked me, "Mommy, how many days?"  "How many days for what, Charlotte?"  "How many days?"  "How many days until what?"  "How many days until my birthday?  We need to pull of a ring!"  We had made a paper chain to count down the days, and I hated to tell her that the rings were all gone and it was many, many more days!  She still talks about doing this, or doing that on her next birthday.  Many times, every day.

Bug also likes to make up stories, so if find yourself in a conversation with her, watch out what you believe!  The other day a car backing out of a driveway on Chimney Rock almost hit us.  I cried out, laid on the horn, and swerved into the next lane.  Charlotte wanted to know what happened, so I told her that I honked the horn to let the truck know we were there and to stop before crashing into us.  The rest of the afternoon she told a story about how she was driving and a truck bumped into her car and we all had to get out. 

Yesterday she told me a story that involved me being "Baby Mommy" and her holding me.  She told me how cute I was as a baby.  Love it.

Her drawings have started to take real form, and when she colors she now makes an effort to stay within the lines.  I love, that she doesn't have a concept for what colors things SHOULD be.  The ocean she colored today was filled with hues of blue, pink, red, and orange.

Ahh, I miss blogging.  I hate trying to fit everything into a single post.  I'm going to be better.

Lots of Love!