Ski Outing

Actually, there was no skiing on the outing, but there were slopes, snow and cool head gear. The other morning David decided to take Marshall on a drive to Pennsylvania to check out a ski resort. It is about an hour and a half from here and he thought it might be a fun thing for us to do one weekend, but wanted to take a look before we planned a weekend around it. Since he had the day off and I had a mountain of things to do here, Daddy decided to take his boy to the slopes. Looks like they had fun - David took a few self portraits and then some of Marshall at the commissary where they stopped on the way home to restock our dwindling supplies -- what a dream day for me!

As for the head gear, David bought the cutest hat for Marshall while he was in Peru. I couldn't believe how adorable it was when he showed me.

The hat is so cute it even makes ol' Daisy dog look like she's ready to hit the slopes...or yodel.

By the way, Erica, that is the Ergo David is using (in the top photo). He loves it! At first he just thought it was a good thing for me to have, but more and more he wants to use it (instead of stroller) when we go somewhere and he wants to carry Marshall. Thanks again!!

Bath Time

In our house, Daddy is the primary bath giver. This works great for everyone because he lets Marshall do more fun stuff than I do, it gives the boys some time together at the end of the day and I get 10 minutes (ok more than that really) alone to finish cooking dinner, clean up the kitchen, pick up toys or have a glass of wine (yeah, right!). Daddy has things totally under control and I am never called in for back up...until last night...but then it was just to bring the camera.

Hello my baby, hello my darling, hello my ragtime gal....

or

Hmm...the bottom of this bowl is so interesting.

Top of the morning to ya.

Look at those eyelashes!

More Halloween...

Happy Halloween!

What do y'all think - do you see any similarities?

I would definitely say that Marshall enjoyed his first Halloween. We stayed in and let him help us answer the door and "hand out candy." As you can see, his idea of handing out candy was to grab it out of the bowl and chomp on it himself. Isn't he a bit young for that? You'd never know from these pictures that he's never had a piece of candy in his mouth (I guess I have to qualify that as an "unwrapped piece of candy" now) and won't for a while, but he sure looks like he's an expert sugar-a-holic.

After a while, Marshall seemed to have enough of the hood in his face and ears dragging the ground -- how does Daisy stand it? -- so we stripped him down to the bare bones and let him stay up for a little more trick or treat fun.

These last ones are just for his great aunt Carol. A new favorite is the stuffed rattler. His favorite part is the rattle -- not to rattle, though. Marshall prefers to suck on it. Who knew rattlesnake tasted so good?!

Oh yeah, one last comment. I am NOT showing dog favoritism with the costume choice. I'm just not that skilled a costume making and figured I'd better go with the one that was easiest to make recognizable. But just to be fair, here are some cute photos of Fado!

Another Basset Hound???!!!

Yep, we are adding to the pack. This Halloween we've added Daisy - part Deux!

What do you think???

I'll try to post more, but these are the first from today.

And after the costume top comes off. Well, that's when we see what little boys are really made of and it is NOT snips & snails (though it does involve a puppy dog tail!). Nope, this one's made of cute little heart shaped bones!

The shots below are from this afternoon when I took his costume top off and let him hang out in the kitchen with me.

Don't all topless dogs love to roam around and forage for raw potatoes?!

Baby Wrangling

McKenna and Marshall love their Uncle Brad!

He's an expert at baby wrangling...

even when they try to escape!

Where's That Pacifier?

Soon-to-be big sister McKenna knows the secret to a happy baby -- never EVER let the pacifier fall out!! On our trip to Texas she remembered that Marshall liked his pacifier and made sure he had it ALL the time!!

Anytime she saw it lying around, she would say, "Uh-oh" then grab it and stick it in. She definitely likes for things to be in their proper places!

Above, she demonstrates her screwdriver technique which proved not to be as popular as the one-fingered approach shown below.

Sand, Sun and Solids, Oh My!

Under construction....This post is missing some pictures, but it will be another couple of weeks before I can get home and get them all filled in so I decided to post it as is for now so you (especially some of you in Oregon and Illinois) can see some sort of update. Check back later for more.


I guess I should have put the title in red letters because it sure was that kind of week. Pops and Zanny (that is David and Suzanne...pronounced like Annie -- not Zany) gave us a wonderful week at the beach. What a treat! We got to spend time with the Cousin Harris and his mom and dad as well as try out life on the beach, in the pool and even take a whack at eating solid food. We have loads of pictures, but we'll post just a few.



I'll try to hit the high points.



The beach. The first day we went out, it was pretty windy, Marshall was about ready for a nap and he didn't last long. All the wind, waves and sand can get pretty overwhelming. He checked it all out, tolerated some photos and then let me know he was ready to head inside. The next time out, he had a little more fun.



Daddy and Boy under the umbrella

Hmmm...maybe next year it will be more fun to bury the boy in the sand!



Relaxing in the sand - it will be SO much fun to clean it out of the swim suit and all the crevices!

Hanging out with Zanny - Marshall's making sure the keys to the condo don't get lost!



The pool. A bigger hit than the beach. Its fun until you get water in your face and have to spit it all out. Marshall likes splashing the water and had fun kicking in his little float. When he kicked, he would giggle and keep going. I think we'll find a Y to join once we get back home!









Big Cousin. Harris is a source of constant entertainment for Marshall. He will gladly lie on the floor fascinated with how Harris can eat Cheerios and I'm pretty sure he was taking notes on how to stick them to his head and throw them on the floor (the pups will be thrilled!). The boys had fun around one another more than together. Harris liked petting Marshall and Marshall just wanted to get Harris (or anything or anyone else) in his mouth. Looks like the beginning of a beautiful cousinship!

Wow, Harris! You can move yourself around the room! How do you do that?

Hey, let me grab on to your hair and I'll show you my trick!

Ummm, Harris, have you been watching Ultimate Fighting with my dad?

The 4th! Marshall fell asleep before any big time fireworks, but we did get this family picture on the back porch of the living room. What a great location we stayed in - the beach was RIGHT THERE!



Solid (sort of) Food. At our last appointment the doc said that we could wait until 6 months to start solids, but then he would need to have the iron fortified rice cereal. I fully intended to wait until after his 6 month check up. BUT...she also said if he starts to show a lot of interest in food (like watching us intently while we are eating, etc.) that it would be good to start a bit sooner since he should be ready for it. For the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking that Marshall has been watching me while I eat - often I snack while he nurses so I was never sure and thought he might just be watching my hand or letting himself get distracted. I wanted David to be around for the first "meals" so I decided we would either determine he was ready and give him rice cereal at the beach or wait until Marshall and I get back from our upcoming trip to Texas. I was still on the fence.



One night David was holding Marshall while he ate dinner and we all watched as Marshall tracked his Daddy's every food-related movement with wide eyes and an open mouth. He would stare intently at David's fork and follow it with his eyes all the way to David's mouth while simultaneously opening his mouth and stretching his little hand up in an attempt to grab the fork. I decided - time for this boy to have solids.



Next morning - solids for breakfast (after an early morning nursing). He did great. In fact, he did so well we don't have any really funny pictures. Seemed to like it and gladly sucked back the runny cereal. The next day I made it thicker and he's doing really well with it.