Just a Reminder..

He really is *that* cute.

A new blog

I haven't blogged much lately because, honestly, all I want to do is sleep. It is hard finding time to sleep when your husband is working 60+ hours a week and you have a very spicy 8 month old child. When I get 8 hours, I rejoice! This baby is wiping me out even more than Ezekiel did (I know - amazing!)

We did go to the Boothbay Aquarium again yesterday with Beckie, her kids, Mandy, and Little Kevin. That was enjoyable as always. It is a long ride, but it is really worth going. Ezekiel loves it when I stand him up against the fish tanks so he can look in, bang on the glass, and scream at the fish. He also gets a kick out of the sharks coming up at him. He tries to stick his hands in the water to pet them, but I only let him when they have gone to the other side of the tank. I know they say it is perfectly safe - as long as you don't touch down by their mouths - but I'm not going to chance E's tender little morselly fingers. He got squirted by a sea cucumber. That was pretty rich. It was like it was peeing sea water at him when he touched it. After the aquarium, we went down by the coast and let the kids play on the grass. The older kids played chase and Ezekiel tried his best to keep up by crawling back and forth, screaming and squeeking every time the kids got close to him. He got so wiped out, he fell asleep on his feet while Beckie rubbed his neck. It was so cute. The absolute best part of the whole day was when we were all sitting around in the grass and I heard this "Pssffftt" and then "shhplat". I was like "what the deuce was that??" I look over at my little sister Mandy and realize - she has just had her head and her chest shat upon by a sea bird. IT MADE MY DAY! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

I do have pictures of Ezekiel from the other night though. Here is Ezekiel taking a bath with Marty. I had to crop a bunch of the picture out..but E. still looks like a cutie:


This next one is of him playing with his Dora castle. If anyone here that reads my blogs has ever seen my kindergarten picture, then they will be amazed at how much E. looks like me in it.


And, last but not least, here is a video of Ezekiel being silly with his Dora castle. If you notice the disaster in the background - it is because E. is a dervish.

some news

I've been holding off on posting this blog. I'm not so sure why..but I have. Almost two weeks ago, we found out that we are pregnant again! We are super excited, but it is funny the mixed reactions that we have received (Marty does a super blog about the comments - I'll let you read his instead of getting into them myself Marty's Blog). I, personally, have only told a few people. I just wanted to savor the deliciousness of the situation for awhile (remember, I'm the girl that was told that I couldn't have kids..haha, fooled them).

So, before taking a pregnancy test, we kind of knew that I was pregnant. There were definate signs - sore breasts, sudden weight gain, TERRIBLE mood swings, etc. I remember being at Brandie's and Craig's on my birthday and Marty came up behind me in their kitchen and whispered "Honey, you have a "glow", I think you may be pregnant". But I had taken a test and it was negative (well, I pulled it out of the trash a week later and it was positive - I know, I know...I have to stop buying my pregnancy tests at the Dollar Tree).

Anyway - back to my story. I took a test late one night and it was positive. We flipped out. Marty told Roxanne (we had to stay true - she is always the first to find out). Then I called my mom but she wouldn't answer her damn phones! Then Marty called his Dad and let him know (he was SUPER excited). Then Marty was like "maybe we should hold off on telling anyone else". I was like "WHAT? I didn't get to tell ANYONE!" But I agreed to keep my mouth shut. The next day I spent the entire day with Beckie and her kids and I couldn't even tell (even when I was getting pukey to my belly, I had to make up a story). When Marty got home from work that night, I was super proud of not telling anyone - until he says "I only told Angie, Brian, Andrew, and Kim". After hearing that, I brought Ezekiel down to Beckie's with my pee stick and told her and Mark. Then I called my mom and Mandy and told them too. I also let Amy, Brandie, and Craig know (so I guess I caught up to Marty in the number of people told). We slowly told other people (some of their reactions sort of turned us off on telling other people). Again, we are super excited but scared! For some reason, the second pregnancy is scarier than the first (and people that know keep forgetting - it is kind of weird). I can't wait for the first ultrasound to see the new bean bouncing around.

co-sleeping

One of the most rewarding, yet challenging decisions that we have made in raising Ezekiel is to co-sleep. It is certainly a personal decision that doesn't work for every family. We took the time to educate ourselves to the risks; I thought about posting them here, but if you would like to read them, do a search for "cosleeping" on google or visit this wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-sleeping . You will be able to educate yourself on the risks and the benefits (there are some incredible 30 year studies that have been done on co-sleeping). I do recommend having a big bed (we have a King that sometimes doesn't feel quite big enough). Here are some of my reasons for not forcing the crib on our baby:

* You wake up nose to nose with your baby and you realize that your breathing is synchronized. You marvel at how well your body knows your baby even after they are born.

* A smell permeates your dreams. It etches itself in your memory forever. You realize that it is your baby's skin. Your heart falls head over heels in love again.

* More often than not you are "kissed" awake. Feeling those sweaty little hands holding your face while you get great big, open mouth kisses makes you start every day with a smile.

* Your baby whimpers in his sleep with a bad dream. You roll towards him, kiss his forehead and notice the whimpers turn into a smile as he drifts off.

* And this..sometimes words just don't show what a video can :)

Kitties are fun until they make you cry

Ezekiel loves our cats so much. Our cats sometimes love him - other times they just ignore him or "quack" at him. We try to monitor Ezekiel's interest in the cats, but he is getting so quick that sometimes he gets to them and we don't notice right away (or he tips their wet cat food bowl over his head). Baby Kitten Friend has discovered that he is snuggly soft and warm to sleep with. The other day, she climbed under the blankets and under his legs and slept curled in a ball underneith him. He slept so peacefully. During his nap today, I snuck in to check on him and busted the Tigers. It was like they were watching over him in his sleep. I managed to snap one picture, but I didn't want to wake him up by taking multiples. This is of Baby Kitten Friend on top of Ezekiel and Gus sleeping at his feet:


Tonight, we were having a little fun in the livingroom. Ezekiel was all wound up and cornering L.E. (the ultra fat cat). We were laughing and having a good time...possibly encouraging Ezekiel to harrass L.E. (*ahem*)



Just revving the little tyke up and letting him go:


/sigh and then it backfired. And it was all mine and Marty's damn fault. L.E. kept raising his paw to Ezekiel, but neither of us thought that he would get Ezekiel - he has never attacked him. Ezekiel cornered L.E. (and there was food in the vicinity) and L.E. just launched himself on Ezekiel's face. It was so terrible. So here's a picture...it really makes me terribly sad


HOWEVER - you see all of those tears? Those are not from L.E. getting him. Nope, he didn't cry even once after it happened. Those tears are because I just took my chocolate ice cream away from him. (he got ice cream because I felt so painfully guilty for letting him harrass the kitty...not just letting him, but ENCOURAGING it).

Update on E.

Ezekiel is 7 months, 3 weeks old today. About three days ago, his first tooth popped out! I found out because he went in for a kiss on my lip and it quickly turned into a harsh little bite. That jagged little pearl is crazy sharp!

He waves "bye-bye" and "hi" now. Especially to strangers - he always seems to love the Salvation Army bell ringers. When we go down to visit Beckie's he knocks on her door by himself. He loves going down to visit (I'm not sure if it is company or the chocolate chip cookies that Aunt Beckie sneaks him).

Marden's has quickly become his favorite store to shop in. Not only is there a Salvation Army Bell Ringing Lady out front, there are also mirrors at the beginning and end of almost every aisle (he loves his reflection).

He thinks "NO!" is the funniest joke ever. He expresses pleasure and displeasure the same way - by screaching; and he loves to chase the kitties and pull their tails and their whiskers. Oh, and he loves corn-on-the-cob.

Potty Training

We've started potty training Ezekiel. It's hard to explain to him exactly what we are doing (he is only 7.5 months old after all) but I think it is starting to click with him. Plus, he really likes to crawl over to his potty and turn it upside down over his head (I make sure to keep it VERY clean ) He pooped for the first time on it yesterday. Of course, we had the camera ready to go!

Here he is really involved in the "process":


He's done his book, not the process:


Here's video of him being impressed with himself: