"helping"

Miles must be in the middle. Always. Especially when in the kitchen. He pulls a chair or stool, gets up and is ready to help. His little fingers are everywhere at once. I spend all my time making sure he doesn't grab a knife, glass, plate, the hot stove, etc. Cooking takes double the time. But his curiosity is sweet, even though it takes PATIENCE (which lately I don't have too much of). I try to explain to him what I am doing - sauteing onion (no, you can't eat the onion raw - he will anyway), cooking pasta, cutting tomatoes (he wants to do the cutting).

Same goes with cleaning the dishes. It creates a big mess - again patience- and eventually we will get all the dishes cleaned together. I can't complain about him wanting to help, right? Maybe he can start cooking dinner in December when we don't have time and clean the kitchen afterwards. Who cares about potty training - making dinner and cleaning the kitchen are more important.

Summer Weekends

This past weekend was filled with some of our favorite summer activities. Friday we got home to a box waiting on our porch filled with fresh vegetables from area farms. We pay $35 a month and get a huge box of seasonal produce every other Friday delivered to our house. This week's box included beets, lettuce, carrots, swiss chard, collard greens, garlic, mushrooms, asparagus and potatoes. Earlier that week I bought 5 small boxes of strawberries at the farmer's market and made my own (first time) jam. It turned out surprisingly good. It's a bit on the runny side, but firm enough for Miles to eat on his morning toast.

Saturday morning we checked out a few yard sales. We found this great classic Radio Flyer tricycle for $7. Miles can almost reach the peddles all the way. We also got some yard tools and of course records.

Later that morning I went to an excellent and rejuvenating prenatal yoga class. I love how the whole practice focuses on you and your baby. Then we all went on a nice long bike ride through town stopping for lunch and the playground. On the way home, Miles fell asleep in his seat! At that point I was ready for a nap too.

The rest of the weekend included excellent ribs, Miles running around in a heavy pouring down rain and long naps.

Unfortunately, mosquitoes are a part of summer too.

This is one of Miles' favorite toys at the playground. He makes sure that he has access to it the whole time and is not too happy when other kids want to ride.

The lawn mower would be his second favorite toy a the playground. He likes the real ones too, but only when they are turned off.

End of November

This little person will enter the world at the end of November. It's astonishing how everything is already in place - this image was at approximatly 12 weeks (3 weeks ago). It's as small as a bean, yet every detail is visible. How small must the brain be if the whole body is only the size of a bean. The more I think about it the more incredible it is. Looking at it makes it easier to respect how tired I feel in the evenings, or how bad I have felt the first couple of months. But all that has to be pushed aside in order to continue life and the everyday - work, meetings, a toddler, laundry, dinner, dirty floors, expectations. All while my body is making a new human being. Time to get ready for work! 

Return of the pictures

Having a new camera (early birthday gift!) to play with has brought back my interest in taking a ton of pictures. Having such a delightful subject helps too!

We had an excellent weekend starting off with early morning lego constructions.

Blueberry smoothies and several ice cream treats.

Reading all about animals.

Going to new heights!

Finding a small guitar (ukulele) at a yard sale during a nice bike ride. Miles' collection of instruments is growing quickly...especially since it's yard sale season.

Barely wearing shoes. It's not uncommon that his feet have to be washed several times a day. Is that a reflection of a bad housekeeper?

Twinkle

It's 7:02am and I am the only one up. That never happens. I probably have like 5 more minutes before that will change. So I better write fast. The picture above is one of three pictures we took of Miles since his birthday. That must be a record of the least amount of pictures taken since his birth. And that is no indication that he is not worthy of the camera any longer. He continues to be one happy, smiley, two year old. He is starting to sing songs with me. He knows most of the words of the ABC song, parts of twinkle, twinkle, little star, and a couple of others as well. Hearing a two year old sing a song makes your day. 

The last 6 weeks have been full of life and travel. Two times to Charleston (no pics) with everyone and once to LA for me. My first solo trip that wasn't related to work. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Ginny and Marie, the LA sun, waking up in the morning with absolutely no responsibilities or chores waiting. All we had to do is ask ourselves what we wanted to do. That mostly involved eating at a variety of LA restaurants, taking long walks, going to the beach, and eating some more. 

It's 7:13am and Miles is up. I am glad that I can count this blog post to one of the things I wanted to do this weekend. Even though it's Monday morning.