This shark gets a gill full of baby talk

This picture was taken during a sad week for me. Every time I look at it I feel like this expression mirrors my feelings of uprooting and moving away.

i'm certain every child has their picture taken with spaghetti.

During his 2nd official tub bath, he discovered the shiny silver drain at the bottom of the tub. well 7 month old sensibility says i have to check this out with my mouth. He dove down under the water to bite the drain. several dives later I had to pull him aay and distract with a water squirting starfish. Hes not afraid of missing out on oxygen when it comes to soothing his gums. that or he was making a tribute to Steve Zissou in the Life Aquatic. Around here he's known as 'scuba steve'





As a carpet crawling, johnny jump up jumping 8 month old, This young one has fully mastered several new skills and artforms... here are some of his credentials...the art of army crawling, full on 'now you see me-now you dont look away for too long' knee crawling, waving to family, waving to people behind us in line at Wal-mart, social laughing, the evolution of hawk eyeing his bottle yards away, petting the dogs, pinching the dogs, slapping the dogs and the ever so kind hearted feeding the dogs his bananas at dinner time. . . thats right lots of learning is happening here. Lots

Considering a college budget, time constraints and my apetite for wholesome food I have turned to a forgotten friend. Shes the quiet hardworking type. You've probably shared one similiar. For too long i've neglected her skills and talent. But now is the time to dust her off and rekindle the magic. I chop up the veggies. turn her on and go about my day. 8 hours later, On our way home i can smell her creations when the door opens. Every meal she renders is a masterpiece in large batches that is enjoyed all week long. I come up with the ideas and she makes it happen. Blog readers I'm pleased to introduce you to . .. . . . somilia (sew-me-lee-yah) my slow cooker.

Most of you know i'm constatntly giving items away and picking (all kinds of) things up on www.freecycle.org Well this is how I adopted Somilia. And I'm happy I did! Right now shes brewing up an old favorite of mine. mom's chicken noodle soup (with lots of egg noodles)

But my next venture will be to turn dried chickpeas into yummy hummus! I've put together the best recipes I could find to pack in the most flavor with the quickness! *quick always being the key word right now
I bought a bag of dried garbanzo/chickpeas from the store. I'm soaking the beans overnight. In the morning I'll give them to somilia with water for 6 hours. . All thats left is to strain em then mash and mix with lemon juice, salt, olive oil, jalepenos and onion. Can't wait!

Owen loves hanging out with Aunt Ashley!

Upon the approach of the new year I've decided to spend more time updating our blog with more short stories. It will be nice to put some of these moments on hold and to look back. . This week we have been spending time at my parents for Thanksgiving. A few new things to note. Owen's first tooth has sprouted and the second one is one the way! He's 4 days away from being 6 months old.

If the word Bumbo isn't in your everyday vocabulary then chances are you're not a parent to a small child. Like others, I rely a great deal on my bumbo. Its lightwieght, waterproof, teaches the baby to sit up and the wide base keeps a wiggle worm from wiggling out. The bumbo has done a great job at adequately containing my child to a safe sitting position for an extended amount of time. However, the once blessed relief i gave to the bumbo is no longer a go to method of 'safe sitting.' Owen has demonstrated at his grandmas that the Bumbo can't hold him down and yes, he finally escaped his by a backflip. I haven't heard of a baby being able to do this so I was pretty surprised when i heard then caught with my eyes his head followed by his body tumble out onto my parents living room table. When he grows out of something else, I hope its not as dramatic.







I must add that he was not throwing a tantrum. Just casual acrobatics.

i did not set this up!!