The Adventures of Olivia

So, as usual, Olivia has been finding new ways to get herself into distress. What else is there for a damsel to do?

Here's her latest:


How, you ask? NO idea. She did this while I was on the phone with Cameron who was on his way home from work. I had to have him hold on while I crawled onto Duncan's bed and arched my back in attempts to allow her to use my back as a step to start shimmying herself up (you have to be creative when you can't just climb up top and lift her out, pregnancy has it's issues, lol). Well this proved to be useless, I apparently wasn't tall enough for her to have a real footing on my back and she was still stuck.

Laughing, I informed Cam and he told me I'd probably have to leave her for the next 5-7 minutes until he was able to finally get home and that he would come pull her out. That's when the shrieking started of, "MOOOOOOOOMMMMM! I have to go POTTY!"

I did the math in my head and realized the amount of exertion it would take me to scale the ladder-less bunk bed and pull her out myself was probably equal to the amount of unhealthy stress I would be fuming later as I was scrubbing the wall, Duncan's bed, the trim and carpet below... not to mention whatever else happened to have been shoved under the bed in the last week or so, LOL.

Needless to say, this thought process took a lot longer to type out then it did to act out. She ran to the bathroom afterwards and no one had any headache-inducing cleaning to do. Another day saved, lol. :)

"Can I tell you my dream?'

So this morning, at 6am, my children gleefully skip into my bedroom and my son pounces his fists on my mattress to bounce my head awake. I send Olivia to the bathroom, find my robe, and take them downstairs for breakfast.

Meanwhile, Olivia has been begging me from before the second I opened my eyes, to please please please PLEASE let her tell me her dream.

Finally, we make it downstairs, they sit at the table, I serve breakfast and I let her tell me her dream:

Liv: "Well, Mom, did you know Papa was in my dream?" (Papa is my Dad.)

Me: "No, he was?"

Liv:"Yes, and he lived in Utah. What country do we live in?"

Me: "America."

Liv: "Noo... uhm... what state?"

Me: "Utah."

Liv: "Noo... uhm..."

Me: "Are you trying to ask what city?" Olivia LOVES to hear what city she lives in. She continues to ask despite the fact that her little brain is much too competent to not have it memorized by now.

Liv: "Yes!"

Me: "West Jordan."

Liv: "So Papa lived in West Jordan and Utah, and Sidney was in the bathroom, and she used WAAAAAAY too much toilet paper," Olivia has been known to have frequent and vivid bathroom dreams, i.e. The Black Toilet Dream.

Me: "So, Sidney lived here too?"

Liv: "Yes, and she went to the bathroom and used WAAAAAAY too much toilet paper. You went in there to help her flush the toilet and it was so unbelievable - the toilet FLUSHED YOU DOWN."

Me: "Flushed me down? Why was I flushing for Sidney?"

Liv: not pausing... "-- and it flushed you down, and the too much toilet paper, and it left puddles all over Papa's carpet. He was so angry because there were puddles all over his carpet and all over his house in Utah and he was not happy because of the mess."

Me: "Wow. That's an interesting dream." Papa had a carpeted bathroom? What kind of sick "dream" house in Utah was Papa living in?

Liv: "Yeah. I just wish I could have puddles in my house. I would like to jump in them. Can I have some milk?"

Ahh... the mind of a 4-year-old.

O55 & D35: Starting Anew

So I've wavered, I've wobbled - all in all I've pretty much fallen flat on my face trying to get these newsletters started. But I know I need to do better. So I am going to do better.

I've never been one for outspoken and obvious New Year's Resolutions and really anytime I h ave been it's about being healthier in order to lose a little weight, or being more organized in order to to... be more organized - all of which sort of just HAPPEN in January because I'm a nutcase. But mostly, being pregnant this time around, I happened to stop and think about non-physical resolutions. I wasn't going to start jogging (well, and then subsequently go into labor, lol) or eat less - by gosh darn it, I AM going to do newsletters!

So I'm starting over strong in January of 2009 with a double whammy and a little dose left over from Christmas.

You both grew so much last year, both physically and mentally. It's hard for me to even look at photographs of you and realize that you weren't always the size you are now. Last night, during my mini nesting session, I organized photos from earlier in your childhood(s) and was just blown away by how your sweet little faces were just basically now glued onto bigger bodies! Duncan will always be one of those kids that loses the "Who Is This Baby?" contest because he will look EXACTLY the same for the rest of his life. Olivia has changed enough that she could pass for an older sister of the said baby in the photograph, possibly tricking some but not enough. The real giveaway would be a video of her incessant chattering, IDENTICAL to the incessant chattering that occurs every day.

Olivia and her new purse from Mimi & Papa
Taken 12/25/2008 at the Wagners' Home

You were both fascinated again by the snow this year, despite it's late arrival, and begged to go out in the snow and play. I, of course, caved and allowed you to do so - only to be thanked by the hysterical crying faces of "It's COLD out there!" Gee. Perhaps that's why it's SNOWING.

No matter how much I bundle you up, you both always manage to find a way to get cold or snow INTO your bundles and burst into hysterical crying spells beyond comforting. Duncan tends to be less emotional when he's interested in being outside. By the time he's bored or done, he figures, cry with Liv - we'll get a quicker response.

Duncan and his new football from Mimi & Papa
Taken 12/25/2008 at the Wagners' Home

You're still doing very well playing together, we get a little over the top at times, but you're at the age where you easily entertain each other. Putting the crib up in your room has been an interesting adventure. You both refer to it as "Baby Rachael's Bed" and know the rules about using it to climb or scale other objects and comply fairly easily. It will be interesting to see if the addition of an actual BABY inside the crib will change that.

Olivia, and her cousins Kyla (4 yrs) and Kortney (2 yrs)
(all eating Mimi's chocolate, lol)
Taken 12/25/2008 at the Wagners' Home

We went to IKEA over the weekend to pick out some things for your room and also to pick up the linens and things we wanted for the baby. Both of you were very excited to be able to see that Rachael was going to have matching linens and that we bought special curtains JUST for your ROOM! It's frustrating being in an apartment and not being able to paint. The whimsical animals that go along with the IKEA line we've picked for your room would be adorable on the wall. That's part of the reason that I love these curtains, they bring color AND fun little animals onto some very basic, boring, wall color.

Duncan, and his cousins Zachary (10 mths) and Jordan (4 yrs)
(They were playing "drums" on the popcorn tins from Grandma Martha Wagner)
Taken 12/25/2008 at the Wagners' Home

It's so cute to see you with your baby cousins (who are rapidly racing towards their one year mark, hardly babies anymore!) and to see you making comparisons to Baby Rachael. Of course, it will also be interesting to see how disappointed you are when Rachael's not able to walk or play with the toys you've reserved for her withing 2 days of being born. Some things just take time and I'm curious to see how else you'll strive to play and connect with her. Rachael will be lucky, much like my sister Maddie, to be born into a family that not only has a Mom and Dad but also a big sister AND big brother - best of both worlds.

Well that about wraps up this month's double newsletter. And you WILL be seeing more next month. Bet your bottom (Shrek: "Bet my bottom?!" Haha, inside 2-year-old joke...) dollar and more photos to accompany them.

Duncan (2) & Olivia (4)
Christmas Eve

Love you two. :)

Anatomy of a Tantrum

This morning after doing our four-thousand-times-a-week cleaning of the children's room, they were delighted to see that I had pulled the Lego Table back out so that we can fit another dresser in the closet. So of course, even though we've had this table since Olivia was around 9 months old (Dad and Tanya passed it on to us) the kids were ECSTATIC that suddenly WE HAVE LEGOS!

It's been a Lego party ever since.

This brings good and bad moments. But honestly, I think the photos I just got were quite possibly the highlight of my day.

I heard happiness and laughter singing sweetly through the hallway, had many visits from pleasant faced little humans telling me "Mommy! Mommy! Look at my hammer I built!", "Mommy, mommy, look how tall!", "Mommy! SO BIG!". I thought, I'll take my camera in and get some photos for the folks back home...

Uhhm, yes. Thus begins our course on Moods and their constant level of change in our home.

Dunk: "Wivy... have allll the welllowwwss..." stated mid-sobbing.
Me: Snaps photo. "Olivia you need to share the yellows. Are there some he can have?"
Liv: "No! These are ALL mine!"

Dunk: Continues to sob, pauses to yell, "YOU NO TAKE PICTURE OF ME! Wivy have ALL WELLOWS!"
Me: "Liv, you need to share some of those yellows with Duncan, please." (It's so easy to remain calm realizing that they're not EVEN listening to what I'm saying anyway.)

Dunk: Proving my theory in the above parentheses, he decides to act upon what I said, of course - this has been translated into Duncan, please rush at your sister and grab whatever yellows she has near her body. He walks over and picks up a few yellow Legos stuck together on the ground. ON THE GROUND, mind you.

Stage 1:
Liv: "Those are MY YELLOWS!"

Stage 2:
Liv: "MOMMMMMMMMMM! HE TOOK MY LEGOS!"
Me: "Olivia, I was watching him, he picked them up off of the ground. Now you won't have to take any off of your hammer (the thing she's building), okay? Just calm down. They were on THE FLOOR."

Stage 3:
Liv: "Noooooooooooo! NOOOOOOOOOOO! DUNNNNNKKKYYYYY!! NOOOOOOO!"

The above sentence is paired with a face equal to one in a horror movie where one toddler is ripped limb from limb by a blood-mixed saliva drooling hairy demon, in FRONT of the other toddler. In our house, this face is saved for special occasions. Such as, "THERE'S NO MORE SQUARE CEREAL?", "BUT IT'S MY TURN!", "BUT I WANTED TO SET MY PLACE!", "MMMMOOOOMMMM! I WANTED TO OPEN THE FRIDGE!", among many other pleasant, normally consecutive, situations.

Me: "Here, Liv, here's three yellow ones for you, okay? Calm down."

Stage 4: Maybe REACHING will make him give it back.
Liv: Through sobs of desperation equal to that of a locked-away-in-a-tower-Princess "Plllleaaase, those are my LEGOS. Duncan, NOOOOOO..." Meanwhile, refusing to take the Lego's I've offered back to her, lol.

Not shown: Stage 5, complete desperation. Resorts to crying hysterically and claiming that I'm ruining her life.

Dunk: Happier with his taller tower, hammer, whatever of YELLOW Legos, walks back to his side of the Lego table and begins to POSE with his prize. Yes, she is STILL screaming in the background...

Dunk: "See Mom, wellow..."

Dunk: "Eeeeee!" said while grinning, of course.

Now, in order to make this as accurate as possible - I check the time on the actual photo so you can see when I say Mood Swing, I'm more referring to swing as the swing of a battle ax rather than persae, a lovely child's swing. The photo of Duncan above was taken EXACTLY 6 minutes before this next one.

That being said... after leaving the room having given up on happy, cute children photos, 6 minutes later I walk in to find this:

Me: HARK! HAPPY CHLDREN? Could it be? "Ohh, nice tower Liv!"
Liv: "Yeah, mom, look!"

Liv: "Which one next...?" Happy, happy and fine...

Liv: La la... building... so happy... "Look Mom, it's so tall."

Dunk: "No no, goway Mom, goway, not done yet."

Playing nicely.

Oh my gosh, good thing I had the camera. That's officially two child smiles in the same time frame... from EACH child! Amazing.

There you have it folks. Turns out the Anatomy of a Tantrum is more of an... Anatomy of a Freak Show - but just feel lucky to have witnessed the photo I plan to show to all of Liv's future boyfriends, and of course, one day to her children.

Only to show them...
hey, your Mommy acted this way.

GO FOR IT.

O51-52: Okay. Yeah. I need to get on it.

My sweet girl, one day you'll grow up and smack me in the shoulder and beg the question: "ONCE A MONTH MOM! You couldn't handle once a MONTH?"

I'll get better.

I hope.

Taken 11.25.04

This little face. I've been seeing a lot of this little face lately because I've been hurriedly transferring the photos documenting your ENTIRE life onto my "I" drive (my external hard drive) so that you and your brother will have photos if for some reason our computer is wiped out. So over and over I've cursed myself for dating things like "060604" Well, to me, I see that's the day you were born. Except that, sitting right next to it is: "060605" Your first birthday. Suddenly 12 months is gone and I'm lost. I didn't discover the wonders of "2004_0606" until sometime later. That way, I can go month by month, small description by description and actually FIND what I'm looking for.

Then of course, we have the ones where I felt the need to label the folder of photos with the date they were DEVELOPED. Why, you ask, are we opening Christmas presents on January 13th? BECAUSE MOMMY IS A DO-DO HEAD.

I got the mess sorted out, and SO FAR, I've got from your Aunt Brinsley's soccer game on November 1st, 2003 to Christmas 2005 (you were 1-1/2 then) at Papa's house. Not too shabby. But organized none the less.

Wonderful example of the new found organization. Taken 12.25.05

I'm continuing to work on this day by day. Duncan's semi involved as I'm pregnant in these Christmas photos and beginning to show. (Don't worry D, I've got plenty of embarrassing photos coming for you.)

You quickly grew from that teeny tiny girl in embroidered, semi cotton, wannabe-linen shirts to where you are now. For some reason, much like my photo organization, your little face remained little until you suddenly grew up and hit Preschool. Yet... you still manage to look the same in so many ways.

Taken 09.03.08

Okay more teeth, more hair, bigger bows... all that good "grown up" stuff.

Down to business.

This month, and last month, I've been mentally preparing for baby. It's been an interesting task but it has definitely come to a HUGE visual point as we have the crib up again. Soon we'll be to IKEA for bedding, curtains, wall decor, etc. I'm excited, and I know that you are as well, to get all this fun stuff for your room.

During preparation we pulled out some baby clothes and you immediately saw all of the outfits you wore for the first few weeks of life. Oh wait. Only ONE fit. :) You put them on Baby Chou Chou and took her to Preschool for show and tell. I realize now I should have sent you with this photo as well, if only for the amusement on Miss Denise and Miss Debby.

Taken 06.13.04

Yes. You were VERY tiny.

Preschool has definitely opened you up though. You're excited every day to go, you always participate, complete all of your artwork, sing the songs, sit on the rug, etc. You're a good girl and you listen (minus the times where you feel like continuing to color and most likely just to poke at your teachers), we're very proud of you.

Every night when your Daddy gets home, the two of you go over what you learned that day. I'm so glad he wants to be involved and enjoys helping you remember all of your material. He's been incredibly busy with work and school and all that he does for us and it means a lot to me (and to you, I'm sure) that he takes the time to do this with you.

You had your first field trip last week on Monday, we went to the Sandy Fire Station and after a few bumps of shyness you had a fantastic time.

Taken 10.06.08

You still own a suffocating amount of dresses, but have grown mature enough - most likely from experience - to know that here in Utah, it's not as much fun to PRETEND it's warm outside. When momma says it's 34 degrees, she's NOT KIDDING and you put pants on without a fuss. It, of course, helps when they involve flowers, princesses, or other pink accessories. Along with your new staple: the pink Nikes from Mimi in Oregon.

It's hard to find new things other than the basics to write about each month. You get older as time moves on but you definitely haven't changed that much... you're still the same sweet little girl, plus a few hormones here and there, as you always were.

And one days you'll read this and be horribly embarrassed by the fact that I publicly leaked the fact that you snorted right after your first cry when you were born and I knew, without a doubt, that you were our Olivia. :)

And you wouldn't be, if I managed not to hear about this.

So, please, don't let me down. ;)

Wednesday Meltdown

So yesterday Olivia had her first meltdown.

We got to preschool, she was fine, did her normal "shy" thing with her two teachers, I chatted for a few minutes with them while Duncan went crazy and dove right in to playing with the other p-schoolers - all was fine. Right before I left I noticed she was playing and said, "Bye Liv!" and waved. Well, normally she just ignores me, sometimes waves, sometimes comes over for a hug. Nothing this time so I scooped up Duncan and headed out the door. Suddenly she was bawling and wrapped around my leg.

I tried to help her back to the classroom and went over and played with her, etc. Nothing was seeming to work. Her friend, Erie, came into class and her teacher said she wanted to play with her. Even Erie couldn't distract her. Finally I made her a deal and I went and sat on the other side of the one way mirror, she went and sat with Erie and played puzzles.

Well after a while, it was close to clean up time, Duncan was having fits because he couldn't go play with the "four-year-olds" as he calls them. So I decided, now would be a good time to go, before she gets undistracted, etc. - the kid LOVES preschool. Apparently, every day but yesterday.

So I left.

Got home about 20 minutes later.

Finally dragged my cranky boy in the house...

... and my phone rings.

It's the school! You can hear Olivia having an absolute FIT in the background. The likes of which she does NOT do in public. She surely has these at least 1-2 times a day at home but for some reason she doesn't do them in public, EVER. (Thank goodness, lol.)

So I go back out to the car, drive back over to the school, go in and you can tell she's been bawling. But the only thing I can get out of her is "I thought you were leaving and not coming back." Which is ridiculous in ANY sense at all considering I'm one of the first parents there every day she has school and I have not ONCE made her wait to be picked up. We come in every afternoon to drop her off, and we go in AGAIN every day after school to pick her up! UGH. Not an easy task mind you with our little future-preschooler who kicks and whines just about every time we have to leave Liv at school. Thank heavens he'll be an easy adjuster, lol.

Anyway, we get her home, she finishes her projects for the day, has a little 5-minute-Princess-petite-sized cry because she didn't get to have the snack that day because she left so early and we had another talk. We decided that on Friday we're going to try and stay out in the lobby, to give her a little more comfort, where she can stare at the glass for 5 minutes and eventually see the outline of an adult standing there, and know I'm still there. I guarentee before the end of the next week she'll want me to leave but for now this little issue at least has a solution.

Grandparents - be looking in your mailboxes soon for a little "preschool" art headed your way soon. She comes home with at least 2 things a day and I've been doing the garage door (from the house to the garage) with magnets and cycling them each day. We have a LOT. Next shipment is soon. :)

The lovely Snow White and her ever so charming... well, Prince Charming!

Here are the costumes that Grammy & Pa sent. Grammy was excited to get them here and see that they fit well and they do, perfectly! Way to go Grammy, we LOVE them!

SO adorable! THANK you Grammy & Pa!

WOW!

Life just comes all at once, doesn't it? Haha - but we're surviving and doing just fine. :) I'm actually no longer watching my nephew so that has freed up a little time at the end of the week in the afternoons while Duncan naps, Liv's at preschool - I definitely have my bit-more-relaxing Fridays back. Although - anytime Olivia's out of the house it surely gives me a break and allows Duncan to revert back to his napping.

Anyway - I HAVE still been taking photos, lots of them, just haven't found the breath to sit down, load them all, and explain what's going on! So basically, I'm going to share some preschool ones now and I'll probably end up doing the kids' entries and picking favorites from the unshared photos for that. Enjoy. :)

So, Wednesday, September 3rd was Olivia's first day of Preschool. And WOW - let me tell you, I NEVER would have guess how that afternoon was going to take place! Here are some photos.

Some of these are cropped a little differently because Olivia's school bag is from her school and I figured since I'm normally very open sharing photos and names of my children that I would hold off on the name of her Preschool. BUT - I'm 100% open to showing the originals to the family and friends I personally know that visit here. Some I can't even post because stinker Olivia swung her back in front of them during a few shots - such a goober. But cute nonetheless!

(If you're interested in seeing those photos let me know and I can email them to you.) :)

These were all taken outside in front of our house - it was excruciatingly bright outside and even in the shadows I could hardly get a normal looking smile out of them, they couldn't see - the whole sun in the eyes and kids don't mix well for photos.

Duncan's new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse shirt - we got it for a steal
on clearanceat Walmart and he loves it.
And of course... his cars. :)

Livy also has a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse tee shirt that we got for her with Minnie and Daisy on it but we got it in a 5T and it just didn't look right without a wash, so we switched and wore out Cinderella and Princess outfit and I washed the shirt for her while she was gone. We've yet to try it on but hopefully it helped the fit. :)

So we get to her school and she walks in... scratch that - SPRINTS through her classroom door and immediately goes to play. I have the camera so I'm trying to get photos... which yeah DID NOT WORK AT ALL. She was way too excited and focused on toys and preschool, but that was a good thing as I was expecting her to be too focused on clutching to my thigh and begging me not to leave her alone with these crazy alien people.

Miss Denise, her teacher, called her name as I was trying to get her to stand next to her cubby with her bag for a shot to show Daddy, and of course she listens to anyone but mom, haha. :) Miss Denise took her photo for the wall and Livy hung up her bag and darted across the room to the make-believe cash register to play with another girl.

I actually had to CALL her name to get her to even notice us
and she of course gave us a whatever face.

She was officially busy with her kids.

We went over gave her kisses and hugs (which involved her kissing the air next to my thigh and hugging me quickly, no regards to Duncan, she was MUCH too busy) and that was it! She did fantastic though and has continued to love it and is excited to go the next time everytime she comes home.

Let's hope it stays that way.

Livyboo - getting older.

Liv's starting school on the 3rd of September - ACK! When did she get so old? It's just crazy. But she will be in Orientation for Preschool on Wednesday, and then the following Wednesday (the 3rd) is her first day! Such a sweetie poo.

Gag me, geez, I need to stop with the poos and boos.

Anywho - I'm here with my lap covered in a soft green knit littered with white daises and preparing to make her a cute little circle skirt for her first day! I need to look for some knit with blue butterflies as that is her class' little symbol.

Wish us luck for Wednesday and I'll be adding more later tonight on preschool and Duncan as well. :)

O49-50: The continuing birthday and plans

Even after your birthday, you continued to go on and on about what you WANTED for your birthday. I tried to explain to you that your next birthday wasn't for another year but you refused to listen. And so the planning began for your next birthday.

But not really.

You've been doing a great job with your bike. Suddenly being just a little further off of the ground on this new bike you have a new fear of going "too" fast. Too fast meaning anything faster than having to pump as hard as you can on your pedals while going merely an inch. Daddy lowered your seat to help as much as we could but you'll get used to it eventually.

Being 4 has hardly changed you a bit, imagine that. The bedtime crisis has begin since June but suddenly you've decided you enjoy food and you like EATING it with the family! It certainly makes meals easier. To my disbelief you ate Sloppy Joes last night. I nearly died. Of course you decided that cooked tomatoes are not as good as fresh tomatoes and you picked them out but you ATE Sloppy Joes.

Brinsley is here for 3 weeks this month and before she got here you would not shut up about her coming. Every day we had to save the last fruit snack, save the last drink of juice, save a stuffed animal for when she sleeps here, etc. It was very sweet how much you anticipated your Auntie's arrival and even got Duncan to practice saying her name.

You're gaining more and more opinions about what we do during the day and your routine for bedtime is beginning to help. I have no doubt you're half to maybe a little more of the motivation for Duncan to continue coming out of his room every 10 minutes but you do at least stay in your bed. :)

You love to read books, going to the library is the highlight of our week. Not to mention the cycle of Barbie Mariposa, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, and of course the available Princess movies, Dora movies, etc. That's by far your favorite thing to watch though - Barbie! She's become a new interest for sure.

You've worked very hard with your piano book that Great Gma Cole has sent you and you can play many of the songs all by yourself matching the numbers and colors to the various keys. You know the black notes are for the black keys and while you use everything from your right hand to your left foot, you recognize the Treble Clef and know that you should be using your right hand to play - but you're definitely not one to conform. :)

Daddy and I are so proud of you and can't believe how far we've come. You may still have a lot of attitude in you (surprise surprise, I can just HEAR Mimi thinking that...) but we're very proud of all that you do. You're very excited for a new baby brother or sister and ask about how big the baby is and what it's eating, if it can hear you, all the typical questions. You're favorite thing to inform me of is simply that we ARE having twins and that one will be a girl named Dora, and the other will be a boy named Diego. Cameron thanks his lucky stars every day that your prediction has not proved to be accurate thus far.

Such a silly girl. :)

Ahh... life.

So yeah.

I never updated. Shame on me. BUT - now I actually have some things worth saying, lol.

First - Curtis & Angela (Cam's sister) have entered a "Why I Should Get This Scholarship" video for Curtis going back to school and who does it star? None other but the most adorable and charming Zachary. :) SO sweet! Here's the link, it's free and quick to sign up and vote for him, so DO it! You know you want to. Who could resist the baby reasoning?

Zachary's Film Debut ;)

So click it! NOW! Seriously the baby lust is just lingering in the air. I can feel it...

Secondly... some more cute photos:





Just in case you haven't gathered it yet... this was the Thursday before the 4th of July and the kids were SO happy that they were testing the sprinklers during the day again. They hadn't been on in ages, as you can see by the beautiful shade of grass we now have covering our front and back yard. Pleasant. But they had fun. :)

These photos are from our most recent Zoo trip, we got to ride the CHOO CHOO! Duncan was very excited and he was happy to be anywhere near the REAL train, let alone ride on it.



Grammy Victor sent him his outfit, she made it for him special - he calls it his "crackor shirt and crackor PANTS" outfit. Yes, just like that.

Playing at the playground... (Still @ Hogle Zoo)

Duncan has a very strong grip. Cameron enjoyed getting him to hold on to the rings and then quickly stepping away for me to take the photo. Ahh... men.

He later informed me, unfortunately, that while I had taken Liv to the Ladies' Room he had done the same thing but, put him on the rings, left him there, walked around the front to take a picture HIMSELF with his camera phone. Luckily the anxiety wasn't as real as if I had been standing there counting the inevitable bodily injuries myself.

And of course, Cameron's favorite Zoo photo.
The one without him in it.

(Why do I wear the same thing almost everytime we go to the Zoo?
No idea. I'll have to make a mental note of that.)

Speaking of injuries - my boy had his first 3 stitches last night. He climbed up into his sister's bed (they have bunks and he's finally learned to climb up) and somehow managed to fall off and smack his head on the corner of the small chest of drawers by their bed. Needless to say the bleeding stopped but the massive hole (okay, it was a nice puncture wound from a sharp corner, Y-shaped, about a half of an inch HOLE) was gaping and I knew we'd need to go in.

Danine came over to watch Liv (THANK YOU! :)) and we headed out to an after hours-insta care place in West Valley and they stitched him up with three stitches. Pictures later as he's napping right now but he's doing just fine and hasn't even tried to mess with the stitches. Tough kid.

Well, that's all for now. Perhaps more photos later including the 3-stitch-wonder. :)