annnnd... we're mobile.

Kyren decided to show off his first crawl for my girls' group last night. perhaps it was the excitement of all the hustling and bustling around him-- perhaps the 4 cheerleaders encouraging him to go for it. or perhaps he was just ready. i love that i got it on film, as i believe i did christian's. today he was starting to experiment with all different 'strides'-- army crawling, lunging, reaching and kind of 'stepping' with one foot and one knee. i also caught him trying to move to a sitting position a couple of times. he's on the move, folks. and life as we know it will never be the same. i thought my housework was hard to get done before. now that i'm on constant choking hazard watch, forget about cleaning up that kitchen. it's 'go' time!

one month from today, my miracle boy will be ONE YEAR OLD!

and the fun continues...

more quotes from tonight's mystery trip into town to get ice cream:
we're driving down the main drag, and christian is pointing to restaurants we've walked by before on jaunts into town, and saying, "there's a mystery trip! and there's a mystery trip!" he points to the Landmark Grille sign and declares, "Look! That says, 'Mystery Trip."
we finally park and get to our ice cream store, where they're giving away free waffle cone samples. as he's eating it, he says it tastes like a crunchy cracker. not just a cracker, mind you.
we sit outside on a bench and he notices every possible detail he can and comments on them. the moon, the little "tiny airplane high up in the sky", the balloons hanging on the sign, the baby in the stroller, the biiiiiig building right across from us (only 4 stories, but definitely big to him). he looked up at it at one point and said, "look at that big house! ... it might have an elevator in it."
a lady walked up and asked if it was okay with us if she tied her dog to the post while she went inside. we said sure, and i added, "is she going to have some ice cream too?"
my child's response was not, "no mommy, you're silly... dogs don't eat ice cream."
it was, "No. she doesn't have any hands."
which was the same response he had a week ago at the Lake, when i asked if the ducks on the beach were going to eat our chips. i mean, come on-- how can one eat if one has no hands?
he's a trip, this one.

it hurts

christian's at it again with the cute quotations. already this morning he's had me shaking my head in amazement, laughing out loud, and clutching my heart with love so strong it hurts. i have never felt this way about someone. i can't explain what he does to me. it's so different from any other love. perhaps it's because he's not doing anything to impress me or earn my love-- he's just being. perhaps it's his innocence and imagination, so untarnished by any outside thing. perhaps a combination of the fact that i know him so intimately and yet he daily surprises me with new things... and there is a bonding that has intensified everyday since his birth. sometimes i just feel like exploding.

while eating his muffin and drinking his water in his high chair a few minutes ago, he told me (as he often does) that they were going into his mouth, down his throat, and into his tummy. i was standing at the sink and he said, "can you see it? can you see it, mommy?" i looked up and said, "see what?"

"the water inside my tummy..." he was so incredibly sincere.

with a love pang in my heart, i smiled with delight at what his mind must be thinking and picturing.

"no," i replied, and tried to explain that i could only see the outside of his body, not the inside. i fumbled around..."well, i CAN see inside your mouth when you open it like that... but i can't see in your throat and tummy because you can't open those... they're... shut. they don't...open."

he paused. " like the doors on the bus..."

clutch!

a few minutes later he was trying on his new motorcycle helmet from kate and kaila, and asked, "is this the right way?" (since he often puts hats and helmets on backwards... or so i thought that's why he was asking). i told him yes, and then he tilted his head to the side and asked, "is this the left way?"

uh! my heart!

he's also becoming more affectionate, and more comfortable with touch. thanks to willa on vacation, he's learned to hug and even give kisses. last night when kaila came over to play, she touched his arm and he didn't flip out. he even asked her, "may i please have that back?" when she took his toy out of his hand, instead of throwing a fit. i was so proud of him, i could hardly stand it.

now our only major hurdle is separation anxiety-- preschool is 3 weeks away. and i'm not able to even leave the room sometimes without him crying to come with me. he won't even let dave put him to bed. and that's where the intense bond is feeling a little too intense. if he's not ready, he's not ready. and that's ok. i just would love for him to be able to experience that wonderful world of discovery and independence. and at the same time i'm flattered that the feelings are mutual :).

we're back

...from a wonderful week at my favorite place. i'm having trouble getting motivated to do laundry and get everything back in order. one week was definitely not long enough to justify all of the work that goes into packing and unpacking. but it WAS worth it. just to watch all of the same-age cousins together, delighting in the sand and the water... and the squealing of just running around together in the mountain air... it was what we all had hoped for. of course there were the regular squabbles of learning to share and play together, interrupted sleep from babies who weren't used to new surroundings, and 4 kids on slightly different nap schedules-- but those picture perfect moments of bliss were mixed in enough to keep the adults oohing and ahhing through our fatigue. vacationing is definitely different with little ones.

we didn't hike at ALL. i only had one ski, one campfire and star gaze, and one real swim. but there is something about watching the little ones experience the wonder of Indian Lake for the first time that makes all of that 'me vacation' time a little less important than it used to be. i look forward immensely to reliving my youth through my kids from year to year in that place that was once my own magical paradise... with days that seemed to last forever, exploring nature and getting lost in play.

what struck me this year, and i'm still trying to figure out exactly WHY, is how important it is to be there with all of the same special people, year after year. i got emotional upon greeting and good-bying. it just didn't seem fair to wait a whole year (and what a year it was!) and then to have it be over so quickly. perhaps because i felt more connected to people having known they were loving and supporting us through our personal trials, and feeling connected, yet not quite, through facebook and this here blog. perhaps it's because the fleeting sense of time we have left with our parents/grandparents' generation is beginning to dawn on me. . . that it won't always be the same as it always has been. and i don't like that. one bit.

whatever the reason(s), i tried to soak in every waking moment and bask in the beauty of the familiar scenery, and the little eyes, ears, noses, hands and feet that were experiencing it all as brand new. and having my love by my side is more special than i can express... the fact that he loves it all too warms my heart deeply.

hopefully i'll be able to post pictures soon, once i find the energy to sort through all 5,000. or maybe i'll just wait for kelly to post hers and then steal them. :)

anyhow, it's good to be home too. christian is playing with all of his toys like they too are new. LOVE this age!! and kyren is recovering (hopefully) from this nasty chest cold that he's had for a week. the doc added pulmicort to the albuterol in his nebulizer, and hopefully that will begin to clear things up. he is sooo close to crawling and is now sitting up for 30 sec - 1 min at a time unassisted! i'm always amazed at how happy he remains even when he's not feeling well. God's mercy!

so thankful for all of our many blessings as summer begins its end.

our august friend

we were so excited to have maddy back again to welcome in the month of august. christian was quick to get her reading books to him. kyren is all smiles for her. i am hungry for that good old quality girl time.
but alas, she came down with some kind of cold/throat/fever illness yesterday and we are not able to play with her. sooooo sad-- only a few more days together, and we are praying for a quick recovery so we can spend as much time together as possible.
here are a few shots from the first day she came over -- can you tell who's more enthralled with who?

love it!!!

happy birthday, gia!

today is gia's birthday, but since she is celebrating it in florida with baby william, we got to have cake with her a couple of days ago. christian especially liked the singing/blowing out candles part.

he was trying to make a 'blowing' expression w/his mouth

he's licked the icing off of candles before,
but for some reason this time he decided to take a little bite.
mmm, waxy.

anyway, we hope gia and william get lots of good bonding time and take lots of pictures.
what a special birthday gift!!

muscle man

His PT was thrilled with all the progress he's made in the last month. she said he'll probably be sitting and crawling by the time we see her again in 2 weeks! i guess when it 'clicks', it clicks. i can see him gaining strength each day, and today he was doing the rock back n forth move... as well as the 'standing up' move that he hasn't done since he was 2 weeks old-- in his incubator. kind of fun to see that and have the flashback to him doing it when he was so incredibly tiny and frail. the only sad part is, he gets so upset that he can't crawl, he just lies there and fusses til we take pity on him and pick him up.