Wordless Wednesday: Outtakes

It's been forever since I've done a real update, so I'll work on that. In the meantime, here are some outtakes from our most recent batch of pictures.

Wordless Wednesday: Cousins

Six Months

Six months ago yesterday we brought The Buddy home from the hospital. Everyone says that the first few months go by fast, but I hadn't fully appreciated that cliché until now. In just six (very) short months our tiny little stranger has grown into a miniature person with whom I feel a connection so intense that it's hard to really put it into words.

Wordless Wednesday: First Trip to the Library

Wordless Wednesday: Remembering the Summer

I learned how to take snapshots from my Flip!

Parenting While Sick -or- "Sorry I Didn't Mean to Sneeze on Your Head"

Mama, if I grab my feet will you feel better?

I don't remember my mom being sick while I was growing up. Of course she got sick, (she is only slightly less than superhuman) but I think I was generally pretty oblivious to what was going on around me and never noticed. I just survived my first Sick Week as a mom and the thing that really struck me was, "Mom did this with THREE of us." How the hell did that work? I felt awful on Monday. Just terrible. If I held some crappy retail job, I would have absolutely called in. How do you manage three kids while feeling that way? Of course, the answer is the same for most parenting questions: you just do. The same way new parents get through the sleepless nights and diaper blow-outs. If you try to think about the logistics of it all your brain might explode.

Autumn-y Things

Last Friday we drove to Kimmel Orchard in Nebraska City with the South Omaha Brewers to pick apples for hard cider. There really are few things more "traditional American autumn-y" than picking apples, squishing them, and turning them into alcohol. We had the amazing fortune to be allowed to pick from the Preservation Orchard, an orchard separate from the standard "you pick" orchard chock full of heirloom apples. I can honestly say I've never heard of any of these varieties before. And of course, I can't find the map we were given that lists them all. But trust me, cool names. And delicious, as well. While the rest of our group of homebrewers and families picked apples (30+ bushels worth), I sat with The Buddy in the grass in the shade of a gorgeous tree. We nursed some, watched the kids running around, tasted apples that Doug brought us. I bit off a large piece of an apple that The Buddy happily sucked on for quite some time. All these apples got squished into over 130 gallons of cider later that evening. We brought home seven gallons of it: five for fermenting into hard cider, one for fermenting into apple cider vinegar, and one for drinking. Nom nom nom.

Wordless Wednesday

The Buddy

The Buddy is five months old a week from tomorrow. Astounding. Obviously he's changed quite a bit: height, weight, milestones, all that. But more than milestones, he's so much more person-ish. He laughs at funny noises, his eyes light up when Daddy comes home, and he looks at me as if he expects me to do something extraordinary. I've never been happier in my life.

I'm surprised at just how much fun it is to be a mom. I know there will be parts ahead that plainly suck, but all the trouble in the future is worth it to see one huge morning grin.

From the Desk of The Buddy

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Today we can't live without...

• My water bottle
• Cloth diapers
• The Froggie