cereal face (and neck and hair)

kidney update

Rayen had a visit with a pediatric urologist this week. Before we went ahead with further testing, I wanted to talk with a specialist to make sure it was all necessary. The doctor said that the fluid in her kidneys is an very mild amount and he recommends that we do nothing for now. He wants us to come back when she is a year old to do another ultrasound to make sure the fluid is either gone, or is at least not increasing. Until then, we just watch for UTIs.

He said this is relatively common and often doesn't cause any problems. He would be more worried if she'd already had a UTI, but because she's been completely healthy so far, we should be fine with just waiting some more.

more fun summertime stuff

Golfing like Momma--right after I took the picture he threw the club and yelled "That club don't work!"
Warm, flat root beer, Frosted Flakes, and fruit snacks for breakfast.
Rayen's first picnic!
Puddles...and videos.

trying to fit the whole playmat in her giant mouth

ethan's voice

This morning at breakfast Ethan said, "It's such a nice donut day!" Ha. Guess what we were eating!

Last night while I was making dinner I burned myself on the ovenrack. I said, "Ouch!" Ethan asked, "What happened, Momma?" I told him I touched the hot oven and it burned me. He responded, "That's so not fun!"

He is so interesting. I love that he is experimenting with his words and creating his own thoughts. Who would have known that having children would be so wonderful?

an eventful day

I couldn't decide which was cutest, so you get them all!



Ethan decided he needed a turn with the breast pump...

Ellie warily watching on...
See videos here!

backyard day

I'm calling this her Grandma Karla face. Ha.
I posted more videos on YouTube.

racecar driver and a canker

Brett found this helmet for Ethan. It has a speaker that comes out the top, and when he pushes buttons on his steering wheel it makes noises--screeching brakes, revving engine, a horn, etc. Brett always knows what Ethan will love!
I have the biggest canker that I have ever had in my entire life (and that's saying something!). It is almost as big as a dime, and just keeps getting bigger and more painful. It's hard to eat and drink, swallow, talk, everything hurts. I'm mostly just looking for sympathy here.

Also, I can't post videos on blogger anymore. I don't know why. So I set up a youtube account and will post my videos through that. Here are a couple:


She stopped doing this now, so I'm happy we have some videos. This is her way of telling me she's angry that I'm not holding her!




I'll interpret what Ethan says, "Where's the other rock? Baby Ellie has dirt on her feet right there. Baby Ellie wash it? I need to wash it. Baby Ellie go wash that."

I love her chubby little arms!

beautiful, dirty babies

Rayen doesn't get bugged by grass or dirt. Ethan totally hated it when he was that small--he'd cry if he touched anything. I thought she'd eat the sand, but she didn't. She just picked up handfuls of dirt and dropped it, over and over.

She's very much in an i-must-put-everything-within-arms-reach-into-my-gaping-mouth stage. If I'm holding her up on my shoulder, she hunches over and gnaws on my collarbone. If I'm standing next to her while she's sitting on the floor, she grabs my pants and shoves them into her mouth. She's tried to eat Alice (Cordelia won't get anywhere near Rayen), she's eaten pages out of my notebook (after that Brett spent an hour in online forums trying to verify she wasn't going to die), and she's started grabbing food out of my hands.

I was just talking with Jackie about being surprised that Rayen came out a new personality, not just an Ethan II. It seems dumb, but I was expecting another baby just like Ethan. Getting to know Rayen has been so delightful. She is sweet and interesting. She's got so many funny little things that she does, and she is smart and determined. I love having our sweet baby Ellie, my life feels complete now she is with us.

microburst

We had a storm last night. We're used to branches falling from our big trees with every storm, but this is the worst I've seen in the 9 years we've lived here. We haven't had a chance to clean up, but it seems that we're lucky in that nothing has been damaged, not even our beautiful little hammock.




Ethan playing with his new "worker trucks" in our little neighborhood park.
Watching race cars. Notice Blythe's little arm around Ethan's shoulder. He kept pushing it off, but she was determined and would put her arm right back around him every time he'd push it off!

There is a noticeable difference in the quality of pictures between my cell phone camera and my nikon. I need to just have the big camera with me all the time.

summer...

chocolate donut face
jumping over sprinklers
getting sprayed by your friends
your friends crying when you spray them back (notice her happy face while she's spraying him, ha)
learning to sit
riding the zoo train

beautiful girl (and Daddy)

An update: They still aren't "guaranteeing" me any hours, but they now say that during the summer when there isn't enough interpreting work, I will be paid for going to professional development workshops, mentoring educational interpreters, etc. That's guaranteed enough for me! I was talking to Brett about it today after I got this news and he said, "Those other interpreters are lucky to have you on their side. When your job did this whole thing, I thought, 'oh they've gotten her started!'" Ha.