last sunday 2007

My beautiful boys today.
























Ryan is almost finished with his last application.

Burl took his first steps today at 2:49pm - about 4 of them, in the toy room from the easel to me sitting inthe computer chair... Wowee! I don't think Burl knows how cool he is or what he's accomplished - I haven't been able to get him to repeat it.

Ivo has been LOVING reading the Dinosaur books Grandma Maureen sent.

And I'm feeling super sad cuz I've retraced my steps and searched the car, *bucks, the parking lot... and my cellphone's gone. Losing the #'s and my calendar is inconvenient and it's not what's breaking my heart. I had a message from Patty saved on my phone. I think it's gone forever and I just can't stand it. It was about how she'd just eaten sashimi and was doing spring cleaning and how she wished she was "anywhere but here! love ya, pats." And I can't reproduce it exactly... and now her words - the way Patty put them together - are gone and it's pathetic but that was all i had of her (left) and i wasn't ready - i'm not - to let go of that last connection... omygodimsosad

Pics from Bedtime

We are all watching some cartoons this Sunday morning, in bed. Soooo cozy. It's probably 18 degrees or so... a little bit cold.

As of yesterday, we have a new water-drinking plan for Ivo "I can't drink water" Blackwell.

On Thursday evening, Alison and Tessa came over and Ryan and I went out for dinner. It was great. Everyone had a wonderful time except Burl, and despite what she says, probably Alison didn't have the time of her life either. It'll get better.

We brought home some left over garlic nan and sag paneer which I ate for lunch on Friday. Ivo asked what I was eating and said "I no like spicy food. I only like good food."

Burl playing with Papa last night before bed. Burl's wearing his new xmas jammies from Grammie and Grampie.

Ivo n Burl on the Last Saturday of 2007

Story time, letter E.

Tonight's bath. "It not so bad."

Burl is 10 Months Old!!!

Li'l B is 10 months old - I can't believe it!

These are pics of Burl yesterday.

Burl definitely experiences separation anxiety. He LOVES Ivo. He points. He's started to really like food. He has rhythm, he drums with his hands and every mealtime, he beats his spoon on his empty bowl. He holds my cell phone (or anything he can palm) to his ear and babbles!

Burl is sure footed and STRONG. He will be walking no-hands any day! Burl is getting 2 more top and 2 more bottom teeth. This past week, he has decided he wants to sleep on his belly. Burl likes reading books and he's very interested in the toilet. He's starting to understand the word "NO" - he shakes his head when we tell him no. Burl likes to throw things. He needs to knock things down.

Burl is wonderfully lovey and sweet. He is super funny. He scrunches his face up to make us laugh - he laughs easily. He loves to play peek-a-boo, hide and seek, so-big and pat-a-cake. We are so lucky he's with us!

Burl and Ivo: The Boxing Day Videos

Ivo and Burl Xmas Presents attack

We started opening presents on Saturday. It's Wednesday - Ivo's been telling me he NEEDS to open more presents, but I think we're all out!

Maybe.

Here are a ferw shots of Burl and Ivo on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!

Shhh! -all the boys are napping. They can't do it in the same place lately, though. Burl cannot resist the draw of Ivo. Ivo is a reason to stay awake as far as Burl's concerned!

I'm pretty pleased, proud and excited about what I got Ryan for xmas. It's excellent and didn't cost me any money! Drumroll... After only being out together once since Ivo was born, I've arranged to trade child care with Alison. One evening a week, Alison will take care of the boys and I will take care of sweet little Tessa 2-ish times per week so Alison can work. I am sooo excited about this. Ryan said, "But I'll miss the boys..." - he must have been in shock. We'll be able to finish a meal, finish a sentence. Together! Yay! I really like him a lot:)

As cool as it is that I've gotten a barter gift for Ryan, I told him I don't want such kind from him. I want an iPod. He laughed. I also told him if I get an envelope of money, I'll be a little bit disappointed BUT nowhere near as sad as he'd be if I got nothing...

I ran into this awesome unbelievable version of Fairytale of NY through this other blog I like. Scroll down at Cynical Dad and you can see the Pogues/Kirsty MacColl video. Today's visit was my first at the aptly named Sweet Juniper blog - it's GOOD! They use a media player called Wimpy Player where they've got a few modern day mixed tapes you can listen to. Their Fall 2006 mix has songs by D+, Mirah. the Blow, Great Lake Swimmers.... ooh very exciting!

One day I will put up something like that. But that'll have to wait til I figure out my excellent long-desired super shiney new Xma$ present -- an iPod Classic 160GB!!!! Yay!!!! Yippee!!! Yahoo!!!!!

Talk about your full-moon birthdays!!!! Do people talk about full-moon birthdays? How could they not? I cannot say how wonderful this Ivo birthday/Xmas has been. And I can't believe how generous everyone's been and how lucky we are. Wow. OVERWHELMED in a great great way!

I'm going to gradually post pics from yesterday and today. And maybe never catch up... PICS WON'T UPLOAD - WILL ADD SOON

This morning Ryan had to work so Ivo, Burl and I went to co$tco to exchange Ryan's bday camera. It all went well, but it takes a LOOOONG time to get in, through and out of there. I bribed (positively reinforced?) Ivo with a stop at *bucks if he could manage to not run away while I waited in line(s). Oh, he managed. But on the way back to the car, he got mad about something and threw his toy plane (from Henry:)) down and muttered, "bastard."

I don't know. Not really very Sweet Juniper!

Burl has started to eat bread - he likes it a lot. He's also been asking for and asking for again fried rice, ro bo gao and potatoes. He ate some of Ivo's waffle today. I guess he's not gonna wait til he's a year old for wheat. He also likes plain noodles. That's ok. Whenever we sit down to a meal, Burl enjoys having his own bowl and spoon. He whacks the heck out of the bowl with the spoon. He throws both of them around. He giggles and laughs and has a great time. Also Burl can point! And Burl can stand up for several minutes all by himself. He can walk anywhere he wants as long as he has something to hold on to.

Ivo uses a fork expertly - he's such a big boy!

Ivo's Party by Day

I call this post: Maybe to be captioned later:)