This and That

I try to let Orion wake up on his own, but some days we need to get him up. Besides, Akasha is always looking for him in the morning....


Here she is trying to "help" wake him up!



I love this clip because she is so cute bouncing as she loves to do on beds. There is also a moment she makes her kindof hand washing sign. She does that alot, and it seems to mean a few different things so far.

Later that day... more typical strangeness around our house:

Everybody Boofs

This is Akasha's favorite word. It started out sounding more like "oof", and was always in relation to Kona, so I was pretty sure she was making a little barking sound - so cute! It somehow evolved into "boof" and has stayed like that. And now she says it to everything! Apparently cats, birds and anything that looks remotely like an animal all say "boof". Whenever she sees a real animal, a picture or a stuffed animal, this is the greeting they all receive. It is usually the first sound she makes when she wakes up, and she often makes it as she is drifting off to sleep. One time I thought she was waking back up as she turned on her back and uttered a little "boof", but she was really just slipping into sleepyland with a little farewell summary to her day I guess.

Random Happenings Around the House

Just one of those days I ended up taking alot of pictures I guess!

Akasha really likes to sit right under Old Pig. This is fine, except for when Orion wants to ride her...!
Oh, and notice OP has been getting embellished lately!

Our yard has continued to explode with the typical Springiness of the Northwest. I'm not even sure what type of tree this is, but she sure is glamorous!
This is our side yard, which was 100% gravel not long ago. I didn't even know there were plants there!
Here is a close up of the little flowers in the above plants. They have such an amazing, strong fragrance!
Here are some experimental happenings. We have this neat science book we have been working through. I don't push it, but if I leave it out on the counter, Orion will often pick it up and look for something he wants to do. Today he picked this:
It was really neat! Glad I save so many rubber bands. At first I couldn't think of something to use for the box, but this emptied out puzzle box was perfect. I was careful to vary the sizes, and then we had fun plunking each one to see the different sounds they made and noticing how the tightness affected the sound. We also did several pairs, one after the other to see which was the higher or lower note.

This was a choice from another day, but I had to buy the plastic tubing.
It's kindof hard to see in the picture, but it is a siphon, and Orinon is running the water over his hand as it comes out.

Later that day, a rare moment of Akasha being welcomed into Orion's room. Lately he has not wanted her in there much, but here she was invited and they actually played together a little bit!

My Son, the Lego Thief

There seems to be a pattern emerging around here lately. I don't think I mentioned Orion made off with a few small Lego pieces when we were house sitting recently. It was just three very small pieces, but I was amazed by how entranced he was with them. Right now, he still only has Duplo sized Legos, so the little ones are like "big kid Legos" for him. When this happened, it reminded me there were a couple others in the house I think showed up from Me Too. It was so cool to see how excited he could be with the combinations just three pieces could make!

Fast forward to last night.... Orion went wandering and found a whole Lego village. When it was time to leave, Orion had his hands in the pocket of his hoody, and announced with authority, "Nothing but my hands in my pockets!" From his demeanor, and the bulge in his pocket, I knew this was a clever ploy. :) I played along on the way to the car, then talked to him about how I didn't feel comfortable with him taking so many things home he hadn't asked about. I said I was worried his friend might be upset his things were gone. He eventually gave up his haul, and I ran them back to the house quickly. But alas, later on he produced a few things I missed! He is SO enthralled with these things! I think it might be time to test the waters with some "real" Legos of his own. At the very least, maybe he will stop swiping them whenever he comes in contact with them!

Friends Old and New

We had a nice evening tonight hanging out with old friends and meeting some new ones.

Here is one for my growing collection of Corina hiding from the camera! I love the baby interaction though!
Busy boys
I love this shot because you can see they are both managing to make their way down the ladder with guns in BOTH hands! As usual, Owen had Orion totally engrossed in hunting mutual imaginary enemies. Love that kid!
Orion watching and learning.... Wonder how long before he is asking for a skateboard....

Sibling Shenanigans

Our usual safe spot for taking pictures together - the bed. I got to thinking we don't have any recent pictures of the kids together, so I decided to try for one.... I told Orion to give his sister a snuggle, and this is what happened. Looks more like a tackle!She got away!
Then much silliness ensued.

I never did get the shot I hoped for, but this was my favorite:
Orion is never finished until he goes for the extreme close up!
And one more random shot of Akasha where I thought she had an interesting expression.

10 Month Comp

I don't think I am even going to bother with the analysis as I keep saying the same things every time! (But oy, the head shape thing is still just tripping me out!

Because you can never have enough candy...

Here are some pictures from the extra egg hunt we did this year! I was so annoyed I forgot my camera, but luckily, the awesome Nicole was there. She is a better photographer than I am, so it worked out OK!

Snuggling in the freehand:




Serious cuteness or cute seriousness?
First time in a swing!

She likes it!

After the egg hunt, Orion and Ciara carried their baskets around with them all day. It was cracking me up.

Funny face boy. Probably has candy in his mouth.

Love this one! One of my favorite pictures of her ever!

Two Orions!

Orion said something pretty hilarious this morning. I told him we had an egg hunt to go to, but he is a slow mover in the morning and mostly likes to lounge around and watch TV a bit. So he decided he wished there were two Orions. He said, "I wish there was another Orion I could send to go get eggs and bring them back to me." Clever boy. I wish I has another me to send to the store sometimes too!

10 Months, with Late Portraits!

I can't believe how fast this little person is growing up. And it is like she is going from 0-60 in the mobility department. She barely scootched around for the longest time, and now she is speeding all over the floor with her crawling. She is also "propping", which I found out at her 9 month portraits means standing while holding onto something. Very different from cruising, which is walking while holding on to something. I am kidding of course. Why does it seem like there has to be a name for every minute thing kids do? This propping one really struck me as dumb!

So on that note, she is also pulling herself up to standing. Shouldn't that have a catchy one word name too? And she is for sure enjoying signing. "More" is the favorite, but she is learning some others, including potty, and more interestingly, seems to want to make up her own. She does these funny hand motions sometimes, like rubbing them together, almost as if she is saying, "I have something to tell you, and I know these hands of mine work like that for some things!"

She is for sure coming into her own in the temper department. Wonder if she will hold a candle to Orion. She gets mad as heck if he takes a toy away now, and will scream to let him know! It will probably be a good thing if she is pretty spirited herself. She is going to need a strong personality to match her brother. :) I keep thinking to myself, "the honeymoon is over." Now that Akasha is pulling up, she can reach the toys Orion has previously put on the coffee table to keep out of her grasp, so it is all out war most days, and I am working to find good solutions for harmonious play.

And in honor of 10 months, here are the 9 month portraits LOL. We really got them at more like 9.5 and just got around to scanning them so it's all good.



I took the Care Bears outfit just to get a shot for Sarah. Hope she likes it. :)

The Night of the Living Poo

Sorry that is the best I can do for wit at this hour on only a few hours sleep last night. And really, who cares about poo? Well, some of my friends do! So if you are not one of them, just don't read this post!

I went to a Diaper Free Baby meeting recently and shared that while we have great luck with catching pees, Akasha doesn't seem to have any pattern when it comes to pooping, or give much warning sign. Well, tonight has been interesting because I have started picking up on something. I would have rather been in bed, but I guess it is good to be learning something if I am stuck awake. :)

She hasn't gone for a few days, so I knew she was "due". Well, of all nights, when Orion is asleep and I really wanted to go to bed early, she has needed to go several times. She keeps getting out just a little bit at a time. She has gone 4 times over the last couple hours! But if pooping can be cute, this is as cute as it gets. I have realized she is totally silent and still for one thing. So while it might not be an obvious sign, it is a sign for sure. But the cute thing is that she has crawled over, gotten on her knees and put her hands on my leg every single time. So she is getting in this slightly leaning forward position. Then the total silence and concentration LOL. Pooping is serious business! Please tell me she is done now!

The Rough Transition Continues

So I can't even remember if I posted about Ron starting a contract. We knew it was going to be a hard adjustment for Orion, but had no idea just how hard! It is like the melatonin has just stopped working. Some nights he stays up until 5am. Other days he has gotten up at 5 (when Ron does) and doesn't go back to sleep. There have been nights where he only got 3 hours sleep! I understand that he is probably reacting to not having Ron around as much, but this seems so extreme! We are thinking about getting some testing done in case his levels of something are out of whack. Just so confused and worried and tired around here!

That food business might be kicking in finally....

I was telling my friend Lyla what happened at Starbucks the other day and realized I never wrote it up here! Orion was having a pretty challenging day. We had been giving some folks a ride somewhere, and the freeway traffic was unusually heavy. So we ended up with a completely full van of people, some of them strangers to Orion, and some of them crying children, which Orion HATES. By the end of the trip, he was screaming too. I thought I was going to go insane!

Where we parked to let our friends out, there was a Starbucks in the parking lot, so I thought it would be a welcome break. We went in, and I told Orion he could pick out any food thing and any drink thing. He took AGES to decide. He has been having a hard time making decisions recently, but this was crazy. It was like he was so miserable that nothing could fix it. I think he knew he needed to eat but couldn't figure out what. We even got a chair so he could look at the pastries high up. I think he said he wanted each thing in the case at least once, and then would say no.

After what seemed like half an hour, I could not believe what he chose!!! A little platter with a hard boiled egg, a whole wheat bagel and peanut butter, fruit and cheese! Whoa - there were rice crispy treats, scones, cookies, cakes, and that is what he knew he needed. It's really true, the more hands off you are, the more a kid can self monitor!

Easter Bonk

Bullocks! Forgot this cuteness!

The Wabbit has Landed

And here we are on Easter morning. Should be an interesting day since Orion stayed up til 5 am. :( He just kept telling Ron he had so much energy and couldn't sleep.

Akasha was already up to some tricks before we dragged Orion out of bed. Here she is, Tangled up in Basket.
Maybe Kona can help?
Oh, she figured it out by herself!
"Look, some stuff!"
Only he may fall back asleep at the table before checking it out much. Apparently this is his happy but very little sleep face.
This one is bright eyed and bushy eared:
Wait, no, this is the very little sleep face LOL.
Lured outside by the promise of candy, Orion also finds $5 in a golden egg!
Goin' through the haul
Re-energized by sugar!
Sorry, none for you yet.
Although we will be happy to bother you with silly eyewear
Look what Orion got in this egg!
Is that anything like coal in a stocking I wonder....?

Eggy Business

And finally getting caught up to Easter! Never got around to dying eggs until the day before!

Random hip sitting picture, but a cute one.
Orion was taking off the rubber bands I had put on this egg for interesting patterns, and was being very secretive about it for some reason.
Here it is!

Kiss, Kiss! And yeah, red wide is necessary for dying eggs.... Speaking of which, I wonder if it would have actually colored them....
Hard at work.

Lotsa eggs
Why yes, I did buy a Transformer themed kit!
Our tradition - hand dying when all done.