Consignments..

This morning I volunteered at the Mom 2 Mom sale. It was actually alot of fun. Even after a Fri night preview sale and all Sat morning, there was a ton of stuff. It looked as though no one bought anything. Everything that gets left gets donated somewhere. Well, I was on the hunt for a double jogger and I was the first one in line at the Fri night preview sale. I rushed in and found the ONLY double jogger. There were plenty of single joggers, but no doubles. It's a 2005 Mountain Buggy and I love it. No bells and whistles, just a sturdy double jogger. I'm very excited. I took the boys for a walk today and they both loved it. I also got James a manly kitchen with all the little plastic veggies and pots, etc for $9. Quite a steal. He has always enjoyed opening and closing doors and putting stuff in and out of things. I wish there were more little girls I could buy clothes for, because there were a ton of cute little girl outfits. Anyways, it was a lot of fun and maybe next time I can sell some of my stuff.

Berry Picking

James and I went berry picking today. Ryan stayed with Grandma Kalman so I didn't have to push a stroller around. It was uneventful, to say the least. I picked two buckets and James picked the dirt and the plastic that the strawberries grow it. I hope they don't mind a few more holes.

That's that. It was fun and I'm looking forward to making some preserves.

We have a busy weekend ahead. There's this sale called a Mom to Mom sale on saturday morning that I'm volunteering at. If you volunteer, you get to go to the preview sale on Fri night. I'm looking for a double jogger and hoping, praying they have one. I'm pretty excited. My friend Hillary is volunteering with. My official duty is "Express Bagger". I hope I can live up to their expectations.

The island house is coming along. All permits are in so hopefully all will be done by summer. I'll take some pics next time I'm out.

We took James to see Horton Hears a Who and he did great for a 2 year old. He enjoyed it, I think. He's a movie buff. I enjoyed it too.

Anyways, that's it for now for us down here.

Stroller Striders

Yes, I went to a stroller striders yesterday with my friend Hillary. It's a bunch of women with jogger strollers who stroll around the neighborhood running, doing arm exercises, walking, etc. It's actually pretty challenging. There were arout 6 women who came, including the instructor. All had jogger strollers except me. I have a front/back double stroller. Massive and not good for running. However, it did survive. So, image driving into your neighborhood and seeing a circle of strollers with ladies walking around in a circle with their resistance bands. Yes, that is the kind of looks we got from drivers by, mostly men. They must've been thinking " I"m glad my wife doesn't do that". All in all, it was a lot of fun and I think I'll join. And as Hillary's husband calls it "Rubberbands in the Park", I enjoyed the social aspect of it also.

My Ryan!

I know that 2nd children, don't get as many pictures. That's true. And most of the things they do, don't get as much recognition as the first. So, I thought I'd devote a Blog especially for Ryan. Ryan was born 1 week early by being induced. It was a long day and I think the next time I'm gonna wait to see how far I will go. He never got the hang of breast feeding and he screamed the first 7 months of life. But because he was growing, eating and didn't spit up a lot, nothing was diagnosed by the doctor. He slept in our bed the first month of life and finally I gave in to letting him sleep on his belly. That helped but he couldn't sleep consistently through the night. I tried different bottles and formula to help, but nothing made a lasting impression except for the Playtex drop-in bottles and Similac Organic formula.

Ryan started talking to me around 1 month. I know it sounds early, but Ryan has always been very active and personable. He still yearns for my attention and is constantly moving or chasing someone or something.

Ryan started to roll over around 6 months, crawl around 7 and now at 9 months he is pulling himself up and can walk around the couch. He tries to run and fall on items which is a lot of fun to watch. He can stand on his own for 5 seconds or so and seems to really enjoy that. I'm betting his first steps will be within the next month.

And Finally!! His first little tooth is coming in. Yea!! We've been waiting for a while for that to happen.

So, as different as my two boys are, both bring joy, happiness and frustration to us. Ryan's increasing sense of determination and adventure are a pure blessing.

Like father, Like son?

Little Things...

It's the little things that make my day:
1. Ryan looking at me smiling while I get the stroller out of the trunk
2. James getting really excited over a piece of chocolate
3. Ryan laughing at me, James or Alex
4. Alex and me, watching our boys and not being able to keep ourselves from smiling.
5. A fun email from a friend or family member
6. When both boys go down for a nap at the same time and sleep for 2 hours!!

Happy Day!

How do they learn?

This is just a short blog on little things a 2 year old will do. As I posted a while ago, a quiet house isn't always a good thing. Once again, it got a little quiet and when I found James, he was hiding something behind his back, a salt shaker. He's fascinated with the salt and pepper shakers and have to put them on everything he eats. AND he has to do it himself. So, apparently, the vents looked like they needed some flavor......No major harm done. But when do they learn to hide something behind their back? Maybe the same way they hide their eyes when they're trying to be sneaky or not do something.