Home again, home again, jiggity-jog...

Our Christmas travels couldn't have gone much smoother. We had good roads and nice weather. Rained on our way out, but that cleared and we had beautiful sunshiny days for Christmas and our drive home. Santa not only found us but spoiled us rotten this year. My goodness. We had so much fun getting to see family and even managed to squeeze in a quick visit with a couple friends along the way. We still didn't get to see everyone that we wanted to, but I guess that means we'll just have to make the trip again one of these days. I really didn't take many pictures as my camera was trying to die on me. (I forgot to charge the battery before we left. Oops.) I'll upload the few I took and sort them this next week.

Figure I'll do a quick update here as well. As many know I've gotten a little hernia from work and am going to do surgery on it (well, a doctor is going to perform the surgery, I'm not). Paperwork is all sorts of snafu-y so I got to get to the hospital this morning hungry and grumpy with no coffee only to end up cancelling the surgery. Argh!! Luckily everyone survived and it is re-scheduled, but I'm going to have to take time from work now. I'm bummed about that, but not much I can do about it. At least it will mean I can still carry things during our travels abroad and I won't have to sit out on fun activities while we are there. Yay! At least there are some good things that come from the surgery being delayed.

Off to see if I can get the boys to wake up. Seems like I am forever trying to get them to sleep or wake up. Apparently I can't let well enough alone.;)

Today and tomorrow and then we are on the road to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas. It will be over several rivers and lots of woods. I'm hoping the weather holds up for driving. We have a minimum of 3 passes to cross. They can be great roads or really crappy. Let's hope for great.

We think we got some other friends to watch the second dog for the week of Christmas. Whew! Poor dog was going to have to deal with a new pack of dogs on top of travelling with us. When I say pack, I do mean pack. Considering with our dog in there it makes something like 7 dogs when the family gets together. I can't imagine being a new dog getting introduced to that. I just wouldn't want to do that to the poor puppy dog. It will make things easier to have our friends watch her for that week. Thank goodness for wonderful friends.

Today and tomorrow Tom has to work crazy hours. I think it ends up being something like 13 hour days. The holidays get crazy. I'll be getting us ready for travel it looks like. A bit of laundry and digging some bags out of the attic. We are going to try to pack as light as we will for Austria. Maybe then we can just pack the same stuff when we head that direction. Yeah right. I some how don't think it will happen.:) It is amazing what you end up needing with a kid when you are driving in the winter.

Well, I'm off while the Hurricane Bear is napping to see what I can get done in preparation...

Christmas is coming...

Just thought we'd update some photos on here. Our tree is up and decorated with the train underneath. Bear loves the lights on the Christmas trees. That and balls. Its a good thing we have some plastic ones to put down at his level. Although, Tom and I are the only ones who've broken any ornaments this year.:) We have had a hard time convincing Bear that the Christmas train isn't one to haul all over the house. He's been excited about candy canes and presents. It is currently snowing and we are curled up by the fire and under covers. The snow makes for icky roads but beautiful scenery. We are hoping for snow all day today, but want the roads to be clear for Dad to come home from work just fine this evening.

Merry Christmas. Hope to see lots of you this upcoming year.

Turkey Day

Bear goofing off before bed Thanksgiving evening. He's quite the ham.

Bear and Grammy take a hike through the woods (front yard).

Sledding is fun! The only time I saw him smile was while going fast. Otherwise it was just pure absorption. No expression unless you stopped.

Bear snuggling his dog just before the trip down to ID.

Typical Bear face. Grin that says "I'm gonna do something I know I shouldn't, but it will be funny."One trip done. We did a hurried trip to S. ID for Thanksgiving. For being so hurried it really didn't feel that way. There were all sorts of work conflicts so we couldn't take as much time as we would have liked. It was wonderful though. New snow was on the ground for sledding during absolutely beautiful days. Bear got a kick out of that. He's never gotten to play in the snow. He saw it last year but was a little young to do any playing or remembering it. We got to see some good friends of my family's that are up visiting from Australia. Tom finally got to meet them. Bear got some absolutely wonderful books from them as well. Mem Fox is a children's book author from Australia. Just adorable stories. I had a couple as a kid and loved them. Those and the ones by Graeme Base. Bear loves Anamalia.

Anyway...back to the topic of travel and holidays. We also got to finally meet my best friend's baby girl. What a cutie! I forget how little babies are. I got to hold her for a minute until she decided that I wasn't Mom, she didn't know me, and boy was she unhappy about it.:) Understandable. I still say she weighs about as much as a marshmallow. Bear didn't seem to have much of a reaction to her. All he was worried about was my friend's floors. He apparently didn't like her carpet, because he wouldn't come off the tile of her entry way. When we put him on the carpet he seemed kinda scared of it.????? The only thing I can think of is not only was it a new place, but he is also used to our wood floors with almost no carpeting in the house. That and the only ones we have are short fibers. My friend's carpet has a bit longer fibers. Who knows?

Bear did very well travelling. He wasn't too sure about our first night in a hotel. He had a tough time going to sleep. The next two nights were better though. By the time we are done with the next couple of months worth of travel he'll be an old pro and not even think twice. At least that's what I'm hoping.

A couple weeks from now at Christmas we'll be on our way to Seattle for the holiday. Good old airlines are making it so we have to drive home Christmas day. Such as life I suppose. At least it should make for very little traffic. Then it will be two weeks and we'll be off to Austria. We are thinking we'll break up the travel to and from a little bit. Instead of 24 straight hours of travel we'll split both ends into two or three days. No sense in spending forever on an airplane or in an airport.

During our Austria trip we are going to have Bear baptised. Well, Tom's mom is going to. We think it will be pretty cool to get baptised in an Austrian church. Neither Tom nor I is very religious, but it will be nice for Bear to have the ceremony. Especially if he ever decides he wants to partake of the Catholic religion. I'm kinda clueless when it comes to all of this. Besides my time in S. America I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to church. My family's idea was to always have our conversations with the Old Man of the Mountains actually in the mountains. Worked well for us, but leaves me kinda naive when it comes to religious traditions.:) At any rate it should be fun and a great life story for Bear. Omi will just have to walk Mom through the process.

I guess I'd better get this house picked up and get us un-packed and some laundry done. Oh, I'd better bake some bread too since I saw we were out. Busy day I guess. And I thought it wasn't going to be.

We've been busy...

Halloween 2009

We must be busy since my head seems to never stop swirling. It must have something to do with what we now call Hurricane Bear. My goodness, the kid never stops. Even if he gets a cold he just goes. Gets cranky if you try to get him to do anything but go. Probably good for him though. He does lots of exploring and getting into things. I wouldn't trade it for a baby that just lies there though. In a lot of ways this toddler stage is easier. He is so much more independent now. It is wonderful. I enjoy it too that in spite of being independent he is getting more and more snuggly. You'll get random Bear hugs out of the blue. Or a wet, snotty kiss that you really just get your nose cracked during rather than kissed.:) They are fun though.

The following pictures are some of how Bear can find trouble. The other morning he was walking on our back sidewalk and face planted. Poor kid. Whacked his nose and forehead. He's healing nicely. The first picture is the day after and the second one is about a week after. I don't know if you can even see it in the second photo.

In addition to Bear whacking his nose, the same week he got a cold and has 6 teeth coming in. Somehow he manages to stay in a pretty good mood. I don't know how he does it. I get one little tickle in the back of my throat and I seem to become a dragon lady.

In addition to keeping up with our hurricane we have been trip planning. My folks for Thanksgiving, Tom's dad et al for Christmas, and Tom's mom in Austria for a week or so in January. Whew! It is a lot to say let alone do. It is going to be fun though. Thanksiving will be a speedy 3 day trip with two of the three driving. Christmas we will have our friends dog with us that we are babysitting so it will be full car for 10+ hours. And Austria is just one heck of a flight to get there. Tom thinks I'm crazy, but I love the travel to and from. I love the time there too, but the crazy adventure is all part of it. I can hardly wait. Bear is such a good traveller. We'll see how the dogs travel together. Every once in awhile they decide they don't get along for a minute. Even though we know they really like each other. I guess we'll find out.

I'd better try to clear some of the hurricane's aftermath before he hits again after his nap.

I was realizing the other day that I had talked about getting a new stove, but never said whether or not we did. Well, we did. It has been in for about a month now and I'm in love with it. Sure heats the house better than the old one did. Also I like that you can see the fire. We'll see how efficient it is as the winter progresses.

Let's see...It seems life only gets more complicated as one gets older. I'm amazed on a daily basis with the number of crisis a person can deal with. I assume everyone has issues they deal with on a daily basis as well. I think as a child you are simply sheltered from all the chaos of the world. I don't remember knowing that many people that died or were sick as a kid. I'm sure such things went on, but I wasn't aware of them. Probably a good thing for the kids to be allowed to be kids. One sure would loose faith in the world if you knew all the crap that went on early on. At least kids seem to have an inherent optimism that shouldn't be ruined any sooner than it has to be.

I know this is a bit of a downer talking like this, but it is the simple fact that I'm just damn tired of funerals this last two years. I've told Tom he isn't allowed to have a funeral if something happens right now. Morbid thoughts, but my goodness, I've been to 5 services in the last year and a half and could have been to more had I been able to get to them, or if they had been held. Poor Bear has been to more funerals than weddings. Nuts. I've got to rectify that somehow. Now I've just been told my cousin was shot. I'm just plain tired of death. It would be one thing if it were people who were old and ready to go. Some have been, but most have not. It has been old age, cancer, airplane crashes, and now shootings. Yuck!

Okay, onto a happier note... Bear has decided he likes to be the vaccuum. He lays on the floor and I use him to vaccuum by grabbing his legs and pushing him back and forth on his belly while making vaccuum noises. Meanwhile he giggles. Video below.

I'm trying to remember all the other craziness going on right now. Tom and I are both busy with work. Tom is maybe going back to school next year so we are trying to figure that out. We are trying to plan a Thanksgiving trip, Christmas trip, and January Austria trip. I'm not sure when we are actually going to be home. I love travelling, but don't like planning. Thank goodness Tom likes the planning. I'm beginning to think that for the holidays of 2010 we are going to have to have MT celebrations. Maybe we would have a good white Christmas for it too. Things are busy at work for me and I'm getting started helping a friend of mine out with planning/organizing a fundraiser for next spring.

Whew! There are times I thank my lucky stars we live in an area that is so mellow. I don't know what I would do if we lived in a bustling city. To me that seems stressful. I like the quiet slowness of a small reservation town. I notice the difference within 30 miles of us. The "big" city is fast paced and chaotic in comparision. Makes it nice to come home to where we can go for an evening walk down the street and everyone says hello and waves. And we walk around pretty close to the entire town in a half hour to an hour walk. Funny how perspective changes as you get older.

First snow

Bear in the snowsuit we got him today... This is him rolling around giggling after falling.

On our drive back home from Missoula.

October 9th and we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. We got to go play in it too! In the afternoon anyway after getting some snow clothes for Bear. He wasn't too sure about walking in the snowsuit though. It took him a little bit to figure out walking. At least he thought it was funny when he would fall, then he wouldn't bother getting up he'd just roll around on the floor giggling. He was Ralphy from the movie A Christmas Story. Tom and I got quite a kick out of it.

I can't believe that only a couple of weeks ago it was well into the high 80s. We jumped straight from summer to winter. I'm kinda bummed about missing fall, but I'm okay with winter coming. I'm ready to break out the cross-country skis again.

From Tom

A quiet day here today with the boy and me trying to come up with something to do. So Barrett decided we should show everybody how well he walks now (especially since it is his Omi's birthday). Enjoy and happy birthday Omi!

Fall

It is officially Fall in spite of what the thermometer says. It has been well into the 80's and pushing 90 degrees most days. Ugh! Even with that we've gotten a couple of light frosts. Enough to do some damage to the more delicate plants in my garden.

I still can't believe how quickly this summer has gone. One minute Bear is barely crawling and the next he is practically running. (Not quite yet thank goodness, but soon) The leaves are starting to turn and we have a pumpkin sitting on the back porch. Canned goods are starting to stack up and we are working on winterizing the house. The fence is almost done too! Just a hair over 20 feet of wire left and we will be done stringing the wire. Then it will be time to build a gate.

Let's see... if things work out today we should be getting a new stove/furnace for the house too. A couple different people have some nice ones listed on craigslist for a decent price. Pretty amazing what you can find on there. It will be nice if we get one of these since they are both newer (and hopefully more efficient) than the one we have.

Other Bear news: He finally says Mom! Makes me happy at any rate. He is learning to sign Thank You, and has All Done down pat. Slowly, as I learn more sign he will too. He knows that bears growl and dogs bark. We walked into the hardware store yesterday and he growled at the mounted black bear up on the wall. He'll sit at the front door in the morning, when our yappy neighbor dogs are going and bark back at them. He's a pretty funny kid. He loves to laugh and make us laugh. He is such a ham that he will do whatever he can to get us going. This morning it was playing with his milk and Cheerios that was cracking him up. Who knew breakfast could be so funny?

I'm kinda dreading the kid turning into a teenager. He can already eat me out of house and home. We have found a couple things he doesn't like. Finally. Olives and green peppers. Because of the green peppers he isn't fond of the steak fajitas Tom made the other night. He loves fruits though, and I can't keep him away from my tomatoes. Not that I try very hard. He also apparently loves the prunes that come off the trees next door. Yesterday he ate about 5 or 6 of them and then when Grammy and Grandpa Burr got here they gave him another plum. Well, he started with a pear, but then saw Grandpa with the plum and traded. The funniest was when Grandpa tried to trade back. Bear wouldn't have any of it. I'm kinda dreading the results of all that fruit today. We'll see though. I'm amazed at what that kid can eat. For only having 6 teeth, that I know of, he does very well with meat and fruit skins, and crunchy stuff. Pretty amazing.

I guess I'd better see what I can get accomplished during nap time. I especially need to see if anyone with stoves has returned e-mails. One of these days I'll update pictures with the fence in them. I suppose I'll have to actually take some photos to make that happen.

What we've been up to...

Bear watching t.v. from his box. The movie is "Lost in the Woods"

Bear was just hanging out in Dad's lap after his bath listening to his boom box. Bear in the pumpkin patch at the Harvest Fest in Frenchtown. We had fun checking out the animals on the farm and picking out a pumpkin while hanging out with good friends.

We have been crazy busy lately. Tom's schedule changed so we have Fridays off together. This means trying to get projects done around the house. That being said it seems that we still can't catch up. Typical.

Bear has been a walking machine lately. He has figured out it works pretty well for a way to get around. Although if he wants to hurry he still crawls. He still only has six teeth but they serve him well. Last night on our walk we picked some apples and Bear quite happily sat and ate an apple. He loves fresh fruit and vegetables. I can't bring in a fresh batch of tomatoes without a bite being taken out of at least one. At any rate I was impressed that with only six teeth the apple got eaten just fine.

Besides continuing to grow (he's got to be pushing 30 pounds) Bear has finally said "Mom". He has said Dad for quite awhile now, but just the other day got around to saying Mom. He "talks" a lot. He has learned to sign "all done" and "more" as well. We are working on "thank you". I guess I need to learn some more signs. I only know a few I learned from my friend who uses sign a lot with her daughters.

Right now I think Bear's favorite animals are cows, turtles, and geese. We have seen all of these in person and he loves them. At the Harvest Fest he got quite good at making goose honks. Turtles crack him up after meeting Barney, and he waves at cows along the road after he got to play with a calf at a petting zoo that was at the fair. Goofy kid. He sure makes the days fun though.

I'd better get going so we can work on our fence since tomorrow we have a potluck to go to. Busy always.

Bear is

Catching up

Time sure does fly. It is already September and the weather is cooling off. I can't believe it. We have been super busy winterizing the house, canning fruit and salsa, travelling, and working. Somewhere in there we have gotten in the habit of taking nightly walks. Buddy is loving those.

Winterizing the house: Since last winter we were cold and had all sorts of drafts I have been going through trying to caulk all the gaps. The big old single pane windows don't really help, but caulking them and putting plastic up on those to help cut down on the cold air. We are almost done with the window project, are done with the outside of the foundation, and about to start on the attic. After the gaps get sealed in the attic, then we can install more insulation. We did some earlier, but need more. First things first though. Also, I have gone through and caulked along the baseboard in the living room. This summer we had morning glory vines starting to come up along the baseboard on the inside of the house. (No wonder the spiders can get in.)

Canning: I have been canning the bounty from the garden and fruit trees. Mom and Dad came up and Mom and I made apple butter and salsa a week or so ago. Now it is time for some tomato sauce and some plum butter. Also, I finally discovered what one of our bushes is. Elderberry. My neighbor asked us if we were going to make elderberry wine. Good to know that we can use that fruit too.

Travel: This last weekend we got to go to the zoo with Bear. It was my first time too. (At least to a real zoo.) We had a lot of fun visiting with all the family. Now, I just need to figure out when I can visit my friend and her new baby. That and I suppose I should figure out some sort of plan for Thanksgiving. We'll be visiting Tom's family for Christmas so that is pretty well settled. Then we are planning on Austria again next year. It is a good thing Tom is employed at the airlines.

Work: Same ol' same ol'. Busy. Still workin' my 40hr weeks with them being 4 ten hour shifts. Tom's schedule changed a bit though. Now we actually are supposed to have Fridays off together. That will be a nice change of pace. Still can't complain too badly since we haven't had to pay for any sort of daycare for Bear yet.

I think that pretty well catches everything up. Things are going to stay hectic for awhile with preparation for winter. It seems things never really slow down.

Summer fun

Here's Bear playing in the mud. He was helping Tom dig post holes for the fence we are puting in. With all of our clay we've found it much easier to soak the ground and then dig the hole. Apparently the other day in the 90 degree heat Bear decided it would be fun to play in said mud. Tom couldn't say no to mud and sprinkler.:)

It seems like every day Bear comes up with new things to get into or do. He likes to turn the t.v. on and off. Every chance he gets he goes and plays in the dog's water bowl. I really wouldn't care about that other than the fact it gets the wood floor wet and the poor dog runs out of water even faster. If either door is open Bear does his best, and usually succeeds, to get outside. He has no fear what-so-ever of bugs. This includes spiders and wasps. Talk about giving a mother a heart attack. So far no stings or bites though. *whew*

I don't know what the major difference has been, but Bear has been in a really good mood lately. Lots of giggling and smiling. He is learning to tickle. I thought I was going to die laughing watching him tickle Tom's belly. Tom didn't have the heart to tell Bear to stop so they both sat there laughing as Bear tickled Tom.

Tom and I decided for our anniversary this year we were going out to dinner. We weren't too sure since I had to work that day and by the time I get home it is almost Bear's bedtime. We decided to give it a shot and went up to the casino on the lake. When we got there we were informed that they were having computer problems and wouldn't be able to seat us. Well, Tom explained that it was our anniversary and we had just driven 30 miles to eat there. All true, but not a huge deal. They took pity on us and let us in. They were going to close for an hour to get the computers fixed. The computer problem got fixed while we ate. Didn't give us any headache at all. Our service was excellent and Bear was extremely good. We ended up having a lot more fun than we thought we were going to. Bear ate, and ate, and ate. Found out he likes coconut shrimp, and sweet and sour sauce. A lot.

WALKING!!

Well, he's finally taken his first steps by himself! Bear is officially starting to walk. Only a few steps here and there, but he is actually letting go of furniture and us and doing it on his own. The best part is that he keeps working on it. Usually when he is interested in something up at his level when he stands. Otherwise it is still lots faster for him to crawl to things.

Travel with kids

I'm realizing with Tom in the airline/travel industry I kinda take travelling with kids/babies for granted. Well, to be honest I've taken all travel for granted. Not just with kids. I have travelled with Bear since he was just a month old. Some trips have been by car but most have been by air. I have also usually flown by myself with Bear. This does make it more difficult in the fact that one person can only carry so much. It seems with babies one wants to take everything but the kitchen sink. Not really possible when you are only one person. To make it even more interesting Bear and I usually (maybe always) have flown stand-by. It isn't difficult so long as you keep a few things in mind.

Travel light: Like I said one person can only carry so much, and if the kid is young enough you have to remember you are carrying the kid too. A backpack/diaper bag to me is the way to go. I do my best to keep both Bear and I in one bag. That includes consolidating the diaper bag and my purse.

Umbrella strollers are awsome: These little, inexpensive things are a travellers savior. Especially if you have to make plane changes and walk all over the airport.

Convertable stroller/carseat: We got one of these for a trip to Austria. Expensive but so worth it. I don't have to worry about locating a carseat at the end of the trip and the seat fits on the airplane. One downfall to this one is that it is kinda difficult to travel by yourself with it. I am too short to pick this one up, with Bear in it, and carry it over peoples' heads. I gate-check this one if I'm by myself. Also, it is heavy. Especially if you add Bear.

Slings/backpacks/carriers: With little guys slings are great for travelling. I loved when Bear fit in a pouch. Next time we travel I'm going to try our new kid backpack and a roller bag. The backpack (this one converts from a front pack, to hip carrier, to backpack) is supposed to be good up to 40 pounds. Not sure I want to pack Bear around at that weight. Soon he'll be able to walk himself around but for now we find creative ways to get around.

Entertainment: This is key while on the airplane. Some kids sure don't like to sit still. Especially if they are up and moving. Bear wasn't bad at all while little. Now that he can move around he doesn't really care for sitting in one place for long. I've found that the overhead reading light is great entertainment. "Off. On" Skymall is another good way to entertain Bear. He likes tearing up magazines and since you are supposed to take the Skymall with you I don't make a fuss if he tears this one up. He loves to look at the emergency seat cards too. I really don't worry too much about bringing a lot of our own toys or books. One I pack light and two, you can't have much out during take off and landing.

In the airport: I make sure to let Bear run around if we have the time. That way he isn't cooped up all day long. Some airports have play areas. Salt Lake City is the one I'm thinking of. Right at the top of the escalators that go to the E concorse. I don't think I've ever seen the area not busy.

Eating and sleeping: Making sure everyone eats is key when travelling. I'm bad about this one for myself. I get just as grumpy as any kid. Bear can take just about any situation so long as his pants are clean, he has a full belly, and has had a nap. I also find that for getting Bear to nap while we are travelling it has to be on the plane. If we have a choice I pick the noisiest seat possible. It seems the white noise from the engines just zonk Bear out. Another thing is that I try to plan enough time between flights to sit and eat at least a snack of some sort. This makes us both happier.

Relax: Last but not least don't worry too much about what might happen. It won't be the end of the world. Bear and I flying stand-by have even been pulled from a flight. It just meant we got to go have coffee with Grammy and Grandpa while we waited for the next flight. I don't mind being stuck at all. You can wander the airport, check out all the shops that you normally blow by, eat, play, people watch, and all sorts of things. I'm sure this has to do with the fact that I love airports too. Biggest thing is that (if you're a paying customer) the airline will do their best to take care of things. Sometimes it is totally out of their hands though. And if you are like me and flying stand-by you really don't get any help from the airline. They have no contract with you if you didn't purchase a confirmed ticket. Both situations have their own unique set of challenges, but if you sit back, relax, and smile things usually go smoothly. It is amazing how much a smile, please, and thank you will get you. Take it from some one who is married to an agent. The nicer you are to them, the more likely they are to help you out. If you are onery to them help goes right out the window. And if you cuss at them? You are liable to be escorted out by the police. Then you don't get your flight at all.

Other blog

I know when I first started it I posted the address for my other blog but I thought it was about time to re-post since I can't get this to actually put a link on my page. Grrrr.

At any rate...

it is at mommech-kstgardentrials.blogspot.com

August

Bear and I opening Aunt Mary's present...I love the eyebrow in this photo.

Buddy and Bear causin' trouble.

Chocolate face...

Tagged for travel...

Summer is slipping away quickly. My goodness. At least we can finally enjoy some cool weather. We have rain today. So nice after the 90+ degree weather we've been having.

Bear is doing well. Growing like a weed. The kid refuses to walk by himself at this point. He seems very comfortable crawling and using chairs and the coffee table to walk around with. Ah well. He'll walk one of these days. Probably when we least expect it.

I do have a funny kid story that I meant to tell the other night. Bear was in the tub after eating some sort of chocolate (I can't remember what it was now). As he was playing in the water he started farting. This made bubbles of course, which he thought was hilarious. Tom and I could only laugh. I'm sure it isn't proper or anything but it was such a little boy action to sit and laugh at bubbles in the bath water. We got a kick out of it. He is definately my rascal.

Also here lately Bear has taken to trying to get Buddy to play with him. He'll hold out a toy or stick for Buddy to grab. Buddy generally very gently gets whatever it is Bear is holding out. Bear loves this game. Buddy seems a bit wary, but seems to enjoy it as well. I'm glad they are figuring out how to play together. Buddy is figuring out that Bear isn't too bad. The other night Bear woke up for some reason and was crying. I figured as soon as he found his pacifier he'd go back to sleep so I let him cry. Buddy didn't agree. He pushed Bear's door open and went in. Of course once Bear saw Buddy and us there was no going back to sleep for a bit. Darn dog.:)

Musings

Bear on our trip to Idaho last weekend.

The moose that crossed our path as we headed to the airport to come home from Idaho.

Tom and Bear enjoying lunch when Bear and I got home from Idaho.

I can't believe how fast the last year has gone. It seems like I was just pregnant and now Bear is a year old, starting to talk, and will soon walk. Amazing. If everything goes as planned this weekend Bear will be staying with a babysitter for the first time on Sunday morning. The gal is actually a friend of ours through my work. They have a little boy that is 5 months older than Bear. Actually he's in the last posts photos, Ty. I have to chase an airplane for the day so we can install some new equipment on the jet engines, and Tom has to work in the morning. So, Bear gets a babysitter. I'm a little nervous, but on the other had I'm not worried about where and who he'll be with.

I'm watching yet another report about kids. People have a lot of time on their hands. I'm finding as a parent that there are so many things to worry about that if I really worried about everything the t.v. and magazines say I'm supposed to, poor Bear would live in a bubble. I don't think I'm going to let him do that. Of course that would come with worries about the BPA in the clear plastic of the bubble.:) Boy it can get ridiculous. There is enough to worry about as a parent that I don't understand why we just keep piling on the worries. I guess we need to keep the psycologists in business somehow.

Bear seems to be singing himself to sleep again. He's been down for a half an hour. He's just now starting to get really quiet. He's been squealing and singing. Kinda fun to listen to, but I'm begining to wonder if he'll really going to take a nap. While he's down I'd better get some coleslaw made. We have a BBQ this afternoon that I'm supposed to make something for.

Birthday and the 4th

Bear, Levi, and Ty...Neptune 2008 kids. Little gearheads already.Tom and Lou

Bear's cake...I didn't get the frosting for the letters right, but it tasted good.

Wow we've been busy. Bear had his first birthday. A grand total of 3 parties and 2 cakes. What a spoiled kid. We had loads of fun though. The 4th of July we got to spend with part Tom's family and some good friends from work. We had quite the party. 5 little kids, 10 adults, 2 dogs, and one cat that strolled in. The cat was pretty funny. She walked in like she owned the joint. I tried to shoo her out knowing the dogs would probably chase her and the kids would pull on her. She didn't seem to care. She backed down the dogs and seemed to enjoy even the rough attention from the kids. She stuck around long enough for us to start calling her Indie for Independence Day, then she disappeared for awhile. She showed up again today to get a drink, some cuddles, and play in the bushes for a bit. She seems to be gone again. We'll see. We may end up with a cat and we may not.

At any rate we had fun. With Bear turning 1 that meant we needed to do another round of shots. A little different this round. His first set of MMRs and a couple others. One more set at 15 months of the Dtap. Then we'll be done until he's 4 years. Whew. He was really good today. He cried when they gave him the shots of course but it took no time to get him to stop. Basic stats from this visit: 32 inches long/tall, 25 lbs, and given a clean bill of health. Our doctor cracks me up. He is so abrubt and kinda abrasive for the most part but he and Bear seem to get along great. I love how down to earth he is. Some of the doctors in Missoula and elsewhere we've been seem to have unreasonable expectations about a lot of things. This one seems to realize kids will be kids.

I'm thinking it is time for bed. Tom and I actually had a day off together today so we've been busy today. Doughnuts and coffee in Ravalli this morning (after sleeping in until almost 7), then while Bear napped I planted my blueberries and Tom pruned the lilac bushes. Then it was off to the doctor and grocery store. Oh, we went to the hardware store in the morning too. Then after the doctor Bear and I took a nap while Tom did dishes and got the chicken ready for dinner. Then it was dig potatoes and onions to go with dinner, eat, and put Bear to bed. Then Tom and I had a contest to see who could dig a two foot post hole first. I won.:) To say the least a full rich day.

Photos from our Trip

Bear and Uncle Eli.
Some crazy weather that followed us to the Valley.

Bear and a few presents so Grammy could throw a birthday party.

Bear seemed to think the balloons were the best present ever.

And he got a kick out of coming to attack the camera.

Buddy and Bear travellin' pals.

Big horn sheep doe alongside the highway. We pulled over and took pictures while Buddy barked. She didn't seem to care.

Bear and Uncle Eli. It only took almost a year to get these two to meet.

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting some photos from our Idaho trip. I thought I'd better catch everyone up on Bear's milestones too. He is now saying a few words. First official word: Buddy. He now also says airplane, map, and bye-bye. 6 teeth are in and he has pretty much decided he is done with baby food. He is completely weaned. He did that himself. I don't know what people mean about that being difficult. I guess I got lucky with Bear. Let's see... I don't think there is too much else. We have the 12 month doctor appointment next Friday (the 10th) where we get to have more shots. It won't be fun but it will be one less round to do. For this weekend we are looking forward to the 4th of July, fireworks, and company.