What happened to my baby boy?

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'll leave you to imagine how I feel about it and how long I cried.

(Sorry for the terrible pics taken on a phone)

Chub and Chump

Baby G is really into standing these days. Course she needs a little help. I mean look at those legs! Those things aren't built for walking. Their shape seriously cracks me up.

And dude is VERY into anything baby G is into. When he sees me heading to put her in her saucer he'll often try to run around me and dive in. He's a goof. He jumps in her swing. Lies down on her blankets. Tries to climb into her crib. Gets in her carseat, which is pretty ridiculous-looking. He'll even occasionally lie down in the Boppy and smile up at me. Fortunately he hasn't done any of those things when she's already there. Yet.

He actually really likes her, as do we all. And how could you not? Look at her:

Leaving on a jet plane

So we've been in our new house a whole week now! And while we still have quite a long ways to go to be unpacked (not to even mention all the projects and painting and DIY and landscaping and on and on that we have left before the house is the way we, or maybe I should say I, want it), it wouldn't have got done at all if it hadn't been for my parents who came for the weekend to help us move in! A bazillion thank you's. They left us with the house in a disorderly live-able situation, which was WAY better than what it was the day before. But they did have to leave, which was terribly sad for everybody. Here we are bringing them to our tiny little airport right here in Dickinson:

And with them leaving, I became "that" lady. You know the crazy one with more kids than she can handle who looks totally in-over-her-head? The one who's daughter made it to the airport before she really realized she was wearing a Snow White dress-up? That's me!

Dude was trying to get away from me here to get to these guys, who M also kept running to sobbing (the whole scene got pretty sad):

But I love how in this pic you can see them going through the security line, and the windows behind them show the plane they're getting on. They walk right through security and out that door basically. And then we ran outside to watch them get on their plane (we have kind of a small airport):

Before he left though, as one final gift, Bopa gave the kiddos money for the little candy machines. This is what dude looked like AFTER I cleaned him up. Nice. He wasn't too happy about waiting to watch the plane (which the girls insisted on) until it actually started to move. That, he thought, was pretty exciting.

We look forward to when Nana and Bopa come again!

Lady, you have your hands full (as if I didn't know!)

In hopes that you can enjoy a laugh at my expense, here's a chat conversation my husband and I just had:

me:  holy chaos

g poop exploded in the swing outside

trying to get it off her leg i got poop in i's water table

while i was inside changing her, dude confiscated m's popsicle, causing a total meltdown

 Cooper:  WOW

 me:  i had to remove the whole swing fabric while g screamed

 Cooper:  oh, man. oh man

 me:  i then dumped out the water, making a huge mud puddle

didn't think that through thoroughly

sent m to quiet time so she could get ahold of herself, which she protested wildly

then dude began painting his legs with mud

 Cooper:  WOW

the same poop mud?

 me:  have to deal with that before he comes in but g screams loudy each time i think of putting her down

and yes, the poop mud

so, how's your afternoon going?

 Cooper:  that. is. amazing.

 me:  just looked down and g is asleep sitting up in my unsanitary hands

Cooper:  wow

 me:  wish she'd stay that way

 Cooper:  of course

man, I'm sorry.

what an afternoon.

 me:  and i need to put dude straight in the shower

good thing i just remembered there's a poopie diaper in there

 Cooper:  just add it to the list

that's absolutely amazing

I'm so sorry

 me:  that wasn't the afternoon by the by

that was 15 minutes

 Cooper:  well sure.

got any more big plans for the evening? Major blowups? Poop on the walls?

 me:  well dude is running around naked so you never know

Cooper:  fun!

 me:  while i typed that, he peed all over the futon

 Cooper:  kid's a machine.

 me:  i now feel like i need one of those sanitizing machines from monsters inc

 Cooper:  2319! 2319!!!

 me:  pretty sure i've been contaminated by a human child

or two

or four

 Cooper:  clearly

 me:  i need some chocolate

The wonders of North Dakota living

Before they even got here, my parents turned them into cowgirls in an effort to help them fit in. Now I don't know how well it's going to work, but they look darling and more importantly, they're finally here!!!! We are all back together as a family finally, and for good. Aaaaah. Feels good. And noisy. It is definitely noisier. 

Little dude was THRILLED to have the girls back! It was adorable. M woke up first, and he dragged her around the apartment, not willing to let her go as he showed her everything in the place. While they played ring-around-the-rosies he just laughed and repeated her name again and again. Makes a mommy's heart feel good. He was just as excited when J woke up. I won't mention the skirmishes we've had when he's realized he now has to share toys we have with somebody other than an infant who can't do anything with them in the first place...

Baby G has basically looked like this since everyone came. She is blown away by all the activity and the increase in noise. I think she likes it. Difficult to say as of yet, but it hardly matters either way!

So with Nana and Bopa in town (after a bit of a bumpy tiny plane arrival), we decided to go explore one of the top tourist destinations of North Dakota :) This is Theodore Roosevelt state park, which has our badlands. Pretty spectacularly unbelievable views. And hot. Very hot.

And lots and lots of prairie dogs. Silly little chirping things that they are. 

He kinda looks like one, don't you think?

Please, Mr. Prairie Dog, won't you come out? We'd like to take you home as a pet. Mom would be okay with it I'm sure (shaking my head no).

When I said "lots," I really meant it. We saw thousands of these friendly little things. Every time we turned a corner there was another sprawling prairie dog metropolis (which might be the only kind of sprawling metropolis we'll see for quite awhile). And there are some of the painted hills in the background. Very cool. 

Here we are all together again, pink cheeks and all! They came in to town on my birthday on Wednesday which was the perfect birthday present (along with the beautiful flowers from my hubby)! And later today, we close on our new house!!!!! So far, being 31 isn't so bad!

Our little handfuls

Surprise happy face!

Happy baby toes!

Um...there's somebody's finger in my mouth. Is that normal? Well I guess I'll suck on it then (Dude was just pointing out her body parts to show the camera).

And he also likes to share with her! This is pretty big since these things are two of his three most prized possessions. She isn't sure what the big deal is, or why she can't see as well when he shares them :)

Sometimes he helps her talk on my phone (which he has taken to stealing and making calls unbeknownst to me). Be careful though dude, she'll suck on that too if you give her the chance!

And quite often she pulls this over on top of herself. Dude often comes to her rescue though or makes sure I do!

Isn't she a doll? And yes, she did get a little sun on her cheeks. Our bad.

The little man kept jabbering while I was trying to get a nice shot of baby G, and then I finally realized he was saying, camera, camera? Once I snapped his shot too, he was good. Love his too-cool pose!

And baby G, will you hold my water bottle for a sec? Sure mom! You don't mind if I take a drink, do you? Which, by the way, caught dude sharing his juice sippy with her the other day. Didn't think she got any, until she started madly licking her lips. Since then, she's been lunging at our food whenever it's near and staring at it with those bug-eyes. I think he started something.

Happy Boy

 Despite how it looks, he's not very skilled at pouring water in the top, which means about every 60 seconds, I need to. But he loves pouring it into the container on the ground!

 This was an Easter present that finally made it out of the box! And it has accounted for a half hour of happiness this morning, which seeing how the morning had been going, is pretty darn good. Now how much would a fountain that refills itself cost?

Farewell beautiful Portland!

After being separated from daddy for what seemed an eternity, suddenly our time in Portland had run out without us getting through our fun to-do list! So we made the most of our last weekend there, starting with an awesomely warm, sunny day down at the Waterfront in downtown. I use to run through this fountain as a kid! Dude wasn't so much having it.

The girls, however, were enthralled. Though do notice that they're not casually holding hands here. J has a death grip on M's arm to help boost her courage. It took more than one very high-pitched screaming trip until they made it to the middle.

And he continued to keep his distance. 

Finally they did it! They were so proud of themselves and had such a blast!! And how cute are they really?

Even being around the edges was stressing out the little man, so Bopa took him on a walk to look at the river and some boats.

Then Bopa suggested we rent one of the bicycle surreys to pedal down the path along the river. J thought she could help but once we got going, it turned out her legs were like an inch too short to actually be useful. She still tried though! She just kept kicking her pedals, which led to an unfortunately timed loss of a flip-flop at the bottom of a hill we were about to go up (we'd been diligently gaining speed to help make it easier, which we of course lost when we had to stop to recover said flip-flop).

M and Dude got the royal treatment up front, enjoying the breeze and treats while we pedaled away. We ended up going down, crossing a bridge, all the way up the east bank esplanade, and back across a bridge. It was a good workout even if Bopa claims we weren't all pulling our weight!

Then the next day, Daddy came! YAHOO! He says, "If you ever want to really feel loved, leave your family for 6 weeks, come back, and see how excited they are to see you." I, on the other end of the deal, however, don't recommend this. But it was super cute. The girls tackled him, and then dude got to the door and watched curiously. When they let daddy go, he cautiously walked toward him with a silly smirk on his face, jumping into Coop's arms. He then wouldn't let Coop put him down (slapped my hands away when I offered to take him even), and for the next half hour would randomly look at anybody in the room, point to Coop and say with such a delighted smile, "Daddy!" When it was time for his nap, we took the girls down to the kids day at the LO Art Festival, where they had a blast hitting every single craft booth there.

We then had a delightful goodbye dinner at Coop's parents' house (where I sadly took no pictures), and then spent a busy bunch of hours packing up everything late into the night. When the little ones woke us in the morning, we ate, gathered our things, gave lots of crying hugs to the girls (who will be joining us in July when our house closes), and headed out for North Dakota. It was a long drive. We had to stop every 3 hours to feed baby G and to let the little guy stretch his legs. After 12 hours on the road, we were only halfway, which was really, really discouraging. So instead of stopping with another whole day of it ahead of us, we drove through the night, arriving at around 6:30 AM. This is what the aftermath of that looked like!

But now we're here and daddy for one, is sure glad we are!

And I can report that the little man has recovered and is quite a ham.

Big-Girl Bike Ride!

Taking advantage of a gorgeous sunny Saturday, we went to give the Banks-Vernonia bike trail a try. It was a hit!

These tired, red-cheeked girlies rode 5 miles! True, it was mostly downhill but regardless, that's a long way for such short little legs. Apparently there was a bit of a tortoise and the hare situation with M starting off at an exuberant sprint, and the more conservative J intentionally conserving her energy because she was worried (so out of character for her, right?) about how long the "longest bike ride ever" was going to be. Her strategy worked! When they met up with my mom, dude, baby G, and me (we drove to the start in Banks, which was really our finish, and walked with strollers till we met them and then walked back again), J was in the lead and M was bringing up the rear. 

Baby G was just happy to be along for the ride!

Is there anything better ...

than a warm sunny day at the Coast? Even the sea lions agreed! Those aren't logs that washed up on the beach across the bay. Those are all sea lions!

Here's a closer, zoomed-in look to prove I'm not just making it up:

We figured we needed to go see the ocean one last time before we moved to our new land-locked home. The girlies worked very hard digging pools and connecting them. I won't mention how they felt when little dude discovered them and took to throwing rocks and handful of sand in the holes. He didn't mean to cause a problem. He just figured if you find a hole, you need to fill it up!

And speaking of the little man, how did he feel about the sand? When he first got on the beach, he took these teensy-tiny pitter-patter steps, cracking up everybody that walked past. He got down to the edge of the wet sand with Bopa and stopped cold. He looked back and forth between the darker sand and Bopa, until Bopa convinced him it was okay to go forward. He moved on and was very happily watching the girls run around, until a very small wave lapped at his feet (like so small it might not even have covered his little feet). The surprise and shock of this new development literally knocked him over! He fell right down ... and wouldn't get within 20 feet of the water for the next 3 hours or so.

Just a little traumatized.

The girlies, however, kept right on digging. And digging. And digging.

"Give each other a hug!" Guess this is the best it gets when they're all sandy:

Finally, Nana convinced Mr. to give it another try by first getting him to kick the water. Little by little he got more accustomed to it until he was out jumping with the best of them (with a little help to get some good air). And then, of course, he didn't want to leave. We had to drag him away!