I have a picture I’ve been trying to post for way WAY too long, but Conan has already completed his goal for the year to compete in a race! Way to go Conan! He ran the 5K Race for the [Ronald McDonald] House and finished with a better time than he expected, being so old and decrepit as he is 
I’m so proud of you!
So, I know, a million apologies for various reasons, but here’s the scoop:
Our baby girl remains the most cheerful little cherub ever. She loves to giggle and be a part of the conversation. In fact, the #1 reason for fussiness? Being ignored.
As soon as Eve turned 5 months old she started teething. By a week into it she had her first tooth, and a week later got her second! She’s following Neils’ general pattern in nearly everything to date, and Neils had a full set of teeth (including his 2 yr old molars!) at 12 months. We’ll see what happens.
She’s been rolling side to side for several weeks now, and just yesterday she rolled from her back to her tummy! Way to go Cheerio!
She is little miss independent. She will yell at you if you don’t let her “help” with the spoon at cereal time.
She LOVES to jump. If I hold her on my lap she wants to be standing up. If she’s standing up she’s bouncing. If she’s bouncing the world knows it ‘cuz she’s so happy about it! She LOVES her jumpy toy, and now treats her exersaucer as a jumper too.
She is growing so fast! We got several 12 month items at The Children’s Place Outlet’s great winter clearance sale… she already fits half of it. But I think some of that must just be the brand. We have some 6 months things that fit perfectly and 9 mos sized Carter’s gift items that she’s still swimming in. *shrug* She’s getting bigger, anyway, and cuter every day! Wish I could show you.
So I’m not sure why, but although we finally did get our blog up and running, WordPress is having issues with posting photos. Then again, my entire computer is feeling a bit tired, so we are backing everything up in preparation for a reinstall. Point being: it will be awhile before you have pictured updates. Should I wait to give updates until photos are attached, or just blog about our happenings anyway and add pics when we can?
No, this is not a political diatribe on capitalism or our consumerist culture. This is an introduction to the most effective tool we have ever seen in parenting. And no, I’m not talking about allowance as bribery, either! The Family Dollar system has transformed my family with four children from being resigned to never EVER going shopping with the boys again (even with 3 adults present I felt they were out of control!) to constantly receiving compliments on how well-behaved my boys are in public. Read on if you’re curious.
I’m cleaning up my first blogs that I kept while going to grad school. Here are some keeper posts about the 2 year-old version of Neils:
Man, is Neils growing! Every day I look at him in amazement. His speech is getting so much clearing and he is able to express himself very well.
Today, I was home for lunch, and was just watching him talk about a book while sitting on Melissa’s lap. He was talking about the different pictures and using his imagination very well. My eyes got all wet just thinking about what a handsome, smart, and loving boy we have.
…and there’s more: