Repurposed

When Eric purchased his bachelor pad furniture, he never would have guessed that they would be the source of so much fun.




The landing halfway up our stairs has become another favorite playtime spot.

10 Months Old!

(Two weeks ago.)
I seriously can't believe the boys' first birthday is on the horizon. This parenting gig is amazing, exhausting, joyful, stressful, fun, frustrating,...
Luckily, the good things on that list far outweigh any negatives, which tend to be few and far between. The boys are so much fun.

Their measurements as of Friday evening:
Reid- 20.8 lbs and 30 inches tall
Aiden- 20.2 lbs and 29 inches tall
They're growing too fast!

(Reid fell asleep in my arms tonight. Normally, the boys are awake/drowsy when we put them down at night. I had forgotten how wonderful it felt to have one of them fall asleep in my arms. I feel very fortunate that I've had the opportunity to experience that.)

10 month photos:
I started with them sitting, since they are now pro sitters.

Then I wanted to have them lie down since that's the usual monthly pose. Reid did not like that move.
Aiden kept smiling away as Eric managed to get Reid settled down.
Eventually he even flashed a few smiles.
Aiden:
Reid:
Disheveled mama. Sigh. One of these days when I request that I'm included in a photo, I'll actually look decent. Oh well.
Reid:
Aiden:
Reid trying to walk with Daddy's help:
On a different day, Reid working on kneeling:
Aiden:
Reid:
One of the last baths the boys took in this tub as they clearly outgrew this one. I've moved on to an inflatable tub that I set inside our bath tub.

Movie Stars

Starting a little before 6 a.m. this morning, I think Reid has said this word 50 bazillion times today. More or less. :)
Reid's word of the day is:


Yikes! Aiden's gaining altitude:

Reid Crawling!

Reid gave us a great surprise this morning and started crawling for me and Eric before I went to school. Well, maybe it was more like army crawling or lunging. But I THINK it counts! He was pretty pleased with himself. He seems to be frustrated watching Aiden come and go where ever he wants. Aiden always seems to be interested in whatever Reid is holding. Quite often Aiden will crawl up to Reid, snatch the toy away, and keep it just out of reach of Reid. Most of the time Reid will start playing with something else. My dad has reported that occassionally Reid will give Aiden a bop on the noggin. Can't say I blame him for that reaction. Luckily, the majority of the time the boys are great buddies and really enjoy interacting with one another.

Exciting News from Texas Instruments

I went to Texas Instruments' International Conference in Dallas about 3 years ago. Not only was it a great weekend for feeding my teaching needs, but I was also able to spend time with my good college friends Janina, Colette, and Ben.

This past weekend the conference was held in Austin. Leading up to the conference, TI sent out quite a few teaser emails saying there was exciting news. I was a little sad that I couldn't be in attendance, although I would be heart-broken to be away from the boys that long. Well, TI didn't disappoint me. They've finally come out with a color display graphing calculator! I know. How exciting! I can't wait to get one of these, even though I have no idea when it's coming out or how much it will cost. I told my students about it today and I prefaced it by saying I had exciting news. Leave it to my last class of the day to ask if that meant I was pregnant. Ah, teenagers. They say whatever they are thinking. I assured them I was plenty busy with the two babies I have and then I revealed the calculator. Judging by all their eye-rolling, they think I'm the ultimate nerd. I'd say that would be a good sign that I'm doing my job right.

Even though my degree in Statistics would be against this move, maybe I'll start playing the lottery. For $5000-$10000 I think I could get a classroom set of calculators, a Navigator system to connect the calculators to my computer so I can send files to the students and collect from them, and finally data collecting equipment. I would teach quite a bit differently if I had my way. Unfortunately, the rest of my department feels more comfortable using the OLD 20th century technology.

Must. Win. The Lottery.

Some Close-ups + Outstanding Efforts

Reading "electronic" books from Auntie Jennifer.


I'm still doing a double-take when I see Aiden up on his knees. He has now figured out how to lower himself down as well. Today he pulled himself up to a sitting position in his crib and was trying to figure out how to get to a standing position. That move resulted in a pretty big knot on his head.


The boys LOVE door stops. We've now removed all of them within their reach.

I took these pictures this past Monday when I was home for Presidents' Day. I was pleased to be able to take advantage of the great lighting in the nursery.

Aiden:







Reid:






Practicing standing in the upstairs hallway.

Almost 10 Months Old

Most of the time, we've been practicing standing in the boys' nursery. Eric and I started using the rails in the upstairs hallway as well. One of the reasons why the boys love this location is because it looks out over the two-story living room. When they squawk and screech, their voices echo. Loudly! They think it's the funniest thing to hear.




I took these two pictures today and combined them into one photo for a cute Valentine's frame I found at Target. It has a picture of a weiner dog and says "Doggone crazy for you." I sure am crazy about these two!