Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Russell's first Haircut

Russell's hair is so fine and so blond that I almost feel like he doesn't have any. So, it was a hard to decide that he needed his first haircut. But I finally grew weary of him looking like a balding old man with the wispy stuff at the back of his neck and took him to get his haircut.

Before:

from the front:



profile:



We went to a chain place that caters to kids, so he got to sit in a car shaped seat that faced a tv screen. He loved it, until the buzzers were turned on.

During:

Playing with the car:



Then the buzzers went on:



Then the buzzers touched his head:



Then mommy had to put the camera down to comfort him.

But he looked really handsome when he was done. The other mother in the place (with 2 school-aged kids) commented that he looked older afterwards. The cut seems to have done his hair good, since then it's looked like it's fuller. He does have hair, it's just clear.

After:

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

'Helping' in the kitchen.

Russell has earned a new nickname around the house: 'helper'.

Yep, he helps you with all your chores.

He helps you unload the dishwasher by climbing into it and pulling out the sharp objects.

He helps you clean the floor by chasing the mop.

He helps you with laundry by emptying the clean laundry out of the basket and throwing it around the living room.

So, when you need a few minutes to do something, like cook dinner, you give him something to help with.

On June 30, I gave him a bowl, a wooden spoon, and a quarter cup of flour. Voila: cooking in the kitchen, helping mommy. And boy did he have fun.




He's gonna be a chef when he grows up.



And then, of course, the dingo 'helped' by licking all the flour off of the floor. What a team!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Delinquency is my middle name.

I have been so busy that blogging hasn't happened a lot lately, but cute pics of the babe have been taken, so I am going to work backwards and share the best of the best with you guys. Here's the first installment, July 1 - July 11 2009:

July 1st, 2009: Russell loves to sit and stare outside. Actually, most of the time it is him sitting and looking outside, and then imploring me to go outside. But you know, same thing right?



He does not understand that it is over 100 degrees out there.

The artistic version:



I love that photo.

July 7th, 2009: Russell loves spaghetti...it doesn't love him:



Just yesterday morning (7/11/09) I took this before we went over to the new house. He still loves his jungle mat.



More to come in the next few days...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Our new home.

I made reference to us buying a house. It was a whirlwind, and one of the many reasons that I haven't posted lately. It was all precipitated by the fact that the house we are currently renting was put on the market by it's owner, because they are behind on the rent. There is NO WAY we were going to deal with the possibility of them going into foreclosure and us being evicted. And seriously, we didn't want to have to find a rental house now and move and then do it all again within a year, since that was the rough timeline for us to buy a house anyway...

so, long rambling saga cut short, we went for it, and closed on Thursday.

Here are some pics of our new home, which I am madly in love with:

The front room.



A shot through the dining area to the living room.



The living room. (Russell was hanging out in his pack and play while we were doing things around the house today).



The FANTASTIC kitchen.



The even more FANTASTIC pool! I kid you not when I say that one of the few luxuries I have ever wanted was a pool, and now I own one. And it is a gorgeous one. I am delighted.



I'm not the only one, Russell LOVES the water, and when he first saw this pool he thought he had just about won the lottery. All he wanted was for me to let go of him so he could go in the BIGGEST BATHTUB EVER. Alas, it was in really bad shape a few weeks ago (when the previous owners left, it was neglected for a few months) so we can't swim in it yet until a few more water treatments get the rest of the ick out. I SO look forward to it. (Especially since it averages 110 here right now.)

These are my fruit trees! I have wanted fruit trees so long that I asked for them for my 16th birthday. (To his credit, Jimmy bought me 2 apricot trees that year, but one didn't survive the New England winter, and the survivor couldn't bear fruit without a second to cross-pollinate.) The one on the left is a super-productive lemon tree, and the one on the right is an orange tree. I am thrilled.



Back inside, this is the loft, it is right outside the master bedroom double doors.



Yes, we are a little concerned about small babies throwing things off of it...like small babies. Here's the view down from the loft into the front room.



Cool no? We're not sure what we are going to do with that space yet, but it's a neat one.

Finally, the master bedroom.



The other two bedrooms don't photograph all that well, so I didn't bother to put the pics here, but one is for Russ and one is a guest room. Here's a good picture of Russell playing in his room.



He was crawling through the door and then shutting it most of the way and then crawling back out. ... well, until mommy realized that there were unprotected outlets on the other side of the door, and she couldn't see him, and she swung the door open fast and whacked him HARD in the head with it.

Yeah, great parenting. The only thing this kid really needs protection from is his mommy...I felt guilty until, well, seriously, I still feel guilty about it.

I also didn't get any good pics of the bathrooms, one master bath with a soaking tub and a stand alone shower and another full bath upstairs for Russell and guests, plus a half bath downstairs. There's a laundry room, and a two and a half car garage with a utility sink. And I am sure I am missing other details, but I can't remember them all.

If you made it this far I am sure you can tell that I am totally in love with the place and can't wait to move-in. Of course, now we have to pack... UGH.