Moral Support

If you are wondering what they are watching, it is monster truck videos. Ahhh, gotta get a little white trash in them somehow, right?

As you may have read before, Alex is on a constant breathing treatment for a preventative for his asthma. So every night, we hook him up to his machine and set up ye old faithful YouTube to pass the 6 or 7 minutes of time while he gets his medicine. Though I feel a bit sorry for the little guy that he has to do this every single day, he doesn't seem to mind it too much. It's a good excuse for him to watch is videos. But lately, Alex and Abby have become quite the little buddies. Even though there are the many times a day that they enjoy torturing each other, there is still love there. But one step cuter is what Abby does with Alex every night. When I tell Alex it is time for his breathing treatment, Abby heads for the computer too. She sits there and watches the videos right along side of him. She gulps down her lovely bottle of soy milk and occasionally pats him on the back or hugs him. Now, I'm fairly certain that she does it more for her benefit than her brother's, but regardless, it's cute. I'm a little concerned that she may be breathing in a fair share of the steroids that Alex is sucking down, but I guess if it's not hurting him, then it shouldn't hurt her. I suppose only time will tell.

Pickles & Nacho's New Pad

Last weekend, I decided to accomplish something that I've been meaning to do for quite awhile. I decided, when we got our new bunny Pickles, I would build an outside pen for her and Nacho to run in while we are outside. Of course, this was a little lower on my 'things to do list' and it was only this past weekend that I decided that I had the time. Thanks to my friend, Mandy, and her millions of animal projects, she had plenty of extra fencing to let us use. We have time share rabbits. They are such good friends that we didn't have the heart to separate them. They are litter mates and get a long so great that we have decided to go on a joint ownership program. So as a result, we now have a nice outside area for Pickles and Nacho to gallivant about. They love it and so do the kids. Alex is a bit smitten with Pickles. She is the gentler of the two rabbits and isn't opposed to the kids being a bit overly affectionate with her. It's only been a week, and they already expect to get free time in the open air. They go a bit nutty and run around like wild rabbits. They eagerly hop into the pet taxi when I open their cage. It's pretty cute and makes me feel bad that I didn't get this project done a bit sooner. So here are some pictures of the the new pad. I even threw a nice video in of the first time they tried out their new place.

Alex lovin' on Pickles.

Don't you love that face? It's her 'yeah, yeah...i know...don't sit on the bunny' look.

The Life & Death of a Cicada

Today, we went outside to enjoy the lovely weather and we got a very nice little nature show in our backyard. If you don't know what a Cicada is, you will by the end of this blog. Alex and Abby were thrilled to watch all the bugs in action. In fact, I had to drag them in the house because they wanted to watch the bugs. Alex's new word of the day is 'cicada' and he has been talking about them since. So now, through the power of digital photography, I shall present to you the Life and Death of a Cicada. (Yes...I took all of these photos myself...no google search for these bad boys).

One day, a lovely little cicada nymph came out of the ground to crawl up then nearest tree. After the long trek up the trunk, he decided to hatch.

He was happier now with wings and to not be trapped in his previous ugly nymph body. He stretched his pale wings, waiting for the sun and wind to dry him so he could take flight into the wild blue yonder.

After his trek into the world, he took a well-deserved rest as he watched two children in the distance.

He thought of how strange it was that they should wear his shed exoskeleton as a strange form of jewelry. They seemed to pride themselves in the many shed skins of his brothers and sisters.

But those children continued to collect the exoskeletons and wear them with a smile. But while he was distracted by their strange behavior...

A large cicada-killer swooped down and ate him up.

The moral of the story? It sucks to be a cicada.

The End.

*Please note that the cicada in the first photo was not harmed (yet). It was a completely other cicada that bit it in the end.

Chatterboxes

I've got a couple of little chatterboxes on my hand lately. One of them is almost 1 1/2 and the other is nearly 3...and I can't understand either one of them. Okay, okay...so maybe that's a wee bit of an exaggeration. I can understand Alex when he wants me to. Don't get all freaked out now...there are no red flags going on here. He can talk just fine. Let me elaborate.

Over the past few months, Alex has been talking more and more. He sings whole songs on his own, recites his alphabet, counts to 16 and explains the rules of the house to Abby. But in the last couple of weeks, he has developed this strange new little language. And it drives me nuts. I have no idea what the purpose of it is or what the heck he is saying when he disappears into this little imaginary world of his. Of course, I can't write down in a blog what he is saying or how he is saying it because...well...it's undecipherable. He makes up words that he uses over and over again throughout the day. When I ask him a question like, 'What kind of sandwich do you want?", he responds with some strange new word. It's very odd and he doesn't seem to be shedding the new habit. He will go off into his room and chatter on and on about things. What things? I have no idea whatsoever. He also makes up songs of his own. It's all very new and odd. I'm waiting for him and Abby to start talking in some foreign made-up language so that they can plot dangerous stunts together to freak me out.

Now Abby, on the other hand, has become the logical kind of chatterbox. She learns new words by the hour these days. She is even putting multiple words together and says partial sentences. Today she actually said, "I want cereal Mommy." It wasn't the most articulate sentence on the planet, but I understood every word of it. This is all very new to me too. Alex was not saying nearly as much at this age. She has done gone and surpassed her big brother in the verbal arena. (Yes...you read that right. I said 'done gone'. I'm showin' off my hick side) It's amazing to see how different they learn. I credit Abby's massive word index to Alex. He is always sitting with her and 'teaching' her words. It's a cute little game they play together.

Oh well, I guess if someone out there could understand the workings of children's minds, then they could become a millionaire. Until then, I suppose I'll just have to settle for wingin' it.

Mama's Little Daredevil

Abby. *sigh* This little girl has given me a run for my money...already. And she is only 16 months old! What on earth do you do with a toddler who has a fascination with the effects of adrenaline? Though I have no idea if she is aware what adrenaline really is, it can be the only explanation for her crazy antics. I remember reading things about little girls and how they are less adventurous and less likely to seek out danger than the little boys. Ha! apparently those books weren't talking about my wee little angel of a daughter. Ever since she got her legs under her, she has gone above and beyond the craziness that her big brother was capable of. I always thought that they don't get more daring than Alex is. I was always fishing him off of some high object or out of some dangerous place that he would weasel himself into. When Abby came along, I was all ready for a break from the constant obsession with danger. Apparently, she had other plans in mind. I truly believe that she has been twice as bad, if not thrice as bad, as Alex is. Just yesterday, we decided to move some furniture around so that I could have my old computer desk back to work on side projects. So the old faithful rocker/recliner that I spent so many hours rocking kids to sleep in, got moved to the living room. I didn't think that this move would create me so much worry and heartburn. From the second that blasted recliner moved, I've done nothing but peel her away from it. She will eagerly jump up on the recliner and then attempt to balance on the arm of it whilst the chair is still rocking. Now...this is actually quite impressive if you can forget that she is a baby and shouldn't be doing that. She's got crazy awesome balance for a 16 month old. This morning she was actually balancing on a two inch side of a ride on toy that should have toppled over from the awkward position she was in. But nevertheless, with every daredevil comes the inevitable slip-ups that cause the big boo-boos. And tonight, in the staple slow-motion parenting moment, she attempted her balancing act once more on the recliner. She then commenced in a very stylish back flip. I'm sure that she totally planned on landing on her feet, but due to the fact that she is not as old as she thinks she is, she landed on her head. By the time I got to her, I was ready for the trip to the ER. To my surprise, she cried for about 10 seconds and was rip-roarin' ready to go for the next daring stunt. I have watched her like a hawk all night for any sign that she might have hit her head too hard, but she was her normal self all night. She actually attempted to go back to the recliner again for a second go. So being without Josh for the week, I heaved that sucker back into my cramped bedroom by myself. *sigh* I have a bad feeling that she's gonna need her first stitches sooner than Alex did. Oh well. The recliner is gone. I now have a sore back and a sprained wrist, but at least I've removed temptation from her path...for now.

Hulk Angry!

You know who The Hulk is, right? Yes? No? Maybe? Okay, well for those who aren't geek enough to know (though I doubt anyone out there could not know), here is a picture of The Hulk:

Well, it is a little known fact that The Hulk had a little sister. I dunno, maybe she is a half-sister. It's really difficult to say. Right now she is a mere toddler and I just happened to catch an image of her with my trusty camera.


Okay, okay. She isn't really related to the hulk, but around this house, that is what I call her when she gets angry. It is really quite funny. Even though I try my best not to laugh at her when she 'hulks out'. She gets mad quite a lot these days. It is nearly always directly related to Alex of course. So when she gets mad, she either slaps (which she gets time-out for) or she 'hulks out'. She literally will put on her angry face and find the nearest object and lift it over head to throw it. She doesn't just pick up the small things though. That's why I call her The Hulk. She will pick up one of their ride-on toys, a kid chair, or whatever looks the biggest. She heaves it up over her head, and launches it as far as she can get it to go. It is so fantastically funny to watch. I know that, as a parent, you aren't supposed to laugh at moments like this. But come on! How can you see a 15 month old chuck an object as big as she is and not get a good giggle out of it? So every time I see her do this, I look at her and say "Grrr...Hulk Angry!"

I've tried to get a video. But I'm always one second too late. I guess it's harder to get The Hulk on video than I thought it would be.

Phlog V:2.5

Seeing as how there is absolutely nothing of value to be wasting perfectly good blogging space about, I shall give you the next version of Phlog. For earlier versions please see Phlog V:1.0 or Phlog V:2.0

Now we have the newly updated Phlog Version 2.5. This version of Phlog has been brought to you by two crazy monkeys and a few pets of thiers. Enjoy!

Abby smiling for the camera.

Luke...enjoying a well undeserved nap on the fresh tomatoes

Awww...look at the green lips. Mmm...Fun Dip.

Once again...mmmm...Fun Dip.

It's time to Wiggle!!

Abby's newest obsession is Leia. She always wants to go see Leia. And where is Leia?

Leia is always hiding in the laundry room. It is her self made prison. Who can understand the complicated mind of a cat?

Alex. 'Nuff Said. :-)