Toddler Chic

I was in those last frantic minutes trying to get out the door for Church - gathering diapers, bottles, sippies, scriptures, and snacks. "I'm ready for Church, Mom," she said. I turned around and saw this:Here she is waiting patiently to go to the zoo:


And waiting to go to the park:


And dancing in her Cinderella costume from Grammie:


And cheering for the Buckeyes:

And today, sporting her new tall boots:

The Skeleton and the Pink Kitty Cat

Halloween 2008. Have you ever seen cuter kiddos? Ellie's trick or treat back was her Little Mermaid purse - a gift from Daddy's trip to New York last month. She was pretty much the hit of the neighborhood. Once she figured out that everyone gave her candy, she kept saying and signing, "More, Mom, more houses." In our neighborhood, everyone sits out on the driveway to observe the crowds and chat across lawns. The night was a balmy 60 degrees, making it even more pleasant. Upon approaching each neighbor with a candy bowl, Ellie reached out for the candy, put her purse down on the ground, reached down to open it, put the candy inside, and picked it up again. We caught it a few times on video, fortunately. Rob stayed home with Matt to hand out candy to the trick or treaters, and Marc and Sarah came over to join the fun. We topped of the evening by trick or treating at Nana and Papa's house, where Nana had a special chocolate covered Oreo treat for Ellie in the trick or treat bowl. Nana fed us roasted butternut squash soup, a delicious salad, and a magnificent apple cake dessert. What a glorious night!

Trick or Treat!

iRumor Turns to iWish Come True!

Many, many months ago, chatter about a new MacBook began appearing on the numerous geek blogs Rob follows. And I say "geek" with all the appropriate respect. Rob started dreaming, but tried to keep his hopes from soaring. After all, it was only an iRumor. And we'd just purchased my iMac with the intent that we were not buying him a new computer any time soon. Soon after the rumors started, however, Rob's computer started making suspicious groaning noises. Other things seemed to go awry as well. I took a deep breath and realized that his computer was on the verge of falling apart.

In our family, we don't share computers. It's one way we maintain a happy marriage.

Conveniently, our friendly US government decided to send us an economic stimulus check just about this time. I voiced the idea of putting it into savings. The computer groans seemed to get more intense, and the computer seemed even closer to absolute collapse. Convenient, indeed. I took a deep breath again and realized that there was no getting out of it - President Bush wanted us to spend that check, and Rob wanted it to be spent at the Apple store. So then the waiting began.

There were rumblings on the blogs about an early August release of the new MacBook. Rob dreamed of opening up a new MacBook for his birthday. Then as July approached, the rumors started to point to September. Well, that would be okay, Rob thought - he'd get a new computer with his new baby. But September came without an announcement from Steve Jobs. Finally, one glorious day in October, Apple confirmed that changes were coming in the MacBook, and that the formal announcement would be on October 14 at 1:00 p.m.

October 14 started early for Rob. He woke up at 6:00 a.m., giddy as a little boy on Christmas morning. Unable to get back to sleep, he went into work at 6:30. About 2:00, as Ellie and I were at the zoo with Monica and Pratt, Rob called. Good news - the new MacBook was going to be incredible. Bad news - it wouldn't be in stores until the following day. Rob asked me to call the Apple store and ask if the computers were in, just in case. They were not.

October 15 started even earlier for Rob. He woke up at 5:00 a.m., knowing that today was the day his iWish would come true. Unable to get back to sleep again, he went into work. Arrived at his desk at 5:45 a.m. Still unable to let reality sink in, Rob asked me to call again to make sure our Apple store had received the shipment of shiny new MacBooks. They had.

At 3:30 p.m. Rob called me again. He couldn't wait, he was leaving work immediately and heading to the Apple store, and did we want to meet him for the big moment. We did. So I piled both kiddos in the car and off we went. The Apple store only had one new MacBook on display, and Rob started to panic a bit. We found Steve the Salesman, who confirmed that the 13 inch MacBooks were in stock, but they had sold out of the higher end model earlier in the day. Good thing our economic stimulus check only allowed us to buy the cheaper model, or it would have been a pretty sad day! Steve the Salesman started selling, not realizing that he was speaking to a geek blog follower who knew more about the computer than he did. Finally, Steve brought out the gorgeous box and rang us up. And out we went. There's just no feeling in the world quite like carrying a new Mac out of the Apple store. Buyer's remorse is just not possible.

So life is pretty great around here. Yesterday, Rob sat in the family room watching the Buckeyes destroy Michigan State while he played on his MacBook. Can you think of a more perfect day? Just look at his face in this picture, taken upon our arrival home from the Apple store - talk about all your dreams coming true and living happily ever after!

Congrats, Rob. You deserve it!

"I do yoga," she said

Sometimes bedtime takes awhile to accomplish at our house. Ellie is good at stalling: "I need milk and water," "Want to read Cinderella," "Want one more song."

One evening this week she found a new tactic: do something bloggable. After jammies and a song or two, she suddenly announced, "I do yoga," and pulled herself into a down dog. How could we resist a few minutes of bedtime yoga?

Shenandoah Costume GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Shenandoah Costume GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Do you ever check Grosgrain? As a person who can't thread a needle, to say nothing of sewing on a button, I'm constantly amazed at what she creates. I'm dreaming of Ellie wearing this gorgeous southern antebellum dress. Isn't it amazing? Crossing my fingers that I win, although winning the Citrus giveaway and the Grosgrain give away in the same month would be a truly amazing stroke of luck!

This Week's Adventures

Here are a few more pictures of Matt from the past couple weeks. So cute!







And here are some of Ellie's recent adventures:


Yes, adventures with the highlighter. I was out of my office for no more than three minutes. When I came back, Ellie had climbed up on my desk, found the blue highlighter at the very back of it, and taken it to the floor for some experimentation.

The pool picture is Ellie and Claire Jensen. I finally captured a few photos of these pool buddies. Dani and I have been taking her twins and Ellie to the pool every week all summer, and we just realized that we don't have any pictures of these cute kiddos swimming in Nana's pool! We're always in the pool with them! So on a warm September evening when Mom was in town, and the Jensens were wonderful enough to have us for dinner and swimming, I captured a few photos to represent our favorite part of summer.

And here's how some tired parents spent part of General Conference. As has become tradition, we had Monica and Jon Gibson over for the weekend. Six months ago we both had toddlers. Now we have a toddler and newborn, and the Gibsons have a toddler and one in utero. So, yeah, fatigue is pretty much the standard these days. I snuck a photo of Rob while he was sleeping, and he retaliated by getting a photo of the rest of us later. Good thing we recorded all the sessions!

Matthew Bryant

He's here! Our little Matthew Bryant arrived on Friday, September 12. 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and 19 inches long (for those of you who require that level of detail). We are mostly grateful that he wasn't born in the car, because it was a pretty close call. Labor started at 6:00 a.m., we left for the hospital at 7:15, arrived at 7:30 or so, and Matt popped out at 7:49. So it was rather amusing, even for me.

While I insisted that we might have to pull over, Rob sped through wooded residential areas, taking sharp corners at 50 mph and running stop signs. My OB met us at the emergency room entrance with a wheelchair. I hopped in, and Rob began to wheel me down the hall. After a minute or so, my OB said, "You could push her a little faster. Actually, why don't you let me push her." And so Rob had to run behind while our doctor sped toward the labor & delivery room.

One of the frantic nurses started the triage process - as I was pushing. After Rob couldn't come up with my social security number, our doctor calmly said, "You know, let's do that part later. Right now we're going to deliver this baby." I think I actually laughed.

Now, Rob tends to panic a little bit about the whole labor process. At his request, I made him a labor & delivery binder: phone numbers, the plan for getting someone over to the house quickly to care for Ellie, where to go when we arrived at the hospital, and all the information triage would need (including my social security number, a copy of our insurance card, and our birth plan). The rest of the binder was full of prompts that Rob was supposed to give me at certain stages of labor. You know - relaxation affirmations and the like.

He left the binder in the car. With the lights on, unlocked, wallet and phone visible, blocking the emergency room entrance.

Rob wishes me to tell you that if I hadn't told him to make cookies for the nurses, delaying our departure by 15 minutes, we would have made it to the hospital in plenty of time. He also left the cookies in the car.

In any event, he's here and he's wonderful!