Glamour Shots

Mommy loves getting fresh air and enjoying her beautiful flowers in the front. Sometime, have her tell you about planting the violas (the purple flowers) and later the tulips (you can see a red one here).
Here's Mommy's new gateway to the outdoors. We didn't want Ethan to get too hot or get too much sunshine, so we found this 11' umbrella at Costco. It seems to be working perfectly and provided some great shade for Ethan's lunch. We're very excited about it's uses in the upcoming seasons!

Mom was here last week, and I got a chance to play with her 55-200mm lens. I thought this one came out quite nicely, thanks to my photogenic family and a bounce flash.

Dad and Son are having a yawning competition. I can't imagine why on Earth we'd be yawning...

Here's Lil' Bugger getting a bath. He seems to like them for the most part, although he has a concerned look on his face much of the time. The real question to ask about this photo is, "What is that stream of liquid hitting his chest?" If it's only on his chest, it's the water faucet. If it's in his face, ear, hair, on the counter, and possible on the bed, then he's peeing. I'm thinking he might be a fireman when he grows up.

It's amazing how much he likes to stretch and move his hands. Sooo cute!

Here's a snapshot when he was still and quiet. Those are hard to come by...

Ethan really wanted to hit the Dog and Duck Pub for St. Patty's day, but we decided a cute onesie and some green milk would have to do for this year.

Garden and Critter Update

Today, Mommy saw the first hummingbird of the year. He came to check out our massively blooming bottlebrush tree while we were feeding outside. While I was taking photos of the aloe vera bloom-stalks, Mr. Hummingbird came back and was silhouetted nicely against the gorgeous blue sky today.


Here's another shot of him:


The garden has been doing well lately. We've been eating spinach, cilantro, swiss chard, and Chiogga Beets (actually mainly just their greens, as we haven't found a great way to cook the beets yet). Those big plants in the back are the two artichokes that I planted a little over a year ago. They got much bigger than I thought they would!!!

Here's our first beet. We love the greens, but aren't yet fans of the beet.

These little ladybugs were trying to help out my garden, but they just didn't do enough, and didn't do it fast enough. The aphids pretty much killed off the rest of the broccoli and a few other miscellaneous relatives.

Not only do we have the beneficial ladybugs, but we also have these little bees. They were amazing to watch as they hopped from broccoli bloom to bloom. Some of the bees looked a little pollen-drunk, as they flew around in crooked patterns covered from head to tail in yellow.

Ethan is Growing

He went in for his 4 week checkup, and he's now up to 10lb, 14oz, and 23" long. He's still as hungry as ever, and we've been able to sneak in a couple of bottles of pumped milk over the past week so that he'll start getting used to it. Mommy and Daddy's anniversary was yesterday, and this allowed us to go out for a big dinner while grandma stayed with him and fed him. Yea for little bits of freedom!

Yeah, I know I need to add some pictures. Hopefully I'll have time for it soon...

Kids do the darnedest things

Ethan like to sneeze, especially when he is getting his diaper changed. I've been trying to capture this event on video, but have not yet succeeded. It seems that my hands are put to better use helping, rather than filming.
Although I don't have video, I do have this still shot taken during mid-sneeze. His arms come up, and everything gets wrinkled when he does it. He is VERY cute to watch in action.

I also caught him trying to flash the "I love you" sign in a semi-drowsy state. For my in-law's sake, I'll let them imagine that it's a hook 'em, but the rest of us know the truth... ;)

The Aphids in the garden better watch out...

The dang aphids have been having a heyday on my Broccoli leaves. I called around a few weeks ago looking for ladybugs for sale, but unfortuantely, it was too early in the season. Luckily, I found a GIANT ladybug in Ethan's room this morning, and I hope he will go terrorize those aphids soon!

Get to it, lil' monster!