Rainy Day Parade

 Saturday, we headed downtown for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. We have gone the last few  years and always seem to catch a quick break in the March rain for the parade viewing. This year was no different! While it was dumping rain at our house, downtown Bellingham was pretty dry.

 We met up with Clem's buddy Taylor and her mom Susan. They had green glitter hair spray paint with them. So the girls took turns spraying green glitter in each other's hair.

 This is a fairly short, low key parade but you wouldn't have known it from the girls' excitement! They waited patiently for the festivities to begin. There were marching bands and horse drawn carriages as well as community organizations in this parade, but no floats, really.

We were lucky again this year as the rain stayed away until the very end when it started dumping again.

Stand up

 This weekend Dutch was introduced to his stand up activity table! There are lots of things to see and do and hear on this toy.

 Clementine came over to demonstrate and introduce baby brother to this crazy contraption. (Can you tell this was on St. Patrick's day??)

 And before long, this boy had the hang of it, all by himself.

I love his "concentrating" face. Lower lip sticking out, he completely ignores me when I try to get his attention. He is totally focused on his task.

Even when that task is tasting.

NINE MONTHS!!???!!

 My baby boy is nine months old. I have to will myself NOT to choke up when I say those words out loud. Nine whole months. My baby. Cam likes to remind me, our LAST baby (then I really can't hold back the tears).

 A month ago, the word I used to describe this boy was INTENSE. And I'm happy to say, things are WAY less intense around here and far more happy. Now the one word I would use to describe this boy is BUSY.

He is constantly moving. He never stops. Ever. For the last 3 months, he's failed to maintain his weight because he gets cardio 24 hours a day. He is busy busy busy. But oh, so very happy.

At nine months old he is able to say Mama (appropriately!) and can/has said DaDa but is pretty picky about when he'll say it. He can crawl and loves to cruise. He's eating all kinds of fruit and veggies purees and even got to experience his first frozen yogurt, thanks to Daddy. Big sister Clementine is his  hero and he wants whatever she has and attempts whatever it is she's doing. His hair is growing in thicker by the day and yes, it's totally strawberry blonde (like mama's once upon a time!).

We love this little man of ours.

Spring Training

 With blue skies and t-ball on the brain, Cam set about teaching Clementine the basics of batting and catching.

Which she took ever so seriously, as you can tell. 

 But she did get the hang of it...

 ...sort of.

 Then, as Dutchy and I watched, they  moved on to catching. There was a whole lot of giggling and goofing around from one player in particular.

But she did get the hang of catching and even better, at throwing. Watch out for this future outfielder.

A (short) Walk in the Woods

 

Last weekend, we decided to brave the frosty weather while it stayed dry. Maybe it was the documentary we showed Clem about the world of insects, or maybe we just needed to shake off the germs three of the four members of our household have been fighting off since November (seriously, four months; the only reasonable explanation is that they have the plague). Anyhow, we HAD to get out of the house, if only for a little while.

We hit up one of our favorite spots for walking and playing: Whatcom Falls!

Future Entomologist, Clementine brought her magnifying glass along on our walk so that she may compare her findings to those of the documentary we had watched earlier that day (did you know that snails MAKE OUT with each other?? Disgusting but true). 

Dr. Clementine found little evidence of mating snails, but she did note lots of "chippy" wood.

 

Here was my view with Dutch in the Moby and my beloved up ahead with our girl.

I love it when Dutch photobombs my pictures!

We had a lovely walk over the falls, down and around through the trees and back up again next to the swiftly moving river. We so needed to clear our lungs and wipe some of that cooped up energy off each one of us.

Mama's Boy

 

See that gorgeous boy right there? He's mine. And in case ya forget, he'll remind you.

 

 

 

 From time to time, Sasquatch Daddy will do. But there are strict rules to adhere to: there must be rough housing and/or tickling. Playing cars is also an acceptable distraction.  And Daddy acceptance lasts for mere seconds.

 

 

 

But rest, comfort, snuggles, reassurance? That only comes from one person: Mama.

 

 

Through and through, this is Mama's Boy.

 

(And I eat up every minute of it.)



Why I love age 5

 Among the chaos of our days, this girl gives me some real gems. I love age 5 for all it's goofiness, wit and totally unexpected surprises.
Here are some of her latest:
"Mama, I love you bigger than Target." (Not sure if she's talking about my ranking in order of me vs. Target or the actual volume of the store.)

 Twice in the last week, we have been stuck in situations where couples are making out. While at the grocery store last week, I let Clem sit in the front seat with me while I nursed Dutch. In front of us was an incredibly passionate couple (ahem). "BOY! They are REALLY in love with each other! Do you think their lips are tired?"

 One day she was taking my picture and she said "Smile pretty mama!" and I gave her  my best grin. She put the camera down and said "I think you could try a little harder, mom."

Recently she has discovered my stache of classroom books out in the garage. (Yes, they've been out there for 5 years, so what??? *wink*) She found a book on Frida Kahlo and has read it several times in the last few days. I also showed her some of Frida's art online. Clementine has decided that instead of being an animal doctor, she'd like to be a "hairy artist." True story.