Howie & His Buddies

Howie has been playing outside like a madman over the past several months. It's been so much fun for me to watch him learn how to ride his little bike (yes, a girl's bike that cost $10 on craigslist to which we added the spoke beads that I always wanted when I was a kid... that's definitely living vicariously through my child) and run around with his little pals and pretend. I love it! It just reminds me how much he is growing and changing because when we moved here he wasn't even walking yet! Yesterday some of them were playing duck duck goose and Howie apparently thought he was the perpetual goose because he basically got up and ran anytime anyone was the goose. I love listening in on their little conversations too. (Howie to one of his lady friends: "You're a princess. I'm a man-princess." etc.) I'm so grateful that God has provided such good friends for Howie in this season of our lives!

(P.S.- I wish you could see Howie's pants better in that picture- they're old man plaid skinny pants. They're so funny.)

Look What I'm Wearing

It's so cold outside today!! Yay!! I woke up this morning, it was 71 inside our apartment, and I had to put on a sweatshirt. I've been dreaming about wearing sweatshirts and sweaters and scarves over the long summer, especially when it was back to 90 last week... I'm sooo over summer (at least for now... by December I'll be blogging about how bad I want summer to come back). Now it's down to 69 in our apartment and I can't wait to pull out some warm jams for the boys to wear to bed and think about that space heater down in the basement!! YAY!! I almost made some hot chocolate last night I was so euphoric about fall coming. This might be a wee bit premature since it will probably warm back up for a while, but for now I can just be glad for what's coming. Until after Christmas, when summer can come back.

Oh, How Things Change

That was then...

This is now...

Newest Obsessions: finding electrical cords to pull on, pulling books off the shelf to thumb through and occasionally rip pages out (including Mama's Bible... oops), pulling down the floor lamp in the living room, eating random items on the floor (yuck), laughing hilariously at big brother, standing up and shrieking like a maniac

What?

Josh: Howie, what's your favorite animal in the zoo?

Howie: The poo.

On The Move

It's official... this guy is mobile! He's crawling and doing headstands and trying to figure out how to stand up. It's so funny to me how different he is from Howie at that age! Justice is already creating the need for way more babyproofing than Howie ever has in his whole life. I'm so curious to see how he continues to develop and what kinds of things he'll enjoy. So far his favorite things are taking whatever Howie is playing with (much to Howie's frustration, usually) and exploring dusty corners of the house. Makes for LOTS of sharing/kindness conversations and I've also developed a new zeal for cleaning!! Yay!!

A Sweater For Howie

The Goal:

The Progress:

We've got a back and a left front... working on the right front, still have to knit sleeves and the collar and then sew it all together! Knitting this sweater has been such a fun project this summer. Thankfully it's still infernally hot so I've got some time to finish before cool weather sets in. Once it's done Howie's other shirts and sweaters are going to mysteriously disappear so he has to wear this every day. You only think I'm kidding.

Sometimes I Feel Like a Vampire (Warning: this is gross.)

OK, not to go back to Twilight, but sometimes I really do feel like a vampire. Does anyone remember the part when Edward has to bite Bella and suck her blood or else she's going to die? He knows he's going to love it so much he doesn't know if he can quit and then she'll definitely die? Anybody with me? (If you haven't seen Twilight, don't bother... you can still follow what I'm saying.) Here is my point: having eczema is a lot like being a vampire.

This outbreak was several weeks ago now and I'm much better, but there is nothing that feels better than scratching the heck out of this skin. It's like you don't even know how bad it itches until you start scratching, and then it just feels so good you get shivers and you have to keep scratching until it's just bad- everything is oozy and raw and cracked and bleeding and swollen and then you're sorry that you started because it's going to be days before you can touch water and bend your fingers without wincing. If you don't want to get to that point you have to just leave it alone and never touch it, because if you start, that's most definitely how it's going to end unless you have some serious self-control. That's why I feel like Edward: if I start (scratching mind you, not sucking blood), I have to keep going. Stopping before my victim, my own skin, is dead is next to impossible.