We still exist!

Once again, I will try to get better about updating the blog. If anyone is even still out there looking at it ...

Here are some December pics:

Adoption Day - As anticlimactic as everyone said it would be.

But Garin did get to bang the gavel.

And the kids were cute in their cowboy shirts (they refused to pose well for a photo - though this does represent their current personalities quite well).

Moms and Kids-

Patriots fans:

And a self-snapshot:

Nyle's Birthday -

FIRE! Let me have the fire!

Ohmigod, the fire isn't the good part, there's sugar!

And presents. Which seem less exciting after the sugar.

Christmas -

Uncle Scott's in town!

Humm, oranges don't taste as good as they look.

Sleep Deprivation

Clearly I am not getting enough sleep. Yesterday I was so excited to post something new on the blog. So I did so. And then today I realized I had posted it on Garin's old blog. Which I haven't updated in about a year. Sheesh.

You can check out the post there if you want to see a cute video.
In the meantime, here's a picture:

Famiy Photo

Believe it or not, this is the first time (that we know of)
that the whole family has been in a picture together:

Nyle Underwater

Baby is learning to swim.

Helps to have friends with a cool underwater camera.

Garin is a rockstar

Or at least he wants to be. We went to a kids' concert this morning and he got up on stage afterwards. He mostly held that guitar like he was going to smash it while he belted out songs. Punk rock A-B-C's anyone?

Teeth for Nyle!

Yea! Nyle is finally starting a tooth! He also crawls and Jess swears that he pulled himself up to a stand and then let go of the couch and stood without holding on for several seconds. Too bad I can't ever seem to get pictures downloaded from the camera. Maybe next weekend.....

Family Poems

It's been rhyming time here this morning. Garin helped write poems about each family member and picked the colors for each of them:

Garin
Garin, Garin,
he lives on Leralynn.
He's moving to Texas
to be a cowboy!

Nyle
Baby Nyle
likes to smile.
He wants to eat
like a crocodile.

Jess
Momma Jess
she's a mess.
Momma Jess
she's the best!

Mel
Mama Mel
sometimes smells.
When she's a wreck
she likes to sit on the deck.

Cowboy World

For those who don't know, we're in the midst of moving. We'll be in Charleston until next week and then in Atlanta until sometime towards the end of June, then out to Austin. Call or email if you need our current address (I don't want to put stuff up online).

Garin is psyched about the move and insists on calling Texas "Cowboy World". Seriously, if we say, "blah, blah, blah, Texas," Garin says "NO! We don't call it Texas, we call it Cowboy World!" He also spends a lot of time wearing cowboy outfits and playing with his horse Gallop.

Nyle too cute

Who says baby 2 gets neglected when it comes to photos?

Abracadabra

Check it out:
I can take these egg shakers . . .And with my magic . . .

Turn Nyle into a bunny!

A couple more pictures from April

We haven't had the camera out much this month, we even forgot it when we took Nyle to the beach for the first time. (baby's first solid food = sand, probably not award-winning parenting, but it's true) Life is busy here as we prepare for our move back to Austin in about 8-10 weeks (with some time in Atlanta between CHAS and AUS).

Here's what we did catch on film:

Nyle learns to suck his thumb and dreams of going fishing:Garin has a sick day (allergies kept him up all night coughing)
so he spends some quality time with his brother:Nat comes to visit and they wear funny hats while pretending to paint:And Nyle grows a mustache:

Happy Spring Fertility Day!

The kids had lots of fun with eggs (ok, so rephrase: Garin had lots of fun with eggs, Nyle just kinda hung out and enjoyed the sunshine).

We visited a bunny in the park on Saturday:Dyed eggs with Brenda, Tim, and Miles:(Miles with his egg baby)

The boys in their nice clothes
(still hard to get them to pose well for a picture):
We went to dinner and an egg hunt at Jess' department chair's house:(extra credit if you can spot the egg -
the kids took quite awhile to find it)

Here is Nyle, the cyclops (or is it a "triclops"?), in a fighting stance:And a very sweet picture of Garin and Miles watching a marching band practice at the high school next to our house
(Garin loves to hold hands):

Roly-Poly (plus random March photos)

Last week Nyle started to get very good at rolling back to belly; now he flips himself all the time and then gets pissed that he's on his belly. But I just watched him roll belly to back for the first time so now he doesn't get stuck anymore! (This is much earlier than Garin started rolling - I guess it helps not to be quite so big - Nyle at 3 months was the same weight, 13 lb 5 oz, as Garin at 2 months.) Not easy to capture this in photos, but I wanted to make a note here so that whenever we wonder when Nyle started to roll, we'll be able to come back and check.

But here are some unrelated photos:

Garin and Miles sharing a gas-station snack on the way back from Atlanta (two weekends ago).

Ready to go to the beach for the first time this year (last weekend).Sunbathing on the deck upstairs (day before yesterday).

A Boy and his Monkey - take 2

Garin had his monkey love:

(Feb, 2007 - 5 mo.)Now Nyle does too:

(Mar, 2010 - 3 mo.)

It's a love fest . . .
Kissy-Kissy with the monkey:Oh no, I've been caught!Damn the paparazzi! They always get you.
My reputation is ruined.

Big Nyle

Just weeded out his clothes and had to get rid of everything size 6 mo and below. Kind of crazy since he's not even 3 mo yet.

But he's already working on the multi-chin look.

Nothing new

Nothing exciting to report from here, but here's a photo from today. Garin really wants to be able to pick Nyle up but so far he settles for holding him sitting down. One of these days, though, I'm sure he'll get ahold of him and try to carry him. (Garin often runs to him saying, "I'll get the baby!" when he cries. Of course, Garin also starts crying himself and says, "Make the baby stop crying!" at other times, it's not all angelic.)

Feel the Love

Momma Jess has been the preferred mom as of late; Mama Mel not so much. This was quite strikingly shown last week when Garin preferred to stay buckled in his car seat, alone in the car, in the cold, until Jess could come back and get him out (and she had taken Nyle inside to change him so there wasn't even an immediate return anticipated - nevertheless, he had a fit when I tried to get him out of the car).

But, I knew that all hope was not lost when this was the valentine he brought home from school:(In case you can't read the text, it says "I made you a Valentine, Mama Mel and my other mom. Love, Garin")

And honestly, it doesn't bother me at all to be out of favor, I know it switches frequently and it's a hell of a lot easier to not be the one called for all the time.

Proof of Snow

In case no one believed our previous post:

Last time he saw snow was two years ago.
(scroll down to bottom of the page)

It's SNOWING!

Not sure whether we'll manage to get any photos of it, but Garin is pretty excited that he's getting to stay up early and watch it snow. It never snows here. We'll see how long it lasts; it sure is pretty in the meantime.

Fat Babies

Good thing we like fat babies around here.Even though he was born over a pound smaller than Garin, when Nyle went to the doctor at six weeks he weighed 12 lb (with clothes) while Garin weighed 11lb 14oz (naked) at six weeks so they seem to be about the same at this point.

"Look mom, we're twins!"

That's what Garin said to me yesterday (about himself and Nyle). And to look at these pictures, you might think it's almost true - not only do they look a lot alike, but they seem to have the same expressions and mannerisms already!They're very sweet together. (Nyle has learned the 'Power to the People" pose already!)