Pics from Vernon trip

Went to Vernon for a few days work and the weekend.  Si (+ Riles) had a great time playing on dad's toys.  Some pics below.

Riles is driving!

 Huge smiles all around

I had the car for some meetings, Si had Riles at a park for a few hours.  I asked how it went.  Si responds great.  He found a tennis ball and a hill, and Riles was entertained for hours.  Until he found the dog poo that is.  Way more fun.

Riles is officially walking.  He discovered he can walk with TWO cars - one in each hand!  Its not his preferred mode of movement.  Hold on tight folks, the chaos is just beginning.

Character

Somehow in the last two weeks we realized that Riles absolutely understands what we say... not just the "where is your dad?" simple stuff, but "can you point at the dog in the picture" and "what does a fish do (pop mouth)?" etc.  He loves reading and will happily hang out reading a book out loud and doing all the animal sounds and pretend counting (no actual numbers, just the timing - one - two- three- four - five!) just as we read it to him.  There's even a 50% chance the book is right side up!  He's also much more mobile with multiple walks a day although I'd say his modus normalus is still crawling pushing a truck (or box of spaghetti or a rock) saying 'vroom'.

Garden is planted.  Will take pictures when the weather isn't disgusting.


On the whole work-life balance... does such a thing actually exist?  It's eluding me.  Feeling overwhelmed.

Wagons and Tulips

We start with some pics of the wagon Wogs (Si's dad) made Riles... isn't it lovely?  Riles is thrilled and can't wait to push tiger around in it.

Yesterday was Colleen's bday party.  I took a bunch of pics of Riles + Mads, but of course none worked out.  This one below pretty much sums up Riles giving up as Maddie had successfully stolen his toys AGAIN.

Good thing she's so cute.

Happy birthday!

Today we went to Mount Vernon, WA to see the tulips.  They were gorgeous.  I learned a lot about how *not* to take pictures of tulips/daffodils, but either way, hope you can see a bit of how lovely it was.

 Riles has my ugly feet, loved the feel of mud on his toes

 We had a throw-in-air theme going on today.  Love it how in almost every picture he's holding a flower.

Finally, Riles' second molar is coming through now.  He's loving chewing on biltong (SAfrican beef jerky).  Below is a sequence while we're driving where he's chewing and falls asleep.   I have been replaced.

Yum biltong

 Eyes are getting heavy

 I'll just rest my eyes as I continue to chew

 out for the count

heaven

Photos!

Thanks to Louise, we have some amazing photos of our growing family.

 This was about 20 seconds before he fell flat on his face... he usually just falls on his bum.  Poor kid!

 His left molar in, two new front teeth, and right molar is currently trying to come through.  What a trooper.  Those teeth look sore!

 My absolute favorite picture.  Love love love it.

First steps!

Riles has been cruising for a while, and takes the occasional step to get from the coffee table to the couch for example. 

However, last night I was attempting to put a very excited Riles to bed.  He was thrilled in playing a game where he would crawl across the room, pick up a sock from his cupboard, then crawl back to dump it on my lap. 

Until he decided to walk it that it!  Wobbly and slow, but he walked the whole way across the room and made it to the cupboard before he fell down.  At least 6 steps.

Proud momma!  So happy I was there for it.

More photos

Thrilled to have more pictures from our friend Louise from Sunday... posted to her blog here.
http://www.gc-photography.net/

Si was whining that he hated having his pic taken, yet my favorite pic is the one with him holding riley smiling.  Those are my boys.

Lou, huge thanks again.

bike ride

Just downloaded the pics from this past weekend's bike adventures.  Our little boy is just too cute.

I think he's going to wear his helmet everywhere from now on.

And our requisite wagon pic...

Photos

I'm still in the dog house for having put our camera somewhere very "safe".  However, my friend Louise saved the day with a photo session yesterday!  What a treat!  Lots more pics coming, but I thought you'd want to see what she sent so far:

Aren't my boys handsome?

PS I bite my words on almost spring.  Pouring.

Low flo

Si installed our new low-flow toilet today.  Riles immediately figured out the handle and any water savings from its intended use are offset by Riles flushing the toilet all day long.

Tonight we took Riles on his first-ever bike ride. He *loved* it.  I loved his helmet, which is just ridiculously cute and huge one a 1year old.  I think he should wear it everywhere!

Photos as soon as I can find our camera.  I had it last and you know what that means...