Six Months

Six months ago, today, we welcomed our beautiful son into the world. And six months ago, yesterday, Ib smoked his last cigarette. Two immeasurable blessings within 24 hours.

It has been an amazing journey so far.

Each and every day when I get Knox out of bed, he greets me with a smile from ear to ear.

His happiness is contagious. Even at 2:00 in the morning.

Watching him learn and grow and discover fills my heart with joy.

And taking in precious moments, like this, make me stop and appreciate being the luckiest girl in the world.

Overflowing love. Always.

Huked on Fonix Werked 4 Me

This made last week's grocery shopping experience much more entertaining than usual.

But this is the real tender lion.

I'll take all 16 pounds of that beefcake!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Thursday was a beautiful day in Tucson...blue skies, sunny and 78°. The perfect day for a baseball game!

Our company gets tickets to the Spring Training games every year. So my supervisor, Bud, invited Ib, Knox and me to go. Really, I think he just wanted to hang out with Knox!

He was quite the little VIP at the ball park. Even the lady at the beer stand took his picture with Daddy. Everyone said how cute and asked how old he was. It was his 25-week birthday.

The Diamondbacks hosted the Chicago Cubs. As usual, we had great seats. Five rows up from the Cubbies' dugout.

Knox wasn't too interested in the game. He was definitely interested in our nachos, though, and was "this close" to getting away with a fistful of cheese.

It was a long afternoon for a little guy, though. He fell asleep on my shoulder just before the 7th inning stretch. I hummed along and swayed to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" anyway, just so he wouldn't miss out on his first experience.

Maybe next year, once his teeth come in, he can try those peanuts and CrackerJacks.

For the Birds (and the Bees)

Spring has sprung here in the desert. We had our first 80° days this past week. The weather is gorgeous!

Yesterday we found ourselves at the Desert Museum. Ib's cousin, Kevin, came to town on business and got in touch with us last-minute. Luckily, our plans for the day consisted of "staying home and doing nothing", so we jumped at the chance to meet up with him and spend the day together.

I was on a hot-streak with my pictures yesterday, and managed to capture some decent shots of birds (which are usually very hard for me) and flowers.

The first time I've seen the Century Plant blooming. It was pretty amazing.

Even the elusive cardinal was out and about, and posed for a few shots. He was a youngster, though, so I can't take all the credit. He hasn't perfected his "fly away at the last second" technique, yet.

The pin-cushion cacti were in full bloom.

I love the orange blooms on this aloe plant. Our aloe in the backyard has some lovely yellow blooms, but this one just looked like fire in the desert.

And it was our lucky day in the hummingbird aviary. There were several nesting birds and one nest with 4 tiny, fuzzy hummingbird babies. The mother bird was scooping up bugs and buzzing anyone who got too close to her nest. We were there just at the right moment, as she swooped down into the nest and fed the hungry babies. It was fascinating, and we were so fortunate to have witnessed such a sight.

What a wonderful day, filled with such beauty.

Guess That Mess

Knox has embarked on quite the culinary adventure. He's tried all sorts of new foods in the past month or so. We've put Gerber to the test...as well as made some of our own. He doesn't seem to be a picky eater. At least, not yet. And he already eats more different types of veggies than his dad.

Believe it or not, most of the food ends up in his belly. But not before I capture the moment. Can you guess what Knox ate?

Sweet Potatoes.

Rice Cereal & Bananas.

Carrots.

Green Beans.

Blueberries & Rice Cereal.

More Bananas.

Squash.

Whatever is on the menu, Cooper would like to share. And Knox is happy to oblige.

The Other Baby

Though they haven't been getting nearly enough attention since that "other" baby came along...we haven't forgotten about our four-legged children. Last week, Vinnie nearly chewed the pad completely off his paw. He must have gotten a thorn stuck in it, or maybe stung by a bee. Either way, the results weren't pretty. His paw was red and swollen and he was hobbling around, pretty pathetically.

We decided to put some Neosporin on it and wrap it so he wouldn't lick the medicine. He chewed off the bandage within seconds. So we thought we'd try a cone. Of course, we don't just have cones lying around, so we decided to try to make one.

Ib got to work with the scissors and duct tape.

It was a pretty good fit.

And we recycled!

Vinnie was NOT amused. He struggled and thrashed to get out of it the minute we put him down. We kept putting Neosporin on it anyway...right before bed, so he didn't bother to stay awake long enough to lick it. Luckily, he seems to have healed up.

Little does he know that he's got an appointment with the doggy dentist the end of April. Poor Vinnie. I don't think this is the kind of attention he's been hoping for.

Duck, Duck, Deuce...

When the family was in town for the gem show, Reef and Tawnisha were telling us how much fun they have taking baths with Zander. He gets to go in the "big tub" and he loves splashing around.

So, I thought, what the heck. I'll give it a try. I got out Knox's rubber duckies from Tia Arely for their maiden voyage. I filled the tub and got the temperature juuuuuust right.

I climbed in first, and then I lifted Knox over the side. He was pretty excited to be in all that water. He started splashing around right away.

"Look, Knox!" I told him, pointing at his ducks. "There's one, two, three yellow ducks. One purple duck. One brown duck...hey, that's not a duck!"

That's right: Knox dropped a deuce in the bath tub. And I had nowhere to go. I called Ib for help, but he couldn't do much while he was laughing. I was just trying to avoid the floater and hoping there were no more kids getting dropped off at the pool.

Finally, Ib took the baby (after we re-diapered him in the tub) so I could at least pull the plug. Then, I took a nice, hot shower. By myself.

So it was back to the blue tub for Knox: Bath time with Daddy, and some clean rubber duckies.

Maybe we'll try again some other day...after a diaper change.