8 Years

As of this last Monday, I have been married to my best friend for 8 YEARS! Wow.

A little more hair...

A little less tan.

A few more guitars...

A lot less time to play them.

Same tiny (but happy) apartment...

one more person living there.

In all, I think it has been a fantastic 8 years. Alex: I ADORE YOU! Thanks for being such a great husband, for being my best friend, for being a fun bandmate, for being a fantastic father to our son, and for still being my consort after this many years.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Hi Da!

My son is absolutely enamored with his dad. This new development is very welcomed! The first thing he says in the morning is "Da Da!" We go and find dad and Edgar lights up. He loves to wave bye-bye to dad when he leaves for work...and then he watches out the window to see if dad waves on his way to the car.

Edgar also insists on calling dad on the phone during the day. He often picks up the phone and pretends to talk to dad, "Hello? Hi Da!"
This video is oh so cute...sorry that it's blurry! But the audio itself is worth it (=

When Alex comes home from work, Edgar screams, "DA DA!" and crawls super fast to the door to great him. He insists on being picked up so that he can examine dad's buttons, headphone cords, tie, and beard.

At bedtime Edgar loves to tease his dad by offering a kiss, and then shaking his head no at the last second...only to change his mind a plant a big slobbery kiss on dad's face.

What a sweet boy! What a sweet dad!

9 Months

This cute kiddo has now spent more time out of the womb than in (=
Edgar is getting to be very inquisitive and talkative. He wants to know the sound for the things he is interested in. Fun stuff Edgar says:

"bah" for ball (785 times a day), "dah" for dog, "ca" for cat

ma-ma, da-da

"na-na" for nursing, "numa-num" for food, smacks his lips together when he wants a drink

What does a dog say? "aaaawwoo" or he pants with an open mouth

What does a cat say? "eeeooow, eeeeooow"

What does a cow say? "mbooo, mbooo"

What does a monkey say? "oooo ooo ahh ahh"

telephone is "hah!" ("hi") with his hand to his ear

Should we check your diaper? *shakes head side to side*

"OW!" said right before he pulls mom or dad's hair or bites mom.

He is crawling super fast, standing whenever there is something to pull up on, and walking (nearly running) around any place he has something to hold on to.

He discovered the stairs, and proceeded to crawl all the way up (with daddy close behind) and knock on the door to the upstairs neighbor's.

Luckily the stairs are in a landing that can be closed off with doors. We are now very careful about closing the door behind us every time we move rooms (=

Food is always an adventure. At Skippers last week the nice old man brought Edgar some J-E-LL-O ("I hope I'm not interfering ma'am."). That's fine with me old man, you are the one cleaning the floors!

Edgar was super excited to realize he could take off his own bib. I was not quite as excited as he.


Peek-a-boo!

Our answer to being cooped up this winter: Weekend Adventures! In the last few weeks we have been to the Sea Lion Caves (Edgar thought they were dogs), The Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center (Edgar thought the yellow-bellied marmot was a dog), and some little towns near Eugene (Edgar thought Greta's My Pet Monster was a dog...I'm starting to think that any non-cat, non-cow animal must be a dog in his eyes).

Edgar and me at the museum in The Dalles. We were on a boat.

Edgar and Alex chillin' at the Builders and the Butchers concert.

For the most part, life is grand. There is a bit too much biting, and not quite enough sleeping--but all in all, we are very blessed.

The Danita Photoshoots

Danita finally sent us our professional photos about a month ago--but it has taken me this long to get them posted! She did a FANTASTIC job with our prenatal and newborn pictures. She even went through and did some photo-editing and made some beautifully artistic photos! Here are my favorites. There are a lot. Sorry. This IS me choosing just a couple of my favorites!

(All photos by Danita Pappas. The maternity photos were taken at the Oregon State Capital at approx. 37 weeks. The new baby photos were taken in our backyard and house when Edgar was just over a week old.)

To Jesus, with love

This last week at church, one of our Sunbeams (age 3 kids) had drawn a picture during class. He also had a small card with a picture of Jesus. He went to his teacher and said, "I want to give these pictures to Jesus."

Ah. How adorable. "That's so wonderful." She says. Then, confused, she watches him walk resolutely across the primary room and hand his pictures to my husband Alex.

Alex, completely oblivious, grins and says, "Thank you!" Then, pointing to the card, "Who is this a picture of?" Beaming, the child answers, "Jesus!"

"That's right!" commends Alex.

Upon his return, the boy's teacher says, "Um, I don't think that is Jesus, honey. That is Brother Carmichael." The Sunbeam looks at a nearby picture of Jesus...looks back at Alex...and firmly replies, "Yes, I'm sure it is Jesus."

Lucky kid to have Jesus as his Primary Chorister!