One of the Squeaky Wheels

I was cooking dinner the other night and Nash was walking (yes, walking!) around the kitchen with the lid of a pot in his hand.  While my back was turned he climbed into this wooden crate all on his own. In the last month it just seems that he has grown so much that he hardly resembles our favorite baby of the family that he once was. Don't get me wrong, he's still a family favorite, he's just not so much a baby anymore.

Nash's growing doesn't keep me from singing to him every time I get him out of the crib a little ditty I made up after smelling a dirty diaper upon opening the door to his closet.  It goes a little something like this...

"Good morning to you,
you smell like a zoo,
good morning dear Nashy Boy,
good morning to you!"

At 16 months Nash is a lot of fun, but there is definitely a lot of Glaser in him.  What I mean by that is that our sweet baby boy is beginning to throw tantrums.  Huge tantrums.  There is no way he could have learned this behavior so quickly, so it just reminds me that genetics are such a big part of who we are.

One of the primary sources of Nash's meltdowns usually involve being left behind.  When he notices people heading toward the mudroom and getting their shoes on, he goes on high alert.  It's been rather inconvenient because he can now open our doors because they have a lever handle instead of a knob.  He's also getting taller which gives him the height he needs to cherry pick off counters and table tops.

After going 10 days without any milk, I've determined by a very scientific study (ha!) that Nash is indeed allergic to milk, even raw milk which isn't supposed to happen as much.  When we got back from the beach I started pumping him full of milk because we had a lot to drink before the end of the week when we picked up 2 more gallons and with in two days, the rash on the apples of his cheeks was back.  He drinks water and we give him a little bit of yogurt and cheese and he seems to be doing fine. At least we can give him almond flour pancakes which makes life easier at breakfast time.

Below is a list of some of Nash's 16 month old preferences and tricks.

*He LOVES this Cozy Coupe car so much that I've brought it inside and it now lives in our kitchen.

*When Nash is really pleased about something (particularly when he has our attention in the car) he coos like a pigeon.  How do I know he sounds like a pigeon?  We watch a lot of Curious George.  :)

*The kid is crazy for digital clocks.  I think it was one of the first words I could actually understand. Mark's family got a kick out of the fact that I brought my mini travel alarm clock out to dinner with us so Nash could be occupied by pushing the button to light up the screen.

*Nash also loves to play with the play kitchen that is in Stella's room.  I hope he likes to cook as much as Luke then my boys can take over my kitchen duties.

*I've really gotten L.A.Z.Y. on the baby signs with kid #4.  He does the ""eat" and "all finished" sign and that's about as far as we've gotten.  I need to get the Baby Signs book out because Lord help us if he talks as late as Stella. 

* I am also not very good at deciphering baby talk.  Nash could be saying lots more words than I give him credit for, but baby talk isn't always clear and I'm a little slow.   Besides "clock", Nash says "mom", "da,da", "Stella", "bye", and "thank you" on occasion.

*When he's not being adorable, Nash is opening doors, playing in unattended toilets, and taking his diaper off. And let's not forget throwing his blankets and pacifier out of his crib and chucking food off his high chair.

*Nash's favorite foods are butternut squash, sweet potatoes, sausage and pancakes. 

I know that some might find my penchant for photography annoying and slightly overboard, but I can't stand the thought of our kids growing up and forgetting all the fun (and not so sweet) things they used to do.  The hard drive on our computer might not agree with this logic, but I'm afraid I will blink and they'll be all grown up.  I'm in the process of getting some of the photos off the computer and on to my walls.  I share more about that project later.

Kings Island Obsessed

We live minutes from Kings Island so certain members of our family (Nash and I not included) are either talking about it, looking at a KI map, or are there riding the rides.  It's so bad that our dinner time conversation usually includes some comment about eating vegetables so the kids can grow taller and therefore ride bigger, more exciting rides.  Poor Luke (who hardly ever eats dinner or lunch for that matter) will not likely be much taller next year then he is now.

I took pity on my family and went with them to Kings Island on Thursday.  It's not that I don't like it exactly, it's just so dang hot and I prefer to enjoy some quiet time at home with Nash while Mark takes the other crazies away.

 I did enjoy myself while I was there riding a few roller coasters just like the old days.  Except it wasn't just like the old days because I'm old and I scream more now.  I got a kick out of riding The Beast with Brooke who was kind enough to console a 10 year old who was riding for the first time.  She was really sweet and is suddenly really brave.  She insists on sitting in the front seat which is a little scary.  She rode The Vortex which goes upside down and is now eating all her veggies so she can ride Fire Hawk soon.  You are witnessing a miracle here for sure!

While Brooke and I were riding roller coasters, Mark took Luke, Stella and Nash on some rides in Planet Snoopy.

This was Nash's first time riding any rides and Mark reports that he loved every minute and threw HUGE tantrums when he had to get off. Luke was a super big brother and held onto Nash when necessary and was so sweet in general.

I joked with Mark that my days off will be even quieter now that Nash likes Kings Island too. 

Now the only problem is that Brooke wants to ride more exciting big kid rides while no one else is tall enough!  My, how things change in a few short months!  It's no wonder Mark can even fall asleep at night thinking about the progress being made in the realm of amusement parks.  The word on the street is that my husband is a complete dork, but I love him anyway since he takes the kids with him.  :)

Nashy Boy Adds Walking and Boat Driving to His Resume

 Least you should think that our entire summer is just one blissful day after another, I need to tell you that last week Luke puked on the kitchen floor while I was making breakfast because he was so hungry from not eating dinner the night before.  That same day, Luke locked me out of the house because he was angry with me.  So you see, I'm still here in the trenches, I just didn't photograph the vomit on my floor to share with you all.

Summer is always busy for us because Mark likes to play.  If he's not working, he's at Kings Island (which I have to mention that Brooke has found her bravery and is now riding all the roller coasters her height will allow and Mark is in heaven!).  If he's not working or at Kings Island, we're at my in-laws lake house.  He goes back to work, I do laundry and break up fights and try to live another day without losing my mind. One week rolls into the next and then school is starting again.  NNnnooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

 So this past weekend I convinced Mark to stay away from Kings Island long enough to spend two days at the lake.  We found that Nashy truly can walk and will ride on the boat for as long as he's allowed to "drive".  My precious boy is getting WAY TOO BIG. 

 This boy is driving me insane and giving us fits.  I don't want to talk about that.

 The weather was so nice on Saturday that I wasn't even hot enough to swim in the lake.  I took pictures instead.  :)

 This one is a case too.  Cute as the day is long, but so stinkin' loud.  She screeches when things don't go her way which I'd gladly put her in time out except the majority of the time it's Brooke or Luke's fault for being mean to her. Phew!  Sometimes parenting isn't all that fun.

Stella told me last week, "I like boogers in my mouth" when I told her not to pick her nose and eat it.

 Grandma Kathy bought a new and improved tube that can hold up to four people.  Our life just got easier and so much faster now that they don't have to take turns.  Cousin Emily was along for ride too!

 Mark reminded me a few weeks ago that it's hard to really pin point when our kids started walking (except for Brooke because my friend Christa captured the blessed event on video while we were visiting her in Chicago).  Mark pointed out that one day we just notice that our kids have gone from crawling mostly to walking some and then walking more than crawling.  He said then one day you look around and realize that the kid is just walking.  I'm happy that Nash is off and walking because I want him to have more freedom outside without the scraped up knees, but I'm S.A.D. that my baby is a big boy.  He can walk, but he's still going to sleep in my closet.  :)

 He and Stella were enjoying the kiddie pool on the deck overlooking the lake.  It's the red neck version of an infinity pool.  :)

 Check out Nash's stomach!  This kid has been eating and eating and growing and growing.  The baby is due the end of September.  I could take him to Walmart like this and he'd fit in...no shirt, big belly, no problem.

The summer feels like an all out sprint.  Hurrying to have fun before it's over.  Brooke told me today she wants to start on next years math to get a head start.  First the roller coasters and now math??!!  If she starts selling crack next week I guess I won't be surprised.  :)  I've gotta rest up I'm on the "laundy, trying not kill anyone while Mark is at work" leg of the week and that requires more sleep and less partying until the wee hours of the morning.  Hope your week is off to a good start.

Sweetness and Light

 The other night after dinner and baths Luke and Nash were playing in what we've coined "Nash's New Room".  I don't want you to get the wrong idea, Nash still sleeps in our closet, but sometimes when I need a safe place to put him when we're upstairs, they play in what will be Nash's room someday.  He may have to stay in there until he's five because I love him in our closet.  I have a problem because I don't want him to ever grow up.  I suppose there's therapy for that. 

I snapped these sweet photos of Nash and Luke playing.  I couldn't resist with the way the light was illuminating the whole scene.  The whole thing was sweetness and light. 

 Baby's got back with his overnight diaper combo on.  It's a cloth diaper with two inserts.  He hardly ever leaks, but it does appear that he has a lot of junk in his trunk.

 LOVE.

 In my spare time I train him to do tricks like this.  I'm thinking of taking him on the road to earn a little extra cash for our new A/C combo.

I love pacifiers.  I love them so much for their ability to hush a fussy baby.  It's a good thing Stella never took a pacifier because she's so fussy some days I would probably let her have it back just for a few minutes peace and quite.  Do you think it's too late for me to train her to take one?  It's my fussy 3.5 year old (and my 5 year old that locks me out of the house and my 7 year old that didn't eat dinner last night because she didn't want to wash her hands at the kitchen sink before dinner) that keeps me grounded and able to appreciate quite moments like Nash and Luke playing peacefully before bed.  If only I could script a few more of these little events I might not feel like I'm five minutes from the nut house.

3 Days Hot

 Last Sunday we walked through the doors of our church noticing that the doors were propped open.  Mark and I looked at each other with that unspoken "this can't be good" glance passing between us.  It didn't have a happy ending.  It was so hot by the end of Mass that I had to sit down because I thought I was going to pass out.  Thankfully, I didn't and I figured we'd go home to our little slice of air conditioned heaven and all would be well.  When we walked in the house I felt the heat and humidity immediately.  After a quick glance at the thermostat, our suspicions were confirmed, our A/C was also broken.

I have to say that as bummed as we were I was also extremely thankful that the temperatures weren't in the 100's anymore.  We ate breakfast and lunch outside on our back deck because there is shade until 1 PM and then we ate dinner out for two nights.  We also slept in the basement which is quite comfortable, temperature wise.  Stella wise, not so much.  The girl needs to be on solitary lock down at bedtime in order for her to settle down and go to sleep.  The first night she didn't fall asleep until 9:30 and was singing and yelling just to cause a stir.  It's times like this I feel like strangling her.

 I kind of felt like we were camping.  It was hot all the time. We had all the windows open and the back door which had to be gated off when Nashy Boy was awake.

 Speaking of my Nashy Boy who turned 16 months old as a few days ago, he has started walking a little bit here and there through out the day, but still mostly crawls.  It seems like he should be fully walking in the next few weeks which would put him as the 3rd slowest walker in the family.  Stella walked at 13 months, Brooke 15 months, I'm estimating Nash at 16 months (Lord Willing!), and Luke at 17 months.  Nash's knees are scraped up and the tops of his feet are always dirty from dragging around on the floor.

 By Tuesday morning, day 3 of no A/C, I thought I would lose my mind.  At the hottest it was 86 on the main level and upstairs was pretty unbearable.  I didn't do laundry for those days because our laundry is on the 2nd floor and it was already so bloody hot I couldn't imagine adding to it. 

We ended up shelling out big money to replace our furnace and the A/C because we were told by multiple sources that ours was on it's last leg and not at all efficient.  It's never a good sign when the salesman says that we have the biggest residential unit going, so we knew we'd probably have to sell a kidney or two to pay for it.  God is so good though because even though it cost a small fortune, Mark got a pay raise on July 1st because of a new pilot contract.  It's not really what we wanted to spend the extra money on, but I'm so grateful of that new possibility.  And besides, when you're sweating like mad, it's worth every penny.  We're now taking donations if you'd like to contribute. :)

An Un-BEE-lievable Experience

 The opportunity of a lifetime came my way this afternoon when my neighbor, Sandy called to say that the men cutting down trees in her backyard cut down a bee tree.  The men couldn't obviously do anything more to the tree with all the bees around, so they left and then she asked us if we wanted to come by and check it out for ourselves. Yes, please!

 I was able to get within 6 feet of this fallen tree and these thousands of bees.  I've come along way from my childhood where I was petrified of any bee within my line of sight!

 It was estimated by my neighbor's two bee keeping friends that there were over 10, 000 bees in that fallen tree!

 Winnie the Pooh, eat your heart out. :)

 Look at those honey combs!

 Brooke, Luke, and I were leaving our house tonight to pick up our milk when I noticed commotion in my neighbor's driveway.  We stopped by to find her bee keeper friends preparing to box up the bees.  We ran our errand and as we got back, they were just suiting up.  There is a good chance that I'm a really big nerd, but this was a thrilling experience.

 I learned a few things about how this was all going to go down by asking about 500 questions.  The first thing they did was smoke the bees out.  They had a metal tin that looked similar to a pitcher that held some sort of burning wood that they waved over the bees.  It anesthetized them and makes them easier to work with.  Think of it as the bee equivalent to laughing gas.  They let them sit for a little bit and then spray sugar water on them.  Apparently the bees are then too busy licking the sugar off to bother the keepers much. With their bee suits on, we watched them cutting the honey combs off the fallen tree and put them into the bee boxes.

 These bee boxes have wooden frames which they rubber banded the honey combs to before they slid them into the box.

 These ladies shook and scraped the bees and their honey for an hour and a half before they had it all.

 I was so frusterated with my unsteady hands and as a result, the pictures kept blurring.  I really need a tripod because this isn't the first time I was cursing myself under my breath for not having steadier hands.

 They actually had a huge kitchen knife that they were cutting the honey comb into chunks with and a brush to remove the bees.

 Scraping out a piece of the log.

 The bee box.

 I don't know about you, but the sight of all these bees on their suits totally creeps me out!  One lady got stung twice, but that was because she squatted down and basically pinched the bees.  Apparently these bees were very docile which isn't always the case. Lucky us!

 There was another part of the tree that didn't split open so they borrowed my other neighbor's chain saw and cut it apart to get the rest out.

 The secret to bee keeping is getting the queen, without her, the group will not survive. The bees that got left behind will die off over the next month or so and with no new eggs and no queen, they're done for.

 The end goal here was to transport the bees to a farm and try to save them.  The really ironic part was that the lady taking the bees lives on the farm that's minutes from our old house in Burlington, KY.  It is here, at Kinman Farms, where we've gotten our pumpkins for the last 6 years.  Talk about a small world!

 This honey redefines the term "local honey".  :)  We got to taste a bit of the honey and it was light and delicious. The bee keepers said that they will wait a full year to take honey from these bees because the bees need 90 lbs. of honey to survive the winter.  If they take the honey, the bees will surely die.

 After they got what they wanted, the boxes were loaded into the back of a pick up truck to make the 50 minute drive to their new home.

 Did you know that bees in the summer only live for 39 days?  And that the male bees get kicked out of the hives in fall so all these bees were girls?  I may or may not have driven these brave ladies crazy with my questions, but it's not everyday you get to see something like this.  I laughed and said that I'm going to have to revisit the episode of The Cat and the Hat Knows a Lot About That where they learn about bees.  I was told there are lots of bee videos on the Internet, so the nerd in me will probably tune in to learn more about keeping bees.  With the pictures to prove it, I can't imagine that I'll forget this experience any time soon.  Oh, how I wish you could have been there!