Allow myself to introduce…

August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Photos, Benny, Sammy | 1 Comment

…myself (yes, I am so lame that I still quote Austin Powers).

My name is Rachel. I used to write and take pictures for this little website called welikedogs. I’d like to start doing that again.

We just spent the last (almost) week in Michigan. I have many pictures and stories to share. First, I have some catching up to do.

La Crosse
After a summer of rescheduling, we were finally able to visit Ryan, Tiff, and Max in La Crosse. We visited a local park and ate the yummiest Mexican food at Manny’s. Max is such a big cutie now, and Ben and Sam enjoyed playing with him. Several years ago, we were in La Crosse for Tiff’s birthday and took a group shot. With that picture in mind, I really wanted a new group shot. My, how we have grown.

Shopping
I’ve seen a bunch of these great shots of kids in shopping carts, and I’ve wanted to take some of my own, with a twist. I wanted shots of both kids in the 2 seater carts at Sam’s. I finally got my act together to get both kids and the camera to Sam’s at the same time. I should’ve used my flash and wish I had a wider lens, but these were still pretty fun.

Festival in the Park
Last weekend was Festival in the Park in Kasson, MN. It seems that every small town around here has there own weekend celebration in the summer. I don’t remember that in Michigan, but I digress. We didn’t participate in any of the Kasson festival festivities, but I could pass up a chance to bring Benny to see their fire trucks. He loved it enough to let me take his picture! Now, that is love.

Cross-processed and sun-flare, photo no-nos that I love:

A self-portrait of me and the boys:

Trip preparation
In preparation for our trip, Jason set up the GPS, about which Ben was very curious.
Ben - “Mommy, what is that black and yellow thing?”
Me - “It’s called a GPS. It tells you where you are and where you are going.”
Ben - “Hmmmm. Kinda like a map.”

Except for all the things that I meant to blog about and forgot, I think that brings us up to the MI trip. Stories and pictures for that will be slow going…but they will come!

Another day, another fair

August 4, 2008 | Filed Under Photos, Benny, Sammy | 1 Comment

The fair
Friday, we got a half day off to attend the fair in Rochester. We left Sammer’s in daycare and gave Ben an “only child” day. It was fun to give Ben all of our attention and to enjoy the fair with a “big boy”. We ate greasy food and rode the rides. The best for all of us was the bumper cars. Ben rode with J, and threatened “we’re going to get you Mommy!”

The look on Ben’s face every time we collided was inspiring. I held the camera in one hand and the wheel in the other, pushed the button and prayed. Not the best shots, but the best shots, you know?

The weekend
The rest of the weekend was pretty lazy. Jason went riding on Saturday, and I struggled to come up with an idea of how to entertain the kids all day. I got wicked sunburned at the fair, so I wanted to stay out of the sun. We ended up at the play land at the mall. It was the best visit there we ever had. Usually there are wild, unsupervised kids that are way too big. This time, Ben was among the biggest. It wasn’t crowded at all. He played there for over and hour. Sammy had fun crawling and climbing, and I kept busy trying to keep him out of the traffic of the big kids.

The doctor
Today, Ben had his second session at the doctor to have a wart frozen off his foot. The poor kid is such a trooper, as it is obviously so painful. We treated him to lunch at “Old McDonald’s” afterward as a reward for being so brave.

I had barely returned to work, when I got a call that Sammy had a fever and needed to be picked up. It was one of those frustrating days, when I am torn between my responsibilities. I’ll be home with him tomorrow, trying to work from home. Yes, I sound kinda pity-party about this, but I am really very lucky to have an employer that is so flexible about these things.

The news
Today I discovered that Sammy has 2 new teeth just cutting through on the top (the cause of the fever?) He’s also been eating more and more real food. Bites of my hot dog bun, bits of pancake, nibbles of peaches and sweet potatoes…he’s loving it.

Finally, squeeee–it is official! Go check out pictures of my beautiful new niece (or nephew).

operation cry it out completed

August 1, 2008 | Filed Under Sammy | 4 Comments

It was true. 20 minutes and Sam was asleep night 2. In fact, he slept all night. I woke him in the morning, because I was about to explode!

Last night, Ben was back in his own bed, and Sam was in his crib. It worked out fine. Sam was asleep within minutes. He woke at 4am, nursed, and went right back to sleep without waking Benny.

Last night, I actually slept soundly. I didn’t worry about Sam crawling off the bed, I didn’t wake every 5 minutes worry about him in the next room, and he didn’t wake me up numerous times. It is going to be much better for my health, my sanity, and my job to get better sleep. Still, I do miss the snuggle time…

Ahhh, the conflicted minds of a worrying mom.

Stud and other random junk

July 30, 2008 | Filed Under Photos, Benny, Sammy | 2 Comments

Last night, Ben whispered to Jason, “I’m a stud.” Laughing, Jason asked him where he heard that, to which Ben replied that a young teacher at school told him. The rest of the night he walked around saying “I’m a stud.”

Day 2 of crying it out. 20 minutes and Sammers appears to be asleep. Could it be?

Finally watching the Strangers with Candy movie-yippee.

Heard some good news today-yippee times 2.

Finally, uploaded some random pictures tonight to get them into my July album…
Sammy trying watermelon
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