Happy Birthday Talmage!!

On Sunday we had a three-way party with Talmage and his cousins, Faith and Ran. They could barely wait for the cake...

That's a good double chin shot...or triple chin...I made him a little shirt with a '1' on it, which he wore with pride all day.

Small Spaces

Talmage has recently discovered that he can crawl into another small space in our TV stand, between the books. For some reason, he thinks it's very funny to crawl inside, sit there for a while and then purposely fall out. What is going on in his head....I do not know. He probably hits his head about 20 times, dinking every wall on every side as he tries to maneuver around the tiny space. And then he falls out, laughing like he's done something very funny. It acutally is very funny to watch, maybe he's just doing it for our benefit. What an entertainer.

Skinny Pajama Pants

I made some Christmas Pajamas for Talmage and his cousins. Unfortunately, I made his last and all I had left were some scraps of materials. So he only got pants and they were VERY tight. We put them on the other night and they reminded me of skinny jeans. No matter, Talmage still wore them and I guess he didn't complain since he can't really talk. These pictures don't really do justice to the tightness of the pant, just imagine me barely able to hoist them up over his diaper.

First Word

That's right, Talmage is saying his first word.
I guess he's been able to say 'mam' for a while, but it's mostly associated with food or when I leave to go somewhere he crawls frantically towards the door saying, 'mam...mam...mam...
But this is a real first word. Baaaal. In case you don't know what that is, it's a ball. His intense love and devotion for wheels has recently transferred to balls. (Can you tell we have a boy?) He loves to sit and throw balls back and forth. If you ask him to get the ball, he'll crawl over and throw it to you. It's so funny and very exciting to see his little brain working. If you're lucky and you ask him to say it, he'll say Baaaal.
p.s. We TOTALLY miscast him for Halloween. He should have been Frankenstein. He walks around stiff legged with his arms out and half the time he's bellowing. A perfect match.

So long, farewell....

For the past month or so, Truston has been looking for work. 'Unemployed' is such a nasty word, so instead we decided to tell people we had started 'living lives of leisure'. You know, like aristocratics. Living at Cherry Hill kind of cramped our style, but I'm pretty sure most people bought it. This last Wednesday, Truston decided to leave his live of leisure and get a job. The gall. He will be working with Tandem Labs. They are just down the street (3 miles downhill...I told him to ditch the car and get a razor scooter instead), and they thought he was really great.
In all reality, Truston wasn't very good at living a life of leisure, he's not lazy enough. I guess aristocracy is not for us. :(

Family Pictures

I wanted to take some family pictures in the beautiful fall leaves and because Talmage is almost 1. These are a few of our favorites.
He doesn't really walk yet, but he is taking little baby steps by himself. It's so cute. He has a little push toy that he walks all over the house with. He looks like Frankenstein pushing a lawn mower. This is a picture of his new trick. Spitting. It's so charming, especially when his mouth is full of food.
This is our favorite picture. Talmage was only half-heartedly participating (what a surprise), until we gave him a leaf. Then the fun really began.

Oatmeal Vs. Steel-Cut Oats

Ever since our ward had a provident living class on Steel-cut oats earlier this summer, I have been eating them and loving it! They are so good, with more texture and flavor and chewiness then regular oatmeal. Talmage loves them too, we eat a bowl of steel-cut oats together every morning. Well, this week I forgot to get more at the store, so I thought I would just try regular oatmeal for breakfast. BARF. I don't know how I ever ate that. Talmage took a probationary taste and spit it out. The baby who eats everything, would not eat this. So, in my estimation, oatmeal is grossly deficient in comparison to steel-cut oats. If you eat oatmeal...make the switch, it's totally worth it.