Two Words! And a Move Forward!

I can't believe that Bee will be 9 months old in just a few short days. That means he's officially been out of my belly longer than he was in my belly.

Our first new trick is that Bee now knows how to drink from a straw! Amazing. And, of course, like mother like son... he was motivated by a vanilla milkshake.

From Big Boy!

On a pretty inconsistent basis, Braxton has two whole words in his vocabulary.
"Up!" and "Mama." Now, you'll recall that at 6 months I was sure he was saying mama one day. He continues to say it, and about 20% of the time, it seems intentional.

"Up!" was my first word, according to my mom. So when she was here last week for my brother, she taught Braxton to say it, too. He's said it two or three times on purpose and appropriately to me. And once to Mike.

The other biggie this week is that after several weeks of pivoting on the floor, Braxton has made his first move in a forward scoot. Not quite a crawl, definitely a scoot. But lord have mercy! That means he's mobile.

From Hospital

He's much more interested in walking than crawling. He stands at the ottoman to the glider rocker and pushes it around the room. And, with a little help, stands at his Baby Einstein music table and pushes all the buttons.

From Big Boy!

What a WEEK!

Not since the day he was born has Braxton spent so much time in the hospital as he has this week. Braxton's Uncle Jon (my younger brother), was in a very serious car accident last Saturday. After two days in ICU and 5 days now in the neurology wing, Jon is doing much better and the doctor's expect a full recovery.

Braxton has been a trooper. He's been with sitters, he's been extended hours with dad and he's been many hours in room 672 at Sacred Heart hospital. Two nights in a row I kept Braxton at the hospital until nearly 9 p.m., which is about an hour past his bedtime. Despite all that, he's kept smiling, giggling and being generally the amazing creature that I'm raising. I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of myself.

I think this week might be a little more difficult in some ways. My mom has gone home, so I'm now mom-runner-up. With 5 sibs in Eugene I often find myself taking on the role of mom. I guess it's a natural fit. Comedian Chris Rock once said in a stand-up routine that in big families, the parents raise the first couple and then the oldest child raises the rest. And I tell ya, sometimes it feels that way. Not that my parents didn't do an amazing job - they did. I wouldn't be able to handle the role that I have without amazing parents. It's obvious that my sibs depend on me a great deal - particularly in times of crisis. Luckily, the crises are few and far between. And luckily, we're a close family who looks after and supports each other.

I know Braxton's not going to have a "mothering" instinct - too much testosterone for his own good. But I hope I raise him to be a caring, generous man who is quick to offer help and slow to give excuses.

Celeb Family

Myheritage.com has a fun (and fabulous time-wasting) tool where you can upload a photo of yourself and the site determines which celebs you look like. Here's the trick... keep uploading photos until you get a combo you like.

Me: common celeb (regardless of photos) - Christie Brinkley & Jessica Simpson. Apparently I just need to find my inner sexpot.




Mike: common celebs - Carson Daly & Enrique Iglesius. Don't we make an exciting couple?
(disclaimer: this is NOT a good photo of Mike, but it had the most interesting results.)



Braxton: I figured he'd just look like a bunch of old men. But he had some interesting results. Makes ya wonder... Significantly, Braxton apparently looks African-American. And, apparently like a woman.



Kind of fun, huh? Visit www.myheritage.com for your own celeb collage.

Arm Chair Quarterback...already

Mike bought Braxton a stuffed "armchair" a week or so ago. Braxton clearly thinks it's pretty comfy. You can see more photos here.

(I've aleady given up on Piczo... annoying!! Still not thrilled with Ning, but at least it makes cool slide shows. I'm also trying Google's Picassa).

From Armchair Quar...

New Blog!

Hello!

This is our new blog!
Unfortunately, MSN Live Spaces isn't working right with my new mac laptop. Pretty disappointing. For a couple of reasons. First, I put a lot of time and effort into that blog. Second, I haven't found a comparable replacement. But life goes on. I will probably not migrate content, just login occasionally so the account stays active.

So... now we're going to post updates and photos in two places. This blog will be our primary journal location and the photos - well, I'm still deciding. I'm trying out some services, and each has some photos posted, so tell me what you think.

Ning: Cool thing about Ning is that it creates these embedded slideshows. However, I'm not sure how the "outside" views the photos...



Picz0: This is, like, totally for teenagers, but it's kinda cool. What I like? you can arrange the photos on the page however you want. What I don't like? A little bit TOO freestyle. No organization or sense of when things were posted. But maybe I'm still learning.

I will probably try to keep them all up to day for a while until I make a decision. If you have feedback, I'd love to hear it!