standing - by himself!

Jason called me today to tell me he saw Kaemon Ze standing - all by himself - for at least the nine seconds that he counted!

Kaemon Ze and I have been playing at balancing. He gets a big thrill out of it. I noticed that he's more Zen if he has something to focus on other than balancing, so I give him something to focus on, like a toy. When he realizes he's balancing for a few seconds, he smiles a huge smile and reaches for me.

Jason had Kaemon Ze holding on to a chair we have in the kitchen while he was doing the dishes. He said he looked over and noticed Kaemon Ze engrossed in a toy... and standing on his own! Daddy counted silently to nine before Kaemon Ze realized what was going on and grabbed for the chair.

Amazing. So awesome Daddy got to see that!!

Zzzzz... Kaemon Ze crashed, mid-dinner. :)

Papa is at least two states away, but he wanted to make sure his grandson has shades for the car... Daddy got these to make sure baby and Papa are happy. :)

this is so cool!

Over the last two days, Kaemon Ze's been working on pulling himself up. He managed to upright himself from his belly to his knees, while leaning on me, to his feet. He did that twice. Then, yesterday at Gramma's she said he pulled himself up in the playpen. And today... lookie what he can do now!

One small step for man...

A couple of things this morning:

Jason found this free iPhone application: the Peek-a-Boo Baby Rattle. The site explains, "The free application is designed to turn your iPhone into a babies rattle should you ever find yourself without a pram full of toys to amuse your offspring."

Oh good. And here we've been trying to keep the baby ~away~ from the phone.

Happy Anniversary Moon Walkers! 40 years ago today, the moon was reached, touched, and played upon. "One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind," were Neil Armstrong's famous words as he pranced upon the gray dust. Watch historic landing:



Was it a HOAX? Check out the photos at National Geographic and see for yourself!

The hubster and I are THRILLED for Lance Armstrong and his Tour de France team! They are doing so well! As someone who has had a broken collar bone, I am continually amazed that Lance is not only riding, but is riding competitively on the Tour de France... and is in second place(!!!) - behind his own teammate - after breaking his collar bone a few months back. The dude is Super Man.


Speaking of being a man... it is great to see this dude 'man up' after his inexcusable actions:

bee charmer

Tonight I touched three more bumble bees resting on the sage; I wanted to touch one more but the 'one more' was very busy doing his job and I didn't want to interfere. Last night I touched three as well. :)

bang bang splash

Daddy took this clip of Kaemon Ze to test Auntie Katie's suppa duppa 3GS iPhone's video recording feature:

hanging with daddy

Just downloaded these funny shots off my camera. Daddy took them of Kaemon Ze back on June 30. They crack me up.

playing with the new toy from bunny and papa

i'm on a roll

An odd roll for sure.
I touched three more bumble bees last night.
I've concluded they don't mind (so much) being touched.

a message from sofia

"Good night aunty Gigi"

"Sofia Ixchell"
5lbs, 13 ozs.
Teenie-tiny sweet baby girl.

I am looking forward to holding you
and kissing you and enveloping you in love

mid week bbq

And it's finally WARM again! Whoo hoo!

The pears are ripening...

...the burgers are grilling
(Jason was quite pleased with his "perfect grill marks")

Kaemon Ze likes cheese.
And pretty much everything else.

Hanging with mama on this fine summer's eve.

This is Kaemon Ze's fort. He goes 'in it' almost every morning. He could easily go around it, but he seems to like being in it and going through it...

...until he gets stuck. :)

Mr. Serious Face plays in his playpen while we work outside.

Mr. Happy Face returns.

Attempted self portrait. Ha.

a note from gramma

Your son loves mandarin orange slices!

He saw me eating and wanted some .. and after that I could hardly get any for myself! hehehe! He was doing that all-body excitement thing after each piece, chomping at the bit for more. Watch out citrus, here he comes! ;)

swinging with daddy

welcome to the 3D, Sofia!

Mucho congrats to new parents John and Angela

belly laughs

I love being married.
It's great to find that one special person
you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

(a quote I recently saw in a book, with tremendous appreciation I might add.)

sunday waffles pirates and weeds

Saucy Kim, aka Auntie Kim, aka Kim-a-licious
swaggered into Waffle Breakfast
after partying with pirates all night!

I asked Shannan if this very big plant I'm cultivating is a legitimate plant... or a very happy weed. Both Shannan and Brian kindly informed me that I've been lovingly nurturing a weed. Brian said, "We used to have those in the field, out on the farm, when I was growing up." Sheesh... so now what do I do? Pull it? Let it be?

kaemon ze says...

"Zamir, Finn, Osian, Elayna - come swing with me!"

lead me not

lead me not into temptation
i can find the way myself

-Rita Mae Brown

working on his "mmmmama"sounds

thank you mama karen!

He loves his new drum!

ooooh ooooh!

I touched a bumble bee tonight.

On purpose even!

swinging in the park with mama

our 2nd wedding anniversary!

A haiku for my whimsy guy:

two years today love
an amazing journey love
us forever love

Our little "fambly."

Desert following a yummy dinner date out. This photo says a lot... including the biggest odometer I've ever seen in my life -- and it was on a Mini Cooper!

The lamp post at Ben & Jerry's is always a good read. Tonight was no exception.Tonight Kaemon Ze said "mama!" again - while babbling to Daddy. I've yet to hear him say anything that sounds like, "mama."
*grin*

monday morning babblings

Gramma called me at the office this morning to tell me that Kaemon Ze was in his Jump-Up-Johnny, babbling while she did the dishes. She said, "as clear as day he said, "Mama!"

Wow! A first! He's not played with the "mmmm" sounds before and then he just throws that out there. He didn't say it again (and Gramma said later that she and Grandpa are not encouraging him to say "mama" or "dada" unless we're around).

A fun first!!

o u c h !

Can you see the bite marks Kaemon Ze left on daddy's wrist? Ouchie!

happy sunday

Sunday found us doing chores and some fun things too.
Jason installed the new showerhead system that my parents got him for Father's Day. It was true synchronicity: that morning Jason thought to himself, I've got to clean out the showerhead. Now he doesn't have to!
Thank you Mom and Dad!

Jason set up a swing, at least temporarily for Kaemon Ze while he worked on the treehouse. We're hoping to have three swings installed under the treehouse for Kaemon Ze and his buddies!

I thought this was a funny shot - I was moving the camera while Kaemon Ze was swing (to avoid blur) and this is what transpired. Heh

Jason's working on his project: the treehouse; I'm working on mine: a mural for the back wall. Here, I've painted primer on three of the four panels.

Here are the four panels. Nearly primed. Still have some touch-ups to do. Then I will paint them a light brown for a base. I still need to get the outdoor paint recommended by Chris Haberman, local artist extraordinaire.

This is where I want to put the panels. I haven't decided what arrangement or even how the mural will look. I'm thinking something more abstract as it gets lots of shade distortion from the trees.

By end of day, Jason had the supports in.

It looks so big! It dwarfs the tree. Hahaha! I don't think Jason's in a rush to finish it. He just wants to get the flooring/deck finished for now.
When I asked him, "where the entry?" He said, "I don't know." When I asked him, "what the house going to look like?" He said, "I don't know." :)

We'll put the three swings that Mama Karen gave us under here. As Auntie Shannie says, "weeeee!"

happy independence day!

Kaemon Ze watches Daddy light fireworks. It's the first time he's ever seen them!

Spin it, honey!

Jason's infinity.

Kaemon Ze's first sparkler!

funny dude

Grandpa makes us laugh.

tree house construction begins!

This was taken on Wednesday:

And this was taken today:

playing with daddy's truck

Kaemon Ze's great-granddaddy made this for his daddy, and now he's playing with it:

what he learned from Madi

While at the coast last weekend, Kaemon Ze watched Madi chew her gum and started to mimick her. He's been doing the "gum chew" ever since. :)