may the force

a year ago in a galaxy not so far, far away, a baby boy was brought into the world on a day of great significance -- may the fourth.  


to many, it is just the day before cinco de mayo.  but to those with jedi knowledge, it is a call to channel the "binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power in the fictional (or perhaps non-fictional) universe of the Star Wars galaxy."  (see wikipedia: Force.)  and with this power, we have nurtured our baby into his current little boy form.  and the force is strong with him.


happy birthday, little boy!  one year and counting . . .

what better way to celebrate little boy's special day than with a tribute 
to our favorite jedi master - yoda.  

do or do not -- there is no try.

you must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the cookie.

when we're outside

the sand box is baby boy's favorite place.

what he doesn't eat, he throws down his jacket and shirt.

i should start collecting what he brings home to make a sand box of our own.

we're going short

i went from long locks . . .

to short.

and then we chopped baby boy's.

little girl won't be next, though.  she wants hair like rapunzel's.

11-month birthday and a small fire

when blowing out candles, it's best to tie up loose hair. don't you think?

poor little girl. she had to learn that lesson for us the hard way.

in a sweet sisterly gesture, little girl offered to blow out baby boy's candle for his 11-month birthday. mr. pike was traveling that night, so i was the only one chaperoning. and as you can see here, i was busy taking pictures to document the celebration.

as you might expect, the celebration ended there. there were some tears and big hugs. but fortunately cupcakes have a way of making the world seem wonderful again. especially, because it was for dinner. (since two little ones didn't want to eat my delicious smoked gouda mac and cheese.)

happy 11-month birthday, baby boy! it's one we'll never forget.

ps-you'll be happy to know that after a bath, little girl has no visible signs from the fire.

one small step for baby boy

we're walking over here -- our world has just changed . . . again.

spaghetti

baby boy's new favorite meal.

drum roll, please

baby boy is 10 months old! i know it might not really be a big milestone. in two months there will be much more fanfare.

but baby boy is sure excited about being 10 months old. he ate his first doughnut. and if only we had gotten pictures of him smushing it into his mouth, you would have seen his pure delight.

too busy

mr. pike and i have two busy kids. they don't sit still for long. and neither do we. (how i long to sit down and eat lunch with a book!)

i can't even get my kids to stay still for a photo. baby boy loves climbing onto little girl's bed and they'll roll around laughing and smiling. i love catching the two of them together. i just wish my camera could catch them as quickly.

why is it that even a crawling baby can unroll half of your toilet paper onto the floor before you finish washing your hands at the sink? or your toddler can be singing and dancing in her room at 10 p.m. while you've been wasted for hours already.

if i had some of their busy genes, maybe my to-do list would be shorter. maybe i'd be burning more calories than i consume. maybe i could keep baby boy from unrolling the toilet paper.

should we just stop counting?

[some of the carnage]

maybe you already have. but here are pics of baby boy's fifth, yes, fifth haircut. and we really did take a lot off. it's been almost a month, and we need to do it again.

there are days i wish i could stop baby boy's hair from growing. and his finger nails. stop growing, finger nails, please. why do i have to cut these things so often? especially with a very busy baby.

[after shot]

turn it up, baby

in the afternoons, i like to make dinner to npr. little girl would rather listen to they might be giants, here come the ABCs.

but, it doesn't really matter what either of us want to listen to.

baby boy ends up controlling the air waves. he's mixing and turning. playing whatever his little fingers find.

nine months - out

it's hard to believe that we've had baby boy with us for the same time he

was incubating. last week, he turned nine months old.

we sang "happy birthday" to a boogie-down beat.

(a #10 can and chopsticks are all you need.)

a s'mores bar for baby boy. (why not?)

getting a big bite.

yummy chocolate and marshmallows. it's good to be the birthday boy.

working on resolutions

i really was excited for 2012 to begin. a new year. a new start to new behavior. on a long ride back from virginia on new year's day, mr. pike and i created five areas in our life and set goals for us individually and as a family.

yet, as january comes to a close, the kids -- little girl and baby boy -- are well on their way to accomplishing their resolutions. while mr. pike and i are struggling to even get started on most of ours.

little girl is successfully wearing underwear. (hooray!) and little boy is on his way to walking. he's already pulling up on everything and taking steps when you hold his hands. (and if you ask me, it's too early to be starting all this.)

now mr. pike and i are just trying to get the hang of one goal in particular -- early to bed, early to rise. we can count the number of times on one finger we've made it. pretty impressive, huh? but february's going to be the month.

we'll leave the overachieving to the kids. (we get some credit for their success, right?)

let it snow!

little girl was so excited when we had our first snow. unfortunately, it was bitter cold, and i didn't want to get out. but, when it started snowing a second time, i took the kids out for a quick play.

i showed little girl how to make a snow angel. she looked at me and asked, "how do you make a wiseman?"

baby boy was so happy to be out -- he took a crawl in the snow and didn't mind when he took a face-full of snow!

four haircuts and counting

baby boy has no lack of hair, and volume. i feel like it grows an inch every time he breathes. at eight months, he's had four haircuts. and number five is on its way.

for his fourth cut, i pulled out mr. pike's clippers. it was time to get down to business -- which could be disaster with a wiggly, little baby. fortunately, baby boy has nothing to be embarrassed about. (this time, at least.)

third haircut

fourth haircut

crawling along

baby boy's on the move -- he's training for a covert op.

happy birthday two times over

we've been a little MIA the past few months -- so, you didn't get to see baby boy's 7-month birthday. and now he's eight months old.

baby boy's got eight teeth. had four haircuts. loves all food. and is getting all around. as you can see from the grin, he's such a happy boy.

and it's six months . . .

happy, happy birthday, baby boy. six months. can you believe it?

we made apple cider doughnuts to celebrate. and mr. pike did baby boy's hair.

our little cowboys

here are some shots from halloween -- all of our cowboys (mr. pike included).

baby boy and his sampson locks

baby boy has grown the most amazing wavy locks. i loved them. mr. pike and i debated whether we should cut his hair again. we'd already taken care of the mullet. but, we were worried others might start mistaking him for a girl.

so, mr. pike and his cousin, mr. briggs, decided to give baby boy a little trim. as you can tell in the before photo on the left, baby boy didn't know what was about to hit him -- all those sweet curls trimmed away. it's a good thing he's so good natured. and good looking. he really can sport any look. (even the look where we have to part his hari on the other side because one spot was cut a little shorter than the rest.)

the fifth month

someone turned five months old a few weeks ago. and baby boy thinks five months is great!

he can roll from back to front to back. and he's also developed a taste for baby oatmeal and some solids. (squash and sweet potatoes are a few of his favorites.)

happy birthday, baby boy!