you can't see them

here are my guys in camouflage.


we were trying to also document the lawn. tim has really turned our lawn into a lush, green carpet. last year we had some major lawn issues due to lack of rain but he has given it a lot of tlc this year and we also used scott's fertilizing service. our lawn has never looked better than it does this week and declan loves crawling all around the lawn like crazy. ah, life in the burbs.

now i have to tear out the wilted, forlorn pink petunias in the background - they have seen their day. i plan to plant hearty fall mums over the weekend. i love fall scaping: mums, kale, pumpkins, hay bales, corn stalks, gourd wreaths... i'm sure photos will be up soon with our transformation in the next few weeks.

ouch report

as you know, we are in a bruisin phase with little declan. last sunday at church was no different. we picked him up from the nursery without incident two weeks ago, he loved playing with all the new toys and kids for the hour and didn't even get sick after being exposed to all the other babies and germs. so we tried our luck the next sunday... only hesitant b/c the first time he was in the church nursery in june he picked up the worst superbug/cold i've ever witnessed in a baby. he couldn't breathe for days, didn't sleep at night, therefore we didn't sleep either. that nasty cold turned into a double ear infection causing many more days of grief blah blah blah ssssoooo went my hesitation with the germy nursery. but we love going to church on sundays, especially b/c our human alarm clock starts crowing at 6:30 am and he doesn't take days off on the weekends.

last sunday we picked him up after the service with an ouch report. yep, we got our first note home at 9 months. mr. busy was climbing onto the rocking horse and just kept going through the other side landing on the hard floor on his eye. he had a little gash and bruise. so sad. i don't hold anything against those sweet volunteers though, he appears so sturdy and active but is overconfident about his abilities. he sometimes just looks across the room and decides to head over there though he can't walk. someone literally has to be there to spot him or catch him pretty much around the clock.

the church workers were so sweet and offered to call during the week to check in on him, it is their standard procedure. i declined, knowing he was really ok.

*sigh* i need to get this boy a helmet.

i heart nordstrom

nordstrom has always been the case study for customer service, especially in retail. we even studied their model in my college business courses. i was very nerdy tonight and got so excited about this i had to blog about it.

so i'm in the market to get some shoes dyed for tina's wedding. ironically they are my own beloved j. crew wedding shoes. who needs white satin shoes after their wedding day anyway?! so since i loved them so much on my wedding day, i figure i'll love them even more dyed black not to mention get to wear them again.

i'm lazily surfing the net this evening and google something about shoe dyeing to see if i can drop them off somewhere tomorrow. i don't know the first thing about this shoe dyeing, been fortunate to never have to go there, even as a bridesmaid... nordstrom came up as a top option and i didn't know they did this. so i click on nordstrom faq and they have a live chat. you can literally type in your question and get instant help from customer service... no need for usernames, logging in or that hassle.

i had a few questions on the service and availability so i chatted for several minutes with elizabeth j who was extremely kind and courteous. since my shoes were not purchased at nordstrom she could not guarantee they would dye them, but each store has discretion as to this. she offered to contact our store to find out for me but i can do that myself, i have a sneaking suspicion they will help me. so i got my answer and never had to leave my lounging position on my couch! yeay for technology when you need it! i am so geeked about this feature i'm wracking my brain about what i should "need" to ask nordstrom.com next b/c it was that fun.

i could think up some good ones to ask the live beauty chatline or the live designer chatline.
like... is my real botkier bag still in now they sold out to target, i mean are carried at target now?

are tory burch flats still a worthwhile splurge or should i have my eye on another flat for 09?

can a girl with average build with curves wear skinny jeans (haha, i'm laughing at myself now b/c i know the answer)!
but how would nordstrom kindly respond to this without telling me i might resemble a cased sausage?


i'll leave you with that image. happy oktoberfest! :)

grass

declan loves the grass... when you set him down on the lawn he just wiggles his toes and legs and feels the grass with his hands. a new departure from the first time he felt grass and cried early in the summer.

a hand or finger is always in his mouth these days, i think he's cutting the mean pointy teeth. :(

real nature

we visited cool creek park and hit the trails in carmel sunday before the colts/bears game. you can see from the beautiful scenery behind us, this is not just any lame park. jenna aptly calls it real nature and she is right! it reminded me of the "back 40" (acres) at summer camp. note tim's dual allegiance: colts shirt/bears visor.


back at the playground

balloons

the people at the nordstrom kid's department are very smart, they handed declan a balloon when we were there last month and he was absolutely mesmerized for at least an hour... gazing at it, pulling on the string, beating on it and chewing on the plastic weight. i thought it was weird to give a baby a balloon at 8 months but i was wrong! i think sometimes first-time parents are slightly slower to introduce their firstborn to new experiences such as big-kid toys, real food, etc b/c we are overly cautious and think of them as such little babies when in fact they develop at warp speed! they wake up to a new world of exploration each and every day. i came home today and our nanny taught him how to high-five (she also raised 6 children). why didn't i think of that? he is so good at it!!

anyway, back to the balloon. this one came from the farmer's market, kept him engaged at the market and then i smartly brought it to the grocery store with me. tied it on the cart at marsh and it bought me extra shopping time to get what i needed! i need to invest in a helium tank. this boy loves balloons!


playing under the coffee table

only likes to play outside the exersaucer now, nothing to slow him down

just crawling around. he's a very proficient crawler though his tummy doesn't leave the ground. i think this is just his own personal style.

mr. myles' visit

we had our friends the stringers over for a late-summer bbq this past weekend. they brought their son myles who is 3 going on 10. he has already declared that he's getting a motorcycle when he turns 6. now he is tall for his age, but i could not get over that he's only 3! he was so good with declan, played with him and handed him toys. i'm sure declan was a little boring for myles though b/c he most enjoyed running around our backyard and throwing the football. he also tore through 2 pieces of sweet corn like a champ!


the cutest picture, but bad lighting from the window in back

so i switched angles in an attempt to get a picture of the boys with better lighting. unfortunately the delay in my camera captured declan's spill from the ottoman instead of their cute smiles. he and myles were smiling so nice for me and dec tipped backward. he didn't cry for long, thankfully... those bumps and bruises are still hard for me to take. i gave up on getting the perfect shot.

haircut II

ok, back to the baby blogging. i couldn't get over how cute dec was after his recent haircut. #2 for those of you counting. funny b/c i am always told about two year olds who are just getting their first trim! we better buy stock in clubhouse cuts for kids!

here he is chilling with his gerber toast restrained in his high chair so i could mop the floor.

way to go palin!

i just finished watching the RNC and the highly anticipated Palin acceptance speech for VP and i am energized!!! she rocked it!

after the close of the DNC and listening to all of their speeches i was on the edge of my seat wondering who mccain would pick for his partner. we were packing for labor day weekend when the announcement was made last friday morning, and like the rest of the country we were like "uh oh, who is sarah palin?"

she entered this race to somewhat low expectations and the obama campaign has been riding her citing a lack of experience and small town alaska mentality. strangely, she's lead a city and a state which requires more leadership than being a "community organizer" or a senator with a fancy ivy league education. as palin said in her speech, obama has authored two memoirs but not a single law or reform while in congress OR senate. furthermore, while in congress he couldn't even vote yes or no on 130 bills... he just voted that he was "present." unimpressive.

she's stood up to big government (she sold the state plane on ebay and cancelled the bridge to nowhere pork project) and is wildly popular in her home state. the barrage of crap in the media the past two days because one of her five children made a mistake just makes me sad to see her family dragged through the mud -let the candidates slug it out, leave kids out of it.

and that media, never the friend of conservatives, all you have to do is look at the recent covers of the popular Us Weekly to see who they blindly promote. are you kidding me? the publisher of the mag, Jann Wenner, has donated $130,000 to obama's campaign and guess what, it shows. this is offensive and is what gets me so riled up about the drive-by media and its biased reporting. i won't ever buy another US Weekly, i'll just sneak free peeks inside as i wait in the supermarket line.


democrats have another reason to be concerned in november, she kicked butt! she is the perfect complement to mccain and rounds out the ticket. she's a small town girl with BIG appeal b/c she has the drive, ability and heart. she was fun to watch tonight as she could really stick it to obama with grace and a smile. one thing's for sure, there will be many exciting debates to come.

yesterday i was worried b/c the RNC looked a little sleepy but tonight the crowd would not sit down from their standing ovation for her when she came out on stage. reporters down on the floor noted the enthusiasm and electricity matched the DNC as soon as palin emerged. and at the conclusion of her speech, her family joined her as did mccain... you could tell he was very confident and proud of his choice.

so you know who we're for... i'm disabling comments on this post only because when i discussed the election a few months back it attracted a vitriolic anonymous poster. i have this blog for fun and for friends (and friends of friends... ) and family so email me if you have a comment!

labor day weekend

we spent the nice long labor day weekend with tim's family in lake forest. it was a relaxing and wonderful weekend. we enjoyed introducing declan to many relatives who hadn't had the chance to meet him yet. everyone loves his hair (of course) and his happy personality!

travel is suddenly SO smooth with the little guy! he's always been pretty good on road trips (with the exception of the Easter screamfest back from GR) but now he is seriously an angel in the car! here's basically how it goes down for a typical 3-4 hour drive to the northern burbs of chicago: he quietly chats to himself and plays with his toys for a half hour (i reach back and hand him a new one every 10 minutes or so when he drops one or casts it aside), then he'll turn quiet and sleep for an hour and a half. when he wakes up, we do a pit stop to give him a bottle and then back in the car for the remainder of the trip, he just plays and makes little noises. i constantly chuckle at the noises coming from behind me and wonder what must go through his head as he oohs and aaahhs over each toy while holding it up to study every possible angle.

here is dan, tim's older brother who lives in Boston. i didn't get any of dan's wife, melissa... i do not know how the time flies by!!! everyone went to the cubs game saturday.





then we all went to a fantastic dinner at bob chinn's, dan's favorite since he was in town. stone crabs, blue crab claws, alaska king crab legs, lobster, ceviche, jonas crab claws, calamari, ahi tuna, crabcakes and swordfish were many of the things we enjoyed... it was a seafood smorgasbord and chinn's never disappoints. we have a connection and get unbelievably hooked up when we go.

me and uncle dan with the littlest ones
mary kate, 11 mos and declan, 9 mos


"stay away from the hair"

"i need to get myself a pair of these so-called shoes"

"cute pink cupcake outfit, for a girl of course"

"we need to talk about all these bows"

"is someone handing out cheerios over there?"

"i have exactly four teeth too"

fun with the big cousins in the vintage radio flyer wagon
mitch, caroline and declan










celebrating miss caroline's 6th birthday! she is very good at being the center of attention. declan didn't mind all the different people holding him all day or the general craziness of the day! i am proud of him b/c i know it is totally normal for babies to be shy or anxious around strangers and freaked out by a lot of commotion.



six!!!

papa, uncle dan and mary kate

my handsome boys

madison and declan (who is starting to get tired in this picture)

cece and mary kate


madison giving good-bye kisses, it was SO cute! the camera didn't capture it well though

stealing a quick photo in jammies before heading up after a long, fun day!