Baby Riley

Yesterday, we got to meet our newest cousin, baby Riley. We left our visit with him feeling so content. Riley is an adorable and sweet baby with parents, grandparents, and an auntie that love him so much. Kelly and Geoff have such a happy home and we loved spending the afternoon together and introducing the two (second) cousins.

Cousin love

Proud Daddy

Holding on tight to Uncle Dave's handle bars.

One Cool Dog

Guinness Whalen has now completed basic dog training. He even received a certificate telling us all the cool things he can do: sit, watch, down, wait, okay, come, stay, off, place, and heel.

If only all this were true... Guinness is still (very much) a work in progress.

However, what the certificate doesn't include:

He doesn't mind when his face is clawed at...

His nose is poked...

Or his tail is pulled.

For these reasons alone, we think he's one cool dog! We love you Guinness!

Happy Furlough Days

I just received an email from my school district asking me to complete a survey about our upcoming contract negotiations. They wanted to know if I would rather rescind my furlough days (unpaid holidays) and lay off teachers instead. Ummmm...I don't have to think twice about that one. Not only is my good friend #2 on the hire list (second to last person hired and second person to go), I am LOVING my furlough days. So bring on the furlough days...Furlough me some more! I love being home with my little man!

A little slice of furlough heaven!

Eight Months

Colin is excited to share that he's now eight months old. His newest trick...clapping as we say yaaaayyyy! Our baby boy is on his way to being a little toddler. Colin loves to scoot (not really a crawl yet) to wherever Guinness (the dog) is so he can pet him and slobber on him. Thankfully, Guinness doesn't mind. He absolutely loves bath time; he splashes and laughs the whole time. He now has three teeth, which has put a little damper on his happy disposition and his sleep habits. Blah! He is a mama's boy, which while flattering, is a downer at 2am when he only wants his mommy. It looks as if the top tooth is one of his side teeth. Either that, or we'll be able to drive a mack truck between his two front teeth. We're already ready for "teething" to be over, but apparently it's a long, long process! Even so, one of our favorite things is opening the door to his room and hearing Colin begin to flop around and laugh in his crib as he gets excited to see us when we turn on the light. This weekend, we dropped the crib mattress one level just to be on the safe side. We won't be surprised to find him trying to escape one day soon.

Porch Sitting

One of my goals for 2011...

Yesterday, Kevin asked if I wanted to go enjoy a glass of wine and sit out on the porch while Colin was napping. Our alone time didn't last long, but that was ok. I love that my husband enjoys these simple moments with me and as a family. We need to do more front porch sitting!

Crawling?

I think we need to baby proof the house!

uhuhUHAhhMaMauhUhuh

My sweet boy can say Mama! I swear I heard it! :)