Pianoman

We've finally gotten a break from the terrible heat that we had this June (what a terrible way to kick off the summer!) and I took Vake over to Grandmary's yesterday. He had a lot of fun playing the piano- doesn't he look like a little Schroeder from Peanuts.



Sweet little pumpkin.



We went on a run tonight and I don't think the swaying agreed with him- he wasn't feeling like himself when he got out of the stroller and wound up getting sick- poor little boy.

NEW (or at least new to us...) FURNITURE

So at LONG last our living room is starting to look a little less like the schizophrenic mess that it was (and believe me when I tell you it was as bad as you can imagine). When we moved in, we had an unfortunate combination of furniture living-room wise. Mine was too-small and uncomfortable. Eric's was not my taste.

So once the house was finished, we moved in and lived in the space. We tried a bunch of different configurations with my too-small but too-bulky gold loveseats which have since gone on to be spectacular in my sister's house in Baltimore (thank God because you hate to throw away furniture).

Once the furniture from this house went up to Baltimore, we were left with basically no seating. Oh, I also sent up the round marble coffee table too- which looks GREAT there as well.
So by Christmastime, we were living with the world's most uncomfortable pink (although it had to have started life out as red) silk Victorian sofa. It was very low to the ground. We put it under the Marty Brief art piece. Then we found a HUGE coffee table on Craig's List- a family with a baby who is baby Vake's age was getting rid of it because of the corners (ahem!).

SO. We lived with this configuration for awhile with the idea that we were going to get a new sofa.
(just so you have a visual- I unfortunately did not take a before!)

And about the time of the house tour, our good friend Katie decided to move her khaki big sofa along and asked if we'd like to borrow it! Hurray! I had something slightly different in mind (mostly no skirt) but you cannot argue with free.99. We said thank you thank you and Eric went to pick it up with Big Red aka Hector.

Behold the transformation.

So we decided to spend the couch money in a different way- recovering the chairs that I had bought at estate sales and auctions. This one, below, is an incredibly comfortable huge channel back chair for Eric- he sits in it and works all the time... (and please make sure you admire the pink sofa)...

There it is, transformed with dark brown velvet- don't know what's going on with the pillow in this shot...

And the real stars of the show- the gold velvet pair of chairs- great, funny shape- UGLY fabric. Recovered in blue linen now and SO pretty.

Better after, right?

There are going to be some more small changes implemented in weeks to come. I will keep you posted.

Hot Summer Day

What a busy and HOT summer day. Taren took the boys to the pool but it was so hot that she had to call it a day by midmorning. She took the boys to the Children's Museum after lunch but the AC wasn't working very well there either- it is just hard to keep up when it is 101.
But the boys still had a good time driving... OH NO- did we hit something???

If you are looking closely in these pictures, you will also notice that my son wears his Little Gym medal wherever he goes. And we've been able to hold the Easter-basket-as-hat routine mostly to home...here he is decked out in his hat and his medal- and is mad about something- maybe that Huff is wearing the emergency backup Fez.

Vake's SO close to talking now and he's getting really good at having his needs met by pointing and grunting. In 2 months or so, we're really going to have a talker...

Group Run

I did the first Wednesday group run this morning at 5:30 am.

It was 83 degrees when we started. This is ridiculous.

Like Father Like Son Part Deux

When Left Bank Granny saw Vake's head in a bucket it reminded her of some pictures of Vake's dad when he was a little tyke. Do you see the resemblance?

Here's his head in a bucket:

Here he is emptying the kitchen drawers (see Vake's pictures on the May 17 and May 3 entries) - for some reason this photo didn't scan very well - we'll try to fix the technical problems later.

Here's one where he's trailing toilet paper through the house (see Vake's Jan. 23 entry). To me, this looks exactly like Vake.

Finally, here's another one in which he just looks like Vake.

Lampshade on my head

Tonight, little V danced with, not a lampshade, but his Easter basket on his head to the Muppet soundtrack.





Here he is pointing at the radio asking for the music to be turned on.

And dancing.

And very pleased with himself.




After V went down, I tried to do my six mile run. I made the mistake of taking Stilly with me and we got about three miles into it when she just simply couldn't go on...perhaps only shorter runs for her until her fitness improves.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

Happy Father's Day to a GREAT dad!!

We had a nice day today- you all saw the book of our house that I made for E- and I found this awesome Nikki McClure print (here's the link to it- she doesn't permit her stuff to be copied without permission- http://www.nikkimcclure.com/portfolio/?img=breathe) that I framed as a surprise.

I am not a good surprise keeper- so the fact there was a surprise was a miracle.

The other non-surprise gift is a farm share that will start in July from Dominion Harvest. E probably would have just gotten the veggies but I thought we could start by trying the box with the eggs and the meat too- I'll let you know how it goes!!!

Bath time is splash time.

Bathtime is always a big hit at our house. And now that Vakie's got the concept of splashing down, there's really no limit to how much fun he has in the bath.

It's pretty cute, he uses BOOM for a lot of the things that he does that involve knocking into things- for example, he and Eric play the "bodyslam" game that involves a great deal of the use of the word BOOM

Friends with Growing Families

As everyone knows, the second you have your first baby, people want to know when the second will be along. NO, this is absolutely not that announcement.

But, Anne Monroe's good friend Margaret delivered their newest little pumpkin on Friday. His name is Levi. He, like his brother, Gunnar, is in the nine pound club. Let's hear it for the newest member of the football team.

http://lindhjemcreation.blogspot.com

Marathon???

I've signed up for the team-in-training and did the first five mile run today. It was H-O-T.

But I finished. The Richmond Marathon is in November.

At this point I have no idea whether this is an achievable goal but even if it is not, I will be in a much better place for the half.

Here's to hoping.

The Music Man

As anyone who has ever sat next to me at church will tell you, I LOVE music. And what I lack in talent I make up for in volume.

Frankly, like so many other things in my universe, my sister Anne far outstrips me. She was one of the stars of the Censations, the St. C music group and she rocked it out on the piano all the way through high school, whereas Mrs. James and I had had enough of each other by eighth grade (a move that I actually now regret). (I've got big plans to take up piano lessons when Vake starts them.)

So what's the point here? Vake LOVES music. Loves it. We went to the Farmer's Market today and he just stood in front of the performers. Totally transfixed.

Can you believe how big my baby is? We're definitely fresh out of babies here. I went into V's room the other night and he was sleeping with his legs down. Sigh. Then today, I packed up all of the clothes from the past sixteen months to put in the basement. What a walk down memory lane.

I don't like Salmon

	Barenaked Ladies - I Don't Like .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

E and I had a big debate tonight about the lyrics of the "I Don't Like Salmon". He was right. I was wrong.

My Little Reader

I love to read. LOVE TO READ.

And I cannot remember a time that I couldn't read. I am really hoping that Vake loves books as much as I do.

Here's to hoping we are off to a good start. I'm taking it as a good time that he has "favorite" books he likes to page through.

Little V, you are SIXTEEN MONTHS today!!!

Little V is running full speed ahead into being a little boy!!!

I have no idea what happened to my little baby!!!
Vake, at 16 months you are into everything and seldom walk when you can run.

Vake wears mostly size 3t clothes and weighs about 35 pounds;
sleeps about 13 hours a night;
takes one good nap most afternoons;
loves the children's museum and SWIMMING;
is getting to be a pickier eater, unfortunately;
loves loves loves Stilly;
throws temper tantrums when things don't go his way;
is definitely saying more words (fish, whoa, bye) although still not saying mama or mom and
HAS MASTERED BLOWING KISSES!!!

This was Vake after water play at the Children's Museum. No pants, no problem.

He is absolutely fearless in water.

Don't he and little H look totally grown up at their Little Gym "graduation"?

Hi there- this was my teacher. She is strong and can lift me!!!

He looks just like Eric to me in this one and NOTHING like a baby!




More water play at the new Children's Museum satellite.

And our standby favorite, the eggs.