Happy Days!

Now that Oliver is getting a bit older, we're really enjoying the boys together. They can interact and well...life feels a little perfecto! It makes me want to sing "Danny's Song" and hum "every little thing...is gonna be alright..." Bobby and I are also equally enjoying time with the camera.

My Hubby may have a bit of an artistic side to him.

Big smiles
Oliver's personality is shining through and finally Julian is opening up to him in a big way !!!!!


"shunting trucks and hauling freight...red and green and brown and blue...Thomas and his friends...CHoo, ChOO!"
Too cool for school.
No longer a toddler...for sho

Oy...so big!

For Oliver, everything that Julian does is fascinating. He just stares and stares...oh to be big!
There is no short supply of tickles and giggles in our house!
dumb-founded, lol.
I want to sit up...oh...oh...oh...not quite.
smiles and drool--we're full of it!
brotherly love
He's was so crabby, but we were laughing at him curling his little toes around Bobby's finger.
slurp!
born to be wild :)

What spring means to me...

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see daffodils poking up, smell peonies, wear little dresses with flowers, open my windows to a good breeze, clean-up my house and my yard, and go on long walks where I sigh multiple times announcing how perfect the temperature outside is. To throw cocoa shell mulch on the ground, watch baby plants be born, and well...don't forget March Madness...I'm ready to bring on the spring...a little pre-mature...well a girl can dream!


Moving a bit backwards in explanation...Spring means so many things, and for us this year--a few big projects...
When the weather is warm and the materials are collected--Bobby and Julian are set to building a tree fort. We've already gotten permission from the landlord and have the perfect tree. It will be a couple years before we are ready to move, maybe a few before we're ready to purchase a home and making this one a home for the boys is important to us. My parents rented until I was 6 and that was certainly as much my home as was the house they bought. So...looking forward to the sky raising up and a boy over head...or two...eventually three :) (that includes Oliver, Julian, and Bobby---not another boy baby, just to clarify...although a nephew could certainly be thrown into the mix :)) A tree house/fort will be resurrected this year. Recycled lumber and a lot of love...even some left-over paint and per Julian's request, a pirate flag :)
Creating raised beds...this is all me. Bobby will have to help and of course my Mother has promised to come help. I have old bookshelves that are rotting a bit and we're going to use those. The first step will be to pick-out the space for a garden, second to lie the shelving units down and kill the grass, third to dig out some of the dirt to recess the units a bit...paint, drop in the wholes, fill with dirt, and plant. The planting involves my Mom because I'm a novice. Vegetables, herbs, Hosstas, Yarrow, Peonies, Columbine and maybe a few special varieties. Also my Dad is giving us the love bench from the side of his house. He made it a few years back and I'll be able to climb a rose over it's trellis or even Clematis...hm.
Potted plants. I have plenty of empty pots and need plants to fill them. The weekend of my wedding last spring, an unexpected freeze paired with the neglect caused from planning a wedding took all my succulents. i am still so sad about the event. I loved my succulents and had nurtured them for so long...to suddenly lose them. Well, I'm home more now and there is no reason why a little paint, new house numbers, and some potted plants couldn't brighten up our porch and make it our own!
Finally...a project I've already begun. This will lead me into spring. I've attempted to create stations throughout the house...one for art, one for bills, etc etc, but in the house--they either look messy mid-project or other things get dumped on them and I don't get to do anything unless I clean first. Don't even ask about the piles of old bills that need filed. I'm moving it all to the basement. An empty back room will provide the perfect studio/escape. Not to mention help at emptying and baby-proofing the house upstairs. It is so hard to maintain right now--but with less stuff lying around the load will be lifted significantly. To the basement it goes...all my favorite stuff. If any ladies want to come over for a glass of wine and a craft party down there let me know...right now I'm looking for a rug, a couple chairs and some elbow grease. I think it will be cool.

All projects welcome help and guests to visit with (you don't even have to work--just offer ideas) Come join me at clearing my senses to bring us into spring! Tell me your not ready?!

getting big

Oliver cut his first tooth. We,ve been very slobbery lately.



so sleepy...

The difference...

My best friend Amy had a baby today. Evan Michael Strawser was born at 8:11 a.m., he was 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and 21 1/4 inches long. I've only seen a camera phone sized photo of him yet and I'm aching for more. I can imagine exactly how she feels today. It is so fresh in my mind the day Oliver was born. The exhaustion, the surreal-ness, the power of the day, the unbelievable notion that something so real was just made inside of you...I'm just so happy for her. Of course the things of the day that were awful--the pain of the contractions and many other things I'll spare the details on--they are receding from my mind.

In the last few weeks Oliver has become so much more fun each day. I find myself craving another baby. Not the way you want something, but the way you crave a glass of water when you are thirsty. I've already decided we will not have two children in diapers to deal with, so alas we wait until Oliver is potty-trained and of course until we are better off financially...

Sharing in Amy's adventure (however distant the sharing is)...its causing me to reminence. It's amazing the difference four months makes...Oliver--a couple weeks ago (above) v. Oliver--three/four months prior (below)...AMAZING!!!!

He was darling and now he's just so charming and fabulous and Mommy-hood, it just suits me so thoroughly--how peaceful I feel. Even in the midst of chaos. How peaceful I feel, I've never felt such a peace before. Just as amazing, is how one little tiny person can create such peace.

Astroids

J: Lisa, why did the assroid kill all the dinosaurs
L: because it was so big that it was like a giant bomb hitting the earth
J: Is a assroid going to hit our house
L: No, don't worry, we're safe
J: Why are we safe
L: because we have scientists that watch the skies and make sure that big astroids don't head toward earth
J: but why did it hit the dinosaurs
L: Because they didn't have scientists or computers or anything...they just ate, pooped, slept, and played and that is ALL they did
J: *giggle*
L: We do a lot more than that, don't we?
He looks at me and starts counting on his fingers
J: yeah, we eat, sleep, poop, and watch commercials...so we're safe. He nods his head satisfied.

There you go...summed up by a four-year-old...we are safe from astroids and are free to eat, sleep, poop, and watch commercials.

Life these days...

I am doing the bad Mommy thing and letting the television babysit Oliver while I get some chores around the house done. Alas, my fingers are wrinkly and with the dishes nearly done I thought I would take a small Lisa break. We now FINALLY have internet back. My amazing Mother helped up to get a t-mobile wireless stick for my lap-top and after several days of getting things up and running, I'm happy to provide a little update or insight into life at the Blakley's these days.

Oliver

Mister is growing so fast that I hardly remember the new baby I had four months ago. Today was his four month check-up and he continues to be HUGE! He's 18 pounds, 9 ounces and 26 inches long...putting him 96% in weight and 81% in height. He is very interested in his hands these days, grabbing onto blankets, toys, bibs, our faces--whatever he can grab. When he is eating he holds my hand tight to his chest, and when he's not eating he generally has something in his mouth, often times his own fist. He is also a very chatty baby...and has his vowels down pact...usually he's belting an "a, e, i, o, [or] u" and giggling at his own wit. I'm thinking he's going to be a funny kid. For now, he scoots around in a walker and is getting better every day at using his hands and sitting up.

We've gone through our first fever...two days lingering between 100 and 103 and finally a doctors appointment revealed the start of an ear infection. Today's appointment she confirmed the infection is almost gone and other than a snotty nose he's doing great!

Bobby

Bobby's new job is going well and he's working a ton...happy with what he's doing and perched for promotion in a couple months. Other than that Bobby seems focused to get back in shape this new year and with a long list of things that need done around the house he has a good place to start. We celebrated his 33 birthday friday complete with German chocolate cake and vegetarian quesadillas. I think he was a little disappointed with the underwear he got as a present but hid it well.

Julian

IS SO BIG!!! He's major into transformers, saying "yes ma'am, no ma'am" etc, and telling on people. He is often telling on his father in fact. I keep telling him that "daddy gets into enough trouble on his own and doesn't need his help!" Four is just such a funny, independent, manipulative age. We are navigating it as newly as Julian is. When we do have him with us we spend a lot of time just playing...there isn't much of a routine but we have been seeing him regularly so that is a vast improvement. He doesn't know what to think of Oliver but still tries to help out when he can. He'll have nothing to do with throwing a diaper away but now that Oliver is smiley and more playful Julian is reacting to him a bit more.

Last weekend, was a weekend of play-dates. We had friend Henry over on Friday for almost four hours--it was great (for me and for J). Laura and I caught up and the boys (who are very different) learned to play together. It's something new and we're all looking forward to watching them navigate this new relationship. Then Friday night Jack came over and spent the whole weekend. They destroyed my house and had an amazing time doing it. They went from playing Harry Potter to transformers, to various games my clever nephew was coming up with. They are so fun together and it was nice to give the boys the time to play.

ME

I'm writing more these days. Stories mostly. Trying to get an art studio up and running in the basement, and most of all trying to get my house clean and organized...now if only I could get my husband trained it might stay that way for a change :)

Pretty girl Runway...

I just searched my computer for a photo of Runway from when I was in High School. She used to watch me as I did this or that. She would stare so intently at me and when I would give her attention or talk to her she would simply lick my face or hand. She was intent on doling out affection wherever she could. It's been several months since she's been her old affectionate intuitive self. I couldn't find the photo--but this--another favorite of mine is of her in Chicago, just perfectly catching the light from my dining room window.

Then, when Bobby and I met and fell in love, Runway was center of our attention and cuddled up to us with each movie, petted our faces when feeling left out, and fell asleep curled up to Bobby on many occasions.

Today our family lost a longtime friend. Her health has been failing her for months, first with her thyroid, and now with other problems--likely kidney failure. Today we said goodbye to 17 year old Runway. My Dad brought her home in 1993 when I was just nine and in the third grade, so naturally even though I thought I had my mind wrapped around it--I'm terribly sad.

My kitten is wanting my attention, and Sasha--the puppy is giving me sad eyes. I think Hopper notices Run is gone--Sasha I'm sure notices that I am sad. Then upon coming home, I hit a patch of ice on my deck and took a nasty spill and almost landed on Oliver. My knee is skinned and bruised, Oliver was startled but fine and my feelings are a bit pelted.

Runway will be missed, and our house is down a member. For all of you who knew and loved her (As my brother told her last night--"your the only cat I've ever loved...") I wanted to show a small tribute.Past photos and notices of Runway.