Storming the Bastille and other great adventures.....

Wow! I hadn't realized it was a whole month since I last posted anything. I guess it's more a matter of not much has really happened in the last month until just about recently. Summer definitely brings about a more relaxed feeling, well sort of. Some of us don't exactly get that luxury (i.e. all those out there who have to go to work during the week) but still for some reason things don't exactly feel as rushed. Most likely because no major holidays that involve presents or candy in large quantities happen during the summer. Yes, some of us have birthdays and for some reason the majority of independence days fall during the summer months. (Hmmmmm apparently summer is the best time to stage a revolution.......or better yet storm the Bastille....*runs off to get pitchforks and torches*) However, not much happens. And that is the reason there haven't been as many updates to Bug's blog lately. (There's a great excuse next time you're late for something: "I was late because I was storming the Bastille.")


Bug is extremely mobile now. We are constantly on the move. Well, she is anyway. Some days I just can't keep up. Take today for instance. Bug was up from 2-4AM last night. I think she was hungry. Her little tummy was growling. I didn't go to bed until around 12:30 (thank you TBS and Friends) Of course if Bug is up, I'm up. So I was up from 2-5AM last night (that last hour was lovingly dedicated to dealing with allergies and the sinuses...damn ragweed.....) I slept in until 9:30. David says bug was up bright and early at 7:30AM. And she was go go going!! She went down for a nap from 10-12:15 and then was up and ready to go go go again!!! I am dragging my ass today. Where does her energy come from? I have absolutely none and she's practically climbing the walls!! She's a toddler, that's where it comes from.


And, she is definitely all toddler. Even her cute little body has that "toddler" look to it. You know the cute chubbiness that even the slimmest of children (aka Bug) have to them. And the constant look of having something to do or the cute little waddle they get when they are walking and running. And the climbing!!! UGH!! She wants to climb on everything!! I think she gets the most of her climbing genes from David. I know I did my fair share of climbing certain trees, but I preferred to have my feet planted on the ground most of the time. Bug likes to climb everything; boxes, tables, chairs, her new slide (more on that later), benches, rocks etc etc. So, I take in numerous exclamatory gasps of terrified air daily.


Bug's summer session music class was a blast. It was just her and Ella in the class and I think that let Bug come out of her shell a bit. She would actually participate and she now sings some of the songs while she plays at home. If you ask her she'll sing "Brown bear, Brown bear" or if you show her the book she'll sing it to you. She doesn't get much past the "Brown bear, Brown bear" part but at least we know what it is she's singing. The alphabet song is becoming more and more clear too. We also had a song in class that we sang that goes: "Oh well we walk and we walk and we walk and we stop!" She runs around the house singing "walk, walk, walk, walk" or she'll come over grab your hand and take you for a walk while she sings it. The other day I had Nick jr. on for her and the wonder pets were on. She surprised the hell out of David and I when she sang the song with them. One of the lines in the song is "What's gonna work? Teamwork!" So when they sang "What's gonna work?" she would answer "teamwork!" I nearly fell out of my chair the first time she did it. I'm trying to compile a list of all the words she can say now (we have our 18 month appointment on Monday) and it just keeps growing every day. She got the walking down so now we're going to work on our vocabulary.


This past weekend was probably the most exciting for us. Our friends Phil and Carrie and their 3 boys: Andy (11), Matt (9), and Darren (7) came in for a visit on their way to visit Carrie's family in Iowa. We haven't seen them in 4 years so it was great fun to see how big the boys got and to catch up. Bug had a blast playing with them and it was definitely a different pace in our house for a few days (namely super busy, with non-stop action) but it was great. They're stopping by on their way home in a few weeks so we'll get to see them again real soon. They bought Bug a slide and climbing castle with swing to play with. (Which was unbelievable fabulous of them to do. Thanks again guys! :) ) Bug loves it. She hasn't quite managed to go down the slide by herself yet, but I bet she figures it out by the time they get back. (It's only about 12-18 inches high.....)


We went to the zoo with everyone on Monday and for the first time Bug was excited to see the animals. It was a bit overwhelming at first for her because of all the people there. (I don't blame her, I hate large crowds, there's that claustrophobic feeling you get and at the zoo its even worse b/c I have visions of being caught in the crowd and being shoved into the tiger enclosure. Granted, I love tigers. LOVE them, they're gorgeous animals. However, I am not the tiger keeper and they would probably not be too terribly happy about someone falling into their enclosure; aka territory. I would probably be seen as lunch.....) But when we went by the Sun bear she was excited to actually see the Sun Bear. She kept pointing at it and saying "bear, bear." And, she was really excited to see Bodhi running around outside. (He's the little 3 yr old elephant.) She had the biggest grin on her face when she saw him. As usual, she really enjoyed the aquarium. She loves to watch those giant fish. The hit of the trip though, was the chipmunk that was hanging out around the picnic table when we stopped for a snack. :) We don't have any at our house because of the lack of trees. So, I can only assume that it was as exotic to her as the elephant. And, since it was no further than 2 feet away, I can see how she would be nearly tripping over herself to be able to practically step on it. The day was definitely an adventure. :)

Some pics from the past month:





Darren, Andy, Matt, David and Bug at the tiger exhibit sculpture.




Playing in the plastic bin with daddy.









*Bluebird update: Handsome and Beautiful are on their third brood. When I checked on Saturday there were 2 eggs in the nest. I need to check to see how many more there are to figure out when they should hatch. This should be the last brood of this year. :( But, as usual they were successful all 3 times and we should total at least 12 babies this year. :) *