What did you do today?

I planted 600 bulbs!

Here are some of them:

The daffodils and winter aconite went in here, and some alliums and rock garden iris. I even dug sand into the clay soil to make it nice!

Most of these are orange tulips, along with asiatic lilies, floofy hyacinths, crocuses and grape hyacinths. But really, orange tulips mostly.

There were also some bulbs that I put in the gardens out back, but those had individual holes dug for them so it didn't look so exciting. 

Spring will be here so soon!

On the move!

John is rocking and rolling and getting into all kinds of trouble!

He also got his first two teeth last week, the bottom front ones.

Oscar was a dragon for Halloween, briefly, when we went to Spring Creek Gardens and played bowling with gourds and Jenga. It was funny to see the parents who dressed up their tiny babies, because it was impossible to tell if they were carrying a human or a stuffed animal. The best costume was a little kid wearing a little tiny safety vest. It was very shiny.

When the trick-or-treaters came to the house, Oscar was very excited and would say "Children! Children are here!" He would give them candy and then he would take a candy for himself. We didn't get many people because our front porch light is on a motion sensor, and we can't make it be always on. So we were an incognito house.

Also, Oscar likes to play catch but for who knows why he calls it "Butterscotch!"

Winter is here

an oscar joke

Last night I was changing Oscar's diaper and he kept putting his foot in his mouth. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm eating toest!"

Then he started eating sandwiches and it was very hard to put pajamas on him.

burrito college

Eric makes lunch for us on Sunday nights. He has a whole routine down now.

We still haven't bothered to bring in plates to the lab, so we reheat them on paper towels in the microwave and re-fold them into the foil to take outside if it's nice. I really want to reheat them in the hot water bath instead, but Eric says that it wouldn't work and that's gross. But he isn't one to talk since he eats the ice from the lab ice machine.

John is sleeping almost through the night now, it's just that he thinks the night is over at 5 and the rest of us think 7 is more normal. But that's more of a minor disagreement that we will win eventually. Johnny Bam-bam is also army crawling like a champ! Every now and then he gets his little butt wobbling up in the air! No pics yet but soon we will catch the little worm in action.

Here Oscar wanted John to wear his cat hat. Oscar likes the idea of the hat but in fact hates wearing hats so he prefers that John wear it. Also then he can see John being a cat. John doesn't seem to mind.

Finally, I got my bulbs today! Here is what 600 bulbs looks like:

It isn't even time to plant them quite yet, since we haven't had a frost. Maybe after next weekend. Most of the brown paper bags contain orange tulips! It will be at least one beautiful spring. Excuse me, I need to go consult my spreadsheet about where I will need to dig some 200 holes...

a few more excellent videos

Apparently it might be unusual that Oscar speaks in binary when he preyends to be a robot. When we showed Oscar this video he said "eeur eeir eeir zero zero one..."


Oscar also likes to race from room to room. Note John enjoying his panda from Mak and Kristine.


And we borrowed Pat Reeves' car briefly before we got the Honda, and Oscar was enthralled, and very sad when the car was no longer at our house. It was a red Saab hatchback, the exact color of a peanut replum, so we called it "Pat's peanut car".

the happy hocky family

So I will start my new post-doc in mid-December! I submitted my application on 9/26, interviewed on 10/2, and was offered the position on 10/5 aka Monday. I will study how RNA integrity in seeds can be correlated to seed germination rates and viability. It is a government position, through the USDA, with guaranteed funding for two years, and all the good jutes that goes along with real jobs. We are still wrapping our heads around the news.

We just broke out the camera Paul gave us, so there might be more pictures soon. Eric has always preferred taking video with his phone over pictures, especially because the camera isn't too great.

Starfish boy in his zipadee-zip. I can't decide if the outfit does anything particularly special, but I do like that it encloses his hands. Maybe it's worth it for that alone. Also, John slept through the night last night while wearing it. Coincidence? Definitely.

And a suite of videos. The last one is killer!

The turtle swims:


Oscar right after his first bee sting:


Sleepy boy:


Spying on the brothers:


John rolls and rolls:

Future home

Oscar and his brain

I got Oscar a personal watermelon since they're just the right size for each other. He calls it his brain. This morning he told me, "I love my brain, Momma." And he kissed it and gave it a hug. I wonder how traumatic he will find cutting it open!

John just had his six month checkup, if you can believe that. He weighs 16 pounds, two ounces. He is 26 inches long. And his head is 17 inches around! He's up in the 25th percentile for weight now, and the 50th for height. He clearly trades off getting longer and getting fatter.

Uncouth

Full Orange experience

Oscar got a Orange still on the rind today for the first time....i taught him this immediately.

Harvest two

I may have planted to many peppers...

Tomato wee-wee

Oscar found this mutant fruit and explained to me it has a peepee... I just hope its not for weewee

Patio splendor

I got some sweet pics of the patio all complete as well as the destruction I wrought upon the side yard yesterday. Oh Ozymandias!

Oscar's chair, set up so he can watch Ol' Drooley.

Look at those sweet plants in that rock!

The happy vegetable garden.

Close-up of the Tiburones.

Adorable Scotch bonnets!

Crocosmia, still going strong.

Everything between me and the fence will be composted. Finally we are achieving mastery over this space! When I was done pulling all of it I came inside and started reading Beverley Nichols' Down the Garden Path, the perfect book to start on such an occasion. And now I will continue reading it and getting lots of wicked ideas I hope!

Labor Day: a day to work hard on your own projects.

We had a great Labor Day weekend - we worked our butts off! The patio is complete, with plants installed in the gardens which are edged and mulched. More gardens got edging courtesy of Eric, until he disturbed a bee's nest and got stung in the armpit. Coincidentally, Oscar also complained of a bee biting him and needing an ice rag in his armpit. I weeded so much bindweed. Even if it all comes back ten-fold, at least it won't trip us right now. I also finally weeded the side yard and uncovered garden space that I can stuff oh, at least 100 bulbs into.... We vacuumed, did laundry, and Eric made burritos for lunch all week. Things are shaping up nicely! We'll have fancy pictures of the patio soon, including the nice stones with ferns in them.

But enough with the words. On to the display!

Taken by Oscar! He also took a lot of pictures of Turtle Princess.

He is the chief, he wears all the bibs. In the Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle, Oscar would march with the dirty bibs.

Finally, we're all growing up. I had my first (and hopefully only) root canal on Friday. Dentists are pretty strange, is what I learned. And little John is rolling over! Here is a nice video of baby torture.