What a cute baby!

So this is the face that wakes me up every night and morning. This is the face that beams at me every time I look at him. This is the face that he gives every passer-by who glances in his direction. He really is not stingy with his smiles. This is the face that ensures that he gets kept.

One of the things that I love best about Graham right now is that when he is tired or falling asleep, he makes these little humming noises. It is so cute. I miss him sometimes when he is asleep.

The Zoo (revisited)

Ok, so we went back to the zoo today, and much to my dismay, the tiny baby monkey had grown a lot in just a week. He was about 1 1/2 times as big. He was still pretty cute though. I think the big difference was that his fur had grown longer, and he was just a lot cuter when he had shorter fur.


Anyway, it was just the 3 of us today, and it was the first time we had ever gone to the zoo without any friends. Nate stayed by my side the entire time. It was lovely. This time I did take some pictures though. So here it goes.

Nate loves to feed the animals. He doesn't get the whole let them eat out of your hand thing, so usually when they get close, he drops the food, on the outside of the cage, just out of reach. It's actually a pretty cruel trick, but I'm sure they're pretty used to it. Today he fed the goats, the deer and the ducks and fish in the pond.

He spend a lot of time hanging out with the tortises.

I love how close you can get to the lion!

It looks to me like that emu could stick its head out of its cage and bite someone if it wanted to. Do emus bite?

I have a thing for baby goats. Shhhh... don't tell Jesse.

And here is that baby monkey. It's not really a good picture. You may have to click on it since there is another monkey sitting behind him.

Anyway, so that was our day at the zoo today. I love that I can go and be home in time for naps. Nate was asking to see the elephant though, so I guess a trip down to the big zoo is in order some time soon.

You might be a redneck if...

So last Friday we ended the day being a little more white trash than we were when we started the day. We were having trouble with our satellite, and come to find out it won't work in the back yard, and in fact, the only place in the whole yard that it will work is the front corner. So there you have it, our satellite dish in the middle of our front yard.

I also found this robin's egg in our back yard the other day. It was pretty sad. We have a robin who built her nest right by our front door. It's hard to say if she threw the egg out or some other bird. Either way, seconds after this picture was taken Nate thought that "jump on the egg" sounded like a fun game. So sad.

Play time

Here is my happy baby!

So these are just some pictures of the fun times we have had playing outside lately. We are excited that the weather has gotten nice, and if we are not going anywhere, then we just spend our time playing in the back yard. Oh how I love having a back yard!

Eating

So the other day I was walking through the dining room and I saw this:


Nate had taken one bite out of each cracker and lined them up. I see more of me in him each and every day.


We also have ventured into "solid" food with Graham. As I may have mentioned (many times) Graham has not been a great sleeper for me. About a month ago he was still waking up 3 or 4 times during the night. Yeah, really annoying, so the doctor suggested that he might be hungry, so I should try cereal. Low and behold, he WAS hungry. Right away he started only waking up once at night. As usual is has been quite messy. Just recently he has decided that he would be able to eat without putting his finger in his mouth each time, so that is an improvement. I think that the first time we fed him cereal was on April 12th. We were actually at the Olive Garden, and that was my way of trying to get him to make it through the evening. Since then, we have started on fruit and vegetables. I always thought that I would not start solids with Graham before 6 months on account of him being so big and everything. I guess I didn't count on my milk supply being low and him starving right under my nose. Oh well. He's happy, and I guess that's all that matters.

The Zoo

Ok, So lots of things have happened here, and I have pictures I want to post, but well, I'm too lazy right now, so I'll just talk about our adventure today.
Last fall we purchased a membership to the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in beautiful Thermont MD. We went a few times last fall, and then they closed for the winter. Well, they reopened in April, so we have been back a few times since then. It is nice, because it's less than 15 minutes away from me, and it's really no more a big deal than going to the park. The thing that I like about this zoo is that it is small and relatively empty. Before this, if we wanted to go to the zoo it would involve trekking down to the National Zoo in DC. And that zoo is nice, don't get me wrong, it has lots and lots of animals, but it is way too crowded to go with an almost 3 year old.
So we started going up to Catoctin. It has lots of different kinds of animals, almost any kind of small monkey you could want, plus a few lions and bears and zebra and jaguar, and other zoo like things. There are no elephants though. Anyway, they also have some more common animals, like they have a white tailed deer pen (and it's nice to be able to appreciate them without worrying that they will run out in front of your car.) And some goats, and sheep and mountain goats, and llamas and stuff like that. Those kind of animals you can feed. Nate really likes throwing food to the animals, and I am even getting adventurous enough to let them eat out of my hand.
Anyway, it's just a really fun time for us, and even when Nate does start running crazy, I don't have to worry as much as I would have to if we are a big zoo. So the next time that we go I need to take pictures so that I can post them. Hopefully we can go back soon while the tiny baby macaque monkey is still tiny. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life.
So that was our morning. I love that I was able to take my kids to the zoo and we are back home for naps in the afternoon.

Blog tag

Ok, so Becky tagged me a while ago, so here it goes.
4 Jobs I've had:
5th grade teacher
Remedial education teacher
Paint Girl
Nanny

4 movies I've seen:
Juno
Cars
Finding Nemo
Thomas's Trusty Friends

4 Places I've been:
Philadelphia
Washington DC
London
Paris

4 Places I've lived:
Frederick, MD
Purcellville, VA
Provo, UT
Sykesville, MD

4 TV shows I watch:
Big Bang Theory
Bones
How I Met Your Mother
The Rules of Engagement
(And that's just Monday night)

4 radio stations I listsen to:
Hot 99.5
DC101
Mix 106.5
Mix 107.3

4 favorite foods:
Pizza
Mashed Potatoes
Harry and David mint truffles
Lasagna

4 places I'd rather be:
anywhere considered vacation
a vacation without the kids

4 people I tag:
Anyone who has not done this one before.