Riley and Avery

Don't know why I bother blogging when in Maryland, since most of the people that I update for are here...but just for the sake of continuity...

So we got to Maryland totally okay. We did sit next to a man on the flight from Atlanta to Baltimore who was a father of six children and coached multiple sports, so needless to say, he really liked children. He talked to Riley for the absolute entire flight, which I though was really nice at first, but then I realize that he's drunk. And he started giving me a headache.

Avery is in disposables for this trip, as we just couldn't fit the cloth diapers in our luggage (another failed attempt at packing light). She wouldn't pee in them for three days. Now it seems that she's back to normal, pee-wise, but now we're working on pooping...

James and Riley are getting along famously. And Riley and Avery both absolutely adore baby William. And what's not to love? I've never seen a baby so happy all the time! Just to sit and laugh at whatever he lays his eyes on! He's such a soft little chunk-a-lunk!
Everyone here is getting a little peek at Riley's transition problems. It seems that it is a bona fide problem, as opposed to something that is simply annoying to the parent.

I haven't been feeling all that great since we got here, but mostly yesterday and today. I don't know what it is. Probably just climate-change and the humidity. I feel like the excessive Maryland gravity is pulling me into the ground. I may simply be dehydrated or something. I can try to choke down some more water. Yuck!

I know that I haven't blogged in a long time. Giving myself a slap on the hand. It's been so busy around here that I've been trying to go to bed early. But decided I'll blog tonight.

We went to Prospect Lake at Memorial Park today with Amy and Abby. The girls really had a lot of fun romping around in the lake totally buck naked. In fact, a woman asked us if we were German, or just liberal Americans. She said that she is from Germany and they are a lot more "free" there. So at least it wasn't a negative comment. It was really cute seeing three butts splashing in the lake with the mountains in the background. Riley is really strange like that, she'll swim in the ocean and lakes and play in rivers, but fountains and spray grounds? No thanks. Oh, and Avery is definitely an absolute slide junky.



I think that Riley and Abby are learning how to be in such close quarters together. I think...when they do clash, it can be pretty bad, but they are starting to set boundaries ("I need my privacy" has been heard a lot around here today) and avoid conflicts. Avery is so jealous of Abby being near me or getting my attention. Not to mention if Abby is actually touching me. When I'm in Maryland I'll have to run off and hide if I want to hold little William.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to the zoo, so we'll see if that pans out. It's been really scorching hot here and the sun is so strong at this altitude. And the zoo is a mountain zoo so it's uphill a lot of the way. We'll see what the weather is like. The zoo is definitely better when it's overcast or a little rainy.

We went to the Garden of the Gods yesterday. Amy's friend Allyson was here from Boulder (originally from MD, she worked at Borders with us) so we went with her and the girls liked running around and climbing the rocks and playing in the dirt. Of course, it was really hot and shade was scarce and far between, but we managed with a lot of water.

I think I've spoken to everyone lately, so nothing I write is new, so I'll just make this one all about the pictures...

And a gratuitous cute picture of Avery with a Q-tip in her nose. This is she smile I get when I ask her for one. She stuck a Q-tip in her nose and just resumed playing like it was totally normal:

I've been just a little busy lately designing and sewing this carrier. Hence the busy signal on our phone line a lot lately. When you rip off someone elses design, it takes a lot of research! I always like the Tettitet and Taitasi carriers that I saw on TBW, but I certainly don't have $180 - $240 dollars to have one shipped from Norway, so I totally ripped it off. Hey, a BWer has to do what a BWer has to do...Avery is quite crooked in these pictures, but hey, she was naked and I sure didn't want her to break in the MT by peeing on it! I am such an addict!


It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the brown fabric is pinwale corduroy and is really soft. Although now I notice that it could use some ironing...

So I survived another trip to the zoo on Friday with NINO. It was a lot of fun, I have to admit. Of course, we did the usual, feed the giraffes. We also went into the Budgie Buddies exhibit and Riley got upclose and personal with some birds. Avery was really excited about it too. We didn't go in there last time since I had already been pooped on recently and wasn't ready for another bird-dropping. Didn't get pooped on this time. The zoo also brought back the Wallaby Walk-about and Riley and Avery both petted the baby wallaby. Riley also got to hand-feed one of the really people friendly chipmunks. We were standing around and eating teddy grahams and the little chipmunk came right up to us and stood on its back legs, its arms reaching up, and his little hands opening and closing. Aww, begging chipmunks.


Today Riley said to me: "I want something to drink...in a grande cup." Do I go to Starbucks too much?

Speaking of things that Riley says, we were at playgroup on Thursday and I was talking to the other moms and nursing Avery. Riley decided that she wanted to be twisted on the swings. Another mother offered to twist her since I often do the same for her daughter. Well, the woman walks over to Riley and Riley looks at her and says "I'm a pain in the ass! That's what my daddy says to me!" It was so surprising that every single mother laughed. And the discipline opportunity was lost...

Oh yeah, I was downtown on Friday and like a complete idiot, I park within sight of the Uncle Wilber fountain. So a fully-clothed Riley just had to go in. We stayed for a couple of hours and Riley got soaking wet. It was the most she had gone into the fountain, so that was good. They have a "Spray Ground" here that just opened up this summer, so I'm looking to take her there either Sunday or Monday. We'll see...

Avery is into baby dolls BIG TIME! She has to have several babies wherever she goes. Last night, she was laying down at bedtime with her babies and she sits one of them up and waves its arm at me and says "bye bye". It was really cute. Whenever she eats, I have to give the baby doll a bite first. Oh, and I have to nurse these dolls on occasion. I try to get her to nurse them herself, but that's a no-go so far.

So we went to the zoo on Tuesday. We had a lot of fun although it was piping hot up there on the mountain. Riley was really excited to see all the baby animals at the zoo this time of year. The baby giraffe was shockingly huge for only being two weeks old. We saw a baby gorilla too. It was so cute, the mother cuddling with it as it slept, right up against the glass like she was showing it off. The mother kept blowing dust off of it and picking dirt from it and kissing it. Very tender for such huge animals. The zoo doesn't even know if it's a boy or a girl because they haven't examined it in any way, although it is nearly six months old. I thought that was cool that they don't traumatize mother and infant just for the sake of scientific curiousity. We also saw a baby orangutan whose mother rejected it, so it was in its cage with a zoo keeper who just holds it day and night. It must be strange to be a human in a cage like that. And the keeper was just sitting there, looking blankly off into space, not reading a book (what I would do) just being as much of an orangutan as possible. Riley had a ton of fun romping around with the other West Side kids. It's nice to see her with other children being social. I have absolutely no pictures of Avery at the zoo because she was straped to my back the whole time. As proof that I've been wearing her a whole lot: she hadn't worn shoes in weeks, until I took her to the zoo that day. Well, we're having a NINO field trip to the zoo on Friday, so that'll be even more fun. Ah, the joys of being a zoo member...going to the zoo twice in one week.

Oh yeah, today is the 4th of July. Maida from West Side Moms offered us her deck for us to watch the fireworks, although they wouldn't be home. I told the group that I was looking for a place to overlook the fireworks because I really didn't want to have to stake out a spot, deal with parking and crowds, just to have Avery scared out of her wits. Her house is super cool, great city and mountain views and we could see several fireworks dispalys from her deck. Avery fell asleep in the car on the way there and didn't wake up. So sweet.