so much to tell!

Well the first photo should say it all folks - Todd is walking. Not very well, mind you, but he can get up and go for more than a few steps before falling down and crawling the rest of the way to get there faster. We had a wonderful Christmas up in Michigan - it was soooo great to see family again - especially some family we never get to see on regular visits.
So what's happened in the last couple months? Not a whole lot, but the kids are getting older and Todd is turning into such a little man. His facial expressions match his daddy's and sometimes even mine. I was looking through my baby book and I couldn't believe some of the similarities between my face and his - so I guess he does look like me too. He says momma and dadda and baba (we can safely assume he's talking about himself since he says that a lot). He and Claire can even play together sometimes without one of them screaming - when both of them are screaming it's okay because I know they're having fun). In one more month we'll be celebrating their birthdays - I can hardly believe it. Claire's going to be starting school in another year and a half, but I try not to think about it. I hope everyone is well and that you enjoy the pictures. One of them is of all of us with Zach's dad's friend Ken Mansfield who wrote "The Beatles, The Bible, and Bodega Bay" plus his new book "The White Album". We went to his book signing last week to say hello. Check out his book if you get the chance. He is a wonderful writer. Love you all! Erika

Christmas is coming - protect the tree!! And the gifts!!

Helloooooo Everybody! We are jumping up and down with excitement over our trip up to Michigan in another week. Christmas is going to be a hoot this year folks. Todd loves boxes, paper, and everyone else's stuff so it should be a pretty funny experience for all - except the other kids - they might not enjoy Todd trying to open all of their presents (I guess we'll just have to distract him with a cookie or two - or five - he's quite an eater...). We're trying hard not to think of him as a gorilla, but with appearance and manner it's just too hard not to - and bananas being his favorite food...well! You get the idea.
He is growing and growing - right out of his 12 month clothes and right into a forward facing seat. When he and claire sit on the floor together they look like playmates and not big sister, baby brother. They're practically the same height sitting down! I'm probably exaggerating though - Claire is quite tall.
I included some pictures (finally!) from Thanksgiving. The first picture is of Todd from last night. Love to you all! See you soon! Love, Erika

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! The night before Halloween we had Matthew and Chelsea over to carve pumpkins (Matthew and Chels are razorbacks fans). And no the gorgeous girl in the photo isn't me it's Chelsea! We also had a great time last night with the kids over at Nana and Pop Pop's house. Claire went trick or treating with Nana and Momma. Pop Pop, Daddy and Todd passed out candy. Todd wore his gorilla suit and claire wore the dinosaur costume I made. The funny thing about Todd is, well, he actually looks like a gorilla when he wears the costume. And he also acts like one by slapping and growling and trying to eat everything! hahaha. Hope everyone is doing well, Love you! Erika

A little pre-season entertainment

Hey everyone! I've wanted to get these photos up before Halloween, but since I didn't we'll just have two blog entries for today. Oh my goodness, do we ever have a little baby model here. Todd gets more and more fun by the day it seems. One of the most fun things is giving him a bath. Todd Loves the bath! He'll bury his whole face in the water and come up laughing. He loves to stand at the edge of the tub and slap it until he falls on his bottom to make a big splash. He's ususlly in there with Claire and he finishes before her, but if you try to get him dressed while she's still in the tub he'll scream until you put him down again and he can crawl back into the bathroom to stand at the tub edge and slap! He's been eating more solid foods - among his favorites are bananas, guacamole, and refried beans - those all make for a very colorful diaper change - yeesh!Hope you enjoy the pictures! Love, Erika

we got some silly kids

Well as you can see from the pictures we have some silly kids on our hands. Todd went in for his 6 month check up he's 18.5 pounds and 27 1/4 inches long. Huge. He's crawling now and trying to stand up and walk. He'll crawl all over our bed and try to go off the edge head first, but if you put him in his crib all he'll do is stand at the bar and yell. And occasionally let go to try and stand up. He loves to play with boxes and remotes and the dvd/vcr players so we have to keep the doors to the tv cabinet closed. If he starts going for them and you run to shut the door he'll actually get mad at you and screech. His new found love is the piano though. He'll stand there for minutes at a time (Im not kidding...actual minutes) and slap to his heart's content. I made those two giant donuts for props at church - the kids love sitting in them - and i love it because they can't get at each other! We're having a blast - wait till you see the pictures after Halloween! Love to you all, Erika

more pictures

In case some of you missed about 5 pictures, i hope these are the ones you missed. let me know if i did repeats. Lova ya! Erika

So many new skills

Wow, not a whole lot of time has gone by, but Todd has acquired a lot of new skills. Among the latest ones are eating (although I think this one came naturally), sitting up, trying to crawl (now he does the commando - usually right towards someones food), and biting - biting being the least favorable new skill since it's usually one of us.
The pictures are starting to become more comical because Todd is awake and usually doing something naughty - and smiling while he does it. Our favorite game to play with him is to have him sit on the floor and try to get him to crawl towards things. He does pretty well with dragging himself across the floor (considering th size of his rear end I am quite impressed he's able to do this). He'll usually get to the object although his left leg often gives him trouble and ends up making him sit up again - which he hates. I wouldn't have thought a baby could move so fast, but when you put the cheetos bag on the floor he's racing towards it like there's no tomorrow. Once there were actually cheetos in the bag and ever since he's gotten a hold of a chip bag and there's nothing in it he will actually yell and scream. We had to lower his crib this weekend because he's been pulling himself into standing position - usually when he's supposed to be asleep. He goes to the doctor in a couple weeks for a weigh in and I'll be shocked if he's less than 19 pounds. He's now comfortably wearing 12 month clothes. I'll bet he could probably fit into some of Claire's clothes. Love to you all, Erika.