"Tweet"

Gus decided to usurp one of the cats' toys for his own last week. For whatever reason, he chose to name this little mouse "Tweet" and they have been inseparable ever since. This is officially the first time that he has named one of his toys by himself. It is fun to see his little imagination growing. We're glad that Tweet is part of the family. For one thing, Tweet is easy to bring along b/c he is so small. Another bonus: should Gus lose Tweet, we'll just go to PetsMart and pick up another 3-pack.

Trucks

This weekend, it's been doing nothing but, you guessed it, raining.....so here's a post about last weekend. We went on Saturday morning to an event called "Touch A Truck" that our neighbor told us about (Thanks, Cindy!!). It's basically a huge collection of trucks, just like the ones we've been reading about in Gus' many, many truck books. So last Saturday, he got to see them all for real and play with some wheel-related toys. It was a HUGE hit with our little trucker. I've labeled the various trucks, in case you're not as up on your truck names as we are:)

Pushing a wagon in his hard hat.

Playing on the car mat.

Concrete mixer (a highlight!)

Driving the concrete mixer. Those things are huge!

Tiny red car?


Up close, trucks have REALLY big wheels!


A satisfied customer:)

Cherry picker.

Golf cart.

Waiting for the HYBRID bus. Go CARTA!

Awed by the wheels again.

Street sweeper.

Riding lawnmower.

Tractor.

Mama's car....

It's been raining here for what feels like weeks....so, I've been inventing things to do with Gus to get him out of the house. Yesterday morning, we went to the mall (of all places!) and just walked around for a while. And then later, we went to the aquarium for an hour with Scott after work. Anyway, we've been in the car a lot.

And sometimes when it's really wet here, my car gets wet inside and starts to get a really musty, nasty smell to it. I was commenting about it to Gus yesterday as we were driving. He thought about it for a while and then said, "Mama's car needs a clean diaper."

That's one for the quote book:)

Quote of the Week

So we've been meaning to do this for a while. Gus is talking so much these days that we have plenty of fodder for a Quote of the Week post. Well, you know how the blog goes; we just don't post very often so things have been stacking up. Here's some of the quotes we can remember. We'll try to stick to one a week from now on.

While "reading" a book by himself the other day, he looked up at the clock and yelled, "Clock! Stop clocking!" I guess he doesn't like the "tick-tock" noise.

I picked up Go Dog, Go the other day and he said, "By P.D. Eastman" (the author).

Gus tends to get Amy up most mornings...and since I don't respond to the monitor I continue sleeping! Apparently she tries to keep Gus and Kanba (one of our cats) quiet while I am still in bed. Now, whenever Kanba meows Gus shouts, "Kanba! Be quiet!"

In When I Get Bigger, there is a picture with Little Critter and a radio. Today he exclaimed, "The radio that plays Michael Jackson music."

"Listen to Michael Jackson?" Gus's requests for Michael Jackson music is secondary only to "Big Rock Candy Mountain," a song about hobos from the O' Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.

"Let Gus out?" is often how he greets Amy first thing in the morning. Other times, he'll say, "Did ya wake up?"

Do you know the lyrics to the Farmer in the Dell song? They are here if you really want to know. Anyway, Gus has added a verse that says, "The farmer takes another wife. The farmer takes another wife. Hi ho the merry-o, the farmer takes another wife."

Amy checked out a book at the library called, "My First Spanish Truck Board Book." He is really into monster cars these days and there is one pictured in the book. He's been going around today talking about his toy "monstruoso." We'll keep working on his pronunciation.

We have been letting him pull the plug in the bathtub after his baths. A month or so ago, while watching the water go down the drain he said, "See you water! Have a good day!"

Glancing at his dinner plate tonight, he apparently wasn't satisfied with what we had provided. He immediately said, "I need some chocolate!"

"Hey fatty! How ya doin' fatty?" I know. This one has danger written all over it. Hopefully he will continue to say this only to Kanba and not to anyone else.

"You need to share!" He often says this when we tell him to share, or he wants someone else to share. We can thank his Uncle Jim for that one.

There are several chicken processing plants in Chattanooga and we often get a tractor-trailer full of chickens passing by. Once when one drove by, he said, "Pee-yew. Stinky chickens!"

While singing Mary Had a Little Lamb a few weeks back, Gus added a verse: "Mary had a parking lot." His love of cars knows no bounds.

"It's cool in here." For some reason, Gus thinks our dining room is the coolest room in the house.

Whenever we have to take Gus away from something he is enjoying, he often whines, "We'll be riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight bacK."

If Gus sees me with my shirt off, he exclaims, "Naked Dada! Naked Dada!"

If I leave and am gone for any length of time, Gus will greet me with, "Dada came home from work."

"Go mow the grass? Go owside and mow the grass?" Gus wants to be outside pushing his lawnmower about 10 of the 11 hours of the day that he is awake.

Gus can be a lot of work, but man does he bring a lot of joy, too. We love you Gus!

2 cents

I've been doing a little dabbling in "couponing" these last few months. It takes A LOT of time and I'm not really sure how much I personally have been saving.....but I am pretty proud of my latest purchase. Yesterday, I walked out of CVS with: foundation, blush, baby shampoo, and 2 four packs of razor refills (originally $9.99 each), and I paid a grand total of $0.02 for it all! How's that for beating the system:)

33 weeks

I realized I haven't done much posting about this pregnancy lately. I'm honestly starting to feel sorry for all you non-firstborns out there. Life is already so busy that I feel like I haven't been giving this second kid as much attention as I should, which is sad but, I hear, very normal . Fortunately, this little girl is so active that a lot of times (like most nights between 10-11 pm), she refuses to be forgotten...which should serve her well once she's here in the mix:)

I've been enjoying all the pink that has lately come into our lives while sorting through the many, many clothes and shoes that have been lent or given to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have contributed to her very stylish wardrobe:)

Last night, our neighbors threw us a baby girl shower (or baby sprinkle, as we've been told 2nd showers are called). The decorations were beautiful, the food delicious and, of course, the company was wonderful! Thanks you guys!!!

Scott and Kyle, enjoying the pre-dinner games....Between the 5 couples in our little circle, we've got 7 kids under 4.

Anna

GusAvery Isaiah

Matthew and Madeline And Wells: the littlest, for now:)

Everybody enjoying some desertI'll close with a request to those of you out there with multiple children: Any wise advice on how to prepare Gus now for his new little sister and/or helpful suggestions for helping him deal with life after she's born?

"I'm 2!"

Gus celebrated his 2nd birthday last week while Oma and Opa were here. He enjoyed donuts for breakfast and a cheeseburger and ice-cream cake for lunch:) Honestly, that was about the extent of the celebrating. I just couldn't get it together enough this year to do anything big.

It's been a lot of fun lately to watch Gus grow up. Our neighbor Erin taught him how to hold up 2 fingers and say "I'm 2!" It takes him awhile to get his fingers right, which is funny, and then he gets this huge grin on his face:) He is starting to enjoy copying whatever Scott is doing. Last weekend it was the lawnmowing.

He loves being outside these days, cutting the grass...

...or the sidewalk!

He also enjoys attempting to walk around in our shoes,

still loves reading books,

tries to help with household chores (he is very good at carrying his clothes basket back to his room once it's emptied into the washer),

and has started sleeping in his "big boy" bed!!!

We love you so much, Gus-man!!

Oma & Opa

My parents came down to visit about 2 weeks ago for a few days. It was great to see them and share some time together.

Aren't they a cute couple??

It seems that we spent most of the time working on projects around our house (although we did squeeze in a trip to the zoo and an evening out in St. Elmo getting ice cream and seeing the shops in our tiny "downtown" area). Both my parents have such servant's hearts, they don't seem to mind helping us out with our many projects at all. Mom helped us pick out fabric for a baby quilt. I really wanted it to match the one that she made for Gus because it turned out so great!! But it was complicated finding new materials that would go well with the old. But FINALLY, I think we've got it figured out. Thanks for your patience, Mom!!

Gus' quilt.

Dad spent several hours planting and transplanting shrubs for me. It's a terrible time of year to do that, but I'm really on the warpath to get things accomplished around here!! Hope you weren't too sore, Dad!!

Best of all, Oma and Opa kept Gus for one night so that Scott and I could have our first overnight alone in 2 years!! Gus apparently had a blast and didn't miss us at all:)

Off for some adventures with the grandparents.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast which is actually a steamboat docked downtown near Coolidge Park.

The great "Chattanooga" view from our deck.

So, thanks so much, Oma and Opa, for coming to stay and for giving us a chance to relax some too!! Can't wait til your next visit:)

"What? You're actually leaving and won't be here to chase me around all day anymore??"

Gus III and V

This past weekend, Papa Gus came to visit from Kansas City. All the Guses had a blast:) We ate tons of great food (that I didn't have to cook!), took a morning bike ride together on the Riverwalk, and got to go to a Lookouts game. It was a wonderful visit.....thanks so much for coming, Papa Gus!

Fun times during lunch at Niedlov's....

A brief nap during our bike ride....

Guses III & V....