Paul's birthday party

We went to cousin Paul's birthday party on Sunday night (after a long discussion of how cousin Paul is not the same as Paul of "Pat the Bunny" fame). It was a joint party with his friend Alex at the bathhouse at Golden Gardens. This is the only crappy photo I have of Paul and Alex (Paul is seated in hat, back to camera, blowing out candles). In my defense, he was the social butterfly since all his friends and family were around, so it was hard to catch a shot. Plus, I had to keep one eye on my little one at all times - those who know him know he's prone to running off!! Still getting to know my new camera, so there are a few fuzzy shots...

Mom and Tom: Now is this a beautiful, happy couple or WHAT!?!

Andy adores his cousin Katie.

Gerryrigging the bicycle

Andy insisted on rigging up his bike with lots of tape in order to tow a "trailer" full of rocks and leaves - I tore the tape and got the trailer ready to attach, but he rigged it to the bike himself.

Playdough

Andy is looking so grown up! Giving me his very best smile!

The microphone technique

Andy learned this microphone technique from "Uncle Jim," who visited along with Shawn's other friends from Michigan and Colorado for the big hike last week in the North Cascades. Now he won't sing in the microphone unless it's tucked into his shirt.

The other day, I realized I had virtually no photos of Maria, who has been a wonderful part of our lives since Andy was just 8 months old! Maria takes care of Andy -- and the rest of us -- twice a week.

Hale's Brewery

This is a pretty cute set of pics of Andy with his Grandpa (Grandpa was more amused than he gives away in these photos!). We were at Hale's brewery for dinner on Sunday night with my mom and Tom after Shawn left with his buddies for a 5-night hiking trip in the North Cascades. Andy kept wanting to run out the restaurant doors to see the beer-making machinery or the little white puppy in a car out front. Tom was so good about keeping him around!

My sweet boy

Andy loves getting Herbie on the leash and taking him for "pretend walks" in the yard. This time it was a run...

On his bike, Andy likes to ride around the "track," aka our patio table.

Piano with Daddy!

Peter's Band

Check out Peter's band's new website: the Glenside Allstars (at right)!

Saturday morning

Cheerios are Andy's favorite breakfast treat these days. He eats them all, drinks the milk from the bowl, then puts the bowl on his head like a hat (sorry I didn't capture that gem - I was running to get it off his head!).

Finally...!

I know, I've been so delinquent in updating the blog! My excuse is that I lost my camera's batter charger. So now I have a new camera (it was time for a replacement anyway) that Shawn gave me for my birthday, and I just got it charged up and the software loaded. Here are the first few pics: Shawn and Andy just after Andy's nighttime bath.

In terms of an update on us --

Construction: we're not done with the upstairs bathroom yet - just need the wall cabinets and drawers and then some final tiling around that, and a glass partition that is on order and will go between the shower and sink, then the shower curtain bar has to be installed into that. Also, we're getting new carpet upstairs, so that will require some major furniture moving in a about two weeks. But at least there is plumbing upstairs now!

Baby: I'm due Sept. 13, so I have a month left or so. Andy came a few days early so I'm thinking our little girl might come around Sept. 8 or 9. This week I started having lots of contractions and could feel them radiating in my back. The nurse at my drs. office freaked me out when she told me to stay hydrated, stay off me feet, and "hopefully we can hold this baby off until next week." AAAHHH! But after a visit to my doctor I'm feeling confident that these contractions are not actually doing anything in terms of dialating, etc. So I just need to take it easy, and I have a prescription for a pill I can take to relax contractions if I start having lots of them.

Shawn's hike: Shawn and 5 friends (3 from Michigan, 1 from Colorado, 1 from Seattle) are leaving on a 5-night hike this Sunday. You can imagine how relieved he was to hear the news from the doctor that the baby is not on her way! No, he won't have cell service.

That's our news! Shawn took photos over the past month, so I just need to figure out where on his computer they're saved, and I'll upload a bunch of fun pics. In the mean time, check out Melissa and Tod's blog entry (see blog link at right) with Andy and my visit to see Miss, Bryn and baby Macy!!

Cherise