Photos from the Brink

Well, I got the pictures back of the kids in their costumes and I couldn't help but squee at the sublime cuteness of some of them. I don't know how it happened, but we got a couple of really great shots. It was a matter of excellent timing on the photographer's part, actually, since in a couple of the pictures I can tell Tate's just about to pinch Nora, which means she's just about to scream and faceplant on the floor while he scampers away cackling merrily. So for the 2 people on the planet who haven't seen any of the shots yet, there they are for ya.

I decided to be a complete and total idiot and try and get the kids pictures taken again for their 6-month and 2 1/2-year photos. This time I had a photographer come to the house since I thought they may actually do better in a familiar setting. Stop laughing. A woman can dream, can't she? Needless to say, the session did not go that well, not for trying on Aubrey and my's part. The kids were just not having it. Again. Again with the crabbiness and the stone-facedness and the pinching and nose-picking and just general disregard for Mom's sanity and pleas for cooperation.

Aubrey (the photographer) kindly agreed to come back another time and give it another go. I agreed. I just don't think a framed 11'x14' portrait of Tate pulling Nora's hair while she screams would really compliment the decor of my family room, you know? I see that in real life everyday anyway, and therefore don't really need it captured for posterity.

In other news, we moved Nora into Tate's old car seat and out of the infant carrier. It's pretty funny to watch her in the little mirror we have set up above the seat. She just kind of looks around in amazement, because she can actually see stuff now. You can just see the inner dialouge in her head. "Hey! There's a window right here! And, wha-is that-is that a TREE? I can see a TREE from my carseat now! And lookie! If I turn my head, I can see my BROTHER! Hey, this means I can have advance warning when he chucks his sippy cup at my head! Haha, sucker...I got your number now, pal!"

Tate's in a new carseat that does the harness thing and then converts to a booster. We found one where they can be in the harness til 65 lbs. Most of the other ones said only to 40lbs. Considering that Tate is massive and already weighs almost 36 lbs, I think we made a wise decision there. Graco Nautilus, if anyone's looking for a new carseat.

And get this, people. Get freakin' this. Tate has napped for the last two days in a row. Amen, Hallelujah, Rejoice, etc etc etc. Here's how it goes down. Around 3 pm he starts to get whiny, crabby, and generally making me want to chuck him out the window. So nothing new there. Then he gets really really upset about something, whether it be his toy caterpiller isn't playing the right song, or Mama's sitting on the wrong couch, or the whole economy crisis, what have you, and throws the mother of all tantrums until he's red-faced and panting like a fat man running after the ice-cream truck. Then he crawls into my lap, commands me to turn on Sesame Street, and passes out. Honestly, it's worth the tantrum. I can take 10 minutes of screaming no problem, if it leads to sleep. I barely even notice the whole banging his head against the floor thing anymore.

Of course, he wakes up in a totally foul mood so that kind of sucks too. But it's the nap, man. The nap. It's all about the nap.