Chillin' with our homies

After a quick stop @ the Pediatrician, we finally evacuated the Wild & Wonderful and made it home to Carlisle to meet the new babes.

Charlotte Eileen is just perfect... well, she was perfect, until she pooped all over me & her mom refused to give me a clean shirt...


Alexander isn't quite sure what to think of all the kiddos. But, he's loving all their toys! He's particularly enjoying the girl's pink toys!





He looked so cute in the hat JB made for Baby Norah, I couldn't stop taking pictures!

The girls love their new edition, and want to hold her & stick binkies in her mouth every minute!

Now back to some Baby Walk

It didn't take Alexander long after we returned from Brooklyn'd to perfect his new walkin' wiggle.







Although he was taking a few steps before 11 months, I think we'll just make 11 months the babe's official mobility date.



The babe will also be able to claim his first words at his eleventh month also. Zaney loves to say daddy, cat, bye and can repeat the general sound/intonation of most words/phrases. It's pretty cool.



Unfortunately, all of his words sound a little snuffly this week though. He's snotting all over the place and having a hard time sleeping. Of course, I think Zander's also getting some molars to add to his front eight.

Despite his drippy nose & drolly chin our dry-skinned babe is so cute. Especially in his new Thanksgiving present that Ronnie & Ellen sent from Louisiana. Oh, how we miss out Louisiana family! Tear.

Trumpets, please...

Announcing the newest addition to the Wal*fam, and the most recent edition to Zaney's Zoo Krewe:

Ms. Charlotte Eileen

Born December 9, 2009 @ 5:51pm

9 pounds, 5 ounces

To celebrate we had a party, and Alexander peed on the carpet. He was so excited, he couldn't help himself!

Jenn & Mike couldn't decide what to name their bundle until they met the adorable, dark-haired darling. And Charlotte it was.

Charlotte is a Bingo Bob family name & Eileen is our wonderful, loving grandmother.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there with Jenn for the delivery. It was terrible to be so far away on such an important day. But we figured that the most responsible and useful thing to do would be to go to Carlisle to help with the other kiddos when Mike goes back to work on Monday... I'm not sure we can wait that long. We need to meet Charlotte NOW!

Thanksgiving in Brooklyn'd

Although I touched on our fabulous n'D trip in the craftsuki.com post, we had such a wonderful time, I thought I should elaborate...


Babushka Anna made a beautiful, albeit nontraditional, Thanksgiving table for us on Thursday. Baby Boris was bouncing around in Russian heaven, along with his papa & his smitten babushkas.


The babe ate so much Cutleta & mushrooms that he ended up spitting up the rest of the night! Kind of gross, yes, but it didn't deter him from gorging on the mushrooms the next morning, noon & night!


After our tasty dinner, Mama Zoya, Babushka Anna & Z strolled around Sheepshead Bay groovin' on the cemented nature.


Alexander warmed to Mama Zoya quickly, and Zoya was so happy she came back each afternoon to play with the little fella.



Again this visit, Anna collected a roomful of hand-me-down toys from her nurses, co-workers & friends to send home with Alexander. Oh my goodness, Anna's friends are so generous and Alexander is so lucky to have such beautiful ladies thinking about him!

Babushka Anna had cleaned many of the little toys & laid them out around the apartment to delight the babes when he arrived; her plan worked perfectly!


But as soon as Z saw the Zebra... drunken bull-riding training began. Of course the little man wasn't drunk, but when he's tired he's just about as clumsy!


"I just want to eat him up," is just about all Cousin H had to say as she pinched, squeezed & loved all over our little chubb. Can't blame her, Alexander is pretty damn cute!


Toward the end of our visit Alexander was starting to get a little "Apartment Fever," which, like everything else was cute-as-can-be!



On our way back home, we stopped off in Carlisle to drop off a few street finds/toys/pack-n-plays; but we only stayed long enough to miss everyone even more!

I am Thankful for Garbage Day

It's been awhile, but we've had no time to miss you (XOXO). We've been on the go since leaving for our Brooklyn'd Thanksgiving 2 weeks ago, and things probably won't settle down until sometime next year (or in 18). SO, hopefully, nobody minds if I borrow a little of the story from craftsuki.com.

Back in the povertous (pre-bed bug) AmeriCorps days, JB & I inherited a mattress. It had a few previous owners before we had our way with it. We left our mark, by way of our names in black Sharpie, before we passed it on to a Hippie's uncle. I remember thinking how cool it was that one mattress had so many lives before it would ultimately meet it's landfill fate.

Although that wasn't the start of our craft, I think it was the start of our love affair with crafty-repurposing.

Lately I've put a little more emphasis on the reusing/repurposing than the crafting. Someday the babe will find the sewing machine pedal less intriguing & I'll switch back, but until then, WWED.

We spent Thanksgiving eating beans, caviar & cutletta and swilling wine in Brooklyn'd with the fam. (And dreaming about JB's Turduckin.)

Of course, the babe didn't want to take part in the late-night (9pm) debauchery, but he was all too willing to wake the whole building pre-dawn. In an attempt to let the world sleep, we spent a lot of time strolling the ethnically fresh-off-the-boat Russian neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay.

The first day I spotted a pile of desirables in a fenced "yard," down the block. The second day I mentioned to my MIL what a great pile of trash that was. And on the third day, while my Russian was driving us to the grocery store I shrieked with delight, which my Russian interpreted as "we're about to die." It was a JB, bridge, highway, hat-over-eyes kind of moment.

Anyway, the pile had been moved out onto Whitehall street. It would be mine. I stole the keys from the man & left him @ the grocery & drove back to the "scene of the crime" (thanks Arlo). Made a right on red and threw the flashers on in front of a hydrant. Then proceeded to drag my Black Friday treasures toward my little Toyota Prius "Micro Bus." Not even close.

So I called my MIL in hopes that she would send papa up the block to carry it back to the apartment. No luck. So I headed back to the grocery for the help of the hubby; well, for the hubby. The man loves the booty, but is embarrassed by the mission. Anyway, he dropped me off at the pile, and pointed out (hiding in the drivers seat) some additional treasures that I had missed.

Did I mention that the NYC Sanitation truck turned down the street while we were scoping out our prize? Well, they did.

So I took the Little Tikes Castle under one arm and my new Graco Baby Swing under the other & walked back to the apartment.

(Notice the silver spray paint on the "just off the street" picture? Well, D scrubbed all the paint, washed the potting soil off & drilled some drainage holes. I'd say he made up for sending me to carry it home:).

(Update, in addition to the potting soil, D found a long-dead family of dried up slugs. Ugh!)

We did manage to fit a First Years Double Easel in the trunk.

Oh, happy day!

And did I tell you how I spent Cyper Monday? Pulling two The First Years Gates out of another garbage pile! D & I ordered 2 of these gates last month from Walmart (Ugh) for a total of $112; unfortunately, we threw the boxes away last week:(.

Moral of the story? "You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant. 'Cepting Alice."What kind of Thanksgiving would it be without a little Trash Talk.