Belly Art

Give a child a pencil, and there's not much they can do. Give a child a pen, and anything that results is your own darn fault.

Our trip to Washington

So about a month ago, Maryam and I took a trip to Washington State, where I grew up, to see my dad before he had triple bypass surgery. The day before he went into the hospital, my dad took Maryam and me to a park nearby. I love seeing Maryam with her grandparents.
Here Maryam is sleeping at the hospital. We spent a lot of time there, visiting dad twice a day. Maryam flirted with the nurses, had her first Popsicle, and pressed the 'emergency' button on the elevator twice.
But she had a great time!
Especially with grandpa.

Dressing herself

1. Maryam agrees to wear a pretty dress I made her. She wears it until she wakes up from her nap at 2.

2. Maryam sees her blue dress I made her in the laundry basket. She insists on wearing it after taking off her first dress.

3. Maryam sees another dress. She won't let me take off her blue dress and insists on putting dress #3 on over her blue dress.

4. Maryam wants to take off dress #3.

5. Maryam wants to take off blue dress.

6. A naked Maryam insists on wearing a long sleeved nightshirt, after daddy offers her 4 other more appropriate shirts - it's 90 degrees outside.

7. Maryam demands to take off her nightshirt, and is now asleep in her diaper. I'm glad she allowed me to keep that on her.

8. Mommy decides to keep Maryam naked until winter to save time.

Agh - has it been that long?

So, with my dad's heart surgery, the boys being out of school, and my recent trip to Iowa, I have gotten so far behind on this blog. I don't even have any recent uploaded pictures to share. Tomorrow I hope to record a video of Maryam doing her cute animal sounds (Maryam, what does a daddy say?), and I'll get that posted.



We're in full summer swing here. We usually go to a park in the morning, and Maryam naps at noon, after lunch. In the afternoons, we'll go to the pool, a playgroup or playdate, or the library. Both boys are very into their library summer reading programs. They want to win a bike. They then want to sell the bike and buy something cooler. Kids.



I've been doing lots of sewing. Aidan has three pair of piratey-skull-camo shorts I've made for him with my NEW SERGER (thanks, Jim), and Wayne has a pair of turtle shorts. With flowers. And he wants a matching shirt. That kid cracks me up. I'll post pictures eventually.



And if you want to see more pictures, you can visit my new blog: http://naturallymama.blogspot.com/