Summer!

Summer slideshow. Enjoy!

"Guys"

To Benjamin any object is a potential "guy." Plastic animals talk and play with matchbox cars. Yesterday the cordless phone became a "really big guy" who, I was informed, could walk and talk and also had a thing like a boat (the antenna.) Benj was constantly muttering a complicated dialog between the "really big guy" and a matchbox-sized airplane. As far as I could tell the phone was saying goodbye to the passengers on the airplane...although later the "guy" was stomping on the airplane like King Kong so I'm not sure about the finer points of the storyline.

Not only is the world populated with stuff that can be instantly promoted to the status of "guy," it is also inhabited by two groups of said guys: "bad guys" and "good guys." We are forever dividing into these two categories. The discussion surrounding any video always includes Benj trying to educate Talia on which characters fit into which category. Talia demonstrated her confusion on the subject the other day when she asked me, "Mama, you a good guy or a bad guy?" Well, that's just the question isn't it? :)

I love that every car has a personality, every animal has a friend. I love asking Benjamin to repeat something I didn't catch and hearing him reply, "Oh! That was just Bear talking to Giraffe." I love how his imagination makes every day magical!

Busted!

Well, the time has come to 'fess up. The Rodriquez children have been busy bumping and bruising themselves this summer. (We have also occassionally managed to have a great time.)

Benjamin has taken to racing toy dump trucks at break-neck (hopefully not literally!) speed down our sloping driveway in his flip flops. It makes me nervous, but hey, he's a boy. He should be a little reckless, right? He must have been tired the day he created this beauty; he had fallen several times resulting in some minor scrapes and bruises, but he finally really and truly wiped out. I think one of his top teeth cut the outside of his lip and one of the bottom teeth got the inside. Thankfully he didn't bite through. At any rate, he had a pretty good fat lip for a day or two but he didn't let it get him down. :)

This colorful assortment happened this past Saturday while we were out for a little family fun known as yard-saleing. We were at our final sale of the morning and it was a good one! Having found Talia a little purple toy minivan and leaving her happily pushing it along the driveway, I turned to examine a promising table. No one really saw what happened, exactly, but we think the car hit a gap in the concrete and stopped. Talia, however, did not stop. She took a nose dive right into the driveway (quite literally, as you can see). The knot on her head is currently a fashionable shade of green while the layer of skin missing from her nose seems to be healing nicely.

Fortunately there are no injuries to report regarding Leila. She spends most of her days securely wrapped in swaddling clothes. ... But we know her day will come too!

P.S. Sorry for the picture quality on this last one. Not sure what's wrong with our camera.

Celebrating in Red, White & Blue

First moments

So many pictures...so little time!

At least my internet issues have been resolved (goodbye wireless, hello network cable) so I should be able to update soon! Stay tuned. :)

Quick Update

I apologize for the lack of activity on this blog, but as you can imagine, things have been rather crazy around our house the last 3 weeks. Let me just sum up things by saying that Kiersten and Leila are doing fine. Kiersten is still gradually recovering from surgery & birth, but she went to the doctor on Friday and the doctor said she was healing just fine.

Leila has (so far) been a very easy baby. She hardly ever cries, is an efficient eater, and is getting cuter by the day. (By the way, that is an entirely unbiased opinion that has been verified by a panel of objective experts: Leila's parents, grandparents, and aunts & uncles. ... They all agree that she is as cute as a button. I rest my case.) She too has been to the doctor for a followup checkup and she is officially doing great.

Benj & Talia still love their baby sister. They often ask to hold her and kiss her, so jealously issues have not come up yet. However, their have been some behavior issues that have developed that will need to be addressed when the dust settles. For instance, they seem to have forgotten some of their good manners at the table. But overall, they are adjusting well to being the older brother and sister.

A big thanks is due to Mima (Kiersten's mom) for the help that she has been the last few weeks. She single-handedly took care of the kids while Kiersten was in the hospital, and since then has been a great help around the house by making meals, doing laundry, cleaning dishes, and tending to Benj & Talia's needs while Kiersten takes care of the baby. Her help has been invaluable.

Mima leaves on Tuesday and Kiersten feels ready to take over the responsibilities of tackling 3 children at once. (Although I hope she doesn't literally tackle them ... although I think Benj would enjoy a good wrestle now & then.) :-) So off we go into the world of parenting children who will forevermore outnumber us!

Now, for the pictures you've been waiting for, here's some shots since Leila has come home. Kiersten may post some more polished shots soon, but for now this will have to do: