Banananoses Reunite!

 A quick post as we have had visitors from throughout the states this week. . . (they weren't exactly here just for us but we got to relish in their company).  Minos little lady friend -

Abigail's family came in to meet her and Nana and Granddude happened to be in town for a dental conference so we got to have a get together of people who used to get together once a month or at least for the holidays but haven't all been in the same room at the same time in at least five years.  (I just had a baby so five years could actually be one or it could be as much as seven - my brain is mush.)  That reminds me of using excuses, when I was pregnant with Mino my first response to just about everything was "I'm pregnant!."  It would come in handy in such situations as sweating in a normal temperature room, releasing excessive air build up from a region between nipples and knees, getting out of taking the dog out at night, snoring, not showering, wearing sweatpants to just about any occasion be it formal or non. . . this list goes on and on.   A week after he was born I was crabby about something and I whipped out "I'm pregnant!" combined with an angry face to scare the accuser off, who quickly reminded me with a gentle point of the finger at the baby in my hands that I was not actually pregnant any more so I needed to quickly come up with a new excuse which is "I just had a baby!" with a bit of a snarl which does get me out of some sticky situations.  Anyway, back to Mino's life as that is what people are here for.
I have not put up a sequence of ugly faces for a while so I thought that I would update with the heat that Mino is now throwing us when he gets upset.

 His favorite place is still his changing table.  I don't know who was smiling down on me the day that he was sucked out but I love that he likes getting his diaper changed and getting dressed.  The other night he took playing with his toes to a new level and decided he was going to clean his toes with his mouth.  I couldn't capture it right with the camera, but in real life all the lint from his toes was around his mouth and on his tongue.  It was adorably gross!

Diane was here visiting since Rae and Mark came to visit Abigail and she and mom were enjoying the side view of reverse baldness that my little chap has.  Or little dude as Granddude calls him.  Abuela thought that perhaps a hair cut was in order and Martin and I were pretty against it at that point, but here a few weeks later, a few inches longer on top and we are getting close to consenting to it.  I secretly am hoping the rest of it will catch up though.

 So Nana, Rae and Diane have been friends as long as I can remember.  We would have Christmas together every year and have family Olympics and game nights and all of that stuff that is great and wholesome growing up.  After Mark and Rae,s youngest went to college they moved to Hawaii so that tradition has come to a sputtering halt, but both Kate and I live here which means now that we have Mino and Abigail the grandmas are frequently descending on the Twin Cities and opportunities to rejuvenate these great traditions are opening up with the newest generation.  So I didn't have my usual dumb luck with these next photos, everyone was looking in different directions and peoples eyes were closed.
The Betenes and Therriens with their new leading lady!

 Here are Nana and Rae enjoying each others grandbabies. .

 And the three matriarchs. 

 And the Grandpas.  Notice how Mino is already putting the moves on wee Abigail - he sure didn't learn that from his dad!

 So there are pictures of Kate and I with our little spawn but I am still not enjoying photos and Kate is less than two weeks out of child birth so I am taking executive decision and not putting either of us on here.  The best part is that Mari was able to come through too!  I honestly can not remember the last time that I saw her but I am pretty sure it was before she moved to the west coast, and that has been a while.
Mark wanted to see just how stimulating a baby gym could be, Mino was jealous.

 Finally he is big enough to use this pacifier.  Kerry have it to Mino right after he was born but the sucking part was too big and gagged him.  I have been waiting and waiting and finally the coolest pacifier ever is in regular rotation.

So Martin went to California last weekend and Mino, Portos Wallace and I had a few nights without our "Alpha" as Martin likes to call himself or "Martin" as I like to call him.  Portos was a good protector of little Mino. This was a morning before work and I couldn't get him to go out, he was just laying by Minos feet.

 

 But alas Martin came back and Mino stole his phone.