Spring!!!!! Finally

Spring is finally here.  Thank goodness.  We get to get out of the house!!!!!!!!!  Ben can run wild like a beast and use up some energy.  Jimmy can be held outside.   And eat leaves and twigs.  Thank goodness.  Nothing feels as good as spring after a winter of 40+ days below zero.
We have three kids that live next door and Ben will watch out the window for them, as soon as he sees one he yells their name and says "HEY!!  I'm up here.  I'M UP HERE" and continues on and on until we let him out to go play.  It is actually really cute, and their mom doesn't mind Ben's stalking either.

Jimmy is entertaining himself somewhat now, which is nice.  They key is not making eye contact with him when he is doing stuff like this and he will be happy for a long time, if he sees you and remembers he could be held or nurse then he will freak out.  Pterodactyl style.  He is the BeeGee's long lost fourth member.

We have been spending time at the dog park - because whether he wants to or not - Portos needs to go for a walk a few times a year.

But mostly he does this.

Ben likes to explore and isn't scared to be on his own.  He will venture off so it is important to always keep and eye on him.  Always.  I turned my head at the Mall of America to look at a boot and back and he was gone.  Gone.  Running as fast as he could away from me using evasive maneuvering to elude me.  People we watching him and looking around to see who he belonged to.  He is fast. Really fast. 

 

Jimmy enjoys the Vitamin D.  I was really good for two months at giving that to him, then RSV happened and it has been two months since he got a dropper full.  Whoops.

Living close to the Mississippi river and on water with large marshlands and parkland nearby means we have a lot of birds.  And I noticed their beauty for the first time this year.  A bit obsessively, I will admit.  You know it is bad when Ben starts doing this then saying "NO!! I don't want bird.  Go away bird."

I casually peruse Craigslist looking for things that I want but don't need enough to go buy.  A canoe is one of those things.  We don't have a dock yet, wanted to get a garden going, have two kids who can't swim, so didn't see it as a top priority and they are pricey, even on Craigslist.  Nothing screamed at me.  Then I went to Menards.  And now we have a boat.  Ben LOVES it.

These next two pictures are in reverse order, Jimmy really likes water, enjoys bathtime.  What baby doesn't really.  But he doesn't mind getting water on his head or splashing in his eyes.  He literally was hypnotized but the faucet.  Needless to say I couldn't wait until summer for him to sit in our lake.  The deadfish and algae growth from 50 years of yard chemicals are currently prohibiting our beach from being used, so next best was kiddie pool.

Nana has been coming to visit and taught me some of her bird knowledge. 

The kids next door have great outdoor toys.  This is Ben's favorite.  Sometimes he runs out because the kids are out and that means he can play with their toys.  He doesnt' talk to them, just steals their lawnmower.

He takes his love of yogurt to the next level.

For my birthday I realized my dream of having my boys bathe together.  Bad idea to put inflatable bathtub in other bathtub filled with water with rambunctious two year old - FYI.  No one was injured.

 He is getting so big.

We all are.  Hopefully soon I will get a bit smaller.  This below is what I hope is the first of many family portraits in our yard on my birthday.

32 was solid.  33 bring it on.

Jimmy's Half Birthday

Well, it has been six months folks.  Even faster than Ben's first six months.  They really aren't kidding that it flies by. He is sitting up completely now, when on his belly he goes into downward facing dog, he LOVES to bounce in his Jumparoo, he love his brother.  He watches Ben like a hawk and cracks up whenever Ben laughs or is naughty (which then encourages Ben to continue. . . )  He loves to go for walks and sleeps like an angel in the car when moving.  His sleep is not so great currently and I think he is working on getting some teeth.  He bites when nursing and laughs hard when I yell at him for it.  Not quite working how I planned.  He now bites me for fun because he laughs at my reaction.  Uh oh.

The best part is that he can eat food now.  I was being stubborn and making him wait until 6 months, however I caved a week and a half shy because he just went nuts at dinner time (or lunch, or breakfast or snack, whatever.) He has superhuman strength when it comes to reaching for plates or forks and you literally have to pry his fingers open to get him to release.  However, food didn't initially go over as well as expected.  We started with carrots.

I can read his mind "This crap, you guys are eating spaghetti and I get this!  Give me the garlic bread" is really what he was thinking.
Prunes and bananas have gone over much better. . .

We love you little chub chub.

Farewell to Lt. Col James E. Carberry, the best Poppop and storyteller I have ever known.

Monday morning April 28 I got a facetime call from Sarah, unusually early with Mom on the other side with her hair undone and dressed.  Not good.  Bad news.  Poppop was gone.

Poppop lived a life so rich with experience that many people who have done half the things he did have had movies made of their storied lives.  He fell in love with the girl down the street, wanted to fly planes so did - in three different wars, was retired as long as I was alive, made friends with big boats and fun farms and was the true patriarch in the Carberry family.  Dementia is not a good thing and Poppop really held it at bay for a long time, he and Nana moved to Clintonville 8 years ago and he went on his daily walks and wore his plaid pants until very recently.  He was loved by all of us and we are going to miss him very much.  I am eternally greatful that both boys got to meet him, I hope that Ben holds on to his memories that he has of him.  Jimmy will not know, but I can tell him good stories about his name sake.

This is my very last picture of Poppop.  Little germ factory sitting right on his lap.

Here is a four generation shot from Christmas.

Ben helping Poppop order food from Sarah's rehearsal dinner.

Ben keeping Poppop company during the rehearsal.

Yeah, not a great picture but we are all spiffy.

From my wedding in Sturbridge in 2009.

Right after they moved to Clintonville, watching the Fireman's parade.

Christmas 2011 with baby Gryff.

Meeting Ben for the first time over Thanksgiving 2011.

Christmas in Clintonville.

Sitting on the porch up in Townsend in 2008.

There are so many better pictures but this is all I have digitally at my house - I am going to have to get Nana on a scanning kick to get some of the great ones we had on display for his memorial digitized so I can have copies.

The Abus came to Minnesota

After more than a year the Abus finally got to see Ben again and meet Jimmy for the first time.  They arrived in a snowstorm, had a wonderful summery Easter and left in a deluge of 5 inches of rain.  A perfect spring vacation in Minnesota. 
Many foreigners are the same in that when visiting the US the spots not to miss are usually New York or somewhere on the east coast - Boston or Washington DC, Miami perhaps, Las Vegas, Los Angeles maybe a nice weekend somewhere in Colorado but the upper midwest is an often neglected locale with the exception of Chicago.  We wanted to try to keep them local this time so planned some fun visits around this state - now if we could get them to come in the summer we will have them hook line and sinker.

One of the first stops was the Minnesota Zoo  - since we are members we have to take advantage right?!

Then with a bucket list of recommendations from Ali we headed to Duluth for the day to sightsee and eat. 

 

 We went to the Como Conservatory for a quick visit.

 Where I failed epically at capturing photos - it is hard when Ben takes off running.

 Paparazzi shot of the Abus.

 The lift bridge in Stillwater is very similar to that in Duluth, however this one was nearly flooded.

We also celebrated Carlos' 69th birthday and shopped.  And shopped and shopped.  It was a very fun visit and so nice to have a house that is just enough bigger than the one in Crystal that everyone is comfortable.