Justin promoted me to "Mommy" this month. I have always been his mother, and he used to call me "Mama" until we got to Idaho. Then he realized that it was hard to say "Grandma" and when he would call for her it sounded quite a bit like "Mama" and was a bit confusing. I lost my status as "Mama" and became "MeMe" instead. As best we can tell, "MeMe" developed from him always being told to come to ME or give it to ME or look at ME... Well, you get the idea. That did cause some confusion when someone other than MeMe would use the word 'me' and he would assume that 'me' was "MeMe" and not the person speaking. He has been able to say 'Mommy' for some time, so why it took until now to promote me (at least I think it is a promotion!) to "Mommy" I don't know. I suppose he figures that I will love him no matter what and it doesn't matter what he calls me.

Does This Make Me Look Fat?


I thought that it was horizontal stripes that were supposed to make a person look heavier. I don't know. These PJs sure don't seem to be very flattering. Maybe if I did my hair and make up it would help. What about a large hat? Would that pull the eye up to my head and away from my HUGE middle section?


Justin loves my belly. He calls is BIG belly and his little belly. Hopefully at some point mine will stop being a big belly. I think it is kind of cute for him to notice it at this point, but after the baby is born I might get annoyed if I am constantly reminded that I need to lose the baby weight!

T is for Duck

Evidently the wild turkeys who congregate by the mailboxes are not turkey-like. Justin does not seem to realize that these creatures are the same as the ones he sees gracing the letter T page in his ABC book. They aren't as plump and they certainly don't have their feathers up and proudly displayed. In his wisdom he has decided that they are ducks, though I don't see a lot of resemblance to ducks.

While Justin was sleeping I ran out and got a couple of pictures of these rather homely looking birds. No sooner did I come inside and put the camera memory card in the computer, than the stupid turkeys came right up to where I had been. One of them was even showing off and looked like the turkeys on the T page. Should I snatch up the memory card and try for another shot? Nope. The stupid deer chased the turkeys away.

Guess the closest shot I will be able to get of a turkey will be the one on the table at Thanksgiving. With my luck I will be in the hospital giving birth and will miss that shot as well. Here's to ducks, whatever kind of bird they may actually be.

I realize that I am more than a little biased, but I think that 90% of the time Justin is absolutely adorable! He is just like a little sponge and doesn't miss a thing that he sees or hears. He is very much into counting, ABCs, and nursery rhymes. It is fun to have him try to say or sing nursery rhymes. He doesn't have many of the words yet, but you can tell which one it is supposed to be. His little tongue and mouth work so hard to try to spit out what his brain is trying to say. Maybe that is why he is actually taking decent naps during the day. It has got to be exhausting to learn so many new words everyday.

Here he is doing "Hey Diddle, Diddle" with the emphasis on the OVER THE MOON part. He thinks that is the best for some reason. Guess there isn't a lot to act out in the rhyme.



Here he is counting dinosaurs. He has trouble saying the number one so it is always helpful to get him started. Lately he wants everything to end up being ten so he sometimes has to double count certain items to make it work out to the number HE thinks it should be.



There are a few more videos available at youtube.com under the name noodlesandrob if anyone is interested. We mostly post for family, but every once in awhile people are actually bored enough to want to watch Justin (or other random kids).

Rob and I still haven't settled on a name for Baby #2, so if you haven't already posted your suggestion there is still time. No, there is NO prize for the winner. I guess you can feel special that we liked your name best.

You gotta love kids. Today I was walking down the hallway with 20 month old Justin running all around me like an Energizer Bunny on speed. Sometimes he was in front of me, sometimes beside or behind me, always jabbering without using many real words. Then gassy pregnant mommy let out a faint toot and Justin runs behind me. He points to my rear, laughs, and starts saying poopie. I can hardly wait to hear that sometime in public. I wish I could get him to say words like please, but I suppose that right now he will continue to focus on the "fun" words like poopie. He is learning to say more and more each day. I wonder what will be next?

Hmm... I wonder why I never posted this. Guess I was going to add some text to the pictures and forgot. Oh well. Here I am with Justin on Sept 2nd. The bump on my belly is Spare (we don't have a name for him yet).