Look at those baby blues!  My little baby is now crawling like a champ, pulling himself up and cruising the furniture, and standing without holding on… I can’t believe how fast he’s advancing.  He’s also doing really well throwing a ball in a specified direction- nearly as good at playing catch as Nathaniel is… CRAZY!  Oh, yeah, and there is only 1 clothing size between my boys now, as Warren is wearing size 18 months.  Really, he’s still only 9 months old!

I know there are a lot of “baking” pictures that end up on here, but that’s because we really do bake a LOT!  I was going to say that I bake a lot more than just sweets, but really, we don’t!  It’s all sweets- quick breads, cookies, and recently scones- as we are trying to use up a bunch of Jam I made that’s coming close to an end on shelf-life.

The boys love bath time together- except of course, like usual, this picture is quite outdated.  Warren no longer uses a “sitting aid” because even in the slippery bathtub with tons of splashes being thrown his way by his big brother, he’s pretty stable.  His favorite thing to do now is stand up at the end, let go, and cannon ball backwards into the water.  He has a blast doing that and the funniest part is Nathaniel tries to mimic him, and it doesn’t work out so well for his tall, lean body!

My cousin Jamie holding Warren after her and her new husband came over for dinner.  We can’t wait to meet their new little one due to arrive in late July!

Look at the size of that bumblebee!  It snuck into our house on one of the warmer days in early spring, and I’m still proud of myself for using Nathaniel’s bug catching kit to catch it for him to look at magnified.  It was a great experience for both of us, and the bumblebee lived to tell it, as we released it after Daddy got home to see it.

Fireman Nathaniel- his first take with the hose this year!  I think we’re in trouble, he’s strong enough to point and spray now!

Washed out Warren, enjoying the grass… before he could crawl.

Nathaniel’s new favorite past time- riding the ride-on toy I bought for Warren, down the driveway- feet up in the air- and crashing into the garage door.  Luckily, a friend of mine gave us a second one for Warren to have.

The boys playing with Jude in his backyard.  They lost interest pretty quickly and found it more interesting to hit the on/off switch and watch the whole bounce-house deflate and inflate.

Nicole holding Warren.  I think he’s smitten.

Jude and Nathaniel play SO well together.  They have been buddies since before they were born and are only a could weeks apart.

Shaun and Nicole working so well together to clean up a mess that our child made!  Such wonderful friends!  David couldn’t help but snap a picture!

Warren’s still such a great eater!  He’s eating most of the same foods as Nathaniel (and us) these days!  He loves meal time!

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Though he’s 3 and ornery, Nathaniel’s still a goof ball!

What’s wrong with this picture?

Good morning snuggles with my boys!  You wouldn’t believe how common this is in our house (both boys in my lap- that is).

…and here comes trouble!  He’s already a big time crawler.  One evening, while nursing, he spun around and crawled up my leg (pictured)- I couldn’t resist telling David to grab the camera because it’s such a great personality shot!

And here comes Trouble, #2!  This is our new kitten, Quadoo.  The name Quadoo came from Nathaniel’s first attempts at saying “Garage door”…  We use to be driving down the street and he’d be pointing out his window at every house saying, “Quadoo, Quadoo, an anoder quadoo!”  We said then that if we ever got another cat, we’d name his “Quadoo” and this one sort of fell in our laps- he’s a good little kitty though!

And here’s our other beast.  Quietschen , or Veech, as we call her, has always liked cars for some reason.  She’s never shy about jumping in if I leave the door open, and she’s not shy about continuing her sunbath in the middle of the road, if a car is coming, either.  On numerous occasions, I have had to stop, get out, and physically remove her from the road so that I could pull in the driveway… not the brightest kitty- but she’s a lot more manageable now that we let her go outside.

This was my most recent craft project- a baby gift for my cousin Jamie.  I made 3 blankets to wrap the more practical gifts in- wipes, diapers, and breast pads- all of my favorite brands for her to try out.

It’s been a while, but I finally got him an easel!  He loves painting and is looking forward to doing it a lot more now that we don’t have to paint on the floor.

Nathaniel’s first SMORE!  And yes, that’s all he ate of it!  He decided he doesn’t like “smores” – he would rather just eat a marshmallow.  He’s a bit crazy!

My quiche turned out so beautiful the other day I had to take a picture… it was as yummy as it looks!

Warren has met his new favorite toy- a jumperoo!  I always knew he’s love one, but finally found one for the right price!

Quadoo COPY-CAT!  He has spent a LOT of time following Veech around, learning what to do- how to do it- all the basics really.  She’s starting to put up with him, but I am wondering about her senses as a lot of the time she doesn’t realize he’s quite so close for a long time, and then she sees him and flips out at him.  It might also explain her lack of enthusiasm for getting out of the road when cars are coming, too.

March was definitely our craziest month EVER!  But, we did have some fun too…

Nathaniel, my little chef, LOVES helping dump stuff into the crock-pot.  Here we are making spaghetti sauce!  It’s really a great incentive to make sauces and meals in the crock-pot, because it’s something we get to do together, and then we reap the benefits in the evening… only problem is, Nathaniel still won’t even TRY most foods.  He LOVES making chili, for example, but I’m not sure he’s ever braved a taste.  Silly boy, maybe someday he’ll wake up!

I decided I’d let him help me start the garden this year, hoping that being involved in the growing process, he might eventually try some of the yummy foods we’ll grow.

Watch my garden grow.

Just planted.

1Week

2 weeks

3 weeks

Unfortunately, while the story is not yet complete, most of the plants didn’t make it because we got a little over-excited at all the nice weather we were having and we planted them too early.  So, we may be repeating this process, or just buying starts depending on how it goes… will keep you posted!

My mom joined us for a Gould family gathering at a Chinese buffet in DuPont.  We counted the number of people crammed into the room we were in, it was almost twice the posted capacity, which, I have to say, is a first for me!

Some random family shots, and the only one we’ll get of David’s sister holding her not-so-new-anymore-nephew.

Warren “Mischievous” Gould, longing to be outside!

Warren blowing kisses!

This little man, trying to be mobile, is now VERY mobile!

This picture will always be full of memories for me!  Warren had the worst blow-out of his life at a restaurant, it was really miserable, but I will spare you the details.  In any case, I didn’t have an extra shirt in the diaper bag for Warren, only one for Nathaniel, so in this picture, Warren’s wearing a size 3T t-shirt, can you even tell?  I was a bit shocked, myself!

And now, a bunch of random kid pictures:

NATHANIEL’S 3!!!!  This was his birthday:

It started with the opening of his new bicycle helmet.

Then, we unveiled the trike.

Followed PROMPLY by a trip to the bike shop to get him a new helmet when we discovered that the one labeled “3+” was MUCH too small for Nathaniel’s big head!

He got to pick out one that did fit, and chose to wear it the whole way home.  We stopped for some fast-food for lunch, definitely a special day!

Gotta love this sequence!  Nathaniel using his new bike to chase down the poor cat… and then ditching the bike to get the cat- good thing he can’t ride the bike yet!

Daddy instructing Nathaniel on how-to-ride-a-bike.

And he’s off, or so it seems.

Ah, yes, this is more like it.  Even now, nearly a month later, Nathaniel can’t figure out how to peddle!

And off to the Rainforest Cafe for a special birthday dinner.

Nathaniel watching the Elephants right next to our table, as they came to life.

Warren enjoying his meal.

Nathaniel’s birthday meal.  Daddy trying to coax him into eating it!  “Dinosaurs are extinct, so you might as well eat them,” he said.  To which Nathaniel replied “Dinosaurs don’t stink!”And only because it was his birthday, did we order dessert before he’d even touched his meal (cause he never touches his meal).

In case you didn’t follow this sequence, I’ll narrate it for you:  Nathaniel get’s special treat because it’s his birthday- the wait-staff sings to him- He ducks under the table because he’s scared of the sparkler- and came back up when they replaced it with a candle.

After our meal, and dessert, we went out into the gift shop and let Nathaniel choose anything he wanted.  I can definitely say he’s my child because he chose a key chain and a notebook.  Of all the stuffed animals, clothing items, books, and games, my kid chose a notebook!  It makes Mommy proud!

Before we left, we took a trip over to the alligator pond and let Nathaniel make some wishes-

The face of a 3 year old!

For MY birthday, we made a St. Patty’s Day cake.

We dyed the cake and the frosting green.

Matching Jammie night!

Nathaniel and Maria painting Easter figures (and Nathaniel painting himself a little).

The first bath together- SO much fun!

The first potty-chart reward!  We went down to Target and he picked a desk-calendar that was on clearance.  He proclaimed with such excitement when he first saw it “IT’S A GARAGE DOOR” that I couldn’t deny his the greatest satisfaction of finally owning his own “garage door”… silly kid!  So, in this sequence, he’s playing “garage doors.”

Nathaniel and Maria goofing off.

And then dipping graham crackers in the leftover chocolate after I’d covered some strawberries… and before dinner, too :)

Nathaniel really loves baking and cooking with me, we do it quite often.  I don’t remember what we were making this particular day, but it was a team effort.

This was Nathaniel’s second egg-hunt ever!  He did quite well!  So well, in fact, we decided to hide eggs for him at home this year too.

Here he was at the neighbor’s house waiting for them to come out so they could watch.

It worked out great because we reused the candy he’d gotten at the first egg  hunt in the eggs for our egg hunt, I’m sure next year, we won’t be so lucky!

Nathaniel’s Easter Basket 2010!

What better way to end a blog entry with some final, growing, learning-how-to-move-and-stand baby shots :)