started with 10 inches of snow......which was actually fun for Alder thanks to hand me down snow suits, 'real deal' mittens,
and fort building on the deck...
made all the better by the presence of grandparents...
Heath had his first taste of something besides mommy's milk (sweet potatoes)... and was not too impressed.He did cooperate splendidly for a photo shoot.
Santa's visit to Grammy and PaPa's house was a bit overwhelming for Alder, but certainly fun and memorable.
Interesting family shot here - dont ask about the headlamp - he wears it frequently these days as he often wakes with Heath in the pre-dawn hours.
I made some mittens for Alder that I am pretty proud of.
If you are interested, I got the pattern from a mom of a boy at Alder's school - you can find it and other things here. I am on a knitting binge right now - I want to start about 10 new projects and find myself aimlessly surfing the web looking for new ideas/patterns.
...so here is a very long post... We went to Birmingham for my favorite holiday - Thanks giving - and here is the whole family. It is always so nice to get together - wish we could do it more often.
It is my favorite holiday because of its simplicity -it is a time to reflect on the things we are grateful for and eat lots of yummy food. Ok, so it is pretty gluttonous, especially in our contemporary culture, but the simplicity of the idea and relatively sparse hoopla compared to other holidays makes this one my favorite.
Ironically though, my parents bought a blow up castle for the grand kids. While I smirked at the idea, I soon saw that it was super fun and gave the kids something to do outside - they loved it.
A bubble bath in the big tub was also a real treat and a first for Alder.
My good friend Ana from Mexico (who just completed her masters in Knoxville - congrats!) joined us for her first Thanksgiving. I had not seen her in almost 2 years - much too long. I am glad that she was able to meet all of my family and discover the wonder of sweet potato pie! ;)
Thanks mom and dad for hosting us all. Can't believe it is almost time for you guys to come up here! We cant wait.
As for around the home front, I snagged this photo one morning when both boys had on nice sweaters. Heath is almost as big as Alder! I took him to the doc for a checkup last week and he was 21 lbs at 5.5 months. Alder is likely about 30-35. Alder has also made the big transition to booster car seat wearing the big person seat belt! I guess this was about the age where I was standing in the front seat of my parents Chevelle....haha....how times have changed.
A long awaited project is the installation of six panel doors throughout the house. Jason hung two last Sunday and Alder enjoyed playing with the tools and old door. I am excited to have them all in though I know that means it will be time to paint trim and I am not really looking forward to that...
As evidenced from that last pic, Heath is starting to sit up better. He enjoys being propped on his toy basket to drag out various items. This is really new and it is amazing how in only a couple of days, he has gained the strength to sit pretty steadily.
I know this is super premature, but we are beginning to anticipate inevitable conflicts as Heath becomes more mobile and starts to get into "Alder's things". We are not sure how we are going to deal with it so any advice from veteran parents is welcome. Our goal is to prevent Alder from thinking that he has ownership of all toys (we are a family and need to share everything) while at the same time preventing Alder from feeling resentment toward Heath...any ideas?
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My friend Janet told me about a simple pattern for turning an old wool sweater into a pair of baby wool pants/cloth diaper cover (i.e. nappy pants). Lindsay, I hope you do not mind that I did this with a sweater you gave me....I tried it on and it did not fit right, and the stripes are so cute I thought they would make great pants for Heath!
I wouldn't dare put a close up and show my poor sewing skills...I am happy with them though and may have to add a bit of elastic around the waist eventually. While I am showing my rare crafty side, I will also show the three Christmas stockings that I have been working on for almost 2 years now. And yes, they look more like tube socks than stockings and I still need one more. Maybe by next year, Heath.
Jason and some of his best buddies went to a Phish concert in Charlottesville last weekend. I was glad he orchestrated this event and went through with it. It is tough to imagine doing something like this with two babies and the busy day to day we find ourselves swimming through. He deserved to get out with some guys and enjoy some great music. ...and because Daniel was one of those guys, we were fortunate enough to have their whole family come up for a long weekend visit! We had such a good time that I truly did not want them to leave.
We did a lot of chillin around the house and Jen and I even went out on Friday for a little girl time. Really nice! Ellen and Arianna are such a pleasure to be around - we all really enjoyed them being here. Another buddy that went with Jason to the show - Justin - was enslaved early Sunday morning and found himself reading Thomas books to the kids by 8am...thanks ;)
We are beginning to feel the excitement/peace of the holiday season: The weather has certainly been feeling like winter - crisp and cool, the birds are attacking the bird feeders as native sources of food become more scarce, my semester is over and workload lighter, and we will soon to be seeing extended family and spending some more quality time with just the four of us. Inhale...Exhale....
A couple of weekends ago we went on an adventure with some friends. A guy I work with recently became a member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club that allows you to rent many different cabins for a very modest fee (~$30/night). These cabins are rustic - no running water or plumbing, but there was a wood stove, outhouse, and stream nearby. Ahh, brings back my days in the yurt.
The 1.8 mile hike in was a bit ambitious for us, particularly our toddler. He is not the most coordinated fellow (bless his heart) and the recently fallen leaves and rocky terrain made for a long haul. He was exhausted and needing to be carried more than we expected, which was tough considering we were carrying an infant and all our food, clothes and blankets for the night.
Regardless, We had a great time, and look forward to getting the family in the woods again next year. Now we know that Alder just needs a bit more training beforehand.
Here is the beautiful cabin:
and all the kids... Another fun thing of late is that Alder and Heath are beginning to interact more, and it is really cute. I looked back at Alder in the car yesterday and asked a common question - "Is Heath awake or asleep?" Alder looked over and a huge smile emerged on his face and he said - "Awake! and he is happy!" I proceeded to laugh and tell Alder how much Heath loves him. Heath smiles hugely when Alder enters the scene or merely looks at him and proceeds to kick his legs and reach for him. Alder is finally coming around and recognizing that this can be fun. He regularly sits with a book near him and talks about what he sees on the pages. So sweet, when he says: "Heath, you like this book? Okay." Yesterday morning as Heath was waking up in our bed (as he often comes in our bed ~5am or earlier), Alder brought his guitar (yuke) in and set up next to him and sang his ABCs to him.
Here they are in the bathtub together for the first time:
...and Heath's first experience in the exersaucer - Alder was directing Heath to play with/chew on this or that.Oh yes, and here are a few nice pics of Heath:
Halloween was fun. Granna visited a few days before and brought a couple of costumes she bought on sale last minute and this really worked out well being the slacker-mom I am who has never really gotten all that excited about this particular holiday.
Here is my little cow
...and sorry, but this is our only pic of Alder's Indian/Davey Crockett outfit while cruising the neighborhood with his friend Sylvia, the carrot.
We had a great time - Thanks Janet and Dan for joining in the festivities. I handed out raisins and granola bars to two families and then I think the word got out that the Bulluck house was lame...and our street is less exciting than others. We told the kids that we were looking at decorations and visiting neighbors in the moonlight. We were grateful for this likely last year we could hold off the candy intake - refined sugars weakens the immune system in this icky flue season that is just beginning.
Weekend before last we went to RM for a family reunion and had a great time. Here is Alder with his cousin Gabriella. She was so sweet to play with him and he loved the attention. The helmets are from the motercycle rides with PaPa.
We love you PaPa...Heath is enjoying the mirror and playing with his feet these days. Like the crack?!
Sweet boy with his daddy
We got creative this last weekend with a box we got in the mail - thanks Jamie for the wonderful presents for the kids! We made the box into a barn and Alder had a blast with this! We did not intend to do this, but we ended up showing him how to pretend. It was so fun to see him model our words and throw in some of his own. It was also nice to see him enjoying something other than cars and trains. The pig was eating the farmer's garden so we had to build a fence to keep him in, all the animals and tractors got on the roof to take a nap, we brought in pine straw to be hay, etc.
That's what Alder said last week when we drove by this:
This is what we see when we are at a light, downtown Richmond, directly under I 95 each afternoon. So that means this is what everyone southbound I-95 sees too, right out their window. And no I am not gonna give my opinion on this image, or specific poster (but you can find out more if you like http://riverdistrictnews.com/tag/velvet/)...
I just think about what connections so many americans have to make about politics, human nature, our country, etc., when they see this banner posted on the side of a strip club, cruising through the commonwealth's capital.
The point of this post though, is that this moment with Alder, was another prime example of how a child can help you to "see" things. (For example, I used to dream of monkeywrenching bulldozers, but now I sort of crack a smile when I see earth-moving machinery. This will pass.) By being completely naive and innocent, a child can help you to strip meaning from things and see them only for what they are - a picture of a funny man.
I kindly agree when people say how much Heath looks like Alder. I know it is true, but as their mom, I see so many differences. Their demeanors are certainly different!
I decided to look back at some photos of Alder at this age and now have to admit that they look a whole lot alike. It is pretty amazing. Heath still outweighs Alder by quite a bit and is wearing 9-12 month old clothes with little room to grow.
I am curious as to what you all think is different and/or similar.
This reminds that Alder's teacher told us the other day that he is enjoying a gourd 'work' where they talk about how some gourds are the same and others are similar. Most matching works they do require matching things that are exactly the same, but the gourds are not exactly the same, just similar. I should show Alder these pics and ask him if he thinks these boys are the same or similar!
...which was actually fun for Alder thanks to hand me down snow suits, 'real deal' mittens,
and fort building on the deck...
made all the better by the presence of grandparents...
Heath had his first taste of something besides mommy's milk (sweet potatoes)... and was not too impressed.
He did cooperate splendidly for a photo shoot.
Santa's visit to Grammy and PaPa's house was a bit overwhelming for Alder, but certainly fun and memorable.
Interesting family shot here - dont ask about the headlamp - he wears it frequently these days as he often wakes with Heath in the pre-dawn hours.
I made some mittens for Alder that I am pretty proud of. 
If you are interested, I got the pattern from a mom of a boy at Alder's school - you can find it and other things here. I am on a knitting binge right now - I want to start about 10 new projects and find myself aimlessly surfing the web looking for new ideas/patterns.
