Milestone #2

Riley has tooth #3! Her first two are on the bottom, but #3 is a fang on top. This is seriously NOT a good look. For her sake I hope more come in soon!

Milestone

After showing no interest in stairs for...ever, Riley boldly followed her brother up an entire flight of stairs today. And I fear this is the beginning of the end.

Funnies

Had a few great Gabe-isms so far this weekend that I had to share:

1 - I've been out the past 2 nights with friends, so Gabe asked me at lunch today "Mommy, are you going to eat dinner with your friends tonight?" AHHH, THE GUILT!

2 - Ryan was working on the ceiling fan in our room and told Gabe he needed to figure out how to fix it. He left and then came back with his toolbox, and Gabe asks "Are those tools you use to figure it out with?".

3 - I put him down for a nap this afternoon and we talked about the different things he could dream about: the waterpark we went to yesterday, Dora, big boy school, etc. "No", he said, "I want to dream about my mommy, because you're the best mommy in the whole wide world." Then after big hugs and kisses he casually mentions,"I'm still hungry. Can I have a treat now?" Guilt, innocence, flattery -- this one knows every play in the book!

Goat

Little Riley is 11 months old now - amazingly - and is quite the eater. She loves pasta, vegetable soup, brownies, apples, and pretty much anything else she can get in her mouth. Her absolute favorite thing to eat, though, is paper. Newspaper, junk mail, pages from books and magazines, subscription cards, toilet paper, napkins - you name it and if it's made from wood pulp our little Rooster considers it a delicacy. Which makes our mess of a house the #1 Supreme Buffet!

The big news though is that Riley is walking! If taking 2-8 steps a day is considering "walking", that is. Then again, if my mixing up a box of Kraft mac & cheese is considering "cooking", then Riley is indeed walking! Mazel tov!

In other news, we have a new nanny Rebekah and she is fabulous! I came home to this sign the other day - a great welcome home! And proof that he indeed gifted! At this rate he'll be updating this blog in a few months - so watch out!

Ode to Aunt Megan

Megan, Megan, you are so pretty
Because of you, this blog I cannot quitty
Gabe loves you and Aunt Todd the best
Even though you live so far north and west
An update this is, though fit for peasants
So now my kids can get Valentine presents!

Oh Christmas Tree

Happy New Year! We rang in 2010 all a-snooze (like all the Who's) but we hear there were a lot of good parties for people who can stay up that late!

This year we made our annual trek down to N.C., and then to Florida. The trip was quite interesting to say the least, and perhaps best expressed in a short quiz:

Which of the following happened to the Welshes on their Christmas trip?

a - US Airways lost their luggage
b - An ice storm caused a 3 day power outage, so there was no heat, water, phones, or power at the Garland house for Christmas
c - The power outage made us unable to charge our cell phones, and there was no reception anyway, so we missed the calls from our angry neighbors when Maggie howled all night in our absence
d - Riley woke up 3-5 times each night because she was so excited to be bunking with Mommy and Daddy e - Kerry got a stomach bug in Florida
f - We got into a fender bender on the way to the Fort Myers airport g - All of the Above

"G"ee...I wonder which it was?

But in the spirit of optimism, I won't dwell on any of these but just post a few pics to debunk the myth that one needs electricity for a great Christmas. After all, if Mary and Joseph didn't need running water in the stable, then neither do we!