Ha! I hadn't seen this picture yet, but it looks like Arden and Carter have joined a dance troupe. Well, that's close enough to true, as we are attending Music Together class every Monday, where we bang on instruments and flail about to the music.

Here's a kiss, Arden. Carter is such a loving big brother.

Arden's sliding across the floor ever faster, now able to push up off the floor and get her hands on the sides of the furniture and low toy bins. She also enjoys eating books. So there's no turning your head even for a second!

Arden gets the back carry a lot more than Carter ever did. I was always afraid that I would drop Carter. I guess your confidence with the second one is just naturally higher. Or I'm more foolhardy with age. Anyway, I think she likes it back there!

We went to Charlotte's Nature Museum for a family outing today. One of Carter's favorite places there is the butterfly room... a greenhouse area where there are always tons (ok, not literally) of butterflies flitting about. Cierra snapped a picture of one of the prettiest. Though you can't really tell in this picture, this one had extra long wings and just seemed so graceful as it glided about without flapping them a whole lot.

Arden took her first ride in a swing this week! Unlike Carter, who panicked and demanded to be put down the first few times he got in one, she loved it!

But when your everyday routine is getting tossed in the air just for kicks, I guess a swing really isn't going to move the needle that much.

This sling always makes me smile because it looks like Arden is growing straight out of Cierra's chest. Plus, it makes me smile because it makes her smile. And her smile is now even more fun because she has two little teeth right at the front and bottom. We first spied them a few days ago, and it's been fun running my fingers over them every once in a while. That is, until today, when she bit me!

Well, we're headed up to IN in a couple of days, so we'll write again next week with a bunch of pictures of family and fun. Until then!

A Dinner with Arden

Arden's eating now! Well, it was only a matter of time with all the stuff she was putting in her mouth that eventually some of it would turn out to be food. She's very enthusiastic about daddy's split pea soup and baked sweet potatoes. Dinner can be a rather messy affair, in fact most of our meals are followed immediately by a trip to the bathtub and a change of clothes.

A new chair for Arden as well! If you're going to eat at the table now, you might as well be attached to it securely. Carter thinks this is pretty cool.

We've had our first cool day of the fall, and Arden got her hoodie out to keep warm. Cierra is always remarking how much she looks like me, and I rarely see it, but in this case I would have to agree. When I put on my striped hoodie and get in my excersaucer, I look exactly like this.

Carter is more and more wonderful all of the time. He takes such good care of Arden. Sometimes just as she's getting upset, he comes right over to her and gives her a toy, a hug or a kiss. Just a little interaction with her brother is enough to turn her right around.

Oh, the other thing we should mention... Arden is sitting up now...although she soon sees something that she wants and chooses to topple in its direction.

6 months already! Who knows what wild new developments are just around the corner.

Recent Developments.

Arden might not even be getting in the water yet, but that doesn't mean she can't make a fashion statement when the family heads poolside. That statement? "I am the cutest baby in the Carolinas!"

Arden has learned how to grab things, and likes to put everything in her mouth. So here she is with her first bite of food, a blueberry muffin baked by Daddy, with Carter's help. Carter's first bite of anything was bananna, which he hated. So, nutritionally, we've definitely backslid here, but on the positive side, she was enthusiastic.

The grabbiness is not limited to food. Also a favorite: tender parts of your face while you're rocking her back to sleep at 2am. It takes Arden around a day and a half to regrow razor-sharp claws after we whack them back to the quick with the clippers. And the power of those hands! I'm pretty sure there's either hydraulics or adamantium involved here.

Carter enjoys his own blueberry muffin. Muffin. Muffin. MUUUUUUFFFFFIIIINNN!

I can't hear you, Carter.

Muffin, Pease.

That's better.

Hello, class. My name is Arden, and I'll be substituting today for your usual Chemistry teacher. This model represents the complex relationships atoms can have at the molecular level. However, it is flawed in one very basic way. Atoms should be able to fit in my mouth.

Arden is such a skootcher! Anything you don't want in her mouth better not be in the room with her when you look away. I was helping Carter for a moment with something today and she'd gotten all the way across the room! For a second I thought that she'd started crawling when I wasn't looking, so I moved her back to the starting gate and let her go once more... and she showed me that slow and steady still gets it done for the pre-crawling crowd. That said, she's up on all fours a lot and it's week(s) only until she's really off to the races.

Carter's favorite pasttime these days... his "cd books." He'll spend so much time paging through, selecting the same discs over and over again. A prime canidate for work at a Top 40 station, as if those jobs will still be done by humans when he's old enough for employment.

Give peace a chance, says Arden! Actually I think she's counting how many fingers she can get in her mouth. Try a couple more, and you'll be closer to correct.

When I see this picture, I just think that the camera is about to cut to the E-trade baby and Arden's going to be giving him tips on home decor or something. Yeah, it's great you've got that killer portfolio, now how bout cashing in some of those blue chips to update that highchair? Floral prints are so last trimester.

Carter's been giving us some pretty rockin' concerts lately. His set list is expanding. Old MacDonald is tried and true, but then there's Twinkle, Twinkle, and Puff the Magic Dragon, often performed as a mash-up. Just today, for the first time with me he sang Frere Jacque, (sp?) but he still thinks I'm crazy when I sing "dan don dan" He looks at me with a silly smile and says "Ding, dong, ding" right afterwards like English is my second language.

He's holding the guitar now too, part of his bid to be independant in all things. Maybe some day we'll see him playing bass, he's got the stance right.

Carter's also really started to interact with Arden. Sometimes I like to take a step back and see what they will do. Here, he brought the slinkies over to Arden while she was in the excersaucer. They played for quite a while, one slinky apiece, with Carter brokering a trade whenever the one that she had looked better than the one he did. (That one must be better, with how much she's putting it in her mouth. The one I've got is tasteless!)

Keeping Things Moving....

Arden is a schoocher! As of the last 2 days, she can use her arms to pull herself along and get to whatever she wants... to put in her mouth. In no time at all she's going to be up and crawling. Then I'm going to need to clone myself.

Big brother love for Arden! Carter comes over every once and a while and gives her a hug, kiss, and/or funny look, but mostly he just goes about his business. She, however, watches him with a fascination and love that is just amazing.

Carter is pretty amazing. Here he is with his two girlfriends, Mira and Emerald. "No fighting, ladies, there's enough of my lap for you both to get comfortable."

Greg (or Papa) came to visit very quickly over the weekend. Here's Carter getting comfy in his lap while being read one of his favorite books. This one stars Elmo and Grover. If there's any marketing that's gotten through to Carter, it's definitely this book. We were in the grocery store a week ago and he started saying, "Elmo. Elmo. ELMO!" I was all, "Huh?", until I looked over my shoulder and spied a mylar Elmo head hovering above the floral department.

Carter has turned our breakfast nook into his private art studio. Here he paints watercolors. Actually, I think Mommy helped a lot on this one, but he has lots of self-produced Rohrschat test coming out of this setup.

In other news, this is the last picture you'll see of Arden in the Bumbo on top of something else. Just as she has learned to schooch, she's also found a way to escape the Bumbo. Safety first!

Artist Carter surveys his outdoor work!

After a long day of learning, Arden rests against Papa's shoulder. What a snuggly little bear!

A Visit to Indiana (Hunter's Staycation)

Arden is so advanced for her age, already learning to drive. Hey, aren't you supposed to crawl first? This photo reminds me of the car commercial with the father looking at his daughter as if she's still 5 years old. Someday, that will be a reality for me, but thank goodness that day is not today.





Cierra took both of the kids for a quick 4 day jaunt up to Indiana, leaving me at home, lonely but relaxed this past weekend. It was weird being without everyone, but I needed some time to myself just to reflect on life and realize how good I have it.





This will be a different kind of post, because I'm writing about all these pictures without having been there to experience anything firsthand. So Cierra will be breaking in occasionally to correct my mistaken impressions and provide the finer details.





Great-Grandma Treva and Arden smile for the camera. Cierra told me that Treva made a wonderful meal and all Carter would eat was strawberries and grapes. Boy, Carter, that was a big mistake. Treva's cooking is legendary. Now, I guess I'll try not to take it so hard when he does the same thing to me.

Great-Grandpa Hemmerlein got Arden a birthday cake, and though it was either 5 months late or 7 months early, he's wise enough to know that nobody ever gets mad about getting cake. Arden certainly has a hilarious expression on here and with her arm out like that, looks like she might be about to throw the cake in the direction of the camera.

Carter enjoys a boat ride with Mimi on the "slow boat", their pontoon. They also have a speedboat, which he refers to now as the "fast boat".

Arden is a go-getter like her mother and already training for positions as flower girl that may open up in the years down the road.

Quick guide on how to get all the relatives to show up at Grandview Lake... bring a cute couple of kids by for a couple of days. Either that, or book a sushi chef. We went for the less expensive option. Terri and Kara got their chance to give Arden a squeeze or two.

Great Grandpa Baer got to bounce Arden on his knee...

... While Great-Grandma read to Carter to keep him from getting jealous.

Papa grabs some time with Arden in his lap. I think the pattern on that chair has her attention!

The main reason for the trip was Cierra wanting to help her sister Alexis as she moved in as a freshman at Xavier. Sounds like it was an exciting move-in day, and most other campuses could learn a lot about how to streamline the process from Xavier.

When they pulled the two cars up to her building, the "Move Crew" of upperclassmen descended upon them and had both cars cleaned out in less than a minute. Then they followed her up to her room and deposited everything for her. The only thing she had to carry was her new key. When I think back to lugging everything up 4 flights with no air conditioning in my freshman dorm, I'm feeling just a little unreasonable jealousy. :)

Carter hanging out down by the lake, soaking up the sun amidst Mimi's flowers.

Wait, how did this happen? No one is holding Arden. I know, just off camera, everyone is arm wrestling each other to determine whose turn comes first.

.... Ahh, back to the natural state of things.

Okay, that's all I know... now we'll see how much Cierra has to add. Peace!

Just back from the beach!

Here we are back from our week in Rhode Island at Hunter's family reunion and we've brought back a different little girl than the one that left our house just a week ago. Arden is way more alert, full of smiles and giggles. She grabs things and interacts with them... mostly orally, but you can tell that everything she does is with intention. She can turn over now, and she's even started to be able to scoot sometimes. But the big difference is, now she gets bored if you're not playing with her. Hmmm... 2 kids, one of me. And both wanting my attention. This could get interesting.

So Block Island is a good distance from the mainland, and it takes about an hour by ferry to get there. Carter liked standing on the benches so he could look out over the water.

Here are Arden and Mommy, posing in front of one of our rental cottages. The family rented the DuPont Compound, a grouping of 3 houses on 18 acres of beauty that just happened to be the high point of the entire island. The sunsets were beautiful and we had a great view of the harbor and airport.

The island is covered with stacked stone fences, not built with mortar, just stacked in place. On a 10 square mile island, someone told me there are 200 miles of fence. Think about how much work that was, and how long it took. I imagine that when it was first settled in 1660, it was just littered with rocks all over the place, so that you just had to build the fences so you could walk from A to B without stubbing your toe.

What is Carter thinking? Probably something along the lines of, "How much trouble would I get into if I knocked all these fences down?"

Arden still has those beautiful blue eyes. We're starting to really think she might keep them. Whatever her eyes' color, I think I'll always love staring into them.

Carter stares at a tree? Not sure where this was taken, but it might have been at Carter's "jumping rocks", which were 2 low-lying rocks near our house that he liked to stand on and jump off with big fanfare. I tried to do it with him, but he got very upset. These are my jumping rocks daddy. Get your own.

Looks like Arden is auditioning for the role of flower girl in future weddings!

Carter got to the beach one day to play and build sandcastles with his second cousins Zidane and Biggie. Well, they built them, Carter was more in a knocking down mood. Nobody wanted to go near the water, though. Carter got the closest, with a few toes going in before he ran away in tears. The other 2 kids wouldn't go within 15 feet of the ocean. In fact, they even refused to sit in the wet sand, and kept sending me with their tiny buckets to fetch more water for their building.

Carter loves the family reunion because there's always music! Practically everyone plays something. Here, my cousin Stone entertains.

The day of cousin Seth's wedding. Mom and Dad are dressed up, and so is Arden....

... But nobody can come close to Carter and his little suit. He is PIMPIN!!! You can't see it that well but there's a tiny purple hankerchief in his pocket to match his little purple tie.

All three of the cousins sit together after the wedding. Carter was so patient, he sat through a ceremony that lasted nearly an hour!