October

My life is complete. I've successfully bred 2 Star Wars fans.

Nick even got in to character by posing with a particularly menacing glare at Adrienne.


We stopped off at ChildTime for the 'parade'. It was chaos. Completely amusing, but chaos nonetheless...

Standing here for about 30 seconds was the extent of her 'walking' in the parade.

And I used to think the parade in the Village was a wild & crazy way to spend Halloween...

Adri... errr, Princess Leia struck a pose for the folks at DN.
My girlfriend asked if Nick was a computer. A COMPUTER!! I actually felt a tremor in The Force as those words were uttered...

If only Carrie would pick ME up and swing me around when I show up for work each day...

Last year she didn't have the joy of picking out her candy. This year.... a whole different story. Liz let her take about 17 candies which Adrienne oh-so-carefully placed in her pumpkin which then dumped all over the floor & Liz was treated to a round of the 'clean up song' as Adrienne put them all back in one by one...

The loot!
(OK, we only went to 3 houses... Oh, and note how the Milky Way didn't make it from the front door to the dining room.)
I can't believe she did this... but she actually wanted to SHARE her coveted Milky Way with Nick! I ate half of it & didn't even want to share it with HER!
Oh how she fought this nap....

Big smiles...

... and even BIGGER ones for Adrienne...
Lesson #423:
Q: How many seconds does it take for a toddler to make a mess?
A: Apparently NONE.
She was coloring with markers while I changed Nick's diaper. I kept glancing over and she was hard at work ON PAPER. I have no idea when she managed to squeeze in time to COLOR HER FACE! And of course she refused to take her finger out of her nose so I could take a picture....

Nick had his 40 Day Blessing at church yesterday. I couldn't believe how good Adrienne was throughout the ceremony... Unbeknownst to us she was keeping herself busy by seeing which finger fit up her nose best.

Nick already loves his Nouna!

Every few days she has a new word or phrase that she rolls in to her vocab. This past weekend Greg taught her how to say I love you - "ah laa loo".

Another thing is singing - here she is doing the first part of the alphabet - "a b d b d b d". And if you try to sing the alphbet she'll stop you & do it herself.

One of my favorite word bungles - apple juice is "apul beetz". The other phrase I'd love to get on video is her telling you about poo - she now describes it as eeeww stinky but it comes out "eeewwww keekee"

One last trip to Great Adventure this past weekend before it closes for the winter...

.... and we found the PERFECT 'naughty chair' for her there!

I used to decorate with Pottery Barn, Pier 1, Crate & Barrel, etc. Now it's 2 year old arts & crafts.

Oh, now THIS was a fun day.
As I mentioned in a previous post I wanted to get their Christmas card picture in the lovely red leaves out front. It was a nightmare. Nick is still too floppy and Adrienne wanted N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do with him touching her. Don't be surprised if you get a photo-card with 2 individual shots because I'm just not willing to keep attempting this.

On Sunday (another scary day in which I was solo with the kids) I decided to introduce Playdoh - thought that would eat up a good chunk of time. She immediately wanted to eat it. I yelled at her, she melted down. *sigh* Great idea. I then found out she plays with Playdoh at daycare all the time & her teacher said, "Oh yeah! She LOVES to eat it." Cheerios, applesauce, Playdoh - a balanced diet for any toddler.

My new definition of heaven:
2 kids sound asleep in the backseat with an open highway ahead and nowhere to be.

Keri's reward for helping me out on Sunday - getting crammed in the backseat between 2 carseats with cranky kids.
If this blanket of fall foliage is still there tomorrow I'm SO getting their Christmas picture in it!

Nick's first impersonation:
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.... it's Supergreek!

Hannibal, B.A., Face & Murdock - meet your new comrade.

OK, one more 80's flashback...

Brothers Greg, John & Peter with cousins Elias, Tim & Andrew in their color-coordinated Billows & Demakes family t-shirts.

And Adrienne modeling the ORIGINAL - note the back - BECAUSE........

Uncle Pee-O & Aunt Keri kept the tradition alive! They got Adrienne & Nick their own Billows 1 & 2 shirts made up!

I've totally discovered a new Olympic sport - tandem diaper changing.

We finally have an announcement picture. But this isn't it.

Over 1500 pictures were taken ~ and no, that is NOT an exaggeration ~ the last round was actually a success. Have I MENTIONED how difficult it is to get a decent picture of this kid!?! I'm completely dreading the sure-to-be-Xmas-picture-taking-fiasco which is fast approaching...

So anyway, this was the runner-up ESPECIALLY since the pose & look are incredibly close to....

...Adrienne's!
But we went with another one with a super cute expression on his face instead. Check your mailbox in a week or 2 for the unveiling of that gem.

Another runner-up...

... and one more.

But here is a much better example of the 100s of pictures that got nixed. Pissed off, scrunchy face, arms flailing. Happy baby.

In fact he was just SO happy with these dreaded photo op sessions he figured out how to give me the middle finger to REALLY f-up my attempts at getting this announcement picture done before he goes to college.

Again, the middle finger. But there's more to this story.
First, I originally wanted to do his announcement on black since Adrienne's was on white. That just didn't work. I couldn't get the lighting right ~ he was always washed out. And as previously mentioned, pissed off, until I got him dressed & stuck the binkie in his mouth. Which brings me to his outfit and the real story of this picture:
So I'm 8 1/2mos pregnant at the Allman Bros concert at PNC. We're hanging out with another couple in the parking lot when this woman walks up to me, "Don't think I'm crazy (ok, any time someone OPENS with that line, you know they should be in a straight-jacket...) but I can see you're pregnant. I have an outfit in my car for a newborn that I bought for someone but by the time I saw them the baby was too big. Do you want it?" "Well, I'm having a boy." "Oh, it's blue so it will work!" She trots off to her car and comes back with this little outfit - tags still on it & all. "I'm so glad it will be put to use!" Hands it to me & off she went to hear some jamming.
Now I know I'm getting old & all, but I remember the good ol' days when we were passing around something other than baby clothes at an ABB concert....

The long awaited Greg-Adrienne-Nick Tummy Time shot!

And one more side-by-side comparison - cousins Ryan, Adrienne & Nick. Umm, clearly they have ONE family trait in common! Oh my HAIR!

Her first hayride & pumpkin picking trip with her buddy Garet...

On the hayride - she's right in the middle of saying "coooooool"

Little Miss Farah Fawcett here with the hair toss - and Garet saying "Get a HOLD of yourself, woman!!"

Adrienne was actually having more fun watching Garet going down rather than going down herself!

Aww, Kodak moment....

And the 2nd gen - Nick & Julia - enjoying the park. Or maybe just enjoying the fact that their older siblings were leaving them alone for more than 30 seconds.

Well, if she's Farah Fawcett then I guess he's Ryan O'Neal!

Attacked by her stuffed animal brood. I think the Sneech was behind the attack. Look at him sitting all non-chalant in the corner like that trying to play it off. Sneaky Sneeches. I got their number. Or star, as it were...