I see a pattern developing.

Speech Therapy Fun

About 6 months ago Orion started speech therapy. He LOVES his therapist Stephanie!! All I have to do is tell him that Stephanie is coming and he is very quick to pick up the family room. Well, every week Stephanie leaves us with some "homework". Just little activities to do to help reinforce the language development. This week we put some chocolate syrup on the mirror for him to lick off. This is supposed to help strengthen his mouth muscles to decrees his drooling. Anyway- we had a lot of fun with that!

Also this last week Orion has been asking to hold William a lot. It is kinda funny to see because even though Orion is really big- so is William. And Orion isn't quite strong enough to hold him up. But I think that it is cute that he wants to try.

3 Months & Labor Day

For Labor Day- we decided to go to Stewart park and roast hot dogs. It was a lot of fun. Philip scavenged for wood to build the fire, while I nursed William and Orion played. He finally found enough wood but then it took a while to actually get the fire started.
But he did it!! I think next time I will bring lighter fluid. Orion really didn't like the fire. We tried to get him to help us roast a hot dog for him- and he stood as far away from the fire as he could get.
He also didn't want anything to do with the marshmallows we roasted. I put them in the fire- therefore they were no good.

Yesterday I decided that we would walk to the library for story time, which starts at 10:35. I packed a lunch and got water bottles ready, and we left the house at about 9:45. The library is only about a mile away- so I figured on it taking us about 45- 50 minutes to get there. The walk to the library is so pretty too! This is what it looks like for 80% of the walk.

Well, we finally walked in the doors of the library at 11:00!!! Story time was just ending, but we stayed and played at the train table for a few minutes to rest. When we started to go back Orion just sat down in the middle of the sidewalk and asked if he could ride in the car. I told him we didn't have a car to go in and that he needed to walk. So he got up and walked about 10 more steps- then sat down and again said he wanted the car. I told him that if he could walk to the park, we would have lunch and he could sit there. So he got up and walked with me to the little park that was on our way home. It only should have taken a few minutes but took almost 10 to get there. We sat and had lunch and I let Orion go down the slide a few times. When it was time to go, I bribed him with left over cookies to sit in the stroller. I carried William and pushed Orion for 10 minutes. By then my arms were tired and I made Orion get out and walk. After 5 minutes of walking Orion asked if he could "sit" again. So I held William and pushed Orion again for about 10 minutes. With Orion in the stroller we made much better time- but it was still taking a long time. Finally when we only had a couple of blocks left to go, Orion sat down in the dirt and refused to get up.

By then, William was screaming too.


We FINALLY got home just after 1:00! I guess that for now if I want to walk to the library, I better take the double stroller.
Also yesterday William turned 3 months old!

I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly. William is is such a good baby. He loves to snuggle and be talked to. Just yesterday he started laughing. It is so much fun to make him laugh. I love this little guy and am so excited to watch him grow and learn. I just wish he could stay little a little while longer.

Just Life

Ok, so I know that this is probably very irreverent and my mother is probably appalled at me for doing this, but I recorded one of Orions prayers. Just so that I could share it with the grandmas. He has been really good about saying his own prayers, and for the most part- without any help. I did have to remind him to bless the food in this particular prayer, but I didn't want to record too many prayers waiting for him to do one completely by himself. And just in case you can't understand what he is saying- here is a translation.

Heavenly Father, thankful day, bless grandma, name Jesus , bless food, name Jesus Christ, amen.
He has also been sharing his food with whichever favorite toy he has at the time. Sometimes it takes 2 hours to get through lunch because he takes a bite- and then the train takes a bite- and then Samuel the Lamenite takes a bite. He also makes piles of his "side" to share. Orion, mommy, daddy, William, Dora, Boots, & the favorite toy all get a pile of food. The problem with this is that it only leaves Orion 3 pretzels (or raisins or whatever) and then he wants some more. But I am happy that he wants to share and is so willing too. I hope this behavior continues for many many years.

William is doing really well! He is sleeping GREAT at night. Most of the time he sleeps through the night. Unfortunately he doesn't nap great. He will only nap if I am right next to him- or bouncing him. He has recently discovered his finger. He really likes to gnaw on it- and then eventually he starts sucking on it and goes to sleep. I think it is rather cute. But then again- I just think HE is cute.


Philip is taking a couple of classes this semester. They are online classes, so he will be able to be home every night and I won't ever have to worry about him driving home late at night in the snow. He is such a wonderful husband and father and I am so grateful for the sacrifices he makes for his family. I couldn't ask for a better man!!
I am doing well. I am trying to get back into the habit of exercising daily. But it is slow going. Even though William is sleeping great, Orion isn't always. So a lot of mornings I think to myself, I should go exercise, and then Satan steps in and says "No- your too tired, go back to sleep"! I hate to admit it- but I listen to him far more in the mornings then I should. I'll work on that!!
I guess what I am trying to get at is this. Life is going very well for us here in the Bainbridge household. We are all happy and healthy. And what more could we ask for?

He really DOES do other things

A few days ago, I commented to Philip that the garbage disposal wasn't working and would he please take a look. He looked under the sink to make sure that it was still plugged in (I could have told him that) and then stuck his hand down there to make sure that something like a rag wasn't in the way. He then announced that it was beyond him to fix and I needed to call the landlord. I was not to that point however. I stuck my hand down the drain and fiddled around with the blades and stuff until I found it. A piece of plastic was wedged underneath the blade and up against the side. When I told Philip this- he decided that maybe he really could fix it. He started taking out screws and such trying to get the disposal off. After a phone call to my dad and a phone call to the home teachers he got it off. I quickly called our home teacher back to tell him we figured it out, and that he didn't need to come rescue us. After tugging and prying and grunting he finally got the plastic unstuck. It was a piece of measuring cup. And yes, it was my fault it was down there. I thought I got all the pieces out. Unfortunately we didn't have all the right stuff to put it all back together last night. So this morning Philip ran to the hardware store and got the needed materials to finish the job. I am happy to report that my garbage disposal works good as new!!!

This afternoon we went to Stewart park for a picnic and to find some rocks.
Philip is in charge of Sharing Time tomorrow, and wants the kids to make "rock families". We washed them all, and then drew smiley faces on them. The primary kids will then glue eyes, hair and a nose on them. Should be pretty fun.
Here is Phil with his example rock family.

Also today, I got my first picture with William smiling. He has smiled at me lots, but this is the first one caught on camera.

Ok, so I should have posted a week ago- but I didn't. So last Tuesday William had his 2 month check up. He weighs 16 pounds 12 ounces and is 26 inches tall. I am so sad that he is growing so fast. It is hard to believe that he is already 2 months old! I feel like in no time at all he is going to be sleeping in the crib- in Orions room. I have to admit, I am not ready for this at all! But he is almost too tall for the bassinet so crib- here we come. While we were at the doctors office, Dr. Egglash (our wonderful pediatrician and family doctor) looked at Orion. Turns out that Orion has a strep infection on his bottom. She was so mad that the other doctor we saw didn't even look at Orions bottom. Anyway, we started the antibiotics and Orion is improving daily. The blisters are finally gone, and he is sleeping through the night again. Hooray!!
Lately Orion has been playing a lot with a red block that has a face on it. He calls it "mommy". There are lots of time when he will come up to me and ask "Mommy- wheres my mommy?" It can get quite confusing sometimes. Especially when he does it with the daddy block. It always takes me a couple of seconds to figure out if he is talking about his daddy or the toy. Anyway, the other day he dropped "mommy" down the laundry shoot and this is him trying to reach it.

And here is William. He has learned how to bounce himself in the bouncer, and I just think it is adorable. I love my boys!!!

Blue Bananas

This has been a pretty busy yet pretty relaxed week for us. About a week ago- we discovered Orion has pin worms. NASTY little things. I won't go into detail about them- because I am kind and don't want all of you to be sick after reading this. But because of these little worms, Orion has not been sleeping well, which translates into Mom and Dad not sleeping well. William on the other hand has been sleeping GREAT!

The last few days, Orion has been asking for a "blue banana". I keep telling him I don't have any blue bananas. Today he asked for a blue sandwich. So I called Alice and asked her how to make my sons normal everyday food blue. She suggested I make "An octopus in seaweed". I made blue seaweed.

William is doing well. He sleeps great at night and is pretty happy most of the time during the day. He likes to snuggle and look at people. He has also started batting at toys if Orion will leave them alone long enough for him to bat at.

My garden is doing great. Well, kinda. The bunnies won't leave my green bean be- so I am not getting any of those, but I have squash and zucchini galore! I would have a lot more but for some reason about half of what should turn into beautiful produce, starts rotting on the vine. I haven't quite figured out why yet.