Orin and his Puppies

Orin has three puppies.

He loves them.

To show his affection he feeds them.

For this, they love him too.

The fact that Orin feeds the dogs at the table

drives me nuts, but he really seems to enjoy it,

so today, instead of trying to thwart him,

I decided to photograph the ritual.

First, he lures one in by calling ba-ba-baaaa

(the full extent of his vocabulary)

Then he gives them, in this case Purple,

a glance at the goods.

He then, very gently, leans over and offers her

the over-priced organic teething biscuit.

She considers the offer,

and accepts.

Orin is happy.

Purple is happy.

I am not happy.

Especially because he gave Purple a treat...

Purple, the worst behaved of the three terrible dogs.

Purple, the one who just last April

while I was deep in my third trimester and nothing fit me,

decided to destroy my most comfortable pair of pants.

But there is nothing I can do,

Orin loves his puppies.

Gingersnap Cookies

The last few days of our trip Orin and I hung out with 

Grandma Elisabeth and Grandpa Dean.

It was while we were staying with them that Orin

had an eating breakthrough.

When I used to feed Orin I would give him control of the spoon.

(I saw his eating as a game more than an attempt 

at productive calorie intake).

With Orin at the wheel, food would occasionally end up in his mouth,

but more often than not, it didn't.

After watching Matthew and Robbi feed Alden,

I decided I would take control of the spoon for a while.

The result: Several empty jars of baby food,

Orin's first solid poop,

and an open door to new culinary experiences.

All of a sudden, Orin was eating everything:

bagels, cheerios, gingersnap cookies...

The solid foods had more to do with the fact that we were 

staying with my mother 

(motto: gingersnap cookies... why not?)

rather than having any relation to the change of spoon control,

but either way, Orin is now an official eating machine.

The last day of our trip we went to the Cape to follow up on a rumor

that Rowan has started to walk and also occasionally

"dances around shaking his bottom and snapping his fingers"

Here are his parents trying to get him to show off his snapping ability:

Turns out, he was a little shy of snapping infront of new people,

but Orin and I did get to watch him walk all over the house,

a professional at 11 months!

The boys had a nice time together.

Rowan was a very gracious host and showed Orin all of his new toys.

He also demonstrated how both the top and the middle of

the Excersaucer could be used for entertainment purposes.

Orin's favorite part of the visit was definitely his discovery of this toy:

a large mirror with flashing lights, various music beats,

and dancing characters.

I have seen a toy like this before in my worst nightmares,

but for Orin it was a dream come true.

After saying goodbye to Colleen, Cody, and Rowan

Orin and I drove back up north to my mother's house,

packed up the last of our suitcases,

and got a couple hours of sleep before catching our early morning

flight back to Portland.

I think that even though we had a great time visiting everyone

we were both glad when we finally got home

and were reunited with Casey.

Hope you are all well.

Massachusetts Part 2

After spending 2 days at Grandma Elisabeth's house,

Orin and I made the trek across the state to visit 

Grandpa Jack and Grandma Carla.

The day after we got there, the temperature dropped 

into the single digits with wind chill, 

so we decided to do some indoor activities.

Orin helped Aunt Andy work on her graduate school applications...

and spent some quality time with his Uncle Alex.

It was a relaxing couple of days

and we had a nice time catching up with family

and soaking in the last drops of the Christmas spirit.

We left Williamstown on the first of the year,

bidding farewell to my brother

who was heading back to North Carolina,

and set off for Andover again to spend a little more time 

with Grandma Elisabeth and Grandpa Dean.

The Best of 2008

Today I happened to glance at the archives section

of the blog and realized that I have ended the year of 2008

with exactly 150 posts.

I am not sure whether I should be proud of my determination

or apologetic that I have wasted so much of your time

with my nonsensical rants.

Either way, I have decided to celebrate the birthday of the blog with

a couple of my favorite pictures of Orin

that have not yet made a post.

I have not shared these pictures because they were part 

of Orin's Christmas present to his grandparents,

 a calendar titled 12 Months of Orin,

and I wanted the pictures to be a surprise on Christmas.

Now that all of the grandparents have received their gifts,

there is no reason not to share them.

All of these pictures came from a series of photo shoots

that we did during the week we were snowed in

Some of the pictures were holiday themed...

(did I mention how bored we were?)

Others were just plain embarrassing

And some were...

well, I am not sure exactly what you would call this one...

There you have it, 

goodbye 2008!

Here's to 2009!

Happy New Year!

The Baby Reunion

In the early morning of the 26th, 

Casey dropped Orin and I off at the airport.

Nine hours and four bags of peanuts later, 

we arrived in Massachusetts and were greeted warmly

in baggage claim by Grandma Elisabeth, Auntie Andy, 

and Auntie Robbi

We were not, however, greeted in baggage claim by my luggage.

That would end up arriving around dinner time the following day.

Matthew, Robbi, and Alden were in town for a short Christmas visit

so as soon as we got back to the house

we let the babies catch up.

At first, everything was going smoothly,

 Orin and Alden were playing together happily. 

Then, all of a sudden, Alden, using her exceptionally fine-tuned

ninja baby skills...

made a mad dash at Orin

She tackled him, pinned him down,

crawled on top of him, and started smacking his head

and screaming.

When we thought it couldn't get any worse,

she went in for the kill.

Needless to say, Orin needed to be rescued.

After some consoling, we offered him a new toy

and he started to calm down.

But as soon as she saw him playing peacefully,

she broke free of her captors and viciously 

stripped Orin of his prize.

Later in the evening the babies made amends after

discovering a common interest in opening Orin's presents. 

The cousins further healed their wounded relationship

over dinner.

I suppose we can't hold her accountable for picking on Orin,

Alden is just seizing her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

to be the better Baby Fighter.

The next time the cousins meet up, Orin will have mastered crawling

and maybe even walking,

and with several inches and a couple pounds on her already,

he will have a distinct advantage.

Justice is coming Alden.

The next morning the cousins said goodbye

and Alden headed back to Maryland with her parents.

As for Orin and I, we will be leaving tomorrow 

with Aunt Andy to go visit

Grandpa Jack, Grandma Carla, and Uncle Alex.

Updates are on the way.

Hope you enjoy your last day of 2008!

An Oregon Christmas

Since it is Orin's first Christmas,

and Casey's first time getting to be Santa Clause, 

we decided to really get into the Christmas spirit this year.

For the last couple weeks we have been listening to holiday music,

dancing around the house, eating cookies,

and playing in the snow.

We have also spent some time coming up with ridiculous ways

to photograph Orin for holiday cards.

He has been more than accommodating.

Our actual Christmas celebration began on 

 the 24th when we stopped by 

Casey's Aunt Teresa's house for a Christmas Eve party.

Orin's great aunts Teresa and Roxanne

showered Orin with brightly colored toys

and a set of Baby Einstein cards

(everyone has big plans for Orin's education)

The next morning we went over to Nana Sheree's house 

for a Christmas breakfast feast.

After stuffing our bellies we headed into the living room

to open presents.

It didn't take long for Orin to realize that all of the action

was under the tree.

By the end of the morning Orin had been thoroughly spoiled 

with clothes, toys, and books.

He loved his new blue striped body suit

that his Aunt Katie bought for him...

but his all-time favorite present

was definitely from his Grandpa Ed

who gave Orin a red Radio Flyer wagon!

Orin was so excited he stood on his toes.

He can't wait to cruise around town when the snow melts.

After opening presents we took a couple goofy pictures 

for next year's Christmas cards

before heading home so that Orin could

 recharge before another Christmas celebration.

Christmas number two was at home.

The guest list was limited,

but the presents were abundant.

This year Santa brought Orin teethers, rattles, trucks,

clothes, and a cool stackable frog.

After opening all of his gifts, Orin hung out and played with

his new toys while I frantically finished 

some last minute packing for our trip to Massachusetts

to have two more Christmas celebrations.

I will check back in from there.

Until then, goodnight, and let us all pray that now

Christmas is officially over

the crazy people who live across the street will stop blasting 

Jingle Bells all night long.