You might start to see far fewer photos on Mondays. That's because in my time with Ezra, my camera is often the last thing on my mind. The first thing on my mind is: "Oh shit! Don't burn the house down!" or "Give me that knife!" or "We go down the stairs feet first, not head first, buddy!" or "Yeah, spit out that rock. I'm sure it doesn't taste good!"This week, Ezra turned into not just a toddler, but one of those nutso Toddlers With A Death Wish. As you can tell from above, he was reaching for knives, heading down the stairs headfirst and eating dirt and rocks. He also was lighting all the stove burners, trying to stick his fingers into electrical sockets, playing with the fireplace poker and slamming the kitchen cabinets (narrowly avoiding his own fingers).Now, before you start telling me how to be a better parent, know that we have childproofed the sockets, the cabinets and the stove handles (now that he's reaching for them). We have attached furniture to walls and yes, we have babygates. But you can only do so much. The whole world is not childproofed, and we can't be expected to be at the top of our game at all hours of the day. However, that is exactly what we are attempting and it is EXHAUSTING.(Sidenote: I learned this week that as rad as I thought Saturday morning cartoons were as a kid, I now understand that they are WAY BETTER for the adults who can get a break while the kids are sucked into an entertainment vortex.)But I don't want this post to sound like parenting is all bad and tired and yada yada. There have been some fantastic moments this week.Like the fact that we can  now lay Ezra down in bed, say "It's time to go night night" and leave the room with him drifting off to sleep about 1 minute later. That is like a miracle from the heavens right there. Also? He's still adorable, and his laughter is amazing, especially when he gets so excited that he claps his hands while laughing. And lastly, watching this kid splash in the tub while laughing and smiling is way more fun than I ever dreamed of. So there are bright spots as well. But we still have to keep him from drowning, despite his best efforts. We are seriously saving his life every single day. Kinda like superheroes.With that, here are some photos from the week. For some reason, as much as The Kid was loving danger, he hated the swing this week.Then, five minutes after leaving the park, this is what happened. Oh.These Saturday morning cartoons are GENIUS. Yeah kid. Keep trying to reach into that box of light and wonder.

Oh man, this kid is mobile and getting into EVERYTHING. This week we had to step up our parenting game a gazillion percent as now all eyes need to be on Ezra at all times. No looking away, not even for a second. The high chair is one of the few places where we can relax just a bit because he can't really move out of it. And yeah, he's feeding himself waffles now. When he's not feeding them to Magda.Besides the Extreme Parenting that's happening, we also took the entire family to Augtober Fest in our neighborhood, which is a street festival with bands and food and such. It was a first for both Ezra and Magda, and it was fun for us all to go. Magda, however, was more bothered by the large crowd than I was suspecting she'd be, so we didn't stay too long.Besides that, it was mostly a "boys weekend" as I had a long day of wedding photography and work in general is at its busiest for me. We did, however, squeeze in a date night where we finally saw Mission Impossible. Oh, how I love the spy action adventure movies... And you guys! Let's talk about Tom Cruise. That's plastic surgery, no? Something about how the skin under his eyes has no bags and never moves... But back to the Madhouse.There aren't a lot of "sitting" images this week unless he's in his high chair or his stroller. Welcome to toddler-dome / aka the most exhausting weekends of your life.Oh, but at least he's cute.Here we are surrounded by toys he has strewn about and no longer wants now that he has decided emptying the bookshelf is more fun. And yeah, I'm too tired to fight it. Go on with your bad self. I'm gonna sit here and sip my coffee.Here he is trying his hardest to break down the baby gate so he can get to Magda (who is hiding upstairs).Oh this trunk? It used to have beautiful dishes on it. Now it's clear for the kid.Finally, here we are at the street festival. He only tried to leap from our arms headfirst onto the concrete about four times. Good thing we keep strong grips on the wiggler. No longer a baby, eh?It was sorta windy at the festival -- which was wonderful and fall-like.Here is Mags, who was overwhelmed, but fairly well behaved.And lastly, here's Ezra feeding the dog his cheerios. Oh yeah, this is his new favorite game. And finally, Magda here is getting a little payoff.

Today was a big one for Ez. He got to meet two of his Great Aunts and a Great Uncle who he had never met before, as well as more time with Grandma and his Uncle Rob and his Great Grandmother (my own, dear grandma). I know I usually save family photos for Mondays, but really, being with family was about all we did today, and I didn't want to photograph something lame when I had some fun memories to share.This is Ezra playing ball with his Aunt Lynn, of Boston. We rarely get to see Lynn, and it was so much fun to catch up this morning. Ezra warmed up to her and my Uncle Chris so fast, and I hope he can see them both again soon. Ezra also had a blast playing ball with my grandmother and, really, everyone he met today. As you can see in this VIDEO that I am posting from today (whoa, right?). Please disregard my lighting / composition and just enjoy the laughter as Ezra plays with Dolly for the first time. Have I mentioned how much I adore that this kid loves dogs? BECAUSE I ADORE IT.For your internet shares, I have a bunch today:Amazing and wonderful elephant photos.I want to live here. Or visit. Or just have lunch.Strollers that look like they belong in The Minority Report.Cool dad alert.Photos of the meteor shower. Someday, I will do this. Someday when I am not sick with a baby.

What a weekend! We had Ezra's first visit to the cabin, which was far more successful than we had thought. It's not that we are "glass-half-empty" kinds of people, but we were pretty realistic about an extremely mobile baby in a cabin that is far from child-proof, a dock with no barriers to the water, a boat that is usually full of spiders, and grounds that are surrounded by poison ivy.But! We also have a lake full of splashable water, a fantastic raft for the kid, a freezer full of popsicles, a bunch of new toys, loads of hummingbirds and an amazingly patient dog who entertains us all when she's not getting stung by wasps. We also have wonderful games of cards and audiobooks to keep us laughing, and that's not even mentioning the amazing amount of naps we all took.So overall, it was a great weekend. Would I have wanted several more days of it? Ehhhh... nah. Three was just about right. Next year will we stay longer? I hope so. More photos of the vacation below.Soon after we arrived, we could hear thunder in the distance and the sky darkened. Seriously, the universe was telling us, "You have arrived at the most peaceful place you know, now go to sleep." The storms were wonderful.Here, the savages try to figure out how to get outdoors as the rain begins to fall.And this was the sky at about four pm. Yeah. It was awesome. (This is the view from our bedroom at the cabin. Many, many photos are taken from this spot as I am the ultimate lazybones when I'm up north). You know how you can tell? If you look real close, you can see the screen from the window in the shot. #LAZYBONESAnd this was that same view around 8:30 pm, when the weather settled down, but still left us with pretty clouds.The next day, we headed out to the dock. While the humans sunned / played on the docked pontoon boat, we watched Magda explore the shoreline. She ran into a flowering bush and then ran out swatting at her face which had... bees? wasps? creatures? stuck to it. She got them all off, but then had four large welts for the rest of the day. You can see two of them above. See where you think she's furrowing her eyebrows on her forehead? Nope. Those are stings/bites.Besides playing by the lake, there were many naps. Like this one.And my-oh-my look at that nap hair. That right there is just like his late Grandpa Sookie's hair.There was also splashing in the lake. That was super fun until Ezra began to cup the water in his hands and drink it. This was about an hour after we had watched Magda pee in the lake. So.... we put him back in the boat. Blech. This year, the cabin owners added a hummingbird feeder, and we had them all weekend! I love the sound of their wings...Another lovely sunset...A cool birch tree spotted on our hike...Yup, hikes. More naps... And that's about it! A lovely time indeed.

What a week! We had Eloise (my amazing niece and Ezra's amazing cousin) stop in town for a few days at the start of the week with her boyfriend as they are driving across the country. Oh, how Ezra loved them. Oh, how they make us feel so old.They arrived just as Jamie was recovering from a very serious stomach bug, that I then contracted the next day. That was no fun at all. AT. ALL. Then, on their last day in town, Jamie's mother (Eloise's grandmother) came to town. While she was here, we had swimming and zoo visits and tons and tons of fun. Photos are below -- Enjoy!....Oh. And um, I forgot to blog last Friday. Plum forgot. Because I'm old. I apologize.

Oh dear, sweet Magda. Your world is about to get rocked.Magda has, for the last 10 months, just hopped up on the couch or slinked off to another room whenever Ezra began annoying her with his crying or chasing or "petting." But this weekend... it happened. He is now pulling himself up into standing, mostly so he can be eye-to-eye with the Vizsla. I love how in the photo above, she's not even looking *at* him. She's looking *above* him. Like you do when you're giving a speech to a large audience and you are terrified, but trying to appear confident.And let's be clear, Jamie and I are also a bit terrified. The Spawn just began crawling two weeks ago! And now he's standing? And taking steps? I thought we had a few months! Man, I was wrong. And let me be clear, he only takes steps when using a prop (like an ottoman) as his walker.But let's get on with the rest of the week, shall we?Playing ball is one of his favorite hobbies. We like it because a) he shares the toys with us and that's important and b) he loves to put the balls into other things (like cups or boxes) and that's good training for his college basketball scholarship.I just threw this one in because I couldn't resist.See? Another ball in his hands. But do you notice something else? His eyes have changed color. They are now a very, very brown hazel, instead of the grey green. This makes me sad as I looooove Jamie's grey eyes, and I hoped Ezra would inherit them. But alas, it looks like they may be the color of mine in the end. We'll see...And in case you were under the impression we are all smiles and happiness over here, we still have fits. Especially when we have woken up from a nap and instead of mom getting us out of the crib, she stops to take a photo.This week we also took Ezra swimming for the first time! This was at our neighborhood park, and we were stunned that it wasn't more busy.The pool Ezra is in is only 8" deep. Over the wall is the "bigger kid pool," which I think might be 2 feet deep? 1.5 feet? Not a lot deeper, but intended for kids bigger than Ezra. He's already scheming on how to get over that wall.This weekend we also had brunch with Chris! He made us a *delicious* meal, and we had so much fun catching up.And I just wanted to get in another shot of Magda. She is just so fantastic these days. It's so hot and miserable that she's getting much shorter walks, but she's still been a total superstar.And lastly, one more shot of Ezra (and his brown eyes) walking toward me. Man-oh-man. Not a baby anymore.Also! Since I left you high and dry on Friday in terms of internet shares, I'm making up for it today. First off, have you seen the new Converse sneakers? Lovely. And if that doesn't interest you, check out the markings on this baby horse! Or this underwater WWII airplane graveyard! Wow! Or this awesome architecture poster where you can find the style of your own house. We are in an American Foursquare with Craftsman-like details. Mmmm hmmmm. Love that sort of stuff.

This week our guy was crawling like crazy, playing ball with us and feeding himself all kinds of foods like waffles, raisins, cheese, prosciutto and his new favorite, PICKLES! We had an awesome weekend full of time with good friends, delicious food and long walks around the neighborhood. There was also an amazing thunderstorm that took down trees and power all over the place. Luckily, we kept our power, but the neighborhood had some serious cleanup to do (as you'll see...). Ezra got to play with his buddy Eero's *amazing* toy collection on Saturday, including this giant, helium balloon. Yeah. This was a hit.As were the Sunday morning waffles that he fed himself (and Magda).After waffles, we took a walk around the neighborhood -- check out this downed tree. You can barely see the red car trapped underneath.And apparently being pushed around the 'hood in a soft breeze is exhausting.Later, we had lunch with Nyberg, and the boys played with their tongues. As you do.And this kid might end up as a drummer. He loves banging crap against tables. This was his "drum solo" with his sippy cup on the high chair today. Love his rock'n'roll face. Startin' him early. And there's my sweet, sweet girl who's stellar behavior just blows me away week after week. Holy crap, does she melt my heart.

So, here's the deal. Most of these photos are from our week away on vacation. They are happy, wonderful times.But things around the house are not so great right now. My mom has gotten much worse at a pretty alarming rate. I'm trying to make plans for my work this week in case I need to get home right away. There are many, many tears being shed and a lot of sadness.But these photos were taken before my mom fell ill, and before we knew what was around the corner. And I don't want to forget those happy times. Also, there's a bonus treat at the end.Ezra and Uncle Steve in Oregon playing a bit of soccer.The cousins got buried at the beach. It's kinda hard to tell, but they were transformed into a 2-headed mermaid. Yes. Those are sand nipples. Another shot from Jamie.Oh how I love watching him drink from his cup. I shot these today because I did want to capture him *right* before he started crawling. And I love how happy he is to see Magda here.See what I mean? We are almost off to the races.The photos below were taken by the lovely Miss Margaret. I love these images so much, and I know a lot of you always request to see Ezra with me. So here you go. Isn't that lady talented?