Updated pictures

I haven't been good about keeping up my blog. Calvin has been growing up fast, so I wanted to post some pictures so you can all see how cute he is. :)

Calvin's First Year

Our baby boy is a year old! If you ask anyone in this house, Calvin is the cutest, most amazing baby to ever crawl the earth. We're smitten, and we hope you will be too!

Calvin's favorite things:

1. his big brothers
2. dancing
3. riding in the swing
4. his lamb
5. the dog's squeak toy
6. music
7. pulling all his books off the shelf
8. biting with his two teeth
9. saying "all done" with his hands
10. kissing

Calvin's signs:

1. hi
2. bye bye
3. all done
4. eat

Calvin's words (at least we think they're words):

1. "Ma" - Mom
2. "Ma" - more
3. "Ba" - bye bye
4. "Hhh" - hot
5. "Uh oh"
6. "Loo" - Lily (the dog)

Calvin's biggest fans:

1. Mama
2. Daddy
3. David
4. Andrew

Harry Potter and the Cross Dresser

My boys are huge Harry Potter fans. I often find them dressed up in wizard robes, darting around, pointing sticks at one another and screaming "EXPELIARMUS!" "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" and "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Andrew has even taken to slicking his hair back with massive amounts of gel so he can look like Draco Malfoy.

Well, yesterday, we were driving through a sketchy part of Syracuse when I saw a man promenading down the road wearing a flowy wrap-around tank top, low-rise flared jeans and carrying a shiny, silver sequin purse. His hips were swaying and he was just begging me to stare. I obliged, and apparently David witnessed my rubber necked triple take.

"Why is that guy dressed like a lady? That's weird."
Yes son, that's weird.
...pause...
"I know why he might be dressed like that!"
Uh, why do you think, David?
"Remember how at the Quiddich World Cup, all the wizards dressed in muggle clothes, but they looked funny because they were used to wearing wizards' robes?"
So you think he might be a wizard?
"Yeah, because he doesn't know what muggles are supposed to wear."
I think you're probably right. That guy must be a wizard.

Whew! Thank you J.K. Rowling.

Maybe I should go see the new movie tonight to show my appreciation.

Memorial Day

As a few of my loyal fans keep reminding me, it's been a long time since Calvin ate that sub sandwich. So readers, I thought I'd give you a small glimpse into our fantastic Memorial Day weekend with my first ever published Picassa collage.

Some of the highlights of our weekend included planting our vegetable garden, making homemade ice cream, sunning ourselves on the beach, competing in a fierce bocce ball tournament, enjoying a picnic with our traditional "big sandwich," canoeing and fishing.

Top left - Andrew and Calvin taking shelter from the wind in Spencer's canoe lean-to. Thank you eagle scout.

Top right - Calvin with Dad getting ready to embark on his first ever canoe trip. In the background, David is anxiously trying to push the canoe into the lake himself. Andrew is not helping.

Bottom left - David buried in sand, left for the vultures.

Bottom middle - Okay, so this picture wasn't really taken on Memorial Day, but I needed something else to fill in the hole. This was from a trip to Green Lakes a couple of weeks ago.

Bottom right - Calvin enjoying the sand.

Here are a couple other collages I put together to make up for not posting for three months:

Three Little Bears

Canada Vacation

S is for Subway, that's good enough for me

Calvin has discovered the joy of solid food. I've given him cereals and a few pureed vegetables and he enthusiastically inhales anything I put near his mouth. Well, today Spencer brought home a couple of those $5 footlong subs from Subway. . .

And here's one more video of my baby that's just cute:

Leopard Geckos

I tried, but couldn't resist continuing my tradition of posting at least twice on the rare occasion when I add to my blog.




I don't have much to say, but I do have a few interesting pictures of our leopard geckos.



This is Pebbles beginning to shed her skin.

Cool.


David thought this was hilarious. I pulled out the little house they were hiding in and found them this way. They are both girls. . . we think.

by David Darley

A few months ago, David dictated a story to me for a school assignment. I saved it with the intention of editing it with him, having him illustrate it and turning it into a little book. Thanksgiving came, and we forgot all about it. I found it on the computer today, and decided to send it off to my sister, Liz, who is one of the main characters in the story. I didn't realize until today as I tried to read this story through my tears, how golden it is. When I was transcribing, I couldn't laugh out loud, so I didn't fully appreciate how entertaining it was until now.

Anyway, I thought it should be published somewhere, so here it is!

The instructions were as follows: "On a separate sheet of paper, write about a visit to your aunt's home. Tell where your aunt lives, when you visited her, and what you did while you were there."

My Visit

by David Darley

Once upon a time, I went to my Aunt Liz’s house. It had a forest in the back yard. One day, me and Aunt Liz went out into it. It was very cool. Soon, we came to an eagle nest. I found some eagle wings at the bottom of the tree. I put them on and then I flapped them as hard as I could. Soon I was up in the sky. Aunt Liz found another pair and then she took off too. We soared all the way through the sky. We met a lot of birds.

Soon I found a squirrel. I took the squirrel, put in on my back and took off again. The squirrel liked flying around. He had never been in the sky before.

Aunt Liz found a sparrow. She soared with it. Soon we got split up when Aunt Liz got caught in a thermal wave. The sparrow and her flew up in the air. Soon I caught a wave too. We got so split up because mine was way higher than Aunt Liz’s. Soon I was far away from Aunt Liz’s house. I caught a wave taking me west instead of east where the house was.

The squirrel stayed on my back, but soon I was over the Amazon rain forest. The squirrel thought it was so cool when we passed over a humungous elephant. Soon we were flying out of that. Soon we came to Africa. We found a zebra. I was out of energy, so I soared me and him down. I took off my wings and we went swimming in the lake.

Meanwhile, back to Aunt Liz. She caught a wave going north. She came over a big rainforest like I did, only not the same one. She didn’t find an elephant, but she did find a snake. The sparrow was diving down to try to catch a worm, but the snake was hiding near it, so Aunt Liz caught the sparrow in her wings and saved it. Soon she found another worm and gave it to the sparrow. The sparrow ate it up. It lasted a long time. Soon she came to Australia. She too found a zebra there.

Back to me and the squirrel. We were trying to hide high in the trees from the hyenas. We also were trying to catch the zebra to ride away from them. But then I remembered the eagle wings I put in my backpack. I put them back on, took the squirrel on my back and flew off. Hyenas chased after us, but it was too late for them. We were already out of sight. Then I caught a wave going south. That was when I came all the way to Antarctica. Then I dropped down and it was so cold for the squirrel. I found some penguin feathers. I already knew how penguins kept warm. I knew that they had special oil that kept them warm. I squeezed the oil out, made a fire and sprayed him with the oil. Then he was all nice and warm before he knew it. Then the oil melted off, but he was still warm. I had made him a little coat.

Back to Aunt Liz. She was already up in the arctic. The sparrow was cold. She was too. She was so cold, so she found some wood and made a fire. She also found some polar bear skin. So much that she could make the sparrow and her a coat. She too made a fire and boiled some hot chocolate and mint tea. The sparrow got the cup of tea and Aunt Liz got the cup of hot cocoa.

Back to me and the squirrel. I was cold so I found some penguin feathers, but I couldn’t squeeze the oil out of those, so I made a coat with the feathers on the inside, and some feathers on the outside.

Back to Aunt Liz, she was trying to find a boat to get from something bad happening. The ice she was standing on had just cracked into an ice floe. Soon she spotted an old kayak with somebody who had already died riding in it. She threw that person out to sea and took the sparrow on to the kayak and paddled back to shore. Just as she was about to reach land, she had to paddle a lot faster and go back. Then she found out why the sparrow gave her a warning. She saw a leopard seal coming by, followed by an orca! Soon she made it to the other side and brought the kayak and the sparrow on the shore, but too late, the leopard seal got on the ice. But don’t worry for her! All of a sudden, she found a polar bear. “Holy Guacamole!” she said, as the polar bear gobbled up the leopard seal. Just when she turned where she was, it was already snowing and she was hiding in a nice warm ice cave. The polar bear tried to find her, but she was too well hidden behind an ice shelf for the night.

Back to me. It wasn’t night time for me yet. It was morning. I had already been asleep. Me and the squirrel got back and I found some falcon wings in the tundra, and lucky for me, they were baby ones! I handed them to the squirrel and he flapped them as hard as he could and he started taking off! So I put on my eagle wings and took off too. We started heading east, then just as me and the squirrel were getting tired, we caught a wave heading east. We made it all the way back home to where Aunt Liz lived.

Back to Aunt Liz, the sparrow and her took off and went back home, but just as she was about to leave, she caught a wave going west. Soon she came to Africa all the way to the rain forest, and all the way to a wave bringing her east. Soon we found each other at her house. And we decided to keep the things that we gave for a ride. We both made cages for them and it was time for me to go home. So I took my cage with my squirrel and I went home.

The End.

My Sunshine

And now, some pictures of my beautiful baby...


...chewing on his favorite toy...

...hanging out...

...just looking adorable...

...and laughing!

Boxerwood

We had a really nice time down in Virginia visiting my parents after Christmas. The sun was shining and we spent a lot of time outside. Here are some pictures we took at a fun little park in BuenaVista:

Peanut Butter Crackers, etc.

Here's a glimpse into the most recent happenings in the Darley family:



Calvin had his four month doctor's appointment yesterday, weighing in at a mere 13 lbs 4 oz. After Andrew, who as an infant was consistently at least an inch above the 95% curve on the growth chart for both height and weight, it's quite different to have a baby who falls under the 25% in all categories. I guess I'm going to have to find another way to work my biceps. Calvin's nights are getting back to normal after the holidays, which I spent in a zombie-like state due to sleep deprivation. Once we re-introduced the swaddle, our sweet baby began sleeping about 12 hours with just one waking at night. Whew!





Andrew, deeply saddened by recent new events, namely the Kelloggs peanut butter cracker recall, has found a way to survive without his favorite snack.






David's new favorite animal is the basilisk lizard, an animal which legends say could kill by simply breathing on its victims. It's strangely appropriate, seeing as how he has an orthodontic appliance that is difficult to clean completely, and occasionally I think I might drop dead from his breath.

And finally, I don't think we ever mentioned this important bit of information in our blog-- Spencer has accepted an offer from his top choice Otology fellowship in Sarasota, Florida. So in June, 2010, the Darleys will be leaving snowy Syracuse (which currently has a wind chill temp of -20 degrees) and heading to warm, sunny Florida. I like to think of it as a one year vacation. For me, anyway. Spencer is going to be working pretty hard.