Water Babies

Does anyone else remember that rather freaky little Victorian moral tale by the Reverend Charles Kingsley? It was about a little chimney sweep named Tom that was badly treated and when he fell into the river he turned into a water baby.
Well, tonight, we had our own resident water babies, Josh and Natalie, who were, dare I say it, rather stinky. Mom and Dad were out on a rare date, it being Saturday night. I decided to give them a break and bathe the little ones. Church comes early these Sunday mornings.

These two are such a crack-up. I think their personalities really shine in these photos.
My own personal water babies.

My own personal elf

The many faces of Natalie

I haven't shown you much of Natalie yet. She is Bethany's youngest, who turned two a couple of weeks ago. Bethany dotes on her, and Natalie returns the adoration, which means that the rest of us haven't had much of a chance. I love babies, but I love toddlers better. They are so ornery and cute and full of personality and you can send them home to their parents when they wear you out.

We spent a few hours together today, while everyone else went to Chuck E. Cheese to play games. Natalie is a happy little soul who sings and jiggles and wiggles her way through the day. She is quite self-sufficient in her play, just needing to know that I am in the same room or she will come looking for me. She loves animals and her "babies" and food and music. Her little bottom starts wiggling as soon as she hears a good beat.
Natalie has an immensely expressive face and I captured some of her "looks" as she was playing with my koala that sings "Waltzing Matilda." Yes, her bottom was wiggling, I should have taken a video.


Natalie's Mom was born 29 years ago today.
Happy Birthday, Bethany.

Grumpy Gus

We drove out to Stub Stewart Park by Vernonia on Sunday evening to visit Bethany and Chris, who were camping with their neighbours. It had been excessively hot all day (the story of our life here in the Northwest this week) and Natalie was in the middle of a long meltdown.
She was grumpy and grubby and NOTHING would appease her.


These photos were taken AFTER she had calmed down.
I had forgotten how loud that baby can scream.

The kids made some yummy fajitas.
And then we went home.

S'Nooz of the day

A random sampling from today's newspaper:

There is no cure for cellulite.
And only women get it, due to their genetic makeup.
I quote: The connective tissue bands under men's skin are crisscrossed like a net, keeping their fat more EVENLY RESTRAINED. Women's tissue bands are organized in vertical columns, so fat may BULGE IRREGULARLY.
Hmmmmf.
That's all I have to say about that.
At least we don't have prostates.

Wheat-gluten intolerance is skyrocketing.
Not just being diagnosed more often.
The incidence of celiac disease has increased from around one in over 600 fifty years ago to about one in 100 today. Some doctor saved over 9,000 blood samples from air force recruits between 1948 and 1954 and the study compared test results from these men with more than 12,000 taken from men recently. The question now is "Why?" Something to do with the immune system, or the food we eat, or other environmental factors?
It's strange that with all of the science and high technology in our lives, so many things are still inexplicable.

This from Dr. Oz:
Cook your fresh (and preferably organic) vegetables in the crock-pot, don't let the steam escape, drink the broth, and it's almost as good as eating them raw. Better in the case of veggies such as carrots, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, and zucchini.
Good news for a raw-veggie-phobe like me.

A travel tip from Ideal Bite (bite-sized ideas for light green living:
Take your own empty drink container on airplanes.
Save a plastic cup or two.
Brilliance in small ideas.

A photo of Mum and Natalie, who is in a rare state of cleanliness.
Natalie, not Mum.
Missing Mum a little.
Although I do love an empty house.
Jeff and I get along better.