Backyard entertainment

Back at the start of Spring, in order to torture the cats to the greatest extent possible, we decided to move the bird feeders to right outside the kitchen window. We've spent the last six months or so watching an endless variety of gorgeous birds come and go, all while the cats freak the hell out beside the breakfast table.

BIRD! BIRD! THERE'S A BIRD RIGHT THERE RIGHT THERE I'M GONNA EAT HIM I CAN GET HIM JUST LET ME OUT ERMAHGURD THERE'S A BIRD! BIRD! THERE! AND THERE!

And so on.

Lately, Aerin's been fascinated by the hummingbird wars. Tuesday, she was home recovering from a nasty 12-hour stomach bug, and I took full advantage of her interest. She and the cats had a lovely time comparing notes on which hummingbird they'd like to catch the most.  Since I had nothing to add to the discussion, I just took pictures.

New shoes

Much to my surprise, my greatest weakness is cute baby shoes. 

It was bad with Micah, but now that I have a girl I find myself completely giddy over all the insanely adorable shoes out there.  I mean, JUST LOOK AT THESE:

If those don't make your heart go pitter-patter, I don't know that we can ever be friends.

This is despite their ridiculous cost.  To be fair, the shoes I choose are durable.  Micah's old ones are currently on their third child and still look great.  But still, I hardly ever pay $36 for shoes for myself. To pay that much for shoes that will only be worn for a few months...well, I admit it's a sickness. I try my best to limit it to one pair at a time, but a well-made, adorable pair of baby shoes is my kryptonite.

Anyway, these were Aerin's first shoes:

Oh, I loved them so.  So much that when the dog ate one, I got another pair. (I know. I know.)

Last week I was finally forced to admit they were too small for her to be walking in. It wasn't quite to Chinese-foot-binding levels yet, but they were clearly not right. So on Wednesday we officially exchanged her first shoes for these:

By Saturday, she was walking like a pro.

For the record, I love these too.

These kids

A lot has happened in the last month:

Abby came to visit:




Aerin started walking. First with a push toy, and now on her own (sometimes):




And she learned to "climb" the slide:








And biggest of all, Micah started Pre-K:



I really do intend to write more at some point, but 1) our computer is dead (it is no more! it has ceased to be!) and I'm having to use my work computer, which makes me uncomfortable, and 2) Blogger keeps shitting the bed and only giving me an inch-high window in which to type.  I don't know what that's all about, but I hate it.  A lot.