Introducing

Liam Hawkins Harrison Simmons


Yeah yeah, I know, spaghetti straps and nursing bra snaps don't go well. Somebody call 'What Not To Wear.' I need a new wardrobe!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy

It was yesterday, but there's no time to blog on birthdays!!!

Kissing Bruce

I can't wait to show this to Halen's girlfriends.

Let's Go Fly A Kite

We went to fly Halen's new kite at the big open field dog park by the Columbia River Gorge. The wind never stops here and is strong strong strong. It's the windsurfing capital of the world. Halen had a blast. I want to get a better kite, because the wind here would make it like no other kite flying I've ever done before. Bruce loved it too because he got to play with other dogs and run around a bunch. It was definitely a good time.

Balancing Baby

Halen has taught Liam his favorite trick.

ATL

We took a whirlwind trip to Atlanta, to watch a couple of beautiful people get married! Congrats to Lisa and Patrick. Halen is past the age where he can ride in a lap, so the three tickets really broke the bank, even though they were red eyes. Sorry Atlanta, but I think we're not flying ever again, unless other people are paying for it. It was a good time. On top of all the people that live there, some of my family came from out of town to meet little Liam. Atlanta is closer to everyone than Portland. We really had to do some time juggling. No one slept enough or ate right. Halen got sick on the plane ride down, a nasty cold AND pink eye, in BOTH eyes. Yuck. I have no memory of ever having pink eye myself. It was a new experience for me. My sis-in-law had some antibiotic left over from when her son had it. I put a drop of that in each eye, once. I'm not a fan of antibiotics, and I remembered reading that breastmilk can cure pink eye, as well as ear infections and such. Amazing stuff, breast milk. Some Australians just discovered that breastmilk has stemcells . Anyway, I did do the antibiotic just because I was desperate to get something started working on those goopy eyes and I was in the midst of oodles and oodles of family members. Later that night, before bed, I squirted some milk into a cup and poured it into his eyes. In the morning, there was half as much goop as the morning before. Another dose of breastmilk and it was gone that day. I wish I hadn't used the antiobiotic at all, because now I'm not sure what really worked. I guess it was a combination of both. Halen got to play with (and spread pink eye to) his BFF Connor. They hadn't seen each other in 6 months, practically 1/4 of their lives, and they went right to playing (and fighting, "mine mine mine") like they'd seen each other the day before.
The wedding was fun and 100% vegan, so lots of yummy food and cake, with no boundaries. We left Halen with my family because we thought he was too sick to have fun. Liam came with us cause that boy has never had a bottle and I kinda like it that way. We missed Halen once we got there and really wished we had brought him. He would have really cut the rug. That boy can dance! The next night I got to spend with all my lovely lady friends. Halen fell asleep on the couch amongst them and then woke up to the part where we were having fruit and chocolate fondue. Skip the tempeh and the spinach and all that junk, wake me up when there's hot dripping chocolate (not to mention beautiful women to feed it to me).
It was great to see everyone. I didn't take hardly any pictures. I can't believe I didn't get any of my boys with their cousins. By the end of the week, we were really exhausted and ready to come home. Despite the fact that we were all a little sniffly, running on zero sleep, and not leaving Atlanta till 9:40pm, the boys were angels on the planes.
Also, in Atlanta, on March 27th, Liam rolled over. He rolled over from his back to his belly. His first rollover was witnessed by much of the family. It was quite the spectacle, something that seems so small to us two leg walkers, really was a big big day for Liam. He now rolls over all the time. He hasn't figured out how to roll back over yet and he's kinda pissed about it. He just turned 4 months and it's the first thing in those 4 months that he's felt is worth a good cry. He'll get it soon. I'll keep you posted.

Look At My BoBo, Fucker

How Vegan Atheists Spend Easter Sunday

For most of my adult life, holidays like Easter were just annoying. It usually ended up being the day I set aside to do a bunch of grocery shopping. Then, of course, I'd get to the store and it'd be closed. Thanks Jesus. Then there's the lack of vegan chocolate bunnies; and pastel colored hard boiled eggs gross me out. Then I had kids. All the sudden, any holiday and every holiday is a good reason to have fun with and spoil my children. This year, I found organic chocolate bunnies and the perfect alternative easter egg hunt. Our Vegan Meetup group planned a get together at The Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary . It's a rescued farm animal sanctuary. They hid plastic eggs with animal feed in them. The kids would fill their baskets with eggs, then go open them to find carrots, apples, and oats to feed the animals with. Halen had a blast. He and his friend Cora were walking around holding hands. She even told him she loved him. It pulled my mommy heart strings.
Halen is too smart for the easter bunny gag. I set up a decorative easter gift basket pile on the kitchen table, surrounded by jelly belly jelly beans. When we got up, I told Halen that I thought I heard the easter bunny and that we should go see if he left anything. When we got to the table, he was real excited to see the basket. He promptly ate some jelly beans (more sugar than he'd had in his life) before breakfast. Then he said, "look what mommy did." We told him that it was the easter bunny. He insisted that it was me. Smart boy, a skeptic, like his parents.



That donkey tried to eat my baby!




Sorry I'm so behind on blogs. We've been out of town. I'll try and catch up soon.