His favorite things.

1. These cute little teddy bears my grandma made when I was an infant. She routinely sewed the family's clothes, and these adorable bears were made from the scraps. The ears, legs, and arms are the perfect size for William's little mouth, and are his favorite things to chomp on to soothe himself, going to sleep, or even just carry around in his mouth while he plays. (Like a puppy! LOL)
2. Board books, especially Goodnight Moon and the Happy Baby books. My limit is 6 consecutive repetitions of any given story!
3. Little Einstein water-filled teether. The best thing for sore gums, or when a distraction is called for.
4. Crinkly sounds. Or as Hannah calls them, crunching sounds!
5. Blocks and balls. For clapping together, throwing, or chewing on.
6. Clown and cube. They're soft and make noise. What more could a baby ask for? The clown was one of Hannah's favorite things too.
7. Remotes. And no, the Elmo toy remote is not an acceptable substitute for the real thing!
8. Banjo music?!?! Unfortunately, that appears to be the case. He's got a couple of toys that sound like simple tunes being played on a banjo, and those are the buttons he pushes over and over, even when he's actively playing with something else. Like background music. Seriously, dude. Enough with the banjos already.

Not so well.

[In response to Wednesday's Plinky prompt: "What's the longest-distance relationship you maintain (or ever have)? How do you keep in touch?"]

I'm in Houston, Texas. She's in Vancouver, Canada. And I'm a bad, bad friend.

It's 1,981.7 miles, according to infoplease.com, but I imagine that to her, sometimes it seems a lot farther. Really, I am the worst about staying in touch. (My friends, you know the truth of this! Hmm, maybe I do have an answer to the "What are you famous for?" prompt after all!)

The short story: Ruth and I met in college, we graduated, got married, she moved to Dallas & I moved to Houston. We talked on the phone (for hours), we visited each other (after driving for hours), we were best friends and it was good. Then she moved to Canada, and I dropped off the face of the earth.

I feel bad about it, really, I feel terrible, but after a year (or more!) of no communication, where on earth do you even start to say everything that wants to be said? Even an answer to the simple phrase "what's up" accrues monumental proportions. And it's different in email; what's said in a few friendly minutes in person or on the phone takes pages in print.

Every now and then, I get a forwarded mass email from her. And I open it, and chuckle, or pray, or forward it to ten of my friends and the person who sent it to me... I think about replying, asking her "what's up", and attempting to summarize the last 525,600 minutes of my life in 500 words or less... So I delete it, throw away my daily opportunity to receive $10 million from the prince of Nigeria, and drown my guilt in a gallon of chocolate ice cream.

And hope she'll email again, and say she's coming to town, because I miss her, and the friendship we shared.

A message from Hannah.

Dear Aunt Erin, I am Hannah [ ] I am in the [ ] family! Mommy, Daddy, and me Hannah. I will love $35,81,24,57,800 bill. Aidan is sooooooooooo cute because I like him and he is 0 yaers old. Do you have a toy? Gess what I a secret for you. Love Hannah!

Love watching Hannah work on the computer. Hunt and peck. Think, think, think. Love reading what she writes, especially in her own sweet handwriting. Love watching the wheels in that brain spin so furiously. She is growing up so fast.

I don't need your help Mommy, I can spell it myself.

I don't want the commas every three numbers, I will tell you where to put them.

How do I make a question mark?

Aunt Erin will love getting my email!

Yes, she will, honey. Yes, she will. :)

Welcome, little one.

I'm so happy and excited to say that I finally have a nephew! :) After nearly 24 hours of labor, Aidan Mark was born to my brother Jeff and his wife Erin (bless her heart!) yesterday at 6:45pm. Aidan tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and measures 20-3/4 inches long. Jeff said Aidan was one among several babies born unexpectedly that night due to a big storm in the area (though Erin was getting close to her due date), but the baby's in good health and sleeping well.

Chris & I are so happy for Jeff & Erin and we wish them all the best in the many (sleepless) days + years to come. Hannah is very taken with her "cute baby cousin" and can't wait to see him. (Unfortunately that probably won't happen until Christmas, and by then he won't be tiny anymore, he'll be a marauding crawler just like her little brother!) William, at 13 months old, is of course much too interested in banging on the computer keyboard to take any interest in the baby photos on the screen, but I do look forward to the day when he and Aidan can play together like the best of friends. I remember fondly the trips my family used to take when I was a kid, to visit my cousins in Fort Worth; though we didn't see them very often I always looked forward to hanging out with my "cool cousins" (who are 5 + 8 years older than I am, and that makes a big difference when you're 10!)

Edited to add: Photos taken April 8th.

In a totally unrelated side-note, I just realized that "tipping the scales" is another one of those phrases everyone says that none of our kids will understand (digital scales not having actual weights on them)!