MOVING, TEETHING, CELEBRATING, SURFING

We continue to be in the throes of our move - boxes in every room and stacked in the garage - and we are new landlords at the old house, which has me awake at night. Since my last post, Vanessa has become a champeen crawler and she surfs the couch like an X-Game professional, too. No, this monkey-proofing-move did not come a minute too soon.

Nessers continues to teeth, but only has the two bottom ones in. Did I mention she bites while she nurses? Additionally, she has moved into the "I want my mommy!" phase where only I will do. It's hard to pack and move with a 22 lb. squirming dervish in your arms, I find.

We had Auntie Susan and Uncle Jimmy visit over Labor Day weekend, and the temps at the beach got to 105 degrees. Jack said, "It feels like Sudan." Even so, we toured around like we were visiting the Italian Riviera and really enjoyed ourseves.

Auntie Susan and Uncle Jimmy were impressed with how much more calm and mobile Vanners is, and of course they see how much Vanessa resembles their baby Julia. They both put my fears to rest regarding the boyish largeness of Vanny's head, when Jim declared she has the "golden proportions" plastic surgeons look for, and Susan said Julia's head was so big her pediatrician wanted to order a CT scan. She's grown into her head beautifully, so we expect VanNesserkins will do the same.

Then "Auntie" CyCy and "Uncle" Dave arrived with baby Gabrielle. Now Gabbi is a monkey. That little two year old was busy. My Lord, she can crawl out of the crib - and back in again - in a flash. Vanners was all eyes and clearly has a role model now. Strong, nimble, curious and way too ingenious for her own good, that Gabbi. What a doll. VH1 had so much fun with her we started talking immediately about getting her a sibling.

Then on September 4th, Baby Duncan and his parents "Auntie" Maribeth and "Uncle" Alan welcomed their newest edition, Baby Beckett! We hope to meet this little guy very soon. Van won't know how to kiss him yet, but she can pinch him with her toes.

Then "Uncle" Chris arrived from Seattle to help us move. He pretty much rolled up his sleeves and did basically everything and anything that we needed help with, and ne'er a complaint to go with it. No, "Uncle" Chris, powered on cinnamon rolls and Mexican food, was downright chipper and agreeable the whole blessed move.

Yesterday we met many new neighbors and passers-by who used to live here and still come back to visit. Milo and Vanessa and I played around with Molly, the boxer who lives across the street. The dogs played Romp and peed on the lawn a hundred times. Vanessa screeched and chortled and waggled her legs the whole time, she was so excited to see Molly and Milo playing. Good thing she had a diaper on.