every captive thought

Only a few more days until Brad is home for good but James and I couldn't wait any longer...we had to go visit him and see where he's been for the last few weeks. So today James, my Dad, and I went out to Camp M.K. Brown. I don't know who was more excited to see who. Brad was pretty excited to see James. He's missed his little guy. Brad gave us a tour of the camp. It was really cool. This is the dining hall. James and Daddy chilling in the dining room. This was a chicken or rooster or something. I had no idea these things were so big! I thought it was a turkey or something. James clued me in when he gave his very best "DOODLE DOODLE DOOOOO!" upon seeing it. Translation: "Cock-a-doodle-doo". All I know is I'm getting gypped at the super market because the chickens I get are totally not this big. And what's up with the furry hobbit feet? I had no idea. Yikes! Understandably, James had a few questions of his own. Next we got to see ...

Here is an update on my baby birdies. They are growing almost as fast as Jamesie is. I particularly love the little grumpy one in the bottom left corner. ~~~~~ Yesterday, Mom, Dad, James and I went to go visit my sweet little grandmother, Dee Dee and Aunt Donna. James is at that stage where he mostly just likes to be in familiar surroundings with familiar people. So he hung pretty close to his Nana for awhile. And by "pretty close" I mean...glued to her side. He finally got his nerve up to go check out some of the interesting tchotchkies around Dee Dee's house. I remember being fascinated by these same things when I was little. He even tried to get the kitty to play with him...but she kept her distance. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Dee Dee yesterday! But here are some from a visit we had with her a little over a year ago. Dee Dee hasn't changed a bit but Jamesie sure has.

First and most importantly...Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I love you! Thank you for the wonderful, beautiful example that your marriage is to me! ~~~~~ Last year I went all sorts of crazy over a little birdy nest that was on my porch. I became the crazy bird lady and posted about them here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , and here . Oddly enough. Several weeks ago a Mommy and Daddy bird started building a nest on our front porch and it really annoyed me because their poop got all over. Brad knocked the nest down twice but they were undaunted. They rebuilt. So we gave up and let them take up residence outside our front door...but I wasn't happy about it. They would dive at our heads every time we went out. They are loud. They poop a lot. And the sight of their nest gives me the willies. But things settled down and I noticed that the Mommy bird was staying in the nest when I went out instead of flying off. I felt a kinship with her since she was sit...

I realize that I have become the crazy bird lady with my obsession over the birdies on my porch. I don't know what the deal is. I am consumed with all things baby since becoming a mother, I guess. Anyhow, this morning when I opened my door...much to my shock, heartbreak and horrification...all three babies flew off! How could this happen so soon!??!?! It seems like just yesterday they were pretty blue eggs and now they are flying away from me?!?!? I am hoping they will stay and live in the nest...forever. Just like James will stay in my nest forever and never leave. This is the mommy. She is keeping a close eye on her babies. And she's so pretty too! Ok...I am really going to try to spend less time taking pictures of the birds. It's like when you go on vacation and come back with fiftybajillion pictures of mountains and flowers and scenery that you don't really care about but at the time thought it was imperative to have pictures of all of it and now you have to exp...

Tonight at dinner, I gave James a bunch of snacks to keep him busy while we ate. A bunch of snacks. That pretty much all ended up smashed up and gooey in his chubby wet little hands. Which then turned into a goo river flowing all over the highchair tray. Which then caused Brad to gag. Which then caused Brad to get up from the table before we had finished dinner to begin de-gooing the baby. (Which I do several times a day...without gagging). Which then turned into a demand for an immediate bath (for the baby...not him...although he probably would've liked one himself so disgusted he was). Look how happy Daddy is that the baby is no longer gooey. Then we went outside to enjoy the flowers. And then I took pictures of my baby birdies. Can you believe how big they are?!?! Me neither!!!!

Bradley, come to find out, has quite the green thumb! When we bought this house it had a hideous dog run at the back of the back yard. It was concrete with a chain link fence and a green ugly plastic thing over the top. It was truly an assault to my senses. So one day last summer Bradly decided to get rid of it. He took out the fence and ugly green thing and then, with Herculean strength, busted up the concrete slab and actually moved the pieces himself. With his own bare hands. I walked out there at one point and saw him lifting a piece of concrete about 4 feet wide by 3 feet long. He is SO strong! (I was pregnant at the time and I dared not lift a finger to help, but I sure enjoyed watching!) After that, he laid sod and made a beautiful garden. He really researched what to do with the soil, what flowers would grow best in that area, and how to take care of it. It was pretty last year, but this year it is just spectacular! He has a wisteria, star flower vine, larkspur, poppies, silver...

Here are my three little darlings this morning. They are taking it easy on this rainy day too. I think they look so cute all snuggled up together.

Well I am happy to report that my darling little Porch Babies survived the storm last night. I really wanted to bring them in but since that is illegal...I didn't. All three little darlings are doing just great this morning and are all snuggled down resting. They are so cute. One of the houses I run past had a nest in the front yard that was blown out of the tree by the storm last night. I felt sad for them. I'm going to be even more sad for myself when the babies fly away. Maybe they won't leave. My mom has a nest at her house that the babies have been there for a long time...I mean...they must be like teenagers in bird years. We think they may have gotten too big to get out of the birdhouse and are stuck. Failure to launch.

Awwww....look at the little baby! There are definitely at least 2 of the little darlings in there and they had their little beaks up for some dinner which...if I am seeing things correctly...is there on the side of the nest looking all slimy and nasty. But who am I to judge what is yummy to birds or not? If my sister Carrie reads this, she will be gagging at this point.

So Brad came to me today and told me that the babies had hatched! I ran to get my stool and the camera. He said that he saw one of the babies with her little beak pointed up waiting for some food. I never saw that though. I hope they aren't dead. Now that the last egg is hatched I realize that the furry thing I've been so confused about is indeed a baby bird...or was a baby bird. I wish I knew if they were alive or not. And another question...where do the eggshells go? I looked up some information and now I know that they are robins, it takes about 2 weeks for all of the eggs to hatch and another 2 weeks for the babies to fly away. But what I can't find is how to know if they are dead or not. I need to know if I should go ahead and mourn or keep an eye on them. I know it took James a good month after he hatched to be alert and active. So I am hoping they are in the lumpy newborn stage where they don't do much of anything but look cute. (Which...no offense to the mommy b...

Mom and Dad got back from Louisiana last night. We were so happy to see them! James had missed his Nana and Papa. They brought us all sorts of fun sussies and this is one of James'. How cute is that?!?!?! It says, "My fingers might be small but I can still wrap Papa around them." Adorable. You know the birdies on my front porch...well, this morning on my run I saw a dead baby bird at the end of the block. I don't think it was one of mine though...too far away. Unless somehow Stacy, the neighbor's cat, got it. Who names a cat Stacy??? Wait...I named my dog George. I guess I am not one to judge pet names. But seriously...Stacy? Come on. That's just silly. Anywho...I was completely consumed with the dead baby bird my whole run. It was sad but more than that...I realized that it looked an awful lot like that mess of stuff in the nest that looks like fur and skin. I am sure hoping that those are not dead baby birds in the nest. I really need a bird ...