To a farm, not a fair, and ice cream for a sick one

My parents are heading to our hometown fair this week. It reminded me that we were there last year at this time, with a toddler Mela and a newborn Nate.

One year and 15 lbs ago ... crazy that you can't even see Nate in the carrier!
Which made me go back and revisit the posting from that time.

It's a good reminder. Sometimes it's easy to romanticize the thought of having a newborn (they sleep all the time!). I forget that holding a newborn is awesome ... until you've held them every waking hour (and lots of sleeping hours) for a month, and then it get really, really old and you get really, really excited to hand them to someone else and unload a dishwasher!

It feels like a long, long time ago now.

Hard to believe that Mela couldn't talk yet at that point (e.g. did the sign for "more" when she wanted more swinging).

Am I a bad person if I secretly wish we could go back to that for a day? I love her talking, but not the extremely high pitch or the endless repetition.

Speaking of talking, Mela was "writing" on a Post-It today and I asked her what it said. She said that it said, "Dear Mama. I wuv you."

To hear her say that, in her little high-pitched, still-baby-talk voice, was priceless.

In other news, my dad's been scanning old pictures lately. It's awesome ... every couple days I get to see a few more gems from our childhood.

Check out my mom after two kids. Doesn't it make you sick?? And look how blonde I was, with naturally red lips. If only we could look as good as adults as we did as kids ... (or as good as my mom):
This photo GREATLY amuses me. My dad called it, "Beauty and the Beast."
And now here are a few shots from this week:

Nathan wears Grandad's hat:
The sickness strikes another victim:
Through a glass darkly:
Grammie lights the bonfire for Grandad's birthday cake:
To see the candle-blowing, you might get confused about whose birthday it was exactly:
Five minutes later, Nate was still clapping:
There's nothing better than going out to dinner with a friend and complaining about your kids all night (blow off the steam, baby) and then coming home and remembering how much you deeply, deeply love them:
As a special treat, the gang heads to the local heritage farm and then out to eat.
Best of all, Mela had (what's probably) her first ice cream cone!