Wait, I'm supposed to SLEEP here?

A study in self-portraits.

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck

Flashback!

Ham is not people.

Oh yes, my child, it is.

And this one is tired.

This one is hungry.

Apparently we don't feed our kids enough.

These are the days.

So's first day of pre-school.

Month 8

Dear Claire,

Today you are eight months old. And boy, does time fly when you're having fun. We are approaching the end of summer, and last month you experienced your first earthquake (heck, mine too!) and your first hurricane. After a hot, dry summer that was absolutely relentless on the plants & garden, suddenly it won't stop raining.
Speaking of rain, the stupid mosquitos won't leave you alone. Today I counted five bites on you, one on your face. Poor baby.

But back to you! You've started eating Puffs and Crunchies, and all kinds of baby food. You also love bread and rice and pretty much anything you can grab when nobody's paying attention. I swear, you eat and eat until we stop giving you food. Yesterday you stole your sister's bacon. Today you cried when I took away a French fry. This is probably why you are now wearing 12 month size, and those are getting small. You're my little chunky monkey.

You say 'Mama', but that's kind of your thing, and I don't think that it means anything in particular yet. But I still like it.
You still laugh on the inhale, so it sounds like an excited gasp, and is really funny in itself. You're a very smiley baby, and interact with absolutely everyone. Until they get too close to you, then the game's over. You don't let most people hold you, although the Mama Fever is kind of easing up. Maybe. A little. Okay, not really.

You have a slight problem with the biting. Really, you need to cut it out. I have little bite marks all over my shoulders, and it hurts! Some people think they can get away with anything just cause they're cute.

And yeah, you're really cute.

Happy 8 month-day, my baby bear.

Love,
Mama

The State of Aquaria, August 2011 edition.

Looks much different from a year ago.

We still have the peppermint shrimp. The tiger brittle star had an accident about a month ago, and we had to re-home the coral reef shrimp as he developed a taste for expensive fish. Current inhabitants are: 2 percula clowns, a coral beauty, a yellow tang and a scooter blenny. We've got lots of inverts, including a plethora of snails & hermits and an emerald crab. The foray into corals include button polyps, 2 mushroom corals, green star polyps, a hammer coral, a galaxia and a Captain America brain coral.
The freshwater cichlid tank is also doing very well, I'll post a picture of it sometime. We also have 2 geckos and a fire-bellied toad that we've had for over 10 years, and a female betta keeping me company in the kitchen.