Beach bums.

We went to the beach last week. Obviously, I'm having a hard time making the move from island time to back-at-home time. We went back to Tybee Island, and this was our first time back to the beach since last October when we went there.

You could say we've had a few changes and been a little busy since our last visit. The five days we spent together was just what each one of us needed. By Tuesday, Papa stopped answering his phone during work hours. I stopped obsessing over every little mess. And Lane stopped torturing his brother (as much).

We spent five wonderful days playing on the beach, laughing together, eating yummy food, wrestling (for the boys), napping, kissing and cuddling.

This was Evan's first trip to the beach, and in typical Evan fashion, he just sailed right along for the ride. He entertained himself during the car ride there and back. He slept soundly in his make-shift bedroom, which was really a pack and play in the master bathroom. He found the beach fun - and then slightly annoying once sand covered his entire body and face. He enjoyed all the new foods he got to sample, including key lime pie, sausage and potatoes from a low country boil and hush puppies.

Lane tanned like a little vanilla bean and would have spent all day and night on the beach - if we allowed it. He's told me numerous times this week that he wants to go back to our beach house. He ate up all the time he got to spend with his papa and realized that Evan might actually be cool.

James and I enjoyed watching our boys play together and the time we got to spend with one another. I think we both came home refreshed, renewed and with a slight case of the lazies.

That's OK. It just gives us something to look forward to - next year's beach trip.

Up.

Being the baby has some down sides.

But it isn't all that bad.

Being the baby means you have an older brother to mimic. An older brother who takes on the world in a much different manner than you.

With someone to look up to, you eat on your own a little sooner than your brother did. You wean at a younger age. You crawl earlier than a lot of first-born babies. You even begin pulling yourself up on the couch and cruising along its cushions well before your brother.

With each passing milestone, I let out a sigh and repeat my new favorite catch phrase, "I got cheated."

I've done the math and figured out that all this accomplishing and growing up has happened just a little faster this time - cheating me out of at least two months of good baby-ness.

I'm willing to forgive my babe because I love him so much. And, he's just so cute.

This however. This can't be forgiven.

Climbing the stairs, Evan.

Come on. Your not even nine months old yet.

Goofball.

The boy cracks me up. I told you he's a goofball.

With a brand new set of markers, Lane went a little overboard with the coloring and decided to try himself a nice new accessory.

A mustache, which he insisted he wear all day long.

Even Evan finds it hard to take Lane seriously sometimes.

Love.

These photos portray what I feel in my heart every day for these three beings.

Pure love.

Happy belated birthday, James.

From your wife and your two minis.

Evan Eats.

Really Evan. A banana.

I told you he was over pureed foods. I was perfectly content leaving little pieces of sliced banana on his tray for him to enjoy.

He wasn't.

His vocabulary might be nonexistent right now, but I'm pretty good at knowing what he's telling me. The other morning, I knew just what he was saying as he ignored his sliced fruit and continued to whine.

He wanted a whole stinking banana to munch on.

Permission granted.

Life, according to Lane.

This summer, Lane mastered my phone. When I say mastered, I mean he knows how to use it better than his mama.

I'm not a fancy phone type of person at all, but Papa got me a Droid for my birthday last year so I could take photos and videos (since we don't have a video recorder) and to replace my broken iPod.

That's the extent of my Droid expertise. I know how to take pictures, take videos, listen to music - and of course, check Facebook. The phone actually came in very handy when Evan was a newborn because I would read blogs from my Google Reader account when he nursed.

Back to Lane. The kid knows his way around a fancy phone.

If your friends with me on Facebook then you know that he has once or twice posted a status update. He even poked my brother once!

He figured out how to get his way into the file folder that holds all the videos so he can watch videos of himself. He even knows how to play Angry Birds. I don't even know how to play Angry Birds!

I once caught him upstairs talking to Paola. This is how that went down: Me, "Lane, are you talking on my phone." Lane, "Yes, I talking to Paul." Me, grabbing the phone, "Paola is that really you?" Paola, "Yes. I've been talking to Lane for about ten minutes. He told me you were downstairs feeding Evan. He's upstairs watching George. Blah, blah, blah...."

While some of his little phone antics make me upset, such as calling Paola at a very early time of the day on a Saturday and calling my dad right after calling Paola at an even earlier time since Lee was on a trip out West, I love his new found skill.

Picture taking.

He loves to take pictures with my phone. I'll find him randomly walking around the house snapping photos of objects of his affection. Some, I find when going back through my phone, are hard to make out. Some are still questionable. Most are very clear.

So, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorites.

Without further ado, I present to you, Life, according to Lane. According to my camera phone.

Maximum Destruction (Monster Jam) and in the top left corner the bottom of a Converse shoe

Sophie the Giraffe - one of Evan's favorite toys

The shorthair - on my bed

One of my flip flops

This one took a while to figure out. Any guesses?
It is the carton of water balloons

Baseball glove and cars

More of his beloved cars

Cars again - in perfect lines, of course

This one might be blurry but any mom should be able to figure it out....
Cheerios on the floor!

Evan Eats.

He pitched a fit until I handed over my tasty peach. (Notice the tears in his eyes.)

He wasn't willing to take no for an answer. The fact that he is missing his two front teeth was not going to deter him from getting a few juicy bites.

And this is how a babe with just four teeth enjoys a summer peach.

Rain dance.

Thank goodness for the recent rains. You can show your appreciation to Lane. He's been begging for rain for weeks now. Each time we'd see a little drop come down from the sky, he'd stop what he was doing, get his rain boots and head outside.

Most times, the afternoon summer showers would end before he could make it off our back deck.

"Rain," he'd call. "Where are you?"

He'd wait for that rain so patiently - with hopes a few more drops might fall from the sky.

Eventually, he'd call it quits, hang up his rain boots and enjoy the cool weather a little summer shower brings.







When the rains finally did come - and stay. Lane couldn't wait to get outside and run around in his backyard. He left his rain boots inside - not wanting to waste the time it takes to get them out of his closet and put them on - and went right out the back door.

He hesitated for a few minutes - only letting his fingers pass outside the cover of the back deck, then gaining enough courage to go all the way to the steps. The short hair thought he was crazy and stayed under cover.

After a few minutes, he ventured down the steps and in to the yard letting the rain drops cover him completely - only coming in when his mama and papa insisted he head for cover and safety.

Evan Eats.

Evan's moved way beyond pureed food - so he thinks. Some foods he can manage in their true form - green beans, peas, bananas, sweet potatoes, cooked carrots. Other foods, not so much - apples, pears, mango.

I try to provide him with at least one food he can feed himself with each meal. That keeps him satisfied, and keeps me from having to shovel food as fast as I possibly can in to his mouth.

For lunch last week, I might have overcooked his sweet potato so it just wasn't the right consistency for chopping up in to little Goo size squares. Too bad. He wasn't taking pureed lunch as an answer.

He decided he would just feed himself.

Now you might think I'm crazy for letting my just barely eight month old go to town with a plate of smashed potatoes. Really, though, I'm not fazed by a mess. In my house, there's always one mess waiting to be cleaned up and another mess being made.

(Like right now, there's half a roll of toilet paper strewn all over my hallway. What's bad though - that's the second time the boys have done that in one week.)

The babe did a pretty good job of feeding himself. His belly was full. His need for a little independence was satisfied.

And, I got to work on cleaning up the breakfast dishes while he ate lunch.








Lane only intervened when Evan tipped over his plate.

"No Evan, don't turn your plate over. Dat not how you eat your lunch. You makin such a big mess."

You know because he does such a fine job of keeping all his food on his plate.