BuildingOutTheShed

A few of you have been asking how the buildout is coming next door. Here's a picture, we've been able to frame in most of it, and there's siding on two walls so far. I can't complain, really.

Yesterday I came home from work to find Hambone on a ladder in our current kitchen (not part of the build) bashing the ceiling out. Evidently now we are putting in a temporary wall in the existing house so we can cut a giant hole in the wall between the houses. If I understood Hambone correctly, there will be 9 foot holes in our walls open to the other side prior to the construction being finished.

Also, it now turns out we're renovating our current house too.

Stay tuned...

HamsliceEmployee

Hambone couldn't resist getting Hamslice a company jacket. Here he is all decked out as the newest member of Hawkeye Construction. So cute.

HamsliceRodeo

Last weekend, Hambone and I took Hamslice to Port Discovery, a children's museum in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. There were lots of fun climbing toys there and a water display that I'm sure Hamslice would still be playing in if we hadn't dragged him home.

Here's a picture of him in the Cowboy exhibit. It turns out that he likes cows much more than horses. He ran up and hugged the cows and kissed them on the noses, while he seemed skeptical of the horses.

yesSIR

Now that Hamslice is talking more and more, I'm learning that we have, indeed, spawned a little smart alec. For example, yesterday he ate his oatmeal too fast and burned his tongue. After much "To-Do" about it, he looked right at me with real anger and said "Mommy" as though I had fed it to him myself on purpose.

We're also getting into the capers and hijinks of an 18 month old. He especially likes to imitate Hambone and me when we do things like slam our fingers in drawers. He listens to how we say "OW" and then for the next hour, we hear "Ow. Ow. Ow" as he apes us from the other room. Gales of laughter between the imitations, mind you.

If Mom were alive, I am sure she'd say "Well? What did you expect? He's YOUR kid."

MoreNephewPics

BenjaminThomas

Last night Kiddo and Mrs. Kiddo had their baby, named Benjamin Thomas. Gorgeous little guy...

ANTICIPATION

I just heard that Kiddo and his wife are in the hospital having their baby today. I can't wait for pictures!!! When I get them, I'll post them here so you can all see =)

AHomeforHamslice

This weekend it warmed up in Baltimore to the mid-sixties and we all got a taste of spring. To that end, we went to Target and bough Hamslice a little lawn chair with a cow face and ears on the backrest. It's his new favorite -- he brings it from room to room with him, and sits in it to eat, watch TV and color. Of course, he can't sit in it without his John Deere hat, no way.



In other news, we're making some progress on the Shed build out. In this picture you can see our brand spanking new footers that were poured at the end of last week. From here it will go quickly. (you can hear me laughing, right?)



Here it is from the other side...

HamsliceGrowingHair

See? The hair is coming back.

What's not coming back is my ability to write titles for these posts in English. As soon as I put spaces between the words, the font changes to SandScrit or something.

Anyway, for all you Hamslice junkies, here he is:

TheRealSlimHamSlice

On Sunday, after taking an Iron pill, I decided it was time for HamSlice to get his first "Big Boy" haircut. I got out the shears and gave him a quick little buzz. I thought it was cute, however HamBone was completely undone.

HamBone was caught a little by surprise, because I did the haircut without giving him enough warning. I think he's still a little peeved.

Now our cutie little HamSlice looks a little bit like Eminem, which is a bit of an adjustment for everyone. The ladies at daycare screamed when I took off his hat this morning. I think they're still rubbing his little bald head.

FullyFurnishedHamslice

So we realized this weekend that our house, while absolutely littered with kid toys, is really filled with grownup only furniture. Poor Hamslice tried to color a little bit but couldn't find a good place -- the floor wasn't good because his feet were in the way, and the table was too tall. (Plus Mom kept getting all hyper about crayons on the wood)

So today we went to Ikea to find some furniture just for Hamslice. We got him a tiny toy chest, a table and chairs, and a markerboard/chalkboard Easel.

He was a happy boy

Merry Xmas Hamslice

We took Hamslice to see Santa again this year, this time Uncle Kiddo and his wife (and bun in the oven!)

Looks like somebody still doesn't like the jolly old guy. One of these years we'll get a smiley picture, I'm sure of that.

"I see you"

Little Hamslice has a new phrase! When I say Peek-a-Boo, he says "I see ya." It's the cutest thing, because he has a very matter of fact tone to his voice. Instead of the sing song version that I'm sure they use in daycare, he states it like a fact. I See Ya.

न्यू लिंगो

Ohhhh kayyyy. For whatever reason, this blog has decided to translate my subject lines in Arabic or something. I'm not sure what to do about this.

On another note, Hamslice has learned a couple new words, including "NO" (his favorite) "Moo" (said when playing with his farm toys) and, much to our delight yesterday evening "Nite Nite"

I sense we're on the verge of great things here.

Marci Shooting Guns

Fun stuff, really.

Teething, oh Joy

Poor little hamslice is getting four new teeth all at the same time -- two of them are molars! He's got the fever and snot factory nose to go with it, and he's just miserable.

In his new condition, he's also decided that the only food he really likes is granola bars. Well, those and GoldFish crackers. I'm getting concerned about nutrition, so I am sneaking healthy food in with this foolishness. For instance, last night we had Mac & Cheese (tastes like GoldFish, so he'll eat it) with peas and tuna mixed in.

Am I in for years of this? Gosh. I am sure I'll run out of tricks before long.

I love Halloween

Halloween with the Hams

So we went shopping for Halloween costumes at Target this weekend, and found some really interesting stuff. As you can see from the photos below, Hamslice liked his Baltimore mouse costume, but did not like the scary dinosaur one. (I think it was supposed to be a mutant ninja turtle?)

Hambone enjoyed his Family Guy costume, but didn't buy it because he said it made his head hot.

It's that time of year again

The air has turned a crisp for fall, and we were finally able to break out the camo sweater that Auntie bet made for him over the winter.

Hamslice likes the sweater a lot, it's very comfy. =) Thanks again Auntie Bet!

OKAY OKAY. Sheesh!

Many of you out there have started haranguing me about putting more pictures of Hamslice up on here. I snapped a whole bunch of pictures of him as he was starting to walk on his own this weekend, here they are in no particular order...