Whew.

How about a quick(ish) round-up of what we've been up to around here?

The month started off with a quick trip to Denver to see family, and Erik and Zach caught the Foo Fighters show at Red Rocks. Sweet.
We've enjoyed lots of Daddy and Reid time, which always produces cute pictures, so you'll see more of this adorableness. Reid loves to be wherever Erik is.

Here's Reid enjoying my rad birthday present. With weather as perfect as this, I was in the mood for a hammock. Now, I just need to deliver these babies so I'm able to get in and out of it gracefully. For now, imagine the agility of a giant sea turtle trying to get in and out.
Erik decorating my birthday cake. He was so great, and said "hey babe, I want to make you a cake for your birthday." What a lovely idea, I thought. It would have been perfect, he would have made a rainbow chip cake with rainbow chip frosting (my birthday cake of choice) and it would have been delightful. Then I got the bright idea to make a "fancy" cake, a Martha cake. Bad, bad idea. I got the recipe for the cake and buttercream frosting from this gorgeous book, and the decoration idea from a Martha book. First problem was that I didn't realize that I don't like buttercream frosting. Why? Because it tastes like you're eating butter. Gross. Second problem was that the cake was more like a not-sweet-enough-pound-cake. So, basically like bread. Gross. After we realized that the first book's frosting was so gross, I made the Swiss meringue buttercream frosting from the Martha book. If the first one was a 2 out of 10, the Martha one was a 3. Not worth it. So...all of this work (I wimped out and only made one layer because it took so dang long for the first one and I didn't want to do it all over again) for a really gross cake. Erik and I made it through half a piece each, and then threw the rest away.

However, our cake decorating skills are improved through the experience, and I love Erik all the more for putting up with a crazy wife who takes a great idea and blows it up into something ridiculous. That's two things I'm VERY good at: the ridiculous, and achieving minimum results from maximum effort. Next year I'm going to sit back and enjoy my rainbow chip. Oh, and if you want to read an awesome post about how awesome I apparently am, check this out. (If you're interested in the stories she vaguely refers to, ask me about them. They're gems. Oh, and that picture shows me rocking the bangs. I flip-flop nearly every day about if I like bangs or not. Should we take a vote? That might help me.)

Reid is learning body parts, as in "Reid where are your feet...ears...fingers? Etc. This is the response to "Where are your teeth?"

We spent an afternoon in Solvang, a cute touristy town, for Danish Days. Reid loves beans. Of any kind. When I make chili, he shovels it in. This time, however, when he was done with dinner he decided he'd clean off his hands by wiping them all over his face. I guess the chili powder caused a reaction on his skin because his face got so red! It was crazy. So we rushed him to the tub, got a quick picture, and then washed him up.
Reid is really into playing with shoes. Anyone's shoes. Today it was mom's shoes.
When I squat down to get a picture, this is what happens.
Fun at the beach. We're still working on teaching Reid not to put his face in the sand to taste it.
Reid and dad digging a hole.

Deeper.
Then we thought it would be funny to bury my legs in it. It actually was really funny, and for those of you asking for belly shots, here you go. Not great, but I'm not feeling very photogenic lately.
Reid playing with dad's gloves. Old uniform stuff makes for great paintballing attire.
On this day, it was dad's shoes that intrigued him.

Reid and dad watching cartoons.
Erik cut up a box (from our sweet new double stroller) into a little house. Reid would walk in, peep his head out the window, and then SQUEAL with delight. I couldn't get enough of it.
Playing with dad's motorcycle helmet.
Playing with his new bucket for the beach.
As you can tell, Reid's pretty easy to please. Just give him something that's not really a toy and he'll have a good time. Throw in time some with daddy and it just upgraded to a GREAT time. I'm 28 and a half weeks along, making the countdown only about 8 weeks until these babies come. I'm feeling very large. I'm bigger now than I got with Reid when I delivered, so it's going to be a long 8 weeks. We're still working on names, but other than that I'm feeling calm (well, calm enough) about the impending changes. Look for another post in the next few days about my thoughts as to all that's going on in the world outside of our little family of three (...five).