Save hand made goods, and other stuff

Please take note of the adorable little "Save hand made" bear to the left of the screen. Read below, and then click the link to save home made goods!!!

I just went ahead and stole my friend Katie's explanation of this:
Some of you "may have heard about the law going into effect this February that will basically make it impossible for anyone but big manufacturers to sell items that come in contact with children. It seems reasonable in theory - protecting kids from lead - but it basically requires everything that goes into any item that's going to be used with or for children to be tested for lead. Every part of every item. This will absolutely kill the WAHM (work at home mom, for those not internet-acronym-savvy) industry, as well as many others, including all small craftspeople that make kid's toys."

Also

"It will devastate small manufacturers and home businesses who create children's products such as clothes, handmade goods and toys for children, beautiful Native American artifacts, children's books, adaptive products for children with disabilities, and classroom and homeschool materials. These small businesses simply cannot afford the $300-$4,000 price tag per product that Third Party testers are charging."

This could greatly effect many of my friends lives, as they rely on the products that they make, for children, at home to help provide an income for their family. I think I should be able to buy Atom any beautiful item I'd like. Be it at Saturday market, craft fair, Goodwill, or online. If this law goes into effect I won't be able to do that - BOO!

EDIT: Check out this link to see how this new law has effected children's books. Quality children's literature is something I'm very passionate about, and this just breaks my heart.


Please follow the link. They make it very easy to get in touch with the right people. It'll take 5min of your time, and a little copy and pasting.


In other news:

We are doing well. I'll have Mike post another update this weekend. As I type thee baby is asleep on my lap. He's growing, teething, and has a cold. He's also rolling over and doing this like magic roll/crawl/wiggle thing to get across the room. He isn't trying to get to anything particular. He just likes to move. Wooden spoons are his favorite teething toy!

We got a Wii. So far I've played tennis. I'm not a very good tennis player. lol But it makes Atom laugh when I jump around, so I guess I'll keep it up. It is also very hard to play tennis w/a baby on your hip!

Now I'm off to try and nap w/the babe.

xoxo
Darbie

Almost 6 months!

Our little baby is getting so big. But you could have guessed that right? So what's new. Baby had his first real cold. It was really sad. He was uncomfortable and it made Darb and me sad. But then Darb and I caught it and oh was that fun! not really.

Let me think what else is going on... Oh, if you are ever in Portland and you need a quick breakfast snack before an early lunch or what not, may I suggest to you the Waffle Window. A little off-shoot of the Hawthorne Cafe'. It's a pleasant surprise. For around 4 bucks you get either a savory or sweet waffle with many different toppings. I ended up getting the 3b. Brie, bacon, and basil. It was really good, the waffle had a sweet taste too that really rounded it out. Darb ended up with a berry medly. It had strawberries and blueberries and whip cream. She commented too that it was a little too sweet. Speaking of the whip cream we seem to think that Atom has a dairy allergy. Which is not even slighty surprising figuring that I can't handle dairy and Darb doesn't frequent it. But he had the rash and spots on his face and behind his knees and a red little butt. It was sad.

But now we are heading out the door for a super bowl party. So I'll leave you with the highlight picture of this weekend. You can see atom's two little teeth in the picture. Okay I need to go, everyone is waiting on me! bye!

splish splash I was taking a bath

Hi there!
How are you all doing? We're doing good. Every day is a little more new with Atom. He is now noticing a little more around him & he is trying to touch more things and put them in his mouth. Right now he is laying on the floor near where I'm typing and he is trying to crawl. He hasn't got the hang of it down yet, but can move around by rolling around, which he is quite great at doing. He has been able to get his legs to bend but doesn't put the pressure down on them yet to start going, but we know soon it will happen. What else is new with him? He is starting to actually laugh more than just his little squeaks, more like full belly laughs. Oh, hold on the baby isn't happy.

(I had to stop here and entertain the baby until Darb got done in the shower)

Okay, now I'm back. Yeah, here is one of our favorite new things: Last bath Atom got, Darb was giving it to him and I was playing a game. I could hear Darb laughing quite a bit and then starting asking for more towels in between laughs. I got into the kitchen (where Atom was getting his bath) to find our little baby has discovered that when he swings his hand into the water it splashes. The kitchen was already drenched and Atom was moving towards getting everything (darb and myself included) soaked.

Here is atom splashing.


Get everything wet!!!


Atom also is starting to respond to his name.

So bath time has become a ton more fun. He is growing so fast that he is too big for his sink tub deal. I think the next bath may have to be in the tub.

What else? I think for Darb and I, one of our favorite things is trying to find clothes for Atom to wear. He has a couple clothing items that I wish were in my size so that I could wear them. Anyways here is one of our favorite things:

They are just plain old socks but they have little dinosaur toes. He also has a hat with horns on it just like a dinosaur.

The rest of these don't have a story they are just cute:

I think that he might have been watching me as I was preparing to cook dinner. NOTE: the stove was not on.

This is what happens if Atom is not wearing any pants. He loves to suck on his little toes.

I think that's about it. I need some breakfast and by the sounds of the baby, he's ready to get into the car and fall asleep. Bye!

If he knew what a sugar plum was, it might dance in his head.

Whoa. It's almost Christmas now. Time is just jumping right by us. Right now we are in the midst of a big snow storm. Today is Sunday and we have been covered in ice for a couple days and the weather forecasters are telling us that it might stay this way for the rest of the week. We have been staying warm by invading Grandma & Grandpa Burns for some warm weather and food.

Anyways, how have we been doing? Good. A resounding good. Atom rolled over for the first time the other day. The sad part was that we didn't see him do it. I was at work and Darbie left Atom on his stomach for a minute and when she came back he was on his back. Well the other night when we first came over to the Burns' we tried to get him to do it again. He did it twice! It's funny though that it's not just a gentle roll-over, he drops his arm in on one side and shifts his weight and FLOP! Then he is on his back, which defiantly makes him happier. Atom's teeth have come out and then gone back in, but now he has one and it's a sharp little bugger.

I think that's about it. Well now I've got what you have been waiting for. Pictures. Included are some pictures of Atom in the snow. So here we go:


"Hey Atom, you wanna go play in the snow?"


"Papa, this is WAY too cold!"


Darbie wasn't having that so she took Atom away from me.


So I went stomping through the ice and snow.


Atom thought this was hilarious!

Thanks for reading. We hope you are all safe and warm during this holiday season. We look forward to seeing you all when we can!

Mikee

But what is the baby thankful for?

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was easy for us because we knew exactly what to be thankful for. We had a lot, as so much good stuff has happened to us this year, but we knew.

This weekend was spent with some of both families. Oh the joys of being a newly wed couple and having mulitple Thanksgivings. It worked out though as the two we went too were only about 5-10 mins away from eachother. I guess when I last posted I also failed to note that I had a birthday. This also went well.

In other news: My ipod died and the first time I sent it in for repairs, apple sent it back telling me they could find nothing wrong with it. Well now they are replacing it.

I think that's it for that kind of stuff. We took Atom to see Santa and he did really good. I know when I first saw him I cried and then pooped. Anyways, here are some pictures from this long weekend:

This is Atom in his first thanksgiving outfit. At our first stop this outfit lasted about... 30 seconds before he had a blowout and needed to be changed.

We had just woke atom up for a picture in front of this tree. The right side of his face had lines on it from sleeping in the sling.


Atom and Santa! This picture is hard to tell but Atom is wearing a reindeer outfit, which right now is still a little too big for him. We took the hood off and this was the best picture.


This is a funny little hat that Grandma found for Atom, it has little matchin mittens too. I think it's supposed to be a reindeer?

So there was a little photo journey through our weekend. Now we are gearing up into getting back home and back into the grind. Thanks for reading!

~Mikee

where sleeping babies lay

Hey! How is everyone doing? Our little family is doing great. Atom has been getting bigger every day. He is now into putting everything he can in his mouth, also he is drooling on everything, and has a jaw stronger than I would have expected from a baby. I have actually said ow a couple times when he has gotten ahold of my thumb.

Other than his teething, things are good. I can't really think of anything that really jumps out in my mind of being huge or needing of note. We are mostly gearing up for holidays. I'm not sure Atom is quite prepared for all the people, but I'm sure he will love it.

I guess the one big other point I can make is that Atom seems to really love being at home. We tend to have a really quiet house and he always relaxes a little easier when at home. When we are driving and he is crying, as soon as he is back in the house, he will calm down.

So I guess that's really about it, Darbie is off to get our family photo stuff arranged Monday. I can also assure you that we will have some fun pictures coming from the holidays... hint hint.

Family photo.

Hello!

Not a lot of news. Atom is becoming more aware. Loud noises startle him now, he also enjoys being in a quiet area later at night. He is also smiling more and plays. The best is that he has started holding things and most of what he holds goes in his mouth... Oh and he drools non-stop.

As for Darbie and I. I just got a new phone... same number, just a new phone, exciting!

but I think that's about it... so I will leave you with the cream of the crop. This is our favorite out of the family pictures we took, ready? GO!


(this is a proof, that is why it's low resolution and has a water mark across it.)