The Big Post

Well our month long adventure has come to an end and now we are all back at home staring at piles of laundry and an empty fridge. I want to share all of our fun and the 100s of pictures but I'm going to have to do it in pieces because I also need sleep. A fourteen hour time difference is hard on kids (and me).
We set out for Australia a month ago and were nearly stymied at the first airport because of this goof:

Who put her passport in her backpack and we didn't find it until the very last possible second to make the plane. We met Aunt Paige at airport #2 who helped out with the long (16 hours!) flight:

Traveling is exhausting but the kids did great and were able to sleep on the planes (and in the airports):

Australia was beautiful and amazing and I think I left a piece of me there. We traveled throughout North Queensland and stayed in breathtaking places such as Magnetic Island: 

the outback (at an historic gold mine):

and the Daintree Rainforest, a world heritage site:

 

We had quite a few wildlife sightings, some a little too close!

Fruit bat at bat rehab center:

~5 meter scrub python on neighbors roof:

 Wallaby:

And our adventures were unbelievable. SCUBA diving at the Great Barrier Reef, night canoeing with tree kangaroo spotting, night hikes to look for the elusive cassowary, hikes to waterfalls, and soaring 43 meters above the rainforest in the bucket of a crane. I'm hoping to document each of these later, more details to come, but here is a cute one with C in the canoe way past her bedtime.

 Why Australia for a month? Eric led a study abroad class again and we joined him this time. Just another tough day at work: 

Can you believe he gets paid for this?

Fixed video privacy issue

Swimming video should work now!

Swimming!

We just got a new toy and decided to try it out at the pool today. Check out C's moves!

9 months

Asher is 9 months old and finally decided not to be an infant anymore. Within the last 2 weeks he has sprouted 2 teeth and gone from not interested in moving (even rolling over) to caterpillar crawling and lunging into a crawl position. Watch out world. His growth has also started to surpass his sister's.
Stats: 19.5 lbs (exact same as C as this age, 30th percentile)
30.5 inches (1.25" longer than C, 97th percentile)
On hands and knees below, glad I was able to document the drool that is constantly dripping down his chin.  Newest trick: blowing raspberries. In the car it can keep him entertained for 30+ minutes. Also adds to the drool mess.

Bath time is always an adventure, the kid loves water. Newest nickname: Splasher.

Teddy bear comparison, now (9  months) and at 2 weeks. About 10 inches, 12 lbs of growth in 9 months!

One last picture for Opa Myers:

Memorial Day Weekend

Parade:

Water fight:

Pool:

Enough said.
What is this guy so happy about?

He (we) just finished our SCUBA certification in that fairly grimy quarry pond in the background.
Bring on the summer!

May

Ugg. This month is going too fast. Our yard/garden needs some serious attention and that won't happen until there is a Saturday with both parents in town and available... hmm. July maybe? Sorry neighbors. The month began with a half-marathon. No action pictures 'cause I kicked butt and beat the paparazzi to the finish line. I beat my 2010 time by 4:00 minutes! This is how we celebrated:

I know what you are saying, if you don't have photographic evidence, it didn't happen. So here is the proof: if you look closely you can see the salt deposits in my eyebrows.

The circus elephants marched through our neighborhood again. This year there were even protesters to make things interesting. 

Vet day at OSU - way cool. One of Cadie's career goals is to be a "muskrat doctor" and she was in heaven. Loads of animals that she could pet/hold, face-painting, food, freebies, and a tour of the vet hospital complete with dress-ups that she got to take home. 

Don't worry little chick, she loves pork.

The biggest smile of the day goes to the kittens. 

Asher didn't seem to care too much about the animals (llamas in background), he was more worried about the grass touching his bare legs.

And then he spent an hour like this:

Is there a doctor in the house?

Teddy bear surgery:

The list continues

Even with daily baths, serious moisturizing, and 2 prescription ointments, Asher has continued to have flare-ups with his skin - bad patches of eczema that he finds and scratches sometimes until bleeding. The pediatric dermatologist recommended we visit the allergist. We already see a great allergist for Cadie so we introduced Dr. Phil to Asher. There are a lot of things about allergies that I don't understand but this is the basics of what we learned from Dr. Phil:

• Asher's reaction to milk and soy is one type of allergic response where the digestive system is so irritated that it starts bleeding.
• The other type of allergic reaction is the response that we usually think of for allergies: hives, rashes, swelling, itchy mouth/throat, or congestion. This type of response can be tested for with a scratch test or a blood test. Asher's eczema could be an allergic response.

We had Asher's blood drawn and got the results back last week. Asher's blood tests show that he is allergic to... drum roll... milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, and dogs. This poor kid. It is likely that he will outgrow many of these but in the meantime we have some adjustments to make. I've been on a "allergen-free" diet for a week and I'm not sure if it has made a difference yet. We will continue the experiment. 

Despite all of his discomfort, he is still a really happy boy and LOVES solid food. So far, any mushed up mess will do. 

Feed me! (Just not anything with milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts or tree nuts)

Cadie speak

I sit in an observation room with a monitor while Cadie meets with her speech therapist. Occasionally I wish I had an intercom so that I could do some yelling, I mean discipline. But this week I had a few reasons to chuckle. Overheard on the spy cam:
"At our house we have different rules, no smoking and no making messes!"
"My baby brother likes to hide his neck."