Camping and a Birthday

This past weekend we took a stab at two-child camping. While George is a seasoned camper (he's been camping since he was probably 5 months old), Ed has never been. Adding to this, we only have a (albeit roomy) three-man tent. I guess on paper George and Ed technically make up one person, but in reality they both require the space of 1.75 full grown men, meaning that we now need at least a six-man tent for the four of us.

We headed north to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with some friends from the ward. Four couples, each with two children ranging between three months and three years. If memory serves... George was the oldest. It is so much fun to have friends who are in the same boat as you, and see other parents deal with the same issues you do (e.g. defiance, picky eating, timeouts, potty-training, etc). Most parts of camping were a total success, though Ed could've been a better sleeper between the hours of 3-5 am. We still have some kinks to work out but all in all we had a great time.

Without further ado - the pictures:

Ashley and Ed. Ed is a seriously needy  sweet little guy. It amazes us to think of him at George's age. There are many similarities between him and George, but mostly differences. It is a lot of fun to see them develop and become little people. 

One thing that worries us is George's lack of personality. It always seems like we are trying to goad him into acting silly/like a little boy. We are very worried about our "little wall flower" as we like to call him ; ). 

Ed likes to be held. Unless of course, I'm holding him around Ashley. Then he ducks and dives for her. Ed loves to be held, except when he doesn't. Then he hates it. Confused? So are we. 

George is growing up into a little boy. He is a loyal and caring older brother. One of my favorite recent stories involves George at the playground. George had befriended an older boy (as he frequently does) and they were playing super-heroes. They spotted Ed who was crawling around happily. The other boy said, "let's shoot that evil baby." George, struck with a brief moment of crisis/peer pressure looked at the boy - then ducked down and hugged Ed and leaned over to protect him and said, "no, he's my brother!" It was so sweet, and I was so proud of George. As an older brother, I hope George follows the most important rule of older brothers, "Under no circumstances can you ever allow any one to pick on your younger brother. Except you."

Ed was much more efficient than George when it came to eating cake. George tepidly leaned in, frequently coming up for praise/clapping between half bites. Ed took both of his hands and manhandled that cake, licking his fingers clean. I was very proud. If I wasn't concerned with morbid obesity, I would encourage Ed to use his talents to become a competitive eater (parallel universe dream of mine).

 Cliff Edward Pulsipher - clearly inherited the dominant "Potter" Cake-Affinity gene.

We love this little guy so much. We feel very fortunate that he has an older brother that loves him terribly. Despite a preference for being held as opposed to playing on the ground, he has proven to be a pretty low-maintenance baby. Keep up the good work Ed, we love you.

I'm sure many of you parents can agree - watching your children grow up is amazing, but also sad. It is sad to see them evolve out of phases that you love so much. Sad to see their bodies change from soft doughy chubbiness into lean, musclely molds of toddler.  Good bye to your first year of life Ed.  May you have many many more and I hope that we can say good bye to them every year with you. With that in mind, I present the following: