Notice the gap? From the 9th to the 13th? Well, it gets worse.

Yes, here it jumped to the 22nd. Some lam-o drawing about construction equipment whose name I could not remember. I looked it up when I got home. It’s not a steam shovel. I’m probably thinking of that Mike Mulligan book. And what is this equipment really called? No clue. I’ve forgotten. But it’s definitely NOT a steam shovel because ya know we have something called gas nowadays young uns.

And that was the last page in my sketchbook.

So this was the first page of a new sketchbook.

And when do people usually exercise? I don’t want to do it before breakfast because I’m hungry. Ok, not really hungry. More like eager for breakfast. And then I don’t want to exercise after breakfast because I have food in my stomach. Then I forget the rest of the day. Excuses, excuses. Seriously, when do people exercise? And have I kept up with it. Not everyday. But when I remember.

And WALKING. When did it exactly happen? No clue. I didn’t sketch about it the first time. Didn’t take pictures either. I suck.

My little walker on Flickr

This sketchbook page is soooooo old. Remember when I was talking about the Chinese barbecue, over a freaking month ago.

And here are some leftover chocolate pops I made for the favor bags. Happily, I made extra so I was able to take pictures of them. I totally forgot to before or during the party.

I made them using a Wilton candy mold. How freaking awesome are they? They are melted candies. I painted the colored candies on with a paintbrush.

And here are pictures of the pirate hats I was working on that Alan talked me out of. This was my first draft. The idea was to make something simple, similar to a cardboard pirate hat, two pieces except more durable being made out of felt.

Alan thought it was too small and he didn’t think it looked like a pirate hat.

Then my second draft. I simplified the skull for ease of sewing and enlarged it.

Alan thought it was too big. It fit me. And he still didn’t think it was pirate hat like.

So after I gave up the idea of making hats for all the kids I still wanted a special fancy pirate hat for Isabelle.

I used this tutorial.

* I think Nathan has six teeth total now.

* Isabelle LOVES playing with the Wii. Right now she is a little…no a lot obsessed with playing Lego Batman.

* And yes Nathan said his own name. He said it all weird and cute.

* It was nice going to the park alone with Isabelle. I could actually push her on the swing easily.

* And I am sick right now. Again. Does it feel like I am sick a whole bunch? Or maybe me documenting when I’m sick just makes me remember it more.

I am so very very close to getting caught up on my sketchbook. That’s because there are big gaps of days where I did not draw at all.

And don’t worry. Isabelle has gotten used to the patch now. She does her three hours and when time’s up she will take off the patch all by herself. No big deal.

And some pictures from those sketchbook days. Because I’m sure Alan would like to see them while he’s at work.

I bought Isabelle some felt flower kit thingy. I thought it would keep her occupied while patching but she keeps herself occupied fine.

Nathan grabbed the straw from my iced coffee off the table. My coffee that had whipped cream on it. He really liked the whipped cream. Mischievous monkey.

Acting all innocent.

Who me?

Mischievous monkey making a mess and then crawling away.

And then Isabelle making a bigger mess with the diapers.

And I’m ending with this random picture. Isabelle used to put stickers everywhere. This one is on our bedroom closet mirror.

But now she puts them in her sticker book. One of those take a piece of paper and cut and fold it into a book deals. Every sticker from the doctor to the ballet teacher goes in there. It’s sort of nice.

Last month we did loads of stuff.

Like going to the library and chewing on stuff.

“Driving” motorcycles.

Doing chin ups.

Just kidding.

Making and eating mini cupcakes.

And having fun at the beach.

It was actually Mr. Man’s first time. Sand was a novel thing for him.

So was the cold water.

And why am I talking about last month? Just looking back at how far I am on sharing sketchbook pages.

I have commented about my crap memory before. So, it may come as no surprise, to you, that I have no idea why I titled this post brain soup. I’m positive I was on a particular train of thought when I dreamt that up. Something that made perfect sense at the time. And then that perfect train of thought got derailed.

I think it must have had something to do with how my brain is mush and all my days melt into each other. Some days my brain is so mushy that I cannot remember what I did the previous day. How ridiculous is that? But of course that’s why I try to take photos. And why I draw. How else am I to remember it all?

With the aid of photographs I can say, hey last month on August the 8th, which was a Sunday, Alan put these glasses on Nathan and it looked so silly and cute I took a picture.

And by looking at that picture I can also lament on the rashy battle we fight constantly. Nathan’s face looks pretty much like that right now, the redness and bumps near his mouth sort of on his cheeks. Mmmm…actually maybe it’s a little worse than that right now. We’ve been dealing with this for months and months and months. Dare I say since he was born? I could not tell you exactly because, hello, brain soup!

Needless to say we’ve been fighting it for a long time. We put stuff on it from the doctor. It clears up but just comes right back. We’ve tried vaseline. We’ve tried lotions. And right now I’m off of cow’s milk, suggestion from my sister thinking it was allergies.

But I digress, brain soup. Photos. I take them to help me remember. Like was this Nathan’s first time down the slide on August 11th?

Maybe. Brain soup. I cannot remember.

And this, also on August 11th:

Alan tried to block Nathan from the kitchen by using the excersaucer. He was not successful. Thank you brain soup. I totally forgot this until I pulled up that photo tonight.

Oooh this is a good memory. I made banana chocolate chip cookies, on August 11th, because Bethany blogged about it one day.

Ok, brain soup, you need to remember this is too many cookies. I was the only one who ate them. Sigh.

Oooh here’s another good memory, on August 12th, I made a popsicle house for Isabelle. And I’m super glad I have this photo since the house is no more. Oh wait, that’s not quite accurate. It’s still here, just flat. Nathan got a hold of it.

And if it weren’t for darn old brain soup I would remember to fix it.

Ok did you notice all these photos were from a month ago? Why am I showing them now? There IS a reason. These dates correspond to the pages from my sketchbook. Brain soup is trying to get all caught up. And yes I’m using brain soup in all sorts of weird ways. Just go with it.

Ok I’m all brain souped out.