Gus = Linus x 3

When it comes to his blanket, Gus doesn't mess around. He started getting attached to it shortly before we moved, so around 9 months old. Grandmother gave him the blanket so when she learned that it became his "lovey," she got him a back-up.  And somewhere along the way, she bought him a third one.

That might sound excessive but we need all of them--one for upstairs, one for downstairs and one for the car.

He pretty much has one of them all the time. If he's not holding it, it's somewhere nearby. If he sees it or touches it (even if it's just with his foot), he immediately puts his thumb in his mouth. He rarely sucks his thumb without it.

He takes it places which means he drags it around sidewalks, stores and even public restrooms! That's the beauty of having three of them; I can wash one or even two while he's "using" the third one. I'm never sure which one I've washed, though, so it's possible one of them is never getting washed.

For some crazy reason I only brought one to Houston for Thanksgiving. When the time came to wash it, poor Gus was a mess for about two hours. I'll never make that mistake again!

Our system works pretty well except Gus just doesn't trust that there will always be another blanket. So when he gets out of his crib in his morning and we start to go downstairs for breakfast, he insists on taking the upstairs one down. Later, when we get out of the car to come inside, he wants to bring the car blanket back into the house.

So that means we end up with three blankets in one place!

And Gus is in heaven.

Leo's Austin Adventure with Dottie the Dove

Leo had the honor of taking home the class mascot, Dottie the Dove, last weekend. Luckily, we had some big plans--Leo would be attending his first University of Texas (or "Texas Fight" as he calls it) football game. Gus stayed with Granny Jo and Popsy who were in town for Aunt Kathleen's 60th birthday. Here is the journal "Leo" wrote for his class: 

"Dottie, you are going to come with us to Austin for the Texas Fight football game!” I told her. She wanted to leave right away but I said that first we needed to rest up for the long drive! So the two of us relaxed on Thursday afternoon, watching Jungle Junction. The next morning we took a little snooze while daddy packed the car for our trip.  

Dottie sat next to me the whole way. We played on the iPad while my little brother Gus watched. Dottie loved the drive!

Here we are at the hotel. Dottie wanted to order room service. Silly Dottie! 

On Saturday I dressed Dottie in a University of Texas t-shirt and brought her to the stadium! She looked great in orange and she loved cheering on the Texas Longhorns to a win against Iowa State. 

We walked around campus where I showed Dottie the UT Tower (seen in this picture) and we ate at one of the dorms. Dottie had so much fun that she wants to go to college now. I told her that we both need to finish preschool first!

Bonus pics: I didn't want to be a show-off so I decided to stop after six pics. But here are some that didn't make the book. Sorry, Paloma! 

Gus got a chance to hold Dottie:

Dottie enjoying the tribute to legendary UT coach Darrel K. Royal 

Leo with the statue of Bevo: 

Dottie with Paloma, whose name means Dove