Tootie weekend

Well, it’s taken me until Tuesday late-afternoon to recover from all of the fun I had this past weekend with my female family members in Tennessee. Libba’s bachelorette weekend was a success, as the bride-to-be was able to get a few days of relaxation and a much needed break from the wedding planning.

And how could you NOT be in a tranquil-state with this as your view:

And the company made it that much more fun. It was a given that I would be anywhere that Libba wanted me to be for her bachelorette party, but it was such a treat to have my Mom fly in from Iowa for the weekend. And we also had my mom’s sister, Jane, and my cousins, Meg and Kate, come in for the party. It was the first time we had all been together since my Gomar passed three years ago and, no surprise here, I’m sure we scared the bejeezus out of some of the local mountain folk with our deafening squeals and Pinot Grigio consumption. We’re a fun bunch.

On Saturday morning we took a tour of Sewanee, Lib’s alma mater, and other than feeling extremely OLD surrounded by college-age students, we all marveled at the beautiful campus and chapel.

We even found a tribute to our Granddaddy, Jack Blackwell, inside the church:

A few of Libba’s favorite friends made the trip up from Birmingham on Saturday afternoon, bringing a bit more fun and some crazy headgear for the bride-to-be.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful weekend spent with some of my most loved people. It wasn’t until my drive home on Sunday that I really started to feel lonesome for my husband and lovely baby girl, which was probably why I improved my travel-time by a half-hour coming back. I rushed home, gave Chris a good smooch and snatched T out of her crib to snuggle her and kiss her cheeks. And even though her arms were filled with Dora tattoos and she smelled like feet, it was one of the sweeter moments of the weekend. And as fun as it was to be carefree and wild for 48-hours, I can definitely say it feels good to be home. And even though we don’t have those views off my back porch, I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

Good ole rocky top

This is gonna be a short post, Bloggers, as right now I am utilizing every second of Taylor’s nap getting ready for my big, solo-trip to Tennessee for the weekend. That’s right, SOLO. No husband, no baby, no dog. Just me. Which is both weird and completely delightful at the same time. I’m packing for one for the first time since January of 2008, and the idea of being able to bring more than two pairs of shoes and options of outfits is seriously making me giddy with excitement. It’s time to dust off my strappy, platform sandals... Momma doesn’t have to chase after a two-year old this weekend.

And the reason I’m making the trip to the gorgeous Tennessee mountains is for my sister’s bachelorette weekend. Libba is nearly a month away from becoming Mrs. South, and to celebrate her final months being Miss Young, we are cramming a cabin full of females, Pinot Grigio and cheese curls. Even my Mom is making the trip down from Iowa for the party. It’s gonna be monumental.

And while this is my first weekend away from both my husband and daughter, it is also Chris’s first weekend with just him and Taylor. And he is so jazzed to have some quality one-on-one time with his little girl. I predict lots of laughing and pancakes at the Amys house this weekend. Yep, I think we’re all in for a pretty fun weekend.

I heart Asheville

This weekend was a blur of fun that only a city like Asheville could offer. Chris and I have lived here for seven years now, and it seems that every weekend brings us to a new adventure that leaves us either scratching our heads or laughing uncontrollably and saying, THAT’S why we live here. We love this place. And for those of you that have never visited Asheville, let’s just say it’s a jumbled mess of southern charm, aging hippies, amazing musicians, talented artists and numerous breweries that all coexist peacefully in a pocket of the Great Smokie Mountains. It’s a postcard town. And we are blessed to call it our home.

So on Friday night my friend Chele and I, and about a thousand other Asheville residents, spent nearly two hours at a David Sedaris reading. Much to the recommendations of my sister and Aunt Jane, I read my first David Sedaris book shortly after Taylor was born. And then quickly devoured the rest of books after. He’s a comic and literary genius, and unless you’re easily offended or just don’t like laughing out loud, I would run to your nearest library or bookstore and pick up one of his books. You won’t be disappointed. And listening to him live made both Chele and I laugh so hard our cheeks hurt afterwards.

Saturday morning Chris and I took advantage of the sunshine and mild weather, and went on a nice run before hitting up the Healthy Kids Festival at Carrier Park. It was a free event sponsored by a number of local stores and organizations aimed at encouraging kids and their parents to eat healthy and exercise everyday, which is something I feel very strongly about and was happy to participate in.

Plus they gave away lots of free healthy snacks and balloons, so Taylor was in heaven.

And then, after we all recharged with powernaps, we were lucky enough to have our good friend, Beth, stop in Asheville for a quick visit on her way to Franklin. Beth and Chris worked together at the Country Club for a number of years before she graduated and started a new profession. She is now married and living just outside of Washington DC, and it was such a treat to be able to spend a few hours with her and catch-up on everything. And she was sweet enough to bring Taylor a Dora-inspired belated birthday present, so needless to say Beth and T’s first meeting was successful.

And after watching my daughter eat her weight’s worth in bean dip at Papa’s and Beer, we all headed downtown to MLK park to catch a few moments of Asheville’s Earth Day festival. No one loves the earth as much as Asheville. Seriously. Try walking into a store without your own shopping bags and they’ll practically chase you back out. So in typical Asheville fashion, the city put on a big shindig with lots of food, beer and good music. Which was all fueled by solar panels and an outrageous number of hippies dancing.

Oh, and Taylor boogied down too. What can I say? She’s 100-percent Asheville made.

So that was the majority of our weekend. Lots of action. And before I bore you with anymore Asheville propaganda, just know that I’m not the only one that loves this city. Our President and First Lady are vacationing here this weekend, AND Chuck Norris received his lifetime achievement award here yesterday. I wasn’t able to see any roundhouse kicks, nor will I be rubbing elbows with Barrack and Michelle, but I can still brag about them all being in MY city. So, Friends and Family, come on down for a visit. I can guarantee you’ll have a good time

First haircut

After several months of cringing at the sight of Taylor’s baby-mullet, I finally decide to buck-up and get my girl a haircut today. Her first-ever haircut. And while I’m sure that most mother’s just cut their own kids hair for the first few years of their lives, the thought of getting my two year old to sit still while I wave scissors around her face made me cringe even more than looking at the party on the back of her head. So I made us an appointment with the stylist at the salon that I go to, stuffed my pockets with snacks and, of course, brought my camera.

Last picture of shaggy-haired Taylor:

And while I knew she was ready for her first haircut, I was a bit anxious to see how she would handle sitting still and letting a stranger touch her head. But she did awesome. We only needed two packs of Dora gummies to get us through it.

First blow-out:

And here she is, our little mullet-less beauty queen:

Gorgeous!

Birthday hangover

Well, it’s five days after Taylor celebrated her big birthday, and things are just starting to settle at the Famous Amys house. I cleaned out her closet to make room for all of her new, adorable clothes, took a round of baby-toys up to the attic to create space for all of the Dora loot she acquired and brought the remaining cupcakes into Childwatch yesterday. The only party residue we really have left are the Dora balloons, and those I am either gonna have to kill with the scissors after T goes to bed, or I can just let her drag them around the house until they wither away to nothing. Sorry, Dora – It’s going to be a slow death for you. Payback for plastering your face on every commercial product known to man.

And other than dealing with a few official two-year old tantrums, our week has been spent detoxing from cake and ice cream, soaking up the gorgeous spring weather, taking hot-laps on the new trike and bringing Taylor to the pediatrician for her two-year check-up. The appointment was on Monday, and I was overly relieved to find out that we didn’t have any shots this visit. Because mixing a birthday hangover with a few vaccinations sounds like something even Lindsay Lohan wouldn’t be able to handle.

And even though I had enough Dora gummie snacks stuffed into my pockets to feed a small army – Thanks, Steph! – I was shocked at how well my little peanut handled the visit. Such a big girl! Literally. Taylor’s new stats are 33 ½ pounds, 35 inches long, keeping her right up there in the 95th-percentile of kids her age, which is where she’s measured since birth. And, for that matter, it’s the percentile that I have always landed in. So my daughter and I share another thing in common – Consistency. And a deep love for vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and dry-roasted peanuts.

Everything else checked out great at the visit. We have one super-healthy girl on our hands, and Dr Childers was pretty impressed with how good her motor skills are and how well she is talking. Every visit we have to fill out some sort of survey-thing to let them know how well she’s developing, and in the Speech section there was a question about whether or not she’s putting words together and if she is able to communicate what she wants, and, if so, what sorts of things does she say. And I laughed out loud. And then I wrote, Give me a Dora snack, No, Ruby, this is MY room, I want to go outside, and Let’s go to the park. Oh yes, Doctor. The princess is very good at communicating what she wants. Another thing she has in common with her Momma.

Taylor turns two

It is probably going to come as no surprise to you all that my spoiled little peanut didn’t just celebrate a birthday DAY, and that she was granted a whole weekend of presents, cake, ice cream and more Dora the Explorer gummy snacks than one tiny person should be allowed. Which basically means we had one happy toddler on a wicked sugar-high for three days straight.

And who better to help in that spoilage than Chris’s parents and brother. Or, as T calls them, Grampy, Grandma and Uncle Ronnie.

We started the big day out with some rather delicious pancakes whipped up by her Dad.

And then we moved to singing and presents. She wasn’t too hot on the Happy Birthday song.

But she was on fire when she started ripping off wrapping paper.

And then she got her big present from Mom and Dad, a bubblegum-pink, Schwinn roadster tricycle. And we were so jacked to give it to her, and we wanted it to be a total surprise. BUT then she opened the door to the garage right before we started opening presents and she saw it and blurted out, My BIKE! And we totally try to play it off and kept saying, What are you talking about? You must be seeing things. Open another present. And she just kept saying, My BIKE! Give me my BIKE! And so we did – Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

And then that afternoon we celebrated with all of our friends at a – you guessed it! – Dora the Explorer themed birthday party. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. Or nicer friends and happier kids for that matter. We have one blessed little girl.

And the rest of the weekend was spent trying out all of her new, awesome toys – I think we now technically own about every Dora present known to man. And we also just sat back and enjoyed our time with the extra Amys family members we were hosting. Being that we live so far away from everyone, it’s always a treat to have family come into town and help make any event even more special.

In summary, it was an amazing weekend. And today Taylor was definitely nursing a nasty sugar-present-Grandparent hangover from all the partying. And while I was pretty much smiling the entire weekend, there were also brief moments of sadness that my baby is not a baby anymore. Ack! It seriously makes my heart twinge a little bit. I mean, I love her now more than I could ever have imagined possible, but I am totally going to miss my cheeky, squishy little baby. But that's okay, because this is the most fun I've had in ages. And she still has some pretty kissable cheeks.

Two years old

Happy, happy birthday to my precious Taylor! Two years ago today, this little peanut graced us with her presence.

And life has been nothing but exceptional ever since. Absolutely extraordinary. And this past month set the fun-meter pretty high.

And while I usually use my monthly milestones post to detail all of the new, exciting and not-so-exciting things that Taylor had amazed us with the previous month, today I am mostly going to reiterate how this little being has changed my entire life. My entire self. And while there are still lots of little glimmers of the person I was before I became a mother, every second of my life is now dedicated to nurturing, protecting, educating, entertaining and trying to understand this adorable, squishy girl whose cheeks beg me to kiss them at least four thousand times a day. How could I not be a better person?

And, yes, of course she tests my patience. And makes me pull my hair out and forces me to mutter, Seriously? on a regular basis. But she is who she is. And, honestly, 90-percent of the attitude she throws me is just sass, which is HILARIOUS.

And the other ten-percent is just good, old fashioned RAGE.

And I know I’m biased, but she’s pretty much the cutest, smartest little kid I know. And fun. I don’t know how many times a day Chris and I will stop what we’re doing, look at the other and say, I mean COME ON! How cute can one person be?

So. Two years of motherhood down, forever to go. Two years of putting someone else’s needs so far in front of my own I can barely see them. Two years of changing diapers and making sure to always carry snacks and a change of clothes everywhere I go. Two years of having my job go from nine-to-five, to wake-up-to-nap to nap-to-bed-time. Two years of having this little piece of heaven look me in the eyes and make me smile every day. Two years of being able to squeeze her thighs and hear her erupt in a laughter that would make even the saddest person chuckle. Two years of being absolutely amazed at the amount of food one tiny being can eat. Two years of her making me a better person. A happier, healthier, more patient person. A Momma. Thank you, peanut. Happy birthday.