Bookends

“Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence. A time of confidences.

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories, they’re all that’s left of you.”

Those are the lyrics from one of my absolutely favorite Simon & Garfunkel songs, Bookends. One of my most loved songs ever, actually. Short, melodic and so, so sweet. If you haven’t listened to it, please do. You’ll thank me later.

And I share this with you because right now as I’m thinking about this story, I’m humming the few verses in my head. Because it pertains to something else in my life that is so, so sweet. My rapidly maturing little girl, Taylor. I’m very much in denial that she’s nearly one month away from turning Four. My goodness. That went WAY too fast.
A few months ago Chris’s mom, Sue, mentioned a photo shoot idea that her friend had done, which was having her daughter dress up in her wedding dress and taking a few pictures of her, then saving those adorable images as something to give to her on her wedding day. Yeah. All you mothers of daughters are gasping right now... Because it’s THAT WONDERFUL.

And not as if it was already slated to be the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, I have been blessed with the Girliest Girl in all Girlville for a daughter. One who throws tantrums if she can’t wear chiffon everyday, and hasn’t put on a pair of pants in two months. When she saw the big, white box that held my wedding dress propped on our bed, she gasped and squealed in delight, I CAN’T LOOK! I CAN’T LOOK! MAKE IT BE A SURPRISE! and then covered her eyes with her hands as she took deep breaths in the corner of the room until I was able to unwrap the dress. And then we let her try it on, securing the back with clothespins. And this is what she did:

For real. It was probably the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

And the next morning we put it back on her and had my sister take the photos. And I would share them with you... But since this blog is Taylor’s babybook, and something that eventually she’ll read, I really want to preserve them until her big day. But just imagine the quality – Libba’s talent paired with my Toddlers & Tiaras-minded Princess. Yeah. Uh-MAY-Zeen. And in twenty years or so, we are going to have a pretty amazing mother-daughter moment. Chills, y’all. Major goosebumps.

34 years old

Last week I celebrated my 34th year of being alive. And first-things-first, let me just let you all know that I am most certainly not one of those people who freak out and get depressed every time a birthday rolls around because I am getting older and older. Nope. I own it. THIRTY FOUR! Woo-hoo! Now feed me cake.

And secondly, this was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! Hands down, it was pure awesomeness. Because in my old age I’m realizing that I have surrounded myself with some fabulous people who love me to bits. And I love them too. And with all that ooey-gooey love bubbling up around me, how could I NOT have a super wonderful birthday?

And one of the reasons my birthday was so delightful was because of my amazingly generous sister, who took time off from work to come up from Birmingham for a long weekend to help me celebrate. And on the morning of my special day, we woke up, took Taylor to preschool, checked Luke into the Child Watch at my gym and then Lib and I, and my friends Paige and LeAnn, went on a long head-clearing, heart-pumping run outside in the beautiful mountain sunshine. And as we rounded the final corner of the course, I summoned my legs to kick in to hyperdrive, and me and my 34 year old body sprinted the final blocks. And it felt amazing. And I am proud to say that I am in ten-times better shape now in my mid-30 after birthing two babies, than I ever was in my late-teens and 20s. And that’s a pretty cool thing to say.

The actual night of my birthday was pretty special too, as Libba so generously offered to spend the night with Taylor and Luke so Chris and I could have a fantastic kid-free 24-hours. We booked a fancy hotel downtown, and proceeded to spend our adult-only time doing such coveted things as laying in silence on a bed, taking long showers without children-interruptions, eating Nacho Cheese Doritos without having to share them with little, needy mouths and, wait-for-it... SLEEPING. Oh. My. LORD. It was like we had been whisked away to a secluded tropical paradise. It was amazing. And until my sister has kids of her own, she will never truly know how much Chris and I appreciated her the level of her awesome generosity. I am very blessed to have such an amazing person in my life. Best birthday gift EVER.

And two other people who have serious soul-connections to Libba, or shall I say, Beeba, are Taylor and Luke. And even though Luke gave his one-and-only aunt a run for her money the night we were gone, my son was on major-cuteness alert the entire weekend. And Taylor... Well, you pretty much have to be in the same room as the Princess and Beeba to understand their bond. It’s the most heart-warming relationship ever. And to see my daughter react to my sister with such enthusiasm, adoration and bewilderment, not to mention reenacting scenes from Bridemaids and then doing Toddlers & Tiaras-inspired poses, is the best feeling ever. It’s true love.

And when the weekend was over, we said our sad goodbyes and helped Lib pack up her car with her camera, vintage Barbie collection and homemade Special K bars, and all gave sour faces as she drove away. Because we love her so much. And everything’s a big sweeter when she’s with us. Thank you so much, Libba. It was a birthday for the record books.

Ten months old

Luke is now ten months old, and as I sit down to record the milestones and memories that we encountered this past month, it’s hard not to just get the biggest, cheesiest grin on my face. The kid just makes me smile.

And for the past few weeks, I’ve been mostly smiling at the back of his big, fuzzy head as he crawls away from me. Yep, as you saw in the previous post, Luke has mastered the crawl. And, y’all, the kid is FAST. Meaning last month we went from zero-to-sixty at the Amys house. And while this isn’t our first go-round dealing with a newly-mobile baby, Taylor started off in a extremely controlled environment. Meaning we didn’t have any tiny, shiny, plastic toys laying around back then. And now... Well, let’s just say I’ve de-shoed all of Taylor’s Princesses and Fairies and Barbies for the time being.

But, of course, things get dropped and end up in my son’s mouth. The most concerning had to be last week when I fished an OPEN SAFETY PIN! out of his chubby cheeks. And miraculously he was unharmed, but Whew! that could have been bad. Looks like this Mama is going to have to learn to sew hems so her husband can stop having safety pins hold his pants together, eh?

And other than sharp, dangerous fallen objects, Luke has very much enjoyed putting lots of FOOD, and a little bit of play-doh, in his mouth this past month. We are so over baby food, as he prefers to chomp down on cut up little morsels of whatever we are eating. And while I was pretty obsessed with keeping baby-Taylor on an all-organic, non-processed diet, Luke’s daily plates always include teeny bites of the rest of our meals to go along with his fruits, veggies and proteins. His absolute favorite add-ons are meatballs and quesadillas and pizza. Oh, and the other day I let him have a few bites of my lunch while eating at 12 Bones barbecue. Yeah... Pretty sure he’s NOT going to be a vegetarian.

And I really don’t hesitate giving him all of this grown-up food as he’s got so many teeth now. He just popped his top, front-left this past weekend, and the one right next to it is so close you can see the white line through his sore, red gums. Dudes! I feel like this poor kid has been teething non-stop since September. Look at all those pearly whites he has to show for it:

Luke’s little ears has also been giving him grief as of late. At his nine-month check-up our doctor diagnosed him with his second double-ear infection, and when we went back to get rechecked this past month, he still had quite a bit of fluid in his ears. So our pediatrician prescribed him some baby-allergy medicine in hopes that it would help dry him out, but if he still has the gunk when we go back for his one year appointment, we are going to have to meet with an ENT to talk about the possibility of tubes. And while this totally freaked me out at first, I then talked with enough parents-of-kids-who-already-have-tubes to realize that tubes are super beneficial in keeping their little ones healthy and on-track. So if tubes are in our future, so be it. If that’s the way to keep my little man happy and less prone to sickness, then sign us up. Maybe his ears are the reason we’re still not sleeping through the night. Because it’s certainly NOT him being hungry or unexercised.

And I’m just going to stop right there about the not-sleeping issue. Oh well. Like his ears, it is what it is. I mean, look at this face! It’s pretty hard to complain about being tired when you have this handsome man surrounding you all day.

Yep. It’s pretty hard to be mad about ANYTHING with Luke around. He just makes everything better.

Game changer

Lookie who's mobile:

Oh. And remember how I had been all concerned and complaining for the last three months about how the big guy wasn't crawling? Well, that was stupid. Because it was pretty easy to be able to sit him down in front of a big pile of toys so I could leave the room for five minutes and not worry about him maneuvering himself to another area in the house that has unguarded electrical outlets or teeny-tiny plastic doll shoes. Yeah. This is going to be interesting. Good thing he's got such an overly-loving - read, Smothering - big sister who'll hopefully help keep him in line. Or at least steer him away from her choking-hazzard, Princess accessories.

Be. Our. Guest.

Ever since taking Miss Taylor to see Beauty and the Beast 3D at the big girl theatre a few weeks ago, we've been a bit obsessed with all things Belle at our house. Well, everything except the Beast. He scares the bejeezus out of my little Princess, and to watch the movie at our house requires Chris or I having to fast-forward over any and all scenes that involve the Beast either roaring or being mean. So it only takes us a good 45 minutes to watch the entire DVD. Which is probably one of the reasons my house is currently a mess and we've been eating left-overs so much. Because movie time really means Mama-get-her-stuff-done time. Oh well. I've always though that anything with a tomato sauce base is always better reheated for the next night's dinner.

Well one scene that we definitely do not skip over in the movie is the scene where Belle is entertained by all the servants during dinner, and they sing that catchy tune, Be our guest. And Taylor also loves the characters Mrs Potts and Chip. And this has inspired her to take a break from throwing Rapunzel's hair around the house, to now we are having Princess tea parties. And they are the girliest parties ever. And I love them.

And, as our host, Princess Taylor requests a band during our celebration, meaning I plug my phone into the sound system to stream Pandora's Disney Channel. So there is lots of twirling.

And it's really hard for me to describe the cuteness that is my daughter's imagination. We are at such a fun age right now, and listening to her having conversations with her fabulous, pretend Princess friends makes my mouth curl into the biggest smile of all time. It's truly adorable. And when I wanted to snap a photo of her during our party, she stopped and said, Hold on, Mom. Let me get Ariel in the picture too.

She truly is my precious little Princess. And, may I add, an exceptional little tea party host. Never once did my cup go empty. Nor did I stop smiling.

National Lampoon's zoo adventure

Yesterday my friend, Jen, and I planned a day trip to travel south to go to the Greenville zoo. You see, while Asheville is about the coolest place in the world to live, we only have a Nature Center for all of our animal viewing pleasures, which boasts all critters native to Western North Carolina. And as cool as black bears and foxes are, when I think about spending a day looking at animals behind guardrails, I want to see elephants and tigers. Call me a snob, but once you've slammed into a deer while driving in Iowa, the idea of paying money to see one graze in a controlled environment is kinda laughable.

And since Jen has a minivan, we transferred Taylor and Luke's carseats into her ride and all made the hour and a half trek south to see some exotic creatures. And - Woo-boy! - the kids were pumped. And so were Jen and I. And for the last ten minutes of the drive, we kept shouting in thirty-second intervals, We're almost there! Watch out, Zoo, here we come! This is going to be the BEST DAY EVER!

So imagine the utter disappointment when after we parked and got out of the car and walked to the gate we stopped and saw the teeny-tiny ZOO CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE sign. Seriously?

But luckily there was an awesome park right next door. And thankfully Jen had packed cookies and muffins to ease our pain. And we actually were able to spot an elephant's rear end between two trees when we spied through the gate. And we heard some monkey's screeching and howling. So I guess there were some animal observations.

And thank goodness the weather was amazing and the park was fun, because we were able to run the kids for about two hours before packing everything up and making the trip home.

So it wasn't a total wash. In fact, it was a pretty great way to spend our day. Much better than watching a deer taking a nap, that's for sure.