When the circus comes to town

The kids and I were lucky enough to score a few free passes to the Shriners Circus this past Thursday, which was being held at the WNC Ag Center. Remember when I took Taylor to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Birmingham this past January? Well, it was kind of like that. Only instead of in a giant arena, it was in a place an eighth of the size and smelled like livestock. But they were FREE passes, and we were with our friends and it was a great way to spend an otherwise uneventful weekday afternoon.

Oh, and it was the CIRCUS. So people were selling extremely overpriced refreshments and glowing batons. So the kids were basically in heaven.

And there were tigers and other fantastic circus-like acts. But after seeing the RBB&B performance, it just was a bit second-rate to me. Maybe it had something to do with the manure smell. Or the fact that the lion master looked like Chris Farley. But he still managed to get those oversized felines to jump through fire.

And what the Shriners lacked in pizazz, they certainly made up in scantily dressed she-male performers. Seriously. While I’m happy these people are actually out making a living and not occupying somewhere, I would still be extremely unnerved if I ever received a call from Taylor or Luke announcing that they want a career in the circus. Because I don’t even want to know what goes on behind that Big Top curtain.

But judgement aside, it was a great afternoon. And this was basically the expression Taylor and the rest of the kids held the entire time:

So it was well worth coming home smelling like the Ag Center.

A fantastic Fall weekend

We didn’t have any big plans heading into last weekend, which is a good thing. Because as much as I love being social and going on fabulous adventures, sometimes it’s even more lovely to wake up on a Saturday morning, eat one of my husband’s delicious weekend-breakfasts, read the paper and then say, Hey, What should we do today?

Another reason it was good that we weren’t scheduled for any events was because Luke somehow forgot that nighttime is for sleeping. Yep. For the past four nights we’ve been up every two hours with a fully awake giant-baby. It’s almost like the Universe is slapping my wrists for complaining that he wasn’t sleeping through the night yet. So, You are so unhappy about waking up ONCE a night, huh? Let’s see how you do with FOUR times. Awesome. And all I’ve got to say to that is, Thank God for COFFEE!

So other then make a few impromptu runs to Starbucks, we basically lounged around the house and spent as much time in the fantastic, Fall sunshine as possible. We took advantage of the warm weather to give Ruby a hose-bath in the front yard and then let Taylor walk her around the cul de sac.

We played, and watched, some football.

We spent a little time at the park.

We picked out our pumpkins.

We basically just had a wonderful weekend. I mean, with kids this cute, who needs to sleep?

Six months old

Happy half-year birthday to my little big man. It doesn’t seem possible that Luke is already six months old. I wonder how many times I have smooched that smiling, precious face in the last 24 weeks. I would say we are close to a million kisses. And how many times has he made my heart melt? About a million times as well. And how many times has he pooped so violently that it exploded out of his diaper and all over his clothes? I’m thinking that number’s pretty high too. Good thing that little stinker’s so adorable, otherwise I might hold the ridiculous-rate of laundry I’ve been doing over him.

So Luke is officially on the backside of being a newborn, and with his sweet and flirty personality poking though more and more everyday, I am so excited that we are completely past that floppy-infant stage and onto cute-baby stage. I mean, Yes, I’m a bit alarmed by how fast the last six months flew by, but after reading through some of my posts I recorded on what Taylor was doing around this time, I can’t wait for all the wonderfulness that is about to happen in this house with the upcoming milestones and holidays.

And while I know that I shouldn’t compare and contrast developmental-benchmarks between Taylor and Luke, because each kid is their own self, but she is the only point of reference that we’ve got. So the fact that at this point baby-Taylor was already sitting unassisted and Luke just face-plants into the carpet when you try to sit him up doesn’t stress me out. He’ll get it eventually. Or maybe he’ll just bypass sitting and stand up and jump, bounce and swing around the house, because that kid LOVES kicking his legs and catching air in all of his bouncing contraptions and the babyswing at the park.

So he’s not sitting up or crawling yet, but he’s becoming a bit of an expert at rolling towards an object that he wants. The other day I watched him as he log-rolled across the nursery to grab onto his mobile gym that I had stashed under his crib. He spied that soft, blue rattle on the other side of the room and revolved about five times until he finally reached the prize and tried to put it in his mouth. It was impressive. And I’m sure that if we spent more time on the carpet upstairs and not in the hardwood living room, he’d be closer to crawling. But he is getting better and better at lifting that giant melon of his off the floor, so I’m happy to know that our lounge area preference isn’t causing any serious setbacks.

We’ve gotten Luke onto more of a nap schedule this past month, with him laying down for a good 30-45 minutes in the morning and then for at least a few hours in the afternoon, which allows me some time to get house chores done and give his big sister some much needed one-on-one time. And I’m so happy about this, because if I know that I can get all my stuff done in that time while he’s snoozing and Taylor’s having her quiet time, then I’m much more likely to truly enjoy and fully participate in playtime when they’re both awake and ready to party, and not worry about the laundry that’s still in the washing machine or the food that needs to be diced and prepared for dinner. I just need to get those silly, not-that-important things off my mind. Because these kids are so freaking cute right now, and I am so blessed that I am home and able to savor every second of it. So there is no way I can justify sidestepping around playing with them in order to make sure our house is clean and organized.

So while we’re good on napping, he’s still not sleeping through the night. And in an effort to get him to sleep all night long, we’ve started him a bit before schedule on a few solid foods. First we tried rice cereal, which was utterly unclimactic, as it was nothing more than thickened up breastmilk. Which when it comes to his mother’s milk, Luke is strictly a boob-guy, and we’ve been fighting him to take a bottle for months. So us attempting to give him the good stuff via spoon was laughable, as he basically slapped it out of our hands and looked at us like, Um. Mom. Just lift up your shirt and feed me already.

And we kind of got the same reaction to bananas, but we were a bit more persistent with the real food. And he wasn’t too crazy about the sweet potatoes either. And just as I was about to give up all hope and concede that he was going to nurse until he was ten and I’d never get a full night’s sleep ever again, he showed some interest in mangoes.

And the next night he enjoyed a few peas.

And now we just need to work on him taking his bottle. And I totally blame myself for this one, as I haven’t allowed myself to be away from him for more then a handful of occasions, so giving him a bottle when his all-you-can-eat boob buffet is within an arms reach seemed silly. Plus I LOVE the just-him-and-me time that comes with nursing, the peaceful silence of him nuzzled into my body and me physically unable to do anything else but sit and stare at him, touch his soft, warm skin and just hold him. Maybe THAT’S why he’s such a big boy, as I probably take any chance I can get to have that closeness. But when he’s feeding and takes his free arm and stretches it towards me, grabbing my nose and mouth with his chubby little hand and pausing to hold my face... Well, it’s the best feeling in the world. It’s what makes waking up in the middle of the night bearable, washing four loads of soiled sheets and onesies a day manageable and trying to cook dinner while holding his hefty frame tolerable. He makes everything better. And I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him and that precious, flirty smile.

Showering Baby Scully

I hosted a baby shower for my dear friend, Paige, and the bean in her belly this past weekend. I love that when Paige and I met over eight years ago we were just two Midwestern-transplants that worked at the same bar, enjoyed watching football and shared a deep appreciation for Phish. And now here we are, two married old ladies with mortgages and kids. It’s been a wild and crazy ride, and I couldn’t think of a more wonderful person to grow with and confide in. And that’s why I wanted to make her shower a truly special occasion.

And what better place to hold a baby shower then the French Broad Chocolate Lounge? A fantastic, funky space that is purely dedicated to chocolate and other sinfully-sweet delicacies.

And thanks to my recent obsession with Pinterest, I’ve started to channel my inner-craftiness, which helped inspire me to make a wishing tree that everyone could contribute a special message to the baby on.

It was a great party. And I can’t wait to meet this new little peanut that will eventually become Luke’s partner in crime, and will hopefully be as tight as Taylor and Elliot are.

And thus begins a new, wonderful chapter in the Brooke-and-Paige friendship. And because she delivered Elliot a mere three months before I had Taylor, it is only fair that I give her the same laboring advice that she gave me before it was my turn – It hurts. It hurts really bad. HA!

Grandparent hangover

Chris's parents flew into town for a long weekend visit to give us a hand and spoil their only grandchildren. And we totally took advantage of the free-babysitting, with Chris and I boogying at the Trey Anastasio concert downtown on Thursday night, and me taking numerous long, hot showers and then blowing my hair dry more times in the last four days then I had the previous month. And Taylor and Luke took pretty good advantage of them too, scoring lots of new toys and clothes, and pretty much just not hearing the word, No, for their entire visit. Let's just say that I foresee a few tantrums the next few days as we come off our fabulous Grandparent-high. As well as me reverting back to my standard ponytail.

Falling for Fall

So as much as I am mourning the swimming pool closing and my skin is losing that fabulous summer glow, I am happy that the weather is starting to cool off and we are able to get our kicks at the park again. Happy Autumn!

Through Taylor’s eyes

So sometimes when I’m not trying to win the Mother of the Year award and I just need a break from the world’s most inquisitive three year old, I say the magic words that allow me a few coveted minutes of silence or the chance to take a shower – Hey Taylor, wanna play with my phone? Yep, pretty good parenting skills involved with that one. And while I have downloaded some learning apps onto my iPhone, it turns out her favorite thing to do with it as of late is to take pictures. And after taking my phone back from her after my break is over, I generally flip through the images she’s deemed important enough to capture. And here are some of my favorites.

This one she actually styled, requesting that I remove my glasses, take out my ponytail and hold her stuffed bunny.

Right here she took a picture of a toy she wants in the Fisher Price catalog. So she wouldn’t forget.

Here are some random shots of her toys, the Barbie movie she was watching and such:

She said she wanted to take a picture of her boo-boo.

And, lastly, a self-portrait.

Ah. My little photographer... Already following in her Aunt Beeba’s footsteps.