Eight months old

The most beautiful baby boy in the entire world is eight months old.

I mean, COME ON! How on earth am I ever going to be able to say No to this precious little person? When he stares at me with those blue eyes and then cracks a huge two-and-a-half-tooth grin, it is physically impossible for me to not grab his chubby cheeks and try to put his big bald head in my mouth. If this kid would start sleeping through the night, I’m pretty sure he would qualify as the most perfect baby ever created.

Yes, we are still working out the kinks in the sleeping department. And I’ll blame teething and colds and whatever else I can come up with, but what it boils down to is that as chilled-out and happy as Luke is during the daylight hours, when it’s time to sleep he just wants to be in MY arms. And while I adore my son and realize that at some point he’s not going to want to be rocked to sleep, I AM EXHAUSTED. And no expensive undereye cream or concealor can mask the overtiredness that has taken over my body. But THANK GOD! for my borderline-unhealthy addictions to coffee and exercise-induced endorphins, and for my ever-tolerant and helpful husband. Otherwise I would have totally hit the wall by now.

So during the time spent when the sun is up, we are having a blast watching Luke’s little personality develop. He is just so happy, and when he gets really excited he whoops like a bird, swings his arms in the air and bounces up and down on his tush so enthusiastically you would think there was a pot of gold in front of him. But it’s just a plastic ring entertaining him, or a glimpse of his big sister running through the room, or a little roly-poly time on the carpet with Ruby.

Something that is sure to put him in a delightful mood is his bath. And now that he is so stable sitting up, we just let him freestyle in the tub without a baby-bather. And he’ll just sit there and pump his arms up and down and up and down in attempts to pop all the bubbles and splash every drop of water out of the tub. It’s adorable. But you just need to make sure you’re at a reasonable distance if you want to get pictures.

Playtime is getting more and more fun for Luke, as he is totally content just sitting in the middle of his big, soft blanket with a bunch of toys surrounding him. We’ve tried bribing him with every shiny, plastic thing in the toybox to get him to crawl, but as soon as he flips over onto his back he just starts doing the happy carpet-dance and forgets all about getting onto all fours. And as anxious as I am for him to reach that milestone, I am totally fine with him waiting until after the Christmas tree is gone before going mobile. Because cleaning fistfuls of pine needles out of a baby’s mouth sounds pretty awful.

But he will crawl eventually. And I also know that at some point he is going to sleep through the night. And somewhere down the road he’s going to be too big for me to wrap my arms around his soft, warm body and snuggle in the rocking chair in the wee hours of the morning. So I need to enjoy these baby-moments – His smiling and shrieking and splashing, because when he’s grown, these are the things that I’ll miss the most, and NOT the sleeping. And no matter how old he gets, he will always have my heart wrapped around his finger, and I will never ever be able to frown at him while he’s looking at me with those big, blue eyes.

Hark! Taylor's preschool class sings

For the past few weeks our house has been buzzing with the selected Christmas carols that Taylor’s class was chosen to sing in her first-ever preschool holiday program. Each day at school, Miss Kim and Miss Kay would go over the lyrics, melodies and adjoining spirit-fingers for about five songs with all the kids, and each afternoon when I picked up Taylor, she would belt out the tunes in the backseat our entire ride home. DECK da halls wif foughs of bally, FAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH! WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH!

And the night before the big event, the Princess was SO excited that she was buzzing through the house squealing, TOMORROW! TOMORROW IS MY CONCERT! And after putting her to bed over and over and over and OVER! again, she finally fell asleep at 10:30 that night, only to shoot out of her bed like a bullet at seven the next morning, all jazzed to put on her super special Christmas dress and get to school to get the party started.

So it really was no surprise that by the time the noon concert started, Taylor was a total wreck. And even though she looked like she could fall asleep at any minute, she was still the most beautiful Christmas angel I had ever seen.

She totally rocked Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but by Silent Night you could tell she was exhausted. Here she is giving the business to one of her chipper classmates:

And she was hardly fazed by a surprise appearance by Santa Claus:

But after a quick refreshment break after the show, she was sugar-buzzed and ready to be festive and merry with all of her classmates again.

Did y’all catch that above? Notice Miss Elliot’s dress? Yep, without knowing what Taylor was wearing, Elly-bean went shopping with her GiGi and, of all the dresses, she picked out the exact same pink-fluffy design as her best buddy. How adorable is that?

In fact, the entire concert was adorable. All these little, dressed-up kids screaming the holiday classics at the top of their lungs. It was fabulous, and probably one of the more entertaining things I had ever seen. And I am thrilled that we are now able to add it to the ever-growing list of holiday traditions and happenings for our family.

Here comes Santa Claus

We attended the Bound family’s rocking Christmas party last night, with an extra bit of holiday cheer included: A special appearance from the big guy, himself – Santa Claus.

And I’m happy to report that this is the first year that the sight of a real-live Santa Claus didn’t scare the bejeezus out of Taylor. In fact, she was totally awestruck. And this is pretty much the expression she held on her precious face the entire time he was at the party:

So Santa was sweet enough to bring each of the kiddos a little gift:

And then also read them all a Christmas book. And, only in Asheville, would Kris Kringle remind all the little children the importance of recycling during the holidays.

And then came the big Tah-dah! – Being able to sit on Santa’s lap and ask him what you wanted for Christmas. And Taylor showed no fear, as she climbed up onto him and quietly asked him, face-to-face, for a ballerina doll.

And after she told me what she asked for, I was all, A Ballerina? Really? And she said, Yes, Mama. Santa said he bring me a ballerina doll that I can name and dance with. Which is good to know, considering this Santa hasn’t done ANY Christmas shopping yet.

And then, just for kicks, I introduced Luke to Father Christmas:

Classic. We had to get a Screaming-baby-on-Santa’s-lap picture for our collection. Like I said earlier, this was the first time Taylor didn’t scream or run away crying from Santa. So I’m glad at least one of my kids won’t get a stocking full of coal this Christmas.

How to pick the perfect Christmas dress

First you scour the store, and snatch up any sparkly number in your size that catches your eye. Then you secure the biggest, brightest dressing room in the store, and lay out your pickings.

Next you take your time trying on each and every dress, making sure you jump, twirl and pose in each ensemble. And be sure to have your Mom there to take pictures, because sometimes the mirror doesn’t truly reflect how gorgeous or drab the garment actually is.

Now this is important – Be sure to listen to your inner-fashionista when making the final decision. All the dresses may look fancy and fit you well, but you will know when you’ve found the PERFECT dress. And even if your Mom says it’s the least Christmas-like dress of the bunch and tries to steer you towards one that she likes better, just remind her that YOU are the one wearing it. And then give her a big hug and kiss, and tell her how much you love that perfect dress and how you just can’t wait to wear it for the whole world to see.

Voila! The dress is yours. Now the hard part: Waiting until next week's preschool Christmas program for the unveiling.

Deck the halls

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the Amys house, as last weekend we put up our tree and other festive decor. I kept feeling like it was too early to embellish the house with Santas and such, but then Chris reminded me that Christmas is just a few short weeks away, so I guess I’m just in denial that this year is almost over. And not wanting to be a Scrooge, we hoisted the beautiful Frazier Fir we scored from our friend’s Christmas tree farm, and let the Princess go crazy.

Luke got into the spirit too.

And after throwing all the ornaments on it, I took a step back and happily announced that it was the least-attractively decorated tree we have ever had. And that may sound wrong to say, but it is. The ornaments are concentrated in a two-foot area on one side, one of the strands of lights died after we wrapped it around the tree and the reigning angel’s head-light has been replaced by a regular nightlite bulb. It is the complete opposite of the trendy designer-trees, where all the ornaments are of one color palette and have bows and ribbons wrapped around it. But our non-fashionable tree is a FAMILY tree, and I adore it. And as the years pass by, and more and more of the dainty, fragile ornaments are replaced by cardstock and cottonballs, I will LOVE it even more. It’s not gonna win any tree beauty contests, but it something that our family decorated TOGETHER. And, for this Mama, that’s what the holidays are all about.

Their kids would have cheeks the size of Texas

Taylor: Hey, Mama. I wanna have cupcakes AND cake at my wedding.

Me: Wedding, eh? Who are you getting married too?

T: Yuke.

M: Yeah, well, you can’t marry your brother, Sweetheart.

T: Not NOW, Mama. I’ll marry him when he gets bigger.

M: But, Honey. Someday you’re gonna meet a handsome prince who is super nice to you, and THAT’S who you’ll marry.

T: But, Mama, Yuke IS my handsome prince.

Putting things in perspective

Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait till tomorrow,
for babies grow up,
we've learned to our sorrow.
So settle down cobwebs,
dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby,
and babies don't keep.