Do the Hokey Pokey

We are having a Hawkeye party at the Amys house tonight, celebrating Iowa knocking off No. 3-ranked Penn State at Kinnick this afternoon.

This photo was taken immediately after the winning field goal and our house calmed down - and I'm not going to tell you which one was crying and which one had their shirt off, doing the bull dance.

Go hard or go home

I was enjoying a few minutes of silence while making dinner last night, when I immediately snapped out of my mini-bliss moment to wonder, Why is it so quiet? And this is what I found.

Now that’s one tired Taylor-tot.

Just a swingin’

The weather in Asheville, and the rest of the country, has been bananas-good the past few days. And because Taylor-tot has a stuffy nose from teething, I thought yesterday afternoon would best be spent outside. So we met up with Chris at Jones Park after work. A park that consists of a swingset that puts all other swingsets to shame.

And while Taylor isn’t old enough to enjoy most that this park has to offer, it did have baby swings and slides. She was not at all impressed with the slide, pretty much yawned going down it. But she was LOVING the swing. Squealing, smiling and swinging - We had a great afternoon.

An Aha! moment

I have been practicing yoga for roughly six years. And while I’m not the most nimble, graceful person in the world, I am a HUGE yoga fan. Literally. At first I was completely intimidated by the classes, consisting of tiny, waif-like dancers and pretzel-like instructors, but after each stretch-fest my body and mind would feel tons better than it did walking in. I was hooked.

And because I live in hippy-dippy Asheville, I was able to extend my yoga-ness during the second and third trimester of my pregnancy with Prenatal Yoga and Water Yoga (Woga). Now THAT was a sight. An extremely bloated, eight-months pregnant me in a tankini, going to Woga every Saturday with the elderly women and men of Asheville, where I was constantly bombarded with intelligent, old-people comments such as, Haven’t you had that baby yet? And, You look like you’re about to pop! And, When I was pregnant I was running ten miles a day until I gave birth. And because I was raised with manners, I would just smile and take it in. And then make a bee-line for the closest McDonald’s after class for a giant chocolate shake and large fries.

Well, some of the pregnancy yoga must have passed through my belly, because Taylor’s new, favoritest sleeping position is Child’s pose. A pose that I never thought about the name, just the position. And now I get it. Child’s. Pose.

And let’s not forget Unhappy-Baby-Because-Momma-Woke-Me-Up pose.

Halloween recap

Last night we met up with the Scully family and headed to an annual Halloween celebration in their neighborhood. And by the time we got both the girls in their costumes and finished our beers, it was already dark and dangerously close to melt-down hour. But we felt like living life on the edge, and headed down to the block party anyway.

And when I say party, that’s what I mean. PARTY. I have never experienced anything like it in all of my 30 Halloweens. This neighborhood barricaded off about four blocks and hella-decorated each and every residence into haunted houses. There were tons of scary and silly costumes. And the pumpkins! There were so many detailed, how-did-they-do-that? pumpkin carvings that it made Chris’s and mine look like amateur hour.

The girls were so overwhelmed with everything and everyone that they forgot they were dressed as a ladybug and a duck and decided to just go with the flow. But by 8:30, just when things were starting to get going, we up and left to avoid a Halloween come-apart. Because we’re not that foolish. Nothing’s worse than a crying, exhausted ladybug. Scratch that. Nothing’s worse than a crying, exhausted, teething ladybug. Now THAT’S scary!

Trick or treat

Today is Taylor’s very first Halloween. Which means starting tonight and lasting until she makes us stop, we will be dressing her up in ridiculous costumes and letting her know that for once a year it’s totally okay to accept candy from strangers. As long as you give your Momma some of your candy. Lots and lots of candy. Mmmm… candy.

And two nights ago, after Taylor went to sleep, Chris and I opened a bottle of wine and carved our pumpkins on our living room floor. And mid-carve, we realized that we needed this pumpkin practice because next year Taylor’s going to be old enough to help. Which means that Daddy is totally going to be Mr. Pumpkin Guts Remover for the next umpteen years. The stringies gross me out. We had a blast and created our best pumpkins ever. It’s fun to have fun.

Finger licking good

Well, we are on week three of solid food and it’s clear to say that Taylor is still LOVING her sweet potatoes.

She loves them so much, as you can see, that she devours her hands after each spoonful in order to savor every bite. Which is flattering for me, because I actually cut, steamed, peeled, pureed and froze these morsels. But it also concludes that we’re going to have start saving for etiquette lessons.