Taking care of business

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times:  I LOVE my job. I feel very fortunate to be able to stay home and be a mom all day everyday. But it is HARD work, y’all. Being a SAHM is a nonstop job – No sick-days, or paid vacation. No clocking in at eight and out at five. My shift NEVER ends.

But I’ve learned a couple tricks in my four year tenure that are surefire ways to entertain the kids, no matter how exhausted I am:  Turn on some dance music and let them boogie, and/or Lay on the floor and let them crawl all over me. Both require minimal effort on my part, and both seem to keep them happy and content for at least two minutes and eight seconds.

Yep. I LOVE my job. 

That’s my baby(doll lunch)

Yesterday our country club hosted it’s annual Baby Doll luncheon, which Taylor and a very-pregnant me attended last year. It was cute. All her little friends were there and everyone brought their favorite doll and ate cake and played games. It was like a little girl’s dream come true. So when this year’s fete came up on the calendar, I called and reserved us a spot in the doll-focused, tea-party-like, fancy fun. And then we realized that it coincided with Chris’s annual golf trip, so if Taylor and I wanted to go, Mr Big Man Luke would have to come with us to the girly function. Hmmm... So of course Luke was coming, right? And just to over-masculate him so he couldn’t come back at some point and hold it against me, I dressed him in a studly tie and had him carry a stuffed football in place of a baby doll.

Oh, come on! He was having a blast. What better stimulant overload than a gaggle of preschool girls showing off their dolls and dresses? And there were CUPCAKES. And chicken fingers. And balloons and party bags. I’d take that over a t-ball game any day of the week.

And while at first it was a joke, by the end he was practically the party mascot. Seriously. The kid’s a mini-Prince Charming.

And, once again, Taylor had an absolute blast with all her friends. This year she brought her Bitty Baby, Stella, who she dressed up in a mini-debutant gown. She was pretty proud of her.

And I love how comfortable Taylor is with this group of friends, and I just love watching all of these itty-bitty misses interact and have conversations. They are all growing out of toddler-dom and becoming small real people now, and they are so observant and always listening and absorbing EVERYTHING. And it has been fun to watch these little ladies grow up next to Taylor, and I have a feeling we’ll be getting annual pictures at this event in years to come. With or without my little stud.

Channeling her inner Beeba

Taylor got a fun toy from her Grampy and Grandma for her birthday:  A vtech Kidizoom camera. It’s pink and durable and oh-so-fun for her to walk around the house and take pictures with. It’s pretty sweet, and because it’s got a memory card and actually takes semi-decent pictures, I just had to share some of my budding photographer daughter’s work.

As you probably gathered, it's got a rotating lens that allows us to take self-portraits. And it also has a function that lets you add shapes and silly effects to the pictures. 

Her Beeba will be proud!

One year old

Luke is now one year old.

Little did I know when I met this giant baby boy a year ago how much he would change me. All for the better, of course. Except for the wrinkles, gray hairs and sleep deprivation. But don’t worry, it is absolutely impossible to hold a grudge against this kid. HE’S THAT CUTE.

Yep. That is one charming little person we've created. He has this irritatingly sweet way of being so cute while being a total stinker at the same time, like trying to crawl up the stairs while flashing a toothy smile and cooing, Bah-BAH? Baaaahhh, and then pointing a finger at me. He’s the cutest person in the world, and I’m the one that’s supposed to scold and try to lecture him on why he shouldn’t pull his sister’s hair? That’s just not fair. It’s impossible. I dare you to try it.

And he really is into everything, namely whatever his sister is doing. If Taylor is coloring, he’s dumping over the crayon box. If Taylor’s putting together a puzzle, he’s slapping pieces off the table. If Taylor’s playing her new favorite game, Zingo, he’s snatching bunches of the yellow tiles and spiking them around the room. If Taylor’s trying to fake-style my hair with her new princess styling kit, he’s slapping me in my face with the plastic brush. He just wants to play. And he’s lucky that he was blessed with the best, most tolerant big sister in the world. Really. I hope one day he truly appreciates it, because I know I wasn’t that nice to my little brother.

This past month was a super fun one, even though it began with a double ear infection at the beach. Luke is such a happy guy, that you know something’s wrong when he’s whiny and clingy. And thankfully we got him healed early-on and able to enjoy the rest of the two-week trip to paradise.

But when we went to his one year checkup to get his new stats – 26 pounds, 12 ounces, stretching 31 inches long and big head still totally off the charts – I was totally expecting our pediatrician to send us to an ENT to discuss tubes. But then Luke’s ear were clear and everything looked good. And with springtime and the end of school in our sights, I think we might actually be healthy and happy for a stretch. Hooray!

So he’s still measuring in the 95^th-percentile for weight and height compared to other boys his age. In fact, he’s the size of a normal two year old. Which is probably why I was certain he weighed about forty pounds as I have been carrying his adorable, yet deadweight body around all day and everyday. I am the strongest woman alive. Seriously. I haven’t had to lift weights for over a year. I should lease him out to our local fitness clubs.

And even though Taylor was walking, more like running, everywhere by the time she turned one, I’m totally fine that he’s just crawling still. He can pop himself up on any sort of stable surface, his favorite is any of our toilets, and he has just recently become comfortable standing solo, so I KNOW we’re close. He’s gonna do it at some point. And I’m going to take advantage of a crawler while I’ve got one, because once he starts walking it’s a whole new gameplan. I’m still kicking myself that I was so anxious for him to start crawling and moving. What was I thinking?

So it was a super fun month. Full of action. And the closer we crept to his big birthday, the more I started lamenting how fast the year went and I started getting emotional. Where did my little baby go? And when I brought this up to Chris, he agreed with me and then said truthfully, Um, Brooke. You’ve spent EVERY moment with him this past year. You can think it went fast, but there’s no possible way you could have spent MORE time with him. So stop stressing.

And like many other moments in the past nearly-thirteen years, my husband was right. I can’t complain about it going too fast, because I was lucky enough to be able to stay home and spend everyday, every first-milestone and almost every moment with my son. Not everyone can say that. And I recognize how wonderful that is. And I don’t thank Chris enough for that.

And another reason I feel lucky is that... Well... Luke is sleeping through the night. I KNOW! I almost don’t even want to talk about it in case I jinx it. It got really bad, y’all. We were so close to being done nursing and then we are at the beach with a double ear infection and all sharing a room in a two-bedroom condo with Chris’s parents. He was up at all hours and I couldn’t let him cry, so he would end up in bed with us every night. It was worse than when he was weeks old. And after almost two weeks of this pattern of maybe four hours of good sleep a night, I was about to crack. We’re talking Loco in the Coco. Something had to change. And luckily my parents came into town and Taylor was able to bunk with them in our guest suite and we let Luke cry-it-out. And I was SO tired that it wasn’t nearly as heart-wrenching as I thought it would be. And it took three nights, and then he figured it out. And for the past week we have slept more than we have in the past year. He still wakes up and cries at least once a night, but we let him work it out for a few minutes and then he goes back to sleep. Wow. Big sigh of relief there. I’m still a little nervous talking about it.

So, yep. Just when you thought this kid couldn’t get any cuter, he lets me sleep. Get him a t-shirt:  Best one year old boy in the world.

Oh and it’s about to get so much more fun. I remember this age with Taylor, and with Luke’s smiley personality on top of that smoochable face, we’re in for a good time. So many more firsts in the next twelve months, and I am hoping that now that I’m getting more sleep – wink, nod, knock on wood – that I can fully appreciate and savor every moment coming our way. Because this kid is fun. And I don’t want to miss a thing. 

Luke turns One

So we wrapped up celebrating Taylor turning four with her birthday party on Friday afternoon, and woke up Saturday morning bright and early to observe Luke turning one. In fact, my eyes popped open at 6.15 that morning and I just laid there and watched the numbers on my clock move forward seven minutes until it was 6.22. And my mind was flooded with memories of a year ago at that moment, meeting and falling in love with my son. Happy birthday, Luke!

And you only turn one once. So of course we wanted to fill his day with as much special, Luke-loving happiness as possible. But we kept it just our family. And even though my middle-child sister clearly expressed her angst over the fact that Princess Taylor got a first birthday party with lots of people and fanfare, I just felt like it would be a little silly to put together a big party for Luke. One reason being that our friends are his friends, and they just got done celebrating and buying gifts for Taylor. And let’s be honest, the first birthday party is really more for the parents than it is for the kid. Luke doesn’t know it’s his birthday or cares if people are singing to him or watching him eat his cake. So we kept it in the family and had a special Luke-day with the people that love him the most – Me, Chris and Taylor. And, you know what, it was perfectly low-key. And I was able to focus on making my little birthday boy the happiest he could be, and not worry about entertaining guests. Win-win.

So everyone was happy. Well... Everyone but Taylor. As amazing of a big sister as she is, she didn’t quite handle her little brother having his special day very well. But, in her defense, it was the day after her own week of birthday party fun, which meant she was coming down from her own celebratory cake and presents high. So Saturday would have been a rough day regardless. But throw on cake and presents for Luke and she was a bit of a monster about it. It’s all fun and games until it’s someone else’s birthday.

So we spent the day doing all the things Luke loves to do:  Throwing balls around the house, blowing bubbles outside, eating snappea crisps and grapes, dancing to the running mix on my iPod and stealing whatever toy his big sister is playing with and crawling away at lightning speed. And while we forwent filling the nursery with balloons, we did get him his own inflatable to play with drag around all day. And not only was endlessly entertaining for him, I was able to keep track of him crawling through the house when I couldn’t see him. And it makes me want to tie a balloon to him everyday.

And, of course, we had cake. That’s the best part of having a kid turn one:  Putting a giant serving of cake and frosting in front of them and watching them go to town. And my boy did not disappoint.

He DESTROYED that cake. By the end he was covered from the top of his head to in between his toes. You would have been impressed. At some point in our son’s life, he’s going to hit a golf ball a mile or throw a perfect spiral or do long division in his head, and people are going to look at him and say, That is Chris’s son. He inherited those sets of skills from his father. But when Luke had both hands full of chocolate cake and was obsessively shoving as much sweet goodness into his mouth as possible, THAT was MY son. He got that from his Mama. It was a proud moment.

And then we opened presents. And for a boy that has been entertained by the Princesses hand-me-downs for the past year, he was thrilled to have some shiny, new boy-toys to call his very own. Our present to him was creating his own personal ballpit using his pack-and-play and a giant bag of tiny plastic balls. He was in heaven. Best present ever.

So it was an awesome day for an amazing little boy. And from here out, I’m sure the parties will only get bigger and crazier and involve way more work, so in no way do I regret just having it be the four of us. And I don’t think Luke would have changed a thing either. It was perfect.

Four year olds know how to party

Since Taylor’s birthday was on a Tuesday and she only goes to preschool on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, she got to keep her special-day going to the next day at school. This was her first school birthday party, and it was pretty much the most adorable thing ever. She got to wear a crown all day, Miss Kim read a special birthday book to her at lunch time and Luke and I brought sweet treats to share with her and all of her school friends.

And, of course, we HAD to have a party to commemorate, play and eat cake with her other loved friends who are not in her class. Yes, over the past four years my little Miss has accumulated quite the gang of buddies. And because our house is not up to capacity, I hosted the shindig that Friday afternoon at her favorite park, allowing us to invite anyone and everyone who would have fun celebrating. And I was so happy that almost all of her special friends were able to come, and that the weather was perfect for a fun afternoon at the park.

That’s a lot of little people. And when present opening time came, it was pure chaos. It was just a mob of tiny bodies pushing together and wrapping paper and bows flying in all directions. My friend Jen described it perfectly, comparing it to feeding seagulls on the beach. Lots of beings swooping and screeching at a common object. And when it was done, I had absolutely no idea what came from who. It was insanity.

And as we loaded the car with all her loot and made our way home, I was able to breath a sigh of relief:  One child’s birthday and parties completely done, the next one starts tomorrow. And such is our lives from April 10^th through 14^th for the rest of time. But, Hey! these kids are cute enough to warrant it.