Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Monday, January 3, 2011

Taking time.

It takes time to develop things - relationships, careers, BABIES, life is an evolution, as is this blog. I have such high hopes to air the thoughts in my head, capture on paper, create a memory I intend to go back and read. But I suppose in my ability to try to take time to blog, which I have failed,  I have been taking time to enjoy other things. Like,

Beautiful faces.

Christmas trees.
Friends.


Moments.
Family.

My new house, my every day struggles to cook healthy, delicious food for my family. My time is more precious than ever and in the attempt to do it all I still find a way to feel like I'm not taking enough time. As I closed out 2010 I took time to just sit, in my house, with my husband, champagne in hand - and celebrated. As I welcomed in 2011 I did the same thing - spent the morning snuggling with my babies and took the afternoon for lunch and drinks with some great friends. Taking time is what I will do this year.

My resolution.

(**Note that all other resolutions I never can keep up with still apply - workout more, read more, blog more, make photobooks**) :)

Happy New Year friends, may it be your best.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Holidays

Brooklyn saw Santa on Sunday, she said "TRICK OR TREAT." God bless her, the holidays at 2 years old just all run together. As expected, both my kids were just a little confused by the whole Santa ordeal.

I bought Elf on a Shelf. Genius concept and totally working.

I'm the new puree queen. Sneaking veggie purees in almost every meal, got you B! Thank you Double Delicious for the amazing recipes that are so tasty.

We've watched almost all of my favorite Xmas movies already - Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th, you get it. Those paired with champagne are the ideal way to kick off the season.
Thanksgiving was at our new house this year. Hosted 15 people and pulled it off - got my Martha Stewart on and managed to not make anyone sick. Score!

Ty is huge. He's 6 months old Wednesday, for the 90000th time, I can't believe how fast this is going.

Christmas decorations are up, my house feels so warm and cozy, except when Brooklyn took a bite out of a GLASS ornament. It was an icicle she claimed look like a carrot. At least she was going after a veggie.
Happy hours, holiday parties, booked weekends from here until the New Year. I love the holiday season and can't wait to celebrate with my babies, family, and friends.

So much to be thankful for.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Transitions.

To stay consistent with several of my last posts, as few and far between as they may be, I need to talk about a very important transition. Changes. A transition that I think subconsciously I was putting off simply to slow down time...

My littlest G is sleeping in his own bed, upstairs, in his own room.

My husband and I have never had our kids sleep in our actual bed, but next to it in a bassinet. It's so much easier those first few months to just reach your arm out, find the paci, feel them breath, get up to feed them when you're a foot away. Listening to a newborn baby breath in the still of the night warms my soul.
Two weeks old.

Blink.

Five months old now, ready to move more, stretch out, kick, be on.his.own.

So last week we did it. We took him upstairs to his room, laid him down in the crib, he was asleep in less than 5 minutes. My sweet little baby boy, all grown up already, I stayed there for a few minutes just soaking it all in, letting go, transitioning.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Crazytown, population 4.

This fall has been nothing short of insane for my family. No bullshit, no exaggeration, and those of you that have been around me have heard all of it, every last detail. Thank you for being there!
It all started with this grand idea to list our house, cause, you know, the babies need some room to run. Given the market is craptastically slow we figured it would be months before it sold. Offer came in 3 days later. Here we go.................

Listing a house with two small kiddos is tough, because you have to stage it as though it's picture perfect at all times. No dried food on the counters, hidden cheerios under the couch, laundry, toys, normal life has to been masked so that no one gets scared away. On that note we're forever grateful it took no time at all.

So we move into "lets find a new house mode" and it took a minute for me to find one we loved. But what we found, we loved.

Minor kink - the husband decided that it was time to leave his current job. It's a long, drawn out story that I'd be glad to tell one day but at the end of the day - nothing about his old company is worthy of me even wasting my breath anymore. What's done is done and I supported him 100%. He did manage a payout, so at the end of the day - he's a bad ass and thank you old job for the down payment on our new house.

So yes, we decided to move forward with our new house - much more space, great neighborhood, perfect for us.

Oh, and lets not forget in all of this I went back to work. Minor detail.

Oh, and did I mention we have a 4 month old and a two year old.

Birthdays to celebrate, football season to tend to, pumpkin bread to make, all of my normal fall activities were weaved in and out of this tangled to-do list.

We are incredibly blessed, however, because two days after my husband left his job he got an offer from an outstanding company he had been interviewing with. Thank you baby Jesus and everyone else. Literally, blessed beyond measure.

Back to that to-do list:

New school for the kiddos
Pack
Pack more.
Pack.
Schedule move.
Change of address
New utilities
Pack the rest of that crap that never makes it into boxes.
Insert work trip to Nashville mid-move.
Cure 2 year old with ear infection.
Unpack boxes.
Unpack more...
Halloween with friends (so fun, and so needed!)
Trick or treat with kiddos
We have no groceries...
Woops, strep throat. Quick shot in the hip and recovered. Minor hiccup.
Hubs starts new job.
New homeowners bitching about a missing stove top knob that was supposed to be delivered, not here yet...

It's ENDLESS! It's life.

But, we are over the hump and I swear I can finally see the dust settling. I can't wait to be boring again, able to call friends back, play on FB when the kids go to bed, my biggest task at hand is scheduling our ugly sweater Christmas party. My favorite time of year, can't wait to have my house put together, my kiddos in their xmas pj's, a fire in the fireplace, and to be home.

Almost there....

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Waiting for T.

I take pictures all the time on my iPhone. Capture, reflect back, move on to the next one. I finally uploaded them to my pc today and it was literally like going back in time to relive so many amazing moments. My actual camera does the same thing but it's as if I didn't expect on my phone, like that picture I took was to somehow freeze time, but never going to be hung on a wall somewhere. I should scroll them more often, because in the 378 images I have on there I climb a mountain of memories.

Specifically, our last outing with Brooklyn before her baby brother arrived. We loaded up and went to Build A Bear (amazing freaking idea of a store why couldn't I have thought of that!!!) and out to lunch. I literally can flash back and be in that day.
Mingo arrived in our family that day. Mingo is her pink flamingo's name, because you see, Brooklyn didn't want anything to do with bears, or puppies, she picked out a giant pink bird. Which is exactly why I love that kid.
We went to lunch afterwards and I just remember sitting at the table thinking this might just be our last meal at a restaurant as a family of 3.

And I was right.

Later that week, this happened.

Monday, October 11, 2010

TWO.

Dear Brooklyn,

You turned two over a month ago, this letter is long overdue. Blame your little brother, work, or your father for anything related to the delay in writing you this.

In the blink of an eye, literally, you have grown up. You speak in full sentences and you know exactly what you want. If you want juice you simply find your cup, go to the refrigerator, open it up, move a wine bottle or milk out of the way, and grab the juice. You then proceed to walk over to me and say 'open mama, taaaaank you mama.'And then you pitter-patter away to your next adventure.

Speaking of adventures - you are having many of them. You love to sing, dance, play in the dirt, wash Daddy's car, play with Barbies, play tea party with mimi or mama, "cook" with mommy in the kitchen, feed baby Ty, swim in your bathtub, play trains, paint pictures, rock and put your babies to bed (sometimes in timeout), pretend to be an animal and sometimes even a dinosaur, play princesses, dress up, put on makeup (chapstick)...your little imagination is always on. I cherish it. I want to snatch you up and freeze time as watching you grow is nothing short of amazing. I tear up a lot when no one is looking as I realize the moments I am having with you are some of the best times of my life.

You are VERY dramatic these days, "I stuck mommy" (while under a throw pillow), "WHOA, I fall down" (on purpose), "It's slippppery mommy" (you just have socks on), "Oh no, wah are we gonna doooo." (I have no idea what you are even talking about with that one), "Oh MY GOSH!!!!" (again, most of the time have no idea what you are referring to), "Is to heaby mommy" (It's just your blanket B, you can lift it), and my favorite "WE HAVE TO GET OUTTA HERE!" (as you run from something that I clearly cannot see). My little damsil in distress, how you melt my heart.

You're not off the hook though Miss B. You are starting to show your Daddy and I all of the traits that make up who you are. You're persistent, creative, competitive, demanding, and can be quite the diva - full of attitude. Remind me when you're older to tell you about the MELTDOWN you had in Central Park while in NYC. That was a fun one. So much so that a cop stopped your father and asked him if that was his child since you were screaming so hard for mommy. That was either before or after you hit your dad in the face. He can tell you about that one too. :)

"Terrible-two's" aside you are the most remarkably loving little girl, intelligent and observant beyond your years. You make us laugh so hard we cry, and you bring an energy into any room that makes everyone light up. Your mimi, papa, grandpa, and nana love you. Your uncles are already scheming on how they will be protecting you as you grow, and your little brother looks at you with eyes of adoration.

You are my B, my B-sker, my angel, my Brooklyn. I love you more than any mommy could ever explain to the world. Happy belated birthday my love.

The Mama.