Our Week in Photos

 Oh man, we have had lots of early mornings around here lately.  Luckily, my boys have great smiles and are happy if there are trucks around.

A mall closeby is having a LEGO exhibit of American monuments; how cool is this Liberty Bell?!

A pensive little dude at the park last weekend.
Is there anything cuter than a baby in stripes and denim?

Cupcakes at a birthday party.  How great is that wall behind him with the pink frosting?

2 is a really, really fun age!

My modus operandi these days is just buy any clothing with a machine on it.  August will wear it.

Bash is almost done being confined to the stroller at the playground.  The little man wants to move!

Do you see this kid making a Vulcan 'Live long and prosper' sign with his hand?!  Totally unintentional!

A dear friend from college was passing through this week, and I got to sneak a long lunch with her and her fun, very sweet, gorgeous daughter!  We haven't seen each other in 7 years, so we had a great time catching up while watching the kids play.  August was so happy to have a girl keeping up with him!

Bash is all about pulling up on anything he possibly can: our legs, furniture, bathtub ledges, Mia.  His tenacity is really admirable!

Abbi's Happy Things

I just picked up this tank in the navy blue shade, and am deeply in love.  It's perfectly cut on top, and the hem adds just the right amount of coverage without being too long.  And it's on sale!

My man Ryan Adams covered T. Swift's 1989, and his version of 'Bad Blood' is way better than the original.  And shoutout to my sister-in-law, who turned me onto Andra Day.   'Rise Up' is so, so good!

Hein brought Rosie Revere, Engineer for the kids on her last visit, and I have yet to read it to August without tearing up.  It's a really wonderful story about a young girl who hides her handmade gizmos until her Great-great-aunt Rosie (the Riveter) tells her that failures are not the end of a story.  The  line, 'Before it crashed, Rosie, before that...it flew!' gets me.  I promise it's not a sad story!  I just think of how scared of failure I was as a kid, and love that message of 'keep on keeping on' for kids.

This facial oil from Boots smells absolutely divine.  It's so much lighter than the Cetaphil I'd been using for my pregnancy and nursing dry skin, and JP comments on the scent every. single. night.  (You can also find it at Target.)

The Other Typist

via

This post is written almost exclusively for my wonderful Grandma in North Carolina, who suggested I read this book years ago.  I wrote it down on my 'To Read' list, and finally got around to it!  GINC, I do always take your suggestions to heart, though it takes me a while to get to them sometimes!  You did good with this one.  I had a very hard time putting it down at bedtime. 

At first glance, this novel appears to be about just another secretary working in NYC in the 1920s.  Rose is one of three typists who takes down the confessions of criminals at a precinct, and, though in her mid-20s, she is a stickler for the rules.  Her worldview is turned upside down when Odalie walks though the doors of her office to take over a fourth typist position.  Orally is everything Rose is not: glamorous, flirtatious, wealthy, and self-possesed.  The two strike up a friendship that threatens Rose's job, her lifestyle, and even her freedom.  

The last page of this book gave me chills.  It was so striking!  Although the foreshadowing can be a bit heavy-handed, I'll chalk it up to Rose being overly dramatic.  This book has a lot going for it: an unreliable narrator, the fertile setting of NYC at a time when women were becoming more liberated, the mystery of where Odalie actually came from.  Rindell wrote a great mystery.  A great book to snuggle up with on a fall day...

Our Week in Photos

 Last Friday, I had THE most handsome dates.  JP and I don't often brave the restaurant scene with the boys, but were feeling particularly courageous and were rewarded with good behavior from both kids!  Hooray!

 August legitimately tried to tell us that he hadn't eaten JP's toast with jam.  With this face.  Dude, we were not born yesterday.

The boys and I went on a lovely hike last Saturday afternoon, and August walked the last half mile!  I love watching him be active and explore our nature trails.

Bash was pretty content to watch from the stroller.
Sidenote: can you believe that little face?!  He is just so perfect.

Costco has double-seated carts, which is AMAZING for shopping with August and Bash together.  I put Bash in first, and his face seriously LIT UP when I strapped August in next to him.  Of course, I waited until we were inside the store to take a picture of them, but, trust me, Bash was the picture of excitement a mere moment before this was snapped.

The little man has discovered a love for dinosaurs, and this is his favorite thing at the playground.

 We ventured to a local fire station for a friend's birthday Thursday, and August was thrilled until the moment we got within 10 feet of the fire trucks.  At that point, he was all, 'I do NOT like fire trucks, and would prefer to cry over here on a bench, thanks.'  It was massively dramatic, although we were able to get him to put on a hat and wander around the firehouse with a huge buffer between him and any vehicles.
We then proceeded to Firehouse Subs for lunch with two double strollers, three toddlers, two babies, and three exhausted women.  The guys behind the counter were really psyched to see us.

This is my favorite new shirt!  I love birthday gifts!

Bashy Boo!

Oh man, poor Bash is suffering from Second Child Syndrome like whoa.  His baby book isn't quite as up to date as August's was at this point, all of his clothes are hand me downs, and we are forever calling him August or Mia.  Which is crazy, because he's the cutest little man on his own!  The baby state is kind of exhausting and it's easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of his sleeping and eating routine, but when I take a step back, it is just awesome how much of his own person he embodies.
Could that sentence have been put any more awkwardly?

At seven months (!!), Bash is blowing me away with his independence.  Perhaps in an effort to keep up with the big kids he sees on a daily basis, and his own big brother, Bash is seriously on the move.  He's crawling, pulling himself to standing against whatever he can get his hands on, and is enamored of all the toys scattered around our house.  It's so cool that he's already in this stage of mobility; he's been working so hard for weeks, so his sense of accomplishment must be high to be here so early.
Oh, and Bash has his first tooth!  He cut it while on vacation in Florida, so that was super fun, but he loves to show it off with lots of big smiles and laughs for whoever will look at him.

We're on a very basic meal plan of breakfast and dinner purees.  So far he's liked everything we've put in front of him, though we have to feed him fast because the boy is impatient.  We shovel it in for five minutes, then give him a little water, and let him crawl around while the rest of us eat or start bath time.  He still nurses a few times a day, and he gets a couple of formula bottles throughout the day.  It works for us, and gives me a little more flexibility for our days.

His sleep routine has been pretty rough for the last few weeks, but I see some improvement this week.  He goes down at about 7, wakes up for a couple of pacifier adjustments, eats at 5ish, then sleeps again until 730am.  August's sleep has been broken up as well, so JP and I are kind of in that zombie parenting state lately.  Baby sleep is always in flux, so we just shrug and know it's apt to change again soon.

I didn't really think having two kids would be so doable and gratifying.  We have rough moments, but 80% of our days are really lovely and sprinkled with heart-eye moments.  Bash always looks around for August when he wakes up in his crib, and, if big brother is in there, his eyes just light up.  When I'm holding him in a store or playground, he'll look at me with these beautiful, soft eyes and touch my cheek.  We just adore him.