Screech

So Luke is learning the power of his voice. The SCREECH is the newest addition to hie repertoire of noises. Sometimes used in annoyance, and sometimes in joy, he is suddenly tossing it into his routine several times a day. Its very cute, like, once. Maybe even three times. After that I wish I could "un-learn" him of it. Part of me is starting to wonder if I am creating this ~ thinking back over our past couple of weeks I have realized that Nate has been away a lot. When he is away, Luke spends every moment of his day with Mom, shopping, running errands, talking walks, and spending LOTS of time with other women. Just this week he had lunch on Monday with Colleen, Jen and Maryanne, Playgroup with about 10 girls on Tues, Dinner with Dee, Lunch with Joanne and Colleen H on Wed....today we hit up nursing group (about 40 women) and Mom Mom's ~ then tomorrow lunch with Jeannie. Each day he has also been to the gym, where about 10 female daycare girls fawn over him while I am working out. Perhaps his little man screech is simply a revolt against all of the female voices constantly clattering on around him? His own little version of "hear me roar"? I doubt it, but its fun to think about. He even spent an hour at the salon yesterday while I got my haircut. My intent was to hold him, but he was liberally passed around amongst the stylists. The life of Luke. Lotsa women. Maybe Nate will have to take him to Hooters, or a monster truck thing (What DO monster trucks DO anyhow? Race, Rally? Something?) over the weekend to restore some balance. You know, now that my mind has wandered down this road, I have a perfect solution!!! We are going to Stroudsburg this weekend ~ Nate could simply take Luke GOLFING. Check this story out

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/all-mailbox-wyv84g5-j7sx1-j1jrl-j.5915729jun27,0,2979756.story

~~~Now THAT would get the critter back in the swing, so to speak. Sheesh.
One quick mention of the life of Mulligan. I accidentally shamed my Dog into doing something disgusting yesterday. I woke up early to come downstairs and get the coffee going.....as I was walking to the steps I spied a pile of dog throw up on the bathroom floor. I said "Jeez Mulligan, are you KIDDING ME?" and looked back at the dog, who was standing at the door to our bedroom. (Yes, that was edited for language :)) Mully looked ashamed, and I thought no more of it. Went to make the coffee, got paper towels and some sort of dog vomit appropriate cleaner, and came back up to face the task at hand. Mulligan was sitting on the steps waiting for me, sheepishly wagging his tail. I patted him on the head, and went into the bathroom, and stopped dead in my tracks. The aforementioned "issue" was gone. Totally gone. Apparently my disgust somehow shamed the poor creature into taking it upon himself to clean up the offending pile. I gagged, went back to bed to cuddle with Luke, and made a pointed effort to steer clear of his mouth and beard for the rest of the day. Ugh. I do love my dog, but sometimes they are just such............dogs.

Urban Warrior

So the little critter spent Sunday in downtown Philly for the first time. We walked all around the Irish Festival at Penn's Landing, Society Hill, and Old City. He saw Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell for the first time. The whole "birthplace of democracy" thing didn't really seem to impress him at this juncture. Luke was a perfect gentlemen as we trolled him all around town. He could not possibly have been more enjoyable. He kicked back in the stroller, played and smiled all throughout lunch, and was generally just an absolute joy. Being a family is so much fun.

Some new things in Luke's life ~ Belly Laughs, and Antibiotics. Sheesh. The ear infection had not totally cleared up, so the Dr got him started on Amoxicillian on Monday. He also got his shots, which he took like a trooper ~ Nate held Luke and he stopped crying in less than a minute, and I wore my "big girl pants" and didn't even shed a tear this time.....The medicine is that same viscous, neon pink stuff that I remember from my childhood. Of course I had to taste it, and honestly, tasting it took me right back to being a 5 year old in the kitchen of our old house, with an ear infection. How the heck did I get from there to here so quickly? I have to give him an entire teaspoon via syringe.......doesn't sound like much, right? Lets just say that I have already learned how much a teaspoon really is. It looks like a WHOLE LOT when its all over the sheets, and baby, and both of our clothes. I now administer the medicine ONLY after I have stripped the little guy naked and placed him on a towel. He is so easy going, he really doesn't pitch a fit or anything, he just reaches a point where instead of swallowing it DOWN, he spits it UP. He has the most puzzled look on his face while its happening ~ not upset, just utterly puzzled. There is nothing quite like watching a fountain of neon pink magma flow up out of your child and down into the black hole of his neck folds. Sticky does not even begin to describe the aftermath.

The belly laughs started on Saturday night ~ Nate was holding him and when he started making a funny noise Luke started flat out belly laughing, his whole little body was shaking as he cracked up, over and over. He laughed, we laughed, he laughed etc etc......had a stranger been standing in the room we would have looked like a bunch of residents of the psych ward. You know, the happy kind of crazies. One of these days I am going to have to learn how to download from the video camera to my computer, so that I can link you all to the video of this stuff, its priceless.

After the Dr's appointment I took Luke to get his passport pictures. Lookout Italy...... here comes the Mangan family circus. We booked our flights and are going to be in Italy for 10 days in October. Nate filled out Luke's passport documents, it was so funny listing his height as 2 feet 1 inch! It suddenly feels so real, and I am so excited! I am so glad that we are bringing Luke with us. We bought him his own seat on the plane, and got direct flights, but if anyone out there has other tips for travelling internationally with an 8 month old please let me know!

We had playgroup yesterday at our house. There were 10 of us total. We started out here, and then spent about 2 hours at the park on the corner. Luke and Nathan were laying on a blanket on the ground, and at one point Nathan was sucking Luke's thumb. It was so funny, it seemed as though they were really interacting and playing, rather than each being in their own world. No one seems to have told Luke that he is only 4 months old, and the child is trying to crawl. He scrunches is legs up under him, but he does not seem to grasp the whole arm part yet, so its a bit of a tripod effect, two legs under him, with his face on the ground, Its pretty funny to watch. He looks a bit like a wheelbarrow. He just woke up ~ so off I go.

The Bachelor

Lucky Luke lunched with the ladies last friday. We spent the day with Ellie, Maggie, and Gracie ~ swimming, eating and laughing. While the young ladies did not seem all that impressed with Luke's mad skills, all had a great time. Luke seems to have a thing for older women, although you would not have known it to see him pee all over Aunt Jenny :)
It's so good to have friends ~ Jenny, thank you again for the fantastic lunch and swim ~
We love you.

Spider Monkey

So Luke has learned to "cling". Its fantastic, he hangs on to me now as I whirl around the house making messes and then cleaning them up. Being a stay at home Mom enables me to get to clean the same room of the house SEVERAL times a day. And we havent even gotten to the hardcore TOY phase of life yet. Oy.
Anyway, Luke suddenly reminds me of the Spider Monkeys that I fell in love with down in Costa Rica. His little legs and arms all clutching on to me. I love it. Its like walking cuddles.

Mom Mistakes

So at playgroup last week we were commiserating about mistakes we have all made as Moms, or ways that other people make us feel as though we don't know what is going on with our own baby (i.e the relative who constantly says "I think that baby is hungry" ~ all the time, even if its moments after you finished nursing them). Luckily I don't have to deal with the bossy relative thing at all, but the mistake part made me laugh out loud thinking of something that I did when Luke was maybe 7 or 8 weeks old. It was one of those first lovely spring days, sunny and warm. Luke was at the point where he had the head control to face out in the Bjorn. I decided to take Mulligan and the baby and head out for a walk. I got Luke into the Bjorn, grabbed the leash, and headed out. Birds were singing, the trees were really just coming into full leaf, and it was a positively lovely day. I was out with my boys, my son and my dog, and all was right with the world. I loved the sweet glances of strangers, the looks, the smiles. Everybody loves a little baby, and they attract a lot of attention as you are out and about. I just remember feeling so put together, so happy, large and in charge. Me and my newborn taking on the world.
We eventually wandered up to Gay St, the heart of town. So many people were looking at the baby, looking at the Dog, smiling at me. I felt like the Mayor or something.
As we walked by Iron Hill there were lots of people outside eating at the sidewalk tables. One woman looked at me and said "Oh, sweetie, one of his legs is stuck inside the Bjorn ~ I'm not trying to butt in but I'm a Mom too and have had the same thing happen ~ I just wanted you to know"..........
I turned and looked at our reflection in the windows, and sure enough ~ there it was ~ me and my one legged baby, stumpy. Luke seemed totally unfazed by it, but I know I got red in the face. I just had to start laughing as I finagled his leg out of the hole into its proper place, hanging next to the other leg. All of those sweet glances that I got were probably people thinking "Wow, look at that Mom and that one legged baby! She seems so happy even though that cute baby only has one leg!! Good for them!!!"
It still makes me laugh thinking about it. Proud Mama and Stumpy, her kid.

If I ever see a Mom with a baby stuck in his Bjorn incorrectly, I will help her out. I've been there.

Welcome back!

Sleep, that is. Luke is upstairs sleeping away and its 9 am ~ you never realize how much you love and need sleep until you have a few nights without it. This past week has been tough, no place on earth can be as lonely as a baby's nursery at 3 am ~ you feel impatient, and worried, and then angry at yourself for being impatient......and then your neck and back start to hurt from sitting in the glider nursing and falling asleep at the same time ~ your head falling forward, you jerking it back up, over and over and over. You start to feel as though you may NEVER sleep again, when in fact it has just been a few tough nights. I guess, like anything, you just adapt, but man do I have a new gratitude for how great of a sleeper Luke has been since day 1. I'm guessing that the ear infection is clearing up.
Last night we were treated to "the Luke show" ~ He sat in his 'saucer entertaining the two of us for about an hour. We were both sitting on the couch, and he was facing us from a few feet away ~ simply delighting in looking back and forth between Nate and I with the biggest, gummiest grins I have ever seen. He is big into eye contact all of a sudden ~ a simple thing like looking around, but not at him, while saying "wheres the baby" ~ and then locking in on his eyes can send him into utterly ecstatic spasms of joy. Its so nice to be able to entertain him so easily ~ I already dread the days of "Mom, I'm bored" "Mom I want a gameboy" etc etc...

It's Infectious

Well, big fella, we got through your appointment today. You absolutely shredded me by being so wonderfully happy, and adoring, and sweet this morning before we had to leave. I was taking you to the Dr by myself for the first time, with the knowledge that there were going to be shots involved. I tried to act cool and like I was totally unfazed by it to your Dad, but he saw right through me and suggested that Mom Mom come along with me. Could it be that the fact that I cried longer than you did at your 2 month shots had made an impression upon him? Anyway, Mom Mom had plans and it was just you and me. The simple act of putting your smiley little self into the car seat made tears come to my eyes. This is just so not me, buddy. The thought of someone hurting you reduces me to versions of myself. Two different versions ~ one who is simply a blubbery little fool knowing that the Dr is going to hurt you, but it is in your best interests and I have researched and sanctioned it ~~~ and another that is the Mama Bear on Steroids ~ the version of me that kicks in when I so much as THINK of someone hurting you, demeaning you, or otherwise making you unhappy. That is the one that I try not to show anyone ~ but rest assured little guy, it lurks not far beneath the surface.

Anyway. The appointment. As those who love me know, Luke has been putting me through some hoops in the past 7 days. Starting last Monday night, we have had more than a couple up-three-or-four-times a night sort of nights. So totally unlike my kid. In the right hand corner was Luke, weighing in at 16 lbs 4.5 oz, 2 feet, 1 inch tall, and boasting a 17 inch head. In the other corner was an adoring, tired, Mama. We will post neither the height nor the weight of the Mama to keep her self respect intact.
Luke turned on all his charm for the appointment. The Dr was amazed by the fact that he is already sitting up, rolls around at will, and was turning around while on his belly to follow the sound of her voice. Now, at the risk of sounding like one of those awful, competitive, comparing, i-want-to-shove-their-face-in-the-sand- sort of Mama's, I am going to note what the Dr said. I am not bragging, I am simply documenting. She said that Luke has the physical ability of a 7 month old baby. She went on to comment on his social skills, at the way he made eye contact and was socially interacting above his age level. She said that he would be an "early walker" ~ i told her that I had walked before 9 months, and she said that if she were to lay a bet, she bet he would walk before I had. Now, call me a sexist, but I have just been banking on the fact that Luke, as a boy, would be safely trapped in his relatively unmobile non-walking body until at least a year. We are planning our trip to Italy for October (he will be 7.5-8 mos), and I have been fully counting on a baby who isn't even crawling ~ so I will be very curious to see who is more on target, she or I. Trust me, I didn't in any way doubt my son, I just don't want to be one of those Moms who is constantly looking at the NEXT milestone ~ I simply want to enjoy and savor what it is that he is currently doing. My desire to continue feeding Luke solely via nursing was supported ~ she said that looking at his weight and growth there was no need or reason to introduce solids at this juncture. Ditto my desire to not take those stupid vitamins ~ the kid spends his day's on the beach, at the pool, or at home taking a long walk around town ~ there is no risk of Luke being Vitamin D deficient on my watch. Hooray.


She, like me, adored our baby. She appreciated his personality, his in dependant nature, and his strength. She appreciated Nate and I as his parents, and made me feel so good about the job we are doing nurturing him. It was the most edifying Dr's visit I have ever had, or even imagined.

AS to the waking up at night thing..........what Dr. Mom was attributing to teething or a cold was actually an ear infection. Turns out the little critter had an infected left ear. The Dr. said that it was likely the cause of the night waking. The fact that he was still mostly happy and easy going all day long led her to recommend that we not start antibiotics at this point, but to schedule a follow up visit for a week from now to see if it had cleared up. We did not do his shots today, in an effort to help his little body have the strength to fight this on its own. Should the ear infection be resolved in a week, we will do the shots then, should things get worse in the meantime, we will reassess and consider antibiotics.


PS~! I left my cell phone charger at the beach ~ so to those of you who have texted or called me and not heard back, OOPS. Good thing you love me despite my technical challenges! Call me at home or email me.

First Trimester

Luke ~ You are through the first trimester of your first year. You are 4 months old, I can't believe it. You seem like such a little boy all of a sudden! I know that to the rest of the world you are still a tiny baby, but to me you are this little charachter already, full of personality, desires, and opinions. Thanks for a great 4 months little guy, you have been very easy on your Dad and I.

Play with your Rag

Yes, I actually caught myself telling my adorable, sweet son to "play with your rag" yesterday. We were in Gymboree getting some clothes, and he was being fussy, so I parked the stroller and carried him around the store on my hip while we shopped. (Side note, ugh, 6-12, 9-12 month clothing already)
After I paid I put him back in the stroller, handed him his less than totally clean burp cloth and told him "Here Luke, play with your rag" ~ I did a double take at what I had just said and started laughing out loud. Thank God I never had any aspirations of being "Perfect Mom" ~ I doubt Perfect Mom would be caught dead offering her son an icky rag to play with.
Luke, my boy, you had a rough night last night. You had me up at 1,2,4 and 6.30. Sheesh. You ate as though you were starving each time, too. I don't know if its the fact that you now roll all around your crib, and wake yourself up, or if you are in a growth spurt and just need to eat more, or if you are beginning teething, but wow. I realized how spoiled I am by the way that you sleep through the night, and have since you were about 8 weeks old.
We went food shopping today, and I noticed myself lingering for a while in the baby food aisle. Not sure if that was related to the fact that I felt like the lone chef at the towns only all~you~can~eat buffet last night, or if it is worry that he only gained 2 oz last week, or what, but I found myself flirting with the idea of oatmeal. He will be 18 weeks or 4 months exactly tomorrow, the 13th. I am still hoping to not intro any foods until 5 months, ideally 6, so I was surprised at my temptation. I appeased myself with buying him little baby spoons, but no food. That ended up feeling good enough for now. This whole desire to do the "right thing" by your kid combined with the legions of conflicting advice out there is a mess. Add in the simple "fun" of getting to watch your little one eat, and it becomes a real commitment to NOT offer food until later! I keep telling myself that introducing cereal/foods is simply NOT in his best interest at this point, even if it means more frequent nursing to get us through this growth spurt. Anyhow, I'm rushing through this as I have to get it together for playgroup, and nurse my power eater son.

Seal Baby

Tell me you see what I am talking about here?

Fab Filly

Hats off to Rags to Riches who was the first Filly to win the Belmont since 1905 ~ it was good to see the ladies take one! Luke watched the race amidst our screams and cheers, he has completed his first series of triple crown racing. Many many more years of enjoying the races ahead of us, big guy.

It was another great weekend in Cape May. It appears that my sweet infant has been replaced with a drooly, hungry, crafty little bugger who suddenly rolls around all over the place, often times ending up far from where he was originally set down. He reminds me a bit of a seal. Big head, big round eyes, arched back, and hands like flippers flapping around at his side. I cant believe how strong he is. His bemused chuckle has officially been replaced with a delightful little squeally laugh. It melts me, and I can't believe the silly, ridiculous things that I do to elicit that darling sound. I have also turned into SOMEONE WHO SINGS IN PUBLIC. My greatest fear. I grew up with a Mother who sang gleefully and with a beautiful voice everywhere and anywhere, from grocery store aisles to the mall etc etc.....and I used to be horrified by this. Cringe even. Beg her to stop. Then, I went on to marry a man who loves to sing whatever and whenever the urge strikes. Again, appalled. Now, I sing. That darned story hour at the library is to blame for all of this ~ now I know all sorts of horribly cheesy yet endlessly amusing little kid songs. And my son happens to love them. So, I sing. Those of you who know me know that my raspy voice does not exactly set up well for singing. Yet sing I do. Consider yourself warned.
I am officially 32 years old. I had a wonderful birthday last Friday, a hot date with my hubby Thursday night (Gilmore's may now be my current favorite restaurant), a beautiful, sunny, HOT birthday spent with Nate and Luke and Mulligan at Sunset Beach, and a fantastic dinner at Tisha's on Saturday night. Best of all, Nate got me a ticket to go spend 5 days in Minnesota with my best friend and her sweet sweet babies Julia and Will ~ I absolutely cannot wait. Only a couple of weeks till we go. I am beyond excited to have our kids together for 5 whole days ~ this is what we used to talk about as silly teenagers daydreaming of being mothers someday.

"He's Coming"

So I just left our bed, where my son and husband are sleeping next to one another. As I kissed Luke's head before I cam downstairs I got a little whiff of heaven. I know people talk about how babies smell all the time, but until you actually know the scent of your own child you have no idea what they are really talking about.

Last night I woke up around 2 am, hearing some different sort of noises from Luke's room. We don't use a monitor as he is right next door, and even though I sleep soundly, I must always be half listening in on him, even in my sleep. I went into his room and promptly found out the cause, he had flipped over onto his tummy and was laying there proudly looking all around and singing a victory song. He has been rolling from front to back since 7 weeks, and just started with back to front rolling about a week ago. This was the first time that he had done it in his crib though. I nursed him and we both went back to bed, he to his, me to mine. This morning when I told Nate what had happened, the first thing he said was "HE'S COMING". I asked what he meant and he said that the next thing we knew he would be halfway down the hall on his own. I love the image that created in my head....Luke flailing around until he figured out how to get his rotund little body from back to front, in preparation of crawling, and pulling up, and one day climbing over the rails of his crib or bed and running into our bed. I have to say, that I simply don't know how single Mom's do it, this parenting thing. I mean, I can figure it out from a logistical perspective, and, as Nate travels a lot I understand how they can physically take care of a baby solo ~ but what I don't understand is how they miss out on the funny, crazy perspective that a father offers ~ the little goofy things that the Dad's do along the way (Like Nate referring to the bulb syringe as the Plunger, or being happy when Luke cried when we took his temp because, "at least we know he's not gay" or, for taking the picture above), and the way that it makes me love my baby AND my husband even more when I see them laughing together or Nate changing Luke's diaper. Nothing makes me happier than to see my boy's hanging out together. Luke follows Nate around with his eyes whenever he is in the room, and its the coolest thing I have ever seen. The 40 weeks that I carried around Luke in my belly gave me a head start on the bonding thing. Even though Nate was enthralled with the first little kicks, and later the giant rolling freakish alien~esque morphing of my belly ~ I think that the whole concept of "that's our baby doing that" truly can't set in until the little critter is actually physically here for most Dad's.
In other news, I dragged poor Luke to the Lilly Pulitzer sale in Valley Forge yesterday. Dear Lord. Thousands of hot pink and lime green clad women DESCEND upon the Valley Forge Convention Center for this once a year event. It was my first time going, when I was working it always just seemed like too much of a hassle to get there and stand in line simply to shop. Mom and I headed over there yesterday afternoon with Luke safely ensconced in the Bjorn on my chest. I am currently wading through the murky waters of wardrobe adjustment. Both in terms of size and lifestyle. I no longer have a career and have not yet determined what genre of stay at home Mom I am. Am I sporty Mom? The one you see at the grocery store in her cute little perfectly coordinated workout garb, fresh from a Pilate's class? Or maybe I am a "ladies who lunch Mom" who should be in my sweater set and little pleated skirt while I drag my child with a page boy haircut from store to store along the main line? (ugh). There is always "tornado Mom" ~ the disheveled wreck, but I just cant go there until I have 3 kids in tow. "Hippy Mom" is just an era gone by for me. "Sexy Mom" is out ~ I simply just have no interest at the moment of trotting around in the high heels that litter my closet. It just does not make sense when I have 16 lbs strapped to my chest. Podiatrists DREAM right there. Anyway, as I navigate the waters of a changing persona I thought that maybe some cute little Lilly skirts might come in handy. We did well at the sale,and I got a lot of stuff......and at one point had to sit on the floor pretty much baring all to nurse my hungry son. This indignity was quickly forgotten when we saw the line to the makeshift "fitting room"..... rather than stand in a 40 person line simply to try on clothes we instead opted to get nekkid with about 50 other women and all dropped trou right there in a corner of the convention center. Mom became my mirror as I decided what to buy. Lesson learned ~ when going to the Lilly sale, wear your Grannie undies. This will make the public humiliation of sharing semi nudity with strangers slightly more bearable. Oh Luke. Be glad that you are a boy. AND, be glad that Lilly does not make little boy clothes, your college fund is fatter for it.

Cinco de Junio

When you wake up to this face every day, how can anything go wrong?

Soggy Sunday

On more level's than one. The day started out nicely with Luke sleeping LONG and LATE, which let me do the same. Upon rising the reality of my messy house and barren refridgerator set in. I gave Luke a bath, and, like clockwork got peed on when I put him in the water. He essentially gets bathed in a 2% urine solution, as he pees straightaway each time I put him in the warm tub. I block it with a washcloth, but still....it just goes in the water with him. Nate set out to work in the yard while I went grocery shopping. I foodshopped without Luke strapped to my chest for the first time since he was born! I decided to make a big pot of meatballs and gravy as the forecast was for heavy rain....it sounded like a good day to watch the golf and baseball and settle in on the couch. After getting the food put away and the house straightened up a little I made the sauce and meatballs and started to settle in for the afternoon. Sundays used to be one of my least favorite days of the week when I had a career ~ the dread of heading back into the office weighed heavily on me most Sunday afternoons/evenings. Since having Luke I enjoy Sundays in a whole new way. Usually.

The happy news was that Luke rolled over from his back to his front yesterday and we got it on video tape for once! He also is suddenly this new kid when it comes to grabbing at his toys. It's so amazing ~ When these milestones happen they happen so quickly. Its as though one day he grabs nothing, the next day, and every day thereafter, he grabs everything (and he shoves it all directly and without hesitation into his mouth) ! The unhappy news is that we had noticed that Mulligan was being, well, weird. Mopey and depressed~ish and just strange. We realized yesterday morning that he was sick ~ Probably from being borded over Memorial Day weekend. Last night Nate decided that Mulligan needed some "extra love" so he let the dog get up on the couch with him. Great, sweet idea, right? Mulligan proceeded to show his gratitude for this extra attention by vomitting all over the couch. And the floor. And then, because dog's can't simply vomit once, or quickly, they have to drag it out into a stomach rattling exhibit in which it appears they might turn themselves inside out with effort, they vomit some more. At this point I was screaming and chasing him as he heaved and did his vomit dance, trying despretely to get him onto the wood floors and not the carpet. Please picture me, screaming, following a hurling, cowering, panicked puking dog in a circle around the dining room table. Lovely. All of my best efforts were in vain, and he puked one last time for good measure on the Persian rug. Way to pick the most expensive one in the house, big guy.
Since that was already such a fun situation, Nate and I decided to make it MORE fun by then getting in a FIGHT about it! :) Yip Yah. I love my husband dearly, but I honestly and with all my heart do NOT think that either Spaghetti, CHEESE or Asprin would fix the dog. He is sick, and needed to go to the vet on Monday morning. After sharing my opinions, he his, we decided to agree to disagree and I went upstairs, saying that the dog had to sleep in the kitchen. This way we could take the little rug out of there, and Mully could throw up to his hearts delight as there would be nothing to puke on but hardwood floors.
Nate and I kissed and made up last night, and slept well,as did Luke.
Fast forward to 6 am. I get up to pump, come down to the kitchen, where Mulligan spent the night. The rug has not been removed from the kitchen, and guess where the dog chose to get sick yet again? So at 6 am I was heaving, holding my nose, and wishing fervently that my Mom was still the Mom, that I wasnt "the Mom" and that she would be along shortly to clean up the disgusting, stomach wrenching mess. As far as I know my Mom is sleeping peacefully nestled next to my Dad, in their lovely baby and dog free, very CLEAN house, while I still swear I can smell the horrid odor lingering round these parts. It hits me very hard sometimes that I am the Mom. Ugh. Motherhood is filled with unimagineable joys, but it is also filled with unimagineable FLUIDS, and the task will always and forever fall to us to clean them up.

Luke, I pray that you have a stomach of steel and don't make me clean up a lot of human throw up in your lifetime. The dog keeps me busy enough.

Age of Aquarius

So Luke is a swimmer now. The kid seems to love the water. We spent a good chunk of Friday and Saturday at/in the pool (its been in the 90's around here, awful for May/early June) . His whole body just relaxes and he was laughing out loud as we were lifting him up and down in the water ~ I love it. The pic is from the pool on Saturday. We are officially drinking the ACAC Kool Aide around here , I love the gym. Its so nice to have such a safe, entertaining, clean place staffed with such wonderful people to drop Luke off at while I work out. I went with the baby on Friday, and both Nate and I went on Saturday. Becca and I took a Yoga class while Nate worked out, then we all went out to the pool and ended up having lunch there. We managed to spend just about all of the past 3 days outside, whether at the pool, walking around WC Friday night, or at the Phillies game on Saturday night. I could not resist the opportunity to take Luke to BOOOO for Barry Bonds, as the Giants were in town. Barry did not have a home run, but he gave a ball a great ride and ended up with a double. He also had an error in the outfield which resulted in a run for the Phillies. The Phils won 5-2. At one point the whole outfield was chanting "You do Steriods" at Bonds......welcome to Philly, baby. He can now say that he got to see Bonds play the season that that fraud defiled one of Baseball's sacred records. Luke wore his Chase Utley jersey and could not have been any easier at the game. He sat in our laps, drank a bottle of EBM, and worked hard at actually shoving BOTH hands into his drooly little mouth. We got home and put him to bed around 10 (which was later than his usual 8.30 bedtime) and he slept till 6.45, ate, and is still sleeping upstairs in his crib now. Have I mentioned that having a kid who is so wonderfully easy with his sleeping is simply fab? He lets me get a full night of sleep every night, which makes this whole motherhood thing a lot easier. I can't imagine being up several times a night for months at a time, it must really wear you down. Luke is a bit dangerous, as I know that it would be rare for our next baby to be as easy as him.......and I'm so spoiled as a Mother to an easy baby that I worry that I would not know what do with a more demanding one! What if I didnt like it as much?

Horsin Around

So we "Did Devon" yesterday. (http://www.thedevonhorseshow.org)/

Luke met his first horse, and it happened to be a horse who was EXTREMELY interested in the baby. It was so funny to see him looking up at this immense, beautiful beast with his HUGE eyes, just laying there in the stroller so small and vulnerable. He didn't appear to be afraid, just fascinated. I am trying to enter the pics in chronological order here but clearly I don't get it. Oh well.

I saw something that I had seen before, but didn't really know the deal on. The Hackney Ponies were competing, see pic. http://http//www.shetlandminiature.com/images/pony5.jpg These poor miniature horses are the Jon Bonet Ramsey of the horse world. Their owners actually break their tales so that they remain in this unnatural upturned position. The horses then pull these little carts around the ring with this impressive, if freakish, gait, pulling their feet way up in a fancy prance.

Is it just this new motherhood thing that has made me uber-sensitive to the adulteration of any species, or natural thing? For whatever reason they totally broke my heart. In a sense, they didn't look all that different a few of the poor women that I saw trotting around OUTSIDE of the show ring in their jewels, expensive, showy dresses and giant high heels (Please women, please, if you can't walk in high heels, don't wear them! You look silly,and hobbled, and vain ~ I LOVE my heels, but I can also walk in them without looking as though I am crippling myself for life). Don't get me wrong, it was a wonderful place to people watch as the vast majority of the glitterati were wonderfully and beautifully turned out.....but there are always those few who take the main line money thing in a really really bad direction. To shame. But we absolutely enjoyed looking at them! Mom and I ate dinner while Luke lolled around happily in his stroller. He is just such an easy going kid, I feel so very blessed. We have a play date at 10 am with Laura, Barb and little Aiden, then I think that we are going to go swimming this afternoon, it was extraordinarily hot out yesterday for the last day of May, so if today is anything like it the water is the place to be.

Cheers!

OH, Tonight is First Friday in WC and the place to be! Nate and I and the kid have a hot date to head up to the borough and support all of our local businesses and artists as it is also Gallery Walk ~