Love is a choice

I'm trying to remember that I love my Dog. I remember before I got married someone telling me how there are going to be days where you dont feel like you love your husband, but those days you have to CHOOSE to love them anyway. Today I am trying to choose to love my Dog. Thusfar I am failing....but I thought that maybe confessing it to the general public might keep me more accountable to trying harder.

And I'm househunting ad nauseum. And I'm mothering. And I'm gestating. What a gross-ish word gestating is, eh? Gross or not, I'm doing it.

Today Nate is coming with me to look at 3 houses, two brand new construction and one 150 year old totally redone farmhouse. Ahhh the fun of being married to a Gemini.

Walking Around

Grandpop showed up with a new toy for Luke last night at Dinner. Luke grabbed the handle and walked away.....alligators clacking.

Where did my baby go?

I have to say he looks totally hilarious, this big headed small bodied walking baby. It makes you laugh out loud to see him walking around already. Great Toy. New Fave. Thanks Grandpop!

For Sale

The house is officially for sale. When I walked out onto the front porch this morning and saw the for sale sign planted in our yard I started to cry. I love this house. I loved it from the moment I walked into it with my realtor and immediately made an offer on it. And I still love it now.

This is where we spent our first night as a married couple, where a confused and adorable 8 week old Mulligan joined our family, where many great memories with friends and family were created, where I tossed and turned and dreamed of Luke for the 40 weeks before he was born, where we brought our son home to on his first day out of the hospital, where Deuce came to be......

And as much as I can celebrate that we are going to be moving to a home where we will continue to create family and all of the wonderful memories that will shape our lives.....today I'm sad. I feel like I am betraying a good friend by offering this house up to the masses. Is it hormones? Or is it just the passing of an era? Either way, it hurts.

Bad blogger, bad

So busy right now.......the house goes on the market on TUESDAY when we host an open house for brokers/realtor's. Anyone looking for a great house in the borough please let me know! I have found a house that I really like, its so close to the borough, and ACAC, and family......and is in the WC School district which we are happy with.....Nate is going to go see it with me on Monday and we will go from there.....who knows but it just may be the house for us! Exciting. Last week I went and looked at houses on Tues, Wed and Thursday....good exercise doing that and toting around a 20 lb kiddo. No wonder I have not yet gained any weight this pregnancy. (Yes, that was me giving myself a pat on the back, thank you very much).

Luke is in rare form lately, just so easy and enjoyable. He plays, eats,sleeps, chases me and the dog around the house, and is now cruising around the furniture. His favorite trick in the whole world is to "walk" while holding on to your hands. He walks up and down the dining room while Nate sings some ridiculous song.......his whole little face just lights up with pride, its absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen. He picks his feet up so high, and sticks out his little chest, and WALKS.

Anyway. Nate is off to a bachelor party today and I to play golf ~ New babysitter coming this afternoon who I am hoping will turn into a more regular sitter for us. She is a sweet and adorable college student and loves kids. Something is wrong with the USB cord that connects my camera to my computer (could it possibly be the little MOUTH that sometimes sucks on it???) so no new pics until I find another one.
In the interim here is one from the vaults, Luke taming his first wild Rhino.

My Son, the Swinger

Fail, Eagles, Fail

Ugh. My team stinks. 0-2 and a miserable game last night. Although they are absurdly horrid, I had a great time getting in a date with my honey and time with Pete and Alexis while Mom Mom watched the baby ~ a treat for all. Luke was a little charmer and was easy on Mom, which always makes me happy.

This is Luke (he looks a bit as though he is practicing a mime routine, no?) ~ I took the trash out the other day, and was walking back towards the house to see him doing this ~ jumping up and down, grinning and making his "whoo hoo hooo" noise of joy. I used to think that nothing could make you feel more loved than a dog, but man, I had no idea.

Mum's The Word

Yesterday was FALL! It was cool, and crisp, and absolutely lovely. The little man loved a walk up to the Restaurant Festival, where he dozed and took in the mad crowds of eager eaters jamming the streets of our lovely town. We ran into Joanne and Mike (Hi Jo you newlywed beauty you!), Debbie and Greg, Brad, Jeannine, Chad and Adam etc etc.....could not swing a dead cat without running into someone we knew. It made me sad to know that this was (VERY) likely the last year that we would simply be able to walk up from our back door to attend the festival, or first Fridays, or any other WC event. The Halloween Parade will likely be our last HURRAH as borough dwellers. I am so sad about that, and it makes me cry randomly (I am starting to think that I am having a girl as I swear my emotions are way more all over the place with this pregnancy......ugh! Poor Nate!!!)

In good news, we have narrowed down exactly what we want as far as our new house. A new construction, 3500 sq ft house in the borough with giant Master Suite with sunken tub, stand alone shower, dressing room, walk in closets, 4 bedrooms (preferably with a jack and Jill bathroom for the kids) a beautiful office with custom built in's, a large eat in kitchen to entertain in, and a formal dining room for holidays. In the borough of course, as we love love love this town.

In bad news, that house does not exist. At all. Ever. No new construction in the borough, and we just cant justify spending mad amounts of money for a borough house with a tiny tiny living room, or only 1.5 baths. It just makes no sense with our expanding brood and family and friends that we long to entertain.

In weighing our options, much as we love the borough, we have to expand our search area. I went through a list of 240 houses yesterday that met our school district, price, size and age requirements and (somehow) narrowed that down to 14 that I want to go see. So this week will be spent finishing up details on our house, and hitting the streets with the realtor to find something new. Its scary, and exciting, and honestly, a little overwhelming to me in my hormonal pregnant nursing state. I think that I am driving Nate nuts with my stress, but I am working on it. To all of the friends who I am not calling, or seeing, or getting together with, please forgive me, its just a crazy busy time right now. Hopefully this shall pass quickly, this house will sell fast, we will find something we love, and life will just keep on keepin on.

In baby news, Luke LOVES all things BALL. I have to simply pick up his new love (the red sparkly ball) and he starts SCREAMING with joy. Its hilarious. He starts racing towards me, and we play catch! It makes me crack up to see this little critter so animated over a cheapo red ball. It also makes me so happy, as I would love nothing more than to be able to share my love of sports with my son. I already want to buy him his first tiny set of golf clubs for Christmas.....but maybe we need to wait until he is at least walking......This was Luke on the porch with the Mums yesterday, wearing the sweater that Jenny knit for him last year and gave me at my baby shower ~ he fits in it now and its my new fave item of the fall line up ~ thank you Jen! I think that we need to turn our Friday morning lounge on the porch sessions into stitch and bitch time where you teach me to knit like you!

A time to think

So. This little bundle of laughs has decided that 4 AM is the perfect time to fill up his belly, and then lay, wide eyed and alert, feet crossed and fat little fingers interlaced over his burgeoning belly, and ponder the meaning of his existence. He stares at the very dim light in the middle of the ceiling in his nursery, blinking, thinking, the weight of the world on his little shoulders. Occasionally he turns his pensive little gaze up to my eyes, then usually follows that up with a gouge to my eye or inside a nostril, it's lovely. It's very tranquil, very sweet, but very hard on his pregnant Mama who is dying to climb back into her own bed. Something is all wonky with his sleeping these past 24 hours.....there are disadvantages and benefits. I am finally getting out of that first trimester funk, and rather than continue to feel overwhelmed and upset by all that has to be done surrounding our upcoming move, I decided that yesterday was going to be the day that I was "back". I was going to clean, I was going to organize, I was going to be ruthless in my throwing away of clutter. The day was absolutely beautiful, the air cool, the windows wide open etc etc.....We went and took Mom Mom Jule out to lunch, and then got home just in time for Luke to settle in for his nice long 2 hour nap, enabling me to morph into the cleaning banshee I was visualizing. One issue, Luke didn't get the memo. For the first time I can remember in a long time, Luke had NO interest in taking an afternoon nap. None. Just not happening. Now, I cant complain too much, because he could not have been more pleasant....I sat him on the floor of whatever room I was tearing apart, and let him make a mess while I cleaned up a different one. He was so content, so happy to play with whatever was at hand, but was not going to sleep. This epic awake period continued until 8.30 PM when he finally succumbed to sleep. Then came the 4 am feed-and-think-fest, but then the little critter slept till 8 am. (For those of you without children, that is akin to me sleeping till 11 in the days of old, Luke is up at 6.30 most mornings) I woke up convinced someone had stolen him in some sort of dreadful sinister Lindburg~esque plot. (They didn't, he was scrunched, butt up, happily conked out in his crib)

Would love to go on and on about this (my day got better from there, a strange biker man showed up at my door, helmet in hand, and I realized how protective I have become when I started immediately thinking "what can I hit and hurt this crazy man who is coming to steal my baby with", rather than "oh, I wonder what the kindly looking older gentlemen at my door wants, maybe he is in need of help") and then I fell UP the basement steps (quite a feat) and smashed my belly into the load of laundry I was carrying, and my face into the brick wall. Pretty. Baby seems fine and face fared less well, but hey, the bruise/scrape adds a little character.
The little stinker just dropped a bomb that smells as though it deserves immediate attention, so I am off. We are going to see the family portraits from the beach today ~ I am hoping that we got some great ones. If so you can probably all expect to see a family shot gracing your mailbox this December in the oh so trite "Have a baby and start with the photo Christmas card" bit. We are simply so original. :)

Home again home again jiggety jog

After a great time in Myrtle Beach we find ourselves back at home. It was a wonderful trip, we had so much fun with Carolyn and Tony, and Luke absolutely fell in love with the warm ocean. He is the 'Splash King' and really has the whole "splash around until you get way too much stingy saltwater into your own eyes and then rub them, making it hurt worse, then get really mad" thing down pat. Seeing him play and laugh in the ocean makes me so happy, I love the fact that the little guy is getting to grow up on the beach. Myrtle was both exactly like I pictured it, and nothing like I pictured it. I literally saw each and EVERY chain or "concept" restaurant ever invented by man. There were a lot of herds of men clearly there sans wife on "guys" trips........and you rarely saw a person on the beach without a beer in their hand or cigarette in mouth........those were the things that I expected. What I did NOT expect was how beautiful the ocean would be, how incredible the golf courses, or how absolutely perfect the weather would be this time of year. After all of the hours we spent painting the past couple of weekends, this getaway could not have come at a better time. We returned home relaxed, refreshed, and ready to get back to work. I think that we have decided to list this house in the next few weeks, so its time to get busy making it look like somewhere that someone would want to live ;)
The only sad thing was getting home at 12.45 on Sunday with food in hand, so excited to crash out on the couch and watch the Eagles................WHY? WHY do I forget EVERY YEAR what we Philly fans go through? Its sheer torture. And year after year I do it again.

Luke had his well baby visit yesterday for the last round of shots until he is 1. Went well, the kiddo is 19.5 lbs and 27.5 inches long.....70% across the board for size and weight. He was a perfect gentleman while being poked and prodded, and the Dr was happy with his progress. We are supposed to introduce a third meal/day now, so I have to get cooking today as my baby food stash is rather low. Luke gave me a special treat at 3.30 AM...................there is nothing quite like sitting in the dark in a quite nursery feeding your baby. They you sleepily and tenderly pick up that sweet baby to burp/hold them for a moment before you put them back in their crib.....and then they unleash a torrent of very warm, not even partially digested milk ALL OVER YOUR mostly unclothed body. Luckily Luke does not spit up a heck of a lot, but I have become pretty nonchalant about spit up. It happens. Give it a wipe, or call the dog, or WHATEVER it takes to get rid of it, and go about your business.
But there was something utterly DISGUSTING, and invasive, and just foul, about getting covered in warm milky baby body fluids at 3.30 AM in the dark.

Fall

This picture is from exactly one year ago, before hiking out in Seattle. That's Luke in belly. It was a beautiful weekend, no humidity, sunny,and so so blue. It was one of the most enjoyable short trips/long weekends Nate and I have ever spent together. We were so excited to be pregnant, to be in love, and healthy, and in the northwest eating, walking EVERYWHERE, and seeing all the sights. This past weekend was just like it out here in PA weather wise, and Nate and I found ourselves reminiscing about last year at this time so much. I was about 16 weeks pregnant with Luke, and just starting to feel little "squiggles" that were the precursor to those awesome kicks that he later started to give me. Now I'm 12 weeks pregnant with Deuce, Luke thinks that he is a toddler, and life is even better than it was just a year ago.

Labor day has come and gone and I have fall on the brain.

Fall is by far the season that brings me the most joy. So in honor of fall, here is what I can't wait for.

Pumpkins and Mums on my porch.
Wool Sweaters.
Luke in a little knit pumpkin hat.
FOOTBALL
The beautiful PA landscape as the leaves change colors
The smell of woodsmoke
Pumpkin Pie
World Series
Picking Apples at Highland Orchard with Luke and Nate
Making giant vats of Chili and soup and gravy on Sundays. Then eating them.
Sitting on the porch with a cup of tea and a blanket at night
Luke's first Halloween
Thanksgiving and Family. Thanksgiving FOR Family.
The arrival of the J Crew Fall catalogue (When are they going to make some maternity clothes for the perpetually pregnant???)
Chester County Day
The WC Halloween Parade
Our Dad's birthdays
Trips to the park with Luke
Mully spazzing out in the leaves
Apple Pie
WC Restaurant Festival
FOOTBALL
Putting the quilt back on the bed
Open windows and chilly evenings
The clean smell of the air
My wool coat
Curb your enthusiasm's new season
Dark settling in earlier
The first fire
Wearing a scarf
Hot Chocolate
Feeling Deuce kick soon
House hunting
Squash
Carving a jack o lantern with my boys
Candles
FOOTBALL
Wool socks
Boots
Jeans. Every day.
Baths.

Luke just woke up so, like the puppet on a string (I mean, like the loving nurturing caregiver who attends to his every need that I am) I must go. Happy Sept 4th everyone!

We are off to sunny South Carolina in the morning so I wont be back to update this until next Monday. In the meantime, GO EAGLES, go Jets, and give em hell Matt Schaub :)

"Labor" day weekend

This Labor Day weekend entailed a lot of labor. A far cry from our usual end-of-summer-long-weekends in Cape May. Nate worked most of last weekend and this weekend on the house. I pitched in as much as possible where the baby allowed. We have been painting all of the exterior trim and porches of the house. We replaced all of the drafty old double hung windows a couple of years ago with the new low-e replacement windows. A great energy efficient move, but in the process all of the casements got torn up, so before we could sell the house we had to repaint them. With the zany color scheme we had going on before matching that yellow would have been so difficult we decided just to broaden the scope of the project, paint the whole place, and paint it all white, with grey porch floors. I have to say, it looks fantastic. Clean and neat and bright. I love it.

Saturday I had one of the most surreal experiences in recent memory. I laid on the couch and watched one of the most incredible football games ever (Michigan vs. Appalachian St) for 2 full hours while 5 MEN painted my house. Luke conveniently napped for the bulk of the game, and Becca and I laid around the living room calling out the occasional play by play to the men painting outside. As a woman, and a woman who loves football, I can tell you that it was a role reversal the likes of which may have never been seen before. Usually its me in the kitchen watching on the small flat screen and making vast quantities of food while Nate lays in the living room watching the huge flat screen while prone on his back. Not complaining, simply stating facts. And I like it, I love to cook, and love to feed friends and family, and thanks to the TV in the kitchen am able to incorporate both. However, for one GLORIOUS day, it was all about pure, unadulterated enjoyment of the game. I will never forget both the game, AND the joy of the laying around while the guys worked.

That night Luke did another first. We were over M&D's cooking dinner with Becca and Rich. Luke was crawling all over the living room and standing up on everything (much like how a dog has to urinate on every tree, pole, or bush in the area, my baby has to try out standing up on each and every object when placed on the floor in a different room). Suddenly Nate called me into the living room saying "you have to see this".......There sat Luke, pleased as punch, one step up, about to climb up the next step up into the hallway between the office and the kitchen. HUH???? Of course I started running for the baby (while amazed at his stair climbing talent, as a Mom I knew exactly what would happen next)............Luke turned around to look at us and tumbled off of the stair. Of course. Bang. The good news was that he managed to fall onto the runner, not the hardwood floor, so the damage was mitigated.

I just want a helmet for him. I hate this. It is this impossible biological imperative. Must. Go. Up. I cant stop it. The only hope in sight is that he DOES seem to be getting better at falling. I had no idea that falling was a skill, but I now believe that it is. He is putting that diaper to use, and has become much more adept at the "sit down fall" vs. the kamikaze whirlwind face plant spaz fall. It's something, I guess.

Here is Mr. Personality playing in his Saucer while we painted.

Barbarians at the Gate

Here is my little barbarian clamoring to get into the kitchen. I have learned that emptying the dishwasher is impossible with the little monkey trying to climb inside it, so now I toss him on the other side of the baby gate while I am filling or emptying it. As the dishwasher is such a thrill, he immediately climbs to standing in order to simply get a glance inside at all of the glorious wonders it holds within. He literally rattles the bars of the baby gate like a prisoner at his cell door. I expect him to start swaying and singing "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen" while running his drinking cup over the bars next.

Here is a quick list of things that are no longer easy. Just tossing these off from he top of my head.

*Anything that involves the filling or emptying of the dishwasher.
*Diaper changes. Luke is hell bent on crawling away. They become mini wrestling matches.
*Me taking a shower while the critter is awake. (there is simply no safe place to put him)
*Me getting dressed, putting on make up or doing any other sort of womanly beauty maintenance task while Luke is awake. Yesterday while I was trying to put on makeup he systematically pulled each and every shoe out of our closet. Every one! He has a dedication to task that is impressive.
*Eating dinner. Luke is now trying to "cruise" between the couches and the coffee table. He does this with varying levels of success. Dinner usually entails at least one fall/head bang/wail/consolation session.
*Feeding Luke. He wants to do it himself, and he has also perfected the art of spitting. He "blows raspberries" with a mouth full of peas, or carrots, or some other equally bright colored mush. I end up with it in my hair. Sexxxxxy.
*Being in any room with an outlet, at any time. Luke makes a beeline for outlets. Not kidding. He cannot resist the siren song of any shiny object. And one mounted a mere foot off of the wall? Fuggettabout it.
*Being in the office. Yesterday Luke reached up, grabbed hold of the drawer pull on Nate's desk, the drawer opened, and I looked down to see Luke suddenly and unexpectedly hanging by one arm from the then open drawer. His entire body had lifted off of the ground and he was supporting it all with just one hand on the drawer pull. To his credit, he neither let go nor cried, just looked up at me totally aghast. I rescued him. The office is simply a jungle of wonder, with wires, papers, drawers, and all sorts of shiny things.
* Eating with Luke on your lap. He is unbelievable in his ability to throw his entire body at, and connect with, whatever it is I am eating or drinking. Simply put, he want what I got. Whether it is coffee, vitamins, food WHATEVER. And he is really adept at trying to get it!
* Reading a book or magazine while nursing. No way, no how. Mr. Curiosity has to have it, who would want to NURSE when you can shove magazine pages in your mouth???
*Allowing the dog access to fresh water and food is a thing of the past. Perhaps the ONLY thing that Luke longs for more than the dishwasher is the dogs water bowl. Thus far he has shown no interest in eating the dogs food, but oh, the water bowl. Before I learned to put it up on the hutch Luke crawled over to it and tipped the whole thing over no less than 5 times (wow Mom, way to go, only 5 huge messy water incidents to teach you to put the bowl out of reach, can't say I am a quick learner:) Now Mully has special times to eat ~ meaning, whenever Luke is asleep or napping.

Anyway, there's the shortlist.

I could also make a list of things that are way more FUN these days, but this is already long and boring enough as it is. Luke is funny. He is just a funny little guy. He loves to laugh, and it makes our life more fun.

He went to his very FIRST football game last night. Garnet Valley vs. Penncrest at GV. Got to see Rich coach, and I am happy to say that GV thumped them. Luke seemed to enjoy the game and the partying ~ by partying I mean staying up a WHOLE 2 hours past when he usually goes to bed. He was a good sport about it. He woke up this morning with a COLD. Ugh. He hasn't had a cold in a long time. (Am I a sicko to confess that I get a surge of personal satisfaction akin to the joy I used to get from closing a large deal at work every time I get a big mother load out of the nose sucker???. How far I have fallen..............)