Tday minus one week.

My little tank loving on his babydoll. Jake weighed in at 31 lbs yesterday, he is 17 months old. That isn't all that much bigger than Luke or Jules at this age.....but for some reason this kid feels like a bag of cement in my arms. It is bizarre how heavy Jake feels. My back is suffering.

Oh! Fall. The joy of watching these boys jump in the leaves while Julia napped and Tessa was held tightly to me in the sling was awesome. This was on Monday, when we had 70 degree weather. Jake and I got in a 6 mile run and all of us reveled in being outside in the unseasonably warm weather.

I dusted off the Bumbo (which I have been meaning to get to Bec for forever) and gave Tessa her first go at it. This kid is already rocking her stylish self, even down to the jaded look! (I was babysitting while Becca went to the gym). I love, LOVE this sweet little girl. She makes my heart beat faster ~ and as much as I love her, I love handing her back to her Mama, too.

Oh, the indignities of growing up with a big Sister!

My silly girl. Jules declared "Mama, I want to MATCH fall" the morning that she chose this vibrant ensemble. Love this girl. Still curious about where this streak of fierce femininity came from.

Life is good. I got my first holiday induced anxiety moment out of the way yesterday ( It had to come at some point, right?!). We are hosting Thanksgiving this year, then hosting a post race party the following weekend. In between I'm lining up sitters, crossing off days for things like Thanksgiving Shows (Luke's class party) Gingerbread house making (Enrichment Christmas event) and holiday parties and family commitments out the wazoo. The kids are just flat out funny these days ~ they constantly are making me turn my back so that I don't laugh and encourage the funny and innocently inappropriate things that they say.

I feel like there is this social mandate which dictates that we, as parents, not have favorites.........but I totally enjoy each kid in different ways, and occasionally find myself enjoying one kid, or one phase, the most. Right now I am just eating up Jake. He is so cute, so rotund and solid and the most wonderful juxtaposition of body and heart......his body wants to tackle, jump, roll, dive.....and his heart just wants to hug and kiss, all day long. He is getting way less messy in the highchair, sleeps so well it is almost rude of me to talk about, and his hair is really coming in.....he is just positively edible to me. He is working on a lot more words, and lives for the moment in the afternoon when I tell him "Jake, go wake up Luke and Jules". He RUNS up the steps, laughing, and goes to each door, THROWS it open exuberantly, and wakes up his sister and brother (this is at 3:45 or 4..........they are still napping till then 4 or 5 days a week, other days they wake up at 3 or so.). He giggles when he nurses, he dives into bed at night, and he is my running and bubble bath partner. Sometimes I feel like Jake and I date :) Like we have this secret life apart from Luke and Jules and Nate ~ this time when everyone else is at school or at work or napping and it is just he and I, doing funny grown up things together.

Thursdays.

This was my project last night. I got rid of two full trashcans full of stuff, and organized everything else. We are moving this from a playroom to an art room this Christmas, and hoping to move a few toys or lego type things up to the kids bedrooms.

My friday night dates when Nate is at school :)

Nate and I have not seen one another in a while. Nate took the kids to school last Friday morning, I came home Monday night at 9, he left Tuesday morning at 5:30, he got home last night (thurdsay) at 9, he left this morning at 7. He will be home tomorrow night (Saturday) around 5........which means we miss one another terribly.

This brings up the concept of schedules. My sister (with a newborn) asks me about schedules frequently: WHEN DO THEY HAVE THEM? I remember having one baby. I still viscerally remember his schedule. I remember having two babies, and manipulating their nap schedules with much luck......and I know that I am going to forget this having three kids this year (at 4.5, 3.5 and 17 months) schedule very vaguely. So, for posterities sake, here it is.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays: Bigs have preschool. Leave at 8:50. Drop off both by 9:15. Either go to gym or run errands or meet friends for sanity time. Pick up bigs at 11:40. Race home for lunch. Feed three (if Jake stayed awake). Put three to bed. Indulge in 2-3 hours of free time to nap, cook dinner, run errands or run (if Nate is home) climb in the tub, or argue on the internet,, depending on my/our needs.

Alternative: Jake falls asleep en route to pick up bigs.....Jake naps in car, I feed bigs while he naps in car in garage, and he wakes around 2:30. These are the hard days as I don't get much of a break and Jake is a pain in the neck come dinnertime.

Tuesdays: Go to gym. Kids have (free) t-ball, kids creative center, and game room. Have to pack Luke's lunch prior to leaving at 9. Leave gym at 11:15, to drop Luke off for lunch bunch/enrichment (his afternoon preschool). Wake up (grumpy) Jake and Jules at 2:40, pick up Luke, pick up CSA, go to playground, go home and cook dinner.

Thursday: Thursdays are the awesome day, as no one has school. That translates to going to the gym, the kids having kickball, creative center, and then taking everyone straight home (we live 1/2 mile from the gym) so they can all sleep for a good three hours of nap. This is my awesome day.

Saturdays depend ~ if Nate is at school we roll into the gym or see friends or do some community activity then head home for a lunch of leftover pizza, naps, and a countdown to seeing Daddy. If Nate is home, we do yard stuff, family stuff, or are out of town.

Sundays also depend ~ Nate is always home ~ so we usually go out to breakfast as a family, I head to the gym with the kids while Nate studies, and then Nate and I get to watch the first game together like the old days while the kids nap (THIS IS GREAT!) ......then Nate studies and we eat big. Sometimes Nate and I play golf....though that is getting more rare as winter is upon us.

Mornings? Most days Luke arrives in our room first, usually around 6:45. He climbs right in our bed (my side is near the door) and I love him to pieces. Many days I wake up before him and go downstairs for computer time, coffee, and general awakening. Jules usually gets up around 7:15. We read books, or they play, or they help me start breakfast (generally whole oats with raisins and bananas and flax seed come fall....yogurt and peanut butter toast and fruit are our alternates). They start eating around 8, when I go and wake up Jake. I nurse him while I play some more on the computer and talk to the kids. Put Jake in his seat to eat and go get dressed and lay out the clothes for the bigs while Jake devours his oatmeal and yogurt and fruit. Kids and I are dressed, so I go downstairs and get Jake dressed. We leave.

Afternoons: Depends on Nate's deal. If he is out of town we either have friends over, go to a friends house, cook, or go to the gym. We (seasonally) play outside, but now with everyone waking up around four our options are limited. This is the season when we tend to cook a lot, if Nate is home. The kids love to cook. We make muffins, or bread, or cookies, or prep dinner. Hence, my expanding waistline.

We eat as a family for all of our meals, Nate here or not. I love sitting around the table with these 3 little people :).

Post dinner I/we clean up while the kids go wild (they are very annoying during this time, for serious.. I'm tired and impatient) . Every other day we give them a shower (you would not believe how cute Jake is walking around the shower like a big guy), on the shower days, I let the kids watch a show ~ put Jake to bed ~ then do something like a puzzle or a game before letting them watch one more show. The general on demand line up that the bigs are into these days is one Berenstein Bears, and one Scooby Doo episode. If we shower, I put Jake right to bed (this baby sleeps from 6:45 till 8 am...........without a wimper) and the bigs get to watch two shows or part of a movie from 7 until 8 when they go to bed. We brush, read (we are into chapter books, these days).........we are reading the Magic Treehouse series and are on book 6.

This is life, at the moment. Schedule holds us all together without a ton of difficulty! The bigs dress themselves. They handle their bathroom needs independently. I do Jules hair. I cook for them. I nurse Jake. THEY NAP. My life is really pretty easy...........but don't tell anyone.

Fall Fun

After a full 5 days cooped up in the house a day in the sunshine running free was a gift, indeed.

Storybook days.

Some days just go well. Some days all feels right with the world. Yesterday was one of those days. After a hectic weekend of entertaining and parties and errands, we were thrilled to wake up on Monday morning knowing that the Phillies had won and that Nate had the day off.

We were up and out early and were grateful for the help of my Mom, who came to watch the kids. For those of you who have been reading my blog, you may have noticed that I have been talking about things making me cry for the past month or so. From the Giving Tree to Orange Day to Nate eating the last cookie, I get teary a lot lately. The trend continued yesterday morning when we got to see the heartbeat of our newest baby flickering away on the ultrasound screen. I think that I could have 19 kids a la Duggar and still feel my heart race and my palms sweat as I await that first confirmation of life beating away. Luke and Julia's new sibling is due May 28th. We are positively thrilled.

Bullet points:

*Yes! They will be close in age. Luke will be 3 yrs 3 months and Jules 2 yrs 2 months when wee babe arrives.

*Yes, we actually meant it that way!

*Yes, we will be finding out the gender.

(we plan to check as soon as it is born, it will help in naming the baby!)

*Yes! I am looking forward to another VBAC.

*Yes, I am feeling really great. So great that I was worried that something might be wrong with the baby. It was very reassuring when the the Dr. said to us yesterday before we walked out "You walked in here with a 15% chance of miscarrying, and you are walking out with a 3% chance!". I like those odds. Of course, we are still in the first trimester, so any prayers or good thoughts would be much appreciated.

We came home with the requisite pic of "baby" ~ Which at this gestational age is not much more than an amorphous blob of life with a beating heart somewhere towards the center. Our beautiful blob is hanging on the fridge. Luke knows that there is a "Baby in Mama's belly". When asked what that means, he will tell you that it means that "Mama is hungry and tired". He also says that "It's dark in there" and "Mama that baby not gonna come out yet?". Correct to all three. When asked if he wants a brother or a sister, he replies that he wants a Julia. I don't quite know how we can manage that (we did not use cloning to create this baby) but I have 30+ weeks to figure out that one before I have to actually address the issue.

We spent the day enjoying our existing family after meeting our newest member. We went to Linvilla for a day of pumpkins, hayrides, animals, lunch and laughter. As I snuggled Jules in my lap and watched Luke settle into his Daddies arms on the hayride I had to keep blinking tears back. To know that Nate and I are embarking on this journey again feels like a gift. To look at my husband laughing with his kids makes me feel so lucky. To see my kids loving one another, and to know that they will have a new person to love on and laugh with overwhelms me. To know that there is another little family member on its way to us is just a joy beyond comprehension. I have none of the nervousness that I had my last pregnancies. I know that our love will simply grow again, never divide, and that this baby is going to fit in to our family seamlessly. A giant pot of homemade soup and a Phillies series clinching win rounded out our perfect day (for the sake of "perfect day-ness" I will leave out mention of the Jets loss ~ Sorry, Nate). Thank you to all of you who have shared and who will share our joy over our new arrival.

Falling into routine

October first!

I can hardly believe it. We experienced our first truly cold morning and blustery chilly day today on the first of October. Luke and Jules came in from playing with runny noses and pink cheeks and smelling like crisp air and woodsmoke. Fall is really upon us.

Life is settling into a lovely rhythm. Luke is in school Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I drop him off a bit before 9 and head straight to the gym with Jules. A workout and some relaxing in the cafe, then my girl and I go on one errand running date. Doing ANYTHING with just one child vs. two toddlers is so much easier, and so much fun. She is a delight, and I think that the one on one time is really good for her. I don't know exactly when Julia became so much easier ~ but she did and I feel the need to sing her praises. After being in a bit of a clingy/demanding place this spring she has completely come into her own. Her sense of humor has really developed and she loves to copy anything that any one of us is doing at any time. She has a tenderness that I love, and just melts into my arms when I pick her up. I'm loving my time alone with my girl. We pick Luke up at 12 ~ the kids are out on the playground so Jules get to play some while I talk with the teachers and the other Moms. I get excited to pick up the infamous bucket, which is always crammed with some sort of artistic creation. The teachers tell me that Luke asks to make two of every picture ("One for my Julia").....so he frequently comes home with two creations. To say that he has made the adjustment to preschool easily would be an understatement. One day when I got there he looked at me, his face lit up, then fell, as he instantly said "I don't want to go home yeeeeeet Mama!". I felt hurt, and proud (and hurt) all at the same time. Tuesday when I picked him up he also had a Scholastic book order form in his bucket. I was hit with a visceral physical reaction of shock and awe ~ I had completely forgotten about those things! I instantly remembered bringing them home from school and spending hours agonizing over them, reading each description over and over, and circling and starring the books that I most fervently hoped that I might be allowed to order. How it is possible that I went from there to being the MOM of a child ordering those books so quickly is beyond me. I can't wait to place his first order (after spending hours reading all of the descriptions and circling and starring my favorites, of course).

Wednesday is play group, which has been a happy staple in our lives for almost 3 years now. That leaves Mondays and Fridays to go the the PTM, Zoo, moon bounce, or to get together with friends. The kids sleep so long in the afternoon that we have to keep it to short adventures when they wake up, a trip to the library or to visit family or a walk around the borough. Somedays it is just fort building and lots of book reading while cuddled under blankets in the living room. Today that time was spent exploring outside with Daddy and climbing all over a huge tree that fell down in Buddy's yard. Then it is home for the eat dinner/bath/bed routine. Jules is in bed by 7, and Luke between 7.30 and 8, depending on how long he slept at nap time. Sometime around 7 or 7.30 am the whole routine begins again.

We have escaped illness thus far, but I am sure that it is lurking right around the corner. Between school, and the gym, and the million other kids and people that we interact with on a weekly basis, there are simply too many germs to avoid them all. You can't swing a dead cat these days without hitting a story about H1N1, and there is a ton of conflicting information and fear mongering going on in the media. We have been and will continue to follow common sense procedures like tons of hand washing and good nutrition and lots of sleep and we hope to avoid serious illness this winter. Happy fall and may EVERYONE who reads this stay healthy this winter!

Super September

It's cool. It's crazy. It is only September 1......and hot dang I am loving the adherence of the weather to the calender.

I laugh at how we get to the beach and sigh a huge sigh of relief of "being on vacation"......then get home and sigh and even bigger sigh of "oh jeez we are home".

Groceries. CSA. Fruit share. Routine. Friends. Change. Life.

I feel liberation at being home. My kids feel so easy. The weather is so beautiful.

There are a million things on my mind : Luke's first day at school this Thursday (preemptive playdate meet the teachers thingy). The fall schedule, the one kid in pre school thing, the clothes, the food. the bagillion things that are wonderful and burdensome and joyous and scary.

The one kid in diapers continues to be this novelty, this indulgence, that I revel in. The long naps, the Nate at home, the way that the kids will play for an hour in the playroom as I do some housework or cooking............

This time one year ago I was heading into the dark period. The "OH SNAP Jules is 6 months old and crawling and needing solids and it's the sickness time of year and the darkness and the two nap thing". I have to say that I love my blog if solely for the purpose of looking back at a year ago and recognizing how difficult it was.....and how easy today seems.

I am in disbelief that this is actually fall......I fully believe that more summer is on the plate (I hope so, anyway).....but I love this weather. I know that the darkness of winter follows ~ so I find myself watching what I hope for.

Siren Song

What is it about pumpkins and babies? There seems to be some sort of instinctive need for all new parents to trot their kids out to a pumpkin patch come October. We heeded the irresistible siren song of the pumpkins yesterday.....not to our death, but to a dent in our wallets. We went to Linvilla Orchard, a veritable pumpkin utopia offering up all things fall on a silver platter. From hayrides, to pony rides, to simply mad quantities of pumpkins, apples, jams, pies and all of the bountiful goodness of PA this time of year, to apple slingshots (Luke adored this) a massive playground, animals galore, face painting, horrid fair like food, and giant awesome scarecrows and scary things, Linvilla is a no holds barred celebration of taking money from parents who can't resist putting their little ones on a pony, or wagon, or giant pumpkin.

Luke loved it all. He wasn't too sure about the pony thing at first, but was into it by the end. The hayride through all of the orchards delighted him. Julia delighted in watching Luke experience delight. We simply watched them both and reveled in sharing the joy of fall with our two kids.

It was sunny, and beautiful, and we felt lucky to live near such a fabulous place.

Fall. And Falling.

Its still Indian Summer here. It was really hot this past week. But an afternoon on the golf course yesterday proved to me that fall is really right around the corner. Leaves everywhere.

Kids put a huge huge damper on ones golf game. Its all really part of an evil plot on part of my husband.........I started playing golf when we started dating. I had played a few times before then, but that's when I really got into it. And like anything that I get into ~ I got really into it. Moderation just does not really seem to be my thing. That is both a blessing and a curse in my life, but that's a story for another time. While I played through both falls while pregnant, this summer its simply been a lot harder for us to get out together. It just is what it is right now. I used to post 30 or even 40 rounds/year....this year I maybe posted 5. I played 9 every Monday night with my Dad, while Nate or a sitter watched the kids, but other than those few times its just not like it used to be in terms of frequency. Right about when I started beating Nate often enough for it to send him into a panic, he went and got me pregnant. And kept me pregnant. It has had a negative impact on my scoring, but not on my love of the game. Its one of our favorite things to do together, and I have visions of the day that Jules and I are playing against Nate and Luke.

With fall comes fear this year. Typically it is far and away my favorite season ~ All things football and hockey and leaves and fires and cider and crisp air and wool sweaters and jeans admittedly get my heart beating a little faster. I cant wait to see my kids picking pumpkins, to see Jules in little sweater dresses and tights, and Luke in his sneakers again.

This year though my longing for fall is countered with a dread ~ A dread of starting Jules on solids in another month or so, a dread of my babies swapping germs with one another with reckless abandon all winter long, a dread of coats, and mittens, and all that sweet baby flesh tucked away under layers and layers of clothing. A dread of Julia getting (all too soon) into that horrid self abusive phase of pulling up and promptly falling over.....over and over and over again. That phase had me in tears several times with Luke as I watched him bash his much loved face against anything and everything he could find. I remember my fantasies of fitting him with a crash helmet. Its coming. And its wonderful ~ don't get me wrong, I embrace all of these milestones and get so proud of each one......its just that with crawling/falling/eating comes change, lots of change, and I really really dig the rhythm of our life at the moment. Both kids nap and sleep like champs, solely nursing is so easy, we spend huge chunks of time outdoors.....and in the coming months all that will change. It will take way more effort to keep them healthy, to keep them active and on the go and whatnot.

Anyway. My tiny seemingly newborn baby is now standing. See pics. I'm so not ready.

Ms. J spent her morning teaching herself to crawl.......backwards. Its so painful and so hilarious at the same time. The object of her desire lies mere inches in front of her squishy little face. She reaches out her arms....she pushes up to her hands and knees while staring at the thing she so longs to put in her mouth...and then she twists up her little face with effort......and crawls backwards. I feel like so often I do the same thing ~ In my effort to become who I want to be I frequently feel as though my mad efforts move me backwards...but ultimately I trust that she, like me, will get there.

It's Football Eve.............

I have created an official (to our family) holiday. Second to Christmas Eve, this may be one of my favorite nights of the year.

Tomorrow the NFL kicks off. I like (love) football more than most men I know. I won't even say more than that. Nate and I love our kids, and we love golf, and we sure do love football. While we may have different teams that we adore, our general love for all that is NFL is a rock in our relationship.

Its one of the tenets of our family life (although our kids may not yet appreciate it).

There is a fantastic dinner awaiting Nate as he gets back from DC. The kids are in bed. And tomorrow it all starts.

Go Eagles. Go drama. Go football.

Little Lothario

Luke and I had a busy day yesterday. We had an awesome Halloween Playgroup, all of the kids were (at least briefly :) in costume. The pic of Luke giving me one of his trademark kisses above was taken by Laura at Playgroup. Luke loves ladies. He was caught red handed planting one on Stella, Marie, Gabriella, and Nathan. Not sure how Nathan slipped into that group, but Luke sure does love his buddy Nathan. There were monkies, a ladybug, Princess Leah (!), bumblebees, Cowboys, etc etc. The food was RIDICULOUS in both quality and quantity(I had 2 reeses pieces rice crispy treats before noon) and it was a great time at Laura's house. I didnt want to leave, but by 2 PM my little love bug was rubbing his eyes. We got home and both went straight to bed, Luke for a nap, me with an an attempt to sleep off my food hangover........
We woke up around 4 and Mom Mom and Grandpop got to the house bearing gifts ~ we went straight up to the park for a swing and Lukes first unassisted flight down a sliding board. Grandpop took him up to the top of one of those tube slide thingys and down the chute he went. His eyes were huge. As soon as he got to the bottom he turned around to look at Grandpop up top.....which of course we all took to mean "I want to go again!" So again and again he went. We had a great dinner courtesy of Carlinos, then Mom Mom and Grandpop said their goodbyes to go home to attend to their coming hoarde of trick or treaters. After the party last week and the playgroup today, we were pretty much Halloweened out, so we got Luke into his pajamas, and he helped us greet the earlybird kids before conking out at 7 pm. A great first Halloween for the kid.

Pirating Around

Here are some pics from the WC Halloween Parade ~ It was great to see everyone and to watch the kids enjoying their costumes and all of that free candy! The parade excitement utterly wore Luke out, and he spent the majority of the time passed out cold on his adoring Aunt Becca, before being tucked into bed by her and Flava Flav.

Other Children Are the Devil

And so is my Dog.

I'm just kidding on the other children part, but I will say that large herds of children and the germs they carry certainly seem to do the work of the devil. We had a great playgroup yesterday....here is a pic of Luke, Ryan and Stella playing away and swapping lots of spitty little germs. Luke got to see all of his buddies while I got to have a fantastic lunch and chat with my girlfriends. No one was sick at playgroup, but by 6PM Luke was DRUNK TIRED, I could not even get him to stay awake long enough to get all of his food into him. I finally gave up trying, and just let him go to bed at 6. He was out like a light immediately. Highly unusual, to say the least. I knew something was coming. He was up twice last night, also unusual, and clearly had a fever the second time. By morning, it was at 102. Blast. We were supposed to go to bible study at 9 AM, then over to my friend Jennifer's for lunch after that.....but instead we changed back into our pajamas, made up some oatmeal, and hunkered down for a day in. Luke is sleeping, I am in my sweatpants lingering over coffee and using the computer as my excuse to not do some of the things that I should do. I got a HUGE stack of pictures yesterday from Snapfish, so I really need to get to work on the ole' family photo album. Combine that with the Halloween costume making that I did on Tuesday with my Mom, cleaning up for showings all week, food shopping, cooking, and its been quite a domesticated week for me! Huzzah. Playgroup is just so much fun nowadays ~ Its just crazy to see how far these babies have come since we started it ~ Luke was maybe 10 weeks old at that point, and they were little more than cute little moray eels that hung off of our chests nursing all the time while we chatted about deliveries, the babies weight gain, us being fat, and nursing issues......now they are almost all mobile, climbing steps, standing up, chattering and bopping one another in the head gleefully. It's just so much fun to get to watch Luke interact with other kids....and when he looks up and catches my eye and gives me a smile like the one in the pic above, it absolutely melts me.

Onto the dog. On Tuesday we had a showing at 1. I had to go to the fabric store before hand to get fabric to make Luke's Halloween costume with. That took WAY long, the store had relocated, so simply finding it was a frustrating and annoying adventure. Then Luke decided to take a giant blowout poop right before we were to enter the store....back to the car, parking lot diaper change....then a spit up all over me and the interior of the car......Note ~ Don't even bother going into a fabric mega store when already frustrated, annoyed, and behind schedule. I was sweating, balancing Luke on my baby bump, holding mad tall bolts of fabric in my arms, and generally wondering what the heck my problem was ~ All I could think about was how my Mom raised 3 of us, was always homeroom Mom, was always making costumes or clothes by hand, and baking, and taking care of sick friends, and making things for people etc etc etc.....and here I was, unable to find the fabric store and buy fabric with just one baby. Did she have more hours in her day? Or am I just totally inept? Anyway. I digress.

Finally got out of there.

Raced home because I had to pick up the Dog ~ God knows Captain Excitement can't be at the house during a showing ~ him and his "Wheaten Greetin'" would ensure that the people did not buy the house. Got him and went straight over to my Moms house. Fed LUke lunch, and decided that as it was such a beautiful day we should get outside and play in the grass for a bit. I am trying to love the Dog again, so I wanted to play some fetch, and have some fun with him and the baby. I took some pics (above), threw some sticks, and generally was just having one of those lovely Hallmark moments with the boys. In the last pic you see Luke crawling over towards Mully, who is laying in the grass. In the very next moment, Mulligan started rolling in Ecstasy in the grass, gleefully grinding himself into the ground......My heart sank as I instantly knew what was happening. He had either found something dead, or the poop of some creature, and was rolling in it in unabashed delight.

I freaked. Ran over. Sure enough, my shaggy dog was panting with deer-poop-induced lust ~ COVERED in it.

I started crying. It was nap time, but I knew that I had no choice but to deal with this immediately. He could not come in the house that way, and I could not leave him outside to continue to get more disgusting. With no real choice, I went into action.

1. Called Nate while crying. Told Nate that I was either going to kick, or give away the Dog. Asked him if he had a preference. Nate asked me to please not do either, but he was up in Boston and in the airport so he could not really talk. Hung up. Cried some more, told Mully that I really didn't like him, and generally felt sorry for myself.
2. Call the Dog Groomer, see if I could get Mully in for an immediate appointment. No, said the dog groomer, not till next Friday. Heart sank. Could not leave shit-encrusted Dog in that condition for a week.
3. Fake-kicked the Dog (Just to make myself feel better), and asked him to please run away wile I was inside setting up his bath. Please.
4. Ran inside, stole shampoo from upstairs, cleared out items from the dog shower in the mud room at my parents house.
5. Got quaking stinking dog into mud room.
6. Turned on shower. Lathered up Dog. Shamed him into standing still.
7. Dealt with baby. I would put Luke at one end of the mudroom, and RUN back to the dog shower to lather feverishly while watching Luke crawl as fast as he could towards us. Let Luke get right up to the edge of the wet, soapy, shitty mess, and then scoop him up, put him back at the far end of the room, run back to the dog, and repeat. Over and over and over. I was sweating, and wet, and smelly, and just PISSED.

Luke missed his nap and was relatively cranky for the rest of the day. I missed Luke's nap, and was relatively cranky for the rest of the day. Mully is still unsure of what his position in the household is, but he knows that he is low low low on the totem pole at the moment.

After tossing and turning that night, thinking about my literally poopy day, I came up with "Operation Mulligan".
Mully is a part of our family. I have been frustrated with him, and complaining about him, but not doing a whole lot to really make the situation better. Nate comes home tonight, and we are formally laying out the plan for "Operation Like Mulligan".
It involves a daily commitment to long walks and/or trips to the dog park, and a concerted dual effort to improve his behavior when people come over. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

(P.S, is "poopy" not a word??? Spellcheck says that it isn't. In my world, it is)

More gratuitous pumpkining

Another day, another pumpkin.

Just for good measure, here is a rather bad pic of Luke showing off his new wild and crazy skill, standing around not holding onto anything. I just set him down and he stands there for up to a minute now before a self satisfied plop down onto his sweetly padded diapered bum. He is so pleased with himself, its fun to watch.

Some pics

Too busy to update on all thats going on. Going to see Springsteen tonight and can't wait. The kiddo is great.

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!

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 :)

One. Week. Baby.

Just one week from today the NFL season kicks off.

Luke can't wait.

(Oh,and his mother is a little bit excited too)