My favorite men

Here are a few of my favorite shots of my two favorite men.

Houston Mini-Vacation

So many things to tell you, and so little time!
We went on a mini-vacation to Houston and stayed with Ann. We packed as much as we could into two full days, including a trip to Crave (cupcake shop), a bit of shopping, a visit to the Museum of Natural Science (DINOSAURS!!!!!), and a fabulous time at the horse races.

Milo loved the races since he loves animals, and spent most of the time pointing at the horses, walking up close to them, and then backing away before we got too close. He was all decked out in a little hat, plaid shirt, and suspenders, and made quite the splash. He and I were mistaken for a jockey's wife and child, but I think it's just because I had on a floppy hat and Milo is a little guy.

At one point, Nate took him out to the car to change his diaper (no changing stations in the men's rooms and it was a big pooper). When he brought him back, my adorably dapper little man was now dressed in some short navy shorts (slightly resembling cheerleading shorts), a red onesie, and his velcro shoes with no socks. When I asked Nate what on earth happened, he couldn't quite respond at first because he was so irritated. I finally got it out of him, though - Milo's poo had managed to leak out to his onesie, pants, all down his leg and covering his socks... He even managed to get it on the outside of the car (don't ask me how). This never happens. Literally. I've always kept a change of clothes in the diaper bag, but never one that's very cute because it's completely wasted. We've never had to change his outfit when we were out. Until Monday. So he ran around the races the rest of the time in his funny little clothes and everybody still stopped to stare. And I laughed the rest of the time.

Anyway, here are a few pictures to chronicle our time.

Hooray for dinosaurs!

Milo was satisfyingly impressed with the dinosaurs and spent much of the time pointing at different things.

Milo loved playing with Auntie Ann all weekend!

Here we are, looking a lot alike...

Is this display slightly disturbing to anyone else? I didn't even post the picture of the lion with the bloody zebra leg in front of him... Realism at its finest?

Family pic at the races. Well, in the parking lot. But we were almost there.

Milo was so delighted every time the horses ran! He clapped his hands, pointed, and giggled.

Here he is getting a good look at a horse up close(ish).

Such a cute outfit! Too bad it didn't last the whole time...

If you look closely, you'll see the horse I won $17 betting on in the winner's circle. I've never bet on a race before, and after this day, I probably won't again... We started out with $20 and left the track with $22, and Nate and I both decided we'll never have a gambling problem. Winning is great, but losing is just throwing away money, and I'm just too stingy for all that.

Mommies of boys

This is how I find Milo most mornings after breakfast, while I'm bustling around cleaning up, throwing in laundry, or taking a minute to myself.

He's reading aloud today, barefoot in a stack of books, turning the pages with delicate and deliberate movements. He took his socks off at breakfast, and then sat with furrowed brow, trying to put them back on his feet to no avail. My heart broke a little, because I want him to be able to do anything he tries on the first attempt. Life is rarely like that, though, and I'm mentally gearing myself up to teach him even now that we always try and try again until we get things right. I must be feeling overly sentimental today, because I sat for several minutes just watching him, wondering who on earth would give me responsibility for such a precious gift. (deep breath) I guess someone thought I was up to it, right?

Milo is at the same time mischievious and sensitive, all-energy and gentle snuggles. One minute he's knocking down crates of toys to climb the hearth, and the next minute he's reading books and patting little Lily on the back while she tries to sit up. I'm learning a delicate balance between being firm and being loving, between wielding an iron fist and becoming a soft place to land. I'm thinking of a verse in the New Testament, where we were instructed to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. Maybe that's what being a mommy of a boy is all about?

Now, if you'll excuse me, somebody here rode a tiny fire truck across the living room to throw books over the baby gate at me, and I can't afford to sit still any longer.

A thought on free speech

Warning: Rant to follow.

We Americans love our free speech.
That is, unless someone else's free speech interferes with our opinion, right?

I read an article the other day about a celebrity who is being railed on because of some comments he made on gay marriage. Was he just out and about, bashing gay people and having a heyday? Nope. He was asked point blank by an interviewer and responded honestly. God forbid, right?

First things first. I have friends and people around me who, when asked, tell me the honest truth. If I don't want the honest truth on whether my butt looks big, my hair is a wreck, or I'm making the wrong decision, I don't ask those people. When will we learn? If you don't want to know someone's honest opinion, don't ask them. Right? And since when do you have to be a certain orientation or nationality to earn your free speech?

As a journalist, I value the right to express myself. No, not the right to go out and slam people for no reason, or to make people feel bad about the way they live their lives. But the right to express an opinion in a tasteful and respectful manner. But gosh, I've even felt compelled to edit myself on my personal blog because I had to be concerned with what others would think. We don't all agree in this world. Thank goodness, because we'd be living in a lot less colorful place. Variety is the spice of life, and I value people who will disagree with me and challenge me. I wish we could all feel the same.

Okay. Tangent concluded. Have a lovely day.

Operation Get up earlier (yuck)

Well, friends, we're creeping up on what has always been my least favorite weekend of the year.
Oh yes, it's spring time change, where we officially lose an hour of sleep and chalk it up to giving us longer days. I always loved getting that extra hour in the fall, but have dreaded this spring monstrosity ever since I can remember. And then I had a baby, a baby whom I try to keep on a schedule, and the whole thing seems even more insidious than ever. I'm trying to prepare him in advance, though. A little something I like to call...

"Operation Spring Ahead."

I'm pushing everything up a half an hour this week (ugh... 7:30 wake-up seems years ealier), and then another half an hour next week. I'm sure millions of other people have thought of this long before I, but Nate and I practically giggled with the genius of our plan. Shows you how much excitement we have in our lives, right?

What do you do to get your kids ready for time change?

New discoveries

Every day is full of new discoveries lately. This morning I sat and watched Milo try to figure out how to hold four little people in his hands at the same time (one of them was stuck on a fire truck, so it was throwing a wrench in the whole operation). I could literally see the wheels turning as he squatted there, picking them up and dropping them, until he finally managed two in each hand. He beamed at me, and then immediately threw them down and trotted on to the next project.

Milo has also decided that he likes grapefruit, so now we share in the mornings. Not like he needs any more food at breakfast time - the child eats more than I do, and yet he's still in 6-9 month clothes (sometimes 12 month, but that's pushing it)! His regular breakfast is a whole banana, a whole Nutrigrain bar, a big handful of cheerios, and a whole sippy cup of either juice or milk. Now add to that about half a grapefruit. WOW! Imagine how much running he has to do to burn off meals like that and not grow a pound and you can begin to understand how busy my life is these days. I wouldn't trade it for anything, though.

We finally managed to wear this adorable denim jacket (size 12 month) last night. It's a little baggy, but I think it's cute! Not sure about the excessive drool... He's usually a pretty clean little man.

"Awwww, Dad, does Mommy have to take another picture?" (sigh)

We managed to put our bed back where it belongs this weekend (thank goodness!), and we also got the most amazing curtains that make our room practically black. Lucky for me, we hung them just in time for a Monday morning, when I'm up long before the sun has even thought about rising. There's always next weekend, right?

BEFORE curtains picture



AFTER curtains, fabulously dark daylight picture

Sleepless?

WOW, where did my week go? Did I really post last on Tuesday? Here's what happened. I got exhausted. For some reason I haven't been able to sleep, and by the end of the week I found myself crying at Veggie Tales (in my defense, it was a really sweet tale...). But today was my sleep-in day and I managed to get a tiny bit caught up. At least I didn't have a headache for the first day this week.

Enough about me - check out this precious face!

We had a family bike ride (Nate) and run (Milo in the jog stroller and me pushing) today, because the weather was gorgeous! 65 and sunny was quite a treat after all the humidity of the last week or so.

Hope your weekend is amazing!