Halloweeeeeeeen!  My new favorite time of year since I started having kids!  (Segue: Is it possible any parent on the internet hasn’t read this yet?  I find it hard to believe because it’s being re-posted all over the damn place but if you haven’t, please go there.  Read it.  I find that it captures most accurately how most of us (or at least myself) probably feel.  Especially this part, when I think about how much I love days like Halloween now, “There’s no better way to understand just how amazing humans are than the front row seat a child gives you to observe it all unfold from scratch each and every day, from literal square zero. Children give the first four years of your life back to you.“  Right???  Sigh.  I freaking love my kids.  And then to add to the earth-shattering, heart-breaking-love I feel about these two little wee wobblers I birthed from my loins, my friend Sarah posted this the other day and I read it while snuggling close to Noah in my bed, nursing him to sleep so of course I seconded and thirded every sentiment she wrote.  Beautiful, Sarah.  DITTO.)

Okay, back to the (cue Oprah’s BIG! EXCITED! VOICE!) Obligatory Hal-lo-weeeeeeeeeen pooooooooost!  For weeks now Avelyn has wanted to be a butterfly and by default of being too young to voice an opinion, Noah was going to be a caterpillar for his FIRST Halloween.  I found a great inspiration image online (seriously it would have been so great) but then the day before I planned to buy the needed materials she changed her mind.  She wanted to be a pink and purple witch.  We even practiced with some colorful wigs I have had lying around for years from the Chicago movie making days.
She looks good, no?  I thought so too.  I surely can’t rock that look.  Well anyway, a few days after the witch idea she moved onto wanting to be Coraline, from the movie, which is totally cool with me, but then a few days after that she wanted to be a fairy.  Long(er) story short, we were running out the clock, short on homemade costume time so I decided to take her to the mega store (I know, I know) and let her pick whatever she wanted.  And what she wanted was this:

Fierce!  Well of course we had to walk around and find a compliment costume for Noah because what would a good pirate do without a trusty pirate parrot sidekick?

Don’t you want to eat up all the adorableness???  I DO.  Pirate Avelyn was pretty confident in her ability to teach sword fighting, regardless of the fact she only took up the skill two days prior.  And as you can see, Noah took to it with a little gusto.

(Sword’s pointing the wrong way Baby boy.)

I’m not sure I’ve ever bought a costume-in-a-bag in my whole life for myself or anyone else, but for the price and the lack of stress involved in my usual “I’M NOT GOING TO FINISH ON TIME!” creative process, Avelyn wore that costume out!  She wore it to SeaWorld for the Halloween Spooktacular the Friday before, then all day to school on Halloween, only taking it off after school was out to take pictures with Noah at the pumpkin patch, then again that night for the big evening.  Plus they were the best looking pair of pirates the world has ever seen, DUH.

So anyway, if you’re interested and want to see all Halloween related SeaWorld/Pumpkin Patch/Trick or Treat related imagery, feel free to click the picture below and check them out on flickr.
I hope your holidays were as fantabulous as ours were.  Here’s to a great holiday season!

We got a late start but had a (mostly) enjoyable fun 4 hours together.  Thank goodness for season passes so I don’t have to spend the whole damn day there.  A few hours here and there is just enough time to enjoy ourselves and go home and prevent the inevitable comments by strangers that sound something like “look at that crazy mom over there!  Why is she curled up in the fetal position rocking herself and singing that creepy song?” if I have to be there for more than a few hours at a time.

Amazingly Kevin had two green shirts to choose from while I had none, and he can pull off green even less than I can.  Weird.  Anyway, the highlight of the day was that Avelyn was sooooooo excited to ride the roller coaster.  Her FIRST roller coaster.  The S.eaworld Ride Nazi’s almost didn’t let her on after the ride height requirement chart said she was less than 38 inches.  Funny, given how the doctors chart and our measurements at home have her at 39+ inches.  Even the woman behind us agreed that she at least hit the 38″ mark so she should be allowed to ride with Kevin.  Nazi let her, which is good for her because I would have taken her down, baby on my chest or not.  My kid was ecstatic to ride  a “rodda coaster” for the first time and there was no way we were leaving until she did.  Unfortunately for picture purposes the adults have to ride on the outside of the coaster so most of the photos just show Kevin looking kind of weird riding a kids coaster by himself.  I got a few glimpses of Avelyn, who did awesome (even had her hands in the air!! she doesn’t get that from me!) until the first drop.  She had a death grip on Kevin’s knee and a terrified expression for the rest of the ride but SHE DID IT!!  She rode a rodda coaster!  And she’s not even three.  I was so proud.  Afterward she told me “It was scary, Mommy.  I was scared a wot but I wode it!” My big girl.  This parenting gig is pretty sweet.

Embrace the camera

Come around she did.  While still at the ripe age of two years and eight months old, my itty bitty gigantic baby girl had her FIRST dance recital a few weeks ago.  She woke up the night before with a fever, achy, feeling miserable and I was not sure we would make it.  There was no way I was going to force her to go either.  When it came time to leave we dosed her with some antipyretics, asked her if she wanted to try and go and she wanted nothing more.

“I get to wear my tutu costume!”

SO excited before the show

For me, the excitement of watching her up on that stage, performing a few of the moves she had spent weeks working on was going to be my shining moment.  My daughter’s FIRST performance.  Clearly the draw for her wasn’t the dancing, or the time she’d spent practicing every week for months, but it was the little pink tutu.  And whatever makes her happy, makes me happy.

So we went.  With red eyes, bright red cheeks and the biggest sense of pride I’ve ever seen in her.  My heart swelled.

Then it broke a little when I was waiting with her before her turn to dance and she laid her little sick head on my chest, obviously tired.  Why did we bring her? I started to wonder.  I shouldn’t have let her come, she’s going to get more sick.

When the time came for her group to go on stage I whispered for her the exact same instructions I whisper every week at practice, to follow the group, listen to the teacher and have FUN.  “I am SO proud of you,” I told her, “You’re going to be GREAT.”

I gave her a hug and watched her walk off with six other little girls.  Again, my heart swelled.  My eyes swelled.  (I had to remind me and my pregnancy hormones to cool it.)

Look at my BEAUTIFUL girl!

There’s really no words for me to describe to you how awesome it was to see her up there, smiling bigger than anyone else (she really was!), knowing how bad she felt that day and watching her give it her all.  After a little hiccup with her position my girl danced her little heart out.  My girl, danced.  Up on a stage.  Fearless.

I had the hardest time not just bawling the entire time.  I was so excited for her, so proud of her, so in awe of who she is becoming.  I apologize if there is any shaking in the video, I had to keep laughing and smiling to prevent from completely breaking down like the crazy emotional pregnant lady that I am.  I am telling you, my cup overfloweth.

It will go down as one of the greatest days.

See the whole set (it’s only like 20 pictures) here.

OH!  And she was totally well and fever free by 10pm that night

You started dance class last weekend, or as you like to refer to it, “dance cass!!!!!!” with the most excited voice you can muster.  You LOVE to dance, but you don’t love to listen so much.

The first week I left you in the class with two other girls, and sat outside snapping photos through the glass.  You did GREAT for about 10 minutes, until you caught sight of me.  The last 35 minutes of class you spent most of the time in my lap or running around not listening.  It was a little frustrating but more than anything I was so, so proud of you for trying. You remind me of myself in so many ways, I only hope I teach you to keep on trying, and not give up when you are scared or frustrated.

The second week I stayed in class with you, something I don’t think we’ll try next time.  Along with bribes of M&M’s and skittles and promises of a Wendy’s Frosty if you stayed with the group and listened to your teacher, you mostly enjoyed running around willy nilly, hanging off the balance bars and kissing your reflection in the mirror.  I’m most sad I didn’t get a picture of that.  Again, I felt more pride than anything because regardless of the outcome YOU ARE SO FREAKING CUTE.

Every now and then you would run over with the other kids and follow along for about 2.5 seconds before running off to dance in your own little world.  I don’t care, your time will come.  For now I just enjoy how much you love your “dance cass!!!!”, always want to wear a tutu and how super duper adorable you look in a leotard with or without the skirt.

Oh, and even though you might not excel right now at the structured ballet/tap portion of the class, you have exceeded all expectations in the creative movement portion of the class.  Your ribbon wand not only serves as a fairy wand but also as a floor duster. Always my little helper.

Your spirit inspires me in every way.  Keep on dancing, baby!

Of utmost importance is always attending your last day of anything with sweet new kicks.

Friday

Friday morning we woke up, packed up and left San Antonio in the dust as we headed for 4 days in Oklahoma City with my best friend, Katie.

It only took us TWELVE hours to get there, what with the toddler traveling with us and the 3 or 4 horrible, no good, very bad boughts of parking lot traffic we encountered.

Saturday

We started Dance Party OKC in Katie’s living room and rocked out in the A.M.

Afterwards Avelyn got acquainted with JFK.

and continued to blow me away with her awesomeness.

Saturday afternoon we took Avelyn to the zoo for the FIRST time.  The Oklahoma City Zoo is amazing and I highly recommend it.  She had a hey day in the Children’s Zoo.

We stared at monkeys

and birds

and even touched some!  She was way more excited about this than I was, as evidenced by my perpetual sharp intake of breath whenever any of the birds flew toward me.  Have I told you about my NOT CRAZY fear of a bird flying at my face and getting it’s sharp little beak stuck in my cheek?  It’s almost happened too many times for this to be an irrational fear.

I am not making this up when I say we walked for hundreds of miles. Maybe thousands.

So we made sure to take breaks and be cute as often as possible.

But while the grown ups thought these guys were pretty neat

my daughter went freaking apeshit over this little guy:

I wish you could have seen it. I hope my memory doesn’t ever fail me and erase the image of her running all around the aquairium screaming “Nemo! Nemo! Fishy! Fishy! Oh! Oh! Oh!!!!!” It was pure joy. The kind only an innocent can muster, something that comes from deep within. It was amazing to see.

After the height of fish city excitement died down we moved onto another FIRST – the carousel. Here we are clearly being stalked by the papprazzo.

We lucked out to find a crowd favorite animal to ride on, the peacock.

We were having a great time before my inner ear issues started to migrate south to my stomach (as evidenced by the facial grimace starting here) and before Katie decided to forego all warning by the carousel driver man and hop out of our peacock ride and onto the ostrich in front of us (as evidenced by Avelyn’s frantic cries of “NO, Ka-dee! NO KA-DEE!”.

It did nothing to quell my stomach churning but Katie came back for Avelyn and all was right with her world.

On a side note, don’t we totally look like royalty here?

We finally got a good shot of the family before calling it day. Although not before Hobo ran off all her extra energy at the playground.

That was just Saturday. A day which will henceforth be known as The Day Avelyn Did Not Take a Nap. She promptly passed out in the car for all of one hour before being woken up to go to dinner with Katie’s family at a great restaurant. The food and the company were fabulous, Hobo’s mood was not. I had a great time at dinner amid trying to console the whining and cajole a friendly smile all the while interpret to Kevin via facial tics and head nods that this wasmynightoutwithmypeoplesocanyoupleasetakecareofthisbabynoIdon’tcarewhatittakes soIcanenjoythisdinnerwithmypeople.  He didn’t totally catch on folks. I know you’re reading this honey. You didn’t totally catch on.

Sunday

Sunday was the main reason I made the decision to take us to OKC in the first place becaaaaaaws Sesame Street Live was in town!! We prepped before the show with mall walking and Icee drinking. This child of mine is an Icee nazi. Don’t give her yours unless you want your fingers chewed off trying to get it back.

I’m serious and Katie can vouch. Her steely fingers were clamped around that cup and she was not letting go. As a matter of fact, this was the trip that Avelyn became aware of her independence. Everything this week has been “I do it!” This phrase is repeated to infinity with increasing volume unless you do in fact let her do it. She has specifically perfected this phrase when crawling into her carseat. She wants to crawl into the car and up into her carseat and she knows where the latch goes and SHE CAN DO IT! “Okay, I KNOW you can DO IT!” we cry, “So DO IT!”

Sunday night was Sesame Street Live AKA The Elmo Show. Elmo wasn’t even central to the show but we could get her excited talking about going to see him.

The show got started.

Umm, she was really excited.

And she danced her little heart out. I am not exaggerating nor am I biased in any way when I say my child enjoyed the show more than any other child there. There is no one that clapped louder, danced harder or squealed with more glee than my little Hobo.

For example, here is an image of me holding onto the back of shirt so she would not take flight and shuttle toward the stage.

I think she had a really great time. She was enjoying it so much that I didn’t bat an eye at the price tag on the Zoe doll she picked out. Or the Elmo balloon we had to get at intermission because EVERY WORD OUT OF HER MOUTH WAS “ELMO BALLOON! ELMO BALLOON!” This Elmo Balloon which we left at Katie’s apartment when we left. Wah wah wah. Hope you’re lovin’ you some Elmo, Katie.

After the show Kevin headed to see a basketball game by himself and I headed home for an evening with Katie and strainer head, also known as Baby High on Elmo Show.

She was cracked out, I’m telling you. It was another incredibly long day that ended in another embarrassingly early bedtime. Some of us may have gone to bed before 10 pm every night. What can I say? Kids are exhausting.

Monday

See that mirror in the next photo? The one reflecting the image of the adorable toddler who looks radiant in yellow? That mirror tried to kill me the night before. I have a huge bruise on my right hand to prove it. Just thought someone should know should this ever happen again.

I think we spent Monday morning walking around another mall on the never ending (fruitless) search for Kevin’s new hoodie. After lunch we headed for cupcakes. The Cupcake Lady made sure we knew NO nuts were used in ANY of their products. Thank you for the attitude served with that statement.

Avelyn liked the cupcake and has subsequently shouted “Cupcakes! Cupcakes!” every time she has seen these photos now.  Also, she said her FIRST sentence ever during cupcake time.  She needed paper towels and Kevin thought he would be so polite as to bring her milk too, and told her so.  “No!” she said “No milk, just paper towel.”  WHAAAAT?  Where the poop did that come from?

Somebody got a better nap that afternoon, followed by some really cold playtime at the park. Mostly I took away from this set of iPhone images that a tapered peacoat makes me look like I have a shape, and maybe I ought to go clothes shopping. (Thanks again for the loaner coat, Kate)

We had dinner that night at a local establishment (actually everywhere we ate was a local establishment I think, so again, thank you Katie for coming up with interesting places to take us) where we ran into Cupcake Lady! What a small world! I hate this photo of me because I look fat and like my face is receding into my neck like my mothers side of the family but oh well, Hobo is too cute not to share.

We ended the day with yoga and hugs.

Oh, and more of  this.  (Note that the mirror is no longer sitting precariously above us on the couch.)

And that was our trip. We came home on Tuesday, forgot it was St. Patrick’s day until Wednesday around lunch, dressed Avelyn up as THE CUTEST IRISHBABY EVER and have been enjoying our wonderful spring weather back home.

The End.

I can’t believe how much more I love this child everyday.  I didn’t think it was possible and then, poof!  She grows a little taller, pops a brand new word out of her mouth, busts a move and I sigh and think how on earth did I get so lucky to have this kid? She’s utterly amazing.  And growing up so fast.  Do you know what happened last week?  DO YOU!?  In case you missed the World News Report here it is – I broke down and HAD HER HAIR CUT.  Her FIRST haircut.  LIKE ONE WHOLE INCH, PEOPLE!!!!

Before.  After.  Totally different, right?  I’m torn between thinking it’s not that much hair and she looks exactly the same (in which case WHY did I do it) and screaming OH. EM. GEE. It’s like I shaved her head or something because her hair!  Look at my baby’s hair!!  It’s gooooooone!  Or maybe it just feels that way.  Tough call.

On the fertilization front, I grow more and more convinced everyday that adding to our family is the right decision for us.  I look at my Hobo growing up and can’t help but get excited about what another one might be like.  Avelyn tends to agree, showing what a great big sister she might one day make by taking such good care of her baby…

Of course she also throws the baby on the ground, into the crib, out of the stroller…  Hurling is pretty much her mode of transportation for “bay-bee”.  (She’s yet to figure out this “name your baby” thing).  Kevin continually wonders aloud how a new little person might survive with our Amazonian first born running amok.  I’ve begun to wonder that myself given how much she enjoys “workin’ out” with her dad these days.

I’ll be damned if that’s not the cutest push up I’ve ever seen.  Also, does anyone else notice the high waters?  He he he.

Anyway.  We paint.  We play.  We build houses for homeless-people.  We read.  We are sweet.  We are crazy.  We know how to rock.  But above all, we know how to dance.

*The title that seemed most appropriate after reading this post.

I have been terribly lax at recording all the new cool stuff Avelyn is doing.  In July I started a list of all the words she could say and understand but it’s grow exponentially since then.  I will never catch up with what I haven’t already recorded so instead we’ll just start right here, right now with what I’ve got.

Words my Hobo can understand:
E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  Watch your mouth.

Words my Hobo can say that sound close enough to the way they are supposed to sound [an off the top of my head list]:

Yeah that’s right, I taught her to say boob.  Not technically on purpose, but it was funny as hell when the moment arose and I just had to go for it.  It’s not as if she will be interviewing for a job when she’s 21 years old and list among her accomplishments “Well, I said ‘boob’ when I was a wee 16 month old baby and I can still identify them on almost anyone”.

Don’t worry, it’s not a word we’re going to encourage but hot damn it is funny to hear.  She says it so quiet too, as if it’s a naughty word.

“Avelyn, say ‘BOOB’” I will tell her.

“Boob” she says in an almost whisper.

“Where’s Mommy’s boob?” I will ask (I think she’s had it pretty good so far so I need to give her something to talk about in therapy).

She will stare at me and either point to my belly button or to my, er, boob.  All of this ends with outrageous, side slapping laughter and bubbly little giggles, the kind that sound so sweet because they know they’ve gotten away with something good.

Speaking of belly buttons, she found hers in the last week or so.  You’d think she’d found the holy grail.  As if we had been hiding all the belly buttons in the world until one day she stumbled upon hers and by golly if that thing wasn’t the weirdest thing EVERRRRR and ohmygod MOM AND DAD HAVE THEM TOO!?!? SERIOUSLY!?!?!

She will pull her shirt up whenever, wherever to find it and then point at our bellies expectantly, waiting to push her little fat finger in ours as well.  I have news for you kid, my belly button could eat your hand and you’d never get it back it’s so deep.  All thanks to you.  It’s not as bad as the immediate post partum belly button, you know the one that could swallow your newborn baby if you weren’t holding them with both hands?  It’s not that bad anymore, but what was once a taut, attractive innie of a button is now large enough in diameter that it can easily take in an entire 16-almost-17 month old index finger.  IT’S SCARY.

So just in case you were wondering, everything around here, as they say, is coming up roses.

Kevin flew to Chicago on Friday so he wasn’t in attendance.  I made sure he was “there” by lending Jacob Kevin’s tux from our wedding and forcing him to talk on my pink iPhone while Kevin gave marriage advice before the ceremony.  He said, “Don’ do it dummy!”  Joking, of course. 

I’ve mentioned before that I regret not having danced with my brother at my own wedding all the way, way back in 2002.  I made peace with myself when Avelyn danced with him at his.  It kills me it’s so sweet. 

After the wedding we all drove over to an old historic house and they had pictures taken.  Avelyn was fit to be tied after driving nearly 300 miles just the day before and revving up to drive the same distance back.  She passed out on the way to the house, woke up crabby and screaming about 10 minutes later and screamed in most of my pictures.  We’ll see how their photos come out.  She looked so pretty with the bride anyway, and in the flower garden of course.  Love those OMG Texas is too freaking hot summer nights.

I started my FIRST day at my FIRST real job on Monday.  So far it has been hooooouuuurrrrrs of borientation.  I sit there all day long, nodding off and dreaming about all the things I need to learn how to do so I don’t kill someone.  Then I think to myself, Holy crap!  I’m getting paid a buttload of money to sit here and be bored.  WaHOOOOOOO!  Then, normally I go back to having the poop scared out of me because hello!  I’m a new nurse and I. Know. NOTHING.

It is now 9:57pm.  I am drop dead tired and missing Kevin like crazy.  He is in Chicago until August 2nd.  Have I talked about that yet?  I have been so busy and blog neglectful I’m not sure if I have.  He goes every year and runs a film camp for high school kids.  I miss him insanely and so does Avelyn.  We bought a webcam for my computer before he left and tried it out on Father’s Day.  You can see her unfiltered joy when she talks to her Daddy “on the screen” at the end of the Father’s Day “movie” I made him.  I just roll with amusement every time I hear that excited laugh.  I wonder if I would look younger if I laughed like that everyday. 

[Click play or here if the song doesn’t play. It will open in a new window.]

We are having a great start of summer around here.  Swimming, FIRST pigtails, learning the art of “sliding” at the park, learning to eat big people food like chicken, meat loaf, spinach, green beans, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, cherries, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries… did I mention she loves fruit?  Oh, and jello.  Yeah that’s right.  Thanks Gagi for introducing jello at Luby’s.  She loves it, of course.  

See more "pigtails and purses" cuteness here.  (Note if you’re not familiar with Flickr: when you click on a link it takes you to a page with a photo.  To view more photos find “Doting Momma’s Photostream” on the right side of the page.  Click on the picture on the right to see the next photo, or the picture on the left to see the previous photo.  Hope that helps!)

I was a nanny for a few months in 2003, in between semesters in Chicago.  It was the best job I ever had and I have been blessed to develop a lasting relationship with the family I worked for, visiting every summer in Chicago.  The baby I cared for will be seven this year.  SEVEN.  I can’t believe it.  This year the girls made Avelyn a homemade card and sent her two of their favorite CD’s for her birthday.  We have fallen in love with them, especially You Are My Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell.  Buy it, you and the kids will love it and it won’t make you want to drill a hole in your head while driving in the car.  My favorite song on the album is (hopefully) playing for you right now.  If it’s not try clicking the link at the top of the page and it should play in another window.  It’s a song written by Bob Marley called Three Little Birds and Avelyn and I sing it every morning.  My favorite part is when she sings along with her little baby “you-ou-ou”.  Melts my heart every time.

See more “watermelon days” here.

I am counting my blessings for such wonderful days around here.  I hope your summer is off to a bang too.

FIRST day on the putt putt course: sunny, fun, so freaking hot we quit on hole 11.

Seeing Avelyn in her gold gladiator sandals having a blast outside: priceless.