On life as of late

Things we have been up to over the past few weeks:

Friend's wedding:


Lots of mischief:


Tripp's rendition of "Pants on the Ground:"


The extent of my sewing projects:

Happy Father's Day

To my wonderful husband who is an amazing father-
Happy Father's Day!

I've lost my marbles!!

Ok, I didn't lose my marbles- just my potatoes!! Weird, I know. We had potatoes. Then we didn't. I searched everywhere for them. I really wanted them for our dinner. But I could not find them. They went rouge. Who loses potatoes? Just when I thought that this was the sign that I had definitely lost my marbles, I found them (the potatoes, that is). I'm not sure why I didn't think to look in the back of a dump truck in our "other" kitchen cabinets.

Cousins

Last week, Winsor (Nelson's sister) and Weston (our nephew/her son) came to visit. It was just a great time. It is really fun to have visitors here- it means a lot to us that they endured the large man next to them on the plane taking up half their seat to get here and it was wonderful to show them around St. Louis.



We took lots of walks, went to a few St. Louis spots, went to the park and hung out at home. The best part of the time to me was watching Weston and Tripp actually interact and want to be together. Of course they do not actually play together yet, but they were always interested in what the other one was doing.



Tripp even decided on multiple occasions that his cousin was sleeping too much and that he needed to be woken up. So Tripp would go bang on his door or start making really loud noises (to which Weston would respond after he was woken up). Winsor- I promise we will try to keep that down to a minimum in Montreat! All in all, it was a wonderful week and I wish we could do it more often!

On life...

It's been more than a year that Tripp's been with us but tonight things just kinda hit me. He is spending the night at my parent's house and it is so weird to be home without him here. It is weird to think that nights like tonight without him here were our old normal. I really can't even remember what that was like. It is so weird to think that I will not see him for about 24 hours. It's weird to think that I will actually have to set an alarm tomorrow morning and that I will take a shower without a little face peering around the shower curtain to check in and see what is going on. It is weird to think how much our lives have changed so much in one short year. Nelson and I went on a date to the bookstore after we dropped Tripp off with my folks and it felt so good to just sit and read a magazine. and I caught myself just randomly looking up from my magazine to look at Nelson and remember how much I love being with him. Which is something that I have forgotten way too often after having Tripp. I also far too often "forget" (or really just let tiredness or my own selfishness get in the way) to treat him with respect. It is really easy for me to get absorbed with the fact that I no longer get to just up and leave and go somewhere, or that I can't take a nap for as long as I want to or sleep in as late as I want to. In fact, it wasn't that long ago that I was talking with my parents about how awesome being an empty-nester sounded and another time with a friend about how having a kid really rocked my world. But then I realize how much I love that little guy and wouldn't trade him for the longest nap in the world or to even be able to sleep in everyday again. He brings an unspeakable joy into our lives and even though our lives are rocked forever, they are rocked in an amazing way.

P.S. Little Bug- Most people get things stuck in their teeth when they are eating dinner. But you my friend, have something stuck on your shoulder. And I am pretty sure you put it there on purpose.

boys will be boys

When it comes to bodily functions, Tripp is not so quiet about anything. For example, he came to work with me one day for our end of the year party for our graduating students. he had a little cough and my boss said to me "Emily, does your child have the whooping cough?" (No, he doesn't, in case you were wondering - he just has a loud cough). He also cracks himself up whenever he burps or toots. He has even been known to imitate with his mouth noises that come out of his rear. Apparently it doesn't stop when he is sleeping either. Tonight was a perfect example of that. I went in to check on him as I do at random intervals before we go to bed. His head kinda perked up when he heard me come in (only now after having a child did we realize pretty much the only downside to old, wooden floors-squeaks) so I just said to him, "Hi little buddy, how are you doing?" and I bent my head down to look at him through the slats of his crib. He heard me, lifted his head up, looked straight into my eyes and just let out a big burp, put his head back down and was right back to sleep. I guess that was his way of telling me he was doing just fine. I know that one day we will have to work on manners with him, but for now, I just think it is kinda funny.

Happiness