Good Stuff

While in D.C. last week we met up with Andrea for some Good Stuff Eatery burgers and milkshakes (the toasted marshmallow milkshake is awesome). Fans of Top Chef may remember the owner, Spike Mendelsohn (who was there eating, coincidentally--kinda fun to see him there. I wonder how often owners eat at their own restaurants?). Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

Anyway, James adores his Aunt Andrea so he was pumped to hang out with her again.

Here he is with his stylish aunt. Speaking of which, what is it about having kids that instantly makes you feel completely unfashionable and frumpy no matter what you wear? Is it just me? Maybe it is. I feel like I could wear her exact same outfit and even though we're identical twins, she'd still look gorgeous and I'd still look well, frumpy and unfashionable. I don't like that.

See what I mean? She just looks great. I don't even like posting pictures of myself for the very reasons posted above. Uhg. Oh-well.

I'm getting off topic here . . . so D.C. was fun but we weren't there nearly long enough. After driving around for fifty years trying to find parking, basically all we had time for was a couple of Smithsonians (Air and Space which James loved and Natural History). I had so many more things I wanted to do: Fords Theater, take my kids to the Lincoln to show them where Brian and I got engaged, Roosevelt Island (one of the few things in D.C. I haven't done yet), and my favorite restaurant Panjshir which I have been craving for the past year pretty much.

I guess it's good to have reasons to go back to your favorite place again.

You Know You're Tired When . . .

The car in front of you has an Obama '08 bumper sticker and it takes you a good minute to remember it's no longer 2008 and therefore not referring to the current election year.

You lose your car keys at the grocery store and spend a good 15 minutes in total panic mode going up and down the aisles retracing your every step only to finally realize you actually had the keys with you the entire time.

Nearly every time you walk into a room you end up just standing there staring for about two minutes, because the second you walk in you forgot why you went in there in the first place.

You have to rewrite everything about sixteen times because when you re-read what you wrote the first fifteen times you seriously question whether you've been writing in English or not.

You accidentally fall asleep for a few seconds while feeding the baby. In that short time, your two-year-old has managed to get on your computer and start a Words with Friends game with some random girl from your freshman dorm.

There is a code written on the white board on your fridge. You have no idea what this code is for. No idea at all. And you wrote it there yourself just a couple of days ago.

You return a DVD to the library without the DVD in the case. The library calls to tell you this and you promise to return it the very next day. That was seven days ago. And despite putting the DVD in your bag so you don't forget, you still don't remember until that night when you're going to bed.

Your husband finally gets home from work and you tell him you need to run to the store really fast. You'll be back in 20 minutes, you promise! Two hours later your husband calls to see if you're okay. Sorry, but sometimes it's just so nice to be alone that time just slips away from you! 

Anyone else have any to share?

Richmans back in Richmond

Oh Richmond, how I didn't think I missed you. But wham, the second we came upon the Parham Road exit off of I-64, I felt a jolt of homesickness, a spark of fondness, a longing to drive your roads and relive old memories. In fact, I was quite surprised at how good, refreshing, even, it was to see you. See, I didn't love you when we lived there. I mean, Virginia I loved, but you specifically were nothing special to me. And to be honest, leaving you behind wasn't all that hard. But I guess it's true what they say: the grass is always greener.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate Knoxville. Despite the quirkiness, I do like it here. We love our house, I have good friends, love the Southern charm, etc. But I've never truly felt at home here. And something about Richmond and going back to our old ward felt so at home to me. And that feeling was incredibly comforting. There was something so enjoyable about seeing old friends, especially those who have had kids since we left and getting to meet their cute little offspring.

Poor Brian. Just about every Sunday someone in our current ward goes up to him and asks him if he's new. I mean, he may miss an occasional Sunday because of work (especially lately), but seriously? We've been here for almost two years! But, take one step into the ol' Innsbrook Ward and fifty people go up to him so excited to see him and find out what he's been up to these past couple years. It was nice. Really, really nice. And it made me happy and made me rethink that maybe that ward wasn't so bad afterall. Sure, it was as cliquey as all get out but it really was a good ward with good people.

Anyway, let's talk Richmond for a second. If you live there and are reading this and haven't been to Sally Bell's Kitchen near VCU campus, run now and get yourself a devil's food cupcake for me. Oh heaven. I have been dreaming of those cupcakes for two years now. Of course I made Brian stop and we picked up a dozen or so. Half of those are now in my freezer for future cravings.  Here's James enjoying said cupcake:

Of course, we also had to stop by our old townhouse. Sometimes we still have bitter feelings about how things ended there (i.e. the buyers not living up to their end of the bargain, etc.) but then when we saw all the "For Sale" signs up and realized some of those homes were up for sale at the same time as ours, we realize how lucky we are it sold at all. Oh the memories in this house. I do miss it sometimes and the sweet moments we had there, especially of the first few months of Jamers' life.

Brian had two requirements in Richmond: eating at our favorite Mexican place (we seriously used to eat there once a week) and visiting the good old VCU School of Dentistry for old times sake. It was good to be back in both places and kind of felt like we'd never left (except for the doubled prices at El Paso--what's up with that?), which was actually a good feeling.


  
Richmond, I have a feeling we'll meet again. It's true, the grass is always greener, but maybe you were more special than I once thought.

Lincoln

After reading Killing Lincoln, I have a new fascination with our 16th president. So when we were in Richmond I made Brian stop at the White House of the Confederacy so I could get a picture (I can't believe I used to work right across the street and never went inside) and then again at Ford's Theater in D.C. I was hoping to have time to see the museum in the basement of Ford's Theater but all we could do was a drive by.

Here's the house across the street where Lincoln died.

 Here's Robert E. Lee's house on the hill in Arlington.

 
And lastly, here is the White House of the Confederacy.

Good times.

Williamsburg (but not the colonial part)

Ahh, vacations. How we live for them. We really needed this one, too. All of us.

It's kind of funny to think that Williamsburg, Virginia has become our vacation destination of choice. We absolutely love it there. As we drove home on Saturday we laughed that we spent an entire week there without having ever visited (or even driving by) the actual colonial part that most people go there specifically to see.

There is just something serene about the resort nestled among ancient forests, the James River, beautiful architecture, and okay, throw a golf course and tennis court or two in there and Brian is a happy man.

James loved the pool, playground and other resort activities. He was smiling, laughing and skipping around the entire time just out of pure joy of doing something fun and new.

I loved that everyone was so happy the entire time. I even made good use of the gym there, running my first mile in over a year (two, maybe?). It is sure easy to get out of shape is all I can say. A couple years ago a mile might not have phased me but I worked to get that mile in and boy was I sore the next day. It sure felt good though.

Highlights of the trip included a trip to VA Beach to see Jake and Jackie, a quick trip to D.C. and seeing Andrea there, the Jamestown ferry, the glass house, and, of course, a couple trips back up to Richmond.

Here are a few pictures. D.C. and Richmond will come in separate posts.

So call me a nerd, but the glass house in Jamestown is fascinating to me. I was hoping James would find it equally so but no such luck. Maybe someday.

We had a great time with Jake and Jackie in Virginia Beach. It was fun witnessing Jake be an actual dentist and seeing them be parents since when we last saw them they didn't have any kids. James and Tucker quickly became best buds and is still talking about how much fun he had.

The Jamestown/Surrey ferry is a favorite of ours. You get to drive your car up onto it and it takes you right across the water where you drive off once you dock at Surrey which is the quirkiest but most beautiful little town in VA. They have tobacco and cotton plantations all over the place. It's got to be one of the most beautiful drives in Virginia.

 Williamsburg, we love you. We'll be back next year!

Alivia Joy

We finally got to bless our baby girl. Although, truth be told it was somewhat bittersweet. We had zero family there. Zero. Not a soul. And it kind of broke my heart that no one could be there to share the day with sweet Liv. I point my finger at Brian's work schedule as the culprit. He doesn't get his work schedule very far in advance and ended up not getting a single Sunday off of work for weeks so this was the only day we could do it.

Aside from the sadness of no family present, it was a great day. Liv got to wear my baby blessing dress and she looked lovely in it. I couldn't help but shed a tear or two as I dressed her in it and the entire day James kept patting her on the head telling her how pretty she looked. She was also golden during the blessing and I got to hear almost every beautiful word Brian spoke. She fell asleep right after it was over and slept the entire day away.  

As this little girl approaches her third month of life, I am overwhelmed with feelings of what an integral part of our family she is. We adore her and can't wait to see who she grows up to be.

So, So, So . . .

James is very into the adjective "so" these days, as in the following . . .

"Mom, I SO love you!"
"That worm is so dead."
"I'll sing you a song and make you SO happy!" 
"I ran away from you and was so hiding." 

He's also SO into dressing himself these days, although sometimes it doesn't work so well, like in the instance below where he tried to make his shirt work as pants.

Sometimes he gets his "are's" mixed up . . .

James (on the phone with his aunt): "I'm going to do fun things today."
Andrea: "You are?"
James: "I are!"

Or yesterday morning when I went into his room to get him he was calling out to me,
"Mom, were you aaaarrre?!"

And finally, it happened several months later than I wanted it to, but he's officially day-time potty trained. Awesome! I was finally able to be consistent with him in leaving his diaper off (all the hoopla of a new baby is over and our company is finally gone and I've been able to focus on it more) and that made all the difference in the world. He's been amazing and even runs into the bathroom, without any reminders, to go on his own. Now we just need to work on nights. Deep breath. We can do this!

So Typical

Some shots of my favorite people and a few cheesy words about them . . .

These pictures are several weeks old but I was going through them this morning and it struck me how very typical the first two pictures are of James' personality. He is either moody and sassy that we're making him do something he doesn't want to do or as happy as can be and thinking everything is hilarious (even if no one else shares his feelings). In his defense, he was about two hours over due for a nap the day these photos were taken, so he was alternating between cranky and slap happy every 30 seconds.

I sure love this boy. He's teaching me patience, that's for sure and sometimes I have to remind myself that he's only two. They start behaving eventually, right? For as sassy as he can be, he can also be just as sweet. He often will run up and just give me a big hug or kiss and tell me he loves me. He's very concerned about anyone who is hurt or sad and is always trying to make you happy if he knows you're not. He's the most polite two-year-old I know (he's got his please, thank you, you're welcome, excuse me, and I'm sorry's down pat). We're also finally mastering potty training. Hallelujah.  

Onto my Livy. It still amazes me every single day that this sweet little girl is ours. She's almost two months old. In fact, she had her two month doctor's visit yesterday. She's 10 lbs and in the 50th percentile for everything (except her head is 25th).

She had to get three shots and it broke my heart hearing her sad painful cries. When she awoke from her afternoon nap she was in so much pain she was inconsolable for about an hour, just screaming bloody murder and looking up at me with a look that said "Please help me--make it stop hurting!" And I couldn't. I've never seen her like that before and it brought tears to my own eyes. I remember James being the same way the afternoon after his first few shots. A warm bath always made him feel better so I tried that with Livy and it only made it worse which reminded me that no two kids are alike and even though these two look similar, they are so very different.

Brian. How I love this guy. He does so much for our family, including awaking at 4:30 every morning these days for a horribly strenuous trauma rotation and then often not getting home until 15 hours later. Next month it doesn't get any better when he has to start working the night shift in the ICU. How does anyone with little kids work a night shift and expect to come home and get any sleep? His ever increasing absence makes me appreciate him all the more.

Five years ago I don't think I ever pictured myself with a husband or two kids. I thought I'd be working in D.C. for many more years enjoying the single career woman life. Funny how quickly things change. I guess that's typical life.

Smiles

I finally got around to capturing some real smiles on camera. I sure love this girl . . .

Is she not the cutest?

And just because stretching dramatically is one of my favorite things newborns do, here's one of those, too:

Her ridiculous cuteness factor makes me want to have another one . . . not right now of course (we're talking in years, people), but some day when we hopefully live closer to family who can provide me with more sanity breaks than one currently gets when their husband is on a completely insane 80-hour/week rotation with no days off basically the entire month. It's terrible, just terrible. My heart goes out to any single parent out there because that is what I feel like I am this month.

My Livy Girl

I wish I could just sit and stare at this beautiful little girl all day long like I did her brother. I love her expressive eyes, the way she purses her lips, and that adorable double chin kills me.

Next week she'll be two months old. Dang. Where did the time go? Changes I've noticed the last couple weeks: she started to smile real smiles. I love it. She cries/fusses a lot less (not that she did a ton before anyway) and is all in all quite a pleasant baby. She's sleeping longer stretches--the most she's gone so far is 7 hours, but usually she'll just go 5 or 6  every night. She poops way less. Thank goodness. James never pooped or peed on me. Not once. I can't even count how many times it has happened with Livy. I never knew that was an issue with girls.

She's a great napper. Put her somewhere comfortable once she's been awake an hour or two and she'll zonk out in seconds. She's already started to form a predictable schedule. She generally naps and goes to bed around the same time these days.

She went to church for the first time last week and we put her in this darling newborn dress a friend gave her (the only one that currently fits her). She looked lovely.

For as beautiful as she is, she's got some funny, very unfeminine qualities. She is a deep throat grunter, a snorter, and a yelper and we love her dearly. James lovingly refers to her as "My Livy Livy."