Photo Journal {May 2014}

Welp.

I've been on "burn-out" mode for quite a while now. I'm ready for June, and some amazing family vacation time in the Midwest.

Bets is finally sleeping through the night and has started napping. (Yes, she didn't nap for longer than 30 minutes for her first 3 months of life...). She's adorable, finicky, and an emotional roller coaster. Say "hello" to parenting a girl! Her newest habit is shrieking. Not crying. Shrieking. It means she's angry, thinks she's dying, or just needs a cuddle. It's the most nerve-wracking sound, but her complacent (immediate) glee when you pick her up after a screech is quite funny. She goes from peeved to delighted in .03 seconds. Hmm... it's almost like she has a dramatic, emotional mother. How odd...

Grantopatomus has reached new levels of inquisitiveness which results in him destroying six things while I clean up one. His complete fascination with everything except his toys is adorably frustrating to watch. My mommy pride glows as he figures out how things work. And my mommy heart groans when he scatters disassembled pieces across three different rooms. Bookcases are not safe. He's dismantled the vacuum cleaner multiple times, and he loves to pull all the dishes out of all the cabinets and bang them on the floor.

While I'm staunchly determined that he hear more praise than criticism, it's very hard when (quite literally!) I have reasons to say "no" every 30 seconds. Scott has turned me into a clean freak, and I have grown to love a tidy house. Don't read me that crappy poem about "dust can keep, babies grow up fast, blah-blah-blah." Sometimes all a woman wants is clean sheets and a floor that doesn't feel sticky, crumbly, and slimy all at once.

But the "free-spirit" side of me (the part that has needed to be corralled and subdued for years) loves this new stage. So despite the disgusting floors and persistent mess, I'm joining in the chaos. We pull out pots and pans together. We spend 40 minutes picking up what it took 3 minutes to destroy. We smear food textures everywhere. We eat chunks of onions, rifle through books, and watch the house fall apart around us.

That was May.

I'm tired. I want a clean house. I want to finish a chore without 2 more hours of work being created while I finish it.

My babies are growing.
My house is disintegrating.
Sounds like motherhood-of-two has officially taken up camp.

But look at this adorable month of pictures, will you? These precious faces make all the angst, dirt, and clutter worth it. I always thought mothers who said, "It's brutal, but I wouldn't trade it" were more than slightly off their rockers. Now I know they were totally right.

Here's to May 2014!

Scott and I got to attend a Getty Conference for our anniversary!
Scott won the tickets in a radio contest, and we had an amazing
night worshiping with a couple thousand other people. The Getty's
wrote the songs that we sung at our wedding... such powerful lyrics. And
I cried my eyes out when they talked about Compassion International
and the orphans around the world. I think I need some more babies...

I had the pleasure of taking some pics at a wonderful
Harvest Women's Tea... There was real china, perfectly steeped tea,
scones, and lots of chit-chat with lovely ladies. 

Grant discovered swings again. This time his only hesitance was when Mommy
made him get off the swing.

Daddy was there to swing him super-high! 

Slides are also a favorite.

He loved to climb up.

And he slid down with great abandon.

It's after this trip to the park that he lost his fear of stairs, bookcases, the toy
chest... well, pretty much anything that he could climb up on.

One of Grant's recent fascinations has been the eggs
which I store on the bottom shelf of the fridge. He has
tried to "investigate" them multiple times. On this day, to appease
his curiosity, I scooped up two eggs he smashed on the floor and we
spent 30 minutes exploring them. I hoped that this would
satiate his curiosity. It did. He hasn't touched them in the
fridge since.

Of course, that could also be because I made him
prep them for lunch, and he had to eat scrambled eggs.
He hates scrambled eggs.

WE VISITED TEEJ IN NYC!!!! He took us to his
favorite brunch spot. The waiter thought requesting
goat cheese in my Western Omelet was crazy. I didn't
care. Give me my goat cheese. Yummmmm.

Real men carry babies in NYC.

Someone LOVES Uncle Teej.

Oh, my goodness, Uncle Teej, you is soooo funny!

Love these two.

In his own words, "The Cool Uncle."

Rockefeller Center. Where my son went up to every strange
woman he saw and asked to be picked up. Where he played
in the fountains and little Asian men took pictures of him.

FIRST FAMILY PIC! (Seriously. Look at those hilarious kids. Bets is making me laugh.
And apparently Grant doesn't know how to pose for a pic...)

Candid family. Please note that Bets and I have
matching green pants. Woot!

Uncle Teej, please stop snapping photos and pick
me up...

The man in his man cave. So glad we could visit on (almost)
his birthday. I just love this brother. Like crazy. Like, enough to
do some wonky, embarrassing, public display of sisterly affection.
He tolerates me nicely. :)

Memorial Day. The day pools around the nation are inaugurated.

Drinkin' from a hose.

Chokin' on the hose water.
And then promptly drinking from the hose again.

Can't wait for June 2014! Each month these babies get more and more fun!