Tiger Pee

Two truths and a lie. I played it yearly in my classroom and always cracked up at the crazy things my students had experienced. This past weekend we gave Charlie a great "gift" that I'm pretty sure will make him unbeatable. I don't yet know what lie Charlie will concoct, but I know one of his truths will be, "I've been peed on by a Siberian tiger."

Sacrificial lamb

Thanksgiving was a fantastic holiday spent with family and friends, and while the eating was good (have you ever tried my brother's fried turkey...are you kidding me?!), the non-stop laughter and mini-adventures were the best. We spent Thanksgiving morning at the Trot and headed over to Tania's for some eats and treats Thanksgiving night. We celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom on Friday, and as always, it's a day of pure relaxation and a night full of fun. Saturday my mom planned a trip to the In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue, and it was even better than anticipated. Well better if you like tigers peeing on your sixth-month-old, mountain lions tracking your four and two year old nephews, a tiger charging your nine-year-old nephew and another tiger locking in on your step-dad to the extent that the volunteer had to ask him to "move along". Yes, yes, yes and yes! There was a large Siberian tiger, Kiro, at the first cage we came to. He was pacing the entrance of his cage eagerly anticipating the arrival of his mid-day treat...a turkey, duh. My brother, mom and Charlie and I stood on one end of his cage, and as we stood there marveling at his beauty and size, he calmly lifted his tail and sprayed tiger piss with vigor. I ducked and covered like a bomb exploded, and while I saved myself, I didn't quite get Chuck out of the way. Mother of the year here. But really, the place is awesome. It's full of beautiful, large, wonderful cats, and we had a great time walking around the cages and swapping stories of lion and tiger encounters. If you're ever near Wylie and have an afternoon to spare, I highly recommend giving this place a visit. We headed home Saturday afternoon, and as usual, Charlie was a total road-warrior. Sure I spend most of my time in the backseat now singing The Itsy-bitsy Spider or Old MacDonald, making crazy faces, reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear and playing Peek-a-Boo, but a happy Charlie makes the ride go oh-so-much-quicker and is worth every ounce of energy.

Around here we're thankful for a week spent with funny family, delicious eats, an easy road-trip, fantastic friends and the beautiful Texas weather. Oh and tiger pee. Definitely thankful for tiger pee.

 

Hope your Thanksgiving was full of blessings and left you feeling grateful.

To Be

Today's one of those days I feel overwhelmed with love for our little family. Charlie and I have fallen into an awesome weekday routine which makes life so good, but the weekends are my sanctuary. This weekend in particular left me thankful and totally in love. Sure I love my sweet family all the time, but I'm talking about that love-spilling-over-every-inch-of-life type of love. The kind where you almost feel ridiculous being so giddy and grateful. This weekend was nothing special. We didn't have grand plans or extravagant outings. We had time.

Time to lay around in the grass out front and enjoy the beautiful weather. Time to grab breakfast tacos and picnic at the park. Time to meet family and friends for dinner. And time to lay around on the couch while Charlie took a wickedly awesome nap. And I think that might just be what we'd been missing. We tend to jam-pack our weekends trying to be everywhere for everyone, but allowing time for our little family to simply be is just as important.

This weekend we got to just be. We soaked in this life and uncovered an unparalleled level of contentment.

Affirmation

If life is a series of breaths you take and moments you share, I'd say this past weekend more than helped me fill my quota. My total-boss-of-a-brother-in-law sent my two sisters and me to Lake Austin Spa and Resort for an overnight spa extravaganza as a birthday present to my sister Tania. It was an extravagant slumber party filled with spa treatments, ridiculous food, kayaking, swimming, reading, and laughing. We arrived early Saturday morning to begin our treatments and settle in to the resort lifestyle - i.e. robes worn at all times.

And man did we settle in. I'm pretty sure my sisters were in their robes before I even picked which locker I would store my stuff in for the morning. And we happily trotted up to the Blue Room, which is quite possibly the most magical place on Earth. It's quiet, serene and if you're in the Blue Room, you're either waiting for a treatment or just finished one - I'm not sure which is better. After our body scrubs, we went to lunch and then it was back to the Blue Room. Back to treatment heaven. And the day continued in this style. We bounced around between the spa, the dining room, the pool, the hammocks, the steam room, and the lake for the remainder of our stay. The treatments were divine. The Blue Room was just as lovely as I remembered. And the scenery was unbelievable. But the best part of all of it was the time we spent in between services - sharing meals, swapping stories and cracking up. My sisters are awesome women, amazing moms, my ultimate role models and on so many occasions my complete salvation. We don't get a chance to kick back as much as we'd like, but when we do, we make it count.

This weekend rejuvenated my soul and lightened my spirit. And as I enter back into my norm, my heart swells with love and appreciation for the little over twenty-four hours of moments we shared. The small breath we got to take from reality. A sweet reminder that life really does work beautifully.

6 Months!

October flew by without me even realizing it. Charlie is six months old today, and I truly cannot believe we're here already. When we went to Kavanaugh's this summer, Charlie's cousin Henley was almost six months old, and I remember thinking she was such a real, interactive little kid while Charlie was still very much an infant. And now Charlie is that little social butterfly. He smiles and shrieks and babbles at almost everyone he meets. We went to the grocery store last week, and six women stopped me, I'm not exaggerating here, talking to Charlie and thanking me (literally saying, "thank you") for being at the store with him at the same time as them. He's a magical little guy. All sweetness, smiles and love.

We had a busy month sharing in lots of Charlie's firsts. He's getting so easy and fun to take places, and we've found ourselves filling our weeks and weekends with little adventures, festivals and lots of time outdoors. Charlie had a blast at the Craft Brew Fest, ACL Fest, Natural Gardener (a couple of times), park - his first time on the swings = pure joy, playgroup, voting, the pumpkin patch, Sweet Berry Farm and spent loads of time in the backyard on his blanket playing with the grass, leaves, watching the trees blow in the wind and helping me plant our fall garden.

 

 

Probably the greatest milestone this month is that Charlie is really sitting up. He still topples over every once in a while, but he's really sturdy and strong for the most part. He loves this new trick and when placed on his back strains to pull himself up. His stomach muscles are wickedly strong from all these accidental v-ups he's doing - I guess he loves the core workout. Mostly, I think he loves his new perspective. He's still only rolling from his back to stomach. The doctor doesn't think he's too interested in the other way and isn't concerned because he's doing so great sitting up. He's not crawling just yet, but he's working really hard on pushing way up when he's on his belly and swimming his little legs around, and he's started turning himself around on his belly like a little top to get to toys or tags. He still doesn't have any teeth, but he's working really hard on them, I think. He started real food this month, and we started with the old standby, rice cereal, but Charlie hated it. So we took the advice of a friend and bought the Super Baby Food book which has LOADS of great information on starting solids with kids continuing through their toddler years. It's been a fantastic resource. Charlie has tried avocado (ho-hum), sweet potatoes (yes, please!) and bananas (not a fan) so far. He's eating pretty well, shocking, I know, and I'm looking forward to adding new foods this coming month.

Organic Japanese purple sweet potatoes...isn't he spoiled.

Charlie's doing a great job sleeping. He's been sleeping through the night (from 6:30 or 7:00 until 6:30 or 7:00), and takes two or three naps a day. Dreamy! But we had a major rough patch in the sleeping realm this past month. The week of my birthday he melted down. He fought me at every.single.nap. and would only stay asleep for about 20 or 30 minutes at a time. He also went back to waking up two or three times a night, and I think both of us were in our personal hell for about four days. He slowly worked his way out of it, and since there are no teeth to show for it, I think it might have been a crazy growth spurt coupled with a supply issue. We are back to good this week which means Charlie is back to sleeping and, most importantly, back to his happy, sweet self.

This month was busy and filled with lots of family, friends and fun. I can't believe that Charlie's been with us for 6 whole months, and I really can't believe that in this same amount of time he'll be a year old. Time really does fly. But man are we having fun!