changes

I've done it again:

I moved to a new blog.

It makes me feel kind of ridiculous, but mostly super excited.

I have been wanting to make the switch to Typepad for a while now, and I finally felt the time was right. And rather than carrying these old posts and blog title over with me, I wanted to start fresh.

I have been thinking a lot about blog direction, audience, general purpose. And what it really comes down to is that I need a space where I can post whatever I want without pressure for it to fit a certain mold. Things that make me happy. Things that are making me mad. What's inspiring me at the moment.

This new space gives me the wiggle room I was looking for.

Much of my posting will be the same: mostly pictures of our day to day, which means lots of kid cuteness. But I also hope to share more from behind the scenes. The inner workings of our day. We'll see. I'm just excited to get started.

Won't you join me?

www.simplyontheearth.com

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda.

this week

This week has slipped by much quicker than I wanted. It was a full week. A good week. A visit-from-Molly week. Rather than trying to go back and write individual posts about all of the fun we had, I'll just give the highlights.

Saturday

I have been wanting to cut my hair short since before River was born, but promised myself that I wouldn't until I fit into my favorite jeans again.

Here are the jeans and here is the new hairdo. I love it.

My mom treated both of us to haircuts at the Paul Mitchell School in Fayetteville. I didn't get the haircut I was wanting - I asked for a longish pixie cut and ended up with a bob - but I am still super happy with the outcome. I think the girl was nervous to cut off so much hair. I ended up with this length after I had her cut it a second time since her first try was well below my chin. I didn't have the heart to ask her to cut it yet again, especially since it had already taken 2 hours to get to this point. But, really, I can't complain.

Sunday

River stayed home for some special Daddy time while Liam and I went with Grammie to the airport in Tulsa to get Molly.

It looks like they had a good time.

Monday

We spent the morning in Fayetteville, visiting Crystal and her kiddos, getting some groceries, and shopping at a favorite thrift store. Liam treated Molly to a full blown meltdown in the thrift store. Screaming, refusing to get into the stroller, throwing his shoes. It was a classic moment.

That evening, we picked Linda up from work and went to my mom's for a girl's night. A soak in the hot tub, face masks, brownie sundaes, eyebrow waxing, and Gray's Anatomy. Fun fun fun.

Tuesday

Gabriel and I took River down to Children's Hospital in Little Rock for a consult with the pediatric urologist. We knew we'd be making this trip since he was born, and the conclusion of the matter is that he will need surgery. It's nothing major, but the details are not something that 13-year-old-River-in-the-future would want me to share with the world wide web. We scheduled him to have the next available surgery date: September 9, 2011. Apparently, his surgeon is the only pediatric urologist in the state, and he is quite busy. So now we wait.

And since we were down in Little Rock, we decided to visit the zoo. It was raining and the zoo was empty. We had a blast. In all of my zoological wanderings, I've never seen a giraffe quite like this before.

And these koi were insane. Insane.

All of that walking made River nice and tired for the drive home.
While we spent the day on the road and in Little Rock, Liam had an extra special day just him and his Tia Molly.

They played trains and legos. They went on a walk to the park. They painted Linda's birthday present.

And she gave him a bath. Liam is a big Tia Molly fan.

Wednesday

Linda is turning !20! next Tuesday, so we decided to celebrate her special day while we were all together.

And since no birthday of Linda's is complete without manicotti, I was more than happy to oblige (even if that meant I could only have the dairy-free pesto on gnocchi... oh, the sacrifice...).

Hurray for Manicotti

And it wouldn't be Linda's birthday without something extra chocolatey:

triple layer chocolate torte

with buttercream filling

covered in ganache

A lesson in candle-licking

There were presents

There were lots of Grammie-smooches

and Auntie Snuggling.

Can you tell we're related?

Especially from this angle?

Like mother, like daughters...

Thursday

Before taking Molly to the airport, we met my mom and Linda for lunch at Mcallisters and then went to Gulley park in Fayetteville for some photo ops.

Liam wasn't so into the picture-perfect moments, but he does love the slides...

And so does Tia Molly.

We're still working on it with River.

And I discovered what a little static will do for my haircut.

I think I may have found my new look.

After a splash in the creek

And some more cuddles with Molly,

We were off to the airport.

It was a long week. A good week. A Molly-filled-week. I'm sad it had to come to an end.

Thanks for such a great visit, Sister.

the green one

See the other tie dyed onesies here.

brothers

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda.

deep greens and blues are the colors I choose

River's wardrobe is full of Liam-hand-me-downs, which means some of the stuff is badly stained.

For the most part, stains don't bother me. They are like the living room that isn't too pristine and put together: they say someone lives here. But these long-sleeved onesies were gross.
Instead of tossing them, I remade them with two packets of Rit dye and a handful of rubber bands. Following the easy dye instructions on MADE, I transformed three of the onesies with awesome tie dye, and left the other two solid colors.

horizontal stripes

center swirl

I also made a horizontal striped onesie in a forest green, but he hasn't worn it yet for a picture.

This was my first attempt with dyeing fabric, and I think I'm hooked. It was a lot of fun and was a project I completed in one afternoon. I see more color recreations in my future...

another day

another disaster

guilty as charged

let's talk about River

Last week was rough. Liam was every bit a troublemaker and general miscreant. But let's take a break from the terrible-twos and talk about River instead.

I know it's cliche to say it, but the second child just doesn't get the spotlight like the first. In our family, it's not because we aren't oohing and ahing over every little thing he does. No. It's because I spend nearly every second chasing his big brother, stopping him from making more mess and cleaning up those I haven't caught in time. But this post is not about that.

It's all about Mr. Big Boy 5 Month Old.

This kid is so fun. He is generous with the smiles, easygoing, and just pleasant to be around. And his favorite toy is a wire whisk. It doesn't get much better.

Sometimes he just seems like a cute accessory that I get to carry around. I even coordinate our outfits when we are going out. Is that weird?

Mostly I just feel lucky. Lucky to know this little person. To go from being one person to being me and my boy. To learn just who River James was always meant to be. And I love it.

He is happy happy happy as long as I am careful not to consume even the slightest amount of dairy.

He is growing more each day. I just swapped out his wardrobe and now he is wearing 9-12 month clothes. I get all teary-eyed every time I pack up his small clothes to pass along to another little guy, but I can't help but smile at those chubby thighs.

I am planning to wait until he is 6 months before introducing solid foods, and when that time comes, we'll take it slow. Even though he is already showing a lot of interest - he lunges towards our plates of food, grabbing, and trying to shove those tasty morsels into his mouth - I want to give his sensitive digestive tract plenty of time to develop and acclimate to the new foods. Since we already know about the dairy allergy, he is likely to have other food sensitivites as well.

River loves to watch Liam do just about anything. He loves it when I sing to him. He loves splashing in the bath tub, laying on a blanket outside, and grabbing the cats fur whenever they get close enough. He loves Daddy's whiskery kisses and Dahlia's slobbery licks whenever she can sneak one past me. He loves to snuggle up next to me while we are sleeping at night.

River does not like to nap. He doesn't like to be startled, not one little bit. And he doesn't like to be too warm or too cold; apparently he has my California-blood.

And all of these things add up to one sweet little River James.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda.

sweet, sweet relief

The sun shines brighter, the birds chirp louder, and I am so much happier when

There is less of this:

And more of this:

Today was the first day in more than a week where nap time was not a huge battle of wills and testing of fortitude. The last two days, he didn't nap at all. Not so this afternoon. After a story, a song, and a brief complaint, he laid down and dozed for the next two hours. Sweet, sweet relief.

And because today must have been a Mama-needs-a-break kind of day, River was kind enough to nap at the same time. Magical.

I was even able to do some of this:

And later in the afternoon, they did this:

See? Birds chirping and sun shining...

weekending and other updates

Saturday

After Friday's mayhem and mental exhaustion, we all needed a good weekend. And I needed to remember the joy of sharing Liam's excitement.

So I brought him cleaning at the preschool with me and my mom Saturday morning. This is a big treat for him. Plenty of toys to play with, small brooms and vacuums for helping Mama and Grammie, tricycles to ride in the hall, and getting to help Grammie squeeze the mop. What could be better?
The forbidden fruit. Liam loves this shelf of goodies and other snacks I don't buy for him, but Grammie is always sure to share...

And the cherry on top: taking the trash out with the bye bye buggy.

River and Gabe stayed home for some special Daddy bonding time.

Sunday

We woke up to Fall. Crisp cool air dense with mist. It felt fantastic.

And then we got in the car to go to church and the car didn't want to turn on. Our neighbor Trish came to our rescue yet again and let us borrow her car for a jumpstart. Trish, what will we do when your house sells? I'm not letting myself go there yet...

We went to Wal-Mart, because that is what you do here in Arkansas, and bought a new battery. By the time we got back into our car, the battery was dead again. So, we went back into Wal-Mart for some cheap pliers for switching out the batteries. Liam helped.

After church, we went to Gulley Park in Fayetteville for Ozark Natural Foods annual Co-Optoberfest. Yummy (dairy-free) food. Music. Wide open grass fields. Playgrounds. A rocky creek. It all added up for a fantastic, and slightly chilly, afternoon.

This is the Liam that keeps me going.

Our attempt at a family portrait. The camera thought the tree in the foreground was much more important. We didn't bother with a retake...

The perfect ending for a great weekend: the first fire of the season.

...

And an update:

After a week of dairy-free for both boys (and me), River is back to being blissfully happy, smiley, and just fun to be around. And Liam's appetite is definitely picking up. He has eaten at least some dinner every night for the past few days, and is even willing to try new things. He ate pea soup tonight... Clearly, dairy-free is working for him, too.

So, we will stick with the dairy-free diet for now.