First Tooth Lost!

The 'bigger kid' milestones really sneak up on me, but they hit me harder in my gut than I expect. Like the first day of school, first time legitimately reading, and now: the first lost tooth.

Obviously it's our beloved first born who gets to introduce us to the bittersweet bigger kid milestones. When I was pregnant with Truman and even before that, I don't think I really envisioned parenting bigger kids. Mostly I was just focused on the more immediate tasks of getting pregnant, and experiencing newborn milestones (oh, first smile is still SUCH a heavy hitter for me!).

So now I'm going to get all sentimental when I think about my fat, bald baby named Truman. I remember when he cut his first tooth. I vividly remember it, actually, because he teethed and had a low grade fever and drooled and was pretty unhappy. IT WASN'T THAT LONG AGO AND NOW HIS TEETH ARE FALLING OUT AND OMG. Truman is a big kid. Hold me. (Love it but it's still craziness!).

For probably about six months, Truman has been losing his mind over wiggly teeth. His classmates started to lose their teeth right at the start of school so all of this school year has been spent with the questions: "When am I going to lose my first tooth? Do you think this one is wiggly? The dentist said it was wiggly? Does it hurt when the tooth comes out? Someone at school said it bleeds. How much money does the tooth fairy bring? Maybe if I get hit in the face by a ball at recess my tooth will come out.'

Yes, seriously. He was willing a ball to hit his face to expedite this process.

So his bottom two teeth were barely loose at all when we started wiggling them at night. Right after his sixth birthday I noticed they might ACTUALLY be somewhat loose. Then in the past two weeks the bottom left tooth got to be legit wiggly and then progressed to disgusting levels of wiggly-ness in the past week.

I got a ton of videos of us wiggling that tooth and it seemed so close to popping out! We tried the floss around the back of the (completely detached) tooth, twisting it, having Truman try pulling it out himself, and even tweezers. The night before Nate and I left for San Diego, Truman wanted us to pull it out so we could be there for the tooth fairy magic. We tried so hard and the bugger even began to bleed, but I just couldn't get the microscopic chomper to release. I knew it was literally hanging on by a thread but that sucker did not want to come out and I didn't want Truman to freak out if the tooth wasn't actually ready. Although, he was really into the tooth coming out and probably would have been fine if we actually did throw a ball in his face.

The first night we were gone in San Diego, we had just finished Facetiming with the kids. Then my phone rings 2 minutes later and it's Truman! And he said, 'My tooth just came out!!!' and we all screamed in delight.

Turns out, Memaw was wrapping him up in a blanket and somehow the tooth got caught on the blanket at fell out. Truman didn't even know it came out but he 'tasted blood' and ran to the mirror to see his new gap. He found the tooth (and then lost it two more times before securing it in his tooth fairy pillow) and proudly called us to show off.



MY BABY LOST A TOOTH. And somehow my mom kept my tooth fairy pillow from the 80s, and therefore Truman has inherited it. The tooth fairy brought him $2 and a hand written note (from GoGo, don't tell him) as per my instructions via California.


Mom said he was SO excited to get to school the next day to show his friends. And everyone was very impressed, even though most of the other kids have lost 2-4 teeth at this point! What I love the most is that his new adult tooth suddenly appeared two days later and it's super bumpy!

Of course, when we got home from San Diego Truman had to show us his bumpy tooth in person within three seconds of seeing us. It IS pretty freaking sweet, even though I'm sure this will be one of those things that is not as celebrated with each successive tooth and child.

I predict that Porter will lose his first tooth, swallow it, and we won't even notice for a week. But with Truman? This has been a long time coming and a HUGE deal for our six year old!! And so, on May 19th, 2016 when Truman was six years, two months, and 18 days old he lost his first tooth.

He is totally destined for braces someday with two parents who passed down our expensive trait of brace faces. But for now his adult tooth is adorable.

Big kid achievement, unlocked!

Porter at Twenty-Two Months

I literally had to count backwards from twenty-four months (TWO IN JULY!!) to figure out how old Porter is this month. And also, oops, this is approximately two weeks late now and it might make more sense to just call it and wait for the twenty-three month update. But nah, I'm almost totally done with monthly updates so I feel a strange need to document this one despite being ultra-tardy.

But it's going to be a short update, mark my words.

If you want to know a bit about Porter's personality right now, take a look at this face:





He is destined to be a class clown, guys. He's goofy and silly and opinionated and almost TWO, so yeah. He wants what he wants when he wants it or else he will make you pay in a classic floor tantrum and/or continuous whining at a nerve-grinding intensity.

But actually, Ports is the sweetest. He gives the best hugs, shoulder-snuggles, and 'Hi, Mommy!'s in the history of ever. The way he says 'sorry' sounds more like 'warrr-ry' and he tells his bathwater 'bye bye, water' as it goes down the drain. The sweetest.






Porter likes about three foods: yogurt, crackers/chips, and sometimes waffles. Oh, and French fries, but only if the mood strikes him. He'll oblige me and will try other types of food but usually he survives with a very sub-par diet. I wonder how he manages to grow and thrive off Ritz and greek yogurt but whatever, #thirdchild and I guess he will chow when he's starving.

First Auntie Anne's pretzel was obviously a big success. Kid loves carbs.


Yogurt skills.



This little man is turning out to be a great and rather predictable sleeper. Bedtime is 7:30pm or 8:00, he wakes around 6:30am, and naps for a solid 2-4 hours in the afternoons. I just realized the other day that Truman and CC probably switched to a big bed at this age, since I was always pregnant and kicking babies out of cribs for a newborn sibling. But Porter is doing fine in his crib so I have no intention to kick him out just yet.

Also, I think I turned Truman's rear facing seat at 22 months and Cecelia was probably 20 months. Porter is very chill in the car and isn't freaking out or seemingly uncomfortable, so he will stay rear facing until two.

Porter loves his bigger siblings and I think he is the perfect little brother: idolizing Truman and Cecelia but also pushing their buttons like none other. He screams on command whenever Cecelia takes one of his trains but he will also demolish a puzzle Truman just built and will pretend like he's shocked when T is upset. Porter is a total stinker and also too little for actual discipline, so keeping it 'fair' between the three can be a challenge.

Still freaking obsessed with Thomas. I love it so much.


The vocabulary on this kid still amuses me and he is basically speaking in broken sentences now. 'Goose. HONK! Big. Fly away,' is a common explanation of what he did during the day. He'll repeat most any word we say and then he'll string together words in rapid fire that make me smile. 'Helmet. Fast. Tricycle. No, CC.' You get the idea without a video, right?





Nate and I just returned from a nice little trip to San Diego, so my brain is a bit mushy but I can assure you that I missed this babe (and the other two) something fierce. Seeing him smile at me from his crib this morning, then say 'hi, mommy,' followed by 'Gogo?' was the best. Having him randomly run up to me and rub his peanut buttery face all over my legs was also wonderful, and I didn't complain when he wanted me to carry him around for a bit. He's a big lug and maybe around 26 pounds or so but seems like a BRUISER and much stockier than lanky Cecelia. Also they sort of look like twins, and perhaps Truman is babysitting them here?



You are the best, Porter. We love you so much and cannot believe you are almost (only) TWO!




xo, Mommy

Mother's Day Thoughts

Every social media channel is full of Mother's Day photos. Pictures of moms with their kids, breakfast in bed, hand-written cards, and coffee (I feel like there are lots of coffee pictures out there and I am whole-heartedly behind this part). I used my real camera for the first time in ages today and selecting one photo for Instagram and one for Facebook didn't feel like enough. And so, the old blog comes through again!







Mother's Day reflections feel an awful lot like my birthday reflections I just made in my last post. This is probably because being a mom is a hugely defining role of my current life, and it's easy to lose the non-mom parts of myself inside the Motherhood part of me. This is something that takes conscious effort---to reclaim myself aside from being their mom.





But today is a day for celebrating motherhood, and what a celebration it is. Nate woke up with the big kids at 7:00 today and I slept in bed until 8:00. When I came downstairs I met two very eager little ones who were waiting to give me my presents: tulips, plucked from our garden, and put in a vase. And a card they both signed, entitling me to pick out a new outfit for the big golf outing that is happening next weekend. Since I literally do not have a single golf-related article of clothing, this is quite functional and very sweet.

Also this is spot-on:


My flowers and card;)


Once I had plenty of hugs and 'Happy Mother's Day's, Porter woke up and gave me a slobbery kiss. Nate's parents came over to our house and Nate made us all a HUGE brunch, because we considered going out to eat somewhere but didn't feel like dealing with crowds and the chaos of dining with little children. Eating at home in our pajamas was perfection, and the weather followed suit with sunshine and sixty degrees.




Cecelia has been begging to fly a kite for a few weeks now and today I grabbed ours from the garage and we all headed over to the fields at school to see if they would fly. It was only slightly windy and took some work but we flew those kites in the brilliant blue sky, because Cecelia's smile was out of this world. She ran and ran with that kite and looked so happy, so innocent, so excited about something as simple as a little duck kite that I wanted to bottle it up and save it for the future. Her innocence just slays me, the boys', too.




Today has me thinking about what it means to be a mom to these children. It's fulfilling, it's scary, it's hilarious and challenging. It makes me proud and incredibly grateful, and it makes me a little bit crazy most days. I wonder if I'm enjoying it enough, if I'm screwing them up, if I'm giving it my best at all times. I wonder if my kids are happy and if they know how much we love them. Motherhood has built me up and made me feel strong and capable, and it's made me ask myself some tough questions along the way. No, I'm certainly not the mom I thought I'd be before I had kids. No, I'm not perfect and neither are my children.

But I get to hold their tiny hands for just a little while.


What a trip this is, this motherhood thing. It's oh, so worth it and today I'm celebrating motherhood and all it's highest of highs, and lowest of lows.

I sent my own mom flowers on Friday and we are going to chat on the phone tonight when she gets back from a trip out of town. My mom is one of the best role models around and we are all so lucky to have her. Not to mention *her* mom, Memaw, as yet another strong motherhood mentor. We are just surrounded by awesome mothers in this family and I hope to be held on the same pedestal by my own children someday.

(Old picture, we need a new one!)


I had to thank Lois at brunch, for raising Nate the way she did. Nate has always loved his mom something fierce, being a bit of a mama's boy when he was younger and they still have a crazy-tight bond that won't ever be broken. I'm glad Lois taught Nate to respect the women in his life, to be a good person, and mostly I'm so happy she encouraged him to pick up after himself and she didn't baby him to death when he was growing up. She raised him to be an excellent husband and dad, and I really owe her more than a hug and some gifts from our kids, but that will have to do.











I can't help but think of my friend Hannah, who lost her mom six years ago, and other girls who have lost their moms. I don't even want to imagine what that feels like for a person. Or Becky, who lost Kellan five month ago, and other moms who have lost their children. My heart breaks just thinking about it. I think of all of the women who yearn to become mothers but they're struggling with infertility or miscarriage. When I think of those ladies who can't fully celebrate Mother's Day without sadness in their hearts, it makes me say a quick prayer of thanks and reminds me that a whiny child is not the end of the world. Multiple breakdowns, or 'you are so mean, mommy's, or flat out disobedience is not the worst that can happen in motherhood. Our challenges are still so small, relatively speaking, and days like today fill me with more gratitude than I can describe here for you.











And so I will leave it at this: a fist bump to all of the moms out there. We are a hearty bunch, and we probably aren't screwing up our kids as much as we think. We are to be celebrated today because we are truly rockstars.