Halloween was awesome. And how could it not be? We’ve got Berkley Grace toddling around in an elephant suit, a wagon ride through the neighborhood, staying up past bedtime, coming home with a bag of candy. Even when it rains all night, it’s hard to not enjoy Halloween. This is the first year David could
October 31 is sort of the deadline for carving pumpkins, right? So this morning, as soon as Mary Virginia went down for her nap, I took David outside to carve our pumpkin. I was hoping for a really fun, sensory experience, but I’ve done this nonsense long enough to know it probably wouldn’t go how
Here’s one way I’m probably different than you: I don’t love fall. I have to admit, I like football and the break in the humidity and the opportunity to gain 15 pounds between November and December, but I do not look forward to fall. Fall leads to winter, and winter means fewer hours of sunshine,
Every morning Mary Virginia takes a nap around 9 a.m. During that time I get overly-ambitious about my life and start a ton of tasks. Laundry in the washer! Muffins in the oven! Sensory bins with David! Maybe I’ll reply to some emails, plant some flowers and knit a hat! Might as well because the
Race day is three weeks away. That means I have two more weeks of training, a taper week, and then the race. It helps me to spell it out like that because I sort of don’t believe it. Training for this race has been so much different from any other race I’ve ever trained for.
My dad, David’s grandpa, was a firefighter. He’s a retired firefighter now but, even so, you could say firefighting is in David’s blood. Firefighting is the kind of occupation that runs in the genes, and I guess the guys over at Station 12 could tell. I can’t think of any other reason they’d let a
Every day David watches Tom leave for work. Tom says, “Bye, David, I’m going to work!” and David runs to the window to watch Tom get in his car and drive away. Despite that morning ritual, I have this conversation with David over and over, starting about five minutes after Tom leaves, and ending when
It feels appropriate to post these photos today — the first day without rain in over a week. It rained every day last week. And even though it hasn’t rained here in maybe months, let’s all agree that a week of rain was a little much. Every day is amplified when you have a toddler.
Anytime I post photos that are this cute, I feel compelled to start by saying: these photos weren’t staged. Caleb has been obsessed with Mary Virginia since before she was even born. What’s the baby doing in your belly, Aunt Manda? I wanna see her. When’s she coming out? How’s she going to come out,
We’ve seen some big changes this month. For starters, my hair started falling out. It’s happening a lot earlier than it did last time. Meanwhile, Mary Virginia continues to get even sweeter and more delightful every day. Yesterday I had to take David to the doctor, and Tom stayed home with Mary Virginia. I called to