pictures from the vault.

Ratatat.

I was going through a bunch of my old FB pictures the other night and stumbled across this one. In college my roommate organized a campus show and invited Ratatat and Japanther to our house afterward. I mostly remember being frustrated with the way they were handling our pets/personal belongings and spending the majority of the night thinking about how sudden fame must make people act differently than they did prior. I understand that you'll never see us again but seriously dudes? Memories are a hard thing to erase.

Easily Distracted

I have been having the most difficult time getting Henry to nurse these days! As a newborn he was one to take his time eating, usually having to be at my breast for at least an hour. Somewhere around three months he turned into a champion speed eater and started finishing both breasts anywhere between twenty minutes to half an hour. I got pretty used to this and although I missed my awkward little snacker, these new eating habits worked pretty freaking well with our chaotic schedule.

Now H is five months old and has decided that everything is more interesting than milk. Oh, is that dad singing in the kitchen? Can't eat, gotta listen. Hey, the cat is walking by? Hold on. Am I really moving my own toes right now?! Let. me. see! He's constantly pulling away to watch everything, which means he's nursing more frequently and taking his sweet time doing so.

Welcome back slowpoke!

I've moved all of your lovely buttons to their own page, just to keep things a little more organized around here. You'll find this new picture on the right, click it and then check out the other blogs I have listed as well. They are all so good! If you have a button and I somehow missed it, let me know and I'd be happy to add it!

I think you all might really love these blogs as well, go and see!

The Paper Mama
A Family in Love
Sweetest Nest

Love.

Happy first day of summer! During the early months of my pregnancy I imagined taking Henry on long, sunny walks around the neighborhood every day. I pictured us playing at the beach and going to the park even if he was still too little to enjoy the swings or climb the bars. Now that he's here I've realized that babies get hot much quicker than we do. All of those leisurely strolls I once envisioned have in reality become fast sprints from one air conditioned space to the other.

I can't wait until it cools down just a bit so we can start spending more time outdoors. I'm so anxious to introduce Henry to this beautiful little city of ours!

Get me a Coffee!

Don't even bother trying to get a hold of him during tax season!

** Thank you all for your votes so far, we have made it to the front page! I feel like I should let you all know that this is not important to me because I want to "beat" out the other blogs or become the most popular blog on the internet. I have met many amazing blog friends since registering It's a Wonderful Life on the site and would love keep meeting more people who can continue to offer me advice, encouragement, and humor when I'm feeling a bit stressed. Your votes mean the world to me as I know you are all so busy. You guys are the best! **

to the two most important men in my life.

Dear Dad,

I have been thinking a lot today about how much I miss you these days. Of course, I've missed you since the day we left for Chicago but now that Henry is here I miss you more and more each day. As I watch him grow and develop new skills I find myself wishing so badly that you could be here to see each one. Even though right now we are thousands of miles away from each other I have no doubt in my mind that we will all be living in the same state again soon. I can' t wait for Henry to get to know his grandpa and for him to spend time doing all of the things you used to do with me! Henry needs someone to take him fishing, teach him the rules of baseball, and how to get a player's attention so that you can get your ball signed. He needs his grandpa to make him glasses of "fairy milk" and eggnog with 7Up. And someday after you two have spent an amazing day outside together you will tuck him in and tell him, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite. See you in my dreams" and he will be comforted by it just as much as I was when I was still little.

I love you so, so much dad. I hope your father's day and birthday was the very best.



Dear Garrison,

One of my most favorite things ever is watching you with Henry. I love how much his face lights up whenever you come home from work and enjoy seeing how different he acts around you than he does me (already!) You have no idea how much my heart melts every time I walk in on you two cuddling each other in our big bed in the mornings. Thank you for always being so patient and kind and for helping me out with the big things and the little things (there sure are a lot of those times lately, aren't there?) I am so glad that you were there to hear Henry's first cries. That is a memory that I will never have and if you hadn't been there the only people around to experience that would have been the nurses and doctors.

I love you so much and I love our little family. I am so lucky to have you in my life.

Love,
Allie

please?

Could you all please do me a huge favor? The Top Baby Blogs site just reset their info and I had to register It's a Wonderful Life all over again! We would love it if you could take a few seconds to vote for us. Just click the brown button below and then click the brown screen that pops up.

I have met so many wonderful people through this site, the higher ranked we are the more people find this blog. A lot of the blogs I have posted to the right are also registered with TBB so if you are visiting them and see a vote button, make sure you click for them too...they all deserve your votes much more than I do.

Here's the button, thanks for voting!

(We're Getting) Sleep

Since we moved Henry into his own room, sleeping has been going much better for the three of us. At first he (okay, I) was having a hard time adjusting to the change. He was still waking up every two-three hours and just about the time I'd finally stop worrying about him being kidnapped, or swallowing a bug, or pulling his swaddle blanket over his mouth, or being too hot/cold, or having a stuffy nose...he'd wake up again, full-on screaming and I'd find myself back in his room with my boob in his mouth.

During a very frustrated phone call to my mom she suggested that we take him out of his new crib and sleep him back in his bassinet. Why hadn't I thought of this?! It made total sense, he's been sleeping in that bed since he was born so naturally he'd be more comfortable in that than in an unfamiliar (big and cold) crib. That night we wheeled his bassinet into his bedroom and he slept ten hours straight. Ten hours!

Since then he's been sleeping at least seven hours. Perhaps I'm jinxing myself by writing this all down, but it's just too exciting not to share. I'm too afraid of breaking this sudden streak of luck so every night I've been making sure his sleeping arrangements are the exact same as the first night he slept so well. This means he's been sleeping in the same pajamas for four nights and wearing one sock on his left foot (the night he slept well he had cut his pinky toe and needed a sock to hold the band aid on). I know it's stupid but hey, I'm not messing this up. Sleep is a beautiful thing.

I'm (sort of) sorry for this sudden burst of posts today. I don't know what's gotten into me. I think it must be this gorgeous weather we've been having, or the two cups of coffee I drank earlier, or the tons of old photos I found hiding in the dusty vaults of my Flickr account.

Lately tummy time for Henry has become one of his favorite activities. When he was a new baby it always looked a little like this (struggle, struggle, struggle, grunt, crrrrrrrry):



Now he's happiest propped up on those chubby arms of his, watching feet and cat paws pass by over and over and over. I'd like to say that I can't wait until he starts crawling, but that would be a lie because you seriously don't realize just how dirty your floors are until your baby starts laying on them.