the lake

We had a great time at lake Oconee with our friends Allison/Torsten and Jin/Jason this past weekend. Tate and BeBe (10 months apart) are now old enough to play together, and had the best time riding in boat, running around the house, bouncing in the blow-up water park, driving their electric cars, etc. Allison's twins, James and Isabella, and Brady (6 weeks apart) enjoyed sleeping and looking at each other.

I took a lot of pictures - hopefully, I'll get motivated to upload all of them soon. Until then, here's a few highlights...

good jeans

In 2003, I bought my first pair of Seven jeans. Going into Neiman Marcus, spending $150 and having my jeans hemmed for the first time ever was a life-altering (and butt-altering) experience.

Not only were they the best-fitting jeans I had ever owned, they signified (in a small way) that I had made it, and that I somehow fit into the Buckhead lifestyle I adopted early in my professional career.

Those jeans and I were inseparable. They accompanied me on my bachelorette weekend in Hilton Head, my honeymoon in St. Lucia, a cruise to the Bahamas... and they made thousands of pilgrimages to much more mundane locations over the years.

Eventually, the style changed. Light-washed jeans were replaced by darker, more sophisticated shades of denim, and my favorite, go-to article of clothing was folded neatly and placed at the top of my closet.

Occasionally - during a random spring cleaning - I would pull them down and try them on. You know, just to see how they (we) were holding up. Over the years, they became tighter and tighter during those brief fittings, and they stopped fitting altogether in 2008 - the beginning of my child-bearing years.

Despite their now tattered hem and the small hole in the right inner thigh that was acquired during their heyday, I still couldn't bear to part with them, and back to the top of the closet they would go.

Last night, I tried them on for the first time in ages - ready (and expecting) to reluctantly toss them into the Goodwill bag and finally say goodbye after all these years of being unable to wear them.

Instead, I can now add "dropping my kids off at school" as the latest adventure my favorite jeans and I have shared.

A tad overly sentimental? Yes. But, what better way to celebrate a milestone in post-baby weight loss than with a cherished old friend. :)

mommy confession

So, I forgot to pick up the kids from school yesterday. Completely. Forgot. I'm still a little in shock over it myself.

I worked from home like usual. Keith came home around 4:30pm and went upstairs to take a nap, and I jumped in the shower around 5:15pm so that we could meet friends in downtown Roswell at 6:30pm for the monthly Alive After Five event.

After my shower, I remembered that I needed to send one "quick" email. The "quick" email involved a complicated subject and I totally lost track of time.

I remember looking down at the time on my computer. And I remember thinking... "oh wow, it's 6:20pm. Let me run back upstairs and change clothes so that we can go."

I went upstairs, Keith was still laying in bed... and that's when it hit me: HOLY @%^#!! I FORGOT ABOUT THE BOYS!!! (Keith thought I had already gone to get them - didn't realize I was still downstairs. He was lying there waiting for me to get home.)

Keith dashed out the door like a madman and I called the school to let them know that we were, um, running a little late. He got there at 6:40pm (10 minutes after they closed) and retrieved our poor, forgotten babies who were standing by the front door with the teacher who was ready to lock the building and turn out the lights.


My guilt and self-loathing were somewhat eased when two little happy faces came through our front door. Tate ran and gave me a big hug, and Brady was all smiles, so I suppose all was forgiven.

But, seriously, what kind of mother forgets about these two?? A tired one, is my only explanation. I think the weeks of sleep deprivation are finally getting to me!!!!!!

look what I can do

I told Tate this week that I wanted him to just stay little forever. His response:

"No Mommy. I get big and play baseball. I hit the ball, and run, and slide, and ride on the bus, and you say 'goooo Tate!' I not stay little."

Me: "Well, ok then. But, you'll always be my baby no matter how big you get. Ok?"
Tate: "Ok. And you be MY baby, too."

And, since we got all of that figured out, he decided to do a lot of growing up this week. New accomplishments include:

• Going to the potty at school! He's been going 3-4 times per day at school and going regularly at home now, too. I take off his diaper at home and put on his Toy Story underwear. I told Keith that this is it and I'm not buying any more diapers (except for nighttime) once we run out. Wish us luck!


• Somersaults. We showed him how to do one a few weeks ago and helped him over a few times. Randomly last night, he said, "watch me!" and did it perfectly by himself.


• Brushing with toothpaste. For 2 nights in a row, we've had a spitting lesson at the kitchen sink and then I've let him have just a dot of toothpaste for brushing. He likes the spitting part and asked me this morning when he woke up if he could come spit in the kitchen. Hopefully, he's not spitting everywhere at school today.

I'm enjoying my little boys more than I ever could have imagined. Too bad they refuse to stay little....

keith golden!!!

I sent my dear, sweet husband outside on Monday night to grill steak kabobs for dinner.

He got a little distracted.


So, I guess we're getting a new deck!

the brady-boo

The boo had his 4-month well visit today and did great. Happy, laughing and just a little crying during the 3 vaccines. He's a healthy 18lbs 3oz (91 %) with a 43.6cm head (75%) and 25.75 in (67%) in height....so, short and stocky. I'm so glad he is my 2nd child and that we already have a full wardrobe in every size, because the kid is difficult to shop for...he's wearing anything from 9 month clothing all the way up to 2T! He's also currently wearing size 3 diapers, but we'll be moving to size 4 once we run through our supply. (We just moved Tate into a size 5 diaper from a size 4 a few months ago if that gives you any reference - ha)

Speaking of Tate: Let's take a brief intermission from Brady's update to announce that Tate went to the potty at school for the first time yesterday. Yay! This could be the start (or re-start) of something big!

Back to Brady... he gets rice cereal or oatmeal in the morning and evening, 6oz of formula or pumped milk every 3-4 hours and he's still nursing in the morning and evenings (and unfortunately, once in the middle of the night.) Dr. Jennie wants me to try to just comfort him briefly when he wakes during the night and put him back down to sleep without feeding him. I invited her to come over tonight at 3am to see how that goes. She thought I was kidding. :)

Anyway, here's a video and picture of my sweet boy during his appointment.

little people

One of the perks of our zoo membership is special, members-only events throughout the year. This weekend, the Fisher-Price Little People musical was in town. Tate has several of the LP toys and movies so we thought it would be fun to take the boys. Tate was a little nervous during the show, but told us later that he really liked it....