it's springing

Message to the Bloggers (you know who you are)

I'm creating a new blog. It will be private (initially), though I may make it public down the road, depending on how courageous I am feeling.

I want my blog to be my journal, as I've been keeping some form of diary since I was eight. Recently, I have felt the need to censor myself. As much as I would like to believe that the only people my blog is reaching include those listed on my reading list and my mother, I have realized lately that maybe my audience is broader than I thought.

If you are part of that core group of bloggers that I have been writing for for the past four years and would like to continue following me, in all my brutal honesty, please leave your email address in the comments here and I will send you an invite to my new space.


"When nothing is owed or deserved or expected
And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected
If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected
Decide what to be and go be it
There was a dream and one day I could see it
Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it
And there was a kid with a head full of doubt
So I’ll scream til I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out."

Happy Birthday, Brooke!

Two weeks past I travelled to Asheville to celebrate Brooke's birthday. A few months ago I approached my sister with the idea of me keeping her kids for a weekend so she and her husband could get outta town. This evolved into Brooke and Chris spending one night away from their kids, which was perfect, because then I got to spend time with the two of them AND my niece and nephew, as well.

I love ANY time I can get with Luke and Taylor, but I really want to develop and nurture a personal relationship with the two of them, because, as their aunt, I can walk the fine line between family and friend.

As soon as I arrived on Thursday afternoon, Brooke was out the door to get her birthday hairs did. So I played Barbies with Taylor and Luke and I rolled a ball back and forth to each other for a couple of hours.

Here's Taylor trying on my lip gloss: Clinique Bonus Time, Biotches!

Oh, and Luke debuted a new expression (new to me, anyway.)

There was also a dance party.

I'm going to let Brooke blog about her actual birthday day and celebration, let's just say that I got talked into a pair of skinny jeans. After dropping Brooke off at her super fancy hotel room downtown, the kids and I settled in for our Friday Fun Night which included two screenings of The Lion King and two screenings of Tangled (man, I love that movie!)

Things were going great. Luke sucked his formula bottle down like a champ, and Taylor fell asleep on the couch.

Leading up to this visit, I had prepared myself to get ZERO sleep on the night that I spent with the two Amys kiddos. You see, every morning, when I talk to my sister, the conversation always begins with how Luke slept the night before. You look at the kid, and he's this big ball of happy boy. But after dark. Whoa. I think he's got a little Cullen in him. At four o'clock I kind of considered just getting up, fixing some coffee, and starting my day. It's got to the point where I was just over the whole trying-to-fall-asleep thing. I honestly looked at him around 2:30 and said, "Who ARE you?!" I finally turned to him around 5:00 and said, "Dude, I don't have a boob to give you right now, you're gonna have to figure it out." And he did, and once the sun came up, he was all smiles and happy bubble baby boy again. Ha! So yeah, when Brooke says Luke doesn't sleep, she's not exaggerating.

We spent some time at the park on Saturday.

Do you remember when it was this fun to take a trip down a twirly slide?!

Taylor's expression here reminds me so much of photos of Baby Brooke:

Little Lion Man:

This makes me laugh every time I look at it.

This series of photos is so typical of pictures taken with both Luke and Taylor.

They start off smiling:

It quickly evolves into Luke getting strangled.

Luke starts squirming.

Then Taylor tries to kiss and make up and Brooke makes this face:

He's happy.

And five seconds later, he's pissed because he's realized no one is holding him.

Don't you just want to stick his chubby hands in your mouth?!

Another typical Taylor and Luke picture.

All is happy unicorns and bubble gum butterflies:

And then they're both over it:

This is Taylor's best friend Elliott, who joined us at the park along with her mother Paige (Brooke's bestie) and her new baby sister, Delilah.

That pretty much sums up Elliott's silly spirit. She doesn't stop moving.

These two are so cute together. This photo makes me want to hold hands with Mel or Kate or Mary Claire.

And here's 3-month-old Delilah, who's eyelashes are so long they tangle in her eyebrows!

And some pictures of all four of the cute kiddos.

Brooke had the brilliant idea to have a photoshoot of Taylor wearing Brooke's wedding dress. I promised I wouldn't share these pics, but I CAN share a video, and one picture that Brooke snapped of Taylor and me. The object she's focused on in this video is of herself. In her full length mirror.

It was the perfect trip, it really was. It was super duper relaxing with lots of good food, wine, and quality time with some of my favorite people. As I was carrying my suitcase out of the house the day I was leaving, Taylor grabbed my hand and said, "I sure am going to miss you, Beeba." Break my heart.