We're all still here!

You might not think so based on total absence of blog posts for the first quarter of the year (I think in quarters now at my new job...and I didn't work last weekend for quite possibly the first time EVER, save for my "break" in DC, whaaaat?), but we're all still here kicking it! Here, watch Holden grow up kinda fast...

And I just saw that the poor kid had on long-sleeve stripes for pictures three months in a row...sorry, baby, those Carter's onesies are a wardrobe staple for you. I'll try to mix it up a little bit.

Already ten months old!! He's allllll over the place right now and is SO much fun. Less fun? Constant ear infections that refuse to be solved by every antibiotic known to man, so on Thursday my poor baby has to have a teeny bit of surgery and get ear tubes. As an excessive worrier, I plan on being a little bit of a hot mess come surgery time, but hopefully this will get us on the road to a healthier little guy who doesn't have fluidy goop clogging up his ears.

Lack of blog posts due to general life craziness, but we also added streaming to our Netflix subscription, which caused me to lose hours of my life to things like House of Cards and An Idiot Abroad over the last couple months. Oops. Resolve to not binge-watch everything just because I can.

Happy spring!

Hi kitty cat!

Holden has a minor obsession with Harrison. Shockingly, this relationship works for both of them. And really, that's all.

Love you, kitty.

Face-off! No one was harmed. Harrison really just wanted his catnip mouse that Craig is dangling.

Excuse me, baby, but this is really my ottoman. I guess I'll let you borrow it for just a little while.

I still can't believe this is ok with Harrision.

Hello, cat. Hello, baby.

Harrison is...protecting?...Holden while he sleeps.

Harrison used to be much more suspicious of the baby...and the feeling was a little mutual.

Oh, the early days - comparing the size of the baby to the size of the cat

And a very merry Christmas to all...

...and to all an incredibly short Christmas summary in the form of very few phone pictures. We're pretty tired around here. But for all of the best reasons. Except for a lingering cough for our poor sick baby; that is not one of the best reasons. Sigh. Almost there. I'm extremely grateful for all of my helpers over the last week and really miss them. Love you, family.

Presents are pretty cool, Dad

We bought chocolate chips with the intent to bake goodies...but so far they've only served as a toy for the baby.

Story time with Auntie Manda!! Please also observe the proximity of the cat to this situation and chalk it up to a Christmas miracle.

Christmas is exhausting, y'all. Also, I'm totally about to outgrow my space egg swing. Yeeps.

So the "every day" thing didn't work out...

...you know, posting every day? optimism and all?...but we're back on track! I got thrown for a bit of a loop on Monday when I officially became a person not obligated to go to work at around 4:30 PM. Whaaaaaaaaat, you say? Well, after going back from maternity leave right into busy season and getting a true reality check in "nope, this is not for me anymore EVER," I worked on finding a new job where I might actually have a life and DID and put in my notice and then found out that notice = leave pretty much right now, so that's that!  And my new gig doesn't kick off until January 5th, soooo...I'm currently not working but still getting paid and it's basically amazeballs.

Totally productive things I've accomplished in the last five days:
 - Finishing up Christmas shopping...mostly
 - Wrapping a chunk of that Christmas shopping into pretty packages
 - Going to the grocery store and buying things that enabled me to cook a real dinner in the form of chicken pot pie
 - Baking banana muffins
 - Baking milk chocolate-dipped hazelnut sandies for the 2014 Cover-to-Cover Project: Holiday Cookies
 - Excessive loads of laundry
 - Successfully shoved approximately 25 pills down Cleo the kitty cat's throat and kept her alive while Momma Dale was out of town

Totally self-indulgent things I've blissfully enjoyed in the last five days:

 - Took myself to the movies at 10:15 in the morning - Mockingjay and a giant bag of popcorn for the win
 - The aforementioned baking is also because I just like to do it
 - Starbucks grande latte pretty much every day
 - Friday lunch with Carolyn with no care about how long we sat and chatted because there was no job to hustle back to

And the ultimate combination of productive/indulgent = EXTRA HOLDEN TIME.  He's still kicking it at daycare for a chunk of the day so he can maintain some kind of routine while I run around, but I've been picking him up early and enjoying every extra minute I can steal with this sweet baby. They allllll say it, but of course he's growing up too fast.

And the ULTIMATE indulgence that hasn't happened and just won't...sleeping in. I have a baby now, so that's just not in the cards, and for those of you who really know me, you know how I am about sleep.

Ummmm...I could get used to this. Which is dangerous. But I'm also excited about my new work path, and so I'm going to soak up every minute of the next three weeks and then jump into a fresh start. Happy holidays, y'all.

My little helper

It can be a bit of a juggling act to get everything in the door each night...diaper bag from daycare, pump bag, purse, mail, phone, random assorted crap that often includes a travel mug (source of that much needed morning coffee boost)...oh yeah, and the baby! Don't forget the baby! So tonight Holden was my little helper and held onto the travel mug for me as I hauled us all inside. According to the grin below, it was a really awesome and exciting adventure.

Thank you, my little helper. No, you don't yet get an allowance for helping out. I fully expect you to carry the travel mug in every day now.

Also, my baby is currently rocking some highwater pants because he has crazy long legs (that I swear grow another inch overnight) and is also kinda skinny, which makes it a little tricky to find pants that are long enough but don't slide off. Baby leggings for the win! Obviously those are all dirty, which is why his baby sweatpants have inched up to his knees. At least his socks are still on - minor victory.

So, I disappeared...

...into a world of busy season and baby and LIFE and heeeere I am, alive and well!! And in the spirit of playing catch up, I'm going to try to blog every day in December. Just putting that out there while I'm feeling a small burst of optimism and motivation. So it may not actually happen, but I'm going to try. Some days it may just be a picture of Holden, which is probably all you really want anyway.

And in the interest of not trying too hard right off the bat and hurting myself, we're going to start on a light note with some silly faces. I like to call this Holden's "little old man lips" look; he's been sporting it quite a bit these days, probably as a side effect of figuring out these two teeth he has. He's entirely too much fun and giggly and happy, so I try to soak up as much of it as I possibly can. Rock on, little old man lips - I love you.

Holden adorableness, July 2nd edition

I find myself taking a ridiculous number of pictures with my phone every day to capture these little moments with my kiddo...and as much as I love the "real" camera, it's WAY less convenient when I have a child in my arms.  So...here's a day in the life, filled with unedited phone pictures.  How very un-Erin-like of me, but I think this might be our new normal.  I love this little guy so much.

Ok, so this one is a phone pic from Craig - while I took Harrison to the vet, he played "tough guy" dress-up with our child, even slicked back his hair with baby oil and everything.  Oh dear.  ADORABLE.

Trying to get this guy in as many of his teeny clothes as possible before he outgrows them - today's adorable striped airplane onesie brought to you by Carter's, dangerous land of sales for tiny adorable things.

Did you know being a baby is really tough work?  Really, really tough.

Head kisses from Mommy!  Oh, Mom, you're so embarrassing.

Again, being a baby is REALLY tough work...so sometimes it's best to just take a break and nap on Mommy.  Ahhh, that's better.

Tell me a story, Mom, I'm wide awake!

The kid is wearing a onesie AND pants AND socks - this basically never happens because we're changing diapers far too frequently to bother with complete outfits.  Seriously.

Chillin' on the playmat for a change of pace - ooohhhh, lights and sounds and different things to attempt to hit with flailing arms!

I give you...dramatic baby.

I also give you...suuuuper baby!  He tends to get fussy at night before bedtime, but we've discovered that he really likes flying through the air as super baby during this time.  Craig has obviously been tasked with the super baby flying since it's just not in my nature to hold him like this.

Welcome to our world.  It's kinda awesome.