a barrage of pictures.

we have not been great at photographing lately.  i'd say for like a year.  which is unfortunate, since this is the first year hollis has existed out in the elements.  we've done ok with the monthly photo shoots, but the day-to-days have not really happened with frequency.  another thing to add to the list of resolutions for 2014.  

i have tried to take some photos with my iphone over the last month or so.  jb and i went to san francisco on a little getaway sans kidlets for a weekend, and i will aggregate those with the ones on the big camera and post about that weekend eventually.  below are about a zillion other pictures from thanksgiving in wichita, to random dinners out, to closing day on the new house, to whatever else has been around.  

pre-bedtime party on daddy's lap.

new hat.

cold swinging in kansas.

baby in a box.

cold day pre-thanksgiving.

$65 to mail this guy.

ek's car sorting exercise.

another baby, another box.

i'm not the only one justin sasses.

emme decorated her sneakies.

thanksgiving dinner.

hungry dudes.

on the way to see santa.

a boy and (one of) his dog.

outside of pinthouse pizza.

our elf, nemo, made his first appearance at our new house.

it runs in the family.

apparently, when you buy a new house you get to drink your favorite dark beer.  that is, if your realtor is awesome.  

dogs' first night in the new house.  

emme pre-first slide on her new playscape - it was about 26 degrees.  

not the tree we ended up with.

babies, haystack.

doors tied shut.

more haystack.

decorating the tree.

beans & rice.

baby plumbing.

cow's milk.

no ornament is safe.

merry christmas!

old house/new house.

red house blue house.  not really.  our old house was pink brick and this new one is like grey stone and some green siding with brown trim.  anyway.  we are in the new house!  yay.

as i'm sure i've mentioned, we have been looking for another house off and on for almost a year.  mostly on, though we took a little hiatus when jb was without employment.  the real estate market in austin has been bonkers and we wanted to be more central and we wanted to be in a neighborhood where we'd be able to send the kidlets to public school, SO...hence the onus for moving now.  we were scared that if we held out until closer to kinder-time, we wouldn't be able to afford to live central anymore.  also, it's hard to live in a great house (which our last house really was) knowing that you're not going to be there for very long, and not being able to fully settle because you will probably be moving.

so.  at the end of october, we saw a house list on a wednesday.  it is in a neighborhood we love, near jb's work, good size, good layout, no mandatory right-away projects, and no pool (turns out tiny kids + pool = neurosis for me).  we saw it within two hours of it listing, put in an offer right away, and got accepted!  this was a small miracle, as we've put in a few other offers that we've lost over the last several months.

anyway....everything has really fallen into place and gone incredibly smoothly with this whole process.  of course, moving at any time is a beast.  moving during the holidays with two small humans is a super beast unbeknownst to me before this endeavor.  we listed our old house on ek's birthday and got an offer right away.  we closed on that house wednesday (dec. 11), nine days after closing on our new house.  so, timing-wise, this was really incredible.

a word about the old house.  i really loved that house.  i think we all did.  it is where emme learned to walk, where hollis was born.  it was spacious and comfortable and served so well as our little slice of existence for two and a half years.  this was our first time selling a house, and i have not been without nostalgia about it.  we had lots of fun with the pool, in the kitchen, sitting on the front porch waiting for daddy to get home.  we made it our home in every sense of the word for the time we were there.

and now here we are.  a new place, a new normal.  we will build our lives here, make new memories.  we are grateful for this house - nestled in a place where we can (hopefully) find a community, a sense of belonging.  so, once we get out of all the boxes and chaos, we are excited to begin!

emmeline at age three.

emme turned three almost a month ago and i haven't posted anything about her, really, in an eternity.  it's easier with babies - there are specific, huge leaps and bounds each month, whereas the nuances of ek's development are harder to capture and articulate.  but i will try.

ek is a curious little chatterbox these days.  we went through a pretty intense month or so in there where i was really scared we'd be dealing with the "terrible threes" in a major way.  she can still get mega-crazy, especially when she's tired or has been eating super crappy food, but for the most part she has settled down a ton.  maybe i have also lightened up a little tiny bit.  ha.  one of her teachers and parent/teacher conferences a couple of weeks ago suggested trying to turn battle areas (bath time, meal time, any time she doesn't get to exclusively dictate her own agenda) into a game.  this has been surprisingly effective, even though i felt like i was sort of doing it already.

anyway...also at parent/teacher conferences, her teacher described emme as very sympathetic - when other children/people get upset or sad, she is right there ready to comfort them and offer support.  she's learning boundaries...namely that people don't always want to be soothed and that personal space is important.  that's a tough lesson for littles.

emme is extremely helpful and always wants to be involved in whatever activity is going on.  she is obsessed with her babies (how is it possible that we've accrued this many stuffed animals?  they must go!) and loves to build "cozy little nests" that take over whole areas of real estate and are essentially just piles of animals, blankets, pillows, and whatever other random things have struck her fancy of late (examples include: remote controls, stickers, a spoon, one of my bras, anything hollis likes to play with).

academically, ek is in a good place i think.  she is starting to learn her beginning sounds and is loving that.  she's good at counting, especially when you can get her to slow down for a minute.  she loves to sing and dance and make up rhymes and can collapse into silliness at any moment.

she's still a thumb-sucker.  we pushed her to quit a little bit after her first dentist's appointment in august, but with the move and all the other insanity, we kind of let it drop.  now she's in a bit of a rebellious phase, so it's going to take some intense carrot and/or stick to break it.  i'm trying not to be too concerned - i know plenty of thumb-suckers, and there's no guarantee that she would avoid orthodontia even if she DID quit now (i had plenty and i never sucked my thumb; jb had none and he held on to his thumb until kinder).  so...another thing to work on...at some point.

our adventurous little eater is still pretty good.  we're seeing some random signs of finickiness, and preferences for all those toddler-ish foods like mac n cheese, quesadillas, chicken nuggets, etc.  i blame the slacking in her diet on the move and fully intend to get back to offering mostly healthy choices once we're a little tiny bit more settled and we have an actual refrigerator that belongs to us.  sigh.  but even still - i love what a great eater our girl is.  she's also still a great sleeper.  lots of kids her age are starting to give up naps, and thankfully we are not there yet.  she naps hard at home on the weekends - usually a good 2-3 hours, sometimes even longer.  she sleeps all night 99% of the time, and prefers to roll around in bed and take 30 minutes to wake up in the morning...she gets that from her daddy for sure.

she's about average in terms of height and weight.  i think at her 3-year appointment she was 36 inches and 31 pounds.  it's been a month or more, so i can't remember, but i definitely have it written down somewhere.  ha.  she had her first haircut right before her birthday and her hair is still wispy with a slight curl and about 2,000 cowlicks.  she loves to have her nails painted and she loves holiday decorations.  she wants to be outside as much as possible - especially if a slide or a swing are involved.  she's bossy and funny.  she's a great kid, all around.  i swear i'm not biased.

11 months.

well, here we are more than a month down the road and now my baby is less than a month away from being one year old.  it breaks my heart but i gotta say i love this little boy more every single day, if that's even possible.  is it bad to say that your own child is delightful?  is that too braggy?  because seriously.  this dude is pure joy.  

physical: pretty short, kinda chubby, big ol' head.  five teeth.  blonde hair getting thicker and longer - it's starting to curl a little bit at the base of his neck and i DIE over the cuteness.  he probably weighs about 23 lbs. and i bet he's on the brink of a height growth spurt.  he grows a lot like his big sis - chubs up then shoots up.  

likes: trying to stand/walk.  being able to get into anything and everything.  playing with his big sister, which includes pulling her hair, trying to eat her food, and generally being wherever she is (thank god for patient big sisters - ek has been amazing).  still loves baths, especially with emme.  is obsessed with dancing and playing music.  he has this little side-to-side head bop that is hilarious and makes him bust out laughing when you do it back at him.  the other night we were picking out paint colors for the kids' new bedrooms and justin played the "drums" on the paint cans and hollis freaked out trying to bang on them, too.  musical kid - his daddy is so proud.  

dislikes: not being allowed to eat tortilla chips.  not being allowed to drink what adults/his sister are drinking.  not being allowed to dive off of surfaces face first into the floor.  

biggest achievement of the month: we've got consistent clapping and waving!  we've also got some "so big" gestures going on, which i think is the cutest thing.  he's now making the "na" and "ma" sounds - one step closer to saying mama, which is all i want for christmas.  he is consistently saying da, like dog, and tetta for etta, so i suppose those are kind of first words?  in any case, home boy is loving on the pups these days and they are so sweet with that.  

biggest challenge of the month: i don't think this month has been too challenging.  i adore this time/age.  we are moving (this week), so that is a challenge, but that's not a hollis-specific challenge.  

nicknames: the duder has remained pretty consistent with nicknames.  no new ones come to mind this month. 

sleep: between traveling to kansas for thanksgiving and moving to a new house, we haven't seen much improvement in the sleep department.  BUT...it hasn't gotten any worse, so that's a small victory, right?  

temperament/personality: i think i've already gushed enough, but this kidlet is so easy-going.  

eating: all the things.  hollis especially wants to eat whatever emme is eating, which is occasionally stuff like chicken fingers, pizza, and tortilla chips (i will be the first to admit that the travel/house packing/move diet has been less than exemplary).  as a baby, i cannot allow these things to be consumed by him quite yet, so he gets a little mad.  

motor development: this month's quest has been independent standing.  he's close.  

i still owe ten month photos, and we need to take the 11 month photos AND our christmas card.  there's a lot going on right now.  

three years ago.

around this time three incredibly fast years ago, my water broke.  it was only 10 hours or so later that we met our sweet little ek for the first time.

getting to raise this girl has been one of the great joys of my life.  she teaches me something every day about how to greet life with exuberance and wonder.  from her i am learning how to slow down (a little), how to be fascinated, how to pick my battles, how to love with every piece of my heart.  i love watching her concentrate, seeing her figure out something new.  i love her silliness and how she laughs with her whole body, full of ease and abandon.  though we battle (and i fear this will only increase in the coming months and years), i am so so proud of her stubbornness and her fierce independence.

my wish for my first baby, this child who made me a mother, is that she will continue to grow with a heart full of tenderness, a mind full of curiosity, and a spirit full of strength.

happy birthday, emme kay.

ten months old + the last ten days.

wheee.  in the last ten days, we have:
- gone under contract on a new house
- staged/completely re-vamped our current house to get ready to list it
- dealt with a double ear infection for hollis
- dealt with roseola for hollis (simultaneous to ear infection)
- planned emme's birthday party(ies)
- switched to standard time
- dealt with hollis's allergic reaction to penicillin
- got emme her first haircut
- had birthday parties and other random activities
- had halloween

i think that's all the major stuff.  i'm tired.  putting a house on the market with two small kids is its own particular circle of hell, i'm pretty sure.  our kids are like little agents of entropy, tottering through our domicile, dismantling progress.  the photographer came to our house at 9:45 this morning, so i woke the kids up around 6 and hauled them to starbucks for breakfast before an early drop-off at school.  it was actually a super fun morning.  but may i just say that half of what we own is in various closets and/or the garage.  ha.  we'll have to figure some of that out by this weekend once we're live on the market.  oh, and add the family in town and the birthday festivities to the fact that when you're selling your house it can look in NO WAY like actual humans ever live there ever.  especially not small humans.  whee, i say.

also, today, my sweet speckled baby is ten months old!  he is so big and so sweet and such an easy baby.  i am obsessed with him right now - love this age.

physical: at the appointment to check on his ear infections, they weighed him and he was 22 lbs. 1 oz.  looking more and more like a little boy every day.  still just the four teeth, but i'm anticipating the four lateral incisors any minute.  there's certainly enough drool for that.  

likes: dude is all about the crawling and the standing right now.  LOVES bath time (splash time).  drums - he will find our bongos wherever they are and rock out.  he's generally pretty happy about most things.  

dislikes: being pulled away from the dog bowls - he loves to go play with those...

biggest achievement of the month: bits is clapping and waving now.  not all the time, but this morning at drop off, i told him to tell his sister bye and he waved until i put him down.  granted, not at her, but he was definitely feeling the wave.  he claps a lot too - he likes that it makes a sound similar to when he's banging objects together.  

biggest challenge of the month: hollis hates medicine.  this is great news when you have a double ear infection.  it's even better news when the force-fed antibiotics trigger an allergic reaction, so then you have to force-feed benadryl to keep the hives at bay.  i'll be glad when our days don't involve a syringe.  

nicknames: the duder has remained pretty consistent with nicknames.  no new ones come to mind this month. 

sleep: well.  we're still working here.  there's been a lot going on.  

temperament/personality: so independent and fun.  so easy.  sweet and giggly and engaged.  

eating: feeding every baby should be as easy as feeding this one.  he eats whatever i put in front of him, which is mostly whatever we're eating.  it's awesome.  

motor development: every day he's doing something new.  he is on a mission to walk - we'll see when he masters that.  


i'm going to post ten month photos when he's less speckled - hopefully tomorrow.  for now here are some recents.  

**callie anne photography

all the things.

last weekend, i was sifting through old blog posts looking for pictures of ek so i could create her birthday invitations.  i went back to last year and realized i never even created a post about her second birthday.  inevitably, this makes me feel like a failure.

lately, all the things are in motion around me.  like i am a clown, juggling balls and batons and maybe a chainsaw and something on fire too.  a stiff breeze or someone sneezing at the wrong time and i am sure i will drop any or all of it.  i'm not miserable at all right now, nor depressed, nor even really that stressed (compared to some times in my existence).  i just feel like i have a slippery grasp or no grip at all on much of anything.  my head and my calendar and my phone are full of lists and plans and ideas that don't make it to the execution phase and then i end up having that constant feeling like i'm forgetting something.  because, of course, i am.

halloween is this thursday.  my kids' costumes are...weak.  good idea, poor execution.  i know that's not the point and that they will have a great time and this will just be a funny story, but i can't help but feel like i am lacking.

emme's birthday is next thursday.  we are throwing two parties this year - one for regular-life friends and one for school friends.  school friends are morphing in to real life friends, but for this year, it's still more convenient/digestible to have the parties separate.  for the record, justin booked venues, etc.  i created digital invitations.  but we have done nothing else.  nothing.  so, that's pretty lame.  ha.

and finally....we are buying a new house.  !  this is both amazing and utterly terrifying.  we've been wanting to move almost since we moved in to our current house - love the house, but the neighborhood is just not somewhere we wanted to settle for more than a couple of years (elementary school is not ideal, there is some crime, we wanted to be more central, walkability, etc.).  it's hard to not feel settled.  so, here we go.  our current house will (hopefully) hit the market next week, and we will be in a new, much more permanent home by christmas.  eeeek!

nine month pictures.

with the glorious weather we've been having lately, we hit up central market for a little picnic and hollis's nine month photo shoot.