August Wells, 22 Months

There are a few moments along the way where I've paused to capture Augy in words, and looking back I'm so happy for those entries.  Well, I'm here to say that August Wells at 22 months is enough to bring me back to my blog.  People say "every stage is the best stage," and first of all, I disagree with that, and second of all, 22-month Augy really is it so far.

He is just so much fun, so much sweet, so much engaging, so much interesting, so much... joy.  He's well-adjusted at the present moment and does not need to engage in as much boundary-testing or tantrum-ing.  All this turns on a dime, but man are we getting it good these days.

A few captures of him lately:

Loves a new pair of pajamas I got him with airplanes on them.  Requests excitedly and often, "Airplane jammies?!"

Responds with an enthusiastic, "Yeah, I do!" to any questions to which he wants to give an affirmative answer.  "Would you like strawberries for breakfast?"  "YEAH, I DO!"

Has a toy Chicago firetruck that was love at first sight and has become his everything.  Plays with it anywhere and everywhere.

Refers to any bumps or falls as "BONK!"  And then says, "It's ok, I gotchu."

Asks me almost daily and with a heartbreaking measure of hope, "Ride train?  Fun."  In other words, taking the L is his daily hope and dream and it's his idea of fun.  And why wouldn't we have fun today?

Has recall of the previous day's or week's events and will talk the next day about things we did the day before.

Is delighted with the fountains that have come on all over the city this summer and likes to visit them, point them out, and talk about them, "fountain?"  We do our best to see them, and it's not hard in this neighborhood.

Tells me about things he finds "fun" or "funny."

Pats us on the back while we snuggle him before bed.  Asks for "squeeze!" while being put to bed, which means he wants the three of us to group hug and then laughs and laughs. ;)

August Wells, you have provided a lifetime's worth of joy for us to feast on in your 22 months of life. Knowing you is our greatest happiness in this life.

Happy Birthday, Augy

Augy, 

My baby, you are 1 today!  How you've taken 2 people's world and filled it to the edges and to the brim with light.  It feels surreal to me that we have a 1 year old, that we are the parents at the birthday party, that I delivered a baby a year ago today (I know, I know, get a grip, right?)  But even while it's all surreal, my love for you feels more real to me than can be.  

From the moment I met you in that dim, windowless delivery room at 4:32am on a Saturday morning, you captured me, heart and soul.  Your chubby face!  The bags under your eyes!  Your beautiful coloring and bright soul.  Everyone says how much you're growing and how fast it's all going and while that is certainly true, I marvel at how it's just been you all along.  Augy, it's always been you.  At 1 year, at 6 months, at 4 months, at 4 weeks, at 2 minutes.  It's been you. 

Handsome. Social.  Happy.  Expressive.  Fun.  Curious.  Smart.  Confident.  Tender.  And hungry.  Mercy, were you a hungry baby.  

I've loved spending every day with you (even though you once broke my nose, my back is threatening to send me to physical therapy with all 26 pounds of you, and breastfeeding was the great villain that must not be named).  Really and truly, my heart cannot hold the love and delight I have over you.  Oh but hold it I will, with all my might for all my life.  I am so proud to be your mama, Augy.  I've never met anyone I like quite so much as you.

I love you, August Wells.  Happy first birthday!

Mama

Psalm 19:7-14

On Sunday-- Mother's Day-- we dedicated Augy at our church.  It's something I've seen done over and over my entire life in church, and it seems ever so completely surreal that it was me up there with my son in my arms on Sunday. 

Besides feeling surreal, here's how else dedicating my child felt: Sweaty, from trying to keep Augy quiet in the service up until the dedication, a bit like a juggling act passing Augy between myself, Neal, and Pastor Brian, and feeling how bright the lights actually are in your eyes when you're up front.  Still special though, most definitely.  In a sweaty sort of way.

The verses we chose for Augy's dedication are also the verses from the reference that is engraved on the inside of my wedding band, Psalm 19:7-14.  It's my favorite passage in all of Scripture and has been for probably the last 11 years or so.  I first fell in love with the passage my second year of college.  I printed it out and slipped it into the cover of my binder that I carried everywhere for school.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

Choosing this passage for August and his dedication got me reading it again, and it reminds me of when I was pregnant with Augy.  What I remember is that when I tried to pray for my unborn baby, I was so surprised that all I could find myself praying for was that he would know and love Jesus so deeply.  Everything else literally paled in comparison that I couldn't even pray for those things.  I guess I was surprised because I'm a person who cares about those things.

Those things like health, good friends, great school experiences, good grades, a fulfilling career, a wonderful spouse, on and on.  And it's not like I won't do everything in my power to give August those things.  Heaven knows I'm into it all.  And heaven knows I have never felt more devoted to a creature in my life than this child.

But the thing I know too well in 30 short years of life-- the terrible wonderful-- is that circumstances come and go.  I also know that bad things happen to good people.  And that good people make bad choices sometimes.  That the world is full of heartache and toil and trouble and tragedy amongst its more pretty moments.  And that he will be no more in ultimate control of all of this than I am.

My prayer for him is that he know the Jesus who is an anchor for the soul in this terrible wonderful.  If he does, then I know he will be ok no matter what.  If he does, then I know he will be spiritually alive, wise and rejoicing in heart, bright-eyed and confident that his life is centered around what is true, lasting, and void of evil.  That he will be satisfied much deeper and more richly than riches can ever provide, and that he will taste sweet reward in this life and most assuredly in the next.

August Wells, 5 Months

I went with a bunch of my girlfriends to visit our dear friend in the hospital last night who just gave birth to a sweet baby girl.

I'm surprised our whole entourage, including two babies of our own, made it there in the great blizzard that is happening right now as I type.
The trip in the snow to the hospital and holding that tiny baby girl reminded me that somehow these tiny newborns change right beneath our noses every single day into little babies, and then big babies, and then.

Before this snowy weekend passes, I have to capture for myself a few notes of August Wells, 5 months.

Chews on anything and everything!  You are like a little puppy, desperate to chew on anything you come in contact with: fingers, hands, our faces!, toys, you name it.  Probably this is called teething, but we first time parents can never be too certain.  Sometimes you make us laugh so hard with how frantic you are to chew.  It's pretty adorable, little puppy.

Sleeping on your tummy.  While you rolled over for the first time at 4 months, you didn't roll from your back to your tummy so easily until 5 months.  It's easy for you now though, and immediately when we put you down on your back to sleep for a nap or for the night, you flip right over and sleep on your tummy.  This is obviously your preference now and you look so cozy!  You started doing this for the first time on our New Year's Eve trip with friends in OH.

Baby Beluga.  This is your song.  You love endless renditions of it, and I've noticed recently that it is also the way to whisper you into calmness if you're crying uncontrollably in the car.  The Baby Beluga song is the secret!

Solid naps.  I look back now on you at 3 and 4 months and see that all our nap struggles were just you growing and developing into napping.  At five months, you take the classic 9:00 and 1:00 naps, which I can almost count on now to be two hours each.  It's a beautiful thing, Augy Bear!   Just in time for Momma to start studying for her licensure exam.  And no, I'm not expecting your napping to be perfectly predictable every day, because we know you'll just stop if I do that. ;)

Such a happy baby!  This is the number one comment we get from family, friends, babysitters, and even strangers.  "He's such a happy baby!" they exclaim.  It's true, you love to smile and you love people.  A funny story I don't want to forget is your first Christmas coming to Grammy & Big Papa's.  Somehow there was a mix-up in our expected arrival time, and so no one really knew we were coming when we did.  We drove up to your cousin Connor's birthday party and when we opened the door there was literally about a 5 minute screaming party with your aunts, uncles, and grandparents who were so surprised to see you.  You thought that was the greatest reception you've ever been given and never once shied away or got scared of all the noise and attention.  You just smiled as big as you can and let yourself be passed around and hugged and kissed to pieces.  But don't get me wrong, you are a normal little baby and you get waves of being grumpy and discontent and fussy on a regular basis with just me and Daddy at home.  No one seems to believe that though. ;)

Night sleep.  It's not great, it's not horrible.  5 months in, you still definitely do not sleep through the night, typically waking up for feedings twice and then needing your paci or whatever else numerous other times a night.  

Reaching.  You're reaching now, for toys, for food, even a little bit for us.  Reaching seems like not that big of a deal in and of itself, but somehow it feels to me like it marks the transition from a little baby to a big baby.  You want solid food so badly, you just stare us down while we eat.  The other night at Chipotle you were sitting on Daddy's lap staring and leaning in towards his burrito bowl until, quick as lightening, you reached out and plunged your chubby little hand right into his bowl for a fistful of rice, cheese, and sour cream!  I cannot wait to give you your first taste of rice cereal at 6 months.  All signs point to the prediction that you're gonna love it.

Last funny thing is this new smacking noise you make with your bottom lip.   You think you're pretty funny doing it, and surprise surprise, so do we.  

August Wells, 5 months.

Augy Lately

It's been a little quiet around here lately, yes?

Last week we got hit with a bad cold/flu bug at our house, and it really took us down for the count!

Thankfully Neal stayed well and was able to help out, but yikes that was rough.

We're pretty much back to normal this week, and Augy and I are leaving tomorrow morning to spend two days visiting Auntie Tiff & Grammy.

So these pics are mostly for Daddy who will be missing Augy something fierce tomorrow night!

(But hey what's gonna be so bad about a full night of sleep, man?)

But this post is also for me to be able to collect a few pictures of the face I see every day and never want to forget at 3.999 months old.

4 months tomorrow!

These Two

These two in the nursery this dark, rainy morning just got me.

These two also got drenched in the downpour on the walk to drop off Augy before Neal & I both went to work this morning.

Oops.  It's so hard to tell from our 12th floor apartment sometimes if it's actually raining or not! 

I don't think Augy himself actually got wet because his carseat cover took most of it.

But like I said before, spirit of adventure, right?

Ouch

It scares me how much I love him.

Oh my heart.  Ouch.

Goodnight, rainy Chicago.

Great Big World

We went on a slow fall walk yesterday evening which got chillier toward the end than could be described as fun, but hey we were out there before it really gets cold.

I love this capture of Augy, which is how he basically always looks when we walk around the city with him in the Bjorn-- looking up, up, up.

I can't imagine seeing Chicago that way, from either flat on his back gazing up from the stroller, or head thrown back and eyes fixated up into the sky when we wear him.

It must be a pretttttty amazing perspective.

It's a great big world out there, doesn't he know it!

3 Months

State Street, Santa Barbara CA

Hello!

We just got home from sunny southern California around midnight on Monday night.

And now it's almost Friday!  Short week for us.

Augy turned 3 months over the weekend in California, and this picture of us on State Street just makes me so happy!

We were so scared to make the trip with him, afraid he'd cry and wiggle all over the place on the flights and have crazy nights with the time change, but he was such a champ!

So, so good.

When I look at this picture I realize this was the picture I had in my head when Augy was born, of what life would be like with a baby as we became a family of three.

So when those first few weeks after his birth turned out to be crazy exhausting and demanding and painful and all-consuming, I got scared.

Maybe people could see it in my eyes, or maybe people are just smarter and kinder than I sometimes give them credit for, but almost everyone I talked to in those early days said, "Don't worry!  It gets easier.  It gets more fun as time goes on!  Just make it to 3 months and everything will be different."

How. right. they. were.

My body is not in pain anymore, I only get up once in the night, he's starting to take scheduled naps, feeding is quick and easy (and finally not every two hours), and I can eat and shower and keep up with life.

He is the most wonderful thing that has happened to us, but I can tell you that in those first few weeks, caring for a newborn did not feel like the most wonderful thing that could happen to a person.

Not that it's easy now.  Of all the ways motherhood has been described over the centuries, I've never heard easy, but we are having a blast.

Thankful that we have such a happy, easy-going baby to ease us into parenthood.

I mean, look at that smile!

After he goes to bed at night, Neal and I sit around watching videos of him on our phones that we've taken that day.

Just a little in love!

Happy 3 months, Augy bear!!

Nursery Tour

Nursery tour today!

When I was pregnant with Augy and planning his nursery, I loved browsing nursery tours that I found on Pinterest or blogs.

So helpful for gathering ideas and inspiration.

I felt completely lost for awhile when it came to his nursery.

But whenever it was that the urban Chicago theme idea came to my brain, I knew that was it.

Obviously we have so much love for this city, and it holds both our story as a couple and is the place where our son's story begins.

I think cities are just a fun, classy nursery theme anyway, even if you don't live in an urban setting.

Maybe Paris for a girl or New York for a boy?

Chicago for us & for Augy.

I used lots of maps in his nursery, an assortment of vintage, needlepoint, transit lines, neighborhoods, and a points of interest map.

My hope is that he can one day take any or all of these maps and use them in various places in his adult life, like in a dorm room or an office or an apartment or a home.

A shout out to my friend Kirra who was a huge help and support in planning the nursery.  She found the dresser and the rug, two of the main anchors for the room.

 She and I had a shared secret Pinterest board that we constantly updated with ideas for months.

I totally recommend doing this!

It was such a fantastic help for my brain which can easily become overwhelmed or paralyzed when trying to design a room.

A shout out also to our lovely friends Tim & Asharae who came into town just four days after Augy was born and took photos of us together in his nursery and of all the details.

I'm so, so grateful for their friendship and how they blessed us with these beautiful photos!

Most of the photos in this post are theirs.

 You can see more of their beautiful work at Grain & Compass.

In this post I tried to note where I found each piece in the nursery, and if it's still available I tried to include the link.

This was so helpful for me when others did that on their posts when I was planning my nursery.

If there's something I left out, feel free to ask!

So, here it is!  A nursery for August Wells.

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass

Wall color: Grey Owl by Benjamin Moore

Grain & Compass

^^^ Artwork over the crib ^^^

 The Chicago nursery print was used as decor at my baby shower and then gifted to me by Kirra. The print can be found at this Etsy shop (the shop has really cute ones for lots of other cities too!)

The Chicago neighborhoods map was a gift to me from my colleague Joy, and of all the maps in the nursery, this one is my favorite.  I love the colors, the style, and the fact that I've never seen it anywhere else.

She bought it online, but I'm not quite sure where.

^^^ The crib ^^^

The crib is a white Jenny Lind.

The bumper was one of the first purchases I fell in love with and built the nursery around.

It was buried in the back of a sale shelf at Pottery Barn Kids.

The sheet is Land of Nod, and can still be found here.

I love their sheet collections!  So funky, so colorful, so fun, modern, and stylish.

^^^ A second sheet ^^^

I have a second sheet on hand-- this mint green one also from The Land of Nod.

It's a calmer, more soothing alternative in the nursery while satisfying my current obsession with navy and mint combinations.

I honestly don't need three crib sheets, but I'm still dreaming of getting this crib sheet from Dwell Studio at some point, because it's just made for this nursery and I can use it for more babies, boy or girl.

Grain & Compass

^^^ Map next to the bookshelf ^^^

I've really loved this map of Chicago for awhile now, so I was really happy to be able to use it in the nursery.

I first saw it at Papersource, but this one is purchased from a little boutique on State St. called Posh.

Grain & Compass
 ^^^ Maps above the bookshelf ^^^
The large yellow map is a vintage map of the Chicago transit system, also purchased at Posh.
The small embroidered one is a map of the CTA's elevated train lines.
This was also purchased for decor at my shower (from this Etsy shop) and then gifted to me by Kirra.  Kirra and her husband Taylor noticed that the seller originally did not have the newest line, the Pink Line, included in the piece.
Taylor insisted that I could not have an outdated map of the L lines, so Kirra contacted the artist and had her custom add the Pink Line so that the map is up to date and accurate.
I kinda love that story.

Grain & Compass

^^^ Stuffies ^^^

I found the blue elephant at Anthropologie when I was pregnant, and knew instantly I wanted to buy him to be Augy's special little lovie.  We affectionately named him "Trunks" and he's sitting on the shelf waiting for Augy to get big enough to love him.

Next to him is the giraffe we've named "Skinny" from Pottery Barn Kids.  He was a gift for Augy from my Dad.

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass
 ^^^ Bookshelf ^^^
This is the white Expedit shelving unit from Ikea.  The wire mesh baskets are from Crate & Barrel Outlet.
The nursery doesn't have a closet, so this was my way of creating enough storage space for the little babe.  I use the baskets for diapers, lotion and wipes, burp clothes, towels, toys, and laundry.
I have stacks of blankets folded in some of the cubes, as well as rows of books.
Thankfully, this piece still has room to grow with baby as he acquires more toys and books.

Grain & Compass

^^^ Moving around the room clockwise, here's a view of the window wall and the wall opposite the bookshelf. ^^^

Lamp and throw pillow from Ikea, Pottery Barn rocker borrowed from a friend.

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass

^^^ The view from the nursery windows. ^^^

Grain & Compass
 ^^^ Shadowbox ^^^
I've had this shadowbox from Pottery Barn since our first year of marriage seven years ago, but I found it a new home in the nursery.
It's fun to display his ultrasound pics, a card welcoming his birth from a dear friend, a Chicago photo taken by The Youngrens, and the "3" symbolizing our new family of three.

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass

^^^ Dresser & changing table ^^^

The dresser is a mid-century piece found on Craigslist.  I love the mid-century style for a boy nursery!

The rug is from Urban Outfitters, the lamp is from Target, and the wire caddy I found at Home Goods.

I store my diapers, diaper cream, and lotions up in the wire baskets;

Perfectly in reach for me, perfectly out of reach for baby.

Grain & Compass

^^^ Changing station ^^^
The gray stripe changing pad cover is from The Land of Nod.
The second cover (you really truly need two of these!) is the chamois cover in ivory from Pottery Barn Kids.  This one is super, super soft and I love how pampering it is against baby's skin.

Grain & Compass

^^^ Decor ^^^

The "A" is from Anthropologie.

 The hoop embroidery was a custom gift from my friend who is the artist behind Little Stitch.  This gift I just about died over and is one of my favorites in the nursery!

 

Grain & Compass

^^^ Chicago onesie ^^^

We used this Chicago flag onesie to announce our pregnancy to family last Christmas.  I found it on Etsy, but unfortunately I can't find the listing anymore to link where it's from.

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass
^^^ Rocking horse Vespa ^^^
Best for last.  Neal's brother (Augy's Uncle Blake) made this for Augy and gifted it to me at the shower my sister-in-law Cassie threw for me.
It is so, so, so special to us and is by far our favorite piece in the nursery.

 

Grain & Compass

 

Grain & Compass

 

Grain & Compass

Grain & Compass


Don't think for a second that this nursery hasn't become somewhat more lived in in the past three months since Augy's arrival.
For example, I daily try to overlook the obnoxious mobile that I now have attached to the crib because Augy just loves it so!
Sometimes we store his stroller in there when we're too lazy to put it in our storage next door, and on and on the list goes.  But it's still my favorite room in our place and I am so very happy with how it turned out.
Happy nursery planning to you!