Instead, we dunked them in a hot tub.

Before either the pool or the bath, there was mad stacking.

When Ian’s on the verge and we have a car ride between us and naptime, I will do the following: Windows down, gangsta rap up, and feed a snack to him piece by piece. This usually works. Usually.

Sometimes you can’t get through that last piece of Veggie Booty. You just gotta rest.

Lounging at the pool while mom slaved away at home…all by herself.

It was so sweet. After being up half the night teething, Ian ended up out of the house on Tuesday with Em & Ash & Bodhi and thus, I did my cooking from home. I hadn’t realized how long it’s been since I’ve been alone in the house for more than a couple hours. How long you ask? Um…how old’s Ian?

It was quiet. All day. I listened to Adam Carolla swear without guilt. I cooked for our family and other families. I showered. I left hot pans on the floor. I had my laptop in plain site on the couch. It was surreal.

I feel incredibly blessed to be able to stay home with Ian, but I really don’t understand these amazing blogs I come across with professional photography and new recipes every day and designer homes with handmade paper flowers, all produced by stay-at-home-moms (or WORKING moms, for Christ’s sake). How the eff do they do it? It’s all I can do to have clean hair, fresh food for my kid and an activity that does not involve strolling to the grocery store yet again. I can’t even get stains out of clothes, much less have a podcast, much as I want to, and I really, really want to. I have things to say. What was I saying?

15 & 5 months

16 months & 16

The only thing that hasn’t changed is the chair.

LOVE

I realize I am late to this party (hey, I have a kid). I remember seeing a billboard for Girls a while back and thinking, oh, that must be the new Sex And The City. And maybe it is. This is not your mother’s Sex In The City tho. And by your mother, I mean me.

Both in her movie, Tiny Furniture, and in Girls, from the very first frame, I am riveted. Watching it, I feel both young and old. It almost makes me want to be in my twenties again. Almost. Okay, that’s a total lie. It actually makes me feel grateful that I’m not in my twenties anymore because it brings back with such painful clarity the slow agony that was my twenties. But in a good way. Ohhhh, girls are so complicated. No wonder my husband hates the show.

I think she is genius. The sharp, sharp honesty of her writing and her eye is groundbreaking and I can’t help but get this tightening in my stomach, feeling like I’m watching a speeding train that will soon be far, far gone. Like a grass roots non-profit doing incredible work that eventually goes public and develops a line for Target, Lena will get a stylist and a trainer and this young artist who went to Oberlin (OHIO!) and decided to put it ALL out there will one day soon own a home in Silver Lake and eat too much kale and not enough pizza. Here’s to hoping she stays weird.

Wanna join us? This magic goes down every Thursday morning at The Sanctuary. The Saturday afternoon Parent & Me yoga twice a month is fantastic as well.

Today, we discovered the horses, and digging in the dirt with sticks. After hours of reading Teeth Are Not For Biting, Sleepy Time, and I Love Christmas, we were due for some fresh air.

Hello, horse.

Time to throw rocks.

Plane.

Tomorrow will be my second Mother’s Day, my sister’s first and my mother’s thirty fifth. I have mothered my sister and my mother on occasion, and now my sister embarks on mothering her very own as my mother continues to mother us and now grandmother her grandchildren.

Mothering is by far the most profound experience I’ve had. Maybe the most profound experience there is, and whether we choose cloth or disposable, breast milk or formula, cribs or family beds, day care or home school, every mother’s heart cracks when their baby cries. Every mother frets over mysterious runny noses and hurt feelings and stained onesies.

Today my little boy’s hair smelled like sand as I nursed him to sleep. He got over his sand phobia today and discovered the joy of a shovel. This will never happen again, and that is what life looks like with a child. Every day is so challenging and monotonous and ordinary and miraculous.

To my little sister: I love you. I’m so proud of you. Your grace and courage are admirable. I don’t feel the need to impart any wisdom as you’ve been taking care of children since you were a child. I’ll just say I am excited to walk the motherhood path with you, and I really hope our kids get along.

Alice Courtney Blake

5.9.12

4:29am

9lbs 3oz

20.5 inches

Ian on 5.9.12

25.5 lbs

32 inches

8 teeth with two molars coming in.

Obsessed with books.

Words he uses with regularity and varying degrees of clarity:

• Milk
• Goal
• Outside
• Walk
• Hi
• Hello
• Bye
• Teeth
• Ouch
• Bath
• Snack
• More
• Please
• Thank you
• I love you
• Shoes
• Socks
• No
• Cheese
• Banana
• Down
• Up
• Outside
• Ball
• Book
• Belly
• Nose
• Juli
• Daddy
• Mama
• Poop

Current animal sounds:

• Woof woof
• Meow
• Baa
• Moo
• Oink (snorting)
• Neigh
• Cluck

I’ll leave you with some Milo & Ian action.

The Three Musketeers.

Someone’s getting ready to crawl!

Trying to launch himself from the wall. Brilliant.

And we’re back to the exersaucer. Ian is digging the tunes today, but then he decides he wants a turn and gets a little rough with Milo. Not to worry, Ian was schooled.