HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN

i thought i would want to dress my baby up as an animal for her first halloween, 

'cause i'm kind of obsessed with babies dressed like animals

but then we remembered that we have a batman costume for rusty

(that's what he dresses up as every year), and so naturally....

ROBIN

she was such a good sport, especially with that mask

check her out - dressed up like a miniature superhero, straight chillin' 

(also, note the baby pumpkin, appropriately sized for baby human)

let me introduce, batman & robin, our very own (tiny) superheroes: 

FALL AT THE FARM

we went out of town this weekend (sloane’s first overnight trip!) and it was the most amount of good for seeing friends and new babies, but also just right for a trip to a farm on a bright grey fall afternoon. if you don’t know this about me already, i’m a sucker for almost any kind of event that happens outside especially if the weather is agreeable, so the outdoor fall celebration happening at cox farms is my totally my steez. yes, steez.

pumpkins, apples, kettle corn, barnyard animals, tiny tikes, corn maze, kitschy set-ups…it was a party for my eyeballs and i took a lot of photos, so I’ll share some with you here. we went there with our babies but didn’t end up taking too many pictures of them because they both ended up passing out. and maybe because i’m really tired right now but i feel like i have vague and sweet memories of falling asleep while being carried, you know, from when i was a baby. which is probably not a real memory, and more like a wish.
, 

is this tree half empty or half full

i spy...captain america!

it's like a pumpkin musuem

look at 'em 'kins shaped like swans!

got one

he is real suspicious of all the large pumpkins swinging around

anxious about you know what

piglets and their swirly tales

eyelash envy

bunnies and...abe lincoln?

i would like all these crates to take home

really is there anything pretier

rawr

exploring a corn maze

these stalks provide such great backdrop

with jaina - mamas and friends!

as we were leaving i noticed king kong waving us goodbye.

goodbye kong, goodbye..we had a great time!

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

hope ya'lls had a good weekend and that you are all properly prepared for frankenstorm if you're living in a place where that is predicted to hit. so far, nothing is happening over here, and believe you me i would much rather prefer no such freak hurricane to happen, but not going to deny that it would be real nice to have an excuse to stay at home from work for a day...such is life. you never get away from the snowdayy!! mentality of the yesteryears.

regardless, in the meanwhile, and therefore...

hunker down with some tunes, because these guys are good and i find myself constantly listening to them these days. here are three of their songs for you to check out.

the first video is 'always like this' from their first album, 'i had the blues but i shook them loose'.
 the second is 'dust on the ground' from their second album, 'flaws'.
and the last is 'shuffle' from their third album, 'a different kind of fix'.

PHOTOWALKIN' AND TALKIN'

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh friiiddaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!

and that's all i have to say about that.

last weekend, i met up with this super rad lady friend of mine to do walk the streets of carytown and put our cameras to use...i've been trying to practice with my dslr lately so i love any excuse to do so, especially if it means hanging with this friend on a beautiful fall day and roaming one of my favorite spots in the RVA. it was  great and laura and i are talking about a project we want to start together that i'm pretty excited about..stay tuned. and in the meanwhile, some photos from that day.  

laura photogging and stylin'

an urban waterfall

.. sloane got herself another giraffe!

he gave us a beautiful giraffe for $3

love the tambourine around his foot

check out the RVA stickers over the Lowes logo

Custer's last waistband and the cowboy prince -
he's adopted the life of a street peddler goes around selling the things he's made..including those clothes!

i'm into it..

and so is laura

hose

A FALL FAMILY

gosh dang it. those trees get me every time. 

i usually get home earlier than k. and so sloane and i sat on the porch to take stock of these trees and wait for k. to get home. once he did, we snapped some photos. 

Sloane's hair has been doing this thing lately where it's flat in the front and a crazy party in the back.

work it, little lady.

NOT 16 GOING ON 17...YET

Our baby is going to be 12 weeks old this weekend and I can’t believe it. The first few weeks seem to roll by slowly because even though the days are a blur, it’s just you and the baby and she doesn’t do very much and so you can take stock of the fact that one, two, three weeks have gone by. But then all of a sudden, 11 weeks have passed and you take a good look at your baby and she’s turning into a real baby instead of just a tiny potato, and it is kind of stunning, even though you’ve been waiting for it.

1. I’ve been noticing how when she is held by K. she holds her head up erect and swivels it around trying to take in the world around her, eyes dark but bright, and so, alert.

2. When I pick her up, I no longer feel like I might squish her, she is getting more solid.

3.  And speaking of solid, her legs and arms are getting more plump. I am currently so in love with plum baby arms.

4.  Her cheeks are a force to be reckoned with.

5.  When I nurse her in the glider, her legs are so long that she doesn’t have as much room to stretch out and she is constantly kicking against the side of the chair.

6.  She has noticed her toes.

7. She has noticed Rusty!

8. She sticks out her tongue, constantly, and there are bubbles… and a lot of drool.

9. She is smiling so much more and this is definitely my favorite part of her growing. She reacts to us talking with smiles and I memorize that face and carry it with me to work every morning. 

10. She also is learning how to laugh and crack up, especially during her times with K. and the sound and sight of this probably tops 'em all. 

As exciting as it is to notice all these changes, there is a small part of me that is already kind of missing her tiny-ness. This surprises me – I had a hard time understanding moms who said they felt sad seeing their babies grow up fast, but now I know. All these moments, all these weeks and days are so precious that I want to hold on to each of these stages, put them in a bottle and revisit them. I guess that is what photos, videos and blog posts like these are for.

Also, noteworthy: her favorite song these days is“16 going 17” from “The Sound of Music”. I'll call it her favorite cause she smiles to it and falls asleep to it. it's been making me want to watch the movie again...

POLKA DOTS

if one must polka,

i say, polka big,

and do it up

together

A FALL BIRTHDAY PARTY

saturday was a busy day, and we collapsed into a heap afterwards, but it was full of so much good things that there's nothing to complain about here. there was two birthday parties to attend that day and the one in the evening was for a sweet friend who is joining me in the year twenty-nine, and we celebrated that in her backyard with pulled pork from the grill (sooo good) and a bunch of delicious potlucked dishes. but most notable about this night though (to me and to my camera) were all the babes underfoot and i didn't even get a chance to capture all of them! it boggles my mind that i have held almost all of these kids when they were very new to the world and now they are running around, talking back and shoving food in their mouths.

 this is life people!