Happy Halloween!

Autumnal Light

On Friday afternoon - before our wild Friday night which we spent watching "Bridesmaids" and gorging on Halloween candy - we played outside until the sunset brought on the chilly crispness of a late-October evening.  While Lucy and I were busy walking, talking, eating leaves and amusing the passing traffic, Paul grabbed the camera and for something TOTALLY different we took picture after picture of this cute kid.

Hittin' the trail

There is a nature park near our home and the four of us (Buckley included!) have been taking advantage of the beautiful autumn weather by frequenting the trails that make up this park; it is a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.  This particular day was warm, the sky was bright blue and the leaves were the vibrant colors of fall you have to see to believe.

This is one of those days I want to be able to take myself back to come January, when the northerly winds bring freezing rain and single digit temperatures.  I want to remember the feeling of a slightly sun kissed face, the warm wind at my back and the overwhelming feeling of happiness that comes with days as simple as this.

Not only is her shadow cute, but this will proof down the road that at one point in her life she really did want to hold my hand. 

Proud Sister

My brother Tyson is not only handsome, smart and AVAILABLE LADIES, but he is also a talented Mixologist at The Casablanca Lounge in Scottsdale, Arizona; a local news station thought enough of his skills to share them with the world, so I thought I would too. 

The Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch; it is an annual excursion with my grandparents.  They have been hauling grandkids out there ever since I can remember and it is a tradition I'm highly fond of.  I remember two rules and I think they are still the same: 1. If you are a kid, grandkid, or great-grandkid of theirs and you are in town, you are invited and it is strongly encouraged that you go and 2. If you can carry it yourself, at least back to the wagon where will Grandpa usually bail you out, that pumpkin can be yours.  Oh and secret rule #3 is that Grandma always pulls out a snack of some sort for everyone to share while we are waiting for our pumpkins to be weighed. 

This being Lucy's first trip, I'd like to say we did it right.

A ride on Grandpa's shoulders:

Honestly, the best of about 10 that were taken:

Lucy and Great-Grandpa:

Lucy with Grandma and Grandpa:

Big Girl!  She was hilarious, pointing in every direction; someone mentioned "future weathergirl" and I had to laugh because that was exactly what it looked like.

Engrossed in the chickens:

About half of us who were there:

THIRTY

I AM 30 YEARS OLD. 

Wow. 

OFFICIALLY, 30 years and two days.

This is a large milestone and my thoughts about it are muddled.  So because I'm either too lazy or unwilling to draft complete paragraphs about my feelings, you’re getting randomly listed bullet points:

·    I am totally cool with being 30.  When I ask how old a person is and they respond with, “oh, 32 or so” I think, oh so we are talking about a young person!

·    How on earth can I be 30?!?!  That’s oooooooold!

·    My twenties are over and that’s really weird if I think about it long enough.

·    I am now considered a thirty-something.  And THAT’S really weird if I think about it long enough.

·    I am having a tough time comprehending that someone can say “A, B & C happened 30 years ago” and that timeframe falls with MY lifetime.

·    It makes me think about how old and how young that makes everyone else in my life. 

·    In the back of my mind, I still quietly identify with the post-college aged group.  But more and more I look around and see that the differences between my life and theirs are eNORmous.

·    I wonder what my 16 year old self would think of me at 30.  What about my 21 year old self?  Did I know that a mortgage, marriage and a baby would be what 30 looked like?  What will my 50 year old self think looking back at me at 30?  What will I be proud of?  What will I wish I had done different?

·    It’s strange to think that my next “big” birthday is 40.

·    The other day my Grandpa said that “old” is however old you are plus 10 years, and I think he’s right. 

·    Next year I can look forward to celebrating the 10^th Anniversary of my 21^st Birthday!

·    Celebrating your own birthday after giving birth puts a whole new perspective on what my birthday means to my parents; I have a deeper insight into what they were going through the day I was born, that whole first year, followed by the next 29…

·    So far, 30 seems all right.  I’m in pretty good company with those who have celebrated the big 3-0 before me and those who aren’t far behind seem prepared to greet 30 with open arms and let it know who's boss!  Here’s to the next 30 being as wild and wonderful as the first 30!

Eleven Months

This photo shoot did not go very well if we are measuring success by number of photos she was willing to sit still, face forward and smile for.  She's MUCH more interested in climbing, crawling, "walking," and doing anything but sitting still, but this isn't news so I shouldn't have been surprised. 

Regardless, here's a glimpse at what we caught:

These pictures are nice because down the road they will remind me what Lucy looked like and what she was doing each month, but more importantly I want ingrained in my memory the little details that made it the day Lucy turned eleven months. 

• Lucy took her first bite out of an apple and LOVED IT.
• My mom and I took Lucy for a long walk in the morning and she snoozed in the BOB.
• Lucy had a scab on her forehead from where she bonked her at school; battle wounds and hazards of being adventurous while learning to walk...mind the brick walls!
• The weather was beautiful so we played outside most of the day and Lucy tore up and down the driveway in her tricked out pink walker.
• Lucy, Paul, Buckley and I took an afternoon nap together with the windows open and the Chiefs game on in the background (and they actually won!).

Oh eleven months, I know what's next.  That twelve month marker is looming and I have to say that while it's killing me, at the same time, it's also exciting.  Each stage seems to be more fun than the last and the more I get to know about Lucy's little personality the further in love I fall. 

Bring it on ONE YEAR.  BRING IT.  'Cause the Dillons are ready to celebrate!

What girl? THAT girl.

You know who she is.  You've met her before.  She has a raspy sorority girl voice that commands attention, she "woo-hoo's" to anything remotely exciting and most notably, she gets emotional and cries when she drinks.  Well, I was totally her last Saturday night, of the emotional, crying variety.


What follows is a very sweet story in an attempt to defend myself.  Here goes...


Paul and I went on a date.  It started with us attending the KU Legends Game at Allen Fieldhouse; me with my friend Alison and him with his buddies Sam, Nick and Carlos.  I didn't say it was a traditional date, I mean, TECHNICALLY we were in the Fieldhouse with 16,298 of our closest friends AND each other...  Hey, we had a sitter and we were totally texting each other when there was something worth making fun of, doesn't that count?!


Regardless.  


A very entertaining basketball game ensued and when it was over we headed out on the town for a schooner 'o beer; there we met up with some of our friends, Paul's brothers included.  I plopped down on a barstool next to Greg and as we were chatting away he asked me what the plan was for Lucy's birthday celebration.  I told Greg the general plan for Lucy's first birthday which led us to start reliving the day she was born. 


WARNING: As a mother of an 11 month old, after a beer, do NOT do this. 


I kept it together as we reminisced about all the things that made that day so special and so memorable and, so very OURS.  Only a few of us know the first few hours of Lucy's life so intimately. 


Most of what Greg shared with me, and I with him, were details we both knew and enjoyed talking about, but when I officially crossed the line from endearing Mom reliving it all and became THAT GIRL crying in a bar (See, I'm getting there!) was when he started talking about the excitement of his Mom waking him up at four in the morning.  She told him the baby had arrived, he was an uncle, and FINALLY there was another girl in the family to dote on; he remembers being groggy-eyed but excited and ready to hop in the car at a moment's notice having planted himself on the couch the evening before due to the news that we were at the hospital and it was no false alarm; we were coming home with a baby! 


At this point he interrupted himself and said, "Did I ever tell you what song was playing on the radio as we were driving to the hospital?"  For this reason - and so many others - I love Greg; he remembers moments in ways very few people can.  "Today is the Greatest Day I've Ever Known' by the Smashing Pumpkins."  That was the song.  He even sang me a few lines to make sure I knew which song he was talking about.  Oh, I knew.  I have always liked that song and, as you can imagine, my love affair with it blossomed once it had this tie to my own personal best day ever.   


I just sat there crying and laughing because it was so perfect.  The overwhelming feeling of impossible love that hits you the moment you see that little face staring back at you; it is ingrained in my memory like nothing before it.  That day simply WAS.  The greatest.