Sweet Dreams

I always thought the whole "sleeping through the night" thing was a myth. None of my babies ever did that. I figured eight hours of sleep in a row was the most I could hope for. And maybe he won't keep it up, but for the past two weeks Miles has slept through the night. I'm talkin' 7pm to 7am. And even though I don't get to watch reruns of The West Wing at 3am anymore, I think I could learn to live with our new routine.

Webster Groves

One of the charms of St. Louis is that even though it's a large city, it's divided into dozens of small communities so you feel like you live in a small town. Now that I only have two children to transport hither and yon during the day, we can go explore some of these areas. Last week, we walked around downtown Webster Groves and found both my dream house and this cool church.

I didn't get a picture of my dream house. Secretly, I find my dream house every other day here. There's a lot of fun architecture around St. Louis. Reason #2 for you to come and visit me.

Off I go to vacuum up the buffet beneath my dining room table. (Reason #3 for you to come and visit.)

My First in 1st

(Harrison enjoys his last day of summer vacation.)

Harrison started first grade today. He was starting at a new school so all of the emotions from his first day of kindergarten repeated themselves. As we approached his school, I watched as crowds of people headed in our direction. There was so much excitement in the air! Like we were all going to watch fireworks, or something. A family on the corner caught my eye. The mom was crying, the dad was snapping every possible picture, and the daughter was posing with great confidence in front of the school marquee. It was so sweet.

He found his classroom and greeted his teacher.

Doesn't she look like a beauty queen? Miss First Grade Teacher 2009! By the end of the day, he had dubbed the boy sitting next to him his Best Friend. They sure make it look easy, don't they?

Where's Miles?

Where's Miles, you ask? (Well, maybe you didn't, but my mom did.) Getting his beauty sleep, of course.

He's a little tuckered out from all the smiling.
Miles is the sweetest, smiliest baby I've ever met. He's nice. I like him. A lot.

He brings joy to a world gone mad. Thanks, man.

Hot Town Summer in the City

I heart St. Louis. Yesterday the kids and I met some friends at Citygarden, an area in the middle of downtown that includes gardens, sculptures, and water works.

Harrison was a fan of the sprinklers.
Chloe, as always, was apprehensive.

This is My Awesome Friend Wendy who calls me a few times a week to ask if I want to have fun. DO I?

"Mommy, can I do ballet on water?"

Bradley, Harrison, and Chloe dance by the giant head. ("Look at the size of that boy's noggin!")

Chloe and Bradley doing a trust exercise.

Those blocks they're jumping on were actually chimes. They were making sweet city music.

My Awesome Friend Wendy told me to tell you that My Awesome Friend Wendy took this picture.

Catch ya later, Citygarden.

You so want to come visit me, don't you?

Thirty, Flirty, and Fabulous!

I turned 30 yesterday and all is well. For the past few weeks I've been thinking about what I wanted to have done by the time I turned 30. Don't most people have a list? I didn't have a list. As a teenager when I pictured myself at 30 I imagined I would have graduated from college, fallen in love, married, had a few children, seen a Broadway play, been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, spit over the Grand Canyon, driven across the country, and been spanked by Tom Wopat. It would seem I am exactly where I wanted to be.

A couple of months ago, the lovely ladies of my family gave me a fancy camera for my 30th birthday. It's my favorite toy. In honor of my birthday, I present to you "30 Pictures of My 30th Birthday." (With apologies to your Google Readers.)

ONE: French Silk Joy. I had so many candles that one pie could not contain them!

TWO: Skipping to My Lou
THREE: Airplanes!

FOUR: Two Cameras. Harrison took this shot. Love it.

FIVE: Sophisticated Ladies. Chloe and I are forever wearing boas and smelling daisies. It's how we do.

SIX: Little Face.

SEVEN: Humour Me

EIGHT: H-Dog. I wanted a picture of me with each of my kids. Guess which one wouldn't cooperate?

NINE: Just Like Mommy

TEN: Just Me and the Wind

ELEVEN: How Old?!

TWELVE: Peace

THIRTEEN: Life as Usual

FOURTEEN: Don't Be Jealous

FIFTEEN: Superfans

SIXTEEN: Busch Stadium

SEVENTEEN: Pujols! Just to give you an idea of how awesome this camera is, we were sitting on the very back row in the highest section of the stadium. You can see the stubble on Albert's face, dude!

EIGHTEEN: Talkin' Smack. Pujols chats up the third baseman.

NINETEEN: Cardinals Kicks. You can never have a bad day wearing red shoes.

TWENTY: Nicely Done. Rick Ankiel gives Mark DeRosa a high-five after DeRosa hits a homerun.

TWENTY-ONE: At the Old Ball Game. I don't know why one would need both peanuts and cracker jacks. It clearly states on the bag that both are included in cracker jacks. I'm just sayin'.

TWENTY-TWO: Up in the Rafters

TWENTY-THREE: I'm at a Baseball Game! Sadly, Makenzie was calling for medical advice from Jeff.

TWENTY-FOUR: "We're Winning!" That's what Jeff said to me after I took this picture. I had to include a shot of the rude ladies in front of us. No class.

TWENTY-FIVE: Right Here in St. Louis! In honor of my birthday, fireworks went off down by the arch.

TWENTY-SIX: Meeting on the Mound. Two of my favorite players: Catcher Yadier Molina and pitcher Franklin.

TWENTY-SEVEN: Fastball. Franklin closes the game.

TWENTY-EIGHT: Game Over! The Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 4-3. So there!

TWENTY-NINE: Go Cards! Because this day didn't have quite enough self-portraits.

THIRTY: One More Hour. The Metro station clock reminds me that my sweet day is coming to an end.