Eye Patch Ale

Allie joined with us in celebrating our friends' launching Monday Night Brewing.  For now, they have two beers available in select Atlanta bars and stores.  While I prefer the Scotch Ale for its subtle sweetness, Allie prefers the Eye Patch Ale.  As you can see she was very happy to have a beer that celebrates eye patches:

 

We picked her up a "growler" at Hop City.  I had never heard of a growler until the guys at Monday Night decided to release their beer in this form (which for some reason only recently became legal in Georgia).  It's a half gallon glass jug to share with friends.  I much prefer lots of growlers to a keg. I'll be honest. I do not understand the ways of a keg: how to tap it, do a keg stand, much less, just serve myself a proper beer from that contraption.  A growler I can do. 

Cheers, Allie!

 

Harper, though sans eye patch, wanted in on the action, too:

 

Nice beer gut.

Next time you see Monday Night Brewing on the menu, you must indulge.  It's spreading like wildfire across the ATL.

Mississippi Debut

Last weekend we had a blast in Mississippi for Will and Mary Mitchell's wedding and a "sip and see" for A&H.  Michael's mom, Carolyn, hosted the party and my girls have now officially debuted in Mississippi.  I was thrilled to see our friends from last year and get to show off Harper and Allie to Carolyn's friends. 

With the handsome Tate Shull, right after Allie kissed him.  Tate is in shock and Allie looks quite proud of herself.

Very fitting that Allie had her first grits at her Mississippi debut.  Loved them!

 

 

 

With the hostess and Jackson friends, Michelle and Lily Ketchum, almost 9 months.

Campbell's Cookies- YUM!

 

It was a lovely event and Harper, Allie, and I felt very honored by all who came.  They also attended their first wedding reception and saw a beautiful bride.  We love introducing them to Michael's friends. 

Will and Mary Mitchell! Hate that the pic is so bad.

Our friends Charlie and Polly

Allie and Harper's first competition is catching the eye of the dreamy Charlie Hitchcock.  Even before their one month birthday:

Allie says, "Hey, Charlie, I'm over here."

They've tried to woo him at the beach (sadly, I don't have pics), on long walks:

and last week, they had him all to themselves in the backseat to and from Birmingham to visit everyone's friend, Polly Mayfield.  Here's Polly, she's awesome:

 

Charlie and his Ladies:

Maury, Ginger, and I had a great time catching up, going out to dinner, and shopping.  I'm pumped because I thought I was stuck with breastfeeding for now because Harper wouldn't take a bottle or sippy cup, but Ginger turned me onto these cups.  They had no interest in other cups, but A and H both love to drink out of these straws!  Who knew I could be so excited about a baby drinking out of a cup.  Maury saved our sanity in the car by feeding Allie 10, count um, 10 Baby Mum Mums (weird dissolvable baby rice crackers) along with graham crackers, carrots, and macaroni.  We laughed that we both thought we would never feed our babies in the carseats, but desperate times call for stuffing Allie's face with food! Ever since she started crawling she does not want to be in the car seat.  Thank you Ginger and Tara Mayfield for hosting us!  

Texas Friends Visit

Last weekend, our dear friends Amanda and Stephen came all the way from Austin to visit.  Sometimes it is good to see guests come and good to see them go, but with the Calhouns it was just plain sad to see them go!

Can you tell Allie liked Stephen?

Harper thought he was OK.

While Michael and Stephen played golf, the ladies shopped (actually, I shopped and Amanda entertained babies).

They already love Anthropologie.

We also played Bocce at one of our favorite restaurants in Atlanta, Empire State South.  Even in the dog days of summer, the shade from the building made this a great place to hang and drink cold cocktails.  My Pimms Cup was delicious and very refreshing. The grassy turf was awesome for them to crawl around on and I didn't have to worry about Allie trying to eat handfuls of grass.

I was so thankful they came to us!  For now, hopping on an plane with these two seems pretty unfathomable.

9 months!

Harper
The Harpernator has a few new tricks up her sleeve: When asked what noise a bear makes, she roars! She loves to clap and give high fives and dance to anything that has a beat, including dad's coffee dosing (if you know what this is you and Michael have probably bonded over love for espresso).  Seriously, she loves to dance.  Usually she rocks back and forth until she gets close to doing the Humpty Dumpty.  Sometimes she does the Humpty Dumpty and it makes her sad.  She can be a sensitive soul.  If something makes a loud noise or almost falls over, it is scary and sad.  Sometimes she does not like it when Allie loudly bangs her toys.  She does, however, love Allie and thinks she is hilarious.  She gets a good belly laugh whenever Allie tries to crawl over her because she thinks Allie is trying to tickle her.

A few days before she turned 9 months old, here are her stats:

28 1/4 inches long (76th percentile in height)
17 lbs. 3 oz. (23rd percentile in weight)

So apparently she is "long and lean" though that does not come to mind with those rolls, belly, and big baby bottom.  She has two teeth (I think the first one came in at 8 months and the second one was not far behind) and she uses them to bite mom.  This is very bad. She gets very excited about nursing but may not get to do it much longer if she keeps using those chompers.  She likes real food well enough, but is also fine if Allie wants to eat most of her share.

Allie
The Allie-gator is a bird!  Also known as the Alliebird, she continues to cackle with delight at the next plan she has concocted.  She stands up on her knees, raises her arms in the air and makes noises like a mad scientist.  It is hilarious and adorable!  She also enjoys making bear noises on demand.  She will deign the lucky few with a wave.  Her crawl is more of a prance or strut with hands extended high and booty swishing side to side.  At first she led the A&H gang on their explorations around the house, but now she is starting to follow Harper around more often.  I usually find her doing chin-ups on the side of her crib in the mornings and after naps.  Changing her diaper should be an Olympic sport.  She likes to babble dah's, mah's, and bah's.

Allie's party trick. Can you tell she likes it?

 The Allie-gator is also very hungry!  Mealtime can be frustrating because mom does not have 4 hands.  She wants to feed herself -- no more of this baby bird stuff where mom feeds her!  I still have not found a food she won't inhale.  Meals have become much more enjoyable now that she feeds herself, as long as I can keep the chunks of food coming.  She is supposed to wear her eye patch for an hour a day but unless I successfully distract her, she often rips it off within five minutes (and looks very happy about this victory).

Her stats a few days before 9 months:
28 1/4 inches long (76th percentile in height)
16 lbs. 14 oz. (19th percentile in weight)

What we eat: hummus, avocado, almost anything mom is eating, chick-fil-a nuggets, lots of fruit, turkey, cheese, grilled cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, squash, animal crackers, golden grams, cheerios, and of course, blueberries.  I love that we are moving past pureed food and baby-food jars!

Who knew I could love two people this much?  Sometimes it floors me that God loves me even more than I love Allie and Harper.  Each day has sweet moments where I can't get over how amazing they are.  I have to be honest and say that many days there are also moments when I wish they would stop demanding more and more from me.  I basically have everything I've ever wanted and yet I still struggle with contentment in my role as a mother.  Part of me wants to be more than "just a mom," and the other half is afraid I wouldn't be able to handle the stress being a working mother.  That fear and uncertainty of what I would do outside of the home keep me where I am for now.  And it is a GREAT place to be! It just goes to show that I will always groan inwardly to be brought into the freedom and glory that is and will be mine as a child of God.

3 Girls in Tears

Today I realized that it is been a long time since both girls have been fussy at the same time.  I realized this because this afternoon they whacked me over the head with a 2x4 and it brought back memories of the 10 week old middle of the night scream fests.  Both ladies woke from their nap on the wrong side of the crib and the decibel level elevated until all three of us were in tears.  When I started crying, Allie stopped and looked at me like I had gone crazy. Her face read, "What the hockey stick, you aren't allowed to cry, too!"  After about three minutes of rotating who got bounced and patted, I resorted to breastfeeding off schedule (this shows how desperate I was because I have become quite the stickler for only 4 feedings a day).   They decided that they would bite me instead of nurse for comfort.  That was the end of that.
Even though I had already taken them on a run in the morning and a long walk at midday, the only option left besides wearing two baby carriers was to get out in the 90 degree heat for the third time today.  Sure enough, they calmed down by the time we got to the elevator and were happy as long as the wheels were rolling.   I wonder if there are many strollers that have gotten as many miles as mine?  I should be a twig by now with the amount of walking these blueberries demand of me.
I am thankful that I seldomly have moments when both gals are inconsolable.  70% of the time they are like this:

Happy Harper (she loves to dance, as you can see, to anything remotely resembling music):

Happy Allie:

Happy 4th!

Harper and Allie had a happy Independence Day.  They were happy to stay up way past their 7pm bedtime to see the fireworks.