Milo the Ring Bearer

Nearly a year ago, my dear friend JiaoJiao asked me if Milo would be the ring bearer in her wedding. Of course I said yes, but I must admit I was worried about whether or not he'd be able to handle it. He was barely a year old then, not talking much and barely walking. How was I to know what he'd be like at age two? 

I shouldn't have worried. He was great. Even on a day when he had so much going on, he handled it like a pro. We had a birthday party earlier that day, which meant he a) already had a lot of new stimulation to deal with, and b) crashed hard at naptime. When he woke up from his nap, he was... not happy. But we had to feed him his snack and get him out to the park for wedding photos.

Since we didn't want to mess up his tux in the car, he got dressed in the hatchback of my car. He could not have looked cuter in his little tux and little bowtie. He didn't mind the clothes, but took a little while to warm up to photos. Correction: he never really warmed up to the photographers or the whole idea of having his picture taken, but he did warm up to me and Daddy jumping around and dancing and making silly noises. 

We only ran into one snafu doing photos, when his boutonniere pin stuck him in his hand (because he was messing with it. Which I saw coming a mile away, because honestly, straight pins are just not meant for two-year-olds. I tried to tell him it was sharp and he shouldn't touch it, but somehow that didn't work. So he cried for awhile and got himself good and worked up, but Daddy's monkey impersonation made things all better.

We had some time to kill before the ceremony, so the tux came off for dinner and playtime. Then he got dressed again at the venue and ran around and played some more. With just a few minutes to go before it was time to line up, I put his tux jacket on and he freaked out. Did not want to wear the jacket. Jiao said he didn't have to wear it, but I knew it wasn't really about the jacket. I think he just felt that expectations were high and he knew he was supposed to go do something. Didn't want to disappoint. I talked to him, asked him if he was scared. He said yeah, so I just complimented the heck out him. Told him how great he was and what a good job he was going to do, etc. etc. And in a couple minutes, he was happy and ready to go, jacket on and everything.

And we lined up, and when it was his turn, he only hesitated briefly before practically marching up to the front. I was so proud of him. I still am so proud of him. He never ceases to amaze me.

During the ceremony, I showed him a book to try to keep him occupied. He knows this book so well, that even though I wasn't reading it aloud, at one point he said (out loud) "Horse says 'neigh!'" I looked down and yes, that was the text on that page. Such a smartie. I hope he wasn't loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Daddy and Milo both looked pretty sharp.

Milo even got a haircut for the occasion.

Suave and debonair.

"I don't like dat!" Took him a bit to get used to the bowtie.

I believe he was saying, "No, Mommy! Don't do dat!" I'm sure he could have been referring to any number of things.

Daddy had some trouble with the buttons. Not sure it was ever buttoned properly for the photos. Sorry about that, Jiao.

Running in fancy clothes.

Is he not just the cutest?

Not sure about smiling or saying cheese, but he did a stellar job of standing where we asked him to stand.

He did enjoy the sticks. Good job with that one, Jason. I'd say you're ready for fatherhood for sure.

Ahh, a bride and a baby. Such bliss.

And that is the face of a bride who was just spit up on. 

A Wedding in St. Louis

This weekend I was in St. Louis for the wedding of our good friends Mike and Erin. Remember them? They came to visit us a couple months ago and brought their tiny dog? Anyway, aside from the HORRIBLE road construction (entire highways! closed!) and resulting traffic, we had a lovely time. It didn’t rain for the outdoor ceremony and Andrew and I rocked it out at the karaoke reception. (What did you say? Oh, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life,” from Dirty Dancing, thanks for asking.) Plus, it was really fun hanging out with all our old college friends that we don’t see too often.

Erika and I were given the job of arranging the cupcakes on the cupcake table. In the few days leading up to the wedding, Erin, the bride, repeated over and over that this was the most important job. Then she would say that she was just kidding. But she totally was not kidding. She had typed up, detailed instructions and a diagram to follow. And since I was a bride not all that long ago, I took her instructions seriously, because I wouldn’t have wanted someone to screw up my wedding (even though some of you are thinking, “But they’re just cupcakes.” Oh no, my friend, in a wedding, nothing is just cupcakes). And the bride loved the display. She told me three times at the reception how great it looked and how it was just what she wanted. So I just want to put it out there, that next time I arrange the bridal dessert, I’m charging for it. $1 per cupcake.

While we were in St. Louis, we visited a fun, contemporary, affordable furniture store that Mike and Erin recommended. And we bought a couch and two chairs for our living room. They will arrive in 6-8 weeks. Crazy. We are never that impulsive. But now that we bought some pretty new furniture, we have a deadline for getting the following completed: remove decorative beams, scrape and paint entire first floor ceiling, remove old baseboards and trim, paint and install new trim, sand textured walls and paint, remove old mantel and build new one, remove ceiling fan, add more recessed lighting, and relocate my sanity. Fortunately, we have Mark and Stan. If you don’t have your own Mark and Stan, I recommend you get them. They’re good at housey stuff.

Speaking of houses, I would rather stay home than go to the St. Louis Comfort Inn & Conference Center. Yes, bad transition. But I want to give them a scathing review, because they were terrible. When we checked in, we were told we were lucky to get a room, despite having reserved one ahead of time, because they overbook the hotel. Then, we couldn’t get our door open. Assuming it was deadbolted, we went back to the front desk to make sure no one was in that room. The front desk person came up to the room, and shoved into the door until it opened. The entire weekend I never was able to get the door open. Andrew had to do it every time. Their parking lot didn’t have enough spaces, so we had to park in the grass way in the back. They didn’t change the empty toilet paper roll or replace the empty tissue box. They took dirty towels but didn’t give us clean ones. Overall, that hotel was a mess and I do not recommend it.

I didn’t really take any pictures the entire weekend because Erika was there. Erika is a talented photographer with a much better camera. To see all the fun we had, check out her photo blog. If the wedding pics aren’t up yet, check back. She’ll get them up soon, I’m sure.

Bullet-point Monday

Because I am not up to the task of writing a cohesive narrative, I give you the ever-popular bulleted list.

• I joined Facebook and so far, I just don’t get it. A couple of people that I barely know (and never really knew) have added me as a friend. Why? What do we have to catch up on, exactly? But it’s early yet, so I’ll give it time. Maybe I just haven’t figured it out. I’m kind of slow like that.
• We’re going to a wedding this weekend. A wedding in which Andrew is a groomsman. And yesterday, Andrew wrapped a gift for the happy couple. And picked out a card. And wrote the message in the card (And, by the way, he did not just slap a few words of congratulations down and call it a day, he actually typed the message out beforehand to be sure it said what he wanted it to say. And had me check over it in my editorly fashion.). And then wrote it out all nice and neat in the card. Aren’t you so impressed with his forethought and careful deliberation? I am.
• It has come to my attention that my pea-brained cats have not been using the Cat Genie. All I have to say about this is “ew.”
• Began carpool #2 this morning. Here’s hoping this one works out better than the last.
• My cute-yet-still-appropriate-for-work Bermuda shorts fit again! And are even a little large! I bought these just over a year ago, sometime before my wedding, when I was working out all the damn time. Then, I got married, promptly quit working out, and began eating a lot of leftover wedding pastries. Word to the wise, don’t try this at home. I gained about 15 pounds in a matter of a few short months. But as you may recall, I began going to a personal trainer back in January (or was it February? It’s not like I have archives to help me remember these things. OH WAIT.) and have begun a regular exercise regimen AND IT IS FINALLY MAKING SOME SORT OF DIFFERENCE.

And that is all I have to say today.