Made in Richmond

JR,

I am so very sorry for missing letters for both your 31st and 32nd month outside of my person. Well I guess I technically didn’t miss the 32nd letter — I’m just kind of late.

But I have good excuses!

First, I got shingles. You have no idea what that is, but trust me that it’s horrible and it’s a miracle I even managed to get us dressed on those days; writing coherent words was out of the question.

Second, your dad and I just got back from a vacation in the mountains. I was busy eating and napping and napping and eating and napping. And you were hanging out with Mamaw, so you barely noticed we were gone anyway.

Third…um….it’s like 7,000 degrees out. That really has nothing to do with your monthly letters, but it’s my current excuse for all my shortcomings. Being a Richmonder yourself, take heed and follow my guidance in the future.

***

32 months (and a few days) means that you are (in my opinion) uncomfortably close to three.

Why is it uncomfortable, you ask?

Well, a couple reasons…

1. Three is very close to four which is awfully close to five which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from you starting school which is seconds away from you leaving us for college and forever and thus crushing my heart.

2. When you were first born, your dad and I decided to table the “next baby” discussion until you turned three. And then we made the mistake of telling lots of people that, so more and more I’m fielding questions from curious friends and family members about when they can expect Baby Catrow 2.0.

Because of some other issues going on, it looks like that discussion will actually be tabled for another year or so, which I’m actually completely fine with. You see, while Mama may squeeeeeeeee with delight at the sight of any and all newborn babies, I currently have no urgings to bring one into our family yet. Because here’s the thing: I don’t missing having a newborn baby; I miss having the newborn baby version of you, mostly because you keep doing that growing up thing that gets on my nerves. If I could go back and relive your specific babyhood, I would in a second. That’s as far as it goes right now. So whether or not you’ve got siblings in the works remains to be seen.

***

A couple weeks ago your Daddy spent the weekend in New York. When he came back, he said that you were a completely different kid — verbally at least. Coming home from a couple days away from you, I totally see what he means. You like a real dude now and you change so quickly! We have full-fledged conversations where you ask and answer questions, make jokes, share your opinions, and all that good stuff. It’s so much fun just to chat with you and see what you think about things.

***

This past month marked an incredibly important milestone for you…at least for the Catrow family: your first movie. We took you to see Cars 2. We tried to go to the first showing after your nap, but the theater was having some technical difficulties, so we had to hang around for an hour to wait for the next show to start. By the end of the movie, we’d been at the theater for about three hours, but you did a great job. You only got a little restless toward the end. When we went to see Winnie the Pooh earlier this week, you did even better. It’s exciting for us that you love going to movies because it’s our absolute favorite thing to do. I look forward to more movie dates in the future.

***

School continues to go wonderfully. I met with your teachers last month, and they had wonderful things to say about you and it’s obvious that they know you extremely well. I can’t tell you how fantastic it is to see that on the days you’re not with me, you’re in the care of people who really do love you. They know your strengths, your weaknesses, what makes you happy, what scares you. I couldn’t ask for a better childcare situation, and we are blessed to have them in our lives. You clearly love them as well, considering they are the first people you mention when we say your prayers at night.

***

While you’re definitely a Mama’s boy to the max, you are definitely gaga over your Daddy these days. The last time he was out of town, you asked pretty much every hour on the hour where he was and when he was coming home. You even slept in one of his T-shirts because it was the only way you’d settle down. It’s wonderful to see how close you two are, and I can’t wait to see where it goes — what “things” you two will have, what you will do together, how your relationship will grow.

I’m lucky to have you both. My boys. How could I ask for more?

Love,
Mama

I can’t stop laughing at this picture. It was taken today at a bridal shower for my tiny, adorable, red-headed friend Kira*. Our friend Deanna set up a photo booth of sorts. This is me and my pal Lauren trying to show how excited we are for Kira’s impending nuptials**. I think we did a really, really good job.

*Yes, Stephanie, I’m sorry, a do have another tiny, adorable, red-headed friend who is getting married. I hope you’re not too mad at me.
**JR will be serving as ring bearer in the wedding. HALP.

JR is a bit hesitant when it comes to new experiences. Add in his aversion to getting messy (we’re indoor people, ok?) and it can make some of the typical summer pastimes a bit challenging.

I talked to his teachers about his cautious nature at our conference a couple weeks ago, and they assured me that it was nothing major to worry about — just a personality thing that we would be grateful for when he’s 16 and his friends are off acting like boneheads as he’s saying to them “Whatever, dudes, I’m not trying to die.”* They also added that he always does whatever it is you’re asking him to do…he’s just going to do it on his own time.

Well, today was apparently his time.

Ladies and gentlemen, we now have a little boy who is in love with the sprinkler**. And for whatever reason, I could not be more proud of him. Way to go, kid.

*We call this “being the dad” which, funny enough, his dad totally is in his group of friends.
**While he’s pretty into running through the sprinkler, he was more stoked when I turned the water down a bit so he could observe how it moved and clean off his flip flops. Nerd.

So it turns out that having shingles suuuuucks. I will say that I was fortunate in that my agony only really lasted about four days (many people deal with it for weeks) but GOOD GRAVY. It was some of the worst and most constant pain I’ve ever experience. Seriously, it felt like I had been in a car accident.

The whole thing was made even more terrible by the fact that when I got home from my appointment, my brother (who had been watching JR, God love him) informed me that he, too, had shingles once and started feeling better immediately after taking the medication.

A couple days later I texted him and called him a lying liar full of lies because I felt horrible.

But I forgave him because he texted back an apology with a frowny face.

Anyway! Things are looking up, healthwise, and I feel grateful that we caught it early — and that my shingles stay confined to parts of my body that remain clothed. I heard lots of stories from friends who had them on their torsos, arms, AND FACES AND EYES. I dodged a bullet, you could say.

I’ll back soon with actual updates on what’s going on with us. It’s just, well, since I was sick with THE SHINGLES, I didn’t really do anything but groan a lot and leap into my bed to pass out the moment JR went down for his naps. Not exactly a page-turner.

Until next time, kiddos!