WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!

allow me to play proud sister for just a minute and welcome two new boys to the lovin family!

first up, mister silas rainier. he was born just yesterday and i love him already. we're so happy for you, amanda! i cannot wait to snuggle him.

and welcome also to sweet baby james the mormon (no really, that's his instagram name), who is marrying my baby sister alex. i know brandon is glad to finally have a fourth mario kart player at family gatherings. welcome to the fold.

oh and a special note of advice to james--be sure to make a careful positive i.d. at family gatherings before smacking alex on the bum, because brandon's made that mistake once already, getting mom when he meant to get me, and well, let's just say there are easier ways to get to know your mother-in-law. brandon's ears were pink with embarrassment for a week. ;)

A FEW OF MY FAVORITES + HAPPY WEEKEND

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06

michelle, owner and curator of one of my favorite online boutiques, shop pretty mommy, recently asked me to guest curate a few of my favorites for her shop blog, which was a very fun assignment indeed. i love michelle's eclectic yet simple bohemian style, and i could spend my last copper penny in that shop and die a happy, penniless, fabulously dressed girl. 

in case my favorites are your favorites too, you can enjoy 20% off your next purchase at shop pretty mommy with the code NATTHEFATRAT. while you're in there, get those beatrice valenzuela booties for me. i'm afraid i don't have the (c)ankles for them. :(

p.s. another favorite shop of mine, sonnet james, has launched a kickstarter HERE. if you pledge $75 or more you'll get a dress! which comes to like, i don't know . . .  a 20% discount? (math skills, i have none.) (you can see me in the sonnet james dress i own HERE.)

and now, for the opposite end of the spectrum:
what YOU should be buying at forever 21 RIGHT NOW,

ONE and TWO

and also on babble:

pimento cheese and other forgotten bbq foods

*i love shopping at crappy places like forever 21, and i probably always will, but a piece of clothing is definitely 100x more special and rewarding when i've invested in independently-designed, humanely produced works of art, which is something i hope to do more of now that i'm (gasp!) in my thirties.* 

HAPPY FOURTH!

happy independence day! 

this year we did the fourth from our friends' 22nd floor apartment overlooking the hudson. great people, great views, and air conditioned to boot. we're so lucky for our freedoms in this country, for our very good friends, and for mother effing corn on the cob. 

△△△ not to stir up controversy or whatever but i'm proud to be an american these days. i'm also proud to be an optimistic independent thinker, and proud to hope for the things that i hope for. 

△△△ the downside of an apartment building with prime firework views is that a million people try to exit all at once when the show's finished. we waited for an elevator a real long time before deciding to leave our stroller behind and take the stairs. huck was such a trooper all day but passed out cold on the around the 10th floor.

hope your fourth was safe and lovely. 

DERP DERP

it's been a quiet few weeks. the city's been rainy and quiet and my thoughts have been rainy and quiet. the camera battery is still waiting on the kitchen counter for its turn to be charged. at night when i search my brain for interesting things to report i mostly come up with probably nothing.

like swimsuits! i've been trying to find a swimsuit. every few days a new one shows up on the doorstep, and every few days a new one goes back on the ups truck. nothing looks right. swimsuit shopping is the worrrrrrrrrrrst. i just don't want any ruffles on my swimsuit is that too much to ask?

huck woke up this morning positively in love with his mother. hugs on the knees and kisses through the stroller rain cover and cheesy love-struck smiles over breakfast. i say "this morning" but actually he woke up at noon . . . so the adoration was mutual. thank you, growth spurt! that boy is every good thing, dang it.

i'm all caught up on pretty little liars now so maybe i'll take up crochet. maybe i could crochet myself a swimsuit. 

nat the rat, over and out.

LOOK TO THE COOKIE! AND ETC.

here is huck, bubble boy extraordinaire, enjoying his black + white cookie. as a mom you have to do a lot of strange things to appease your two-year-old, such as blowing on lukewarm bites of chicken so he knows they're not hot and "opening" black + white cookies before they're eaten so that the flavors stay separate. i feel like jerry seinfeld would feel terribly disappointed by this.

so today it was very rainy. 

we woke up and sleepily opened yogurt cups and entertained texts from husbands about "flash flood warnings" and then we walked through the rain to the gym at the church to play with some friends. if there is one thing i've learned about rainy days in the city it's that it is always too hot out for rain boots.

huck is the smallest big boy of his big boy friends and sometimes it's hard for him to keep up, but he sure tries hard. after a particularly emotional plastic truck tug-of-war i asked huck to give his friend a turn. poor huck sobbed out "ohh-taaaaayy" and then slowly unclutched his fingers from the plastic wheels. he never did get the truck back but that's life, isn't it? i was so, so proud of him. he's got such a sensitive spirit, and sadly in this life there's really not much justice for us big-hearted fools, that's what i've learned anyhow. i'm trying to teach my baby to be the bigger person always and to expect nothing in return, but that's a hard lesson to learn when you're two. it's still hard when you're 30. 

later huck face planted on the hardwoods and then requested a hot dog. so that is exactly what we did. 

and now LET ME JUST TELL YOU. so i've been watching pretty little liars, the holbzombie has been watching the walking dead, both of us after huck is in bed at the same time on our various tv watching devices, and both of us sitting together on the couch and jumping at various scary moments and then saying things to each other like "wow this show is really great!" and "oh my gosh this show is so dumb why can't i stop watching this?!" huck has been going to bed early(ish), but also he enjoys watching toy reviews on youtube, in case you were wondering. it's really strange, these videos are really strange. who are these people. i'd like to thank them for providing such odd entertainment for my child. he is doomed, by the way too. many nerd genes swimming in this family pool.

and not that it's not obvious but i am SUCH a spencer. and the walking dead, from where i'm sitting, looks an awful lot like tremors. 

the end.