short stories

Two Mondays ago, I was having one of those mornings. It started when Mia climbed out of her crib (with Laci's help). Then, Noah peed on me because I wasn't fast enough with a diaper. And then, I found a snake in the kitchen. In the kitchen! I bent down to wipe some water from the floor and he flipped out from under the fridge.

Now, to be fair, he's only the size of an earthworm and completely harmless. And while I'm not exactly terrified of snakes, they should never, ever, ever be in my house. Never.

***

We have a new ritual in our house. When Ryan gets home from work at four, we drink coffee. Together. And it gives us super powers. Or at least I like to pretend it does. It might interfere with my sleep, if I were allowed to try sleeping. But lately, sleep is a rare luxury and I can't even blame it completely on Noah. It seems my children are conspiring against me, because if it isn't one keeping me up, it's another. So, we drink coffee and it makes me happy. 

***

Getting three kids to look at you is nearly impossible. 

But if you're patient, it will happen. 

And they'll say "Cheese!" Even if you tell them not to. And they'll have these fake, cheesy smiles. 

***

I love watching these two together. Mia loves her brother, just about as much as she loves her bottle. She insists on touching him almost constantly, and he smiles right back at her. It's love. 

***

And a few more random favorites from the week:

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve. An evening of family, food, presents. Lots of cousins. Lots of playing. Lots of loud. 

 

 

 

The girls were spoiled, as always.  Noah slept through the first half and cried/screamed through the second half. One of the very few times in his life where he lost it. Too much for his little body and brain to handle I suppose. But he, and I, survived and were happy to return to our quiet home after all the fun. 

We put the girls to bed and set out presents and I took a minute to just soak in the magic of twinkle lights and unwrapped gifts. Sometimes our Christmas feels so busy and so speedy that I just want to hit pause. And mute. This was one of those moments. 

To be continued...

Christmas 2013...yes, finally...sort of...just the beginning

The calendar tells me Christmas was more than a month ago. My head tells me it feels longer than that. And the blog tells me...it never happened. That's right. January is almost over and I haven't made time to blog our Christmas yet. 

I was going to just forget the whole thing, but that's sort of sad. To just go on like Christmas didn't happen. So, I'm going to relive Christmas now. In small doses because I don't have time right now for a big drawn out post. Hope you don't mind. 

***

The Christmas pajama tradition.

The one and only tradition I started on Laci's first Christmas and have successfully upheld each year. New pajamas in their very own, special paint can. Even Noah got a can this year, although his is still missing a name. 

Since we are always home late on Christmas Eve, I decided to push our little tradition up a night. So, on Christmas Eve Eve, we opened cans and put on new pajamas. And on Christmas Eve morning, I snapped a pic of each kiddo and their can in the ugly brown chair that has become the photo taking station (it will reappear many times as I finish posting our holiday pictures.)

I particularly love that Laci is wearing the rainbow leggings she currently obsessed with, and Mia accessorized herself.

My chunky dude.

And since I was organizing some photos to print and put inside the cans, I can share the entire history of the pajama paint can tradition in the Edwards household.

2012

2011

2010

2009

Now wasn't that fun?

And that's how we kicked off Christmas 2013.

To be continued...

mia tales

It has been a long week. And now, already halfway through the weekend...it will be over too soon. 

We had waffles for dinner the other night. Not an uncommon dinner for us. And I let the girls have whipped cream instead of syrup, because it's all sugar anyway, right? One little person decided to forget the whole fork thing and just dive in. I love how she's looking out the corner of her eye as if she's doing something bad and might get caught. I see this look a lot on her little face. 

She is full of mischief. And full of sass. And so very full of life. She makes me laugh at almost everything she does, especially when she's being bad. It's terrible because I have to control my laughter in order to be "mom."

She's been sick again. Second day of a fever today. And even though she's extra whiny, and crying, and full of gross snot, and arguing about taking medicine, she still makes me smile. At 3:30 this morning, I sat her on the kitchen counter for a dose of Tylenol. Our conversation went something like this:

Mia: Where's Laci?

Me: In bed, asleep. 

Mia: Where's daddy?

Me: He's asleep too. In bed. 

Mia: Where's Noah?

Me: He's asleep too. It's the middle of the night. 

Mia: Where?

Me: In his bed. 

She stops and thinks for a minute. 

Mia: Why you not sleeping, momma?

Yes, Mia, why am I not sleeping? Well, I could ask you the same question dear child, but I didn't. I told her I was awake to take care of her and she seemed happy with that. After fighting me to take her medicine, and finally giving in, she announced that it was "yummy!" I told her she needed to be quiet so we didn't wake everyone and then I rocked her back to sleep in the ugly brown chair. 

Yes, even in the middle of the night, sick and tired, she can still make me smile. 

friday phone dump

Life lately includes:  

Door handle decorations by Laci,

a bird feeder by Mia,

Noah on a quilt from my grandma,

a visit with my friend Desi on a dairy farm, one girl who refused to leave the stroller

(I think her expression shows exactly how she feels about cows),

one girl who whispers to cows,

two tired ladies,

Mia rosey from a nap,

the old man,

Noah's chubby hand,

Mia being a momma,

Laci in the sunshine,

hungry hippos,

two drivers,

one little girl at a big table,

and one golden shot of my world. 

Happy weekend!