may 31

Today was good. Today was fun.

Tomorrow is another one. 

Everyday from here to there

Funny things are everywhere. 

- Dr Suess

Almost everyday May has come to a close. 

Now back to our sporadically scheduled program. 

may 29

After several failed attempts at writing something tonight, I'm just going to share a few favorite shots from this week.  Maybe I'll be able to get a clear idea of what I want to say tomorrow. Ya know, after all that sleep I get at night. 

may 28

It took four hours to wash the dishes this morning. It went something like:

Fill the sink with hot, soapy water. 

Feed Noah. 

Wash a few dishes. 

Change a diaper. 

Wash a few dishes. 

Break up arguments. 

Start a load of laundry. 

Fix Laci's hair. 

Wash a few dishes. 

Put Noah down for a nap. 

Two hours after filling the sink, Ryan took Mia to the store with him, Noah was sleeping. It was my chance to finish a few chores. 

But there was Laci. My sweet, sensitive Laci. Always wanting me to play with her and always wishing for more one-on-one time.

So, we painted. And colored. And talked about life. For an hour and a half. She asked me if she is just like me when I was a little girl. I asked her if she was going to be a mommy when she grows up. 

I told her we are a lot alike, but also different. She told me she is never getting married or moving out because she likes this family and wants to live here forever. 

Now, she is asleep. And Noah and Mia, too. There are new dishes to be washed and four loads of laundry that need to be folded and put away. But, for whatever reason, I'm not too worried about any of it. Calm is not a feeling I'm familiar with lately. So I'm embracing it while it's here. 

may 23 (yes, I realize it's may 27, keep reading)

Well, so much for everyday May. It's now more like almost everyday May. Or everyday May for two-thirds of the month, then MIA for a few days. But almost everyday May is simpler to say.

And I'm Okay with almost everyday May. 

So, carrying on. 

...

Friday, we took the kids to the fair. It was super hot and super loud and super expensive. Everything the fair is supposed to be. Laci loved the animals, she probably would have put the rabbit in her pocket if it fit. Mia is still afraid of most of them, including the plastic ones on the carousel. 

She did like this fake cow, though. She called it the "glass cow." I suppose because it's shiny like glass. My favorite part was when she saw the momma pig feeding her babies, and after studying her for a bit, announced to the crowd, "That's where the milk is!"

And Noah, he's a trooper. Sweaty and hot, but mostly happy.

This was the first time Ryan was able to go to the fair with us, he's usually working. It was nice to have him with is instead of texting him pictures of the kids while he's at work.  

...

So, as for the rest of everyday May...maybe I'll continue tomorrow. 

may 22

When my sisters and I were little girls, we inherited a set of wooden kitchen toys. I don't know the exact details of their origin, but I believe they came out of a preschool and were given to one of my cousins, probably thirty-something years ago.  They are solid wood and sturdy, as if that isn't completely obvious by the fact that they are at least forty years old.  We didn't "inherit" them until Beth was about four, which means I was probably too old, and certainly too tall, to play with them. But I remember playing with them a lot anyway.

 

I remember emptying my mom's pantry of all the canned goods and boxes of crackers. We would fill the cupboards with our "groceries" and "cook" Wheat Thins in little pans on the stove. We probably drove her crazy. Need some tomato sauce? Oh, it's in the bedroom. 

When we outgrew the toys, or my mom got tired of how much space they occupied in the house (not really sure, but I'm guessing the latter), she gave them back to my cousin. Since that time, twenty-ish years ago, they sat in a leaky, spider-filled shed. Insects built homes and chewed small holes in the wood. Water rotted some of the boards and splintered the bottom edges. Hardware rusted and the plastic sink cracked. But, for the most part, they survived. 

We picked them up from my cousin almost two years ago, with the intention of cleaning them up for the girls. After procrastinating and moving them around the shop a dozen times, they are finally back in use. Ryan replaced some of the boards and some of the hardware and built a stainless sink (because he likes metal). The hinges are original, and spring-loaded. Perfect for slamming on small fingers. And I slapped a few coats of paint on them. In the future, I will not try to cover dark green with buttery yellow. 

So far, the cupboard have been filled with various sand-filled toys and weeds picked from the yard. Mia washed her dishes and Laci baked kitty treats. 

And the whole thing just makes me smile.

(I only wish I would have taken true "before" shots. The pics above are post-sanding and board replacement, but you get the idea.)  

may 21

Just my

beautiful,

dreaming,

animal loving,

artistic Laci. 

may 20

I'm making up for missing yesterday by posting twice today. Mostly because this happened yesterday, and I want to remember it. 

On this day, we wore pajamas. All. Day. Long. Mia tested my patience. All. Day. Long. Really, all week long. Really, it was probably longer.  She is also wearing blue Lego boots, three sizes too big, and on the wrong feet. 

At some point during this week, she grabbed my cheeks, and in her meanest voice she said "I'm going to bite you all over!"  Her current favorite book is Where the Wild Things Are, wherein the main character, Max, tells his mother he's going to eat her all up. I'm sure this is all related. 

So, we have this picture. Of Mia in her pajamas. Hair is unbrushed, because in addition to refusing clothes, she refused to have her hair out of her face. I will admit her hair is beautiful. I envy her natural highlights and volume. But that is beside the point. Her voluminous curls were in her face the whole day and the front pieces were sticky and coated in whatever she ate. 

And speaking of eating, she is holding handfuls of carrots. Because she refused to eat dinner, and after trying to get her to eat something, I surrendered and sent her out the back door. She went to the pond with Ryan to feed stale bread to the fish where she devoured a piece of stale bread heel, then returned to the back yard to pick handfuls of carrots and eat them like they were candy. It wasn't a terrible dinner, I suppose. And I learned that to get her to eat, I need to put it in a plastic bag in the garage for at least a week or bury it in the dirt first. 

But every cloud has a silver lining. I asked her to toss her hair around like she was a beautiful movie star and she gave me this. 

And I obviously forgave her for everything. 

may 19

Sometimes I want to record everything that comes out of this girl's mouth. Maybe I just think she's funny and clever because I'm her momma. But, really, this girl is quite amusing. 

With an orange Cheez-It held up to her nose, she says, "Look at me! I have an orange nose!"

"Like Olaf?" I ask her. Because everything related to Frozen in our house. 

"No!" she replies. "I'm not white. I'm pink and blue!"

Hmmmm, really?  

Also, I'm pretty sure her world is rose-colored with or without her pretty pink princess sunglasses. 

may 18

Conversation in the car the other day:

Laci: Momma, what's your favorite thing?

Me: (Trying to set a good non-materialistic example) Hmmmm, my favorite thing is my family. What's yours?

Laci: Puppies! 

Me: Mia, what's your favorite thing?

Mia: My milk. 

Yes, dear second child, you and milk have an intimate relationship these days. I dare not come between you two. 

noah | six months

Dear Busy Boy,

You have changed so much in the past month.  You roll everywhere, can sit by yourself for a few minutes, and now scoot too.  You are what I would call "very mobile."  Too mobile.  Your elbows, arms, knees, and legs are covered in carpet burns.  You try to wiggle away during every diaper change, and I can't leave the room for long without you getting yourself stuck under a chair or rolled up in a blanket.  Yes, you roll yourself up in blankets just like a burrito.  And in the last day, you have decided walking would be much better and are working on your "Mowgli" style crawling.  Hands and feet on the floor, butt up in the air.

You love to eat food.  No surprise there.  I'm sure you're relieved I finally decided to let you have food.  Just veggie and fruit purees for now, though I'm sure you would love to gnaw on something real now and then. You study us intently whenever we eat, and if we make the mistake of letting something get too close to your hands, well, it ends up in your mouth.  Yesterday, you tried to eat pansies.

You try to wrestle with Mia.  If you can pull her hair, then you win.  Otherwise, she is usually laying on top of you or pulling you around by your shoulders.  I'm pretty sure you love every minute, based on your gigantic smile and laughing.  You two will be best buddies someday, and will probably find all kinds of trouble to get into.  You also love Laci, but in a completely non-violent way.

You love a blanket on your face when you're tired.  You love the walker and the jumperoo.  And you love to have lots of room on the floor for rolling around. You love to watch your sisters and to have anyone/everyone talk to you. You smile at almost everyone and are generally the happiest baby on the block.

You're a very special boy around here.  Everyone loves you, and you are pretty easy to love.  I know when you are hungry because you start eating your hands. I know when you are tired because you bury your face into my neck and shoulder.

Now it's my time to get a little extra sappy because you change so much everyday and I just don't want to forget how your squishy legs and soft skin feel. I don't want to forget the rare belly laugh you give me when I pretend to eat your tummy. I don't want to forget how you smell so clean for about five minutes after your bath, and then like sour milk and baby drool the rest of the day. I don't want to forget how soft and fuzzy your hair is right now.  So soft and fuzzy that I like to rub my cheek on it.  

But one thing does stay the same day after day. We all love you very much and are so happy to have you in our family. 

Many hugs and kisses,

Momma

Xoxo

PS:  These monthly photos are clearly a learning process for me.  To do this again, I would choose a very different window and probably rethink the chair.  Even so, I love taking these pictures each month to see how you've grown. And if you're thinking it's an easy thing to accomplish, please refer to the "outtakes" below.  Which I love just as much.

may 16

One of my favorite parts of each day is putting Noah to bed. As the third child, he gets thrown in the middle of the big tub with his sisters, no baby tub or even kitchen sink baths for him. Not since he was a couple weeks old. But he loves it. He splashes and laughs with them. Then we sit on the couch, all five of us together, or roll around on the floor to get the sillies out. And when he's ready to call it a night, we go to my room. Just the two of us. We nurse on my bed and he usually falls right asleep. I lay there a bit after he goes to sleep as it's one of the very rare moments I get to enjoy with just my littlest. 

Tonight, it was hot and he had extra wiggles. It took half an hour just to settle him down, but I really didn't mind. He patted my face and rolled around in the bed and made baby sounds. 

It was one of those moments I want to bottle up and save for another day.  And hopefully, in all those words, I hope I did just that. 

may 15

After dinner tonight, I called off cleaning the kitchen. I have an amazing husband willing to wash dishes for me, but I made him hold the baby while I spent 15 minutes taking pictures of my girls. I'm still plugging away at my 365 project, with a new word prompt each day. Today's word was whimsical. So, I put butterfly and ladybug wings on my kids and made them go outside to play. 

Doesn't everyone do this? They should. 

They decided to play hide and seek, a game not well suited to two year olds. Mia's counting is commendable, but goes something like "11, 12, 14, 17, here  I come!" And her "hiding" is more like standing with her back turned to the "finder."  But it was fun for them, and entertaining for me, at least for the five minutes they were able to focus on a single game. 

And then, the sun peeked out from the clouds for just a few minutes. 

It was sort of the icing on the cake for me.