Posey — 6 months old

May 19, 2013 By 2 Comments

Posey at 6 months

Little flower,

You’ve reached the middle mark of your first year of life. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it was winter almost that entire time. But seemingly out of nowhere spring arrived, and with it, it seems you’ve grown overnight. You’re filling out, sitting up, and watching us when we eat, with a look in your eye not unlike the one Eller has when Harry eats.

You’ve hit two big milestones in just the past day. You’re now sitting unassisted for a few seconds at a time (at least long enough for me to snap some frames!) and last night you slept all the way till 7 am this morning! Thank you for that.

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It might be because you now are rolling onto your stomach in the night. This makes me nervous, of course, but if it results in sleeping all night, I’ll get over it.

You are the smiliest, happiest baby. I went out of town this month (twice!), and when I got back home you just beamed at me. It was a pretty great feeling.

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Goodness gracious girl, we just love you so much.

We had dinner with your extended birth family earlier this month, and as they passed you around the table, fighting over whose turn it was to hold you next, I couldn’t get over the wonderful reality of how many people love you so. I hope it settles into your bones so that you walk with it every day of your life.

Forever,

Mama

 
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Five Things on a Friday

April 26, 2013 By 3 Comments

Happy Friday! Spring has finally, finally come to Minnesota. It was a long winter. Our heat’s been running for almost 6 months, and I can’t remember the last time we had our windows open. But today, I dust off my flip flops. (Yay.) Hope you’re preparing for a fabulous weekend full of sunshine and people you love.

Thing 1

I mentioned this on Facebook a week or so ago, but after three years in our house, I think I’m ready to consider painting the downstairs.

We have oak trim (which I like), so it’s a bit tricky. Right now I’m leaning toward a green grey; anyone have any favorites?

Our great room:

Great Room

Great Room View 2Thing 2

I had to leave work yesterday to collect Harry at daycare, because he’d come down with a (I hope) random fever. It was a lovely (FINALLY) spring day, so we sat outside and watched neighbor kids get dropped off by school buses and we “colored” with sidewalk chalk. I love this little dude.

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Thing 3

I never dipped into the world of woven wraps when Harry was a babe and always regretted it. I was a little overwhelmed by it all, so I knew with our second baby that I wanted to get some wovens. I had a custom ring sling made out of a woven wrap, and I am in love with it. If you’re thinking about getting a RS, I really recommend a wrap conversation. They’re a whole new level of comfortable.

Wrap Conversion Ring Sling

I also have a long wrap and a mid-size wrap. I’m on the fence about the mid-size one, but I think if I can get the hang of back carries, I’ll really like having this size. (IF.)

Thing 4

I’m working on our Summer of Fun list, and it goes a little something like this—-beach, pool, vacation, beach, beach, beach, zoo, camping, beach.

Thing 5

I shared our story on She Reads Truth on Tuesday. I love that it was shared during National Infertility Awareness Week. So grateful for the opportunity to write it out. Let us tell of the great things God has done!

Happy Friday!

 
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Posey — Five Months Old

April 19, 2013 By 3 Comments

IMG_3471blogPosey Girl, You are five months old today!

Oh, what a joy you are.

You are a talkative little thing. I can see you now as a tween, up in your room hologramming with your friends (or whatever crazy communication thing we’ll have a decade from now).

This morning at about 3 am, you awoke in the cosleeper next to me and started jabbering away. I fixed a bottle and pulled you in next to me. You love to hold hands as you eat, so you reached up for my fingers and grabbed on tight.

About two weeks ago I went out jean shopping with some girlfriends, and your daddy took that as his opportunity to put you down for the night in your crib. I was stunned when he texted me a picture of you snoozing away in there. Previously, I’d either worn you or held you until it was grown-up bedtime, and I have to admit I have mixed feelings about this new development. Such is motherhood.

When it’s my night (your daddy and I take turns), I’ll bring you into our room after your first wake up. Despite the fact that you’d sleep 8-9 straight hours in the first few months of your life, these days you wake up at least two times a night. Oh honey, we’re tired.

You’re rolling every which way these days and scooting on your back too. If I put you on the floor, you’ll end up in a totally new spot facing a new direction within minutes. When you roll back to tummy, you still usually trap an arm underneath you, but you are all the way over. So it counts.

If you’re laying on the floor and your brother is around, you will crane your neck and move every which way to get him in your sights. You greet all of us with smiles and bright eyes, but especially for him. You’re also endlessly patient when he pats your head and pokes you and “kisses” you by pressing his forehead to yours.

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I’m much more laid back about things with you than I was when Harry was your age. If you miss a nap, eh. If the TV is on and you can see it? Meh. If you’re in disposables sometimes, oh well.

It’s basically been winter for your entire life, which is to say, it’s been a long winter. A long, long winter.

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Some scary stuff happened in the world this week.  Sometimes I wish I could put you and Harry in a bunker and keep you safe forever, but there’s no such thing. So instead I pray that you will seek Jesus as your strongtower; that an unshakable faith will take root in you that nothing will ever be able to loosen.

May your life be a light that drives out darkness; a life lit from the inside by the Light who saves.

Love always,

Mama

 
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Sometimes I Stink at Being an Adult

April 16, 2013 By 10 Comments

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Y’all, why is it so hard to be a grown up?

Sometimes I feel like my life is one big to-do list that will never be completed, and if you’re a list-maker like me, you know that when you aren’t able to cross items off, you can start to feel defeated.

And lately I have been feeling defeated. Like I’m never going to get ahead. Do you ever feel that way?

Part of it is the neverending winter malaise. Part of it is that I’m still trying to find my feet as a working mom of two. And part of it is just my nature. I’ve never been all that put together or disciplined. But I used to be (much) better at faking it.

I’m embarrassed to tell you how many nights lately I’ve gone to bed without washing my face. And I know that when I don’t wash my face, I pay the breakout price. And yet … .

So I knew I needed to do something. I needed to enact some order in my home, so I decided to go the Being an Adult for Dummies route and made an actual list of the simple things I need to do on the daily.

At the top?

Make the bed.

I’ve found it is the simplest way to make our home feel more orderly, and it helps me feel like I’ve started my day off on the right note. This morning, as I was rushing about getting ready I thought, “Oh I don’t have time!” But then I stopped, remembered my checklist, and did it anyway. I timed myself and it took 3 minutes. Three. Three minutes.

And only second to making the bed is cleaning the kitchen. Waking up to a dirty kitchen is the pits; when I come downstairs in the morning to a chaotic kitchen, it just makes me feel blah. And on the days Aaron doesn’t get a chance to clean it after the kids and I leave, and I come home to a dirty kitchen? The worst.

Now that the sun stays up later, we get streams of light in our back windows in the evening. Beautiful end-of-day bright sunshine that highlights thousands of little golden Bulldog hairs littered all over our hardwood floors. Oh, it feels Sisyphean to clean them up every day, but if I don’t, we would surely be overtaken. So Swiffering had to make the list as well.

The other tasks—daily Bible reading and making sure I get a decent amount of fruit and veggies—nourish my soul and my body. My entire day is lifted when I read the Word. It recalibrates my spirit and my mind. I feel more purposeful about my work, and more in tune with my life. And what reading the Bible does for my heart, eating well and drinking enough water does for my body and energy.

I shouldn’t have to write these things down and look at them every day. I’m not that far from 40; shouldn’t I be able to order my life and stay on top of simple daily tasks? Maybe. But maybe the people who seem to have it all together have little cheats like this too. (And if you don’t, don’t tell me!)

It’s helping. It’s even helped in our marriage too, because who can argue about cleaning the kitchen before bed when it’s written right over there?

How do you bring order to your life when it feels unordered? How do you fake it at being a grown up?

(And yes, we had to put giving Posey her reflux meds on there, because we often forget. Which makes me think she is starting to outgrow it, because she doesn’t seem any worse when we miss a dose.)

…

And in other grown-up tasks, I finally set up a Blog Lovin account since Google Reader has gone the way of the Dodo. If you’ve made the switch too, you can follow These Prices here >>> Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 
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Oh, it’s April you say?

April 11, 2013 By 2 Comments

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Because Minnesota didn’t get the memo.

It snowed and snowed and snowed last night. Big fat flakes of heavy, wet snow, and when I woke up this morning I checked Twitter and the news and the general consensus on the roads was no, just no. So I emailed my boss and asked if I could swap my normal Friday off for today, and I stayed home with the kids.

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We colored and played with stickers and Harry pushed his toy John Deere around the hardwoods. And we had a heavy dose of Mater’s Tall Tales.

But oh how my heart longs for spring. For a defrosting; a thaw.

All the snow had finally melted; there were only random patches of ice where there had once been enormous plow piles. And all it took was one night to reset the waiting game—-zoom back at the start.

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I feel like I’m trying to shed my wintry skin; to slough it off. But I’m struggling to get out from underneath the weight of winter.

Are you?

Are you longing for the sun’s warmth on your face as much as I am? Getting a pedicure and painting my fingernails bright pink and cutting a  few inches off my hair have helped, but nothing can replace the sun and flip flops.

So come one Minnesota, help a mama out, won’t you?

 
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