A tale of two days

Today is Thursday of our Spring Break. We haven't done much-other than a quick overnight trip to see all the grandparents, we have been home.

Today, like the weather, everyone seems to be in a sunny mood...working a little harder to get along & enjoy spending time together. We've been outside in the warm weather, doing some sprucing up of the backyard & having a picnic.

But yesterday. Ahhh, that was one for the record books. No one could do anything right, no one could get along. There was lots of yelling, fighting, name calling, bawling. Going outside didn't help, chores didn't help, even time alone-didn't help. Some days are like that & as a mom you need extra graces, extra prayers, & a bottle of good red wine. I wish I knew what caused those days so as to avoid them!

We did watch for the white smoke yesterday & were surprised to see it so quickly! It was fun waiting for news of our new pope & we pray for him as the leader of our church.

(Sunset at my parents-there is an unobstructed view of both the sunset & sunrise)

My baby is one

Henry turns one today. As I sit here watching him feed his toast to the dog, I am amazed all over again at how much a person changes over the course of their first year. From a little squishy ball of yummy to a giggling, stepping, wiggling monkey that can talk (sort of). And while some milestones are nice, like sleeping more at night, some make you long for the little squishy again...oh, how I miss him snuggling in for a nap.

Henry is such a blessing to our family, as all of our kids have been. Each child brings something to the family dynamics that you didn't even know was missing, like a little more spice or some rowdiness in case things were a little too quiet. I think Henry was our balance...and while he runs me ragged most days going from one hazard or no-no to the next, he brings us all joy.

Last night as I rocked Henry, I thought about the night before one year ago-the anticipation, nervousness, fears, & elation the next day had in store, all the emotions that were running through me. I remember really trying to savor the last day I would be pregnant & not letting the amazing privilege of participating in the creation of a new little person give way to the next miracle. That's how we have tried to see this past year, as well as all the years with our kids-savoring the "now" instead of anticipating the "next".

Happy Birthday little H. Big Blue. Jett. Little monster. Bubby.

"Give me patience when little hands
Tug at me with ceaseless, small demands.
Give me gentle words and smiling eyes
To keep my lips from hasty, sharp replies.
Let not fatigue, confusion or noise
Obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys.
So when in years to come my house is still
Beautiful memories is rooms might fill."
-unknown

Saturday

For most of the day, my hubby took 4 of the kids out of the house while Macy & I did some major cooking.  We stocked the freezer with 3 breakfasts, 17 suppers, & 4 loves of bread.  We were exhausted by the end but I loved spending the time alone with her, helping her learn to cook & getting to find out what's on her mind.

The evening was just normal...baths and Legos and listening to songs on YouTube.  The little girls love to dance & everyone is enthralled by the videos.

(notice Barbie photo-bombing the picture with her leg? Such a show-off)

Macy has glasses now...

Her request

"Momma, come outside and take LOTS of pictures of me playing in the snow!"

At 7:45am, little miss declared that she was going outside to play in the snow.  I tried to persuade her to wait until it was warmer but she would not have it.  Not only was she going, she was convinced I was going with her to document it.  "You can just stand right here momma, on the porch."  I protested heavily, but how long can you resist this face?

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday.  It was a day of simple pleasures.  An unhurried breakfast, sweet & funny cards, a quiet lunch date with my hubby, checkers in the afternoon with Jack & a family meal out complete with not one, but two desserts.  I enjoyed the day.

When Lily got home from school she was quizzing me on my birthday & she says "Mom, are you going to invite a bunch of your friends over for your birfday?  Because, that's what grown-ups are supposed to do, you know!"  Its funny to see how confused the kids are at adult birthdays-why we don't make them as big of a deal as theirs.  

Jack loves to play checkers & he's getting pretty good at it.  Here he is trying to decide if I have set a trap for him, which he loves to be sneaky & to figure out when someone is trying to sneak something past him.  I'm not ashamed to admit that had we finished this game, he would have beat me fair & square!

And a couple of random Henry pictures...he still loves to flirt with the baby in the mirror.  Oh, so precious.

And this is one ornery, I-know-I'm-not-supposed-to-be-in-this, grin.  He is like greased lightning & knows all the off limit spots...I swear I can see little clouds of smoke coming from his knees as he peels out, trying to get away as fast as he can.  He's like a little wind up toy!

Tonight it started snowing, after a week of 70 degree temps.  Usually Spring is the volatile weather of ups and downs.  And this is our Christmas tree...I keep thinking we'll get around to disposing of it, but it hasn't happened yet.  The little kids want to plant it.  We've discussed why that won't work & they are somewhat perplexed. 

Enjoying

The last few days that this boy is going to look like a baby before he finishes sprouting a whole set of top row teeth.

Just another reminder that he's growing up, won't stay little for long.

Mary & Gabriel

The girls wanted to reenact the birth of Jesus for us today, so Macy was director, Lily played Mary & Ava was Gabriel and the inn keeper.  Joseph decided to play Legos instead, so it was what you would consider a "loosely based" rendition.  

 Telling Mary the good news is quite humorous.  The director was not amused.

Merry Christmas to all of you...

Henry, 9 months

His smile is contagious.

He goes.  And goes and goes.  He now crawls really fast away from me when he thinks he's got something I'm going to take away, usually laughing as he goes.

He finally decided that food was worth trying (instead of poison as portrayed by his faces of disgust when I tried giving him anything), but his favorite yummy snack is finding dried leaves on the floor.  This would be suspect #1 to cause speed-crawling away from mommy while giggling.  Little dude doesn't learn though, because as tasty as those look they never, ever go down & he ends up gagging on them & I have to extract them.  Which he hates as much as having his nose wiped & his diaper changed.  Little bit of a drama dude on our hands.

Fog on the lens=cool, dreamy filter

Last week, he had the sniffles so I gave him a bath with the eucalyptus baby wash to help clear his breathing.  He was all over the bubbles, trying to eat them.  

He also spent a great deal of time kissing the cute baby.

Poor little rosy cheeks...but he's better now!

The Christmas Play

Our annual Christmas play

All grades K-4th are the choir.  Jack is setting beside his bestie, being boys.  While I admittedly didn't watch him too much, by the end of the play these two were being increasingly dramatic with their singing.  Looooots of hand gestures & trying to get away with what they could while not attracting the attention of Sr. Stephanie, their teacher, who was sitting in front of them.

The play is put on by the 5th graders.  Macy was truly in her element...

You can see how excited she is.  She was nervous, but not scared.  She told me that 2 minutes after it started, she totally lost her butterflies & loved performing-she was sad that it was over.  She played 2 characters & sang a little solo.  She even got some chuckles out of the crowd for her portrayal of an old lady.  She didn't forget her lines & spoke so well...we were very, very proud of her!!

All of the kids did great, it was such a cute little performance & so fun to see the kids shine.  

Shhh...baby sleeping

He's such a light sleeper.  Some people think you can make a heavy sleeper-"vacuum while the baby sleeps, make noise so they are used to it" is advice new parents are often told.  I'm here to tell all those people they are wrong.  If you have a heavy sleeper, it's because God decided to gift you.  We have 4 very active, very LOUD children, a dog that feels it her personal responsibility to announce every potential intruder (aka-mailman, neighbor dogs, people walking by) & a piano that becomes so enticing at nap time no one can resist banging out some notes in this house, if that's not noise then I don't know what is.  And still, he wakes at the slightest sneeze.
He is the master of power naps.  Ten minutes and he's good.  He seems to need very little sleep & may just be a morning person as well.  *shocker*  Seems that's how we make them around here.  Which is funny because neither parent is a true morning person.

“Let Him Sleep...For When He Wakes, He Will Move Mountains.”

― Napoleon Bonaparte

Fun in any given bathroom

When he's not busy entertaining himself in the dog's water bowl, Henry likes to sneak off to the bathroom.  Any will do, he knows the way & can get there very rapidly.  He also has down the stealth mode of transportation-the "if I quietly sneak off I can buy more time" approach that Ava adopted early in life.

Having a somewhat on the bigger side family means there is about a 90% chance that someone (no names, eh-hm kids?) has left the lid open thus creating a beautiful opportunity to drop whatever he has carried in his little chubby hand into the water with another pretty good chance that aforementioned "someone" did not flush.  All I'm saying is that I'm very glad my husband invested in the new toilet that can flush 20 golf balls because there are things that are just not worth saving, ya know?  Buh-bye.  Splashing does commence after dropping & we all know how fun splashing is when you are of this size.

 Barbie's knee-high boot...best chew toy ever

Next on the list if either the toilet is closed or he has been sidelined by the excitement of the shower curtain is to ascertain what exactly is in the tub.

Annnnnnd then try to reach it.

He is a chubby baby, but that durn melon he carries around for a head still outweighs him & makes him top-heavy.  I know it's only a matter of time before he nose-dives into the tub and it's going to hurt.

(All joking aside, we do realize the dangers of drowning in both places & watch him carefully)

This week he started saying "Daadaa" and has about 100 different intonations & facial expressions to go along with it, making him even more adorable than before.