Night, night, no!

Oh, I remember now. 

This is where the sweet cute baby moves. Granted our moving is just a fast one legged boot scoot with intermittent standing, but moving no less. 

My goal today was to clean the house and prepare dinner during lunchtime because I knew the afternoon would be busy. 

Somewhere between putting the chicken on the stove and peeling carrots, she found every drawer and shelf and emptied them. 

"Annie, you need to go night, night."

"Night, night, no!"

Funny, I don't remember arguing with a 12 month old before. 

Right now I am laying on my bed... exhausted... with a house messier than when I started... listening to my baby playing with the window from her crib, and I realized she's won again. 

First Tooth

I love this child. Afraid of the unknown, he refused to pull out his wiggly tooth for weeks. 

Dear Annastasia

 

Dear Annastasia, 

Has it really almost been a year? Every day I look at you, I see a miracle. You have taught me the sacred power of maternity and every attempt at motherhood is a valiant effort. Motherhood should be reverenced from the mental inception and desire to delivery. Jokes about pregnancies have lost their humor when there are woman begging for a child. 

 You forget all your troubles when you are swinging in the backyard. When the front door is open, you dash outside the door with your one legged crawl just to sit in the sun. I believe you love being outside so much because you know you almost missed that opportunity. As wonderful as I imagine heaven, we both know this is where you are supposed to be right now. My first round of babies went by so fast; I am savoring every minute this time. 

Thank you. I love you. 

 Mom

Oh Annie

Oh, my poor Annie.  She is so terribly sick. My heart is broken. 

She cried so hard a blood vessel burst in her eye.

Housework has stopped this week in order to hold her.

And I still love her with every part of my being. 

Happy 9th Birthday

Nine years ago my doctor recommended a modified bedrest to make sure my baby was not born too early. 

However, when I got the green light, he would not come!

I hated being pregnant, and I wanted to deliver him before the new year.

On January 1st, depleted, I got down on my knees and cried. I begged The Lord to help me accept my baby's time frame.

He was born the next morning, and it was my easiest labor. 

At the time, I didn't realize how much I would need that pray to be his mother. 

I love this kid. Happy birthday. Thanks for helping me slow down and enjoy the moment.  

Call home

My nephew is just over a quarter through his mission. I was blessed to be apart of a small portion of his call home. 

It is a weird feeling getting advice from your little nephew, specifically about avoiding the perfection depression. 

The world is full of good people trying the best they can. Unfortunately, it can be difficult if we aren't always perfect and meet our own personal goals. 

Stay positive. Move forward. Tomorrow is a new day. 

Christmas

[not pictured- Ethan who was too excited about his video game]

Grateful for all this time off with my little family and of course all the extended family who came into town because it's just more fun to go to do all those activities with over thirty people. 

Merry go round

We took Annie on her first merry-go-round, and the others kids were slightly dragged along. 

On a side note, the baby loved it. The giggles were priceless. 

Life saver

Yesterday Larissa told me that Ethan saved her life. 

Curious, I needed details. 

I had the blessing of having two kids very close in age and only one grade apart. Every other year, they have lunch and recess together

Larissa had nothing to do and no one to play with at recess.  For Larissa (and I back in the day), this is a big deal.

"Mom, he gave me a hug at school and played with me the whole time!"

This morning Larissa reminded me, "Ethan saved my life one day ago."

Wax Museum

Tonight was Raea's wax museum.  They aren't allowed to talk.  It took a lot of effort to try to break my little Jane Goodall. 

Last week, Raea ditched school to try to get her cousin to break character at her wax museum. When her cousin's "light" was on, she was spot on.