3 year itch

So it has been 3 years...meaning my baby is 3.  It has taken me this long to recover from having two kids less than 17 months apart; and finally I am getting "the itch."  The itch for ONE MORE.  The funny thing is the idea of actually having one more is almost as good as actually getting it!  I want to savor every second of pregnancy and nursing and late nights rocking a newborn...savor milky breath and first smiles, first steps...  We will see!  I am going to enjoy my summer and enjoy every daydream of having one last baby before I actually sink my teeth into it and pull the trigger.

Summer is here!  I love wet bathing suits and sandy bodies - it seems we have to wait way too long for this every year!  SOAK IT IN...

Tiny Sleeper

A few months before turning three, we have moved Glory into a big girl bed.  She slept in her toddler bed for a couple months first.  I felt really nostalgic about it...and her last night in the little bed, snuck in to take some pictures.

Happy at Home

My Grandma and the kids crafting 

 Grady, Dane, Glory, Audrey

 Trouble times four

 Union Terminal

 Cincinnati Children's Museum fun

 Aunt Janet and Glory

 Libby "Neema" and Dane

My cousin Sam, Carly, my Grandparents 

 Mike, Libby, Dane

Aunt Janet and Aunt Nonnie

From Thursday to Monday my kids and I went to Cincinnati to visit with my mom's side of the family. Normalcy feels good, okay? I feel comfort around them. Nothing is perfect, and normal is only relative these days, BUT... We can just be ourselves. I miss them. Great times, great memories, great feelings.

Now here we are back at home. My kids on Spring Break with the whole week stretching out in front of us. We are embracing 35 degrees with a passion! Hats and coats, snow boots or rain boots, the playground or driveway, bagels and the Fat Tuesday doughnuts... Still more to come; playdates, a trip to the library, oh, and the endless hours of pretend play.

Today - as Dane gets stuck riding his bike, "Mom! Stop! Wait, I'm out of gas!"
And Glory, as she pretends to take a picture of me with a toy kaleidoscope "you looked away, mom! Do it again!"

Priceless days.

The Bagel Shop

A weekly request from my kids for lunch is "pink cream cheese, mom, we want pink cream cheese!" It had been awhile since pink cream cheese...and so we went. My kids are 2 and 4 now; they can sit in a regular chair and eat and I can glance around...notice things I haven't been able to see for 4 years. Today it was a woman with her elderly mother, chatting over bagels and coffee. I thought to myself, "I will never see my mom as an old lady, never enjoy bagels and coffee and then help her to the car." Sometimes I simply forget my mom is actually gone for good...strange I realize, but it's like she's just going to pop back into my life and swoop up my kids...make my favorite meal, read to Dane and Glory, take me shopping, fold some laundry in her perfect way, braid Glo's hair in her perfect way, and surely give me some pointers on how to be the PTA President someday. I love the bits of me that are her - perfectionism in all things small and yet the ability to throw a bunch of papers in a pile on the counter for later. Life is too short people. The papers can wait...there are bagels to eat and kids to read to, dolls to play with, hide and seek, "the firefighter," Valentines to make, dance parties in the kitchen to attend. Just a little of our day...

It has been a year?!?

Have you ever heard the line "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"? It's from a song by Julian Lennon. I try to keep it in mind and savor every single day. This is also why I am pretty disappointed that I have let a whole year go by without a single post. I do not keep a journal anymore and I don't even write down random things my kids say or do that make me laugh, cry, or shake my head in amazement. However, the other thing I do not do is live with feelings of guilt or remorse. "Every day starts fresh, with no mistakes," another quote from a favorite particular teacher...Ms. Murial Stacey from Anne of Green Gables. Fictional or not, the woman has a point! Let go of the past and live in today...

SO, there is no sense in me trying to convey all the events, activities and milestones of the past; rather I will start fresh with today...and today was quite interesting! Last night was the "Blizzard of 2011." We did wake up to a winter wonderland complete with blowing and drifting. The kids and I had a play date in the morning (we bundled up and walked across the street to play with our neighbors...INSIDE). We came home for some lunch and down-time and then ventured out ourselves. Turned out we chose the right time to go out and play because the snow had stopped and even the sun showed her shy self! It was a beautiful day! However, two snow days in a row...well now let's not get so excited...mom needs a break!

finger painting session...gift from Neema

Christmas Eve Morning activity

Dane turns Three

Dane's knitted hat and scarf from great-grandmom