owls, and gnomes, and toadstools, oh my!

Since our littlest little just turned one recently, we had a birthday party for him today. It was supposed to be last Saturday, but due to a awful case of the stomach flu that made it through 4/5 of our family (I got skipped somehow, wahoo! Still had to clean up after the others, but wasn't sick while doing it!) we had to reschedule it to this weekend.

When thinking of themes for E, I had a thought that we should do something kind of woodsy. I ask my friend Miss B what she thought, and she said, "toadstools and woodsy for sure!" Since E was born on earth day, it seemed pretty fitting.

I found tons of ideas on pinterest and had a lot of fun putting together this little party to celebrate our special boy! With help from many, many people, we had a place to hold it that was big enough (grandpa and grandma f!) a wooden cupcake stand (daddy) wooden slabs cut from a tree (grandpa a!) I made lots of things such as the burlap banner and tiny toadstools out of playdough that I painted. I think part of the fun in making things was that every time I worked on something for the party, I was thinking of my boy and celebrating him. I have celebrated him a lot over the past few months! :)

The menu was pizza, greek salad, fruit salad, chips, pickles/olives, pop, and cake with icecream. After the party on the way home, I was thinking about how our family and friends love our boy (well, all our kids, really) and how they are SO blessed. This may sound cheesy, but I couldn't help but think about how Mary "treasured these things and pondered them in her heart". I kept thinking about how everyone loves, supports, smooches on, and dotes on my kids, and I treasure that. A great way to love a mama is to love her kids like your own. We had so much fun, and we think E did, too. (He went to town on his cupcake and it was gone quickly!) 

things I know are true.

Things I know to be true;

1.I know... when you are a mama and you leave the house for some peace, you will miss your kids when you leave and feel empty without their presence in the store. You will spot "equipments" on the side of the road and point it out to no one in the car, and even half turn around to see your son's shining face, only to realize you are by yourself. When pushing a shopping car and there are no babies to be hugged in the front of it, and no necks to be kissed and no eyes to point out the lemons and the lobsters to, you will feel like you are missing a piece of yourself. You will wonder "Do mamas that see me still know I'm a mama, or do they just think I'm some girl who has yet to know the loveliness of a mid-store melt-down. Do they think, "oh, she should just wait!"? I know to be true the fact that my children are me, and I am them, and I am upset that some day, I will still be them, but they will try not to be me.

2.I know to be true the fact that anything-- icecream, water, a grilled cheese, steak... All taste better when someone else prepares/brings it to you. (maybe it's because of the love sprinkled on top?)


3. I know that I could-- but yet do not get near the amount of sleep I should. I love the quiet and the still of the the night and the endless possibilities of what I could do. Drink tea? Have some icecream without anyone else snitching? A little bit of the internets? New Girl on tv? Sewing?

4. I know that if you took a shirt and put it in a store, 5$ would seem like a STEAL! If you took the same shirt and put it on a table at a garage sale and stuck a piece of tape on it with the same 5$, you would feel like you are being Ripped.Off.


5. When your first kid has their first birthday, you think, "Well, that seemed fast but yea, I guess a year HAS gone by." With your second, you literally have to go back and look at pictures of the year because there is no way that your little baby with a head full of hair that loves to fall asleep on you is now a one year old (who still has a head full of hair and loves to fall asleep on you.)


6. I know that if you drink milk and then fill that same glass with water that "milkity" water (as H put it) tastes awful.


7. Doctors might know the best thing to recommend, but they do not always know what is best for my family.



8. I know that although I want to move out of our too-small-for-us house, I will miss it incredibly when we are gone. I will miss the sidewalks and the neighbors who know us well enough that they can tell when my boys get haircuts. I will miss our green grass and the trees that provide shade, a climbing spot, and even leaves for us to rake and jump in. I will miss our yellow living room and all the memories that were made here. I will miss our front porch that is my favorite summer place to be. Coffee, the hubs, and a rocky front porch chair. I will miss the wood floor and how underneath the new countertop where no one can see, my initials are there in power grab. (I won't miss the fact that the entire house has two very small closets and also the no dishwasher situation. and while I'm at it, no a/c. )

luck o' the irish

One thing the hubs didn't know about me before we got married was that I love me a good parade. I think that being a mama has only amplified my love for parades and crazy people walking around. It's almost telling my kids, "look at all the crazies dressed up for st. patty's day! they are being themselves, be yourself!" ok, maybe a stretch but holidays and parades give an excuse for not following everyday social norms.
For example:
The man in the kilt
The dog owners with their dogs that-- I kid you not-- were bigger than me. They were pretty much small horses.
The ability to wear multiple shades of green and not be looked down upon because you do not know how to match colors.
Wearing an orange wig, ok! Wearing green pj pants, ok! Wearing piles of green mardi gras beads, ok!! All of this out in public, you look fabulous! How festive! OK!!

All that to say, on saturday the hubs and I took the boys (H was with her mom) to the st. patty's parade. Dressed in green, we first hit up a local restaurant and then parked ourselves by the road along with tons of other people looking for a good time. J was pretty nervous throughout the parade and kept wondering if fire trucks were going to have loud sirens. :) Baby E just waved his little irish flag, tore the flag, watched a little parade, and just took it all in. He was a wonderful little parade-goer, and believe it or not, this was his 5th (at least) parade. See, I told you I liked parades!! :)

the snowball effect, melted.

*It all started in the middle of the night around 3am. The littlest little fell out of my bed onto a pillow. He wasn't hurt, but was rudely awoken by a fall and a plop on the pillow. (1 hour and 15 minutes later I fell asleep.. he was awake and ready to play for a good hour and 10minutes after the pillow plop.)

*5 minutes laterr I am woken up by H. "Mom... I can't sleep". "Me either..." I whispered back. "Kids keep waking me up!" (I am not at my finest in the early morning hours)

*1 hour later I am woken up by H coming down the steps to the bathroom.

*45 minutes later she tells me she threw up

*10 minutes later at 6am J wakes for the day. MOM! Tv? Breakfast? Can I have milk? I sent him back to bed and he stayed there for about 20 minutes, after which he threw beans from his texture table all over the room.

*The hubs got home from work around 745a and walks in the bedroom and tells me that H does not have a fever but is covered in a rash... hives. I go up to her room and bring her some benadryl. Half hour later, her hives are half as red, an hour later and they are completely gone.

*Throughout the day, J is cranky and refuses to pick up the beans all around his room (bring in the timeouts and the stern voices) and baby E is a crank from teething.

*H is able to keep all food down and after I made a call to her doctor it is determined: some sort of food allergy. The dr orders us an epi pen just in case and tells us that H needs to be seen for allergy testing. H eats lunch and goes to school around 1p.

*I take a much needed nap :)

*After nap the hubs is bringing in our new countertop that he is storing in the dining room. He didn't see the light fixture and knocked the counter into it, shattering the light. All over piles of clean laundry.

*After that was cleaned up, I was getting J some milk and spilled milk everywhere.

*The hubs and I decide to blow that popsicle stand, and eat dinner out. I get the ahi tuna on salad, he gets an olive burger. We both a delightfully happy over our choices and as we drive around afterwards, keep talking about how delicious our meals were.

The day was a doozy. If any of those things happened on a different, normal day, it would have been fine and we would have been able to brush it off with just a little annoyance. But on a day when it all happens at once? It's a doozy and it makes me thankful for the days when the most annoying thing is a teaspoon of flour spilled while making banana muffins.

I recently read some quotes on pinterest that said "First world problems: "my phone is across the room and I'm too tired to get it" "I had too much food for lunch and now I'm tired" "I keep trying to text at red lights, but I keep only making greens". When you pile my complaints into a list, it sounds an awful lot like an extension to that list of quotes made up to make people laugh at how ridiculous our problems are compared to the rest of the world. "I had a full gallon of milk but I spilled 1 cup of it on my clothes that I can then throw in the wash machine" "We broke our light, and now we have to go shopping for a new one".

Putting my problems in perspective helps. I am not going to lie and say I was not exhuasted at the end of the day, but today I started the day new and fresh. Lamentations 2:22-24
"22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

As I rocked baby E back and forth before his nap this morning I looked in the mirror and had a thought: Everyone says I will miss this and I probably will, but that does not mean it is not hard in the moment.

the best feelings

the best feelings are this:

*When holding the baby, he resists my snuggle for a second, and then melts into me.
*The two year old saying "Mama, I want you" when he needs a hug or wants to be picked up.
*The oldest seeking me out for a hug before bed.
*The husband helping me out more than he even has to-- just because it makes my life a little bit easier.

despite 3/5 of us being sick with upset tummies, these are the good things that shone today.

e 7 months

Dear E,
You are seven months! As of the 21st, you have 5 teeth (with one more almost through). You are still such a darling boy and we love you so much. People constantly comment on how laid back and snuggly you are. You still sit with me in church occasionally in the baby wrap and you have fallen asleep in it during church lately. You celebrated your first Halloween this past month and were an adorable baby gnome—you were too cute! Here are some facts about you…
*Size 3 diaper
*Size 9month-12month clothing
*Size 2 or 3 shoe depending on brand
*You have been eating more food and nurse 4-5 times a day and eat around a baby container of food a day. Foods you have tried so far are: banana, avocado, sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas. You like sweet potatoes the best!
*You gag if you eat anything chunky. I tried to give you a rice puff tonight and you threw it up.
*Mostly taking 2 naps a day with the occasional evening nap if you are super tired and fussy. You go to bed between 7-8p.
*You like to babble and chat and GRAB at anything.
*You can mostly sit up for long periods of time but occasionally fall over.
*You can get around a room by scooching around but do not crawl yet. You just started in the past few days to get on your hands and knees.
*You love to sleep in bed with me and daddy and snuggle. You sleep best by us but also sleep in the bassinette still.

We love you, little boy! Love, Mama

10 years later...

My Dearest H,
You are who made me a mommy.. but not in the conventional way. A stepmama, but taking on many of the duties of a regular old mama. Although there have been some tough days, the amazing days outshine them by far.
Today you woke up with smiles. You requested for breakfast scrambled eggs with milk and a grapefruit. Easy enough! You then got ready for school and wore a hot pink shirt with ruffles on it. At lunchtime we brought you lunch at school: pizza hut personal pan pizza with sausage, and sprite per your "order". You came home all smiles again and told us of your birthday singing happy birthday to you! Then Daddy took you to get icecream for your party tonight while I finished making your cake. (Chocolate cake, white frosting, blue and purple icing with a peace sign... per order again). You seemed happy with the cake.
Then, off to dinner at a hibachi grill (your pick) and home for cake and icecream (cookie dough/mack fudge) with grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins... and don't forget the presents! Mandie books, 3 movies, beads and a bracelet kit, a dress, and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting! You were so great with your manners today and were so great all day. I had a wonderful day celebrating YOU and I think you did, too! Daddy put you to bed and prayed for you, and left you in your room to sleep.. with a smile still on your beautiful little face. We love you sweet H!