Grocery Grins

I’ll tell you that it has me grinning these days...


Car carts, as my kiddos call them!

These are one of the glories of the overwhelming U.S. grocery stores. I thank God for them in my prayers every night. Well, not really. But maybe I should!

There must be a thousand varieties in various stores in this country…

And that is definitely a good thing. I hope the person who invented them is rich and happy… they deserve it for all the (semi) peaceful shopping hours they have allowed us mothers of toddlers to experience when we previously had no hope…

I mean, just look at how happy my boy is with his mini-cart! (Just watch your ankles, folks!) He was so stinkin’ happy with that thing that it was actually way more fun to shop with him that day than without him (and that’s a pretty strong statement for a mother of a four year old!)
Grocery stores in America aren’t all bad, I suppose…

Snow Much Fun

We’ve seen two decent snows since we returned to the U.S. in December. The first was in Ohio and my kiddos were pretty excited!

Noelle couldn’t have remembered snow and she mostly wanted (and still wants) to do one thing with it. One thing only.

Eat it! 

“Bite ‘now”? She asks everytime we go outside to any amount of snow, no matter how clean or dirty. This day in January… it was fresh and clean!

After a little sledding, Poppi helped her eat a little more. Poppis are so helpful like that.

She was less of fan of the sledding, however.

Yeah. Not happy.

But this little guy was having the TIME OF HIS LIFE.

Seriously. So happy!

He was outside with Poppi for a really long time and never did get cold. (Please ignore his lavender snow pants… we are so thankful for hand-me-downs… who wants to pay for snow pants and who cares what color they are?!)

Sweet N didn’t last outside very long…

But she wasn’t willing to stop the eating of the snow.

So her wonderful Daddy got her a couple cups of it to eat in the comfort of the warm (sled-less) kitchen.

Oh my. Cutest snow-eater EVER.

I Love Having a Girl

That’s all.

Good night.

Sweet New One–Newborn Photography

I’ve been working on my photography skills lately and asked some friends if I could practice on their sweetest little newborn girlie. She was probably under six pounds the day I showed up at their place for this little session. She surprised us and was awake and alert almost the entire time! I still have sooo much to learn, but I am pleased with some of the shots I got.

And now, just a week later, this precious baby is in the hospital fighting RSV. Would you send up a prayer for her body to be strong and breathe well?

What a special little things she is…

Nite Nite

I haven’t been tucking my babies into their beds the past several days. But if I had been tucking my girlie in bed for nap or nighttime sleeping, this is the arrangement that she demands.

Baby, baby, baby and monkey. All four sharing a pillow and a blanket. Then MY baby and her (matching) pillow and blanket. And yes, she still uses her corker, aka pacifier. Don’t judge.

Get it right or she may refuse to lay down. You may find her sitting up in the corner of the bed thirty minutes later, unhappy about the sleeping arrangements.

She’s a bit particular and I LOVE her.

Also, I get to tuck her in tomorrow night!

Missing Mama. Or Not.

My day on airplanes coming out east was as blissful and uneventful as I imagined.  And I was made even more thankful because I missed a blizzard in Denver by only a couple of hours. Thank you Jesus.

Mike and the kids are doing great. Of course. Chick Fil-A, various parties, the library, baking, grocery store, reading, a trip to the work-out room with Daddy… he’s doing it all. Frankly, I don’t know what I’m needed for anymore.

*sniff sniff*

Ha! Just kidding. The kids talk to me on the phone a couple times a day. Sweet N is more willing and much more difficult to understand. H is sometimes too busy to talk to silly ol’ Mom on the phone, despite how certain he was of his sadness before I left. The few days before my departure he was telling me often that he was going to miss me and didn’t want me to go.  Then on the drive to the airport he said all these things:

“Mom, I will cry the whole night.”

“Mom, I will cry the whole week.”

“If you don’t give me a hug and a kiss tonight I’ll be sad.”

“Mama, I’m gonna want you.”

“Mama, I want to stay with you.”

“But what if I want Daddy to hold me and he’s not soft on his belly like you are?”

“Mama, I’m gonna miss you.”

Oh. My. Word. He is the sweetest boy that ever did live. I don’t even care that he calls me fat in his loving comments. I was tempted to pack him in my bag and bring him along. Sort of. Maybe.

Speaking of sweet. Check out these little ones…

Davis is a fabulous big brother, loving on his baby sister and singing her name when she cries. And as you can see… Daphne  does have a thing for crying, bless her precious little heart. Frankly, she just isn’t that crazy about being awake. I think we all have been familiar with that feeling at some point in our lives. I guess Sister and I both got our due with our baby girlies, after our piece-of-cake firstborn boys. Ha!

So so perfect, isn’t she? She likes to sleep in my arms, which makes her extra wonderful, too.

I do believe that is probably about all the cuteness you can probably handle today…

Solo Trip

Guess what. I’m taking a trip. ALOOOONE.

Say what?!!

It’s true. Today I’m flying to Charlotte to see my Sis, Bro-in-Law, nephew and of course… sweet newborn Daphne!

Just look a her. Just look. My sis tells me that she’s been asking about me all week and wondering when I’m coming.

Well sweet girlie, Auntie Suz is coming TODAY to meet you!! Don’t you fret your perty little self…

Aside from meeting her and hanging out with the fam, I plan to do other things that are even more rare occurrences. Like sit on an airplane seat all by myself (obvious, I know, but definitely worth a mention). And not carry any diapers. And travel with ONLY carry-ons (Did I just say that?!). And sit in my airplane seat marveling at the lack of toddlers by my side. Then sit in my airplane seat and cry at the lack of toddlers by my side. Then pull out a hanky to blow my nose and remember my sweet boy who made me a hanky for Christmas and cry even harder. Oh my. I also plan to eat my traveling snacks all by myself without sharing. I will walk through airports without pushing a stroller, without tugging a child by the hand and without spreading loads of crumbs in every gate I wait in. And when I arrive, there will be no traces of snot, vomit or smeared peanut butter on my clothing. Glory halleluiah.

Hold up. I'm not done.

When I arrive I plan to sleep in a (fabulous) King size bed all by myself, whenever I want, for as long as I want. I'm gonna sew stuff without one of my children on my lap. And read books without pictures. I’ll call home and talk to my hubby and my babies and tell ‘em how much I miss ‘em and how much I wish they were with me. Then I’ll hang up and wonder if I really meant that or not. Then I’ll struggle with internal conflict for the next half an hour. Then I’ll curl up on the couch and drown my internal conflict with a fuzzy blanket, a newborn baby and lots of cooking shows.

I think you get the idea. It’s gonna be great.

I’ve been seriously looking forward to this for awhile. I think it does a Mama some serious good to get away. And maybe it does the Daddy some serious good to? I can’t count the number of times in the past few days that Mikey has said “Don’t leave me!” He he. Don’t you worry about me, friends, I’m gonna be doin’ juuust fine… But maybe you could pray for my husband? Ha! He’s gonna be doin’ great too. He's amazing. I love him. And it's mostly him I have to thank for the gift of this weekend...