Maggiebell

Lately, when we talk to our Littlest, we've been saying her name like it's all one word.  Libby started it, and for some reason it stuck with me and I say "Maggiebell" all day long instead of Maggie Bell.
I have buckets full of post about Libby, and I thought that Miss Maggiebell needed one of her own.
Have you ever crawled into your bed after a really long day and as you sink down into it's cool sheets they wrap around you like they'd been waiting for you to come back to them?

Well, that is what holding Maggie is like for me.  When I pick her up after being away from her, she is pure comfort.  She tilts her little head to mine and sometimes her hands will brush the sides of my face and I can almost feel her say, "Oh Mommy, where have you been."  She is like home, and ironically likes being at home.  When I rush her, and life packs our days full of busyness, she lets me know. Several days this week our afternoons were packed full of errands and running around and little Maggie screamed  gently whimpered until I could devote all of my attention to her.  Basically this means she cried until I put Libby to bed.  I was frantically going through every possible reason why my baby was so sad, what did I eat, maybe it's gas, maybe she has an ear infection, maybe it's this stinkin rash on her face that is hurting her.  However, when that time finally came, and the house was quiet and still, she settled.  Her little body sank into mine.  I could feel the relief in her deep breaths on my chest, as she buried her face under my chin into the crease in my neck, like she just wanted to get a little bit closer...and I could here it, "oh Mommy, where have you been."

These are may favorite moments with her,  when she drifts off to sleep, and right before she settles into that really deep sleep she stretches, and her hands make tiny fists that go in either direction as far she can take them, her head reaches back,  she makes that little newborn noise, and then curls back up into position.
It's heavenly.
She is.

That my friends only scratches the surface of how much I love having Maggiebell in my life.  Her baby ways are intoxicating.  I just can't get enough of them and I want to drink them up while I can.

Here's to baby's stretches, they are so great.

Grace and Peace

xoxo

With Love From The Little

 I caught Mommy knuckle deep in a bowl of chocolate frosting this afternoon.  She was licking it off when I came around the corner and tried to play it off like it was no big deal, but I could see the fudgy residue smudged around the corners of her mouth.
Oh Mommy, you're not fooling me and share the love next time .


In other news, Daddy came home this weekend.  I missed him like crazy. I haven't let him out of my sight until this morning when he had to go to work.  Mommy missed him too, I could tell.  He gave her the afternoon off yesterday and let her go to the mall all by herself.  She came home really fast though.  She was probably board without me and Maggie making life more fun...For example, on Friday, when we were at the mall, I ran into the Buid A Bear store, found a princess shirt, and ran out with it...that was fun.  Mommy said it wasn't fun, it was stealing.   I'm only two, how am I supposed to know what stealing is?

Mommy has opened the doors on the back of the house every day this week.  She said the 70 degrees in February is a blessing in Virginia.  I like it because she lets me come in and out as I please.  I have got dirty every day, which is great, b/c then I get to take a bath every night.

Just in case you didn't realize this, we all love Maggie, especially Mommy.  She kisses her almost as much as she kisses me and that is a-lot!

I have to go now, technically I'm not supposed to use Mommy's computer.
Peace and Grace or something like that...
The Little

Golden Afternoon

When Kev is away and the girls are asleep, I listen to mournful country music...The kind that makes you think you should be sitting alone in a seedy bar, with something on the rocks in one hand, and your head resting in the other, while scary cowboys shoot pool behind you..
I don't know why I do this...
Anywho....
I was all set to abandon ship and head north to my parents when I found out he would be gone all week.  A turn of events and my ever improving mother's intuition (in my head while I type, mother's intuition is said with sarcasm and a deliberate roll of the eyes) convinced me that I needed to stay put and try to make it through on my own with my two little ladies.

So, I did it.
Well, actually I'm still doing it.  Making it on my own, that is.  It was going pretty well, until about 3:00 yesterday afternoon.  Things just started spiraling down hill in my head and in real life too.  The downward spiral landed me at the Dr's office early this morning, sure that my Littlest had a food allergy that was causing her to break out in rash.  The good news is the Doc doesn't think it's an allergy but she encouraged me to lay off nuts and dairy.
 Lovely.
 I eat cheese at every meal and in between meals too.
The bad news is both the Little and the Littlest cried the whole time we were there.

Libby tried to swipe the bouquet of pens on the receptionist desk and when I took them from her, right when the nurse was sweetly calling "Maggie, Maggie Jones," she threw herself on the floor and started yelling "NO, NO, NOOOOO, Don't pull my arm Mama!"
Meanwhile, Maggie was still crying.
Meanwhile, it was first thing this morning so the office was full of sick children and their parents.
As we exited the waiting area, to head back to the exam room I turned and curtsied to the crowd, and shuffled both screaming girls in so I could close the door asap. (in my head as I type I'm wondering if I should mention how much I was sweating at this point).

While the Doc examined Maggie, Libby cried  "that's my Maggie, Mommy get my Maggie," and when she wasn't crying she was trying to escape. This all happened before 9:30, and I couldn't stop at Starbucks on the way home, b/c I CAN'T HAVE DAIRY! (in my head while I type, this is said with passion, like I want someone out there to here me. I CAN'T HAVE DAIRY!)
I could tell you more real life, real Mommy moments from today, the list kind of goes on and on until bed time.  At one time I caught myself scolding Libby saying something like "Are you talking with a very nice voice right now," and I stopped myself mid-sentence and realized that I was the pot calling my little kettle black.

Nap time came and went  before we even had time to have it. In lieu of a nap, I spread a blanket out in a corner of our yard and let the warm sun kiss their faces till it set for the evening.  I'm glad I did this.  I've done it at some time every day this week.
 Fresh air makes babies happy.
 Fresh air makes this girl realize that even my hard days with them are a billion times better than any one day with out them. (in my head as I type, "hard" is a very relative term...like hard in comparison to a mom who has a live in nanny, not" hard" in comparison to mom's with little babies who are really sick, or world hunger, or war, or...you get what my head is saying )

And when the sun finally set, we came inside and called it a day.  A hard day that ended good.

Here's to Daddy's coming home.
(in my head, as I type, I realize how late it is, and decide it's time to wrap this ramble up)
Grace and Peace friends.
xoxo

When Lady Spring Tells Old Man Winter That His Time Is Almost Up

 

February is always the time of year that my desire to live in Florida comes back.  The cold and grey drag on and on, and right when I think that I can't take one more day of indoor activities, a warm breeze blows through town and I  find myself shedding layers of thick clothing.

I sucked my cup of coffee down in seconds yesterday so that I could get the girls dressed and to the park early.  The promise of high temperatures in the 60's made me want  to have lots of time to play and romp around the woods before nap time.

We did romp and play with our friends that met us there. Our quiet little park that normally belongs just to us, was buzzing with all the other good people who were excited to welcome a spring like day.  Blue skies, room to run...perfect.

This is Charlie.  Libby loves Charlie.  Don't tell her Dad.

When we packed up and headed home, I ignored the state of my house and opened it up so that the fresh air could blow through.  Without any prompting from me, the Little sneaked outside and sat herself down on the step where she requested to eat her lunch.

 I  happily obliged her request and not wanting to be left out,  scooped my Littlest up and laid her down in the sun for the first time.  Icould almost see spring on the horizon.

Maggie loved being in the sun.  She probably would have stayed there all day.  At one point when I was chasing Liberty through the yard, I almost forgot that my baby was sun bathing on the other side of the porch.  I had this moment of panic, and I thought there was a real possibity that some angry squirrels could have carried her off and half expected to not find her on her blanket when I came back around the corner.

Thankfully she was still there, still happy, still cute as cute can be in her hand-me-down baby legs from her big sister.  She'll have to learn to live with hand-me-downs, with her #2 status.  She'll like it until she is about 11, and then she'll realize that she rarely gets anything brand new and become bitter of her older sister's clothes...oh wait...that was me!

Actually, I always loved getting things that were my older sister's.  Probably, b/c I thought that my sister was a picture of perfection and I wanted to be just like her..Still do actually, she is everything a big sister should be.
Tonight, after bath time, I caught Libby having a chat with Maggie.  This little sister was hanging on every word her big sister told her, and in that moment I knew....I knew that they will have a bond that no one will ever be able to sever.  The are bonded to each other by an ardent love (just so you know, I claimed that I would start throwing this word around more regularly, so you might start seeing it show up in every post).
I heart sisters.  So glad that I have my own.  So glad I have these two living in my house.
I can almost hear Rosemary Clooney singing in my head right now, with that big blue fan in front of her face..."sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.."





Here's to Libby's sister, and Maggie's sister, and my sister, and all sisters.

Grace and Peace
xoxo

(Just a declaimer that I did not think of my title on my own.  I read something similar on someone's facebook status and thought that it sounded clever, so here it it is in my blog)

Isn't It Lovely

‎"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you" ~Mr Darcy




It's late again and my thoughts on a grand Valentine's Day post are being over ruled by my desire for bed.  However, I just thought I'd make time to say that it is amazing to me that I get to love them everyday for the rest of my life.
That's all.

Grace and Peace and Love
xoxo

Odd Genetic Traits

I have been trying to write a cohesive post since yesterday with this hodge podge of pictures and it's just not rolling the way I want it to.
Do you remember this picture?  I've posted it before.  Those tiny toes below have grown, but I had to post it b/c it reminds so much....

...of these tiny toes that I shot just yesterday.  Apparently, one sock on and one sock off is part of our children's genetic make up, or new born socks just never stay on any baby feet  ...
.Hmmmm...moving right along.

I don't know how this picture slipped in this group, except that I wanted to show you that she still makes this face, like she is thinking really hard about something.  She gets that little crease above her eye, and she looks really mad about it.  When actually she's generally a happy girl.

No, they aren't all looking at the TV.
I don't know what your talking about.
Stop judging me.
Yes, she eats broccoli all the time.
I would never let my kids and dog watch movies all day. It would surely turn little minds to mush,  and I would certainly not feed them chocolate in order to ensure angelic behavior.
I was actually just out of this shot teaching them Greek and whipping up a batch of flax seed and vegetable soup.

I wasn't yelling in that last blurb, I was just being overly passionate about our daily activities.  By the way, is it just me or does my dog resemble a rug?

Back to the post that had no rhythm.
No matter how many ounces are attached to those 10lbs she is now, when I hold her she still feels small in my arms.  Look, one armed. I can take pictures, I can do the dishes, I  can sew another quilt...

Yes, I made another quilt.  A small one, for my small one.  I cut this one out before Maggie was born from scraps I had from another project so that I could make her a crib quilt.  Libby and I actually quilted it yesterday so now all I have to do is bind it...
Quilt #2, done!
I also finished the Little's baby book.  It is ordered and on its way to us as I type.  I'm starting the Littlest's asap so that it doesn't take me 2 1/2 years to complete.  
As for the 27 other projects I have on the go right now, well nap time only lasts so long and someone besides my husband needs to productive around this old house.

Back to what I was writing about. Was I writing about anything?  Or just stringing random things together?  What I was trying to say is, little babies grow way to fast.  I think that because the Littlest feels so small, my Little feels huge, like there is no way possible that she was ever  that tiny. 

I found my videos of Libby (the early years) the other night and I didn't even feel like I was watching her, I felt like it was Maggie.  It made me a little a sad. Does that mean I'll forget what it feels like with Maggie right now?  Am I going to forget that holding her in the middle of the night, while everyone else is sleeping, is actually one of my favorite times of the day?  Am I going to forget how incredible it has been watching these two girls fall in love with each other the way that only sisters can do?

And while I'm wondering does that mean one day I'll forget what it is like to have a two year old who tells me about the tigers that are outside our windows? She said that she was squared (scared) of them, until her Dadue came to bedtime and assured her that if they came in our house Gussy boy would save us, and with that word from her Prince Charmin (all the Prince Charmings from all stories are Dadue to her) fell happily asleep.

That is why I go on and on about them, about us, in this space, so that when I have a spare minute I can go back and read about every single first, every single big day, every single ordinary day.  I don't want to forget things like,  Trouble kept a distant but watchful eye on Maggie one Wednesday afternoon.

I don't want to forget that even though she doesn't know any words her words yet, her eyes yell at me and tell me to look into them while they are willing to stay locked on my own.

I don't want to miss a thing...
Even if it means taking 27 shots of her sleeping and posting every single one b/c I can't decide which one she looks more delicious in...
That thing her mouth does when she sleeps is absolutely captivating. I  just kept clicking.  It was actually involuntary after several minutes, and after each one I would stop and say "Babe, just look at her."
Then he would say, "oh, look at that one, almost just like the last, but yeah, she's pretty cute."
You decide which one you like the best, scroll through, but I have to say that her mouth in the last one is pretty spectacular.

Okay...I don't think I came up with anything ground breaking in this post.  Just more words from this girl, who somehow is a mama now, and is positively in love with her babies.

I'm off to make sure the windows are locked so the tigers can't get in and I might just take another picture of Maggie sleeping.

Grace and Peace
xoxo

One Picture....

...Because the post I intended to write had about 1 million pictures and would have taken me all night to write.   So here's a snapshot of my growing 1 month old...10 lbs 10 oz, wowzers!  We like babies plump 'round these parts!



Good night, sleep tight....

xoxo

Quick Post...It's Never A Quick Post

I started this post about 3 days ago, when Google informed  me that I had used up all of my space for pictures.  I felt helpless, like what is this blog worth if there are no pictures of the little cherubs below...I'll tell you what it would be, the empty words of a some-what crazy housewife, and that is putting it lightly.  So, after a  little research,voila!  Pictures!  Whew, I thought I was going to have to get really interesting in my writing... 

Wednesday we sent our sweet Grandma back to the mother land.  Three weeks of parental help allowed my body to heal properly and allowed me to bond with my baby in the way that I should.  Thursday and Friday were difficult for us both when we realized that we couldn't spend the majority of the day looking at each other. 

\

I wanted to title this post something like "It's In the Bag," or "Piece of Cake," when  actually the more appropriate title would be something like "I'm Not Ready For Two, Oh Wait, I Have Two," or "I'm Holding It Together By A Very Thin Thread."  This is a picture of my bedroom after two days of being on my own...

I'm not sure how this happened, since Grandma made sure all the laundry was done before she left.  I do know that after I dug a little hole out the piles of clothes that needed to be put away it was nearly lunch time and  I realized that we needed to get dressed and go for a walk.  My original goal was to make it to the end of our road.  I have always held fast to the belief that a little fresh air does everyone a bit of good, and you know, it did for us, and we made it all the way around the neighborhood loop.

I can check that off my list.  Yes, I can walk around the block with both girls and the dog and make it home in one piece.

Now, about my Littlest.  Tomorrow she will be one month old.  Time is a wicked and beautiful thing.  In the 4 weeks I have known Maggie Bell I have learned that she only cries when she is hungry, sometimes she furls her brow at you like she doesn't like that last thing you just said to her, you can get lost in her deep blue eyes only to find yourself hours later wondering where your afternoon went, and (this is my favorite thing) she smiles in her sleep.  English Grandma claims that newborn babes can't smile yet and it is most likely  trapped wind, but I declare and stand firmly by this declaration that I am sure that she smiles because she is dreaming of something wonderful.   

If I was going to tell you something about her sister, it would be that she is my wild one, there is no mistaking that fact. I am sure that  I've always  known this about her and though I find it challenging some days, I can't imagine her any other way.

Some times she "roars her terrible roar" and I feel like I must be doing this mothering thing completely wrong.  Then she'll do something completely enchanting like fix me a cup of imaginary tea, and I melt,  and think no matter how hard that last moment was, this cup of imaginary tea fixes everything.

As for this post that was supposed to be quick, they are never quick these days.  It is quarter past midnight and while I'm sure I've wasted time typing misspelled words and run-on sentences, I have provided a couple pictures that I hope communicate that I love this life, with these two girls and their Dadue, even on days when I am buried in laundry.

I'm off to bed...I will be dreaming that all washing is done and put away in the proper place and like my Littlest, I will be smiling in my sleep, of  this I am sure.

Grace and Peace

xoxo