Celebrate

Maggie will find out one day that her third birthday was not the spectacle that her sister's was.  I hoping that she will forgive me based on the fact that we still don't really know anyone here.

This is what three looks like right after you left two

This is what a big sister looks like trying to talk the birthday girl into giving up her new presents

 We had a great day together even though there were no favors in mason jars or cupcakes with frilly tags.  There was a Carvel ice cream cake and life really doesn't get much better than a slice of ice cream cake. Unless your name is Maggie Jones and it is your third birthday and Mommy makes an executive decision that everyone should have seconds.  It was delicious.

Kev went into work late so that she could open her gifts in the morning.  Then he and his sweet little 3 year old had a tea party together before he had to leave us.  Maggie serves up a fantastic imaginary tea party.

 I took the kids to a movie in the afternoon as a special birthday treat and then out to lunch.  Since doing this, Libby has asked several times to stay home from school.  I think she thinks that Maggie, Cooper and I go to the movies and out to lunch all the time and that she is missing something.  What she doesn't realize is that actually we are just folding laundry and washing breakfast dishes.
I have a three year old again, and I am thankful for her life.  I am  thankful for her little lip that quivers if my voice is anything but kind. I'm thankful that she tells me all the time that I am her best friend. I'm thankful that she is brave (which is a big deal because she is very shy).  I am thankful that she sings all the time, very loudly.  She is smart, she notices things, she has dimples and ringlets.

Sweet.
xoxo

The Day We Taught Him To Jump

Life comes with so many distractions these days.  I am especially susceptible to these distractions.  I have to
practice a lot of self discipline to stay on task throughout the day, so that the girls don't dress the dog like a princess and strap the cat to the rocking horse while I'm off in la-la land being distracted.  Despite all these distractions, the one that I have never regretted is spending time here, on this blog, recording our day to day, their childhood, how I felt about each one of them at certain times.

On this day, I took the reclined baby seat out of the kitchen and replaced it with a baby jumping seat.  His sisters taught him to jump and he was mesmerized by their every move.  Even though he cried the first time we tried it out, with the help of his teachers he loved it by the end of the day.

Memory recorded.
xoxo

Champion

First, I just want to say that these pictures were taken on an amazing day.  It was several days after Christmas.  This outdoor ice rink is an idealistic place to go and feel Christmassy.  Bing was singing in the background with  Danny Kaye.  It was magical.  I wanted to hug everyone.  

I was immensely proud of my kids on this day.  Sometimes we don't give them enough credit.  We actually considered not trying this activity.  We thought it might be a bit tough for them and knowing that it was costly to listened to Christmas music, while ice skating outdoors we thought about not doing it at all. 

They were so brave though.  They got right out there and tried their absolute best.  All of a sudden I was that mom cheering in the middle ice rink.  Stopping precariously in front of wobbly fellow skaters making sure I captured the whole thing on camera.

Somewhere there is a genius who thought it would be a great idea to use old buckets to lean on while you learn to skate.  To him we are thankful.  Before the day ended both girls let go of their buckets to try skating on their own.  

I had words to say for days about this event.  Since it's late, and my back log of posts is growing and growing, I'll just say that I was so proud of them.  They were brave and they tried something new without hesitation.  Sometimes I wish I was as brave as they are.

My precious girls.

Grace and Peace

xoxo

I Love This Day

On January 7, 2011 something wonderful happened to the world.  Maggie Bell came to be part of our lives.  I close my eyes and I can still see her peaceful little newborn face staring at me.

She was so sweet.  She always has been.

Sometimes she touches my face with her little hands.  Sometimes she squeezes me as tight as she can and tells me I'm her best friend.  Sometimes she tells me that she missed me so much, just because I left the room.

She hates to be alone.  She just wants to be near us all the time.  How lucky for us to want to be needed by someone so wonderful.

Libby snapped these pictures of Maggie and I tonight.  I think that she did a pretty good capturing the way we feel about each other.

Happy Birthday to our little girl.  Three of the sweetest years I've know.
Here's a little video of her last day as a two year old. The last day of an age is always a little bittersweet.


Grace and Peace
xoxo

January 1, 2013

Morning hit me.  I opened my eyes and I just knew.  In my heart I knew that I was pregnant again.  The week before I had even taken a pregnancy test that was negative, but at the beginning of the New Year I just knew that it was wrong.  That night, on our way home I told Kev that I thought I needed to stop to buy a test.  I walked into the bathroom test in hand and watched it for those long minutes while we waited for the words to appear.

January 1, 2013

  I didn't even have to look, I just handed it to him.  For months he had been telling me that he was settled with our two darling girls and he believed that we were done.  My heart wasn't done, but I understood his point of view.  So when he leaned his head back on the couch and his tone was less than excited for our new babe, I actually felt guilt for the news I had just given him.  He tilted his back and looked up at the ceiling and said, "I hope it's a boy."

February

 His heart almost immediately made room for three, but at an early ultra sound in February, when the technician showed me the skinny baby wriggling inside of me and said I think it's a boy,  I was amazed.  God knew Kevin's heart and gave us a son.

He spent most of last winter working away.  In March he interviewed for a his new job, and by April we were packing up our big house.

March

April

In May, we moved to our beach house with the smaller everything.

May

I stumbled through June, July, and August trying to be content here, constantly looking back at what we had and looking around at what we didn't have now.

June

July

August 

 September came and with it our lovely tiny son.  October, November, December somehow we are here.  One year later.  So much of our life looks completely different than it did one year ago.

September

There are many days that I complain, this house is small, this city is busy, my friends are few, but when I take the time to reflect over the last year, I zip my lips.
A son was requested and a son we have.
We are together and that is enough.

October

November

I don't know how these next 12 months will change us, but my one resolution is to be better.
There are many things about 2013 that I could have done better, eating, exercising, parenting, etc, but when I look at our year as a whole I can see that our life only got better and that is a good thing.
Over the last three days I've gone over in my head how to expand more creatively on this thought, but right now, I'm typing with my right hand and holding my tiny son with my left.
I'll leave with this, changes came last year. They were exciting, and challenging, and scary, but we are better for them. My hope is that we can leave this year feeling the same.

December

Grace and Peace
xoxo