October

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. 

- Lucy Maud Montgomery

October was a month of adventure for us. We welcomed friends whenever possible, and we flew across the country to see another dear friend marry her beloved. Our trip to New Jersey was filled with, well, lots of praying Daniel would make it on flights (he was flying standby), entertaining our darling third wheel, and soaking in time with my college roommates. We are so lucky to get time with almost all of them (one of our honorary roommates lives many countries away). We've all changed, but stayed the same even more.

Then came our first snow of the year! It was heavy and wet, and Mlada refuses to wear gloves. We had 95% of the necessary snow gear... so really not too bad! 

In the proper Colorado way, the weather almost immediately became lovely again... at least lovely enough to go wandering out in the almost-melted snow in jammies.

Our reading and snuggling time has also ramped up in a perfectly wonderful way. Emílie's quilt gets pulled off the back of the couch a hundred times a day, and I love it. 

 Oh, and of course: dance parties. Mlada has been breaking out the moves. The time change and lack of light in our day puts us all in a mood at least a few times a day, so books and music are our go-to mood lifters. If all else fails, it's naptime or an episode of Little Bear.

We also said good-bye, or rather, see you as soon as physically possible, to one of our favorite families. As hard as it always is to see friends move away, they are going somewhere so wonderful that makes it a bit easier. 

We attempted the traditional pumpkin patch visit, but oh my, it was cold! We waited a bit too late in the month, our early freeze had destroyed most of the poor pumpkins, and the wind went right through these little sweeties. We came home with one lovely misshapen guy and a little one for each kiddo.

Anni had a two day "autumn intermission", so Daniel took the same days off to give us some extra family time. We made it to the zoo and it was really the best time I've had there in a long time! We explored some areas we hadn't been to, and with Mlada's newfound recognition of animals, it was just all joy. 

And finally, the month closed out with Halloween. Anni gets to dress up for school as anything they had studied, so she was autumn. The tattoos were probably a poor choice since we are still trying to scrub them off a week later, but it was such fun at the time!

Miss Mlada spent the day dressed up as her Aunt Tinie in one of  her namesake's shirts from her own toddlerhood, which was just fun.

The crowning jewel! Our little Moana (dressed for a chilly evening in Colorado rather than a tropical climate), a wee little elephant, and our very own Space Cadette Colette. 

And that. is that. Here's to the next month of adventure!

Baby girl on the way: Care Package!

I have a dear friend who is bringing a beautiful baby girl into the world in a few months. Putting together a sweet little package for her was so happy! A few things are hand-me-downs (which she knew were coming), but lots of love was put into it.

From top left, spiraling in clockwise:

1. A few fun little maternity clothes.
2. Pride and Prejudice notecards
3. A sweet little notebook for whatever she may need.
4. A darling little outfit for her new baby girl
5. Cherubalm! This not only smells amazing (chrism-scented!), but works beautifully for diaper rashes and eczema.
6. A Little Unicorn swaddle. I love these for so many things, the obvious swaddling, a nursing cover (I don't otherwise use nursing covers, so I like having a lightweight blanket if my shirt is not as nursing friendly as I originally thought!)
7. The Breastfeeding Book. Some of you may recall that I pumped for the first year of my eldest's life. I am grateful I was able to do that for my preemie, but I hated it so much, so I was really, really hopeful that breastfeeding would work with my second babe. This book brought me so much peace! It is incredibly practical, with diagrams, explanations of most common issues, etc.
8. A super simple, soft pilot cap. I just love how sweet these look on little babes!
9. Babylegs. I like to keep a few of these around for baby gifts because they are so fun, and useful! I love them especially for the crawling stages (to protect those little knees) and potty training. They do make diaper changes super simple, as well!
10. A couple pairs of sweet shoes we had accumulated, but never gotten any use out of. I think one pair is pediped, but that's all I know on those.
11. "Count it All Joy" print. I love this so much, I'm ordering another for our gallery wall. My friend having the baby has always found so much joy in everything, it just called to me as being right for her.
12. A teddy... because every baby needs a cozy little teddy. I'm sure she will have plenty of sweet things to snuggle, but I felt like it completed the box.

Magic

I often forget, amongst the craziness that is having children, that they are magic.

They are unspoiled by our grown-up worries. We get to worry about the world and its insanities, and they get to worry about the best way to weave a flower crown.

Or who gets to water Mary's flowers first.

They take joy in letting the littlest have the first crown, and in being together.

Magic.

St. Colette Goes to the Zoo

Today was one of St. Colette's feast days (the one not during Lent, so way easier to celebrate with brownies for dessert), and an unseasonably warm day, so we celebrated with a trip to the zoo with some of our best friends. Of course, our little wooden St. Colette doll had to come with us.

I'm pretty sure there is nothing cuter than these three girls holding hands and making their way through the (super busy) zoo. 

Except maybe adding in Mama Amy and the littelest one... because that's ridiculously cute.

It was a good day. Thank heavens for sunny Colorado in the middle of the winter, and for our sweet friends. Such a happy way to spend a day!

and then, this happened last night, so, I'll just leave this cuteness right here:

Taking it as slow as I want to...

In my high school days, I was inducted into Quill and Scroll (it's an honor's society for high school journalists).  My Dad showed up unexpectedly, with a bouquet of yellow carnations and a big hug.  That little moment of recognition, of letting me know that he saw me and my accomplishments was a big one for me.  

On St. Valentine's Day, Daniel surprised us by making it home a little early and bringing a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for me and a single, beautiful, white rose and a tigger balloon for Anni.  Knowing that Anni is shown love and respect by the most important man in her life right now gives me hope that she'll look for that same level of love and respect in future relationships. 

 

We're entering the "almost three, I'm a big girl and cannot listen to anything you want/need/ask because that would mean I'm not doing it myself" phase.  It brings with it lots of mommy and daddy desperately looking at each other trying to figure out the game plan is.  However; it also brings amazingly detailed and vivid stories from this little girl's imagination, dance parties like you wouldn't believe and, a healthy dose of, "I yike you, mommy.  I yike Daddy, too.  Do you yike Daddy?"  (The answer is yes, in case you were wondering.)  It's all about hanging onto those moments through the screams of, "No, I DO IT," even if we were perfectly happy letting her do it.  At least, as a 9 month pregnant woman... I can understand irrationality a little, even if I'm not as capable of patience as I should be.

Speaking of being 9 months pregnant (Lil' Bit and I reach our estimated due date tomorrow), Anni and I have been striving for a balance of "Do something" and "Get enough rest so that if this pre-labor actually turns into the real thing one night I'm not completely exhausted."

Valentine's Day went something like this.  Me = very glad I had wandered through the Target dollar aisle a few weeks ago so I had some fun projects for us.  We rolled out some pie crust we had leftover in the freezer and used some frozen raspberries to make some quick heart tarts for breakfast.  I was hoping to use the strawberry vanilla jam my sister sent us from summer canning... but, it didn't want to give itself up (aka, I couldn't open it, I think I've required help the last few times... I've got to find a better way), which probably means it wanted me to use homemade crust, so it is getting saved for homemade mini poptarts for my hubby's weekly "mini poptart time" that he has with a team (not quite his team, but probably the closest he has since he's kind of his own department) at work.    

Then, we rolled onto stickers, window clings and playing with the decorations (again, thank goodness for Target this time). 

Then came afternoon.  No really, that was our morning.  Afternoon was mostly me lying half passed out on the bed, Anni reading books and watching the PBS kids app and then her both having a dance party and throwing fits (they somehow can happen one after the other...) while I made dough for our Valentine's calzones.  whew.  By the time Daniel walked through the door, I may have shed a few tears of exhaustion and happiness that he was there to help.  Have I mentioned that he's just great?

The next day, some of our favorite people came to visit.  I love that my friend made the plans and was perfectly okay that they were contingent upon labor, sickness and general feeling of our household... despite the fact that she has to drive half an hour to see us.  I'm so grateful that we have such sweet friends in our lives!

 Then came the weekend... glorious weekend.  It's funny that a quick house showing and visit to the park wore me out completely and constituted a "busy" Saturday, but I'm okay with it.  I'm allowing myself to take everything as slow as I want, even if every other 40 week pregnant woman is doing amazing things and feeling awesome.  I'm just going to do my best not to worry about what's coming and maybe, just maybe, get caught up on the laundry. 

 

  

PS Was there ever anything quite as wonderful as my hubby having a three day weekend?  Because I'm pretty sure it's the best thing ever right now.