Colette at 2 months

 Our little lady Lettie turned two months old last week.  My heart may break at the sweetness.  She is an expressive little gal... it's not hard to guess how she's feeling at any one moment.  She gives out recklessly adorable smiles in abundance, but also has the sweetest "I'm just taking this all in" face.  She gained two pounds and two inches since birth, so apparently we're doing just grand in the feeding department.

We also had one night where she slept through the night(!)  That night, I woke up at 3 am and just stared at her, making sure she was breathing and such.  We haven't had any repeats of that night, but she does tend to have at least one long stretch at night... now if I could just condition myself to going to sleep at 8 when she does... but then I probably wouldn't have a business... or a home you could even remotely see the floor of (that is still questionable some days).  

Quiet is much harder to come by these days.  I never thought of Anni as loud until I tried to keep her quiet around the baby.   I'm so grateful for the quiet moments with this babe.  It's been really wonderful to have those peaceful snatches of time to reflect on the beauty of my little ones and motherhood.  I try to reach back and borrow peace from that reserve when everyone is crying (including myself) and it feels like I'll never be caught up (probably true). 

Happy two months, sweet little Lettie!  You are loved!

7 Quick Takes Friday

I decided I'd join in on the "7 Quick Takes" this week.  Easy way to share our week without too much brain energy...

1. Anni is POTTY-TRAINED!  I'm not saying she'll never have another accident, because, well, I just can't promise that.  But we're on our fourth day (and soon to be night!) in panties only.  Thank goodness we ran out of diapers and just decided to grin and bear it.  That being said, I'm really glad we took the slow train and let her do things her way... we definitely don't need one more reason for tantrums and tears (from any of us) around here.

2. Colette sleeps sometimes... this is a big, happy deal.  That's all.
 

Oh, and then she wakes up like this:

 So, pretty much, life is good.

3. It's still snowy... stillllll.  I'm really grateful for the precipitation (for our state, not really for me, I have no yard, therefore no garden that notices that we're in a drought), but I'd love it if we could transition into a nice spring rain now.  Maybe? 

Maybe I should drop the dreams of Anni's 3 year pictures having any sort of green in them... cuz it doesn't look like that's happening quite yet.  At least I've been trying to get creative with snow-y crafts so we aren't so bored being trapped inside (well, Anni, I'm an introverted introvert of the homebody type and it takes some serious prying to get me to leave my cozy little home... disaster that it is).  Anyway, Anni got her first go at scissors annnnd we brought some snow inside. 

4. Oh, yeah, Anni is turning THREE in less than 3 weeks.  eek!  When did this itty bitty baby

grow up and become, not a baby, not a toddler, but a little girl?!  I'm not sure what our birthday plans are for our sweet gal as we're leaving for Kansas the next day.  Thoughts welcome.

5. Daniel and I celebrated 5 years since we started dating this week... and by celebrating I mean that he completely surprised me flowers by sneaking them up from the car after I'd gone to bed and then we skipped going out because I'd already been out in the freezing snow/rain with girls the entire afternoon and while we had a babysitter for Anni, Lettie is still definitely in the "mommy is not letting you out of my sight" phase.  Soooo... we ordered pizza and didn't go straight to bed the instant Lettie was down for her longer stretch... nope, we watched Dr. Who... romance at its finest :).

Us... just a couple of weeks after we started dating... it's a good story, someday I'll tell you all about it.

6. I love my sister's homesteading life. It just makes me smile every time she tells me about their new adventure (and... I love mooching off of her delicious produce!)

7. We're still house hunting!  I'm accepting the fact that I may need to keep practicing patience for several more months... things are just not easy for buyers in our area!  Here's hopin'!

Find more 7 Quick Takes at Camp Patton.

The post in which I whine a little... and include cute pictures

This past week has been rough.  I'm just going to go the ol' bandaid route, and tell you all that all that at once so we can move on quickly to the happy... in fact, this may get a little whiny, so please, feel free to just skip to the happy photos.

The yuck:

The housing market stinks in this area for buyers, the houses are generally gone before we can see them (even when we try to see them the day they go on the market), but we don't want to settle for something that doesn't at least fulfill what we need.

This week we had to figure out why our fire alarm was beeping... turns out it was the carbon monoxide alarm.  We grabbed the babies  and I sat in the snowy car with the heat blasting while Daniel let the firemen in and watched as their CO detectors detected... nothing... for 45 minutes... while I sat in the car and tried to explain to a very confused Anni that we might be going to a friend's apartment ("I want to see Bawissa NOW!") or, well, maybe not, because the firemen may have fixed the apartment, aka, nothing was ever wrong.  It started going off again a couple days later (luckily, we had bought a backup, so I knew I didn't need to leave).  It took a little husband complaining to get them to come replace it right away (it's a little tough trying to turn it off every three minutes while nursing a little one), but they did... so problem solved.


I'm in that phase where nothing fits.  This wouldn't bother me so much, except... I have no nursing clothes (which makes getting the hang of nursing in public a little more awkward than necessary) annnnd I keep going through clothes to look presentable... and keep ending up with a pile that have holes/stains/something ridiculous wrong with them.  I'm unfortunately not all that good at picking out clothes that are good for my body as it is, so I'm feeling pretty darn lost right now.  The plan is to grab at least some nursing shirts to get me by... but that requires having someone to help with the littles, and there's precious little time with that.  Silly, I know, but it would be really nice not to feel like a frump when I do make it out of the house.  So, really, I just need someone with some fashion sense to give me a little makeover.  Position open, friends.

This one's just funny (because it will get done)... for the first time ever (not that I've had to do them for that long), I'm submitting my taxes at the last minute.  We try to head to bed the instant Lettie falls asleep for her longer stretch at night, and since I'm generally nursing her most of the time leading up to that, there hasn't been much time to stretch my tired, math-skill-lacking brain to the task.  Thank goodness for my husband's help... we'll squeak by with time to spare tonight.  

To be honest, none of this is a big deal... it will (or already has) all work out.  I think I'm just overwhelmed and tired with life in general... pretty much par for the course when a sweet newborn joins the family. 

But then, we have this:

Where I am today:

I'm guest blogging over at The Catholic Wife today, talking about my journey learning to be present in my own life.  Check it out, as well as her other posts, she's a lovely writer (and person!)

I'm also officially "back at work", so stay tuned on my business blog for more updates :).

The world I live in...

I live in a world of lost socks... but also a world of baby toes: sweet, itty bitty ones that big sisters like to kiss.

I live in a world of toddler tantrums... but also a world where that toddler notices everyone else's tears, too, and tries her best to soothe them with back pats and songs. 

I live in a world of sleepless nights... but I I also live in a world where, for this short time, I am able to provide everything my babies need.

I live in a world of "please be gentle with your baby sister!"... but also a world where these sisters have nothing but love for each other.


I live in a world where there isn't a lot of time or money for date nights out... but also a world where I've never wanted to spend my whole life with someone more than when seeing my husband as a daddy.

I live in a world where things are not all clean at once... but books are read, sleeping babies are snuggled and everyone is told they're loved.

I live in a world of frustration, exhaustion and overwhelming emotion, but I live in a world where love lives also.