Happy Friday

This week has brought back terrible flashbacks of January. In January we got our first real taste of germs, of the family flu, of the sickness that creeps from one baby to the next, to the mommy, to the daddy, and beyond. And beyond. In January we all got sick. And in pure honesty, we have not been able to forget it. We have had a few bouts of sickness since then, and we can't help but think that with every virus and every late night, and with every dose of baby Advil....we have this heavy curtain of what next.

What is next.

For months what next has been the heavy shoe, waiting to drop.  

The other shoe, what is next.

Since January we have had the dreaded shadow of "the other shoe" and we wonder, more than we should, when is the other shoe going to drop. What terrible thing, terrible shoe, long hopeless terrible night, is going to drop next?

So this week when Teebs began running a fever and sluggishly dragging his droopy spirit around, it was time to let the dread go. The other shoe, the next dreadful fate that is always there, it was time to let it go.

We let it go. Because greater than the next bout of bad luck and germs, is beautiful cheeks.

Beautiful sleeping cheeks.  And sleeping babies.

I can worry about my babies, and life, and the number on the thermometer, or I can appreciate

the way my hair drapes over their piggley wiggley snores when they sleep so softly. 

The daintiest snores I have ever heard. 

The daintiest snores I have ever heard. 

 And those gently curled fingers, the chunky joints that curl in the subtlest of ways---

For just a moment, just one warm second of thought, those chubby extremities take all of the worry away.

Oh. My babies. There is so much to worry about.

But you take it all away, my babies.

You take it all away.

Cries in the middle of the night. Fevers. Germs. Sicknesses that appear and spread and disappear.

But those hands. Those chunks. Those sighs in the middle of the night. Those peaceful sleeping moments---They make up for everything.

Babies---you make up for everything.

For everything.

Those peaceful, sleeping, chunky cheeked snores--- they make up for everything.

Those momemts. Those every moments. Those sick moments and well moments and snoring moments. Those laughing, chuckling, salivating, smiling, giggling moments. They all remind me that we are alive. We are here. Where are living. We are living. We are loving moments. Those laughing moments. Those sick moments. Those dreamy moments. Those snoring moments. 

Those fever moments.

Those every moments.

They are all our moments.

They are all ours. They are all ours.

And I don't even need to mention that tomorrow is Friday. And that Friday starts a whole new round of days and moments. And they are ours. A whole new week. A whole new weekend. Whole new moments. And whatever happens, we are here together, and we are loving it.

Happy Friday, and happy life, and happy living whatever it is that you are given to live.

Happy Friday.

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Summer is Coming

Summer is coming.

 Summer is coming and some of us are so excited we can hardly stand it.

Including me. I am so excited for summer I can hardly stand it. Summer means dangling, bare baby toes on a picnic bench eating ice cream.

We are in that point in Spring where we shiver through the morning, take off a jacket during a bright afternoon, and by evening...by evening the sun has been baking the earth for the entire day.

By evening we bask.

But our kind of basking requires ice cream.

 

Lots and lots of ice cream.

 

There is something about the combination of baby cheeks frozen by the churning of sweet cream and chocolate, green grass, sticky fingers, and a glowing setting sun.

It just screams Summer is coming.

Summer.

Is.

Coming.

 Our bare toes are squeezing the crispness of fresh green grass.

And we are stretching, reaching, pulling our tight and winter-froze muscles. We are gearing up.

Because summer is coming.

This weekend has been less of a blur of busy-ness and more of a saturation in excitement. We basked in ice cream, made a quick trip to see Tom's mom, took naps, and dreamed about all of the ways we are going to welcome in Summer.

I always feel like the anticipation of Summer make Spring absolutely dreamy. When the last ice patch seeps into the dirt and green pops up in sprouts all over yards, every year I feel a burst of wonder, and so much excitement, like everything is new. I've seen 25 Spring seasons, and each one feels like the most amazing thing that has ever happened.

Every Spring feels like, this is so amazing how could this have possibly happened before.

But it has happened before, and it will happen again, And again and again. And after Spring...Summer. We can hardly wait.

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How We Filled Our Weekend

 Saturday was a day for watching golf and giving kisses.

Daddy did all of the golf watching, and I did most of the kisses giving. It was a rainy, stormy, windy, stay inside and look dreamily out of the window kind of day.

So that is exactly what we did.

It was one of those days where the weather cancels everything, and we have to regroup in the living room and come up with a new game plan. A new plan of what are we going to fill this day with.

And, to put it lightly, I love days like that.

I love days like that. When Teebs fills the day with exactly what he does best, which is not taking anything too seriously---

And Bub fills the day with exactly what he does best, which is taking life, and computer games, and everything in between, very, very seriously---

And I love that difference between them, those bits of personality that seep out in a way that make me want to do nothing else but scoop up my babies and say I love you just the way you are.

And then today, after Bub's gymnastics class (yes, he is still going, and yes he is still loving it) we went to Making First Impressions to have the boys' hand and footprints done.

Teebs, the brute and thrill seeker that he is did wonderfully---

 And was very, very proud of himself,

And my Bub, like he usually does, taught me a huge and unexpected lesson. Bub is so much like me, so cautious, so wavering, so full of critical thinking, that I often count him out of things. "No he won't do that" or "No he won't like that" I so often find myself saying. And while I say this because it is what he told me, still I have to let myself step back and give him the opportunity to be scared, but move forward anyway.

And he did. He moved forward anyway.  So we bribed him with chocolate, whatever, he still made the choice to jump in and go for it. And I learned a valuable lesson and we will have some beautiful ceramic ornaments from the experience.

And that is exactly how we filled our weekend. Thunderstorms, kisses, television golf, regrouping, and learning lessons.

And in true Bub fashion, our plan for the rest of this week is to jump in and go for it.  As life goes forward and we still work on selling our house, finding a new one, raising our babies, staying sane...we are going to move forward anyway.

We are jumping in and going for it and wishing everyone a wonderful, wonderful week.
 
You can visit First Impressions and make your own memories here: Making First Impressions
Or like their Facebook page here: Making First Impressions

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Easter 2012

The Easter Bunny brought fish---

Bub got a red fish, and Teebs a blue fish, and in true Bub fashion he named them Red Fish and Blue Fish.

I had wondered for days what Bub was going to name these new pets, and when he declared with such strong confidence "Red Fish, and Blue Fish" I couldn't do anything but nod. Yes, Bub, you are right. They are Red Fish and Blue Fish. So we feed them once in the morning and once before bedtime, and Red Fish and Blue Fish are very, very happy.

And in a word, Easter was happy.

Easter Morning was relaxed and we colored eggs in pajamas with messy, tangled hair.

And this was the first year that Bub got it. We were coloring eggs, we were celebrating Easter, and he got it. 

And when my babies get celebration, my heart seeps through the pores in my soul---melted and happy. I was melted and happy.

Bub analyzed his color options---

 

And Teebs rested his chunky hands, waiting and watching, Learning. 

Teebs was waiting, and watching and learning.

These beautiful traditions, I couldn't love them anymore if I tried. The best part, (the most trying part), but still the best part, is the mess afterwards.

The destruction of my dining room table, the colorful dying of chubby fingers, the wails of babies who don't know what to do with the mess on their palms, they are all the signs of life. The signs that we are celebrating, making something, making memories. 

And this Easter, I now know that no celebration is complete without a baby eating a fistful of dirt during an Easter egg hunt and getting hosed off in the front lawn.

These are the celebrations I live for. The messes. The dirt. The colors. The egg dye. The messes.

This. is. the. life.

This is what I want my boys to remember. Colors and laughter and celebration. And Easter, 2012. This is what I want for my boys.

Happy Easter, and Happy Celebrating.

<3

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Busy.

This week has, literally, been a blur. We are trying to sell our house, trying to buy a house, trying to keep up with the demands of Bub and Teebs, I'm still trying to start my business, and we are trying to make time for everything in our life that deserves our time. But then again, who isn't busy. And even in the mucky middle of all of this busy-ness, there are still moments like this:

Moments like this that remind me, I have not one thing in the world to complain about and I have everything in the world to be thankful for.

Last weekend we went to a cousins' birthday party on a beautiful acreage.

 Where I fell in love with a horse

 And with serenity

And with companionship

 And the kids, they didn't have a bad time either.

All the kids, from small:

To big:

Because Tom grew up on a farm, I have this sweet little soft spot in my heart for seeing my kids on a tractor, surrounded by country air. And dirt, lots and lots of dirt.

I love it.

 
And there is that serenity again---

 In the midst of all of that busy-ness, Bub still got to spend some time at the lake

With one of his cousins who is just 6 short weeks apart from his age.

And if that wasn't enough, Bub is enrolled in a gymnastics class and continues to rock at life week after week.

Moments like that, I love, love love. Did I say we were busy? I think I meant we are blessed. We are very, very blessed.

To top of this weekend there are boiled eggs waiting in the fridge to be colored, and plans of a delicious strawberry shortcake to be made, and time slotted out to spend with friends and family. Busy is a blessing, and we are loving every second of it.

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