One tiny turkey

So, as you probably guessed from Thursday's sorry excuse for a post, I sort of fell off the Week In My Life bandwagon...so today instead here's the tale of one tiny little turkey.

Yesterday, I made this turkey.

And I think he's pretty darn cute, so that makes me happy in and of itself.

But it also makes me happy because it shows that my wonderful husband realized that mama could use a little respite from being at the beck-and-call of a newborn 24-7.  And it makes me really happy because it means that we moved to a place where there is an existing community of Catholic moms who meet regularly for craft nights (seriously, how cool is that?!)

It also makes me happy because it reminds how much I've been enjoying this toddler stage (but who would have guessed from my last few posts gushing about just how adorable my Anna is?!)  

It's just that recently, with her vocabulary explosion, it's been this exponential increase in how much fun it is to be a mom.  Granted, it's always pretty amazing (slash super humbling) to realize that God has sent you a little person to hold and love and teach.  But I have to be honest, I didn't always love the baby stage.  I think I'm just realizing in retrospect how profoundly lonely I was - and kinda bored - with only the companionship of a nonverbal little one.

And then, all of a sudden, Anna started spouting hilarious and creative and intelligent sentences, and she became just so genuinely fun.  

The things that we can do and the conversations that we have freed me from the monotony, and from the frequent guilt at not having that much fun stacking blocks over and over again.

I've heard/read about so many women who said they wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom, but after trying it for a year they couldn't stand it and needed to go back to work for some intellectual stimulation, and that makes me sad.  Not sad if it's truly wanting to get back to work, but sad if it's a decision fueled by guilt and disappointment - because I know those feelings of thinking that maybe motherhood is not all you expected it to be, or that you're not all you expected you could be.  But now I've realized that I was looking at the problem through an unfair lens, and that the first year or so isn't an accurate representation of what being a stay-at-home mom is all about (spoken, of course, with the wisdom of all of my two years of experience ;) )

But now...now there are craft projects!  And story-telling!  And hilarious mis-pronunciations ("the computer dived again" after the laptop battery died (again) during a Skype session).  And "I'm so thirsty, mommy" or "I sooooo tired" instead of a frustrating guessing game with a crying baby.  And coloring pictures.  And "I love you so much!"  And seeing understanding and connections develop. And singing the ABCs.  And a stack of library books about Thanksgiving.

And an excited little girl when I showed her her new finger puppet :)

It probably sounds annoyingly chipper to read this post - so I apologize if there are too many rainbows/butterflies/felt turkey projects.  I just have to put it out there how excited I am by how much fun I'm unexpectedly having.  My rosey glasses have most certainly been tinted by the relief at having reached the end of an overwhelming stretch of preparing/house-selling/moving/adjusting since Justin accepted the job this time last year....not to mention the extreme relief at having a beautiful baby girl instead of a really painful pelvis.

Don't worry, there are plenty of times (like this morning's 2 hour stretch of defiance during which Anna's verbal capacity was tapped to narrate everything as "please not say 'Anna Rose.'''  "please not brush mine hair."  "Please not hold me tight."  "Please not say no."  "Please not put me in mine big dirl bed." when I wonder what business I have writing a post about loving toddler hood.  But then she wakes up and says "I wuv you, Mommy.  Snuggle me." and I realize that overwhelmingly, I do.

P.S. Can't forget to mention that that tiny turkey also represents how much I continue to love love love my new camera & lens.  I realized yesterday that our bedroom gets the perfect afternoon light for photo shoots, and voila:

And lest anyone be worried, I love that tiny little baby just as much as her big sister.  She's just not quite as funny (yet!)