Everything I've ever wanted

So, house status is solidly in the "it looks (much!) worse before it looks better" stage.  (Don't ever be fooled by the magic of the Internet that makes it seem like "before" goes to "after" in just one tidy snap of a finger.)

Much worse.  But since frequent postings of wallpaper peeling progress would be the Internet equivalent of watching paint dry, I'll switch gears to mom-blog and share some pictures of our lovely little afternoon picnic.  But not before I assure you that the fruit basket border is NOT staying; I just hadn't found the ladder yet at the point of this photo.

It was one of those days, weather wise, where everything seems absolutely perfect.  When I took this shot, I announced that it captured "everything I have ever wanted."  I think it felt all the more sweet because I have recently been doing a lot of thinking and reading about intentional living, and have been keeping a running list of the things that I want my life and our home to be like.  One of the recurring themes is simple joys, the carefree time spent together sharing the beautiful gifts we've been given.  

 I consider our lives at a bit of a crossroads, moving from a (haphazardly utilized and pretty overwhelming) temporary housing situation to our little dream house that very well may be the address where I receive mail from my grand kids.  The transition is a good chance for me to reflect on what I really want and make the space and our routines and decisions reflect that, but the exercise has been so fruitful that I recommend it to everyone, even if you're not in the midst of a huge change.

I kept a notepad on the kitchen counter for a few days with the header "I want our lives/home to be..." and jotted down random ideas as I thought of them.  I found Tsh Oxenrider's books to be inspiring and practical - check out Notes from a Blue Bike and Organized Simplicity.  The theme and content of the two is similar, but the former reads more like a memoir and the latter more like a manual.

Off the soapbox and on to more pictures:

Family photos are exponentially harder with the addition of each child.  These are my two favorites from the series.  Three out of four are smiling.  And the toddler is holding her nose.

Aaand, totally accidental, but perfect hand position from Anna.  

What is your perfect Saturday?  I hope you enjoyed some of it today :)

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!)

Monday's memories

Ah, today.  It could be remembered by the 3 potty training accidents, 2 diaper blow-outs, or the partially-digested toddler sock that Justin discovered the dog had left in the laundry room.  Eyes that fought to close, a baby with a bellyache who just wanted to be held, the difficult-to-do-with-a-baby-strapped on chores, the sinking feeling that all of last week's hard work was already undone.

When my phone buzzed with Justin's 7 pm "leaving now" text, I chuckled to myself that it was the only extra piece I needed to fulfill that country song: "Dog's barkin', phone's ringin', One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin.'"

Both girls are now sweetly slumbering (having resolved the baby bellyache and toddler frustration at having to  put her books on the shelf before bedtime), and I finally had two hands to fold some laundry, changed into my favorite (now clean) pajamas, and read a few blogs.  One of my favorite bloggers, Kathryn at Team Whitaker, is hosting a "Week in My Life 2014" link-up, so I decided to jump on board and reflect on my day (and maybe some other days...we'll see how the week goes!)

I could go the play-by-play route, including the aforementioned frustrations, but I know that's not what I want to memorialize.

It's these, these moments.

Of sisterly love.

Of sharing the excitement of holiday celebrations.
(you wish you got to wear a turkey hat to work)

Of delighting at having a helper (and getting to "do it mineself").
Of enjoying a beautiful sunny day without coats in November (!) and appreciating nature and feeding the birdies.

 Of little conversations and hearing a growing creative imagination:

"Dis an egg, and dis a birfday cake!"
"Who's birthday is it?"
"It's you's birthday!  Happy birfday, mommy dear!" (singing)

(The third rock was deemed applesauce, my birthday came and went and we celebrated a collective birthday of Pop/Uncle/Mumsie, she cut the cake with her finger (which she called a knife but operated like scissors), and then the egg/birthday cake/applesauce turned into presents, wrapped with the free address label stickers I had just gotten out of the mailbox).

It's that toddler dialogue, the funny mispronunciations, the bright eyes discovering the world, that bring so much joy to my days.

It's those moments, the ones that are the reason that the chorus of that aforementioned barkin'/cryin' country song is as follows:

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Miss it, yes.  And sadly, forget it, too (at least in the vivid details I wish I could retain).  The specific details of each little toddler comment are already fading (I really wish I could remember what she was telling Julia this morning in that first picture!)  Thanks, Kathryn, for the inspiration to make a little time capsule this week :)

Check out more Week in My Their Life here.

The quintessential mom moment

I feel like posting these pictures on the tails of my last post make it sound like I've really mastered the whole super-mom thing, but keep in mind what's not pictured, including my extensive (like, most of the day) weekend napping that came as a result of the (now obviously false) labor symptoms I had Friday and Saturday that made us think Julia's arrival was imminent.

Although it's still clear that a baby is coming sooner rather than later, I'm now feeling more of the few-days timeline than a few-hours timeline that seemed the case over the weekend.  Now we're hoping she'll hold out until Thursday when my mom arrives in town (meaning Anna-care during labor will be less of a logistical feat) but either way I've finally reached a point where I'm pretty much ready!  The hospital bag is packed, the girls' clothes are (almost) all put away, I know where all of the baby essentials are, and the freezer is full of frozen meals.

For the first time since February?  March?  when we started preparing for the house sale, I felt like my day's to-do list was normal upkeep and didn't involve packing, unpacking, rearranging, or significant deep-cleaning.  Naturally, I didn't quite finish everything - blame the fact that capitalizing on the all-too-fleeting opportunities to nap always sounds better than cleaning a bathroom - but it was still a good day.

In addition to maximizing my napping, I've been trying to soak up all of the one-on-one time I have with sweet Anna, and to do fun things with her that we won't have time to do in the next month or so.

Today, her first go-round with baking cookies.  As I snapped these pictures, it definitely felt like a quintessential mom moment, one of those times where I want to freeze time and soak up her excitement and observations and cute comments as she experiences something new - something so simple, and yet so exciting.

The chocolate on my chin is my favorite part.

She's pleased with the results (although most of the pictures from this series have her with her finger pointing at me, saying "show Anna camera, see Anna picture pees!")

Mama's pleased with the new camera lens, too!  (This last shot and the first one were from my trial photo-shoot with the new nifty-fifty).

And finally, less photographic quality, but even more joy: how much fun is it to see these two delight in each other?

So excited to see the love and excitement multiplied with another sweet girl...any day now :)  Thanks for your prayers for a safe & healthy delivery!