And all that jazz…
Our tree is up, tiny, and perfect for this year. I wanted a small one so Morrison doesn’t constantly trip and fall into the thing, ruining umpteen ornaments. Next year we’ll probably be back to full size. I think it turned out splendidly.
I’m pretty sure this is the earliest I’ve had all of our Christmas decorations up, and it feels great. Now we can just sit back, enjoy them, and soak in the spirit of the season.
Happy holidays, everyone!
Thankful for a beautiful 6 year old whose kind heart and amazing mind inspire me and make me prouder every day.
Thankful for the most incredible 4 year old I’ve ever known. Her fairy spirit knows no bounds, and the inner workings of her mind are some of the most indescribably magnificent places humankind has ever experienced.
Thankful for an adorable little almost-18 month old whose smile lights a room, whose laughter brightens the darkest hours, and whose hugs make everything better.
Thankful for the man whom those 3 miracles call Daddy, without whom none of this would be possible.
Thankful for the time to be everything to our children, day and night.
Thankful for the health and strength to be everything to our children.
Thankful for family near and far, here and beyond. No matter how frequent or infrequent the contact, all are forever a part of us.
Thankful for friends old and new. Those friends who are always there, who know your secrets, who will keep you laughing until your sides ache and your cheeks hurt, and who make it seem like no time has passed at all when you meet again.
Thankful for friends, neighbors, and good people who believe in and value the same things. The importance of knowing you are there for our children, too, cannot be put into words.
Thankful for this house that becomes more and more our home every day. Our children came home here, are growing up here, and are learning life here. It is ours and they are safe here.
Thankful that our children are already realizing this is what’s important in life; that not everyone has what we do even when so many have so much more; and to be thankful and grateful, not greedy and selfish.
So very thankful, always.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I cannot believe today is the last day of summer vacation and we have to start the school routine all over again tomorrow. Waaahhh!!! Della is so totally excited to get back to school and start 1st grade, but I am so not ready for summer to end. It is my absolute favorite time of the year, and this one has been especially good. Why must all good things end so soon??
We kicked off the summer in high gear, as I explained just over 2 months ago in this post. Then came week after week of playing with friends; runs and bike rides; trips to the library and fountain; visiting the beach to make sand castles, look for sea glass, and picnic; and just generally enjoying the hot, sunny days to the fullest. No lessons, no schedules, no commitments, just fun.
The 4th of July is always a fun celebration in Whitefish Bay, and this year was no different. All the kids love to go up to watch the parade and collect as much candy as their little arms can possibly carry. Ryan and I saw a couple concerts at Summerfest, which were great since I hadn’t been in a couple years, and Morrison went to his first Brewers game, a milestone occasion.
The kids and I had a wonderful vacation in Canada, which was extra nice this year since we missed getting up there last summer after Morrison was born and we went out to Colorado for my sister’s wedding. We drove up with my mom and stayed on the island for almost 2 weeks with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew. The kids absolutely adored being up there, and all 3 turned into the best little water bugs by the end of the trip. I actually got to enjoy some peace, quiet, and sunshine during nap times, and I read more in those 2 weeks than I have in at least 2 years. I was almost as sad to see that vacation end as I am to see this summer end. (i could fill an entire post with pictures from that trip, but this selection will do for now)
Then this last part of the summer during August has just been a whole lot of relaxing and playing around here, with a trip back to the Wisconsin State Fair thrown in for good measure. Today we went for one last run together as a crew of 4, then down to the beach to look for more sea glass. Unfortunately, the waves were bigger than I’ve ever seen them down there and it was way too dangerous for the kids to go near the water. Not to mention there was no beach on which to search today since the waves came up so high. So the girls were bummed, but I promised them we can go back down this weekend to check again. I so cherish my days home with all 3 kids, and I’m going to miss having Della around with us all day when she goes back to school tomorrow.
We met her teacher last night at meet and greet and she does seem awesome, though, so I think Della is going to have a very fun year. They have a travel theme in their classroom, and Mrs. Tauscher (d’s teacher this year) said they’re going to travel all around the world, learning tons of new things as they go. They even have little construction paper passports with their pictures in them that they get to stamp all year, so that got Della very excited. And I was put at ease yet again to know that she’ll be in such good hands all day when she’s out of mine.
So cheers, Summer of 2016! You were an amazing couple of months, and I will miss you dearly. Hopefully this transition back into the school routine and the coming cooler months won’t be too hard for me, because I truly yearn for your sunshine and warmth all during our long, dreary days of winter around here. I will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of your cousin, Summer of 2017, in roughly 280 days!
These days are filled with the voices of 3 tiny humans. Some days contain more shouting than others, but all are full of love.
These days are filled with tiny hands and feet and faces.
These days are filled with wiping those tiny hands and butts and noses, hopefully not at the same time.
These days are filled with peals of laughter and screams of upset, sometimes simultaneously, and not always from those 3 tiny humans.
These days are filled with the goodnight hugs, kisses, wishes and dreams, breakfast orders, one-more-drink-of-waters, one-more-rub-my-backs, and can-you-start-the-music-over-one-more-times that seem to take 18 times longer than the bedtimes themselves.
These days are filled with cutting food into tiny pieces.
These days are filled with many ridiculous kid-friendly words to mask the adult words that really want to come out of my mouth sometimes.
These days are filled with the almost magician-like ability to know where each and every piece of clothing for all 3 children is so that one can be pulled out at a moment’s notice when pee, poop, food, grass stains, mud, or some other such substance destroys the original article of clothing from any given day.
These days are filled with an amazing display of coordination and logistics – making sure everyone is up in time, fed, dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, one lunch packed, one backpack readied, socks and shoes and coats on, gone to the bathroom, diaper changed once if not twice, and smaller kid and baby loaded into the stroller in the mornings to be ready to walk the bigger kid to school; repeating said process with the smaller kid and baby 7 hours later to pick the bigger kid up from school; taking the bigger and smaller kids to swim lessons once a week; making sure the baby gets the appropriate amount of formula in his bottles every day, since these are the last weeks of formula for him before switching to whole milk; making sure that same baby also gets a wide enough variety of real food to keep him full after meals without offering him things that immediately end up on the floor; ensuring the bigger and smaller kids get outside as often as possible when the weather is nice so they don’t make me run screaming, I mean so they get some exercise in play; making sure all 3 are pj’d, teeth brushed, peed and diaper changed, bottle given, and in bed on time; and generally ensuring the health, happiness, safety, and security of 3 tiny humans.
These days are filled with tiny footsteps at 2:45 a.m. when the music has stopped and needs to be restarted.
These days are filled with lifting the smaller kid up to the kitchen sink to wash hands after going to the bathroom because, for some reason, she prefers that sink to the one that is 6 inches from the toilet in the bathroom and has a stool right underneath it for small kids to climb up and wash their own hands.
These days are filled with baby cries and snuffles in the middle of the night to find that magical pacifier that sends him instantly back into the land of nod.
These days are filled with a tiny head peeking over the side of a crib at me in the morning, bouncing up and down, eager to start his day with me.
These days are filled with races between the bigger kid and smaller kid from the kitchen to the living room and back, since to them that seems like a mile.
These days are filled with 2-wheeled bikes for the bigger kid, scooters and training wheels for the smaller kid, and strollers for the baby.
These days are filled with grabbing the baby’s hands out of the garbage can, away from the bigger and smaller kids’ art stand, out of the cabinets in the kitchen, off the nightlight in the hallway, away from outlets, away from Daddy’s stuff, and preventing him from falling into the laundry hole (for it literally is a hole, not a chute).
These days are filled with “Mama.” “Mama?” “Mama!”
These days are filled with load after load after load after load of never-ending laundry.
These days are filled with snacks and bottles and sippy cups.
These days are filled with picking up endless numbers of toys endless times every day. Why do we have so many toys? My no-toy rule has somehow been completely ignored for the past 5 years.
These days are filled with kisses for bumps, bruises, and scrapes.
These days are filled with preventing arguments, reminding of manners, teaching responsibility, showing compassion, trying to teach right from wrong, teaching kindness and inclusion, showing how to make good decisions, ingraining the importance of respect, instilling self-confidence and a strong sense of being loved and belonging, teaching that everyone has a story and is important, and daily trying my damnedest to be the Mama they deserve and to not raise little assholes.
These days are filled with tiny eye rubs when the Sandman is near.
These days are filled with burp rag-covered shoulders and baby snuggles.
These days are filled with a complete, purposeful, and pretty much blissful ignorance of basically anything outside my 4 walls and 3 tiny humans, especially politics. Wait, it’s an election year??
These days are filled with pb&j, hot dogs, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets. You know, my favorite foods.
These days are filled with a ferocity of love that I never dreamed possible before having these 3 tiny humans.
These days are theirs, and I try to be as present as is humanly possible for every single one.
These days are mine, and they are finite, so I cherish every single one.
For those 3 tiny humans? They are mine. And they make me so, so very happy.
10 years, 3 incredible children, 1 wonderful decade of marriage.
Then…
…and now (of course we have no recent pictures of just the 2 of us).
Wait, I found one! This is a late edit to the entry, as this picture was taken at my mom’s house the day after our anniversary, right before we went out for our fun celebration in downtown Chicago.
It’s been a long time since I posted about me. I still want to get a “life with 3” post up here soon, but that’s not this one.
I just want to write about how incredibly thrilled I am that this December is, so far, turning out to feel nothing like December. I do love a white Christmas and all, but that’s about all the winter I want anymore. And the bitter, below-zero cold I can do without all together.
The worst part for me, though, is the darkness. I hate, nay, despise, loathe the dark winter days that creep in. This started the year Lana was born. Having a hard, fussy newborn in those shortening, cold dark days was miserable. I think it gave me late-onset seasonal affective disorder. For real. It’s dark when we wake, it’s dark well before dinner, and if it’s cloudy, forget it – it’s dark all damn day.
But this season has felt so great! I know for sure it has to do with our weather being so mild this late on the calendar. I’m still walking Della to school, which I know stopped long before this point last year. Granted I was pregnant and feeling awful in the first trimester, so that had much to do with it, but still. I’m not even minding the darkness at all this year. Or the fact that Morrison is the world’s worst night sleeper and I’m turning into a total zombie. But that’s a whole other story…
And the best part? There are only 10 more days until they start getting longer again! MORE LIGHT!!! I love it. I think my SAD has been skipped for this year. Thank god.
I forgot to put one of my favorite pictures in Morrison’s update post last night, so I’ll just give it its own. Presenting my Frozen trio!
