Third and the Fourth

Dear Little Ones,

You're not old enough to go to school like your big sisters.  Let's snuggle and play.  The days, yes, they can be long, but the years are short.  So let's snuggle and play.



The last of my babies.  Let's snuggle and play.



Your cherub cheeks slay me.  Let's snuggle and play.



Your giggle melts frustration.  Let's snuggle and play.



Pile on my lap like a couple of puppies.  And let's snuggle and play.



Four is so big and almost-two is on your heels.  So let's snuggle and play.



After all, the days can be long, but the years are so short.  Those big sisters at school have taught me so well, that the best thing we can do on these lazy drizzly Spring days is simply to snuggle and play.   I love you, sweet babies.

Mommy

Spring Confessions -- Steam of Consciousness Style

Confession:  My blog thought I forgot about it.

That is neither our tree nor our house in the above photo.  Unless you look behind that foliage.

Those kids?  They are ours.

We moved. Then we moved again.  We had a baby.  Moved again.  ...Since the last time I touched this blog.

That would be four daughters, if you're counting.   Maybe one of these days we will be good at the girl thing. ;-)  ;-)

I miss this space. The one in the blogosphere.  

We bought a house.   An old house.   Six months ago.

We tore large portions of it down to the studs.   I wish I had chronicled that journey all along.

I have photos. I think I will write about it anyway.  Now that my body doesn't ache from it all.

There is so much left to do though, that I think it will be fun to record along the way from here on out.

Plus, cute kids, right?  <3 br="">
~ Amelia

Homeschooling! And Some Misc. Nonsense

See what came in the mail yesterday!?  Princess and I are pretty jazzed about the upcoming school year at home.  She won't be five until the end of next month, but we decided to go ahead and start Kindergarten this year since she's chomping at the bit to learn "everything about everything" (her words).   I've been doing some casual stuff with Princess, just working through one book, the past few months so that now she is doing some simple independent reading.  Now we're going to jump in with both feet!   I'm sure I'll have more to say on homeschooling at a later time.  For now, suffice it to say that we are excited!

In other news, my lil Bug came down with a fever sometime during the night yesterday.  She then spent the entire day making a pathetic low pitch "m" sound to let me know that she felt crummy.  We spent so much time snuggling and rocking like in the above photo.  I hate when little ones are sick, but at the same time it is absolutely precious that they become so cuddly when they are.   I made dinner at 3 p.m. while Bug was snoozing so that I'd be free to snuggle more when she woke up.  It made for a pretty smooth evening which is awesome.

How is this allowed at 7 1/2 months?

Granted, Bug is not breaking any records here, but she's hitting certain milestones a bit sooner than her sisters, so I sit back and look at her in amazement.  I think she's anxious to run around like they do.   It looks so fun, all the running and giggling you know.

And here is a sweet pic I stole of my Smooch the other day napping in my bed.  For nap time, I've been separating the girls and it works out nicely that way, especially since Princess doesn't actually fall asleep anymore and just has a short rest time, and Bug's afternoon nap time varies a bit more than the big girls'.  So Bug gets her crib in the girls' room, Princess gets the playroom/guest room, and Smooch sleeps in Mommy's spot.  And with that, we are all out of bedrooms around here during nap time. ;-)   I am so thrilled that they all lay down at the same time for at least part of nap time each day.  I work very hard to build in a little mommy break to each of our days and it is so worth the effort.

We went to a community group at our new church this past Monday.  It made us miss our Albuquerque friends so much!  I think we're going to love this new group though, and there were a couple little girls close to Princess' and Smooch's ages.  They got along great!  A couple of the moms also homeschool, but they homeschool older boys.  I am really hoping to find a group of like-minded mommas with whom I can do some age-appropriate field trips this year, but finding any homeschooling moms around here is a great start.

Lastly, I think it's worthwhile to mention that I got a steam cleaner.  With all this moving we have been doing, and having to clean twice for each move since our new house is never up to my standards (and I am no clean freak), it made sense to get some of our own deep cleaning tools.  Think of all the money we could have saved if we had bought a carpet cleaner a few years ago!  Oh well.  Anyway, I love my little steam cleaner so far!  I think that it is having to take the dirt off these tile floors one or two layers at a time because they were previously so neglected.  I'm so happy that the floor no longer turns our feet black, and I no longer have to get down on my hands and knees in order to reach a satisfactory level of cleanliness.  Oh the life of a renter...

Happy Thursday!  We're off to a well child check for our eldest this afternoon, with appointments for the next two tomorrow.  Of her upcoming appointment, Princess said last night, "Yahoo!  Going to the doctor is my favorite thing ever in the whole world!"  She was being completely sincere.  Think we need to make some CA friends already? ;-)

Slow Down My Lil Buggie!

 Our Buggaboo at 7 months

Something happened yesterday.  I knew it was coming but I wasn't entirely prepared for it to happen so soon.  Yep, Bug pulled herself into a standing position.  She hasn't begun to officially crawl yet - although she did take three little crawling "steps," finally using those legs to go forward not backwards  just today - but she is very close.   I've been saying that for two weeks.  Hence the fact that I was blindsided by her sudden determination to stand up.  

Now we are doing that infamous dance.  The one where she pulls up in her crib but screams because she doesn't know how to get back down.  Yeah that one.  

I guess she is just determined to catch up to those cool big sisters, who by the way think she is becoming more delightfully fin everyday.

Too bad no one is happy in either of these snapshots.  Oh well. ;-)

 

We moved almost exactly one month ago now, and already Bug has sprouted two teeth, started dabbling in the consumption of solid foods, and manages to roam around the living room.  Slow down my lil Bug!  I'm almost out of breath trying to keep up with all the change. 

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Guy

Clayton's birthday was this past weekend, and we had loads of fun, and visitors!  His dad and step mom came for the weekend, followed by a visit from his sister and nieces.  We had so much fun hosting our first visitors in our California home.  We still don't know the local area very well yet, so we weren't sure what to include in our "tour," but I think everyone enjoyed seeing the date farm where we all enjoyed date shakes. 

 

Cousins at the date farm

 

A Princess and her Papa.

It was so nice to be around family. :-)  That was really the best birthday present for my husband.  I think it's safe to say that the only downer the whole weekend was this:

 

Yikes, right?  Wishing you many lower numbers on your own temperature gauges. 

Crafting With Strangers

When you move to a faraway land of strangers, I have learned from experience that the absolute best thing you can possibly do is jump in, feet first and with the gusto of someone who is planning to live in said location permanently.

So today I went to a ladies coffee/Bible study/craft morning at the church that we checked out last Sunday.  It is amazing how lovely it can be to sip, read and craft with a group of complete strangers.  Then again, I think this is something special that the family of God has going.

John 13:34 - 35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

It was wonderful.  And my kids were in good hands too.  A sweet lady even rocked my little Bug to sleep for me.  All I've wanted to do since I got home is decorate flip flops and make cake pops, but I played with my kids (something I want to be better about doing), dabbled in the art of housecleaning, finished setting up Bug's crib (in the girls' room!), and read stories on the couch with Princess and Smooch until Smooch turned her head and closed her eyes.   It was both sweet and funny to have her fall asleep on me during story time.  I suppose it was past her usual nap time by about an hour.

In other news, Bug has been sleeping like a CHAMP at night all of a sudden.  She's been on and off with sleeping through since about 3 months old, but she's really been hanging on to 2 a.m. for the past month or so.  Not good.  Two nights ago, she started rolling over to sleep on her stomach and she's been sleeping until 6 or 7 a.m.  I feel like a new woman.   And it's only been two days.  If she keeps this up, I may conquer the world by the end of next week. 

Also, Bug got her first tooth immediately after we moved to California.  Then a second tooth about a week after that.  See in the above picture? My baby is growing up.  We even started her on solid food the other night. :-)

Behold, a video with terrible lighting, but a very cute baby nonetheless. 

'

Happy almost weekend.  My hubby's birthday is this weekend and we're having guests.  For this reason, I will get off the computer and go do something more productive.  And also I need to make dinner. :-)

 

Once Upon a Time I Was Smart, a Satire

I will admit it.  I was one of those annoying students for whom good grades in school came easily.  Or so it would seem.   I'm pretty sure my peers hated me for it.  I can still hear kids jeering as my 7th grade science teacher announced, "We had ONE perfect store on this test." I did not then, nor do I now not consider myself smarter than anyone.  I think everyone has an tremendous ability to learn, and some people just don't thrive under conventional learning methods.  I just happened to have the gift of a sharp short-term memory, which worked out splendidly in the traditional classroom.

My classmate's mom once told my mom that if I didn't go to college and do something great in the workforce (or something along those lines), I would be wasting my brain.  Thankfully I have parents that are just as enthusiastic about the many other ways a person can contribute to society as they are about a college-bound kid with sky high dreams, so the pressure was off.  

Still I went to college.  Then I went to more college.  No, that is not permission to ever correct my grammar. :-)

Then I had kids.   

It started with that first pregnancy.  My brain cells began dying off one by one.  Then sleep deprivation and the brain fog set in.   Three kids later, it's all I can do to remember to mail off a birthday card to a faraway sibling.  A week late.  I stammer, grasping for the correct English word in conversation.  I can't remember the last time I washed my hair.  Oh wait.  That's a separate issue.

Then today Princess and Smooch were fighting over a particular train car, specifically the yellow one that transports the wooden circus animals.  I was about to give my "taking turns" speech, when suddenly I remembered:  we have two of those train cars.  I just saw the red one a few days ago...hold on a second...*digging through toy box where I know I tossed it*...right HERE!  

And that's the thing.

Once upon a time, I was smart.  Then having babies killed many brain cells; however, I still maintain the uncanny ability to retain information like the whereabouts of any and all small girl items.  As a result, my kids actually think I know everything because I can find all of their stuff.  Therefore, I am not wasting my brain as this is both an important and practical skill that requires intense mental power.  Likewise, it takes incredible intellectual prowess to successfully coordinate the nap times of three small children in order to make time for doing important things like write this awesome blog post.   The End.