MommyCoddle

She's one

The pregnancy with Elizabeth was quite a roller coaster. Blood clots, painful shots, a single umbilical artery, potential birth defects, high risk doctors, multiple ultrasounds, multiple doctors, abnormal test results. It was a lesson in faith and Elizabeth a lesson in miracles--as she emerged into this world with a knotted umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. A little miracle.

With her in our arms, we thought all was good, the "issues" behind us until abnormal test results came again and again. More doctors, more tests. And more news--all tests were false. We were in the clear. One year later and you'd never know the road we traveled to get here had so many bumps, which in reality are dimples compared to the potholes that so many go through. God is good and faithful.

And here I sit, one year later, and I can hardly believe it's possible. One year?

In keeping with my birthday post traditions, a little list of what I love--and little Elizabeth Paige, gets an extra column--the things that make me crazy! (in the best way.)

What I love:

*we have a song. and it's the only one you want to hear me sing at bedtime
*you love to have your head rubbed, hair tucked behind your ears, cheeks stroked
*you stretch, hands over your head, legs stick-straight every morning when I lay you down on the changing table
*when the wind is blowing in your face, or the sun in your eyes, you snuggle your head into my chest
*you laugh like an owl hoots--a deep, happy laugh in your belly.
*when you see people you love, you get so excited a shiver runs through your body
*you call me, "mum-mum"

What drives me crazy (but I still kinda love) or You'd think by now I'd learn that:

*You pull off my glasses every time I sit you on my lap.
*You suck on the charred pieces of wood around the wood burning stove. It's organic, right? (I should probably clarify--the wood isn't hot. what kind of mother do you think I am??)
*You eat the soil out of the flower pots. also organic??
*You're obsessed with the toilet and darn if the girls don't forget to close the door when they leave the bathroom, let alone put down the lid.
*Every time I lay you down for a diaper change you flip over onto your tummy faster than lightning. You find it quite comical.
*Every morning, every morning, you know to go into the girls' room and pull down their glasses of water that are on the table between their beds--onto the floor, onto yourself.
*When I put a pile of Cheerios in front of you, you scatter them all around the floor and table with a few sweeps of your hands.
*You stand up on your tippy-toes, reach over your head and pull down all the neat, organized stacks of paper on my desk.
*You also sit quietly under my desk and empty the trash can onto the floor, piece by piece.
*I put your hat on, you take it off. I put your hat on, you take it off.

You have a sweet, gentle, content spirit that brings peace and joy to our home. I can't imagine our family without you.

four

Yesterday someone in our house turned four. It was a very big deal. I'm not sure I've seen her so tickled with life as she was yesterday. Did the smile ever leave her face? I don't think so.

I always get all weak in the knees on these birthdays. I want to stop time, forbid getting any older. And yet, I love seeing how they've changed and grown in just one more year's passing. I'm proud, sentimental, sad, full of joy and full of satisfaction.

So you're four miss mary and what can I say about you?

*you love cows. even though I know that you secretly love horses. but since your sister loves horses, you decided to start loving cows. Just to be different.

*every odd sound and gesture that Elizabeth makes--I owe all to you. And you're the reason that Elizabeth knows how to snap her fingers. Because every morning when the first coos come over the monitor, you race into her room, climb into her crib and entertain her for another fifteen minutes before I come in. She lights up for you.

*you are a snuggler. big time. i love that.

*two nights ago, when I put you to bed and told you I'd love you forever...you told me you wanted to die at the same time. so we could be in heaven together.

*you're tender. you still tell me that you have a broken heart over "spring", your kitten that was lost almost two years ago.

*you tell me that you love me at random moments in the day. I hope you never stop.

Happy birthday sweet little mary.

"those hearts are nasty,

They taste like chalk!" My children weren't big fans of the little message heart candy that they dribbled all over the "valentine's cake". I gave them free reign with the decorating of the cake. I frost it and set it down on the kitchen table and walk away. It's great. So when they started biting in to the hard little candies, they weren't so excited about their decorating choices. Now we have a valentine's cake covered in potholes where little fingers have gone around removing the 'nasty' candies.

Another valentine gift that didn't go over so well was the gift I made for Dan. After seeing Blair's post, it was the push I needed to finally sit down and sew some of these rice bags that I've been meaning to make for quite some time.

I told Jennifer that I'd given up sewing for awhile, until life slowed down, but with some of her cute fabric staring at me, a little more time on my hands and some inspiration from Blair, I broke out (my friend's) sewing machine. (my machine is still out of commission...those darn knits!)

 

I think the rice bags would have been a hit, had I not gone the extra mile and put a little handful of dried lavender inside each bag.  That was the spoiler. I was simply trying to avoid that cooked rice smell. But now, the lavender smell was overpowering to Dan, enough that it sent him to bed clutching his stomach. We slept with a window open, if that tells you anything about how strong he thought the smell was. And I swear, the smell wasn't that strong, it's just that I also made a bag for each of the girls, myself and a friend. So I guess that adds up to a lot of lavender. And a whole heck of a lot of rice.

But nevertheless, my girls came through. They love them. We heat them up every night before bed--3 minutes each in the microwave. And they head off to slumberland with toasty warm toes.

(I altered Blair's pattern a little bit--I made the bag out of muslin and then sewed a separate cover with ties at one end. I figured there would mostly likely be a need to wash them in the future, knowing my children...)

And now that I have my sewing machine out, the requests are flying in from my children. The latest (and one that's sounds do-able) is a sleep bonnet/cap like Mary and Laura Ingalls wear in Little House on the Prairie. I can't really find any kind of pattern anywhere. Have any of you made one? I'm thinking just a circle with some elastic sewn in? Is that right? Help?? Anyone?

happy weekend everyone....see you on monday.

whoooo will be my valentine?

The girls and I sat at the kitchen table this morning and made these valentine owls. I did all the cutting earlier from a pattern I sketched out a few days ago. See their heart shape faces? I'm hoping people will get that part of it. And their bodies are black--not very valentine-ish. But who knew my brand new pack of construction paper would have no brown?? If I'd thought of it before this very second, we would have done them on some brown craft paper instead.

So we delivered them door to door to a few special valentines in our valley--along with a few shy kisses and hugs.

Mary painstakingly signed her name on a small square of paper that I cut out and glued to the back of each one. It was fascinating to watch her write out each letter--any direction, any place on the little small square of paper. I have to give it to her, she stuck it out for five whole valentines.

We also got two lovely valentine gifts through the mail. Steph sent me (and the girls) this awesome print of her stitched art. Can you guess which person in our house claimed it as hers? Thank you so much Steph. I love having a little piece of your work to look at. You know I'm a big fan. (and check out what her husband did for valentine's day...)

And yesterday our miniswap package arrived in the mail. Wow, were we spoiled. I'll show pictures as soon as I gather it all up again from every corner of the house. Jesica, my girls are walking around with some pretty little felt bead bracelets today. They worked on them quietly and with such determination first thing this morning.

Happy Valentine's day everyone. Have something sweet. Do something sweet.

a place to lay your head

We're packing up the car this morning and heading to my mom's house for a little birthday visit. Emma hemmed and hawed yesterday afternoon trying to "think of a special project to make for NeeNee". I decided not to give her any direction, to see what she came up with. She finally settled on the idea of a special pillow, which I simplified to a decorated pillowcase. (mostly because it was after 4pm, all children were up from naps, and dinner was far from ready)

You had to know there would be some horsey theme to her gift--a "rider girl" walking her pony over to the mounting block. I love the way it turned out. A quick and easy project that only required a little ironing of a pillowcase and a sharpie marker.

I have a feeling Emma's gift will out shine the less-than-thrilling, practical one I got for her. Oh well. That's how it should be.

3 + 2 + 1 =

six. Emma is six today.

These are a few of my favorite things:
--when I get mad, you get mad. But if my feelings get hurt, it really upsets you.
--you take your field guides and journal on every walk.
--everything has "horse" potential and all topics eventually wind their way back to horses.
--for your special birthday activity, you chose having lunch with your daddy
--you still suck your thumb and rub your toes against your heel--it's why you won't wear sleepers with feet.
--you know more about what's going on around the farm than I do and I always ask you for the details
--you sit and read a chapter book for an hour, even though you can't read them. You even put in a bookmark in the place you left off and come back to it later. You meticulously read through Charlotte's Web for two weeks. Now you're reading Misty of Chincoteague.
--you are a fool-proof mood-lifter for Elizabeth. You can pull her out of any crying  fit. And you watch out for her--taking paper out of her hands, dragging her away from the bowl of cat food, wiping unmentionables from her nose. It doesn't even gross you out.
--you still get in bed with me every morning and ask to slip in to the warm spot where I have been sleeping.
--you are as tough as nails and as fragile as a baby bird, all on the same day.

happy six years sweet love of mine. you were my first baby love. you changed my world.

peace at home

It is a quiet afternoon here at home. Dan's first day back to work after Christmas, Mary and Elizabeth are napping and Emma is sitting beside me working on thank you cards to send out to family. Dan and I worked hard yesterday afternoon to clean up and organize after the tornado of Christmas swept through our home. It included some packing up of older toys, some giving away and some finding homes for the new things that found their way into our house this Christmas.

I went to bed last night feeling content and blessed--a warm home, lovely gifts, and wonderful husband, caring family, and three sweet little girls to wrap my arms around each day. 

Soon, I will do a little gift re-hashing on here--once I recharge the batteries on my camera. We had some real hits this year--and as is always the case, the ones that cost the least, were the most loved.

The pictures are from our pre-Christmas trip to the BrandyWine River Museum. The museum is known for its collection of 3 generations of Wyeth artwork--some of my favorite artists. At this time of year, the museum puts up a two-story Christmas tree full of ornaments created solely from natural materials collected from the museum gardens. Seriously, I will never look at leaves and twigs and seedpods the same way again. You can see the whole set here and get inspired. I wish I could have photographed every one to show you.

Hope your holiday was full of warmth and contentment.
More soon.

december 19

"I can't hold back my tears any longer..."

That would be a quote from my five year old daughter as she lay prostrate on her bed, hugging the neck of her rocking horse that was pushed up alongside her.

"I just know I'm never going to get a real pony."
"Cricket(the pony) is the only thing I love in the whole world!"

Me: But don't you love mommy, and daddy, and mary and elizabeth, too?

"Yessss. I love you all, but Cricket is just the only thing that love. I can't hold back anymore."

I have to admit, my dear Emma feels deeply. It literally broke her heart last week when she had to put a big, doe-eyed stuffed fawn (a companion to this book) back on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.

"It just needs me. I can't bear to put it back on the shelf."

And it broke her heart even more this afternoon when she accidentally found it stashed away under my bed, waiting to be wrapped. But it was sweet. Her heart was broken for me, because...

"...we can't afford to get many presents. And now you won't have many special surprises for me."

(I hope you're reading all these quotes with lots of dramatic inflection and phrasing.)

She's just one big, soft, pulsing heart. She feels deeply and responds to everything deeply. Dan and I always remark that she's a lot like the classic nursery rhyme:

   

There was a little girl,
    Who had a little curl,
    In the middle of her forehead.
    And when she was good, she was very good.
    And when she was bad, she was horrid.

Well, at this point, I can't even remember what I came her to post about. Something about gingerbread houses or how absolutely edible this one is.
After I erected the structure of the gingerbread house today, I gave Emma full reign. I was going to try to make it something Martha-Stewart quality, but in the end decided to just let go and let her make her own fun. It was wonderful to watch.

Happy Wednesday.
Six days until Christmas....
Here's a song for you that we're singing along to today...

december 17

Hi Everyone! I've really disappeared from here for awhile now, haven't I? I have to admit, it's been kind of nice to go through our days without my "bloggles" (blogging + goggles) on. I have hardly taken any pictures or thought about whether or not I should be blogging something from our day. I think I needed a little break and now I'm feeling much more fresh and content.

We finally brought in the Christmas tree last night. In our little living space it took a lot of rearranging and removing to find the perfect spot for it. Emma and I were the tree purchasers this year. We got it on whim Saturday night while we were running to the yarn store and out for groceries. Can I just say how hard it is to pick out a Christmas tree with a five year old? She tried her hardest to hold the big old prickly tree steady while I assessed uniformity of shape and gaping holes in each specimen. In the end it was a toss-up and we both just said, "let's go with the first one." I don't think we did too bad in the end.

I sat down last night, after the kids had gone to sleep to string some popcorn and I quickly realized that I desperately need to upgrade to a better pop. My kernels are very seed-y and don't have much fluff to them, making it near impossible to string. Last night it was eat ten, find one that was string-able, eat ten....I might have to throw in some cranberries for good measure. Have you all been letting your kids string berries and popcorn? How do they handle the needle? I'd really like to get the girls involved in this process...

As always, I'm still blogging my heart out every day over at babycenter...and they've asked me to do a weekly "craftyblog round-up". So if you've seen something that must be shared or you're doing something that must be shared, please send me an email, so I can give it due credit. Babycenter is really digging the crafty blog world. And I'd love to share some love over there....And here's a recent post that I think many of you would "get".

I've declared this the week of the cookie. I plan to bake a batch or two each day with the girls to give out as gifts. Although I'm quickly running out of time today since everyone in the house is napping--even the dog by the fire, and the cat in a mountain of pillows on the sofa. Today it will be the classic peanut butter kiss cookies and maybe some russian teacakes if there's time.

Off to get my kitchen set up cooking-show style (makes it easier with my children) and upgrade my popcorn stash. More soon, I hope!!!

sharing the handmade love for the holidays

I'm starting to write a regular feature on the babycenter site about buying handmade for the holidays. I am going to feature two etsy shops at a time in each post--one shop with gifts for big people, and one with gifts for little people. I wrote my first post today and featured two  shops--Industrious Lily and Kinichi.

I'd love to hear who/what are some of your favorite etsy shops and sellers. (or you can even tell me about your own shop!) I think this is a great chance to get the word out to support crafters and push for a handmade vs. commercial-crazy holiday.

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I'm trying to keep a link in my sidebar of my most recent posts on the momformation blog. I'd love to have you visit me over on the babycenter site. I'm feeling a bit lonely. I'm so used to your lovely comments!