Sunshine & Spring flowers

 

Nothing to say, just sharing... cause these ones make me smile.  :)

Catching Up...

The past few weeks I've been battling a stomach bug.  Nothing major, just enough to make me feel sick a lot and let's be honest, when you're not feeling well catching up on blogging isn't your #1 priority.

Anyway, I'm back to normal now and am catching up on life.  First priority: laundry (because if that mountain had fallen over I would have lost both kids for at least a week). Second priority: clean house.  Posting will happen after that, but with being sick on and off for the past couple weeks there's not much interesting to share anyway...

Nesting for Baby

A pregnant friend of mine just posted a comment about her nesting phase beginning.  It made me think... one year ago I was in the nesting phase.  Nesting with Dani was an interesting thing.  It started about a month and a half out and just got more and more crazy the closer we I got to delivery.

For starts, I baked anything I had the slightest craving for.  Cookies, brownies, casseroles, lasagna, breads, macaroni...  I'm pretty sure the only thing that stopped me from making more was the fact that there wasn't any more pans to hold it all.  When I finally went to the hospital there was more food in our house than we could eat in a week.

If an item had a place it belonged, it was put there.  Didn't have a place?  I'd reorganize and make one. Normally I'm completely oblivious to anything on the counters, floor or tables and I have a large desk that is rarely cleared.  But when I was near the end of my pregnancy with Dani our house was spotless.  I would dust, vacuum, sweep, and scrub every other day (if not every day).  It was crazy!  I would stay up late at night, exhausted and sore, but the counters HAD to be clean before I could sleep. 

And laundry!  I was obsessive compulsive about doing laundry!  That last week I was constantly running the washer and dryer.  As soon as there was even half a load to wash it was done.  I was a madwomen, driven to cleanliness by the completely illogical thought of, "What if I need any of those items when I leave for the hospital?" (No matter that my bag was packed and ready to go for weeks beforehand.)  I even remember doing laundry at in the middle of the night when I woke up in labor.  Chris must have thought I was completely bonkers as we waited for my mom to show up to watch Michaela!

Flash forward a year... The only food I've made this week was because some friends had their baby, every flat surface is covered with stuff (it was just clean 2 days ago!!!), nothing has been scrubbed in over a week, and the only reason laundry is almost caught up is because I was working on it constantly for 2 days.

As crazy as it was I do kinda miss the clean laundry, the sparkling house and all the food. ;)  What did you get crazy about when you were nesting?

Sweet, Sweet Babies

Today I got to hold the sweetest little baby.  She was all snuggly and little and... absolute perfection.  I felt that tug on my heart.  You know, the one where you think "wouldn't another one of these be nice?"

Do babies do this to everyone?  Are they like kryptonite for grown women around the world?

While my girls were the best, most perfect amazing newborn babies to ever grace planet earth, there are no plans for more (well, none on our part... God may have another idea).

So, this is my warning to all my expecting friends out there.  I'm coming to visit.  I want to hold your babies.  Soak in their newborn smell.  Ooohh and ahhh over their perfection.  I'm going to gaze at them adoringly and let them just melt. my. heart.

Then I'm giving them back.  I'm going to remember being pregnant, epidurals that don't work, and 3 AM feedings.  Because as soon as I'm gone and your baby is out of sight the desire for another one of my own will quickly (very quickly) fade and I'll remember all the reasons why I'm glad to just have my two.

Both of my very own little pieces of perfection coming home from the hospital.  (Michaela, left. Dani, right.)

All Moved In!!!

I'm all moved in an will be publishing all my blog posts from this address from now on.  Hope everyone makes the move smoothly...  Don't be surprised if you see little details still being tweaked.  All the big stuff is set though and I'm so excited!!!

Birthday Party Denial

Dani will be turning one next Sunday.  I can't believe a year has gone by already... just today I was caught off guard by the fact that her birthday is only a week away.  I have nothing planned.  Nothing.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  I feel like I've failed her.

When Michaela turned one I obsessed over her first birthday party for months.  I researched a place to have the party.  I had custom invitations made up & mailed out weeks in advance.  I shopped for decorations, food, cake(s), party favors, refreshments...  oh, the list goes on and my head spins just thinking about all the planning!

With Dani I've been in denial.  She's not turning one, she's my baby!  How could that big all-important first birthday milestone be coming up so fast?  It hasn't been that long already has it?

This week I've come out of my protective cocoon and faced facts.  It's happening.  I can't change it.  I had better get on the ball and make sure it's done right.

Part of me put off party planning because I just plain didn't want to face that stress again.  I knew how much time and effort it took for Michaela's first birthday party.  How could I pull that off in just a couple weeks time for Dani?  For some reason I was under the illusion that Dani's first birthday party "had to be the same" as Michaela's.  I was completely stressed out and overwhelmed every time I even thought about Dani turning one.

Then I realized that it did not "have to be the same".  It has to be as important, it has to be as memorable, but it does NOT have to be "the same."

I'm still ironing out party details, but I'm not stressing about it any more.

Dani's big party with friends is going to be a couple weeks late, no biggie, Michaela's was late too.  We're only going to be doing cake and refreshments & not a lunch spread for 40+ people this time.  I don't think anyone will care. 

Besides, my little dare devil is going to have gymnastics with her party.  I think she'll find that way more fun than trying to eat lunch with only 2 teeth... :)

Too Big

Tonight Dani tried to take another few steps.  Every day she is becoming more and more confident in standing up with no support (not holding anything) and she practically runs when using her walking toys.

But tonight she got so excited to see me come say 'hi' to her while I was baking cookies that she let go of the couch and took a step towards me.  She had the biggest smile on her face and was squealing with joy and I was nearly in tears with how big my 'baby' is getting.  After her attempt at a second consecutive step failed I scooped her up for a hug and held on tight.

I think this milestone is more bittersweet than it was with Michaela because I know I won't be going through these stages again and I'm trying to soak them up as much as possible this time around.

Ughhh...

We've had our first (and hopefully last) round of sickness for the year run through our house this week.  It started with Michaela, and then Dani got her very first cold.  Dani passed it along to Chris and I'm sure they all shared with me, but thankfully, I only got a slight sore throat for one day while the rest of them had colds (and in Chris' case a cold/flu - yuck!)

I'm thankful I didn't succumb to this bug making a visit at our house.  I feel like those Orkin commercials where the very giant cockroach is trying to gain entry to the house and the family calls for help.  I'm the Orkin man around here and if I fell for it who would wipe noses and make soup?