Moments

There are marshmallows everywhere. Dumped on the floor and dumped on our dinner plates from Grace when she earlier declared, "Mmmm Mommy, marshmallows for dinner. Yummy, I love marshmallows." Normally I would have caught her in the act and put a stop to her marshmallow fest. But in the moment, I didn't want to. She was so proud of herself for her creativity and resolve that marshmallows were the perfect post-quesdilla dinner treat. And I soaked it in and played along. She later ran into the bathroom with, what looked like, baby powder all over her face as she declared almost desperately, "It's everywhere Mama, it's all over the place." I responded, "What is all over the place?" Fully expecting loads of baby powder all over the living room. She grabbed my hand, "Come with me Mom." I plotted how to best tackle baby powder and carpet clean-up when I rounded the corner to see more marshmallows spilled on the carpet. I laughed, "Sweetie, don't worry it is not a big deal. They are just marshmallows."

I am not normally the swooning, soak-it-in, run across rainbows type of Mom. I wish I was more that way. I am usually overwhelmed, and stern, and a "Seriously, you're doing this right now?!' type of Mom. The one where marshmallows might send someone to timeout, and cause someone else to sigh audibly (a sigh which Grace has now learned from someone and can mimic perfectly...). But I have my moments. The moments where I'm the Mom I'd love to be all the time. The Mom that laughs at marshmallows and says, "Mmm I love marshmallows for dinner!" The Mom that dances a silly ballet at the end of the night because her overly-flowy sweater called for it and she knew her little girl would giggle with delight.

Those moments are some of my favorite. And as I get older and fall deeper into motherhood I can see those moments making grooves into my mind and I'm starting to crave them.

Today my flu-ridden baby wanted nothing more than to be snuggled up to me as much as humanly possible, so I let everything slide today. No grocery store run, no to-do list, just living for whatever the moment called for.

It was in the chaos of messes, and dishes, and lunches that made no sense that some of my favorite moments happened today. When I let go of the "We need to do this, and we need to do that" mentality I was able to take in some of the things I love the most. I wrapped my arms around Christian as his overly warm body took slow methodical breaths. He was sweating being wrapped up next to me but he wanted nothing more. I snuggled him and fed him, and laid him down to rest whenever he wanted. I cradled his body while he whimpered from the aches and pains that he was fighting so hard.

I smiled to myself. Between marshmallows, late-night ballet, and baby snuggles I was pretty close to heavenly bliss. The mess left in my apartment would beg to differ, but today I regretted nothing. I lived every minute today in the moment and loved it.

Being Home

Being home means falling back into familiar patterns, which after a long vacation is quite refreshing. You know what else is refreshing? Finally catching up to recent times on my blog after being behind since July. Ahhh, I can't wait.

My view while making dinner

 Little boy snoozing in a big bed

 Christian tuckered out after his 6 month doctor's appointment

 Our early mornings usually start out like this

 I spent an entire day in pure toy chaos as I went through the kids toys. Making room for their new toys and getting rid of old toys to donate. It's amazing the amount of stuff that two small children can accumulate. I think I donated about 50% of their toys just to make room.

 Me and the Boy waiting for Dad and Grace

 Grace is unintentionally trendy

 Grace is my sous chef

 Snow in Dallas?! Did it follow me home from Utah?

 Christian's first Dirk Jersey.

 Go Mavs!

 My boys

 He sits! A few days ago he sat for an extended period of time, I was so surprised. But now he's got it down. Thatta boy.

 Future fashionista Mama in the making.

CCB at 6 Months

While we were in Utah Christian hit 6 months. As per usual, I had one of those "Holy moly he is halfway to a year, where has the time gone?!" moments. The months following Christian's birth were a blur of adjusting to two kids, Aaron being at school, holidays, traveling, and finding our new normal. But if there was ever a baby that could have made it through those months unscathed it would be Christian. He is easy-going, quick to smile and laugh, cuddly, and easily amused. He has been the perfect addition during this crazy transitional time in our family. I thank my lucky stars for him.

He still loves his schedule, but often times we can't adhere to it. He naps twice now, and Grace naps when he wakes up, so from 9:30 to 4:30 we are housebound. If I have to go somewhere or run errands his naps take a serious hit. He's been more go-with-the-flow and usually falls asleep while we are out.

His hair grows long on the top of his head in the middle. It just begs to be made into a mohawk, since it isn't growing as long anywhere else. He eats his toes and babbles "Dadadada."He has rolled from his tummy to his back randomly since 3 months, but right before he hit 6 months he learn how to roll from his back to his tummy and he much prefers that way to roll. He still strongly dislikes eating solid foods (more on this later.) He loves this Troy Aikman figurine that our friends the Sagers gave to him. They are the best gift givers (she was the one that wrapped up my favorite cookies from California and sent them to me)

We love this boy of ours.

Utah Trip: Part 6- The Last and Final Part (I promise)

Towards the tail end of our trip the temperatures plummeted.  Aaron thought I was insane when I requested a breakfast out when the temperature was -2.

But we bundled the kids up and headed out. We needed to hit Magleby's for breakfast one last time before Aaron left.

Grace was a little obsessed with her super hero mask and wore it constantly.

We sent Aaron back to Texas to get ready to start his next semester. I stayed in Utah for a few more days and was able to catch up with one of my favorite girls. Sarah and I lived together in San Jose and worked with the Young Woman. We spent hours chatting and catching up. I loved every minute.

 Christian learned how to roll from his back to his tummy, and since then felt the need to practice arching his back whenever possible.

 All tuckered out from a play date at Kim's

 Playing at the mall

 Sending silly pictures to Dad, still loving her mask.

 My Aunt and Uncle made the drive down to Provo with my Papa J for a lunch visit. Grace is Papa J's 15th Great-Grandchild, and she loved sitting on Papa Js laps and getting wheeled around with him.

Alan, my Dad's older brother, and my Aunt Connie with Christian. It was so fun to spend the afternoon with them, and they were so nice to come down.

Jillian came over for another girls night. I seriously could not get enough of this girl. I'm so glad she lived just down the street from my in-laws. She brought caramel apples and we laughed until we cried.

 Sending Dad pictures

Christian practicing his arching during church.

My in-laws treated me to a delicious dinner out. Cubby's has the most phenomenal buffalo wing fries ever, and since my pregnancy with Christian I'm a little obsessed with anything with buffalo wing sauce. After some preliminary packing I snuck in one last visit with Jillian. There was chocolate cake involved.

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning testing the limits of my packing skills. Two bags, five weeks worth of clothes, gear, and christmas gifts. While I cleaned before my flight, Grace and Christian crowded Papa's lap.

We loaded up the car and headed to the airport. After a tearful goodbye and a few flight delays (darn American Airlines) we were on our way.

Our friends were on the flight with us as well, which made the additional on-plane delay, and a much needed bathroom break for me more handle-able. Christian was hungry at the beginning of my flight and although I had my nursing cover, I'm pretty sure the two men sitting across from me were scarred for life. They were the definition of awkward.

We got home late that night and immediately crashed at home. The next morning we headed to Chick-fil-a, it was so good to finally be home.

Happy New Year 2013

We started our New Year's Even celebration around 6pm when we joked about having Christian pose as the new year baby. A few minutes, one blanket and sash later, we had our New Year baby ready to pose. 

He was pretty excited about the prospect of a new year. That or he just really likes not wearing clothes (trust me, it was the latter).

Aaron and I passed the time playing games. Battleship was the winner. It took us a couple of tries before we figured this new board out.

Someone sneaky sneaky decided to wake up and participate in the later festivities. I won't mention any names....

Around 11 we got pretty tired. The New Year had hit on the East Coast and watching them celebrate, and then staying up to re-celebrate in Utah was a little anti-climactic. We broke out our bubbly,

 made a toast to the new year,

 kissed at "midnight"

And welcomed 2013 an hour early.

Christian decided to prolong the party a few more times in the middle of the night. You know, party hard. Sleep hard. That's his motto.

Happy New Year!

Utah Trip: Part 5

Some of our post-Christmas favorite things

Giving Grace a duck stuffed animal for Christmas only to have her steal Christian's monkey and develop a serious attachment to it.

 Playing out in the snow (This was one of my absolute favorite moments of the trip)

 Running into friends we haven't seen in years and finally getting to meet her kids. Danny, meet Grace.  Mason, meet Christian. Taco Amigo always brings people together, eh Becca?

 Heading out to Texas Roadhouse with Aaron's Grandmother- a little slice of the homeland.

Grace singing along to the radio.

 Going through old family photos and finding this one of Aaron. He is so darn cute.

 Cafe Rio!!

 Snuggles with my boy

 My fancy little lady

 Driving around in Papa's truck (we were a little obsessed)

 Heading up to Salt Lake to attend Noah's super hero birthday party

 Super Grace!

 And getting to catch up with the Partridges (we miss them)

 Seeing my kids holding hands

 And witnessing this crazy sunset.