2013.

It's the last day of 2013, and honestly, I'm kind of relieved. I've never really felt this way before about closing out a year, but I am pretty happy to put this year behind me and move into another. Not that there hasn't been a lot of great memories, there has, but 2013 was probably the most challenging year for me personally as an adult. Between moving twice, health issues, emotional, mental, and physically changes and the hardships of parenting and marriage--it's been a long and trying year.

Though, with that said, I wouldn't change it. Without this past year I wouldn't be where I am today and here I sit finding rest in love. Without the trials I would never moved forward and learn what it means to love, find rest, be joyful, content and thankful. 2013 was a refining year for me, and though it's always hard to make changes it's always a good process and I have learned so much about life and love that I wouldn't trade it for an uneventful year. :)

For me, the year closes with a new move and settlement in a new house. But one thing I now know; home is not about where I live or what house I live in. :)

At the beginning of 2013 I wanted to slow-down…and looking back I think throughout the year I have been learning that very thing. I am thankful for that, despite that the year certainly didn't feel that way.

I am excited to open the doors to 2014. I don't normal set any resolutions, however I do think I want to step into this new year with the intent of living more simply, purposefully and with love.

One day at a time. Being present. Loving. And finding joy in all things. 

Happy New Year to you! :)

A Little Moment.

As my daughter grows older and changes constantly before my eyes I am often reminded of the fact that her character is blossoming and being defined with each passing moment. Amidst the emotional meltdowns, chaotic days, and the "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom's" that make me want to pull my hair out. It's easy to overlook our child's chatter...especially when they talk all day long and especially when you're in the middle of doing something you need/want to do.

My girl was hanging around me today while I was doing some painting in our new bedroom, chatting away and asking lots of questions, like usual. Honestly, sometimes moments like these wear me out...the sound of constant talking while chasing around the 1.5-yr-old turkey while trying to finish what I'm doing and pay attention to "Mom, look at this! Mom, look at me! Mom, what is this? Mom, can you do this? Mom, mom, mom..."

But this time it was just me and her. And it was nice. And it made me realize that this little heart is being influenced by my actions day in and day out. I really should listen more.

Otherwise I'd miss conversations like this:


V: "Why does God live in my heart?"

Me: "Because he loves you so very very much."

V (entirely sincere): "Aww. That's so sweet."

Pause.

Then...really quietly...

V: "Mom?"

Me: "What, babe?"

V: "Why am I beautiful?"

This is when I stopped and realized that we were in the middle of a moment that was impacting my daughter's heart on a great level. I put down my paintbrush, bent down and looked her in the eye: "You are beautiful because of who you are.. You are caring, you are loving, you are nice and thoughtful, you are smart and funny, you are sweet...all of those things make you beautiful."

And I saw something amazing happen. I saw her little heart shine as she accepted my answer and soaked in its truth.

Yes, baby girl. Accept that beauty. Embrace it. And shine.

Always.

Babies.

Both of my children have been obsessed with playing with their babies lately.

I am rather surprised at how much Finley likes the babies--I can't remember Vienna being quite as into dolls as young as he is.

Some parents might discourage their boys from playing with dolls. We don't. After all, in reality it isn't just girls that have babies…boys do too. And, I think it's a great way to see and encourage the caring, protective and loving characteristics of my son. He shows his adventurous, strong and daring spirit in plenty--so it's heart melting to see his compassionate side right alongside.

He really is a sweet boy. :)

He rocks and kisses his baby. Pushes it in the stroller and even puts it to sleep. It's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Oh how my heart melts for this strong, caring, little boy.

Intentional life.

I heard our girl cry out for me, I glanced at the clock and unintentionally sighed. 3pm. Nap time was over.

I entered her room and sat at the side of the bed as she pouted and whined, and threw herself back against the pillow.

"Where's Daddy?" she asked, her lip quivering.

Daddy had been the one to put her down for her nap.

"He had to leave..." I said.

Then it happened. With a broken hearted cry, she said, "I just really want him!"

Then she sobbed.

And sobbed.

Her poor little heart cried out. And I knew. This wasn't about Daddy, this was about more. She'd been crying this cry for awhile and unintentionally I hadn't truly listened.

Somewhere along the way, amongst the questions, tantrums, pushing limits and busy days...our hearts withdrew from each other. I didn't think it was possible, but--in fact, it happened frighteningly easily. The busies of the days had stolen my focus. The cries of my children had tired my emotions. The slumber of the nights had teased my drowsy eyes. That was yesterday...and the day before, and the day before that...

Sometimes as a parent you live days that just get you by. Unintentionally it becomes the norm, and you find yourself living each day that way. Dreading, sighing, cringing and tired for what was to come.

The simple truth...
Everything is fighting to steal our intentions. Blindness is a sneakily haze that is always drifting by.

And I have let it settle. I have given it ground. My focus is blurry and my fight is weak. In this way of living, selfishness has ruled. The world of me has reigned...and, it has ruined.

It has hurt my daughter's heart.

And I feel sick.

I have one of those moments, and I realize my mothering failure.

Alone, I always fail.

Alone, I am selfish. Alone, I am tired and weak.

Alone...I ruin.

My daughter sobs harder, her tiny little body shaking with the hurt of her heart.

I stroke her hair, and feel her pain. My heart sobs too--for time lost, for tears missed, and moments thrown away.

How can being something so wonderful, be so hard? How can joy be lost amongst the greatest joys in life? How can I cut little pieces of heart without knowing I'm holding the scissors? How can I see in the dark? How can I fight when I'm tired?

Some people call this life. I call it...living unintentionally.

I ruin, unintentionally.

I am selfish, unintentionally.

I am tired and weak and I fail, unintentionally.

But unintentional isn't life. And life isn't about me. And I've been living unintentionally.

Life is love....
....Life is intentional.

I can intentionally choose to dwell among the flowers. I can intentionally choose to see the beauty in the ugly. I can choose to intentionally love.

And I am thankful. Thankful to hear the cries of my daughter's heart. Thankful to feel grace that is given. Thankful for the love that encompasses. Thankful to have life to live. And thankful to have love to give.

Intentionally, I tune into my daughter's sobs and my fingers caress her golden hair. I let her feel her ache. My heart sympathizes. She knows. And she burrows in my lap. Our hearts reconnect.

And I am thankful again. Thankful for eyes opened. Thankful for hearts restored. Thankful for love lost.

Intentionally, I wait until she's expressed all that hurt inside her heart. The cries have words and I intentionally listen.

I intentionally love. And she knows.

And it makes all the difference in the world.

Color-Changing Flowers

Vienna has been especially snuggly the last couple of weeks. It's not like her to just climb up on my lap for the sake of sitting there, but she's been doing it a lot lately, asking to be held, and I have not minded one little bit. She's getting so big and I love to steal any moment I can to snuggle her. Most of the times she chats away about one thing or another and likes to rub my face or give me kisses in the moments of lull between sentences. Today was a cute little moment when she wanted to sit on my lap after naptime and asked me if Finley was still sleeping. I told her he was.

"Is he dreaming?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe. Did you have a dream when you were sleeping?"

She nodded her head. (She has never told me she's dreamt before...)

"What did you dream about?"

"Flowers."

"Oh really? What about flowers?"

She thought for a minute. "They were blue and white and pink..."

"Ooh, they sound pretty."

"Yeah, they were beautiful flowers, Mommy. They were blue, then white, then pink. They changed colors!"

"Wow. That's sounds amazing."

"Yeah, they were beautiful." Then she paused.... "I love you mommy."


This girl melts my heart over and over again every day. I just love seeing her learn how to express herself, her thoughts and feelings...she's more like a kid now than a toddler and its so fun to see her blossom.


(Later in the day she asked to paint and went to work with her brush and paper. While I was doing some cleaning she came to show me her finished product and explained to me that she painted a picture of her dream....she only used blue, white and pink paint and told me they were color changing flowers.)


Must've been a great dream.

Happy 1st Birthday, Finley!

Dear Finley,

It was a year ago when I met you for the first time, my sweet baby boy. I will never forget holding you to my chest, my hands were the first to touch your soft baby skin and you fit perfectly into my arms. Your hair was matted and curly and your cry was like the sweetest music I had ever heard.

You're one, and I can hardly believe it! These 12 months flew by...you went from being a tiny little baby who fit perfectly on my chest, to a big boy who can feed himself and put himself to sleep. You began conquering your first roll-over and before I knew it...you started walking. Where did the time go? I may not have documented all those precious moments as much as I would've liked to...but they will always be in my heart and I will never forget my beautiful boy, who, despite all the ups and down with stomach issues and long sleepless nights, displayed strength and contentment through it all. You have always been relaxed and content, even in the midst of labor--and your strength has been evident from the beginning.

You are absolutely wonderful. And I am so blessed to be your mommy. You started walking when you were 11 months old and now you are basically running. All those first milestones this past year you figured out on your own and tackled like a pro. You amaze me. You're contentment in whatever you're doing and your desire to explore has shown me to enjoy life more fully. You occupy yourself and I often find you playing with everything that is not a toy...not tearing it apart, but figuring out what it does or what you can do with it. You are smart, I am amazed at how much you understand when I talk to you...like when I suggest going outside and you bring me your shoes, or when I ask for something in your hand and you give it to me, or when you take off for your room when I say it's nigh-night. You repeat words that surprise me, and besides calling for mommy and daddy you frequently say the words "hot" "yuck" and "thank you." No matter what I do, you are entirely fascinated with the toilet and the trash...I think it must be a boy thing. :)

You are such a sweet boy, you show love so generously with your snuggles and kisses, and your concern for others when they're upset (especially your sister) is evident.  You are very receptive and the mood of the people around you influences you greatly. Your smile is still my favorite thing about you--so contagious, big and full of of life. A smile is meant for your face, sweet boy, it says so much about you. You are such an important part of our family, we all love you so incredibly. You've made our life so full and happy. I am so thankful to have been able to watch you grow into a one-year-old, it was so fun to watch you conquer all your firsts and to see your personality unfold, I am so excited to see you develop and grow even more!

I love you Finny-boy! Happy Birthday!!!

Love,
Mommy

Some of your favorite things are: Playing with things in the kitchen cupboards, "chasing" your sister around the house, laughing at your daddy, dancing to music, going outside, being home, eating bananas and almond butter, listening to mommy sing, climbing the stairs and running around naked.

Mister Finley-Fin-Finny

A certain little someone is already 9-months-old.

He is crawling like a pro--and is fast! It took him about a week to master it, he started with just one little knee inch forward and then he would collapse and resort to rolling around and pushing/pulling himself to get where he wanted--a week later he put all the pieces together and took off--he hasn't stopped since!

The next day, since he decided crawling wasn't a challenge enough, he started pulling himself up on things. That was a little over a week ago--he is now walking along with things and has decided to test his balance several times by letting go with both hands to see how long he can stay standing. I absolutely love to see the look on his face when he does--it's a look of pure thrill, an adventure waiting to be unleashed. 

Finley is quite the explorer. Now that he has free reign, he is discovering the world in a whole new way. He is so anxious to get down and explore, as a result I think he believes nap time is his own personal hour to play in his crib. He once put himself to sleep consistently...that has changed. I'm hoping its just a phase. But I can't say that I mind rocking him all the time...I love snuggling my baby boy. 

He is 2 days pacifier free. I've been debating taking it away...he only fell asleep with it about 70% of the time anyway and he always plucked it out if he did. It was, more-or-less, me who liked the convenience it provided. I knew waiting to wean would just prove to be more difficult so I decided to slowly stop offering it to him and he hasn't had it at all for 2 days now. He did miss it but it was a fairly painless process...I am thankful! Vienna's weaning process was certainly not that easy and I took hers away at almost exactly the same age. 

We are discovering Finley and his personality and are enjoying seeing him grow into himself. I have learned that Finley is his own pace. He is easy going and just seems to really take in what's going on around him. He is happy just to be happy, and I find that the atmosphere of the people around him really affect his mood. He loves watching his sister play and laughs most at her than at anyone...sometimes he just starts laughing at whatever she's doing--she then, of course, makes a game of it to keep him laughing. I love seeing the two of them play together. He loves bath-time...he just books it towards the tub if he hears the water running. He is already attached to his blanket, he loves to snuggle his face in it while he sleeps. His favorite toy is probably the toy-piano in Vienna's room...he always goes for it first and plays with it repeatedly and longer than anything else. He also loves being naked. I mean, more so than any baby I've ever seen. He literally cries everytime I get him dress or try to put a diaper on him--it's like he's begging me to just let him run around nakey. When I do let him roam free he is so incredibly giddy--and putting clothes back on him is like WWIII. Finley is definitely a momma's boy--besides Andy, he's not too fond of anyone else holding him. His smile just lights up the room, any stranger that compliments him comments on his smile--its so contagious. He is loving the discovery of food--his favorites are a squash soup I make for the whole family, liver pate, avocado and applesauce. He drinks from a sippy cup and is learning how to feed himself. Just like everything else, he eats at his own pace--sometimes it's fast, but most of the time he lingers after each bite, chewing and enjoying the flavor. 

Our little munchkin is fearless. Vienna was so cautious when it came to things like crawling, standing and walking...she was quick to progress and a fast learner, but she didn't really try anything unless she was pretty sure she could do it. Our Finley? Nope. He just tries it, without much thought. And tries everything! With his wobbly legs and shaky balance he has the look on his face like, "Whoa...This. Is. Awesome!" Then he face-plants, looks at me as if to ask "Am I okay?" When I tell him he is, he stops crying and tries again. Haha...such a boy! :) 

a date, a fish, and a little girl.

Life has been a little chaotic for me lately. Unfortunately, it's affected my mothering capabilities and I've struggled with parenting out of reaction instead of with my heart. I had a wake-up call to this and realized how much Vienna has been hurting as a result. She is a pretty sensitive little girl and is pretty affected by the atmosphere, so the two of us have been off--I've been wondering why she's been giving me so much attitude and she was probably wondering if Mommy liked her or not. :( We were both in desperate need of some quality time together--uninterrupted--to connect. So we went on a little mother-daughter date. :)

It was pretty cute...Vienna picked out a dance dress to wear and insisted on bringing her purse with her wish-bear (new favorite stuffed animal) inside of it. And yes, she had to carry it everywhere with us. :)

She held onto my hand the entire time we were not in the car...it was obvious that she really needed the one-on-one time with me.

I took her to the store to look at pets...of course, we walked out with a little goldfish to take home--her first pet. Vienna named him "Sharky" and insisted that he come out to eat with us.

I obliged, and took Vienna and her fish out to dinner. She carried him to and from the car, the poor fish sloshing around inside the massive bag with her little kid steps and hops. Our waitress totally pleased Vienna by including Sharky in conversation, Vienna was pretty excited about him and checked on him in-between bites to make sure he was alive and swimming.

It was a simple date, but totally fun and I was able to give my 100% attention to her and just enjoy the time together. We colored at the restaurant, talked...she snuggled against me and totally soaked up the moments we had together. It really filled both our hearts, and she felt pretty special to have mommy's full attention. 

It just reminds me, yet again, of how important it is to stay connected with your children. It's so easy to fall into routine, say no all the time, react out of impulse, and get caught up in everyday life and to do's. But investing in their little souls is what's important...and I find that I constantly have to check myself and my attitude several times a day to make sure my heart is in the right place. A lot of times it's not. I'm working on it...

Parenting these delicate little souls is hard work...

Birthday Fun

Vienna has talked about her birthday since the snow started falling, which was very fun because she understood the concept and was super excited about it. I remember my third birthday...I wonder if she will remember hers. :) It sure was a fun day!

We didn't have a party this year, we decided to celebrate as a family. It was so nice, we got to completely focus on our birthday girl, make her feel totally special, and remember that monumental day three years ago when she came into our lives. I think she preferred 100% of our attention anyway, she loves people but gets a little overwhelmed in large crowds. 

A couple days before her birthday I took her to the store and let her pick out some party cups, napkins, plates and a birthday hat. She chose princesses (Cinderella) and picked the crown herself, (how that trumped Dora, I'm not sure...but she didn't even hesitate in choosing.) On the eve of her birthday we decorated the kitchen in streamers and balloons and put all her presents on the kitchen table for her to find in the morning. She knew exactly what day it was when she got up and came marching into my room saying, "Mom, it's my happy birthday!" And that was before she even saw the kitchen in the light and noticed the purple/pink explosion topped with presents.

The birthday girl :)

After all, turning 3 is kind of a big deal...

Especially for little princesses. 

She felt totally special all day long, which is exactly how a birthday should be. :) She had so much fun, playing with mommy and daddy and Finley. She loved her presents and spent the whole day rotating between them. She wore her princess crown the entire day (in fact, it's been glued to her head pretty much ever since.) She was especially excited about her happy birthday cake...which I sneakily fashioned a GAPS version out of squash, eggs, honey and butter. However, she didn't know any different, thought it was the greatest thing ever and savored every bite. 

These pictures are my favorite kind of birthday pictures. Haha :)

We asked Vienna some questions at the breakfast table to look back on in later years and remember how her answers change from year to year:

What is your favorite...

COLOR: Red & Blue

FOOD: Pancakes & Squash
FRUIT: Orange

TOY: Minnie Mouse (doll)

THING TO DO: Play pretend

MOVIE: Tinkerbell

GAME: new birthday game (princess dominos)

SONG: Twinkle, Twinkle

BOOK: One Duck Stuck
THING TO WEAR: Dance Dress
ANIMAL: Bear
DRINK: Kefir

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP: a princess

After all...turning 3 is a pretty big deal. :)

3-Years-Old

Dear Vienna,

You are 3!!! Wow! You're growing into such a beautiful little girl. I feel so blessed to have seen you change, learn, and develop into the little person you are over these last three years. It is such an honor to be your mom. You bring so much joy to my life, everyday you make my heart melt, I love you and I feel so lucky to have the privilege of being your mother.

You are so beautiful, your spirit is full of love for life. You are so smart, you amaze me at how much you understand and how quickly you learn. One of my favorite things about you is your connection to the people around you. You feel, you relate, and you care. Sometimes I wonder if you get things way beyond your years. You're compassionate, loving, thoughtful and entirely joyful. You like to make people laugh and feed off of the energy in the room. I love to hear you talk and laugh. You are very independent, you love to do things by yourself and are always wanting to help in whatever is happening. I am so proud of you and the little girl you've developed into, and I am so excited to see what awaits you this next year.

Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you so very much.
-Mommy

Birth day (two hours old)

 1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

Some of your favorite things to do are: play with your babies--you spend so much of the day putting them to sleep, rocking them, and playing with them. You love to do crafts, coloring, playdoh, stamps...you also love puzzles and games--we play a lot of of hide-and-seek, candy land, and the memory game. You love to snuggle with mommy and daddy, and of course your "B", and now your bear and spider monkey. You love to help mommy in the kitchen. You love to play pretend, you are always making up some sort of adventure you are on and pretending to have tea parties. You like to talk and you like to be silly. One of your favorite things is to dance, sing and listen to music, you like to make up songs and sing to the ones you know. You ask to wear a "dance dress" almost everyday. And you love to hide on your daddy when he comes home from work just because you love the thrill of him finding you. :)

6 months old

This little dude is 6 months old today!

Can you believe it? I hardly can...time has gone by so fast!

My little six-month-old is so sweet. He loves to snuggle and give great big sloppy kisses.

He just started saying, "ba-ba" and talking with distinct sounds. He's had his first taste of homemade bone broth, carrot juice and a bit of squash and is loving the textures and flavors. He's real close to sitting up on his own--and he's working on his very first tooth! 

This little man has got some crazy long eyelashes.

And the cutest feet I've ever seen. :)

He's definitely a momma's boy. And a daddy's boy. :) He gets SO excited about his daddy and is always watching where he goes...but he saves all the kisses and hugs for mommy.

Finley has made these last 6 months so joyful. Its hard to believe that only 6 months ago he made his debut and joined our family. It may have been a whirlwind of time with sleepless nights and puzzling situations, but we can't imagine that there was once a time when he wasn't here...it has felt like he's always been part of this family.

Wait. He has. :) He just didn't show up until 6 months ago.

We love you Finley.

Finley update

These last five months have been a blur in time. I thought the first year of Vienna's life went by super fast, but as Finley approaches the 1/2yr mark I am struck with the reality that his first year is going by far quicker. I'm a little saddened by this because I feel like I didn't even get to enjoy his infancy. In a blink of an eye he's nearly 16lbs, laughing, interacting, rolling over and reaching for our food--is he seriously that same tiny little snuggly bundle of love that joined our little family at the beginning of summer? My goodness...it's not fair how fast it goes!

I have wanted to blog about him for quite some time now...but being that time is like a whirlwind, it's been hard for me to blog period. 

If I can think of a word to describe Finley, it would 'strong.' I find this interesting because when I first got pregnant and long before I found out he was boy, the first thing I would unconsciously think of, apart from praying that the baby would be healthy, was that the baby would be strong. 

Finley, is indeed, very strong. Physically for one thing. In the first few days after he was born I remember hearing comments from people about how good his head control was. I too, was startled with the fact that my newborn had so much strength in him already. And now, well I'm not sure I've ever held a baby his age that is quite as strong as he is. His wiggly limbs have so much power to them when he moves. He loves to jump/bounce and seriously if I'm just holding him sitting on my lap and he decides to kick his legs--well, I make sure I hold on to him tight because he's come close to jumping right onto the floor in one quick movement. He also has amazing ab strength. lol. About two months ago he decided to try "sitting up" whenever I would lay him down. It looks like he's doing an ab crunch. He just lays there like that...holding his head up like he's just going to pop up to a sitting position. Goofy kid. :)

Not only does his physical strength amaze me, but so does the strength of his soul. He has had issues with acid reflux and food intolerances, and where most babies would scream in pain Finley does not. He wiggles, and squirms, grunts maybe, and as his mother I can tell when something is really bugging him--but if a random stranger saw him they'd think nothing of it. He's so mellow and tough. Granted, we've had more rough nights than good nights as a result of his discomfort, but he's just up...not screaming, which is something I am very thankful for...even if I'm not getting solid chunks of sleep. He has been known to have a fit here or there as a result of his issues, but with how much discomfort he's been in over the course of these last 5 months, he has been so strong and happy through it all. 

His acid reflux was noticeable pretty much right away after he was born. We even had him on medicine for it because it was bugging him so much after he'd eat. There were times it bugged him more than others, and it peaked right around the 3/4 month mark. We took him off of it when we realized the medicine was bugging him more than the acid reflux was, and so even though he still spits up/pukes several times a day, its getting better. I'm hopeful that he might outgrow it when he starts eating solids. 

At the same time the medicine starting really bugging him we finally were able to pinpoint some of his food intolerances as well. I had spent the course of...pretty much his entire life thus far...trying to eliminate things from my diet to see what was irritating him. I eat pretty simply, and avoid processed foods, gluten, refined sugar, and things of the sort in my regular routine. However, during the process of eliminating things that are common gas givers, I was "cheating" with food I don't normally eat more frequently than I typically do as result of traveling and being lazy. It was like an up and down roller coaster, but I had an inkling to the things that were bothering him and had some muscle testing done on him from my chiropractor and the results confirmed what I had been thinking. He is sensitive to: dairy protein (which encompasses all dairy), wheat, and white sugar. What his sensitivities entail, I'm not sure. I don't know if he'll have allergies later on in life, or if he'll outgrow them. But I do know he is a totally different baby when I avoid these things entirely. Along with avoiding anything with dairy, wheat or sugar...I also can't have tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, any citrus fruits, oatmeal and peanut butter. (The fruits and vegetables I can't have I'm hoping he will be able tolerate better after starting solids as they purely just give him painful gas verses irritating him on a different level.) You might wonder why I would still choose to nurse him with so many limitations, but to me, avoiding these foods is a small sacrifice if it still means I can feed my baby. After permanently staying off of these things (no cheating!) Finely changed almost drastically. He is SO incredibly happy. When I mean happy, I swear this boy never stops smiling. He has got the greatest smile and he sure likes to show it off. :) He also started putting himself to sleep. From his birth I always kind of felt like he had the possibility of soothing himself to sleep fairly easily but with all the things that were bugging him he just never stayed sleeping for more than 30 minutes at a time during the day. Now, I can lay him down with his pacifier and blankie and he puts himself to sleep in minutes. 

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!

I just have to pause and soak in the luxury of this fact. Considering that we pretty much had to rock Vienna until her brains fell out until she was 18+months old just get her to sleep...the fact that we have a baby that can put himself to sleep is like a miracle. 

Seriously. A miracle.

I could go on, but I'll stop there... :)

Back to how great Finley is.

I mean, look at this little guy...

Cute, right? :)

I mean, how can you not smile back at him? :)

Finley loves tummy time, always has. He loves watching his big sister play and gets super excited to see her when she greats him in the morning or after nap time. She likes to call him "Finley Roman," which I love because I just really love his whole name. Finley also loves his daddy so much, nobody can make him belly laugh like daddy. :) Daddy likes to call him "Finny."

Fin, Finny, Fineroo....Finley Roman--is 5 months old and is such a delight to this family. He has started giving kisses--it's about the cutest thing ever. He also gives hugs and often times when I pick him up he just squeezes his arms around me like he's so happy that I'm holding him. He likes to "talk," though he's not nearly as much of a talker as his sister was at his age, but he likes to try, he also likes to growl and blow raspberries. He can roll over from his back to his stomach, and from his stomach to his back--he's just beginning to realize he can move by combining these. He tries to get up on his knees already though has yet to succeed at it. He likes toys but gets really excited about his stuffed animals. He loves to be held but is totally chill with hanging out on the floor or in his chair. He loves to listen to mommy sing and he loves to be talked to. Talk to Finley and you'll be garunteed a smile. :)

He is such a smiley sweet boy. 

Little girls have wings

Did you know....?

...that fairies come in the form of little girls?

Little girls that like to have fun...

...and believe they can fly.

But of course they can fly...

they have wings!

Did you know fairies like to be silly?

...and play make-pretend?

Fairies like to be serious sometimes too...

and try to figure things out.

But most of all, 

fairies like to be sweet...

and so unbelievably cute. :)

Good morning, Mom

Someone wakes you up. They crawl into bed next to you and they feel warm and snuggly as they touch your cheek gently. They start poking at your face, first your eyes, then your mouth...they kick you unintentionally as they wriggle full of energy, but it hurt. It's morning. You're tired--you fell back asleep for the fourth time only an hour ago. You never knew an hour could feel like 10 seconds. The smiling little face staring at you couldn't be any cuter, and this makes you smile as you snuggle that little person and breath in the scent of their hair. All you want is to lay there, fall back asleep with that person in your arms. Twenty seconds later the blankets are being pulled off of you. Pestering little hands are tugging at your limbs like they're strong enough to move them. That little person make a noise that resembles an awful lot like a demand and carries that unmistakable note of whine. You hear another noise, this one is a cry and you know that you can no longer delay getting out of bed. So you do, though every part of you is screaming to stay underneath the warm covers and give in to your tired eyes. You try your hardest to be awake as you move, though your legs feel like a hundred pounds each and your brain feels like its still lying back there against the pillow. You greet a wriggly little human and even though you just saw them an hour ago their little grin melts your heart. You pick them up and oblige to the other little hand pulling at your arm, directing you somewhere. You're tired, and you realize that its still dark out. You feel another tug and realize how much you don't like your limbs being yanked on when your brain can't even function properly yet. You hear more whine and you have a hard time knowing that the pitch is a result of the hour...you wish everyone was back in bed, sleeping. And then you hear something--that quite familiar unmistakable burp followed by rushing liquid. You smell it--acidity...old milk stench. Next you feel it--the unpleasant warming sensation as it seeps through the layers of your clothes and wets your skin. Another wave saturates you before you even get the chance to react. You're slimy. You smell. You have gunk in your eyes. You realize you still have throw-up on your arm from the ten times you got spit up on yesterday and wonder if you'll get the chance to shower off the new stuff today. Its dark outside, it's morning, your babies are awake.

This is just their way of saying "Good morning, Mom."

Most favorites

My favorite day of the week? The days Andrew is off of work. Being together as a family is honestly the best part of my week...the best part of my day. Even if things are chaotic, the kids are crabby and we don't get the chance to say a whole lot to each other--just being together makes me happy. :)

Andrew starts his work week on Tuesdays, so while others may have been cursing that today is Monday, I was enjoying one of my most favorite days of the week...with my most favorite people.