2.28.2012

the one about acorns in my pocket or something like that.

I walked into TJ Maxx the other night, alone, without a purpose. It felt so good. Usually when I'm alone and shopping it's because I need to get groceries or more toilet paper or run to the post office. I've been thinking about my coming months and baby coming. I needed to get out the other night for no reason at all.

While walking in, I reached into my pocket to discover a bubble gum wrapper and some acorn shells. I was just about to throw it all away in the trash can before entering, but I just couldn't get myself to let go of the acorns. I kept my hand in my pocket and traced the shells with my fingers. And the sweet moments from that day flooded my head while I browsed the aisles. Audrey collected the acorns for me at the park. I couldn't help but think about the cool breeze that day and how Audrey thought the tree that fell over by a beaver was the coolest thing. [We went home that day and watched beaver videos on YouTube. For real.] The acorns are still in my pocket. And I'm not sure when I will feel ready to throw them out. 


These moments are fleeting. And shifting. Audrey is going from a toddler to a kid. A kid with such laughter at the littlest things, a child with an imagination that I question if I ever had such creativity at that age, a girl with a heart to be in the kitchen, cooking and helping at every meal. And her humor, oh my. She has entered the stage where the word poop is funny to say. [It's actually funny to write too.] Like, really funny. Little sister already knows what tooting is and she giggles when she does it, because older sister makes a big deal of it. And I may or may not laugh too. 


She began a dance class in January. Just a short, one hour a week thing, where she meets at a friend's house and a dance major student teaches them. My heart skipped a beat the first time she put on her dance outfit and slippers and I put her hair in the bun. This girl has always been singing or dancing since I can remember. 


She notices every flower that has popped up in our yard. Her excitement for the little purple flowers in contagious. "It means springtime is coming!" I'm thankful for her reminder of renewal and growth in this coming season. 

2.16.2012

16 months.

On the 5th, my little Naomi turned 16 months. I'm behind, but I wanted to make sure to write down these sweet/funny/even challenging little things about her. Because, I know all too well, how fast this time goes. And in less than three short months, I will have a newborn as well.


If Audrey gets something, Naomi insists on it as well. In fact, it doesn't matter what I give Naomi, she wants what her sister has. For Valentine's Day I bought them each a balloon, but I made the mistake of buying two different ones. When we got home, Naomi purposefully took Audrey's and ran down the hallway with it while Audrey ran after her to get it back.


She loves to color and paint. And do play dough. Although, she still tries to put it all in her mouth because she thinks it's funny when we tell her no.


She is becoming quite the climber. Side table. Bed. Couch. Chairs. Stairs. She also likes to be on the go. If we haven't left the house in the while she will head to the door and pull on it and look for her shoes and coat.


She loves to be held, by her mama mainly. Other than that, she runs if I let her down and loose.


She is such a charmer with her smile. And a lover of books and food. Her personality is blooming and it makes me squeal with delight.

2.14.2012

valentines.

I'm a sucker for holidays. I know some people think Valentine's Day is silly. But I love any excuse to decorate, throw a little party, and eat a cupcake. Plus, it's a like a built-in-must-go-on-a-date day. I'll take it. This morning we started out with pink heart shape pancakes. Lunch included a heart shape sandwich and then before nap we had a tea party in our living room and watched Alice in Wonderland. I bought the girls a couple of small gifts and put them in their stockings to open when they woke up. Yup, in their Christmas stockings. Ha. In January I ordered some custom Christmas stockings via My Cherry Tree on Etsy. They are so stinking adorable, and when I posted a picture on Facebook of them, someone suggested using them on Valentine's Day. Genius, they aren't traditional Christmas colors and even have hearts on them!

See, aren't they so cute? Works for Christmas and Valentine's!

My "mantle." I have been packing up a lot of things in the house, but I couldn't take down these decorations quite yet. 


After a homemade dinner at home, the hubs and I hit the movies. We did the most cliche thing--saw The Vow. Another thing I'm a sucker for, hopeless romantic movies. And I may or may not have gotten teary-eyed during the preview for The Titantic. Not even kidding. When the song "My Heart Will Go On" started to play I went straight back to sophomore year in high school. I'm blaming it on the pregnancy hormones, though. Speaking of pregnancy, I've entered my third trimester. You guys, I'm only three months away from my due date! 

[Blog note: Andrew took action today and sent my DSLR in to get repaired. I told him I wasn't blogging because I didn't have my real camera and he said he was tired of checking everyday and not seeing a new post. How cute is that?! Yay for a fixed camera soon!]

2.06.2012

purging, packing, and pinterest.

Last week, I wrote about my call to motherhood, and how I declined a free week stay in Jamaica due to my pregnancy and the sheer fact I wasn't ready to leave my other two babies for six days. I was suppose to be at the beach all last week. God gave me such peace about my decision and all week, I had no regrets. [It probably helped that we had such amazingly warm weather as well.] In fact, I think I appreciated making those flower peanut butter and honey sandwiches just a tad more and dancing on the whim in the living room happened freely because I was here and really wanted to be. It was like the idea of absence made my heart grow fonder.

Little did I know, that God actually had other exciting plans for me {and my family} instead of listening to the ocean roar. This last week, we sold our house. Fo real. And it all happened in an unplanned flash. There is no doubt that it was part of God's plan though and in His perfect timing. It all started the weekend when I was suppose to be leaving for Jamaica--we had a showing without even our house officially being on the market. We quickly put it on the market on Tuesday and had an offer by late that evening. I'm not even kidding. Skip ahead two days and we had another showing and by that evening we had two awesome offers on the table. Not to mention another showing that night. We have accepted an offer and having a closing date in March.


So, now I am slowly starting to pack. I figured a should do a box or two a day while my belly isn't totally ginormous yet (just about three months till Lincoln's arrival!), and take advantage of my "nesting" period I'm in right now. [I may have randomly went through all my spices and transferred them to cute glass jars just so they can match. Because you know, that's important before moving. Ha.] I'm going through closets and purging. I love it. And Pinterest. Don't get me started on this slight obsession. I'm getting crazy home ideas on there.

I'm trying not to think too far ahead, being that we haven't actually closed yet. But it is so exciting and stressful and fun all at the same time. In the next three months we will have sold our third home, bought a new one (that we plan to be in for a very long time), and have our third baby in three and a half years. Are we nuts? Why, yes, yes we are. Thankfully, I can give my worries to My King, because there is no way that I could have controlled how this is all working out. If you think about, I would love some prayers about finding our next home and that between now and mid-March the house selling process will go smoothly.