Hapy Birthday Little Sister

Well. She went and did it. Scarlet turned one.

We had a sweet low-key (but very pink) family birthday party for her. It was perfect. Family we love, good food, a baby in a tutu and warm sunshine. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

Birthdays are always a little bittersweet for me. I tend to feel a little sad on birthdays as I reflect on a year that has passed much too quickly. And this baby’s first year flew by in a blink of an eye.

But her birthday was joy-filled and full of little moments of sweetness that reminded me not to pine (too much) for the past.

A few captures from our little blue-eyed wonder’s special day:

Happiest of birthdays Sweet Scarlet,

You are our sunshine.

You complete our family. You are sass and spunk but dainty, gentle, sweet and so full of life. We love watching you grow and change into the amazingness of you.

We thank God every single day for you and can’t wait to see what this second year holds.

Love you baby girl.

Snapshot Life

Holy bananas…all three kids are napping at the same time. This is a rare and wonderful phenomenon that rarely takes place at our house. Cue the chorus, I’m ready for my hallelujah song. This mama needed 30 minutes of quiet solitude.

Anyway…

I’ve taken to using Siri on my phone, to make quick notes when one of the boys says something particularly funny, interesting, or (mostly) random. They always ask me why I’m talking TO my phone. Technology is weird and awesome.

Luke has an imaginary friend. His name is Jason. He has a brother. You have to drive past Costco on the highway, past the ‘fence yards’ to get to his house.

Man I love this kid.

If you ask Luke anything about Jason, he’ll have an answer for you. He knows his friend well! Jason like to ride bikes, but not play at the park. He does NOT have a little sister. He also likes peanut butter sandwiches.

Jack: Where does Jason live?

Luke: By the fence yards, past Costco.

Me: What’s the fence yard?

Luke (waving vaguely out the window): Mom! You know! The fence yards! (Duh!)

Jack: Where is Jason right now?

Luke: In Sun Valley. He’s on vacation.

****

Jack is a boy of (typically) few words. He’s always been much more of a doer than a talker. So it’s not uncommon for us to have a few minutes of silence in the car here and there. From the quiet backseat Jack offers the following deep thought:

Jack: “The only place I don’t make naughty choices is the cabin. If I’m there, I only make good choices. But if I’m in Yakima, I’m going to be naughty.”

Me: Ummm. Ok. How come you don’t make naughty choices at the cabin?

Jack: It’s just way more funner up there. There’s no time to be naughty.

Me: Good point buddy.

***

A quick clarification. Scarlet doesn’t actually turn one until the 24th. She was a solid week overdue. There’s just something about the ‘due date’ that I hold onto (stupidly, obviously).

This girl hates bibs. If it doesn’t snap on, she immediately rips it off. Velcro bibs belong on the floor according to this little lady. She also does not like to be fed with a spoon. On a rare, very hungry day, she will relent on her spoon policy, but most days it’s a no go. This means, her tray looks like this most of the time. Also, I would give my left foot for someone to do my laundry for me. Seriously.

The walking continues. She’s gaining confidence and momentum by the hour. So fun and scary to watch.

What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today I was hugely pregnant, on my due date, adrift in every emotion possible.

Today, my baby girl wore jeans for the first time, took 7 steps in a row and is currently screaming indignantly from her crib over the injustice of having to take a nap.

To say that the tail-end of my pregnancy with Scarlet was torturous would be a compliment. It was a distinct time in my life where I truly felt like I was wrestling; wrestling with expectations, my worries, hopes and fears and certainly in my relationship with my Creator.

As September has come around again THIS year, memories and emotions have flooded back to me. While wrestling isn’t comfortable, its agonizing really when you’re in the thick of it, it’s also sacred. And I’m grateful for that sacredness.

While I feel bittersweet over my last baby turning one I am marveling at what a year it was. A blessed, challenging, holy, amazing, sanctifying year.

 

Little Things

Just a couple of notes for my memory:

Jack

Recited Psalm 23 from memory as part of his end-of-the-school year preschool program. Loving that he learned scripture and a good reminder and encouragement to do more of that at home.

His hair grows so fast. It is floppy and falls in his eyes and as much as he needs a haircut, his wild hair gives him a tiny essence of being ‘little.’ It’s hard to give up.

Has developed hoarding tendencies. The kid fills envelopes, shoe boxes, forgotten cookie tins and anything else he can get his hands on with whatever the days treasures are. Scraps of paper, quarters, pens, little toys, a wayward sock, even my car keys. It is ALL important. It is all HIS.

Sports. All of them, all the time. Forever amen.

Luke

Dimples. Enough said.

Still wants to do all the things his brother does. Misses Jack when he’s at school and hates to be separated. Yet, fight like wild hoodlums almost constantly.

Loves green blankie and his thumb with all his heart.

His imagination has kicked into high gear. We listen to wandering random tales all day long. They could be about anything from the bulldozer we passed in the car to his brother getting in trouble the day before to what his cars/dinosaurs/Legos are doing that very second.

He stutters (a little).

Really loves riding his bike. Took a spin on Jack’s two-wheel (with Daddy’s help). It won’t be long now.

Scarlet

So cute it’s ridiculous.

Lots of babbling. Started waving. LOVES attention.

Crawling. Getting into things. Wants to be where her brothers are.

Has entered the human vacuum stage. Any stray piece of ANYTHING (dropped cheerio, small Lego, random piece of fuzz, MY HAIR) goes directly in the mouth. This is a particularly disgusting stage of babyhood.

Has many opinions. Is known to screech like a dying hyena and growl like a constipated bear. Is still cute.

Needs to sleep through the night, but mama is a lazy weakling.

This Girl

Happy eight months sweet one,

It’s all going too fast. Your babyhood, this first precious year. I know I’m going to have some regrets because life has raced ahead and I’m so easily distracted, frazzled, sometimes even frustrated.

And here you are, all sunshine and sass and full of light. I want to bottle up this stage; your gummy grin, your sweet chubby feet, your downy soft hair, the way you babble and suck your thumb, running your hand over your hair.

You are our caboose, forever the youngest child, my baby. Please stay a baby for just a little longer would you? You seem a little too interested in catching up to your brothers and I’m just not ready for it.

Stop crawling and really stop thinking about pulling yourself up on things. You don’t have to eat all that ‘big kid’ food if you don’t want to. Although, anytime you want to sleep through the night, that would be just fine with me.

More than anything little one, I love you. Every little thing about you. To the moon and back.

(oh, and sorry that your childhood is being documented in grainy instagram photos, but it’s the best I can do these days. The second I think about getting out the big camera, someone falls off a chair or poops on the carpet. You’ll understand in a few years.)

Just a Regular Tuesday Night

You know the kind…where the baby has a blow out during dinner requiring an emergency bath after finding poop up to her ears. The big boys decide they want a bath, except one of them wants to wear their swimsuit.

And even though I wanted to say no, I said yes.

So everyone is happy for a few minutes, except you know, they are splashing EVERYWHERE and carrying on like soaked Ferrel cats. But, whatever, they’re happy, even though we feel like this:

But, (of course there’s a but), you catch sight of this happy little thing:

And all is right with the world again. Splashing be damned; that little smile, those eyelashes, the cheeks I could eat all day every day. Sigh…

Such sweethearts, all three of them. Little turkeys.

Get it Together

Life feels a little blurry around the edges, a little like how the sky looks today, hazy with a few clouds and gray-blue sky peeking through. It might be the lack of sleep, it might be winter, its everything and nothing all at the same time.

Just when I think I’m finding my footing with three kids something tiny like a 5:30am start to the day knocks everything out of equilibrium and all a sudden I’m laying on the couch eating pilfered m&m’s from the potty-treat jar wondering how everything got so terrible.

Oh motherhood. No humblebrags in this corner, just lots and lots of humble pie.

Jack is officially dropping his nap. Which at almost 4.5 is probably a good thing (for him). Always my early riser, I had hoped he would sleep a little later, but it doesn’t seem to affect him in the least. I force a little quiet time on him in the afternoon, but gone are the days of quiet afternoons.

Luke is almost potty-trained. Until today when he peed his pants out in the yard and then dropped a turd on the patio. I rushed him to the bathroom and then went to clean up the mess when I discovered Rem took care of that for me. So gross. On so many levels.

Scarlet…or sweet Scarlet. She lives up to her name. She does not believe in third-kid status. She would prefer to be thought of as a first-born. She has opinions. Many of them. She is also teething and rolling, neither of which she likes very much.

I keep telling myself this is the week I’m going to ‘get it together’ and then I realize I’m probably not going to do anything but hang on for the ride for a long long time.

So it’s good to have m&m’s in the house.

Scarlet’s Nursery

I can’t believe my little nugget is three months old already. And even though she hasn’t actually slept in her room yet (soon!), I had so much fun putting all the little pieces together.

I kept things pretty simple. All the furniture stayed (notice the prominent teeth marks the boys left on the crib rails) and I ended up keeping the walls the same color (saybrook sage by pottery barn).

The arm-chair and bookcase are IKEA. The crib sheet and bed skirt are pottery barn. The rug is Dash and Albert. The art is a smattering of prints I had growing up and finds on etsy. The pom bouquet was well-documented as my first-ever pinterest craft. I’m thinking about hodge podging some fabric to the back of the bookcase. I’m thinking that falls more under home improvement project than craft right?

I had a hard time putting this room together. Even though multiple ultrasounds confirmed a girl, I just wasn’t totally buying it. I also knew I wanted something feminine without being overly girly. I really like how it turned out. Lots of soft colors with a few bright punches of color.

Now to just get her sleeping in that cozy little crib…