Just another day in paradise

Today I managed to get absolutely nothing accomplished besides putting one load of laundry away and cooking David's Favorite Pasta for dinner.

I made a grocery list then didn't go to the store. I took a shower, and didn't do my hair. There's always tomorrow, I suppose.

 I took an anemic 2 hour nap. which only made me more tired,

and the supper dishes are piled in the sink, but now I'm ready for bed. Truly.

Yesterday I had an agenda, to have lunch at work with my handsome man, and then to the grocery store before I picked Isabella up from school....but right as I was stepping into the shower, the shool nurse called.

Does anyone else's heart stop when the school nurse calls?

My poor baby had vomited all over the gymnasium floor. When I got to the school, she was lying her head on her desk while her classmate's ate Easter Party cupcakes, I asked her how she felt and she told me she wanted to come home and rest...uh-oh.

She vomited in the car in an Easter treat bag on the way home.

Then she vomited again at home...right before she fell into a deep feverish sleep.

A trip to our pediatrician set my mind at ease about it not being the flu, but my baby has a humdinger of a virus.

This little face breaks my heart. 

We spent the entire day on the couch, sipping water and snuggling. We watched Max And Ruby's Easter and Peter Rabbit about 5 times apiece. Her fever broke around 9:30 p.m. and right before she fell asleep holding my hand, she sleepily told me I was the best mom in the world. A bag full of diamonds couldn't make me more happy than that.

Today she was much better. Still slightly feverish, and a few tummy troubles...but she was up and playing like normal and BEGGING for some of the candy out of her school treat basket. She had lined up every piece on the couch but wouldn't eat any until she had permission. 

She breaks my heart wide open.

We were pleased that our neighborhood visitor paid us a call this morning. He was curled up asleep in his spot...waiting for his bowl of tuna. We have no idea where he lives, and he's not fixed nor does he wear a collar...but he's plump and well taken care of. We love him and his random visits...and he knows he'll always get a bowl full of tuna on our front porch. 

Maybe we will nick-name him Tuna.

Isabella was in and out of the house all afternoon, administering cuddles, talking to him and generally disturbing his marathon cat nap.

At one point she picked me a bouquet of "flowers" out of our overgrown front lawn :) 

Better than a dozen roses :)

Perfect!

Tonight I snuggled her close, it dawned on me how quickly she's growing up...how one day I am going to wake up and she will be too cool for me, too cool to hold my hand at night...

I can't bear that thought.

So I snuggled her until her little warm body went limp in my arms...that is the most glorious sensation...to snuggle your child until they succumb to sleep. 

I did my best to kiss every freckle on her sweet little nose, sniffed her clean hair, held her hand and looked at her fingernails...they had crayon underneath them.

It's probably the cocktail of pregnancy hormones surging through my veins...but I could have cried out of gratitude. Being a mom is the fiercest kind of love I have ever encountered. It's draining, exhausting, all encompassing, protective, sometimes trying, but oh man...it IS the best.

So tonight, even though I pretty much did nothing all day long...I am so grateful for this day I had. Grateful for my sweet little one, grateful for motherhood in general. I'm humbled by my blessings, I don't deserve them, but God has given them to me anyway...it makes me want to gather up my young, protect them and do the best job I can possibly do to raise them right, because I know I'm not entitled to these sweet babies I have, they are special gifts that have been entrusted to me to care for and nurture. 

It is both thrilling and terrifying, but more wonderful than words can describe!

3rd trimester blues...A TMI post.

So I have arrived at my final destination. The Third Trimester. There aren't any left after this one...the big event is only weeks away, meaning...in less than 12 weeks I will go from being the mother of one, to the mother of three. 

This milestone is riddled with curiosities for me. 

And strange symptoms. 

First of all, I'm a little blue. I'm almost sad because now that I know I have inherited the genetic potential to produce doubly...this will undoubtedly be my last pregnancy. Like ever. Truth be told...when I'm not feeling tired, run down, nauseous, or just downright crappy...I love being pregnant. I love tracking their growth and feeling their sweet little movements. Something about carrying them with me throughout my day, feeling them move about...it's just so sweet and natural.

I'm also...VERY relieved. It's almost over! I can't wait to sleep on my stomach, not tinkle on myself when I sneeze, not crave an angus burger at 1 a.m., not cry at Dawn soap commercials where they wash the grease off the baby duck, not dream lucid dreams that cause me to wake up feeling guilty, sheepish or confused...I can't wait to, ya know...feel normal.

I also can't wait to bend down and pick things up off the floor. Lately, I just use my feet if it's something important, or I wait until Isabella gets home from school. 

Strange things have definitely been happening to me. For instance...my milk came in. At 26 weeks. This did NOT happen to me with Isabella until about three days after she was born. I knew things would be different with two...but that one really shocked the pants off of me, not to mention it grossed out my husband. When I told him, I really thought he was going to hit the ceiling and cling to it with his claws like a cartoon cat. 

 He regards that area with a dubious expression and a healthy amount of space these days. No amount of reassurance on my part that no, they will NOT erupt "at him" is enough to convince poor ole daddy. 

I can't wait for him to change his first baby boy diaper. 

I have officially started my preparations.

I waddle about, nesting here, organizing there. I have a long list of freezer meals to prepare and stockpile my freezer. A menu for those first few weeks of mayhem planned out in my head and ready to be comprised onto paper. I'm busily sewing sweet little pink and blue bits for when my bundles arrive. And thanks to our wonderful group of family and friends, we have already amassed an impressive stockpile of diapers and wipes, which I have organized in the "baby closet"

Construction on the "Surprise-It's-Two-Room" we're adding onto our house is drawing to an end as well.

We are blessed.

So now, without further ado, the 27 week belly. Brace yo-self!!!!

The spots on the image are toothpaste. I took this in Isabella's bathroom, and lets just say, her aim leaves a lot to be desired...as does my gumption for cleaning mirrors.

Our snow was melted completely by Wednesday evening, and since then we have been enjoying sunny spring-like days...of course. 

Yesterday I had big plans for a Dr. visit to see the twins, and some major productivity while Isabella was at school...but she woke me up with projectile vomit, which lasted all throughout the day, so we spent the afternoon snuggled in bed watching movies and the evening sleeping cheek to cheek. I'm not complaining :)

Thankfully she was better by the next morning, so I had no excuse to keep her home another day :( I did however, pick her up from school at the earlier time. I wanted to take her with me to choose our seeds for this summer's garden. I was excited to get to Lowe's with her. That girl loves choosing seeds!

But as fate would have it...I bumped right into my mom and dad...Isabella immediately took off with Granddaddy, leaving me to browse the seeds at leisure and pick my mom's brain for various gardening tips.

We went ahead and started our tomato plants today. Isabella is very gleefully showing me her "green thumb"

We chose three different varieties. Heirloom Brandywine pinks, Brandywine reds (so I can harvest my own seeds for next year!)...and Isabella's selection, Bush Big Boys.

My mom's thrifty idea for seed tags...cut up milk jugs and label them with a Sharpie. 

Seeds!

I do love that tiny little hand.

Our little starter sits by the back door, a prime spot for that morning and afternoon sun. 

My helper proved herself to be quite proficient!

I was surprised at how careful and deliberate she was with this project...considering she usually moves like a bull in a china shop...

Oh, but we have big plans. Last year's two beds just won't do...one more large bed for my vegetables and another smallish bed for my herbs ought to do it for now. I plan on being knee deep in dirt all this spring and summer...that is until these babies force me to the hospital :)

Snow Day

Oh, Tennessee March, you are such a tease. 

Received the 'No School' call this morning at 5:45 a.m. after which I turned off my phone and burrowed that much deeper into the covers. Tucked warm and snug between a snoring hubby and a snuggly little one, the snowflakes swirled their paths to the ground while we slept peacefully until 9:30.

Glorious.

Hubby wasn't lucky enough to get an entire snow day, but didn't have to be at work until noon, which meant we all got to share a rare midweek breakfast together.

Mmm...

 

Side Note: The aspiring gardener in me has been saving all my egg-shells...even in the midst of our chilly day I can't stop thinking about my garden this spring...and spring starts in just a few short weeks! These will go in the freezer, to be crushed and sprinkled around my tomato plants...because this past summer I learned a valuable lesson about calcium deficiencies in soil ;-) And that little jar of strawberry jam? It just happens to be the last of what I canned last spring...Oh how I can't wait to begin canning season again! My nesting instinct has me longing to get out all of my jars and polish them until they glitter.

Ahem! Anyway...

 

Meanwhile, while breakfast was cooking...someone stared wistfully out the window and asked on average of every 3-5 minutes was it "time to go outside yet?"

But since the snowflakes were still blowing in sideways, we waited until it stopped enough for play...this was most assuredly a long half hour for a certain little one.

View from the back porch...certainly looks promising!

View from kitchen sink...snow and yet still a few small signs of spring on my windowsill. Notice my sweet crayon hearts? My valentine made these for me all by herself and I can't yet bear to take them down.

At last!

I watched from the living room windows, cozily wrapped in my favorite quilt, I snapped these pictures from inside. I figured she wouldn't last long seeing as this morning we realized we lost our waterproof mittens somewhere along the way since our last snowfall. 45 minutes, two very cold hands, and one very red, runny nose later, I heard boots tramping up the stairs...

Time to strip down to our thermals and sip a mug of princess hot chocolate!

Mmm...whipped cream! Or as Isabella calls it, "squirt cream" we got a little too excited about the "squirt cream" and spilled hot chocolate all down ourselves...but that's okay because all we really wanted was to eat that squirt cream anyway.

So now what? however shall we entertain ourselves for the rest of the day? 

Well, washing dishes is one of her favorite pastimes...

But we soon tired of that...so I printed out some spring themed coloring sheets, because hope of spring springs eternal in a southern heart...even on a snow day.

Aerial view of my two little sparrows. This always makes me chuckle when I look down. 

I found some amazing stained glass coloring pages...she loved them!

I love them too. In fact, I covered them with contact paper and they just might replace my hearts on the kitchen sink window. Although I also contact papered the hearts while I was at it...to preserve and use for next February and Februaries to come :) 

you have to hold your mouth just right while you cut...

That pretty much sums up the highlights of our snow day...although the major highlight for me was snuggling in bed with episodes of Little Bear on my laptop...while mommy caught a blessed 45 minute snooze...

Snow is in the weather report this week, but today it is cold, gloomy and full of rain. I have nowhere I need or have to be...I have no pressing agendas. My nest is clean and sparkling, my pantry is stocked for the week, my meals are planned...this is just the type of day I love best. My candles get lit and I typically go into full-blown squirrel nesting mode.

This morning was somewhat of an anomaly, we all awoke peacefully, Isabella went through her morning routines without a hitch, and I was even able to pack her a healthy lunch. The feeling of productivity went straight to my head, and on the drive home from taking her to school I planned out in my mind, an elaborate agenda for my day.

When I returned home, the rain was noisily pelting the windows and the chill had gone straight to my bones. But my hubby, who seems to know me inside and out, to the very core of my being...did an incredibly sweet gesture.

As I was gathering laundry off the floor, chattering on about doing this and accomplishing that, breathless from bending down around my big pregnant belly...he quietly had been going behind me, turning down the covers on our bed, closing blinds, and switching on my box fan I like to use for white noise while I sleep. 

Have I mentioned lately, how much I adore that man? 

He gave me a quick snuggle before leaving for work, then told me to take a long nap, rest our babies...it was too rainy and cold to go out anyway. 

And so I did. All the while my little ones kicking and wriggling inside me in protest...but I've learned to sleep through all that now. I imagine I must have looked something like this...

...although not nearly as cute and sweet. And maybe insert a little snoring here and there.

Weekending

It's been a cold blustery weekend in my neck of the woods, both Saturday and today we woke up to snow dusting the rooftops of our neighborhood. When Isabella saw the flakes swirling through the air yesterday, she gleefully proclaimed "Oh, what a lovely scene!" I can tell I have been letting her watch Downton Abbey ;-)

As my girl gets older, she gets more and more hard-headed. She definitely comes by this trait honestly. I'm what they call...payin' for my raisin' 

Most mornings we butt heads on breakfast, hairdos, outfits, choices of footwear etc...which is normal I suppose, but we've developed a sass lately that I am just not accustomed to.

I can't abide a back-talking kid. 

On a normal day, after she has been safely deposited at school, (fed, clothed and groomed despite it all) the arguing has subsided and I'm left in the quiet to reflect upon the start of my day. I sit and scratch my head over how to deal with this...of course that is coupled with a helping of mother's guilt and those acute feelings of utter failure that only a fellow mother could understand. 

I think every mother deals with these feelings. Even on a good day. So I developed for myself a mantra to repeat to myself whenever I'm at my wit's end.

I have a great kid. An intelligent kid. A helpful kid. A sweet, caring kid.

This is a season and tomorrow will be a brand new day.

She needs me and I need her.

Then before I know it, it's afternoon and she's home from school. And we're butting heads on, TV time, video game time, cleaning up after herself, healthy snack choices etc...

I have a great kid. An intelligent kid. A helpful kid. A sweet, caring kid.

This is a season and tomorrow will be a brand new day.

She needs me and I need her.

Feels like the day is on fast-forward...it's evening time. And we're butting heads on her eating her dinner, practicing her school reading, bath time and bed routine, saying her prayers sleeping in her own bed etc...

I have a great kid. An intelligent kid. A helpful kid. A sweet, caring kid.

This is a season and tomorrow will be a brand new day.

She needs me and I need her.

A couple of hours later, after much ado, she is mercifully asleep. Surrounded by pink princess blankets and her favorite stuffed animals...those sweet freckled cheeks flushed in sleep and it's all I can do to not gather her up and snuggle her like there's no tomorrow. 

But I settle for a few lingering kisses on those cheeks I have nuzzled since their very first seconds of life and I go to bed smiling from the inside out because...

I have a great kid. An intelligent kid. A helpful kid. A sweet, caring kid.

This is a season and tomorrow will be a brand new day.

She needs me and I need her.