Dear Mommy,

I hat you be kuase I don haf any fun. Sined, from Rachel.
The funny thing is that she didn't write it because she hated me, she did it because she wanted a hug and to get me to snuggle with her and tell her I loved her. Why is it that we are so concerned about our manners outside of the home and being PC, but we (I) can get so caught up in the everyday stuff in our home that our daughter has to send me hate mail in order to get a hug?
She is so precious to me. I love that she gave me this note. With her head lowered, her eyebrows up and her bangs hanging low over her eyes. Like she has reached the end of her rope with me. I wish I could capture that expression on camera. I love that even when she was feeling that mad at me, she still could communicate with me. She cleverly thought of a way to passively get my attention with aggressive words in order to get what she needed. Genius!
Don't worry....we're best friends now. We even had some extra-special snuggle time while I sang her to sleep. I love you, too, Rach.

Becoming my mom

Enough said.

..............love you, mom!

Typhoon Benjamin

My little boy is becoming quite the mess-maker. Flour, half a container of baby formula, ketchup, toilet paper from the dispenser on the second floor all the way down to the living room door (you should have heard the giggle for that one LOL). Over the last couple of weeks it has just gotten out of control. Making a mess just to see what it will look like. Not in anger, not for any reason but the pure science of it. It is a good thing he gives such great hugs!

My littlest princess

She is amazing, my little R2. Yesterday she was standing up in her crib when I went to get her from her nap. She calls me mama and claps and waves and holds her breath in anticipation of "weee, weee, weee, all the way home!"
She is crawling from room to room and today went up on all fours like she was going to stand up herself in the middle of the room. Her hair is getting so long it is starting to be in her eyes and she is working on tooth #6. She LOVES to pull herself up to standing on whatever/whoever is near, and enjoys petting the animals. Today I had her in an 18month turtleneck onsie and 12 month pants. She is long in the torso like me. Her body is long and lean but she has those ADORABLE chunky thighs which I just love. She is so very alert and "with it" that everyone thinks I am joking when I say that she is only 8.5 months. So beautiful. What a blessing.

A Golden Book

R1 has a bookshelf in her room that is full to overflowing with books. We read a book every night before bed and it is the ultimate punishment not to get a book. It is getting fun, as now she is starting to read to me. So a few weeks ago I was lying in her bed and the top corner of a book was pulled out of the shelf. The letters were pastel with little white dots decorating them. I was intrigued as we have read all of those books over and over, but I couldn't place this one. It must be one that Nana got for her and it got put on the shelf as part of a group. Hmmmmm I reached for it, pulled it out and squealed. "OMG Rachel! Look at this book! I LOVE this book! Grammy used to read it to me ALL THE TIME!" I couldn't believe it was tucked in there and I never saw it!
It is called Home For a Bunny and has a cute brown bunny on the cover. I read the first line and the rest just rolled off my tongue. After she fell asleep I ran down and called my mom.
"Mom- you gotta listen to what I just found- you won't believe it!....."Spring, spring, spring" sang the frog. "Spring" sang the groundhog. It was spring......
My mom couln't believe it either. What a nice laugh we had. .....I wonder what ever happened to The Color Kittens, Hush and Mush? LOL

The Parent Test

The tough questions. They always seem to come out of nowhere, don't they? This afternoon we were driving into Concord to bring R1 to a birthday party. She was sooooo excited about it she had been counting down the minutes all day. It was a bowling party and we spent the drive practicing our singing of Happy Birthday (and the Star Spangled Banner LOL), talking about bowling and guessing what colors the shoes would be. "Mom, what does it mean to go to sleep permanently?" See what I mean? Out of the blue.
You have to know R1. There is no skimming over the answer, changing the subject or trying to ignore her altogether. No only does she want to know what it means, she wants to know how it happens, how it feels, who, where, what and especially why. . I think I did OK....I hope I did. We talked, we discussed examples, we cried together about Cherrie, then I announced that we were almost there, dried our tears and laughed again about shoes being all different colors.
She stayed for two hours then I picked her up and we came home for dinner. I was still mulling the conversation over in my mind. Did I give her too much information?
She always asks such specific questions! "How did Cherrie's whole body and her bones and everything get to fit inside that little box?" That was the question a few months ago. I told her that Cherrie had been cremated and that her ashes were in the box. I later heard her tell someone that her dog had been "re-maded" and was living in her heart now. Out of the mouths of babes.
So-- you want to know the question for the ride home? "Mom, what is a heart attack?" Ugh! I guess I should have married a doctor!

Time flies

Boy, does Rebecca seem to be growing up fast! She has cut her 5th tooth -on the top left- and is working on #6 on the top right. She goes from sitting to the crawl position and back to sitting like a champ and is starting to really be mobile. Last night she pulled herself to standing on daddy's legs. Yikes! I glanced back at her first pictures today...I love the one of Rachel holding her on the hospital bed... and I can't get over how the event itself seems so long ago, yet at the same time I can't believe that enough time has passed for her to be as big as she is. She is wearing 12 mos. clothing, and even some 18mos pants as she is so tall. She tries so hard to join in with her siblings, and loves to laugh along with them. My little lamb- not so little anymore!