You're a peach!

Today was Littlest Little's 6 month check-up day. This meant it was going to be a long day, going in to work then leaving early to go home and get Josh dressed and ready for our favorite pediatrician in the world. We love her. She has been Middle Little's pediatrician since she was 12 hours old, and of course, now Littlest Littles. She is the type of pediatrician all Littles should have. A truly caring soul who knows her stuff and is always listening to every question or comment I have. Lovely woman... always dressed classy and always, always, greets the babies with a genuine warm smile, open arms, and an "Oooooh look at you, you're a peach, you are!"

Helping hold the stethescope... maybe he is going to be a Doctor when he grows up? He patiently waits and watches as our pediatrician carefully examines him... not a peep, just a happy little fella' to be "helping out".

And a healthy 18lbs 11oz for today... our delicious little deli ham.

Yes, our handsome little guy received an A+ on the health report card and scored another "You're a peach" from the Doc. Josh was all smiles and a happy camper, until... shot time.

Two shots and some tears later.... cuddles, kisses and big lovin' made it all better and we were as good as new (yes, "we" - okay, so I didnt get bandaids, but it still hurt me too and I needed the cuddles and kisses just as much as he did). He got dressed, made our next appointment and said our goodbyes. Josh has to flirt with the young receptionist girls on the way out...batting his eyelashes and cooing while sporting his super macho Tweetie Bird bandaids.

We headed out to my office for a visit. Have to take the kids by the office when we are on that side of town. (On a side note: Come on Fall weather! Summer is too freakin' hot here! Going from a building to your car is like traveling a mile in the desert with no camel. Exagerating? Maybe. I'm just sayin'.)

I work with some lovely ladies. Like family. For instance... this is Queen, or as the hubby and I call her, our black wife. Heart of gold this one has. Beautiful person inside and out. Hurricane Katrina survivor... this girl has been through some s***, and still manages to be the wonderful soul she is. There are some really great and special people where I spend my days... grateful for them. I am fortunate.

Even though I enjoy working... everyone needs a vacation now and then. So I figure why not start training a stand in from an early age... one that I can train from the ground level up (literally). Child labor laws? Oh come on... I'd at least wait until he is 3, besides, its going to take me that long to teach him his alphabet for filing purposes. ;-)

You know what, scratch that... dinner time got me thinking...  perhaps a chef? Hmmm, Chef BoyarJosh?

Fun to daydream what your children might become in life... one never knows. You truly never know who you are looking at. The next president? Great inventor? Teacher? Artist? Doctor? Chef? Great family person? Etc. You never know. As long as they grow up happy, healthy, and contribute to society, I am proud. For now though, Littlest Little has an important job to do... just be his happy, loving little self. He is a peach, he is.

Happy 19th Big Little!

In the month of August 1991 a wee little girl was born... not just any ordinary girl... one of the most beautiful, healthy pink skinned, blue eyed little visions of lovely-ness a person ever saw... our girl.

We did not know you were going to be a girl until you were born... that was one of the most grand surprises and most awesome and emotional times in our lives, when they called out "It's a girl!" It was like opening one of most impressive gifts you could ever imagine after having to patiently wait and wonder for so long. It still brings me to tears when I think about the day you were born.

I remember as soon as they placed you in my arms and I looked at you and said "hello", we locked eyes and your tiny little rosebud lips turned up into a smile (I have a photo of this smile moments after you were born :-)... you had me. You were loved and planned/wanted before you were born, before you were you, but this was unlike any love you can imagine... this was a deep, "in love" love... instantly. The, I would kick anyone's ass that messes with you and die for you in a heartbeat type of love. 

I will never forget the tears and the smile on your dad's face the moment you were born and I told him "Happy Birthday" (you being born the day before your dad's birthday is very special to him and why he always asks every year if you are going to celebrate your birthdays together). When they took you to the nursery he followed along leaving me behind in the operating room. He was so proud of you and had to hand out cigars and tell anyone who would listen in the hospital hallways. I remember a lot about your birth-day, the day your precious soul was born. I can smell certain soaps/smells and it floods my memory with visions from that day. 

Here we are 19 years later... tiny little girl all grown up. A young adult, a woman... you will always be thought of as a little girl to us, don't care if you are 50 years old with grandkids of your own.

I can sit and think of so many things about you growing up so far, so many little details about you. So many.... I am going to have to sit down one day and write some of the things your dad and I remember and think about you as a little kid.

As all parents, we are not perfect.... there have been mistakes made and things as parents we regret, and for those things we are truly sorry. There are things that we are so proud of and memories that we store of you that are priceless and mean the world to us. We wish the best for you in life always. Know that we love you.  Wishing you a very Happy Birthday this month!

Love is...

Everybody needs love. It's one of those things a person HAS to have, like air/water/food. It is a necessity.

My weekend, was once again, full of love and things that make me smile.

Love is... living with and loving someone who knows when to hug you tight or to tell you "it's allright, everything is going to be okay", at just the right moment. Or having him declare he wants ice cream from a local ice cream shop late on a Friday night & you secretly did too (did he read my mind?). Love is knowing someone so well and loving them so much that you can almost read their minds. I live this daily and love it.

Love is... two precious babies, a sister and her baby brother, sharing the bathtub for the first time.  Playing together and loving each other (yeah okay, the occassional, "nooooo, bubby, leave my toy alone" in a screeching tone is a given and expected).  Oh those sweet tender little baby kisses though... it melts me.

Love is... Mr. Bubble bubble bath poured generously into a warm tub. Of course this means you must wear bubble hats and bubble beards. Then there is the soft comforting smell of baby shampoo that fills the air as you scrub little heads and make swirly-curly Q hairdos.

Love is... watching as your little one grows into a big boy right before your eyes and no longer needs his baby bath-tub (*wipes away tear*), instead uses a bath seat in the big people tub for the first time. Seeing the joy on his little face, and the wonder as he explores the tub from a new perspective. (Loving those wet feathery lashes and those tiny bunny teeth.)

Love is... everyone piling into the bed on a weekend morning all sleepy eyed and welcoming a new day together with smiles and giggles.

Love is... getting dressed on a Sunday morning to go to Church and praise our great and awesome God. Love is seeing little boys in plaid dress shirts, little girls in their Sunday best, and watching Middle Little be protective and watch over anyone who came near her baby brother.

Love is... a Daddy that can give a cuddly hug and say "I love you" and heal a sad little broken heart.

Love is... a little girl asking you to "play Pee-Pee Dolphin" any chance she gets (sorry FeFe Dobson... but the bright side is you have a two year old fan who really digs your music ;-), and then singing and dancing her little heart out. Watching her sing and dance can bring on a smile no matter who you are or what kind of day you're having.

Love is... the moon waking up and the nightly ritual of tucking little ones into bed (screaming melt-downs and all). Nightly kisses and making sure one's very important bucket of plastic "veg-alls" (plastic toy vegetables) are tucked into bed with you, before drifting off to dreamland. Something about watching someone you love sleep peacefully that is just wonderfully sweet. (Little sleeping feet peeking out of blankets is delicious.)

Love is... getting to work on a dreaded Monday morning to find one of Middle Little's tiny little pink heart stickers stuck to the footbed of a new pair of shoes (stickers are everywhere in our house)... a reminder of the love that is waiting for me when I return home. (It made me smile and I left it there.)

Each and every ordinary day, in every little ordinary detail, there is love to be felt and it is soul satisfying.

 Look for love in every moment, it's so good for you.

Life is a bowl of cherries!

My life is a beautiful fine china bowl of deliciously juicy and perfectly sweet cherries. That's right... chaos and all. It is perfect and just as it should be. Sure there are days that I'd rather crawl back into bed and cover my head up, sinking deep into the cool sheets. There are days that are not so great. But when I stand back and look at everything around me and drink it all in... anything that might be not so perfect, suddenly becomes "perfect". Life is not meant to be without trial and error, without a bit of chaos... no, life is not meant to be a smooth and easy ride. Besides, a few bumps in the road here and there make life interesting, makes us who we are. I choose to inhabit my days...each and every day I am given.

(My sneaky Middle Little, who was helping momma shoot these stills... decided to indulge in that bowl full of cherries. All momma saw in her lens was a tiny hand daintily grab the stem of a cherry and snapped the shot. I happily share my bowl of cherries with her... she makes me smile.)

These things are fun & fun is good...

I realized this weekend was Joshua's half way mark to his first birthday. What better reason to celebrate a weekend than a "half birthday". Yeah, okay, just give me a reason to celebrate something and I'm all over it. Celebrating life is what its all about man! Decided to stop by the grocery store on the way home from work and pick up an Italian creme cake for us to celebrate Josh's special day. I don't care if it was special to anyone else but me... I was going to make sure and note the day! (I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who goes with the flow and deals with my compulsions and silliness....because he knows how important silliness is too.)

So Saturday, was "Happy Half Birthday Day", and also playdate day with Abbie's little cutie-pie of a friend, Vivian. We drug out the bigger kiddie pool (since the other postage stamp sized pool was just not going to cut it for two toddlers), and had the popsicles nice and frosty frozen.

Abbie loves her friend Vivian, and is working on learning how to share her things with others. I couldnt help but crack a smile when I had to get on to Abbie for taking toys away from Vivian and finally after telling Abbie that if she didnt be nice and share, she was going to have to get out of the pool and sit in time out until she could share better...again, Abbie takes a toy out of Vivian's hands, and I say "Abigail, that's not nice"... what does she do? She looks at Vivian and bats her little eyelashes and looks so sweet and innocent and says "Tank you Fifi-an" (as if Vivian willingly gave her the toy).  At least Abbie was polite about being rude?

So the girls swam (Vivian showed up with her fashionable little two piece swimsuit that just so happened to coordinate with Abbie's... so cute.), they ran all around playing on the slide/teeter toter/sand table/water table, with the sidewalk chalk, etc., ate lots of popsicles.. until they were tired little soaked raisins, covered in a sticky sweet popsicle film. So fun to watch them run around like busy little bees exploring their world so care free. Just little girls, being giggle-y, screaming, happy little beings. Ahhh to be little again.

Vivian's mom knows how to be silly too! We love her!

Little girls telling secrets.

Sunday morning Middle Little and I decided to bake. Muffins for breakfast sounded good. Abbie chose mixed berry muffins, and whipped and stirred her little heart out before letting me divide the batter up into her carefully placed muffin cups. Baking is good for the soul. Something about measuring, mixing and pouring... the delicious smell that fills the air... then of course, the finished product, that just makes you feel good.

Then there is this little gem. A friend of mine recommended these... I am not a beer drinker really, and if I am, I normally choose something different (foreign). These were surprisingly refreshing on a hot summer day while we were sitting outside waiting on our barbecue grill to cook up dinner. Yes, outside barbecue and an ice cold beer scream summertime.

Another good weekend spent loving our time together... trying new things, eating good stuff, celebrating one of our little blessings, playing with friends and lounging in our jammies. What more could you ask for in a weekend?