welcome, 2009

Whew! We had a wonderful Christmas season. It felt full and cozy and for the first time ever for me it felt like just the right amount of time. We had an early Christmas with Steven's side of the family. It happened to be on a day where Colorado had rare well-below freezing temperatures. It felt good to stay warm and near Nana and Papa, Ben and Joy, and Sadie and Keith. We now have a good brood of little ones amongst us, so that was fun to have them for a rare time together. We then got together on the 24th and 25th with my family. All of our kids always create a highly exuberant atmosphere and they couldn't have been happier than to open presents between bouts of running amok with their cousins. Of course I am always blessed to have my sisters and parents and am really thankful we get to live life near one another and share Christmas year to year. We were happy that Katie held out to give birth to Owen until the first week of January. I got to be at his birth and I am so honored that I have been right there with my sisters for each of their births. Katie was amazing, strong and beautiful and she is basking in the glow of those newborn days. Owen is a cutie pie and resembles Andrew a lot.
My girls are doing well. Evelyn continues to delight us with her thoughts on the world. She keeps us on our toes and I am constantly learning about myself and God's plans to transform me through mothering her. She's becoming a greater and greater help with Ivy by trying to soothe, guard and entertain her.
Ivy is growing so quickly and her babyhood seems to be flying by at lightning speed. She just turned eight months old on the 16th. She's a zippy crawler and pulls to stand on everything. She just started walking along furniture and has added some pretty cool consonants to her vernacular. She's often pretty shy with people she doesn't know well. I call her 'my quiet observer', but she can chat it up and be pretty wild when she's at home with just us. I think she's a lot like her daddy in that way. Ivy is going through some pretty heavy-duty separation anxiety and won't let me out of her sight, which can be a challenge sometimes, but hopefully she'll outgrow that soon.
I hope all is well with each of you and that 2009 will be a year of hope, clarity and fulfillment for each of you.

A bit of my kids this week

Evelyn:
Who made God?
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Evelyn: Why do I have to take a nap?
Me: Because it helps your body rest. You need rest to grow.
Evelyn: So does a nap have protein in it?
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We were shopping at a store and Evelyn asked, "Where in the store do the workers sleep at night"?
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I was painting our living room today and I looked up to see that Ivy had dumped half a gallon of paint onto the floor, was lying right in the middle of the thick puddle, patting it with her hands and smiling at me with beige-smeared lips.
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Steven had given Evelyn a cup of cereal and turned on a show for her in the morning before he went to work so I could sleep in for awhile. When I got up the left-over milk had spilled all over the couch, so I pointed it out to her that eating cereal on the couch isn't the best idea. The next morning she announced to Steven, "Daddy, Mommy says that you're not very smart".
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Evelyn gave up her pacifier-use only about a month ago. The other day I found a pacifier under her pillow. Fearing a relapse, I asked her if she'd been sucking on it. She told me no, that she put it under her pillow for the pacifier-fairy.
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Maryland

We went out to Baltimore last week to visit Steven's sister, Sadie, her husband Keith and their new baby, Charlotte. It was so wonderful to spend time with those guys and get a glimpse of their life out east. Ivy had her first plane ride and the kids both did surprisingly well after about 14 hours of delays and airport/plane time. We enjoyed a side-trip to Annapolis, where we stayed at a hotel from the 1700's. We loved the beautiful architecture, brick roads and bay full of sailboats. Traveling is our favorite thing to do as a couple (and now as a family of four) and we hadn't gone anywhere together for well over a year. It was nice to experience some new stimuli and have endless hours in each other's presence. After all these years I still love nothing more than simply being with Steven, no matter where we are or what we're doing, and indulging in an entire week with him non-stop was soothing. I could, however, really use a babysitter!

se habla espanol

Here's a little conversation Evelyn and I had a couple days ago.

Evelyn: I drunk all of my juice.
Mommy: You mean you drank all of your juice?
Evelyn: No, I drunk it.
Mommy: You drank it?
Evelyn: No, I DRUNK it! It's SPANISH!

sweetest

Ivy is four months old.

Sunroom Demo

We tore down our sunroom. When we first moved in to the house we really liked it. Well, at least I did. It was winter time and I would spend every afternoon while Evelyn napped out there, drinking hot chocolate and writing in my journal or reading. So pleasant! But after summer came around and I realized that any plant out there shriveled up in the 110+ heat, I liked it less and less. Over time it became a storage/dog room. The biggest problem was that there was nowhere to just sit and look out a window to the great outdoors. We decided to take the plunge and tear it down. The rough edges aren't totally finished, but it's pretty close. We have been LOVING it! We decided to keep the opaque roof intact so now we just have a big covered-patio. It's a huge improvement and we can't wait to have everyone over to enjoy it with us:)