This just in

S cut her first tooth. Big girl!!!

Paging Natalie.

Natalie has the happiest natural disposition. Ever.  But now she is two.  Where has the unsolicited happiness gone sometimes?

Setting: on the route to pick up e from preschool
Mom: Natalie, are you a happy baby?
Natalie: no, I'm crabby
Mom: why?
N: because I'm frustrated (pronounced shush rated)
M: how come?
N: because I'm mad
M: why?
N: because I'm whining
M: why?
N: because I'm crying (pronounced ca wying)

Um...what?

She's back.

Once upon a time, I called my oldest sister (aka my sanity hotline when I am out of good ideas) to ask her what to do with my oldest. She was acting completely irrational, out of sorts and generally making me crazy. She was 18 months old at the time,  Big sis laughed and said " it's the terrible twos. Hunker down and wait till she turns 4.  That's pretty much all you can do!"

I am here to tell you she was right.  Our first Sunday here in our new pad, E goes to her primary class where they give her a CTR ring.  She practically a floated out of the room after class and showed it to me. The first thing out of her mouth was "mom, Natalie would love one of these. I want to go ask my teachers if they have any extras that I can give to Natalie." 

Earlier this week, we were heading back from my sister's house way later than planned.  i've been sick all week and i was worn out and feeling too blah to make dinner. the hubs wasn't going to be home for dinner so i just drove thru and got some chicken nuggets and fries for the girls,  (don't judge. i was sick!!!) anyway, we got home and i set their dinner out for them.  i was feeding S some delicious strained squash when E looks up and sayd "mom, where are your chicken nuggets? i told her  i didnt get any so she asks me if i got something else for my dinner. i told her that i didnt.  she git this super sad look on her face and said that since i didnt have any dinner, she really wanted to share hers with me.  i told here i wasn't hungry and she was just insistent that i had to eat some of her dinner,.  i tried to reassure her that i did not want any but she kept insisting and insisting and finally tried feeding me french fries and dropping them off in front of my seat t the table,  See? My super sweet thoughtful intuitive girl is 4...and I think she is coming back to me!

Natalie was whining vigorously and forever long about something, who knows what.  I smiled at E and said "what are we going to do with her?" E shrugs and says "just love her, Mom" 

Oh...but in case you think all sass is gone, on the way home from church today she saw a new restaurant sign and asked if we could try it out sometime.  I said maybe,  from the back of the car I hear "maybe means "no" Mom."  What can I say? She is right!

You know who you are...

Actually, now that I think about it, women like you never do know who you are.  It's simply not in your nature. You see me, the mom of a brand new family in your ward, walk in to church just as the opening hymn is starting. You see my three tiny girls in tow. You see me survey the chapel and the overflow only to realize that a missionary has returned home this week and there is no where for me and my girls to sit. You hear me try to hush their discontent at being dragged back to the foyer where I tell them we'll spend the rest of the meeting. With Adam out of town yet again and some rather unenthusiastic little ones, I tell myself it will be better for everyone if we just stay out of the way.

And to my utter shock, you kind sweet soul, you come almost immediately out the same door I only just walked out to tell me you've made some room for my children and I in your row.  In your tight little row, I can see you have rearranged your things, asked your benevolent row mates to scoot over and are standing aside to let my family and I pass.  We sit down and make is through soundly half of the meeting without a meltdown.  And then...you moms of little ones close in age know what comes next.  The little one registers her discontent.  The two year old matches it with her own.  The four year old starts asking questions like "why are they freaking out?"   Meanwhile I am trying to dodge the back arching, head rearing of the baby  and the laying on the floor of the tantering two year old as  I calculate how I will gracefully drag my unwilling toddler, my wailing infant and my confused toddler out of the aisle while hurdling you and hopefully not thwacking you in your beautifully coifed    Head. Naturally, i am secretly chiding myself for not refused your kind invitation to come back into the meeting because i really should have just stayed in the lobby and now look at the mess i have to get out of.  But before I got to a solution, you have artfully swooped up the baby and enlisted your neighbor to hold the toddler. Both have stopped fussing and settled happily in before I knew what was happening. And there they stayed until the meeting ended.  As the meeting ends, you float over and thank me for allowing me the pleasure of holding my children.  And you were so enthusiastic, I actually believe you meant it.  When I told you that my husband was out of town and that I was sure we could be less unruly next Sunday, you simply said that it was great that I had come to church while he was gone but that you hoped that I would still allow you the privilege of holding my girls even when he was in town.

This week, now weeks since that Sunday, I watched you swoop in and soothe another woman's baby. A woman who was also flying solo. I saw the grateful relief on her face when her little one who was  a little unruly was quieted by someone who was thrilled to be holding a baby. I thought it was time I thanked you. For the obvious reasons, of course, but more particularly for being "that woman."   One who, I later learned, remembers very vividly being a mom of small children who occasionally talked a little louder, protested a bit more fervently than may have been called for in sacrament meeting while her hubby was out of pocket and who genuinely misses having the responsibility for soothing those tiny tantrums. Thank you for reminding me how much I'll miss this stage even ten years from now.  Thank you for reminding me that my children and I are not nuisances at church even if we make sacrament meeting a little louder.  Thank for not being that older woman who turned around literally every 30 seconds to scowl at me or my sweet babies because I seriously just about burst in to tears.  I felt so uncomfortable for how upset I was clearly making her.  But I needed that. Because since that day, I have been praying that I will never forget the difference between Miss Scowlyface and my dear super hero pinch hitting supper nanny.  I hope to never forget the kindness of the latter.  She had no idea who I was, that my babies were sick of Daddy being out of town, that I was wishing I had just hidden in the corner.  I hope I will remember that I have a choice in how I react to sitiuations and I hope I can rise above being Scowlyface lady.  Yes, "that woman," I want to be you when I grow up. Thank you, my dear.

Breathtaking, in my unbiased opinion. :)

 Absolutely.

 Beautiful.

Girls.

Thank you Nikki for helping them hold still to capture these perfect, precious moments.  They  grow up all too fast.  How we love our beautiful baby girls.

Ready or not, here we go...

 So, I was switching a load of laundry.  Scarlett was sleeping on her blanket on the floor and the big girls were playing in their room.  I came back to find this.  The girls had each brought out their favorite blanket and covered Scarlett up with them.  Then they created a nest out of pillows from the couch that they built around poor unsuspecting baby Scarlett (who, bless her heart, slept through the entire affair.)  Then, they both brought in their favorite stuffed animals and stacked them next to Scarlett so she could snuggle them while she slept.

 I could not believe how long Natty stayed there.  I thought she'd get bored and go running off to do something (because she has an attention span similar to mine) but she didn't.  She was just so happy snuggle (and/ or unwittingly almost smother) her sister.

 This is how we most often find Natalie.  She is the official paci finder.  She wanders around the house looking for pacis and handing them to whomever is holding Scarlett...and if no one is holding her, Natty takes matters into her own hands.

 But the love doesn't stop there.  The girls can't stop snuggling each other since Scarlett came on the scene.  They are always pretty much sitting on top of one another whenever they are holding still.  It's so funny!

 This is how Daddy spent "paternity leave."  Working all day on his computer while the girls did their best to get his attention and lure him out to play with them.  Even though he had to work every day, it was still nice having him home.  The kids are just different (read: happier, sane, less manic, etc.) when daddy is home.  It's just better when Dad is home.

 Randomly, this is just a pic of Scarlett after her first bath that I just had to post.  Can't you just smell the baby lotion?  I love squishy, clean, brand new babies!

 Adam's friends sent a sweet litte baby gift basket for Scarlett and in it were the two cutest little medals for the bigger girls that said "New Big Sister."  The girls were so excited to put them on and they wore them to church, reportedly for all three hours.  I can't stand how much fun we're having here.  3 girls at a time.  We'll be insane before long, I'm sure, but we'll have a great time doing it.  :)

Much to my dismay, Nana was needed elsewhere so she left on Sunday night.  She was so awesome.  Seriously, I don't know if I would have made it through labor let alone recovery and the week after without my live in nurse/ mama/ other brain/ right hand woman.  I love you mom!  Thanks for helping me pretend like I have it all together.  We miss you already!

Miss Scarlett comes home!

What in the mutation is wrong?  I swear these pics are all oriented correctly in my files but I can not get them to go in the right direction.  Anyway, just tilt your screen so you can see this correctly.  (Perhaps it's the sleep deprivation because I don't recall having this problem anymore...)  ANYWAY, here's Daddy getting ready to debut this new little girl to the world.  Is he a proud Dad or what?

This was just a random pic that Adam took when I was just hanging out with the baby but it so captures my time in the hospital.  I love love love those little hours in the hospital in the middle of the night when it's just me and my new baby and we get to just hang out and get to know one another.  I love how at those times, I don't have to share her or let anybody else hold her and I can just hoard her all to myself.  It never gets old to me how their little faces literally change each day and every morning I get to memorize her face and those perfect little features over and over. 

Here she is, sideways unfortunately, but all dressed up and ready for her debut.  Thanks Kristin for her ensemble, head to toe.  I can not get enough of that fluff.  I LOVE LITTLE GIRLS! :)

And away we go...ready or not Scarlett, here comes the real world!