quote of the day

From Pink to mama:
"Let's get naked and shake our bootie!"

Who ARE her parents and would someone please teach them about decency?

i'm giving thanks

We finally got Pink to bed at 11 last night. When I went in to say goodnight, she asked to see her sister. Beloved started to let Pink kiss Lizzie, but instead placed Lizzie in the arms of her big sister. The crying newborn settled in immediately, nuzzling in the crook of Pink's arm, soothing at Pink's shhhhh, and melting under Pink's gentle pats. And in less than a minute, Lizzie was asleep in Pink's arms.

Pink wore the most satisfied smile I think I've ever seen on her.

And our hearts just broke in two.

world, meet "Lizzie." Lizzie, world

OK, so Lizzie is not her real name. After all, those pesky teenagers keep me a tad bit paranoid of putting personal info out there. For some reason, Lizzie struck me the day she was born as somehow fitting her. Even though I'm head over heels for her real name, this one is a special name, just from her mama. And isn't she so cuddly that you could just snuggle up under a blanket with her and take a nap?

Here's a look at her life so far, through her mama's eyes:

Lizzie,
You are 1 month old today and my heart overflows because of you just a little more each day. When you were born, they took you away for a few minutes to make sure you were ok, but you and I didn't skip a beat. I called to you from across the room and you turned your head toward me and stopped crying. We locked eyes on your first day on earth, and you've been following me around the room ever since.

You're stepping up your communication, too. You've been playing the "tongue game" since your 1st week, but yesterday you started cooing at me! Oh, my heart! I basked in it. We "talked" this way several times & you "talked" with daddy, too. You have a ready & beautiful smile that can already light up a room. You are mild-mannered; I wonder if it's because you are a gentle, unassuming, soft person, or if it's because your sister is a whirlwind of conversation and activity - do you just stay quiet because you're watching her? Time will tell.

You are happy to go to anyone and don't seem to have the need your sister had to size up new people and situations. If your food and comfort needs are met, your heart needs seem to be met as well. I wonder what that means for your future...

You are so wonderfully complex, "fearfully and wonderfully made," and you intrigue me. Your daddy, your sister, and I are all so very happy that you're here with us. We waited a long time to learn of your presence and then a long time to meet you. Lord willing, munchkin, we will have a long time to get to know you.

I love you deeply already,
mama

do i need anything?

He texts me on a particularly horrible day to say: "I'm on my way home. Need anything?"

My reply? "Sanity, time to get all this paperwork done. Oh, and a big suite in La Valencia in La Jolla w/ a comfy king bed, a spa tub, a gorgeous view, wine & room service, my husband, and about 20 hours of peaceful sleep."

So, no. Nothing you can pick up at the store. But thanks for asking.

not me monday

I'm too good of a mother to do any of these horrible things. Too good, I tell you.

I absolutely did NOT laugh at my 3 year old during a tantrum. No, I wouldn't do that

I definitely did not declare one day "video day" and replay the same exact movie 3 times so I could get work done/dishes washed/blogs read/emails sent

I'm stealing this one: I did not answer "maybe" on many occasions just to avoid the direct "no" answer the the fit that would follow

I did not let the baby sleep way too long in order to have a moment's peace

I did not make quesadillas for lunch four days in a row because I was feeling lazy. I'm much more interested in my child's nutrition than that.

I would never, and certainly did not, wish for a way to sell my child off for a few weeks.

I did not, no way, yell (read: scream) at my child three times within the first hour we were awake. Nope. And I did not use the vacuum on her pj's (that she had on) to clean up the baby powder she poured everywhere, just to prove a point. Nope. I'm too humane for that.

And I did not look at her sobbing in the midst of my yelling (screaming) and powder vacuuming and tell her "I don't care if you're crying. In fact, great! Cry! Get scared of mama. Get REAL scared. And don't EVER DISOBEY ME AGAIN!" Nope. I would never get so out of control.

And I did not play just one more movie in order to get this post finished. Uh-uh.

For more Not Me! Monday, check here.

lesson learned

After having a baby, particularly if this is not baby #1, and there is no such thing as "nap when the baby naps," DO NOT RE-READ BLOG POSTS. There will likely be grammatical mistakes such that your readers will wind up completely confused. And the only thing harder than writing with perfect grammar the first time around is trying to make sense of grammatical mistakes, and fix them correctly.

Expect quite a few mistakes between here and the time in my life, out yonder, when I will be rested and my brain will function properly. Then I will be grammar queen once again and I will obsess over every punctuation, agreement, etc. But that will all have to wait until such time that I can even remember what the other grammar points are.

I hope I just made sense...

truthful thursday

As far as I know, there is no such thing as "truthful Thursday" in the blogosphere. But... I just had to share the other pictures from our fall line up. So it doesn't look like I have it all together or anything (not that you were fooled anyway).

It started with this:

"Good? You got her? You guys good? OK, take the picture!"

















"Oh- wait, no, not quite ready..."















"Ok, there, now stay right there. You got a good hold on her? TAKE THE PICTURE!"













"I'm kind of over this. Are you done taking pictures yet?"












"Definitely time to stop."

wordless wednesday

happy fall

but God

I have come to love those two little words strung together. But God...
I can't, but God...
I don't see how, but God...
This is horrible, but God...
etc.

Not to get too deep, too early in the morning, I'm talking here about chocolate. As in, this baby doesn't do well with chocolate. She spits up lots of milk anytime I have more than one tiny bite over the course of several hours (which perhaps explains this). But her mama doesn't do well without it. With sleep deprivation haunting my every moment and Pink throwing a record number of tantrums, this is not a good thing. I'm not talking about a little fit when Pink doesn't get her way. I'm talking about tears falling and limbs flailing and screams that are loud enough to have the neighbors call CPS. All. Day. LONG. Mama needs chocolate.

Despite the threat of spit up, I've headed to the kitchen several times to "take a hit" so I can cope with the barking dog, crying newborn, and flailing three year old. Each time I've been stopped in my tracks by these words from Matthew 19:26: "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

And each time I have walked away from the kitchen without any chocolate. None. Not one bite. In my own strength? By my own power? I'd be making pan after pan of brownies. But God. With him, all things truly are possible.

pink's first hijacking

The day after I came home from the hospital with Pink's new sister, the three of us headed to the mall with Grammy for some unmentionables for mama's role as a cow, ahem, life-giving milk maid. Grammy got Pink out of the car, I grabbed the stroller and set it up, took out the baby carrier, and everything was humming along. Until I put the carrier in the stroller.

Suddenly Pink looked around the carrier, at every square inch of stroller, and looked at me in alarmed confusion. "But that's MY stroller. I want to sit in the stroller. Why's the baby in the stroller?!?!" And there it was - her stroller had been hijacked by a sleeping baby in a (relatively) huge carrier. No room at the inn, so to speak.

Poor Pink. It's a rough adjustment going from three years of being the center of everyone's world (only grandchild on one side) to having your stroller yanked out from beside you in the parking lot at the mall. And that's why it's good to take Grammy along - she graciously carried all 45 pounds of Pink into the mall until the crying stopped. What a nice Grammy.

confessional

About 20% of the time, I call my baby by the wrong name, but not in the way that most people do. My dad was horrible at this: he called my little sister by my name first (I'm the oldest), by my brother's name next (he's #2), by the dog's name (that's just sad), and even by his own baby sister's name before he'd finally get around to my sister's name. Sometimes, he'd just give up and call my sister "Whatever-your-name-is." She's still traumatized.

My problem is that I call my baby by names that have nothing to do with anything, specifically Olivia or Silvia. Mind you, neither of those are her name or even Pink's name. I don't know any Olivias or Silvias well enough to be getting her name confused. And neither name was on our list of girls names, so it's not like my subconscious is coming through here. I simply have the wrong names entering my brain. Beyond that, I simply adore her real name, first and middle. I love it so much that half the time I introduce her with her full name, just so I can hear it out loud. And yet, when I address her directly, I can't remember what her name is!

Poor thing - her mom doesn't even know her name and I'm the one that initially chose it! On the up side, I just may be one step closer to a bloggy name, since Olivia & Silvia would do absolutely nothing to compromise our identity.

we did it

We made it through our first grocery trip alone. The three of us girls headed out, sans daddy, sans Grammy or Auntie Grace, and it only took us 1.5 HOURS!

Granted, we only needed 11 items. And the store is only 1/4 of a mile from our house. But we did it! We made it there and back in one piece, with some of my patience left in tact. And we only needed one nursing session and one 3 year old trip to the bathroom which took 10 minutes of "No, I'm not done yet."

I think we can settle in to this 2 kid thing, so long as we never plan to do anything in a hurry.