He's No Spring Chicken

Every spring this weird thing happens where the kids come out of hibernation and they've grown about 5 feet taller.  Matthew is no exception.  He climbs ladders, goes down the slide by himself, yells NO to everything we ask of him (unless the question is "do you want a cookie, Matthew?" and then the answer is Yuh Peeze!), and generally listens when we ask him to do something.

It happens every year, and it always takes me by surprise.  Everybody is growing up!

Happy IndependenceDayLaborDayHalloweenThanksgivingChristmasNewYear!

It's been a while since I've written anything other than emails to coworkers, reports for clients, and checks for school lunch tickets.  But I'm thinking it might be time to start writing for me again.  I stopped writing because I worried about people judging my personal life.  But why should I care about that? A blog is meant to be a story, and this story is about M. about E. about E. about S. and about Matthew. 

And so it begins.

Again.

Hi. My name is Erin.

In case you forgot what I look like, here is a picture of me at my finest.  My parents must be so proud.

This is Mark (and most of me).

And these are our kids.

They're perfect angels all the time.

On Tuesdays.

During Leap Year.

Sydney had a ballet recital last weekend, and it was one of the cutest and funniest things I have ever seen.  Little girls running all over the stage, doing these jumping things that look more like stomping than dainty ballet moves. But they had tutus on, so what more can a mother really ask for?

The last time we went to a ballet recital, Elisabeth was about Sydney's age.  Mark was in the hospital recovering from his heart attack. None of us were in a good place, and Syd's recital brought back a flood of memories.  I remember picking up Elisabeth after the recital and taking a picture of her and her classmates.  Elisabeth's face was so puffy and red.  She was miserably upset about her daddy being in the hospital.  It was scary, and emotions were high for all of us.  What a big girl she was, going through the entire recital while she was so worried about Mark.  She's grown so much over the past few years.  She's outgrown her potty "issues" (A word that makes me cringe based on how it was once used to label my child. And yet I just used it. Go figure.) and while she's still strong-willed, it's not as difficult to communicate and reason with Elisabeth. Phew!

She is a huge help around the house (who knew?!) and takes good care of her brother.  Actually both girls take care of Matthew (when they're not smothering him).  They even play tea party, Barbies, and dress-up with him.

Matthew loves every minute of it.

How could you not, when kitty ears are involved?!  Matthew will certainly be in touch with his feminine side throughout his life, that's for sure.

That's it for now.  Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.  I miss this!

xoxo
-erin

Happy Easter!

The crabapple trees are in full bloom, the sun is shining, and Jesus has risen!

It's a good day.

Happy Easter! 

We hope your family has been as blessed

as ours has.

How babies are made: courtesy of Sydney Taylor

This morning's evolving conversation with Sydney:

"Mama, when did we buy this house?"

"When Elisabeth was one year old, sweetie. You weren't even born yet. In fact, you weren't even in my belly yet."  Sydney has a hard time conceptualizing life before being in my belly. Understandable. It's hard to envision what life was like before you entered it.  So I kind of expected the conversation to either a) stop at this point or b) enter into a battery of questions for which I wasn't totally prepared to answer.

So you can understand when Mark and I were confused when she continued the conversation with this statement:

"So I was still in the food."

Chirp chirp went the crickets.  Dead silence.  The food thing threw us off, big time.

Until she moved on and started talking about how food goes straight into your toes and then into your belly. And then into your nose.  That's when it clicked, that in the eyes of a four year old babies grow in our bellies because of special food that mommies eat.  I'm not sure how the nose thing fits in, but I am thankful that we don't actually grow babies in our noses. Imagine the stretch marks, ladies.

I love the way kids think.  Honestly, I think it makes total sense.  And that's what we're going to let her believe for today.

Mittens

Matthew is 5 months old already! He has discovered his toes, he loves baby food, he sleeps through the night, he gives kisses, and we love him.

He's wearing some pretty special mittens in this picture.  They have been worn by Sydney, Elisabeth, our niece and our nephew.  But even more special than that? They were worn by my dad when he was a baby.  These mittens have seen a lot of love! This generation may be done with them, but I'll bet this isn't the last set of wee little hands that will wear them.  I'm looking forward to seeing my dad's great-grandbabies' hands in them 30 years from now.