Fun with a friend

Emma's little friend Lois (better known around here as Low-lis) came over to play yesterday morning.  She is almost a whole year younger than Emma, and thus still not as interested in tea parties and sitting around the table eating pretend fruit yet, which led to a very bossy, easily frustrated Emma.

Regardless of, the girls had a great time together.  Thankful for good friends!

(Yes, my child had a pajama day yesterday.)

The girls pulled their chairs and sat near the window watching the backyard.

Happy boy

I found this door "jumper" at a yard sale a couple of months ago, and busted it out two weeks ago for our boy to enjoy.  And oh, how he has enjoyed it!  We now find ourselves watching a happy baby bounce his day away.  Because of this toy, Emma has started jumping a lot more also-- "look mommy, Emma jump.  Watch mommy, jump!"

5 month

This post is long overdue, but our JB 5 month picture is finally up.  We took it yesterday, 10 days past LB's 5 month birthday.  Oh well... it is what it is.

 Emma's 5 month picture

And just like with every photo shoot we have these days, Emma wants to get a hold of the camera and take her own pictures.  If you were wondering what my lovely self looks like in the morning, the following picture is courtesy of our little toddler.  Enjoy!

 

Emma looooves...

Emma's new thing to say these days is:  "Emma looooves (fill in the blank)"

A few examples of things she will say:

-  Emma looooves chocolat

-  Emma looooves purpul

-  Emma looooves Baby Byron

-  Emma looooves puzzles

After breakfast today, we were playing in the playroom and out of the blue Emma says: 

 "Emma looooves mommy."

This is the first time Emma has said this to me, and the fact that it was so out of the blue, gave it so much more meaning.

I am so glad my child's evil twin sister is gone (you know, the one that moved in with us about 2 months ago and went insane and made me want to run away from my family at the end of every day).  Emma is back to her sweet, sweet self.  So thankful!

Bath in the sink.

Here is my dirty little secret-- my baby only gets a bath once a week, at best.  Last time, he went 10 days without a bath.  I know, horrible!  But truth be told, BB doesn't get dirty or sweaty, so why put him through the cold misery of a bath if he doesn't really need it?

We had dinner and Memma & Poppa's last night, and BB got his long-awaited (and much needed at this point) bath.  He got his bath inside the kitchen sink, and did very well.

Of course, when all was finished, our 2.5 year old, though much too big to be doing this, decided she also wanted to take her bath in the sink.  Oh goodness!

 

More Christmas 2013

After having Christmas at our home, we went to the Morrises' home to celebrate the holiday with the entire clan.  They surprised us all with matching Christmas PJs with our names in them.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

My boy

Christmas 2013

Thankful for our family of four this Christmas.

At church on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day, ready to open presents.

Mommy helped LB open his gifts this year.

Emma got a rocking chair for her babies from her Oma.

Emma and daddy got matching working gloves.

My delight

Using her dirty laundry basket as a crib.

It is no secret that growing up, I never dreamed or even wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom.  And even after making the most sensible decision to stay at home once Emma was born, I always told people:  "I am not a very good stay-at-home-mom because I hate staying home."

I am always busy, always needing something to do.  The idea of staying home all day makes me want to cry.

With one child, I was able to pull this off quite well.  Emma and I were always on the go.  Between the gym, friends, Costco samples and walks around the neighborhood, we always had something to do.

But once Baby Byron was born, something had to give.  Don't get me wrong, I still try to get out of the house once a day (and we almost always succeed at this), but certainly not as often as we used to.

So we stay home a lot, and for long stretches of time-- and what a delight it has been!  Like I mentioned in a post before, Emma is now creating her own world around the house.  I delight in watching her pretend play.  One of my greatest (and most humblest) privileges has been watching her be a mommy to her babies.  Sure, she used to play and carry them around before, but since Baby Byron's arrival, I have enjoyed watching myself through her play.  The way she wraps her babies in blankets, rocks them while saying "ssshhhhh," puts them in their crib, sings to them, gives them a bottle or "nurses" them.  

While I secretly observe her play like this, and as my eyes blink away my tears, I thank the Lord that He has given me the privilege to be the role model for my girl.

I do grieve how quickly she is growing, but I also find myself looking forward to walking through life with her, holding her by the hand (literally and metaphorically speaking) as she grows into the woman the Lord has designed her to be.

Fish girl

It's been a year since our EG first became our "fish girl" (she became obsessed with them while at Oma's house last December).

Her new thing is that she likes to both bathe and sleep with her three plastic fish (in addition to her regular sleep-buddies).  These days, when daddy gets her out of the tub and wraps her in her towel, Emma also likes to wrap her fish in a wash cloth and dry them herself.