Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Ode to baby girl, part 2

(Looked up quickly the first ode to baby girl.... March 2013) 

Sitting with Isabella today... I have so much to do, but had to pen these words to hang on to the beautiful feeling that's in my heart:


Baby girl is not so much of a baby anymore. No longer tiny and curled up in my arms.

Now, as she sleeps - her head resting over my heart - she stretches out. Her feet dangling over the side of the rocking chair.
 
Back and forth. Back and forth. Softly slumbering. Softly snoring.
 
Those long eyelashes are tightly closed now. Down for a nap. Naps won't last much longer. Rocking baby girl to sleep... softly slumbering... softly snoring. Hold on to these days. 

They will not last much longer.
 
Rocking baby girl to sleep. I must get up to clean. The housework is calling. Ringing in my head. But rocking baby girl to sleep is tugging at my heart. Hold on to these days... just a minute longer.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Pre-Christmas post

The past month has been a complete whirlwind - hence no posts in the past month!

After Isabella turned 2, we turned her car seat around to facing front.  It was no big deal.... Mercer was so excited (at 1) to turn around, but we got no reaction from her.  A couple of things about Isabella:  she is really talking up a storm. She says SO much.  It's not always clear, but we can usually understand what she wants / needs to communicate.   

She LOVES to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and it's about the cutest darn thing I've ever heard!!  


She's potty training (may have mentioned this already).  She stopped for awhile, but now, she's into it again.  I have to write this because I was not fast enough with the camera.  She likes to strip down naked to sit on her little potty (sometimes she'll still have socks on).  But - one day - she was running around the house with a pirate's eye patch on and went potty naked + patch.  It was one of those "I wish I would've caught this on film" kinds of moments... you know - the type of photo you submit to her high school year book.  Oh well.  Opportunity missed~


We spent this Thanksgiving at home.  It was just the 4 of us, which we've never done before.  But- that meant that we carved out the type of day that we wanted to have:  go to the Gobble Jog in the morning, cheer on the joggers at the top of the street, put Isabella down for a nap, then move into making food.  Admittedly, we bought some tasty Thanksgiving food prepared from Harrys, but still managed to make a few dishes.  We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner.... and are thankful for our two (not always perfect, but very loving) kids! Very thankful!



The next morning, we packed up leftovers, hiking gear, baby stuff went to a state park.  Unicoi has these cabins that you can rent that are unique... barrel cabins.  Sort of kitch-y / sort of rustic... definitely unique.  Isabella's favorite thing about the cabin was - of course - the unobstructed stairs.  She had free reign over those and made Todd / myself nervous quite a bit!


We went for a lot of hikes at the park including a night hike.  We also went to the neighboring Anna Ruby falls for a paved, but still nice hike to the top.  It was chilly, but pretty close to a perfect day weather-wise!

We played Ping-Pong.  We letterboxed.  We built a fire and cooked s'mores indoors!  We also signed Mercer up for the Junior Ranger program and completed several of the activities.  It was actually very nice to get away and go into the woods instead of into the malls~

My birthday came and went.  Just another day.  I actually made it to yoga / Todd picked up the kids... but that was the only "unique" thing that happened.  Guess I'm officially old?

Isabella and I were sick for a few weeks / we couldn't kick our colds that we got around Thanksgiving.  She and I both went to the doctor when the 3rd week hit.  (At week two, the pediatrician said to give it another week & call back).  They did not diagnose her with anything when she went.  They just prescribed her an antibiotic.  My doctor at least explained the few things that could happen when you have a cold for 3 weeks / ruled out anything serious and gave me an antibiotic as well to clear out my bronchitis. 



Mercer has been playing basketball for the City league on Saturdays.  It is a HUGE step up compared to the very recreational league he used to play in at a nearby church.  He's one of the youngest kids on the team (6-8 year olds) but the coaches says he's got a lot of potential.  He's got some natural athletic ability and is competitive.  They say that by the time he's 8 and in this age bracket - he's going to be phenomenal. (We have some photos stuck on the camera -- just uploaded a week later.  Photos showing Mercer watching the ball in play, rebounding, and actually taking a shot~)
































Other than that - the only thing that's been happening is that Todd has been working a lot on a couple of deadlines and I've been working a lot on school papers / grading / wrapping up the semester of chemistry.  One fun thing related to teaching... on the last day of school, I bought some dry ice and we did random experiments in class just to blow off some steam.  Mercer benefitted from this - as I brought the leftovers home.  :) 

Todd and I BOTH survived - but we're pretty worn down through it all!  Sorry the blog post is late (and short on photos), but.... here it is.  A Christmas post will follow soon~