this boy

Master Luke is four and a half months old already. HOW IS IT HAPPENING SO QUICKLY!? Wasn't he this squishy baby yesterday? These photos are actually from about a month ago when he was starting to get the hang of tummy time. Now he's rolling around, starting solid foods and weighs a whopping 16 pounds!

At his four month checkup this week, Luke couldn't stop grinning at our dear old doctor. This doctor of ours is pretty much a dinosaur, but Luke sure loves him.  Cold stethoscope and all, he was smiling away. Of course when the needles came out that smile left his face, but it was pretty cute up until then.

This boy is a true delight to be around. It's never hard to get a grin from his soft chubby cheeks and his happy personality often makes others smile, too. I never tire of looking into his round, blue eyes. It's easy to see he already has a love for life and I look forward to seeing the great things he does in his time.

This boy loves his sister. You'll often find him scanning the room trying to figure out what where she is and what she's up to.  It'll be fun to see them play more and more, especially when he has a little more choice in what they do. For example I walked into the room today to find Madeline riding on his back exclaiming,"Go Luke, go!"

This boy loves his daddy, too. He's got a nervous smile reserved just for him. I'm pretty sure he can't decide if he should be excited or scared whenever he see's daddy's face coming in close... probably depends on how recently his daddy shaved. (Confession: we all brace for daddy's scruffy kisses, it's not just Luke :) )

But I think if I'm being perfectly honest, I'd have to let you know that this boy has an extra special spot for his mama. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm the one who feeds him all the time, but I like to think he's becoming a little bit of a mama's boy because of it. Just a little, ya know ;)  I love the stare-offs we have while he's nursing. And how sometimes he can be a little flirt, and then gets bashful. Oh this boy has my heart.

Luke we sure love you. Thanks for being in our family :)

birthday twos

^^Madeline was in heaven^^

^^The most effortless, soft, perfect tulips. Almost like roses...^^

^^This little boy melts heart! He's just too cute.^^

^^I just want to cry every time I think about how she's moving next month!^^

 ^^family picture fail....^^

My birthday dreams this year consisted of family, friends, a beautiful park (here's the pictures from last year) and chocolate cake. Words aren't flowing too freely today, but I'll just say it happened, it was perfect and it makes me wish my birthday came more often, just for the excuse to get those four stars in alignment more than once a year :) Oh and I was also very grateful to be sharing our celebrations with two other friends. Madeline's friend was turning two, I turned twenty-two, and another dear friend turned fifty-two. 

You know when you're growing up and it's a pretty big deal to have your "favorites list" all prepared and ready to go, just incase someone happens to ask you?  You have your favorite color, favorite animal, favorite number, etc. Well my favorite number was always two. It's even, it's manageable, it just felt clean and happy to me (I know... I spent way too much time as my eight year old self contemplating my favorite number. But these things were important!) And then, when I was maybe ten? I had an epiphany. If my favorite number was two, it really should be twenty-two, because that is (wait for it..) two twos! So I guess this was a pretty big birthday for me, finally getting to turn the age of my favorite number ;) 

I have this dream...

Or maybe it's more of a wish? No lets stick with dream, it feels more romantic, which is most definitely the feeling I am trying to convey. And in this dream, I get a full night of sleep. I wake up when I'm rested and when the soft light of morning wakes me. Not when the baby wakes up hungry or when I hear "let it go, let it go!" being sung from the baby monitor (which is terribly cute, I must admit, but this is my dream remember?).  In this dream, rather than change two diapers and get everyone fed as soon as I'm woken up, I go for a run in our overly safe neighborhood that does not require me to stop and look for cars at every block. After my run I come home to a still and quiet house, help myself to a bowl of cereal and eat at my own leisurely pace. Not having to scarf it down before being asked to share by Madeline or having to run and help her with something. 

I shower in this dream without hearing a crying baby, or is that my imagination? I'm not on parade in my birthday suit for my two year old who keeps opening the shower curtain, leaving me freezing. I take a long, hot shower. Did I mention hot water is endless in this dream?  I blow dry my hair without having to stop Madeline from unwinding all the floss and filling her potty with hair bows. 

I'm not tied to a schedule of nursing, naps, snacks and diaper changes in this dream. I spend my day listening to my pandora station and working on things that fill my soul. I blog, I take pictures, I sew, I garden (haven't actually done this one, but it sounds nice in my head...), I paint, I create. I lay in a hammock and listen to the wind blow through the trees. I don't have to rush to get supplies out as soon as the kids are down for naps, then hurry and put stuff away a short forty minutes later. Time is no issue. It's just me and the stillness. The highlight of my day is completing a project, not that my two year old pooped in the toilet. There is no endless scattering of dishes, toys and books. I don't have to pick up the living room ten times in the course of the day. There is no traumatic five o'clock hour, no rushing to get dinner ready, no whiny children and no hungry husband. No cutting everything into bite size pieces only to have them be rejected. Nothing stopping me from eating a hot meal in peace.

I go to bed when I'm ready, feeling rested and satisfied. I don't stay up late finishing the things I couldn't get done during the day. My cup is full and I feel whole again. 

I get another full night of sleep, and wake up to... my family. My beautiful, wonderful, busy, sometimes chaotic, very needy but oh so perfect family. And I am happy. Happy they are there again. Glad they're my forever. Grateful that they need me. Because by golly I need them too.

Someday I'll have a day like that, probably more than I'll want. Someday I'll miss the tiny feet tip toeing into my room because "shhh... kiet (quiet), Wuke (Luke) is sleeping" only to have her forget a minute later exclaiming that the iPod isn't working. Someday I'll long for this precious stage of life filled with ups and downs and more love I ever knew was possible. This truly is a great life I have. But I wouldn't mind just a day to myself  :)

a few photos from when my mom came to visit

^^waiting for grandma at the airport^^

Wish I could remember all the thoughts and feelings I wanted to write about way back in January when my mom came to visit, but it was such a long time ago, and I was sleep deprived, and to tell you the truth I haven't had a whole lotta sleep since ;)

What I do remember is it was a nightmare and a half for her to get here. Her connecting flight was canceled during her first flight, then she was rerouted a couple times and missed a couple flights..? Ended up at a different airport further away from us but the timing was different? So we ended up waiting for her for a couple hours at the airport. And while we were at the airport, my milk let down everywhere and Luke peed all over Jeremy during a diaper change. Fun times. But she made it the same night she was supposed to! Which we were so grateful for.

It was a lot of fun just being together. We played games, went to Storyville one day. Got to show her where we go to church and let her meet some of our friends here in Baltimore. 

I sure love my mom, I'm so grateful for her coming out to help us out.  Wish we lived closer, but super grateful for technology that makes it seem like we aren't quite so far way :)

photo dump/recap on fun times with family

We had the absolute best time with my dad and Jeremy's parents last week. It was hard to see them go… They came to see us and where we live and in particular to meet Luke for the first time and be here for his blessing. We feel so blessed to have such great parents who are so supportive and wanting to be a part of our lives and the lives of our kidS (still getting used to the plural :) Wish we lived closer to either of them, but we're so so grateful for the ease of communication and travel we are blessed with in this day and age. 

^^My dad got here Tuesday evening. This was taken not two minutes after my dad walked through the door. Madeline knew exactly who he was and was showing him everything in her room^^

^^Wednesday we made an IKEA believer out of my dad^^ 

^^And we also hit up Build-A-Bear. It was always a hit with us as kids growing up (Jeremy had never heard of it though!) so my dad thought it would be fun to take Madeline. And boy was he right. She loved it. Two funny things about our trip there: The name the bear has on its foot is "Bearemy" which we got a kick out of because it sounds like "Jeremy". Then at the end when Dad and Madeline were picking out a name for her, I gave Madeline three suggestions, the middle one being "Danielle" (trying to be funny because my Dad's name is Daniel) and without hesitation that's what she picked! And it's totally stuck. So far her little toy friends haven't had names that have stayed (i.e. her doll is "Dollie", baby is "Baby", etc), but Danielle stuck from the beginning and is still going strong. It took her a day to say "Danielle" really well, so at first she'd say things like,"Hey Daniel. Do you want me to burp you Daniel? Do you need a diaper change Daniel?" We had several good laughs about it :) 

^^We were taking a picture of Jeremy's parents for them when Madeline walked over with the straightest face to be in their picture ha^^

^^Thursday Jeremy's parents got into town and we visited the D.C. Temple. Wish we would have had time to go inside, but it was still fun to see it and see the Visitor Center, too.

^^Friday my dad was attending a conference in Virginia. I had hoped to make a little something out of the day with Jeremy's parents, but thanks to a rainy afternoon we kept things pretty chill at home. We did manage a little walk and played at the park near our home for about ten minutes before it started to rain! We rushed home but we were still pretty soaked.

^^Luke talking to Grandpa Wells^^

^^Saturday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I wish that weather would come back, because we're back to cold and snowy… blah. But I'm glad it was nice for when they were here. My dad was still at the conference, but the rest of us had a great time checking out Fort McHenry and Federal Hill park.

Saturday was the day of the blessing. I'm so glad they were all here. (group shot at the bottom of the post) It was sad that my mom couldn't be here, too. She sure wanted to, but I still have a lot of siblings at home who needed her. (She came in January, which I'm realizing now I never blogged about… pictures coming soon!)

It was so much fun to have them here. We were packed in like sardines in our two bedroom apartment, but it was so worth it. A big thanks to all of them for making do with our humble offerings as far as room, food, and uh personal space go. Someday I hope we'll have a nice guest room with a private bathroom to offer you :) 

Promise I took a picture of Jeremy's parents with the kids, too. But I don't know what I did with the memory card!!! oops. I'll find it.

Lots of teary eyes at the airport Monday morning. Jeremy's parents flight left first so Madeline and I took them to the airport (Jeremy had a test Monday morning at 8am…). I don't think she fully realized we were leaving them there because she didn't seem terribly sad, which surprised me a lot. About half way home, though, she suggested we go back to the airport to pick up grandma and grandpa Wells. I told her they were going home to Florida. Then I suggested we call them on the computer (Skype) them on Sunday. And the flood gates were opened. It hit her hard that they weren't coming back in a couple hours. That things were going back to normal… She just bawled the rest of the way home.

Luckily she got it together for the last couple hours with my dad, but on our second trip to the airport that day she knew what was going on and the tears fell freely. *sigh* I hate goodbyes. 

^^I sure love my Dad…^^

I can't tell you how great it was to have all of them here. It was so special to show them our city and our home. And especially to let them meet Luke. Thanks to all three of them for making the sacrifice to be here with us! Looking forward to the next time :)

family pictures - say what??!!

^^couldn't not post this one… it was the first one I took of them ha^^

I decided that since we've been married over three years and have two kids that it's about time we had our family pictures taken. Thank goodness I know a photographer (THANK YOU DAD!!!) I can't tell you how happy it makes me to finally have a good family picture to hang on our sad bare walls. So happy :) My little family means more than anything to me and I'm so happy to have some pictures to go along with all the memories we've been making lately. And I love that they were taken in our neighborhood that we love so much. Life. is. good.  And seriously, thank you Dad. We would not have been so successful with my tripod ;)