Just when I'm feeling a little homesick and cursing the fates for making it impossible for us to make a road trip home last weekend, Mom texts me. "Got a minute?" Of course I don't. Every minute from now until sometime in 2015 has some activity, task or meeting assigned to it. But whatever. The kids can scavenge for Wheat Thins in the pantry while I make dinner late. She wanted to remind me, indirectly, that I have a terrible memory. Evidently there is an entire falling through the ice on the frozen river episode missing from my childhood memories. Either that or someone in my family is making things up just because they know they can get away with it.
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| Noah : Yoda. Greta : Owl, Hooting. Ava : Witch. |
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So I don't have time to write things down and post pictures. And the minutes, days, and weeks are slipping through my fingers. Someday Greta will claim she remembers that Halloween when Noah wore his Yoda hat and robe every day for three weeks, and Noah will counter that there's no way she actually remembers that, and absolutely no way it's true. Future Noah, I'm here to tell you: it's true. Every day. The Jedi master you are.
Before all the leaves had fallen off the trees, but after most of them had. Greta liked crunching through them. Maggie tolerated this.
Can I tell you a story about these chickens? First of all, aren't they beautiful chickens? Greta, Maggie and I went to the pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkins before Halloween. It was a Wednesday, and we were the only ones there. There were farm dogs and kittens. Greta thought she had died and gone to heaven. There were also these chickens. She was given a cob of corn by the farmer and invited to get into the coop with them. Sounds fun, right? Except that she's only three feet tall. When a three foot tall person is surrounded by hungry chickens, it kind of freaks her out a little. In brief, she ended up butt first in a large pail and probably won't be mingling with chickens again anytime soon. Maggie slept through the whole episode. As usual.
Sock monkey. Cute, no?
Carving pumpkins. Wearing Yoda robe. "I just want to wear the robe every day like Grandma does."
I love having a baby around the house again. No, really. I'm not kidding. I love it. Believe me. I'm kind of shocked to feel this way. Holy understatement, Batman. I'm fully astounded that I am not counting the minutes until she is big enough to walk, talk, feed and dress herself. My biggest hesitation about having another baby was that she would be a baby for the first year and a half. Of course I loved all of my children with every molecule of my being from the very moment they were born. But all the helplessness, neediness and sleeplessness of the first months... I really didn't love that. It feels different this time, somehow. I don't feel exasperated that the baby wants to be held again or that I can't seem to get anything done that isn't related to baby feeding, bathing, dressing or diapering. People have told me that they loved the baby phase because it slowed them down and forced them to sit. That's exactly what I always kind of hated about it. But somehow, with Maggie, I could spend the entire day sitting and staring at her and not think for a second about the dishes / laundry / dinner that isn't getting done. I spend my hours at work wishing I were at home with a small, wobbly person in my arms. I hope she brings everyone in her life this kind of peace.
