I write letters to my kids on their birthdays (and sometimes on their half-birthdays too).
Hello Darling. You have no idea how much we adore you. All four of us. Your smile is like winning first prize or being invited somewhere VIP. Every morning (after you've slept 8-10 hours straight), I lean over next to you on our white sheets. Your blue eyes find mine, but you don't cry. Laid-back, […]
This is the first time I've ever "packed a lunch" for my kids. We stocked up on string cheese, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, pretzels, goldfish, peanut butter squeeze packs, fruit leathers, turkey, and mandarin oranges for the week. The first morning of preschool camp (with our church), they woke up at 5:45am out of sheer […]
People ask if they are jealous, if they ever ask to "send her back." But it's quite the opposite: our 3-year-old and 5-year-old adore her. Even six weeks later, they fight over who gets to hold their baby sister. Liv was in tears yesterday because she felt that she wasn't getting her fair share of […]
In some ways, having a newborn again is super easy - all I have to do is feed her and hold her. In other ways, having a newborn is the hardest of all - all I do is feed her and hold her. (Or that's what it seems like anyway). Then, there's the 3-year-old. So […]
This is Audrey's birth story - born on Friday, April 13, 2012. All times are approximate. 11:20am Tim, the girls, and I drive to the birth center for an appointment. Midwife Kerry checks and I'm 4cm, 85% effaced, baby's head is low. After discussing options, she strips my membranes and we talk about old wives […]
Can it be that you're really 5 1/2? You make yourself toast and clean your room, state your opinions and take showers, spell out words and select your own outfits, leave voicemails and sleep through the night. You dream up imaginative art projects - kites and pop-up cards and animals out of branches. You take […]
"G'morning, mama" you say, running into our room in baggy pajama pants. "I slept all through the night," you spout proudly - though the sun has barely peeked over the mountains. Without a word more, you snuggle the side of my expanding belly. Later, you stretch out your legs to show me how long you've […]
"When I grow up and am a mommy, can I come to your house every, every day for my whole life?" - Kayla, age 5 Yes, my sweet girls, YES.