Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Recently


* Henry lost his first tooth! The anticipation was reaching fever pitch. The boys pumped themselves up watching tooth extraction videos on You Tube. First they tried to yank with Kleenex. Fail. Then Nate tied a piece of floss around the wobbly little nub and ... POP! It was out without a scream or a wince or a tear. And boy oh boy! was our boy happy about the resulting gap in his smile. We think he's darling as ever. And the toothfairy thought that tooth was worth one whole dollar. It went right in his Lightning McQueen wallet with the rest of his dollars...seems we've got a little saver on our hands, he's accumulating quite a sum!


* Mornings are my absolute favorite with my little birds. They come get in bed with me every day. We snuggle. We doze. Lily asks for a baba. We discuss breakfast options. Sometimes the kids make like monkeys and swing around on the big beams of our bed. It's all very lazy and fun and wonderful. I will be so sad when it has to change next year. First grade can just wait and wait and wait (and then disappear) as far as I'm concerned.


* The sunset last night was the prettiest I've seen in a long time. I snapped these pics on my phone, so they're not wonderful, but they give a little glimpse. My mom used to describe herself as "more of a sunset than a parade," which is a perfect description of her quiet wonder. I love sunsets.

* Nate and I went away last weekend. Just us. To Portland. (I did not take one single picture - sad.) It was fun and refreshing and romantic. (We only fought once - at IKEA. Of course. He thought the swing was weird and dumb. I thought it was magical and cool and just the kind of thing childhood should be made of. I said something mean. He went out to the car to nap (and be bugged) while I finished the tour de IKEA and texted apologies and begged him to come back in. He declined. I bought the swing. We made up quick and were proud of ourselves for burying the hatchet in a hurry. Actually, now that I think of it, we fought twice - also over the fact that I could not read the map on the iPhone and we took a bad wrong turn in "rush-freakin'-hour traffic." yikes. We made up quick that time too though. And we kissed a lot the rest of the trip to make up for the conflict.)
I love him. I could talk to him for a solid day and still have more to say. I would marry him one hundred more times if given one hundred more chances. I love his mind and his soul - I love to hear his thoughts and ideas. I think he has the gift of wisdom and sound judgment. I trust him unequivocally. I think he is fascinating and neat; I never tire of his company. And...I think he's so, so handsome. Our weekend away reminded me that I need to be a better wife - more kind and supportive and encouraging. "Be a nicer wife" is now on my list of things to be mindful of. I can already tell it is helping us be happier together.

* The day after we came home from Portland I caught an ugly stomach bug. Not fun at all. But it was sort of luxurious to lay in bed all day and read magazines while I tried not to barf. And I had mostly regained my appetite by dinnertime when my mom swooped in with chicken noodle soup and breadsticks. And jello, which tasted sooo good!

* My spring bulbs are already poking their little green heads out. I'm worried about them. I want to tell them that there's more cold and freezy to come, that they should turn around and head back down in the dirt where it's safe and warm(er)! I hope they'll survive the rest of winter and give us a beautiful show come Springtime.

* My kids are naughty, naughty at bedtime. Lily sneaks out of bed. Henry eggs her on. They giggle and chat and goof off 'til it's late. Nate and I get frustrated. And we have to get stern with them, which usually makes one or both of them sad. But then we go in and check on them and we find this:

or this:
or this:

and it is the cutest thing we've ever seen and our hearts just can't handle it. And we feel bad for getting stern. And we kiss their cheeks. And put Lily back in her own bed. Then we look back and forth from one darling bundle to the other. And back again. And then at each other. And we shake our heads and roll our eyes and wonder how in the world we ended up with the cutest kids ever known to man.

8 comments:

  1. Cute post Em. I love your candor about real life. The IKEA stories made me laugh out loud. In an understanding sort of way, not a make fun of you for fighting way. :) Glad you're feeling better.

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  2. Thank you, thank you for the IKEA story. OH how I can relate to that one! :)
    Nate is a keeper...but I'm gonna let you in a little secret: you are the best thing that's ever happened to him ;)

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  3. Your kids are darlig Emily! And all three of my kids still crawl in bed together every night. I think I'll be really sad when they don't anymore.

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  4. As a soon to be dad just wanted to let you know that this one made me smile. My little boy is due in Feb. I look forward to missing teeth, mornings in an over-full bed, and chasing him back to his own. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. I was actually quite impressed with the quality of your phone photos. And I think Ikea just puts men in a bad mood period;)

    So glad you had a little getaway though!

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  6. What a sweet post, Em! Congrats to Henry on losing his first tooth (have you read Charming Opal by Holly Hobbie? It is a really cute story about losing a first tooth.). I love the pictures of Lily & Henry. And, I'm so glad you & Nate had a great time in Portland. Love you bunches, E

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  7. I thought of you when I watched this Mormon Messages video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WbYLKVgwztY

    You're amazing. Henry, Lily, their future siblings, and generations to come are blessed to have you as their own.

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