A Hap Birfday?

Friday was Shawn's HALF birthday.  Lucas and I decided with 5 kids and it being A MAD HOUSE, A MAD HOUSE!!!!!!! that it would be nice to take some one-on-one time with Mom, Dad, and each child.  How often do the little talkers get BOTH Mom and Dad to themselves, no competition?  NEVER.  So we decided it would be fun to do this at half birthday times this year.  Shawn comes first, so we KISSed it, because he is 3, his expectations are low, and does he really want a night on the town?  Nope.  He wanted balloons...from the dollar store....and ice cream, and that it was he got.

He loved his red ears with the light behind him, so I had to add it.

 Shawn looked quite smug and pleased as Dad carried him into the dollar store.  He picked a star balloon.  A white star balloon.  Then he looked uncertainly at us and said he wanted another.  We said sure.  Then he grew in confidence and said he wanted another and then he wanted just one more, and we had no problem.  He stopped at 4, not greedy at all.  Four was cheap and he was so happy.  A white, gold, blue, and red star balloons.  He was a happy, proud boy.  Then we took him to SubZero for ice cream.  He picked Bubblegum flavored ice cream and couldn't decide between gummy bears and bubblegum as a mix in.  Well actually he looked at the mix-ins and said that one, that one, that one, that one...so I said just one and gummy bears it was.  It was a quick, simple little date, but he got us all to himself, and we made sure he knew we loved him and appreciate him for who he is and for being in our family.  This is a one of a kind, easy, hilarious, quick learning kid, and he's all ours!!!

Fifty 50 L Weeks

Like, are you kidding me???  Anyway, busy week for Daphne.  She is now comfortable getting up and now, no more screaming to be rescued from the standing position (thank goodness).  She discovered toilets this week.  Boo!

She managed to make sounds in Primary today that are more high pitched than I'm sure a human has made before, but they were sounds of joy, so that is good news.

We have made a possibly earth-shattering, life-changing (for me) discovered that Daph likes music playing at night.  It helps her sleep much longer, sometimes even through the night.  Dear Dafferdil was waking me up at least 2 times a night for the last few weeks.  Lullaby music at night and no more.  That was literally divine inspiration.  Can we say wit's end?

Oh she is precious.  When she is not exhausting me, bless her heart, I feel the most overwhelming love for her.  I am quite sure I have the cutest, most clever, most cuddly, most beautiful baby EVER!

49 Weeks

Oh the sounds she makes!  Oh the cuddles she gives!  Oh the devotion she has!

 Daphne is super curious.  If there is one thing in a room you hope she won't notice and go for, she does.  She loves to "bathe" in the dog/cat drinking fountain.  She accepts chocolate chip Hansel and Gretel style trails as bribery when Mom is trying to finish work (I know, I know, but work has to happen and semi-sweet aren't total garbage...).  When she gets tired she rubs her eyes more furiously than I've ever seen a baby do before to try to stay awake.  Have I mentioned she loves riding on shoulders.  Daphne feels so happy when any one of us sit on the floor with her and play/let her crawl on us.  She has started learning to fight with Shawn (just a little).  Her crawl draws lots of comments.  She can do regular crawling but has decided her bum scoot/lunge crawl is faster, especially when mom puts on those blasted dresses.  I will love her forever.

 And in closing, the below pictures, oh, so funny.  To explain since it is not zoomed in - I took the kids plus Lily's friend, Rachel, to a park to play as it was the nicest day (45! AND sunny?!?) we've had in a loooong time.  Lily and Rachel had grabbed some bread to feed the ducks unbeknownst to me.  They ran over to the pond first thing, and you know how ducks are.  Soon they were all waddling zombie-fowl like towards the girls.  It creeped them out and they screamed and giggled and screamed and ran toward us like their lives depended on it.  A memorable sight indeed.

48 Weeks

Daph is standing on her own for a short bit.  She is so tentative/cautious about it that it is pretty sweet.  She stands up holding onto anything now but is still pretty shaky.  We spent all week teaching her (trying) that she can just fall back on her bum rather than be terrified she is stuck standing and scream to be rescued.  She loves playing in our pet drinking fountain, and she loves to go and peer down the stairs every time we forget to put the gate up.

Starting the stage where if it looks cool and fun, you sit on it.

 Becoming strangely protective of random technological/electrical devices (she is safe, I promise).  She has been attached to a DVD player cord and an old telephone.  She drags them around and screams if her brother, Shawn, or anyone else tries to take them away.

I busted out the dollhouse for Shawn to play with, and surpringly, Daphne thought it was amazing.  20-30 minutes of solid play.  I was amazed.

BONUS.  Lily skating for her friend's birthday last month.  It sounded PRET-TY amusing.  These girls make us laugh and smile a lot!

47 Weeks

Why, oh, why?  Daphne is growing up fast, which in some ways will be a big relief.  She is like the ultimate workout, only not just for my body - but my mind and heart and virtues.  She stretches me to my max in patience, sleep deprivation, and with that high-pitched squeal that even a mother isn't too fond of.  So I can see her being a little older being somewhat less aggravating and exhausting for me.  But so many moments shoot by so fast that I know I will miss all the sweetness.  This first year blogumentation (see how I combined blog and documentation) is my attempt to capture as much as I can, even with a pretty demanding day to day to-do list, so that I can remember.  Yet, I know I will forget so much, and that makes me a little sad.  Thankfully, as I try to explain to myself and a little to Lucas, Daphne is making sure we EXPERIENCE parenting.  None of this ridiculously easy baby stuff.  I will KNOW nights with little sleep.  I will KNOW what it means to have a little body just need to be right next to you, snuggled as close as humanly possible against your shoulder just to feel secure about this strange world when she is sick or tried.  I will KNOW rocking a baby to sleep every single night.  I will KNOW holding that perfectly formed to fit onto my hips and in my arms little body snuggled next to me as I do all manner of 2-handed tasks with 1-hand every.single.day, every.single.hour.  I will KNOW what it means to hear the start of a scared or demanding cry and run to pick up baby before the volcano erupts.  I will KNOW that free time, that thing that used to happen when I had kids who took 2 hour naps) is optional in this parenting gig, not mandatory.  I will KNOW what sweet little clinging hangs grasping my skirt or pants, making sure I now she's there, telling me she needs to be lifted up, up, up feels like.  I will KNOW what 2 little fists gripping tighly to my shirt to make sure no one takes her away feels like.  I will KNOW what it looks like to have those baby hands reaching, willing themselves to be lifted into your arms with all their might.  I will KNOW the sweet tickles mixed with occasional yanks as she uses my hair to calm herself as she goes to sleep.  Because of Daphne, I will KNOW and I will REMEMBER.  So as much as that little pocket of occasional fury and constant demands makes me feel drained at times, she is well worth every second of it, and I know (oh so many wise women have told me) that this is just a blinks-worth of life.  I will choose not to wallow in the lows of this time, but I can rejoice and learn to laugh at each moment for what it's worth.

 Some blurry pics because that's what happens when you put 2 high-energy girls in front of a camera.

 Above:  I will never, ever get over cute baby legs standing, just all of it, too cute.

Below:  She hardly looks like a baby in this pic.  What in the world?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We played games and enjoyed delicious food.  What more did we need?  2015 is going to be a GREAT year!

Hehe.  Just thinking of all my New Year's resolutions for 2014, consistent blog posts (normally 1x per week) is probably the one that stuck.  I think I'll feel very thankful about my dedication in the future.