Choose laughter

Sometimes something just strikes me. This quote did just that. How true, profound, and simple. "all in all, I've resigned myself to the fact that motherhood is manic. And messy. But also really, really fun. And funny! Never in my life have I laughed as hard as I do now. So maybe that's my advice to new moms: when in doubt, choose laughter." - Jen Green, Brand Editor of Anthropolgie, on what advice she would give new moms.

Thankful Thursday

For friends who know just what to say

For feeling rested

For puddles

For watermelon

For cool breezes

Dear Baby a,

We got to see you a few days ago, in full profile. Your little heart beating away and your little arms and legs waving around. I instantly fell in love. It's not that I didn't love you before, but you became a full little baby in between the last time I saw you and this time.

You have little feet and hands and a nose and spine. You are only about 6 cm long, but you are whole. Wholly loved, wholly ours. And we couldn't be more excited about you.

I couldn't sleep on my belly for the first time that night. It was just one more reminder that you are. You are growing, I am growing. We are all changing. You will make me a new mother; us, a new family. Actually, you already have.

Love,
Mom

Thankful Thursday

For date nights

For sweet potatoes

For parks

For hard decisions

For stretchy dresses

Overheard

Teddy (counting): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Teddy-teen!

The hilarious toddler speech is already beginning. I love it.

Simply

I dropped you off at daycare today. There was nothing unusual about our morning (except the emergency trip to the grocery store because we ran out of milk). There was nothing unusual about getting you out of the car and walking, hand in hand, into the building. You always try to open the heavy front (locked) door and today was no different. As we wandered towards your classroom, I'm sure I was thinking about the clients I would see today and how I didn't want to fall asleep on the train ride into the city.

Our routine was just that, routine. So you clung to me for a minute or so while I updated your teacher on our morning. And then just like that, you were off. Your little friends practicing their jumps, which you have yet to master. You tip-toe ran, like you always do these days, over to the little red couch that is your perfect size. Actually, it's the perfect size for two little toddlers. And so you and a friend sat next to each other yelling out colors as your teacher held up flashcards.

It is always in moments like this, days like these that realizations strike me. I stood there for a moment and a thought so mundane struck me. "Look at how well everyone gets along," I thought. There was no exclusion, no little boy telling you that seat next to him wasn't for you. Just acceptance. Just welcome. Just little people learning colors and jumping and how to eat with forks.

Having you in my life reminds me, when I absolutely need it the most, about what really matters. About how simple our lives begin and how complicated we can make them.

I dreamed you first
But not so real
And everyday since I've found you
Such moments we steal
Like little thieves, we rub our hands
We hold our hearts between them.
But will you hear me and know?

I want only this, I want to live
I want to live a simple life.
~ The Weepies, Simple Life

Thankful Thursday

For chai lattes

For conversations with toddlers

For writers block

For days that include a nap

For ordering in