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Random Thoughts on a Monday

SYDNEY

Syd is staying with my parents for a few days and they came and picked her up while Maggie was sleeping, after my cousin Danielle’s fabulous wedding. The next morning when Maggie stood at the back door yelling for Sydney to come chase the crows and squirrels out of our yard, she seemed saddened to hear that Syd was visiting Grandma and Grandpa without her. Having Sydney be gone while we’re all at home really reminds me how much she is woven into the fabric of our lives. When food drops to the floor, we all think Syd will be there to snorffle it up. And when we snuggle up on the couch, we wait to hear her running down the hall to join in. The day after she left, I found 4 bones in our bed – one of her favorite chewing places. 

ART

We picked up a box of sidewalk chalk a few weeks ago at a garage sale and we’ve already burned through it. We just got a bigger pack and I don’t think it’ll last that long. Around her second birthday, we made Maggie an Art Basket that houses her crayons, paper, stickers and whatever else finds its way in there. Phil gave Maggie a HUGE stack of paper for Christmas and we’ve hardly made a dent, but Mags gets so into drawing that she looks like a mad scientist with papers flying around her head while she’s busy pushing her crayons to paper. Every so often she’ll accidentally make a shape and announce what it is – so far she’s drawn a heart, a leaf, an apple, and a bbq. (Sometimes she tells us that she’s drawing people she loves, but as far as we can tell, we’re just jagged lines.)

LOVE

I still rock Maggie to sleep most every night and it is part of the nightly routine. Part of that routine also includes giving Barry massive hugs and kisses and a few “Love yous” and “Bye-byes”. Without a doubt, seeing their night-nights makes me hurt inside – because I love to see two of my very favorite people love on each other in such a tender way. Every single night. But after we’ve read stories and Maggie’s snuggled into the crook of my arm, I get to sit there for some time (sometimes much longer that I’d like) and think about whatever I want. I loved that about nursing – that it completely stopped me in my tracks and gave me a moment to sit with her, attention undivided. 

Lately I’ve been thinking about our little bubble – our family and how I appreciate the simplicity of our lives right now. I started to think of Maggie as a bigger girl and trying to navigate the world of friendships, heartache and independence and it made me feel extremely heavy. How do parents do it? The letting go part? How do we know that what we’re doing – the hugs, conversations, snuggles, questions and life lessons – are enough? It really scares me. Because we love our little girl so much and the idea of her out in the big, scary world – outside of our bubble – is a tough pill for me to swallow. 

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On A Favorite Bridge

There is a bridge a few miles away from our house that I secretly love. You don’t really know the bridge is coming, it just appears right at the curve of the road and it is an utter delight to drive over every single time. A few weeks ago it was about to start raining really hard and we were itching to get out of the house, so we decided to go see what the bridge had to offer us.  Truth be told, the clouds and sprinkling rain made it a bit dreary to be out taking pictures, but looking at them now, I’m happy with what we got. Plus, I always appreciate photos of us together as a family, even if the self-timer is involved. 

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A Tea Party With 3G & Great Grandpa E.

Weeks ago we packed up our car with some of the ridiculously large stuffed animals we’ve been gifted and the unopened tea set we got at Christmas time and headed over to have a tea party with 3G and Great Grandpa Elvrum. They live only about a 15 minute drive away and we try to make it over to visit with frequency. Since we go there so often, Maggie has become accustomed to the routine of visiting and knows exactly where the toys and cookies are.

When we arrive, Maggie is given the most loving, happy, and enthusiastic welcome a little girl could ask for. My grandparents dote on her like she hung the moon and she showers them with her newest tricks and phrases. It seems to work out just fine. When we showed up to have our tea party, the sun-gods opened up the skies and we were able to set up shop outside. We opted just to have water and snacks, as Maggie tends to “over serve” the cups from time to time.

Aside from eating all of the bananas, Maggie was a perfect host and made sure that we all had cups that were full and plates that matched. When Grandpa came up from working in his greenhouse, she instantly gave him his tea cup and treats. We’d been practicing having tea parties at home, so I felt pretty proud that Maggie pulled it off and was very into sharing with everybody. The stuffed animals, however didn’t get any treats or cups…I think they were fine with that.

Yesterday we headed over to their house again to celebrate Chaya’s birthday and we had told Maggie who would be there (3G, Great Grandpa, Chaya, John, Izak, Cora (maybe), and Steve (maybe)) but when we showed up we discovered that my parents also had stopped by after deciding to take the ferry over from Whidbey Island. Almost all of Maggie’s favorite people were in one place – practically like her birthday party.

We had a very delicious dinner (Yum, Grandma!!) and an even more delicious cake (Double Yum, Grandma!), but it wasn’t until we had all migrated to the living room that Maggie really started to show off her party-girl-everybody-that-i-know-and-love-is-here moves. She was jumping, jiving, singing, yelling, screaming, dancing, hopping, and bouncing off the walls. Sometimes when we go some place new, Maggie adopts a very serious persona and observes everything – taking it all in and trying to figure out where she fits, but at my grandparents’ house she in no way questioned how she fit in….she places herself in the center of attention. Without a doubt, that is exactly where 3G and Great Grandpa would say she belongs, especially at their house.