ONE!

My dear Princess Peanut is one today! As I look back on this year, I truly can’t believe it has been that long. It seems like only yesterday that I would catch her napping in her bouncy seat. That she wanted to be wrapped up as tight as could be.

Then I look through my pictures of her. I find that she really did grow up slowly. She smiled by September. She was still such a skinny little thing, but that smile captured our hearts.

A baby's smile transforms her face

As she continued to grow, that smile grew with her. That personality that couldn’t be a more perfect fit for our little family.

By Christmas her little cheeks were filling out, she was getting chunky, and she finally started sleeping more.

By 8 months, I noticed how like her older sister she looks. It is funny how we all just seem to mesh. Our lives were not complete without this glorious little girl.

One of my favorite memories is always the first spaghetti. There is something magical about that orange substance.

Then came hiking. We rediscovered Zion this spring and early summer. We have gone over and over again. Punkin’ loves the backpack.

As we returned from one of our hikes, we had to get on a bus that takes us back to our car. It can be quite busy and thus tight on the ride. Punkin’ was still in the backpack, but on Sultry Husband’s lap. She watched as strangers boarded the bus and held on to the bars provided. I watched as she reached out to hold one, looking up to see what these other people would do about it. That bar was her friend for the next 30 minutes.

And finally, one of my favorites. Punkin’ used to be content to be surrounded by her toys. Now, she wants nothing more than to explore and find new and glorious things to create mischief with. She loves to “find” us as we call to her. This last picture shows her wonderful personality and the excitement she feels when she find’s us.

Happy Birthday little one, you are a welcome addition to our family. We couldn’t imagine our lives without you.

Fly away little one

When I was in middle school, I had a friend ask if I would teach her how to play the violin. I was happy to do it, and thus I began teaching others. It has now been well over 15 years since that time, and I have loved teaching kids what I know.

I have taught the basic lessons so many times now that I could do it in my sleep. I could start about anyone interested. I must say that I tire a bit of the beginner lessons, they are very repetitive and the beginners are usually not the best at practicing.

Two years ago, I started teaching a family of three girls. The eldest had taken lessons from someone else long ago, but they wanted me to start the other two. Now, some kids are normal learners, others are really slow to progress, but the middle child of this family was amazing. She practiced all the time, she did what I told her, and over the past two years I have taken her from floundering beginner to blossoming violinist. For those who know the suzuki method, she is mid way through book 4. She can shift, plays her scales, and we have stretched her lessons more and more till we finally reached my hour limit. That hour flew by every single week.

The family is moving. To a big city, where I know she can find a wonderful teacher, but I mourn the loss. I miss her already. I will miss looking forward to her lessons as much as she did. We had fun together, especially in the past six months or so. She has truly started sounding wonderful.

When her mother told me that they were stopping lessons, both of us teared up. She thanked me for my efforts and time, and I thanked her for lending me her girls. Fly away my little ones, keep playing and progressing. I will mourn for a little while, and not because of the loss of income.

Mobility

I’m in trouble! Punkin’ has reached that ever dreaded time. She is officially mobile. For weeks she has been rolling over and getting stuck on the walls and furniture. I could put a few chairs around and strategically keep her in one area.

Now though… now she is officially commando crawling. She can go anywhere, anytime, and no longer feels stuck. She gets angry if I don’t put her down… Perhaps it is a good thing that I shampooed the living room floor today. Ugh.

At least she is adorable. Makes up for the mobility. Almost.

W-h-a-t What?

As M has learned more at school, I find her teaching herself more often. The other day, she was sitting at the table creating Multiplication problems for herself. Wow, I so totally never did that as a kid.

Yesterday I called her into my room for just a second. I wanted to show her something, but instead of just coming in, she felt the need to say “W-h-a-t What Mom?” She had this little grin on her face waiting for my reaction. I smiled, bopped her on the head, and called her a goof ball.

So now she is spelling to me? Yet another thing I have never done.

Firsts

I have always adored the first year. So many new things to try, developments in personality, and my personal favorite has always been the first time my babies try new foods.

Punkin has been growing like a weed the past few months. She is now 10 months old, sitting by herself, entertaining herself, sleeping mostly through the night, and bringing such joy into our home.

Last weekend she went camping for the first time. She did really well, but I am saving that story for when I finish editing the 250+ pictures I took (I am almost done I swear). Last night though, I captured one of my favorite moments. Punkin tried Spaghetti for the very first time. We took off all her clothes, strapped on a bib, piled some on her tray, and sat back to watch.

She seemed confused and even nervous at first. Touching with one finger, moving it around for awhile, then finally the magic moment happened. She placed one small noodle into her mouth. I wish I had the camera when that grin appeared, but I didn’t even think about it till she was double fisting the spaghetti into her mouth.

One word describes the scene: ADORABLE!

Sisters

When the Punkin’ came home from the hospital, we felt it necessary to tell our older girls how fragile she was. Sultry Husband talked to them about it, and drew a comparison to an egg. He talked about the shell of an egg and how it was fragile and could be broken easily. I must admit that later on, when one of the girls was getting a little rough with Punkin’, SH yelled from across the house “She’s an egg, an egg, AN EGG!” I laughed for ages.

I thought for sure, as Punkin’ got a little older, the older siblings interest would wane a little. Not so. If anything, they are more interested in making her laugh and smile. I often have to pull L away because she gets a bit over bearing.

The other day, I started rummaging in my old picture files. Looking for anything I may have forgotten to use, and I ran across some pictures of L when she was Punkin’s age. Wow. I couldn’t believe the similarity. Yes, I know that they are sisters, but I swear they look like they could have been twins! Here they are…

Punkin’

L at 9 months

Can you see the difference? Slight though it may be… And now, just because I can’t resist my little bald smiley thing, a picture of M at 9 months to round things out. How could we ever question whether these three are sisters?

My favorite age.

When she was born, I told myself that this was my favorite age. I loved to snuggle with her, cuddle her, and just hold that newborn goodness.

A few months later, as she started to smile at us, I said, now this is my favorite age. We could interact, and she seemed to recognize us.

When she started sleeping mostly through the night, I said, this must be my favorite age. I felt more myself and things just felt magic. She began to keep the Binky in her mouth by herself and continued to develop and round out physically. Surely, things couldn’t get better than that.

At seven months, she began to kick and splash in the bath. Resulting in my feeling like I was taking a bath too. I was sure that seven months was my favorite age. She enjoyed the “Johnny Jump Up” and her swing was pure magic.

Now, at almost nine months, she is at my favorite age. She babbles and makes the beginning sounds of words. Rolling from one end of the living room to the other, I have to be careful about what is on the floor. Everything and anything ends up in her mouth. She screams with joy and kicks her feet when I come in the room. Such pure unadulterated happiness. Yet the words on her bib as she stuffs bread and cheerio’s into her mouth seem so true “Feed me, and I will let you sleep.”

Surely this is my favorite age.

A new era

This year for Christmas, M asked for a giant stuffed Unicorn. Big surprise there right? As Santa was preparing for Christmas morning, he noticed that M’s unicorn had a sister. So, he thought that L should have one as well. But wait, what about the beautiful new little sister? She could not be forgotten, and thus it is that we ushered in a new era. Punkin’ received her first baby Unicorn. His name is Sproket (Daddy named him).

Sprocket could easily be confused with these two well loved creatures.

Their names are “Rainbow baby unicorn unis”, and “Chocolate Bar”. M and L have loved them since the day that Karen bestowed them upon us. Santa had to try very hard to find a matching unicorn… I fully expect that he will someday have the colorful feet that the other two have now. As I have posted before, they are so loved in this home that their feet require a new makeover every few months… Welcome to the family Sprocket… you are already loved and often chewed on.

Snuggle Etiquette

Our second daughter, L, loves to snuggle in the mornings. Personally, I think it has something to do with the warmth of our electric blanket. She climbs between me and Sultry Husband almost every morning.

At times, SH doesn’t even register that she is there. He is a deep sleeper, and if it is a particularly difficult morning, he will lay there for quite some time with her. When we are awake enough, we have interesting conversations about dreams and what not.

This morning, he was basically catatonic. He told me later of their conversation, and it just shows L’s little personality so well. After snuggling for awhile, L said to SH the following:

“Daddy, you are supposed to look at the person you are snuggling with. It’s a nicer way to act.”

Thank you little one, for that beautiful lesson in snuggle etiquette.

Bus Problems

I am not usually one to post twice in a day, but I had the most interesting thing happen this afternoon, so I have decided to share again.

M usually gets off the bus right at our corner at 3:20 or so. Sometimes they are a little late if the roads were bad, and today they are super muddy, so I didn’t think much about it when she was still not home at 3:30. Then it was 3:35, and finally at 3:40, she walked through the door with a huge grin on her face.

As she told me what happened, I almost didn’t believe her. You see, the bus driver forgot to drop her and another girl off at our corner. They yelled out to him as he passed us, so he decided to turn around at the next street. Problem is, running along it is a huge irrigation ditch. Which, because of the melting snow and mud, had an extremely soft shoulder. The back end of the bus slid into the ditch as he attempted to turn around!

I ran to the back window to get a look for myself, and there it was, in its glorious yellow splendor. Stuck in the mud for all to see. I didn’t want to make the guy feel worse than I am sure he did, so I didn’t go out and take a picture like I wanted to.

The bus was there for about twenty minutes. I am not sure how he finally got out, but I fully plan to walk down later and see the tire marks on the edge of the ditch.

Ahh the entertainment of a small town. Gotta love it.