These Days...

 Several things to catch up on whats going on these days in with the Askew crew:

Penny you are almost 3 months! These days you are smiling and cooing and we are all in love with your sweet dimples and blue eyes. You have slept thru the night 3 nights in a row from around 10:30 to 6 or so, which I am trying not to get my hopes up about but has been pretty wonderful. I was joking when I came up with your first Christmas wish for the church program and said that you wished you would sleep thru the night but our wishes might just be coming true. I am trying to soak up all these last baby days because I know they go so fast and I want to cherish the beautiful parts of the perfect weight of you rested in my arms, the slow, heavy blinks just before you drift off to sleep, the simplest things that make you smile - a familiar face, twinkly lights and the wonder that is ceiling fans. We have special time together on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the big kids are at school and these days I love getting to share that time just me and you, sometimes we run errands, we attend ladies bible class or do chores at home. My spirit has always been one that craves a certain amount of quiet space to think, process and center and I am finding these days of quiet are so recharging to me and I enjoy having my little side kick along too. 

*A Daicia Pic - love her eyes captured here. and
I am a little smitten by this hand me down winter hat I've been loving on her.

Oh Rhett, how fun life is with you these days at two and halfish. You bring so much laughter to all of us. Your favorite foods are milk, avocados, pizza and pretzels. These days you are loving the books The Giving Tree, Mama Llama Red Pajama and Goodnight Gorilla. Last night when were reading The Giving Tree you asked me how do you get in the book? You wanted to climb in and put the trunk back on the tree that the boy took away. Your imagination truly has no limits, you keep expanding your Christmas list to include crazy things like "a Giant orange Dragon, a plane to fly you over your house to Benny's house ( while we are wishing for things I wouldn't mind a direct flight either to Benny's house) a live bird and a hang glider to fly me in the sky". You often tell me of crazy things you see out the car window, "look mom a hippo!". Your favorite show is Jake and the Neverland Pirates and you are on quite a pirate kick, you often have a foam sword in hand and like to yell out "yo ho ho". You are a little bit dragon obsessed lately too,  you "draw" pictures that you tell me are dragons, you use a raspy, growly voice at times that you say is a dragon voice. You love lately to wear your hair spikey for special days and call it your dinosaur hair. You still take a good long afternoon nap and I still have you in your crib, despite all your climbing everywhere else you haven't even really tried to get out of it yet so I think we will roll with it as long as we can. You kind of have a propensity with all your exploring of getting stuck places, you got your head stuck in a chair at the zoo this fall, you got your nose and head stuck between a pew and the wall at church the other day and more than once you lodged your foot places you needed me to help you get undone. I often call Ava, Avie-baby or Ava-boo, lately when you are calling her from another room you yell Avie-baby or Ava-boo in the same cadence as I often do and it makes me smile every time. I also love everyday when we pick up Ava you say to her in that thick and deepish voice that is so you "How was your day Ava, did you you miss us?" I love the way you love your sisters and you call them "My Penny" and "My Ava".

After the ice storm we had a lot of tree clean up to do, Grandpa brought you this chain saw to help out on clean up day.
You were all business. 

Ava these days you are thriving at Kindergarten being 5 and halfish. I loved going to a few school events of yours this past week and seeing you in this setting that has kind of been a mystery to me. You have two really close friends that you have bonded with but I also noticed your whole class seems to belong to each other, I wish all your schooling would be like kindergarten in that way, where you love each other and look after each other in the way I noticed you all do right now. You are starting to read, while I have mixed feelings about the academic pace of Kindergarten these days, you are so very proud of your reading. You love art and are often working on "projects" around the house. You have made a few books that you put in Rhett's book basket and you like to read them to him. You and your dad just finished your first real novel that you have been reading together at night, Poppy and now you are on to The Mouse and the Motorcycle.You are a great big sister, you are a natural nurturer and you've mastered how to rock Penny's car seat or bouncer just the way she likes it and can gently wiggle her paci in at the same time to soothe her if I am trying to cook dinner or attend to something else. You learned about deep breathing at school and you like to coach Rhett through using his "belly breaths" when he is having a melt down. He will listen to you and often this can calm him quickly. (It's kind of funny I tried the other day to see if you wanted to try it when you were really worked up but no such luck for the same success) You and Rhett play often together these days, most of the time you have great fun together playing school, putting on shows, playing in your "hideout" but you can also have some pretty epic fights too. You are still petite and sweet. At the doctor the other day, 2 year old Rhett weighed in at only 3 less pounds than you. I asked your teacher some questions at the fall parent teacher conference about your assertiveness abilities as you are naturally inclined similar to me towards keeping the peace and introversion and she complimented  you saying"that girl can hold her own!" and I really loved that. Your Friday behavior folder pretty much has all positive marks except for some weeks you got marked for "Talking at inappropriate times" and I have to say it makes me smile that my girl that is often quiet feels so comfortable she gets marked for this and that my rule follower can can also break out of that mold too as we all need too at times. You want to loose your teeth and are so excited to be 6 these days but I am happy for you to not move on too quick. 

One of our best moments these days, we were playing in the leaves at grandma's when dad returned from deer camp.

These days I've been navigating the world of 3 little and there's moments its beautiful and wonderful and truly a dream come true and moments I've been overwhelmed, frustrated and not always the mom I wanted to be. You 3 continue to be some of my greatest teachers during these season of life. Motherhood brings out many of my best parts and so many of my weakest parts, I am trying to embrace more the value of repair and the power of grace, you all teach me about forgiveness too for I find no one is quicker than littles to forgive and move on in the way you do.