Hello Spring!

Not that we had much of a winter but we are still excited for spring to start arriving. We enjoyed some outside playtime this week before the rain and cold arrived:

A few signs around our house that the new season is upon us: a sweet little Easter dress is hanging in someone's closet ready to makes its debut, side walk chalk and bubbles are at the ready in our outdoor play basket, there's a picnic blanket in the trunk of my car for any spontaneous outdoor detours we might need to make, and the feeling of spring cleaning fever is taking hold (some major de-cluttering and organizing is in our near future!) Happy springing forward weekend! 

Ups and Downs...

Well the last few weeks has been marked by lots of ups and downs, thus the lack of posts. I am glad as I reflect there was lots of ups to balance out the downs and that February 2012 is in the books!

Downs:

Ava got the stomach bug and threw up 10 times throughout one night. After she got better from that she got pneumonia! I realize that doesn't take up a lot of room for the "down" section of this post but it was pretty consuming of our time, energy and attention and we are just starting to get back to normal around here. 

Ups:

My birthday was that same weekend as the stomach bug, once she felt a bit better, Ryan took me to get some fitted for real running shoes for my birthday. I quietly rung in year 31 and I'm okay with that these days. Also very thankful Ryan and I somehow did not get the stomach bug!

My boss thought it was my 30th, she and the rest of our little management team group gave me the most touching gift, When I arrived at our weekly management team there were 30 cards all over the table with an affirmation written on each one about me. I hated to break it to her it was my 31st but absolutely was so touched by the thoughtfulness of them. I love the people I get to work with, they make me want to be a better clinician and person. 

I went to our ladies retreat, Ava came swimming with me before I spent my very first night away from her. I had a good time and my most favorite, some good sleep, the-no-dog-no-baby-no-snoring-husband kind of good sleep. It was glorious. 

We are glad to welcome March. Hopefully it will bring wellness along with its sunshine and first glimpses of spring! 

22 Months!

Ava turned 22 months on Monday. Here's the highlights over this month:

• She did it! Its just happened once but she did in fact go in the potty. She talks about going all the time, I let her sit on there whenever she wants and usually nothing happens but Saturday she did go! 
• She survived her second stomach bug. (We've had some interesting imitative play around here, unfortunately all her baby dolls have also came down with the bug and have been throwing up all week.)
• She's counts some, her preferred order is 1,3,7.
• Her favorite songs that she likes to sing are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Itsy bitsy spider, Jesus loves me, and patty cake.
• She dropped the morning nap and just takes her afternoon one now.
• She loves elephants and Elmo.
• She's talking up a storm, full sentences and asks lots of questions.
• She loves to say people's names but gets Chloe and Allie mixed up most of the time. 
• I notice she's an observer, in new situations or with lots of kids she loves to sit back and quietly watch and in her own time will join in or sometimes is just content to watch.

Valentines

This Valentines started out a bit rough around here. Ava had a stomach bug over the weekend, Which left me not much time or energy for valentines plotting and planning. However, when Monday rolled around I was determined to make the most of it and was proud I came up with a craft to do with the girls with  supplies we had around the house...

We made these cute sun catchers with melted crayon and wax paper.



I was feeling pretty proud of our pre-holiday festiveness when we returned from playing upstairs and found Rory ate Ava's!



My computer crashing the night before was the first omen, then the dog eating our valentines craft was followed by me breaking one of my favorite glass Apothacary Jars that a dear friend gave me. It was shapping up to be a not so great Valentines-Eve.

However, you should never under-estimate the power of a thoughtful act of kindness to change the tide. It started valentines day with that dear friend hearing about my bad day, dropped off a surprise valentines gift for me at work which happened to be a brand new Apothecary Jar to replace the one I broke (and my favorite candy bar). The day ended with a surprise dinner out to a great little hole in the wall place the cow calf-hay, where we had some great burgers and Ava had lots of fun looking at the cows around the restaurant and sitting on this high chair:

 
I know none of those things that went wrong were much in the big scheme of things. I tried to tell myself that but I was feeling run down from taking care of a sick Ava all weekend and it just felt so defeating at the time. I was reminded the kindness of those we love is the best balm for that kind of feeling. Whether its a holiday like Valentines or just the every day I hope to fine more ways to do that for my loved ones. 

always my favorite part of our day...

I regularly consciously think when Ava snuggles up in that just perfect place where I know her body was meant to fit right next to mine, "This is the best part of today".  I try to stay present with that moment and not rush her into nap time to work on my to do list. I have this little poem memorized from my childhood somewhere, I think maybe my mom had it up in our home but I'm not positive where this memory comes from, I remember reading it on a cross stitch something, I think of it often when we are rocking:

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

for babies grow up we learn to our sorrow

now quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep

I am tearful as I read that just now, in these days each day she becomes a little more little girl and her babyiness is quietly fading, while I mostly love it, I hate it some too. Motherhood is often a bag of mixed feelings. The true task of parenting seems to be finding pure appreciation for what this moment is. I guess that's really a spiritual task for most of life, parenting is just one of the ways I get to keep working on this.

Now and Then...

Is it possible Ava will be 2 in a few more months??

around this time last year:

I love that while lots of things change, those sweet brown eyes stay the same...

favorite things...

These are few of our favorite things right now...

Ava's new rug for her room she got with some of her Christmas money. Its pink and squishy and perfect for her space.

Its the little things that excite me, I got these reusable grocery bags for Christmas. They are the perfect size. I can fit all our weekly groceries in 3 of these. I love not having all those plastic bags to take back and forth into the house!

I am glad this is the winter I chose to train for my first half marathon. My long runs by the lake on Sundays have become a favorite time of the week, some good music, a pensive sky, a windy but not too cold breeze... I don't know if winter will ever come to stay around here but these 60 degree winter days are just fine by me.