date and ultrasound

j and i planned a night out - dinner with some friends.  the girls each got a foot and gave me a pedi to help me "prepare."

one pink and one orange.  ;)

date night out!

then on monday we had our first ultrasound to finally see our littlest one!  s/he was dancing all around and had a strong heartbeat of 155.  and of course was measuring a week ahead!

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that." ~Michael Leunig

6 years

6 years ago today we started life as a family. we know how lucky we are to be a healthy and happy family.

and i thank god every day that these 3 amazing people call me wife and mom!


"Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame." ~Henry David Thoreau

more sisterly love

have i mentioned how much i adore their relationship???

oh, i have?!!! ok well, i just wanted to make sure. :)

and yes, they're totally asleep here.

"Bless you, my darling, and remember you are always in the heart - oh tucked so close there is no chance of escape - of your sister." ~Katherine Mansfield

there are no words

during this month of thanks....i am incredibly grateful for SO much!!! i easily stumble over my words when trying to verbalize them...

but the relationship between my two kind and loving girls is certainly towards the top of the list...

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice." ~Meister Eckhart

sisterhood

"When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?" ~Pam Brown

five

what a lucky lady i am to be married to my best friend and the most wonderful daddy! happy 5 years of marriage babe! how exciting that we have so many more ahead of us!

"Our wedding was many years ago. The celebration continues to this day." ~Gene Perret

a shoulder, an ear...

from birth miss adelyn has loved to cuddle. she's a little lover. she wants nothing more than to bury herself in a crevice of your body and snuggle for a bit. here she is borrowing e's shoulder...

and daddy's ear. she pulls her ear all the time, but when daddy's near she has his...
melts my heart.

"Sometimes it's better to put love into hugs than to put it into words." ~Author Unknown

all of the above

lucky, blessed, loved, grateful...

i say it all the time. now i need to act like it all the time.

"The family is a haven in a heartless world." ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch

together

"When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?" ~Pam Brown

shhhhh

i'm going to let you all in on a secret. it's a big juicy secret. one that i just want to curl and wrap up in. like a snuggie.....if i had a snuggie. but i would never have a snuggie. i can't stand the things. even though i probably would really really like a snuggie.

anyways - the secret....shhhh.....

i liiiiike being with my kids.

not juicy enough for you? .....for a long time now i been getting slack for being with my kids TOO much. (if there's such a thing at this age would be a whole 'nother post...so we won't get into that.) and for a long time now i've been going along with it.

yep...i just don't like to pass off my responsibilities. (also true) yep...i just like control. (a little true) yea...my husband works very long hours. (true true) i don't want to miss a moment...no one can do 'it' like i can, i know i need to get away more, etc, etc, etc.

but the most true. the deep down honest to goodness truth of it all.

I LIKE IT.
i really wanted to insert a dirty word in there for emphasis but decided against it. but know i mean it. i really really mean it. imagine the dirty word if you must. go ahead and read it again... inserting a curse word.
I _____ LIKE IT.

i like it. i like everything about it. i like pushing their hair out of their eyes, painting their toenails and freeing their nose from boogers. i like getting them out of time out, feeling their small hand in mine and when they look up at me. i like filling their bellies, wahing their hands and wiping their butts. i like drying their tears, giving them a high five and kissing their boo boo's. i like when they try to wink back at me, sing me a song and dance like a rockstar. i like kissing their foreheads, "eating" their necks, and pulling the covers up to their shoulders. i like answering their questions, buckling them up for safety and hearing their sweet voices and giggles. i like brushing their hair, tickeling their feet and when they call, "mommmmmmmmmmy!"

actually i love it. i love it all. there's few moms that don't. duh.

and don't get me wrong. i'm not always farting rainbows over here. not by a long shot. i get frustrated. i get impatient. i experience moments where i want to run screaming from my house. but to be totally honest...i like that too. strangely. i do. i like trying to see the world through their eyes. i like being held accountable because my girls don't yet know how to ignore or brush off. i like the raw emotion of it, learning from it and doing better next time. i like who they make me strive to be.

i just like it. i like it all.

i just do.

so yea, i spend a lot of time with my girls. about every waking moment actually. and plain and simple, i _____ like it! now ya know.

ps fingers crossed that they do too. ha.

"The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted." ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

forty

today we celebrated my parents 40th anniversary.

40 years of my awesome family...

and let me tell you....it's been a party the whole time!


"The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you." ~Kendall Hailey

anniversary

today is j and i's anniversary. four years. and i could go on and on about how i married my best friend, it was one of the most beautiful days of my life, etc, etc, etc. all that is true. all that is great. but it's also true that we've been together a lot longer than four years. we've been happy and commited for a lot longer than four years. we've been growing up together, staying strong together and willing to fight for us, together...for a lot longer than four years.
four years ago today, 3.11.06, was an amazing day! for sure one of the best days of our lives.
but it wasn't the beginning for us.
it was a milestone, for sure. it was the day that we let everyone else know just how devoted we are to one another. and how much fun we were going to make our life together...

(go ahead and be jealous of our mad dance skills!)

three years ago today, 3.11.07, i was four+ months pregnant and we celebrated our first anniversary in the city with a show, a big ten basketball game (illinois vs wisconsin) and my brother's (late) 30th birthday party....[downtown and sober aren't that great of a mix]
my family...
and of course, the top of our cake! (cake and pregnant are a great mix!)
we had NO clue what we were in for...but we knew we were lucky and blessed and about to have our world rocked! we wouldn't find out HOW ROCKED for another 5 months.
two years ago today, 3.11.08, miss elena jae had been rocking our world for almost 7 months. and i mean ROCKING!
it's been amazing parenting together...

so incredible to make a life out of our love!
yet again, we had NO clue what we were in for...
one year ago today, 3.11.09, elena was so close to being a big sister and we were so close to becoming a family of four! just two weeks away from meeting our second blessing...miss adelyn ann.

we again had no idea what we were in for. and that our world could be ROCKED in a whole new way!


today we are joyfully playing with our two loves we created, putting them to sleep safely and soundly and counting our blessings that we are lucky enough to have each other to do it all - together!

the last four years have been quite unbelievable! to say the least. but so were the first dozen that we spent together, pre-marriage. what's amazing is that they keep getting better. we know better than to think there won't be years that aren't so amazing...but that's exactly why we married each other - because we will make them fun, no matter what!

happy anniversary babe! thanks for making me smile everyday!

"Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work." ~Author Unknown