Miscellanous

* D's been gone a couple days this week for his granny's funeral. She passed away last week at the ripe old age of 103. She would have been 104 in March. She lived a long, happy life and she'll be missed. The kids and I didn't get to go to the funeral since it's in Texas and we'll be traveling there in a couple weeks. The first picture is the last time we saw Granny, late December last year.

 D sent me this picture from today. It's of him (far right), his (twin) brother A, his younger (the tall one) brother C and his sister and grandparents. His grandparents are the absolute best people in the world. SO sweet and lovely.

* Christmas shopping, shipping, card mailing, wrapping, baking, ETC is all DONE. I hope that I can relax now. I gave the teachers their gifts and mailed my last packages today.

* I bought some awesome boots on Amazon last week and I am in looove with them. I got light brown for only $27! They come just up to my knees and are beautiful!

* The dogs are booked in the kennel, the plans are made, and we're headed to Texas in a couple weeks. We'll get to see all our favorite people and also some of our "Oh, has it only been a year?" people, but hey that's family for you. It will be good, it will be bad, it will be long, it will be an adventure.

These are a few of my favorite things...

This time of year I start to get stressed out. Even though I'm done Christmas shopping and my cards went out today, there is still so much to do. I need to finish my homemade gifts, wrap, secure a kennel for the dogs and someone to check on the cats, and do all the other things that come with this season and, of course, deal with The Trip to Texas and well, that alone is enough to make me STRESS OUT. So, this is also the time of year that I cling desperately to my favorite things in order to de-stress as much as possible. I do love Christmas and all that comes with it, so many of these favorite things are Christmas themed.

Favorite songs, right now:
Opera of the Bells by Destiny's Child
Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
Carol of the Bells by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
and lastly this AMAZING version of Little Drummer Boy by Pentatonix

Favorite wine:
Winking Owl White Zinfandel from Aldi. YUM.

Favorite Christmas decorations:
This is a hard one, because I love my tree, my outside nativity, my Advent candle holder, well... I could go on and on. I think these are my favorite though:

This little speaker is awesome. I've been hooking up my phone and blasting Christmas music everywhere.(It says for iPhone, but I don't have one and it still works great.)

Last but not least, when I'm really feeling crappy I draw a hot detox bath (1 cup epsom salts + 1 cup baking soda + several drops of your preferred essential oils) and drink my detox tea (or not-so-detox wine) and relax for a bit.  What are some of your favorite things?

And then there were 6...

... and no more.


 “A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out.
You examine every turn of flesh for precocity, and crow it to the world.

But the last one: the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after–oh, that’s love by a different name.

She is the babe you hold in your arms for an hour after she’s gone to sleep. If you put her down in the crib, she might wake up changed and fly away.

So instead you rock by the window, drinking the light from her skin, breathing her exhaled dreams. ”
-Barbara Kingsolver
 (Thank you to Semi Desperate Housewife for that poem!)

Four years ago today, at 10:51 AM, Miss L came into our lives. She was 7 lbs 15 oz of sweet baby girl.

The final child. The only girl. The baby sister. 

Now, my baby is four. This fat, bald, adorable baby is now a four year old with a teenage attitude and a huge heart.

Oh. I miss this baby.

 That first year was rough. The steroids, the medication to shrink the hemangioma on her eye, the NO sleep (thank you steroids!), the constant spitting up and specialist appointments, the worries that her eyesight would be affected, and my shamefully vain worry about her missing eyelashes. Do I care? No. But, I worry that she might. Someday.
Oh I gained a lot of perspective! What a blessing to have a child who is healthy! This was such a small issue in the grand scheme of things. A few missing eyelashes is nothing at all. 

The past four years have flown by faster than I would have wished. Soon baby turned into toddler. She's a fun mix of tom boy and girly girl. She will play in the mud in her princess dress any day of the week. She pushes her babies around in a dump truck and does her level best to keep up with her big brothers.

 

Now she's a little girl. I can't call her toddler anymore, but I will continue to call her my baby. She will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Happy 4th to the little girl who will ALWAYS be my baby.