Adorable Giveaways

Thought I'd share some super cute giveaways that are happening over at this website.

Pink Romper

Aqua Romper

Lace Leggings

Pink Bloomers

Cutest headbands in the world

50$ shopping spree

If I don't win, someone I know should.

Love

I just love these two.


She's gained a few tricks in the past week. One of them is opening her mouth as wide as she can on cue. It's weird but of course we think it's adorable.


Smudgy Bear. It's her new nickname.


Remember back when I said Marlowe has lots of patience for Evanie? Not anymore.


Practicing sitting together. Evanie is Marlowe's biggest encourager.

Priorities Shmiorities

Yesterday Marlowe and I were out running errands and I bought myself an organic raspberry lemonade to drink. Yummy!

It is very rare for me to buy a drink as a treat (If I buy a treat, it is chocolate.) (I also bought myself chocolate.) but I felt I was particularly worthy yesterday for no real reason and so, drink in hand, I proceeded to back out of my parking space. I shoulder checked first one way and then the other and realized there was a giant brute of a truck torpedoing my way.

Now I was never even close to an accident; I'd only backed about 2.5 inches before shoulder checking but the thought went through my head that I was very glad I checked both ways or I would have become a smudge on some over-sized tire.

My next thought was: "Gee, I'm so glad I didn't get slammed by that truck because I would totally have spilled my drink all over the car. I can't imagine how much work it would have taken to clean it all up! Pheewf!"

Uuuuummm.....right. Lucky break there. Good thing we avoided a sticky spill.

And also an inconvenient decapitation.

Or potential death.

OR MAYBE THE DEATH OF MY SLEEPING INFANT IN THE BACK WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN MOST VULNERABLE IN A REAR ENDING!

Seriously, what is wrong with me? I thought of a sticky dashboard before the life of my precious child?

I blame Obama.

Sweet Dreams

This is what's been goin' down in this house. You think a sleeping infant is the most natural thing in the world until you have one who resists it like the plague. And then you find out that there is such a thing as a trained Sleep Expert and you think two things:
1-there must be loooooooots of babies that hate sleeping and
2-this Sleep Expert might be an actual angel.

When I heard about our local sleep consultant I initially just called her to ask what her professional opinion was on how much crying is ok. But instead of having an adult conversation about my child, I burst into tears on the phone and couldn't have any conversation at all.

So she told me her story. About her baby who wouldn't sleep. About how hard it was on her as a mother and a person. About how hard it was on their marriage. And about how she worked with a sleep expert herself with her baby. And about how beautifully it all turned out. And finally, what she could do for Marlowe.

So I told Justin and he said she sounded like Jesus and we hired her.

We are currently on day 2 of sleep training with a Sleep Expert and Justin is very tired (he's taken the night shift) and Marlowe slept for 2 hours this morning in her bed for the first time in weeks and I have lots and lots of hope.
Stay tuned...

Creepy? Or Cute?

Just in case anyone was wondering, RB is still very much a part of this family.

He sleeps with Evanie every night and enjoys some quality time with the family on a regular basis. He has learned to grab his own toys but is still working on sitting on his own. He and Marlowe practice their gross motor skills together.

He may be a little behind developmentally given that he is old enough to wear a suit yet can't sit on his own....but it's too soon to tell for sure. He is regularly breastfed so his immune system is off the charts, never a sneeze or a sniffle.

Truly a face only a mother could love.

Just in case you were wondering...

Dollars and Sense

Evanie has an excellent vocabulary for such a smidgen of a person but regardless, she makes up a good 40% of what comes out of her mouth. Maybe more than that. The first part of a sentence is what she actually wants to say and the last half is pure gibberish. I think she thinks this is what everyone does.

It'll be something like this: Mama, I go see daddy at work-er aflather tipoijs smooga. And we can bring him treats-er a stabitt plaber flibberly.

I think I'm most confused by the addition of "er" at the end of a perfectly good word.

But then I remember how often I say things like, "nappy napperton, chubby chubs, slobbery slobberton, roly roller..." ...hmmm... hmmmm..... yeaaah, maybe her gibberish is a learned behaviour now that I think of it.

Moving on.

The other evening Justin had just come home from work and Evanie was bombarding him with stories of her day. In her excitement, her conversation turned into complete gibberish, no English whatsoever.

Justin: "Evanie, you're not making any sense."

Evanie: "I have no sense?"

Justin: "Exactly, you have no sense!"

With that Evanie sped out of the room and we forgot about her. Five minutes later she reappeared with a handful of $20s and declared, "Daddy, now I have cents!"

Silly, silly girl.

And in case you're wondering why she had access to a handful of $20s...Justin and I have always used the envelope system for budgeting and apparently this has not been lost on Evanie. She knew exactly where to find the cash. It has since found a much higher home.

The Bathrobe

Justin and I are not highly motivated types. We talk about things a loooooong time before we ever get around to doing anything.

I sometimes get annoyed by us and I'm sure others get annoyed a lot. But as I get older and wiser (and older....and older...) I'm beginning to see value in it; to embrace it. Not ALL of it - for instance being late is hardly a valuable habit - but relaxing together, wasting time together can be a good thing.

I feel we're surrounded by a mentality that often preaches, "Busyness makes you valuable!"

Yeeaaaahh.....I don't think so. It makes you tired and grouchy.

A friend of mine said that at a certain point in their evening, anything that hasn't been accomplished WON'T be accomplished because they make relaxing together a priority.

In the first 3 1/2 months of our new family of 4, our evenings were largely chaos. Many were spent endlessly bouncing a crying Marlowe and training a grouchy Evanie and calming a weeping mommy. (poor Justin) There were virtually no moments of time to waste together as a couple. And you know what we found? We fought. We constantly misunderstood each other. We frequently went to bed grouchy and too tired to work it out and I began to realize that "wasting time" together is actually a high priority.

Today I read this excerpt from The Book of Idle Pleasures (thanks, Tianna!):

The Bathrobe

"There is no more apt uniform of sloth than the bathrobe. Merely owning one is a sign of hope. A signal of slovenly intent. Bathrobes accompany the state of doing nothing, but what are you actually doing when you're doing nothing? Thinking, that's what you're doing. Society fears the population with time to think. Populations like that have been known to change things. This is why the bathrobe is the true uniform of revolution. In some far distant point in the future, women and men will marvel at the day the seats of global power were finally overwhelmed - by an army of people in bathrobes."

I want to personally give each of you permission to waste time today. Don your bathrobe, put your gnarly, calloused heels up on the coffee table, and twiddle your thumbs.

And this week?

Say "no" to one thing.

Drop one (maybe a tiny one) ball.

Take one nap.

We'll be better for it.

Momma Said There'd be Days Like These...

Yesterday Evanie was overtired, over hungry, and just plain whiny. We were trying to have lunch and eeeeeeverything was wrong.

Wrong glass.

Wrong food.

Wrong seat.

Wrong spoon.

Wrong drink.

(Are you thinking about chopsticks now because 'wrong' is starting to look like a Chinese word? Me too.)

I kept getting after her - you know the drill: "Eat your food. Stop whining. Water is good for you. You're not using a fancy glass this time. Take a bite. It's yummy. Stop whining. Can you ask nicely. Please use your manners. Stop whining...please stop whining....please....for the love....stop....whining...etc."

Suddenly the whining turned to sobbing. She put her hands over her face and cried, "Mommy, I NEED something. I need something...make feel me better!"

Well said. Some days we just need something to make feel us better.

So I held her on my lap and fed her until her tummy was full and a smile found its way back onto her sticky little face.

And we both felt better.

Let Me Guess, We're About to go Over a Huge Waterfall....

This has been harder than I thought it would be.

Mothering two.

I'm quite ashamed to admit it because practically everyone I know has more than two children and they sing and smile and are out and about and make it all look so easy while in this house the transition has not been easy. Many days I've felt quite certain I'm not cut out to be a mother...kind of late for this revelation, I know.

But seriously. Holy. Cow.

My delightful little two year old hit the Terrible Twos right on schedule...about a week before Marlowe joined us (screaming). I'm sure much of it has had to do with the four sharp molars slicing through her gums but still, most days my patience ran out long before the day was over.

My 4 month old has been mostly a mystery to me. She has this obsessive need to suck but refuses anything 'mainstream.' She blazes her own trail, this one. No soothers will do but mom's hairy trucker arm, that is something TASTY! I am currently sporting 3 hickeys from my baby.

Did you just say "gross?" I'm not gonna argue with you.

She won't fall asleep in the swing but she'll doze in the bumbo. She hates swaddling but likes getting her diaper changed. She gets frustrated with toys but likes playing with blankets. Her favorite thing is a good conversation. Especially with her big sister who has no respect for personal space and gets so close while talking that they both end up cross eyed.

Sleep has been a bigger issue in the past few months than ever before. Evanie has always been a good sleeper except when she's teething and then it's madness. So little sleeping, so much crying!

Marlowe's sleeping has improved dramatically but it has been tough going up to now. For the first 5 weeks of her life I rarely got more than maybe 2 to 4 hours a night. When her tummy issues resolved she immediately got better at night and about 80% of nights she now will sleep somewhere around 9-12 hours which is totally awesome. Naps have been another issue entirely. Up until a week ago, I spent many hours putting her to sleep over and over again. We tried just having her cry it out but this kid can go indefinitely so it was way outside of my comfort zone and I ended up just holding and bouncing and bouncing and bouncing until I literally put my back out.

Anyway, the summation of all this moaning is that now, 4 months into having two girls I finally feel like I've come up for a breath of air and we're all going to make it. We have half a molar left with Evanie so she is napping and waking only once or twice at night. And Marlowe has had at least 7 (not consecutive) days of decent naps which means we've had a few dinners on time and I've cleaned my house once. We pretty much don't leave the house but I'm willing to make that sacrifice for now to create some good sleeping habits.

I've taken up crafting in my many days at home. Maybe someday I'll post a few pictures of stuff I've been working on.

Oh...and I have no pictures...

2 Months

No time to write and she won't be two months forever. In fact she's already 2 1/2. So here are some pictures!

And for fun...some of these pictures are Evanie at 2 months and some are Marlowe....they don't look at all the same to me, what's your opinion?

There is something about babies that just makes you wanna squish 'em!!

Firsts

First shower. She loved it!




First time in the bumbo (2 weeks ago)...kept her happy for 20 minutes which was the longest she'd ever been happy outside of someone's arms. We've had longer stretches since but that was a record at the time.


First time falling asleep without being bounced. I actually shed a tear.


First time using scissors. Marlowe's fine motor skills are off the charts!

Ok ok I'm lying....this is Evanie's first. But you knew that. This kept her busy and dead silent for nearly an hour. I don't think she even breathed the entire time!

A Flibbertajibbit

Evanie is in quite the testing stage. Her current theory seems to be that everything that comes out of mom's mouth must be tested. She's gone through explosive, tantrum-y stages but this one is quite silent and determined. A perpetual state of "oh yeah? Make me."

Oh I will child. BRING it!

But thankfully the days are also liberally peppered with heart breaking sweetness to keep the insanity at bay. She is a passionate singer and dancer. Nearly every day begins with, "mommy I need a skirt (sounds more like skyit), I wan ta dance mommy!"

And then there is all the love she gives little Marlowe. She is smitten with her little sister and constantly planting huge slobbery kisses all over her head. She bounces her in her bouncy chair, rocks her in her carseat, and praises her constantly for anything from smiling to just moving her arms.



Phrases we hear a lot are:
"Good job baby girl! (sounds more like gee-al)
You did it Marlowe -bear! (Her nickname)
HI squirmy legs!
Marlowe you crazy gee-al!
Ow baby ow. You have scratchy hands!
It's ok. It's ok baby gee-al. You need some milk? Ok!"


First bath together!

All of these come out in screechy pitches only dogs can hear, usually about 2 millimeters from Marlowe's eye ball! I love it. Oddly enough, so does Marlowe. She smiles more consistently for Evanie then anyone else!


Look at the identical mouths in this pictures.

She is also loves to jump/bounce everywhere and is as distract-able as a puppy. I always think of the words from The Sound of Music: "A flibbertajibbit, a will of a whisp, a clown..." She recently watched a hula show and has a current obsession with leis.

Yesterday Evanie was on a time out for some misdemeanor and at the end I went through the customary, "can you tell me why you're on time out." Her answer went something like this, "Don't turn the swing annnnnd.... bonk the......um.....don't....um...it means I love you....cuz I really do...here is my lei...."

I think she really learned that one.


These overalls used to be Justin's!

I was going to update on Marlowe too but she and I have been duking it out for nearly two hours. I put her to sleep, put her down, she wakes up, I put her to sleep....repeat endlessly.

Another day I will update. When she sleeps. This morning that feels like it will actually be another lifetime.

Two days post partum I was laying on my stomach playing a game with Evanie and I thought to myself, "THIS is the BEST thing about no longer being pregnant!" She's onto a serious game kick and has been asking daily for me to play with her but it was SO uncomfortable to be on the floor while pregnant-so it felt like Christmas to get down, lay on my belly, and play a kids game.
Later that day I took a nap and laid flat on my back to sleep and again thought, "THIS is the BEST thing about no longer being pregnant." No more mountain of pillows, just beautiful sleep.
I found this thought going through my head multiple times in the week after Marlowe was born so I decided to compile a list of things I love about not being pregnant anymore.

• First and foremost is the baby. It is SO amazing to finally, finally hold this baby that you've been thinking of for 9 months. To finally meet, name, and hold your baby is A-MAZ-ING!
• Laying on your belly. SO nice.
  
• Laying on your back!
• Hugging your husband! You fit again!
• No more heartburn. One day you have it, the next day you don't.
• No more midnight trips to the bathroom!
• Pregnancy mask starts fading.
• You can sit up, twist at the waist, bend over.....awesome!
• Breathing normally. No more panting just from getting off the couch.

There are more but these are my personal favorite. Oh and there's a whole separate list of symptoms that are less G rated and more just nasty and no one really wants to hear about.

Except that now you're a little bit curious! Don't be such a sicko.

Later: I forgot a biggie......being skiiiiiinnnnnnyyyy!! It totally doesn't matter that I have an entire person worth of extra skin swinging from my ribs to my knees-I still feel skinny. I'm always a little confused how I can be "SO SKINNY" and still not fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes....weird...

Virus Alert

So CW 4.0 is facing a few minor glitches in the system. A small virus of sorts was introduced to the system in late July and recovery time is longer than initially expected due to fatigue. However, in the mean time I leave you with some pictures...


Modeling their new headbands.


Here's how you smile!


And a SMILE!!


Whispering sister secrets.


Tummy time!

Also the diaper bag that I want is on Ebay again. This time I MUST WIN IT!

Announcing.....!!

....the arrival of our new baby girl:

Marlowe Grace
Born July 17 at 4:12am.
Weighed 7 lbs 15 ozs.
21 inches long
Beautiful and healthy


3 days old

My sister and Grace made the midnight journey from Burlington/Bellingham WA to be at the birth as they both did to be at Evanie's birth. Marlowe beat their arrival by about 30 minutes but I'm so thankful they came and spent the first day with us.


Second day, cuddles with my girls.


Third day, more cuddles. We're going to keep this tradition alive to infinity.




Sister chats. Evanie loooooooves her sister.

The only "just been born" picture we got of Marlowe on our camera is the one with Diana and Grace. Due to the speed of Marlowe's entry into the world, taking pictures was not front and center on anyone's mind and all hands present were quite busy. I'll write more about her arrival in another post. Today, I just want everyone to know that she is here!

Hair NO More

I'm a hairy girl.

It's a sad but true fact of my life. During pregnancy this transforms into Saskwatch like hair growth. It just grows. And grows. And because I already feel obese and stretched and anything but feminine, I don't keep up with it as well as I should. It's shameful. So in the past 3 weeks I've gotten my upper lip sugared (with a free coupon) and my eyebrows threaded for $5.

My mantra is "DOWN with the facial hair!"

The sugaring was a fun experience. I mean about as fun as one can make the experience of yanking out hair by the roots. There was music and the lights were dimmed and a fountain. The fountain actually made Evanie pee her pants but...can't have it all easy now can we. It hurt but then she packed this nasty green mud on my lip and it was cool and soothing and took away almost all of that tell tale glowing red that screams, "Hey I'm a woman but I grow hair on my lip like some sort of freak!" Not a bad experience overall.

But sadly I'll never go back because it would have been $30 without the coupon and I can't justify it when it's something I CAN do myself at home. Even if it sucks.

My eyebrows were the next battle to be won and again, I just didn't want to do it myself. My eyes water and I never do as good a job on the left as the right because it just hurts more and I get them uneven and have these crazy pelts for eyebrows so it takes long and I have to trim them and I usually trim them too short and look like I've been weed-whacked for a couple of weeks after.

Enter Grunhilda.

I was told a local East Indian woman threads eyebrows for $5 so I called her up and went to meet her the very same day. The procedure took place in her home in a comfy black chair, some Bollywood soap opera playing quietly in the background. Her English was broken but good and we bonded over the fact that we were expecting babies within a week of each other. (She was WAY smaller than myself just FYI.)

On the table were cotton balls, tissues, a string, and a small scissors. Not too threatening. I laid back and relaxed.....only to be attacked in the face with a razor!!! Imagine a tiny lawn mower zipping back and forth over your face-THAT'S what it felt like! I was sure she was just randomly cutting me with a razor blade but I was too worried about my eyes getting sliced to even dare open and confirm that she was a mad woman with knives! So instead I practiced my birthing breathing and tried to imagine I was sunning on a beach somewhere with ripped abs.

After slicing my face repeatedly from my cheekbones to my hairline on the right side of my face (I know I'm hairy but seriously, my eyebrows do NOT go up to my hairline!) she said I could open my eyes and sit up. As soon as I sat up, a stream of wet literally poured down my face and my first thought was "I'm BLEEDING!!" but in fact, my tears had just pooled in my eye sockets and went cascading to the floor when introduced to gravity.

She showed me a mirror and I was shocked and surprised to find both that my face was unscathed AND she had uncovered the nicest little eyebrow my face had ever seen. It was amazing! But my delight was quickly destroyed when I realized that this sexy little eyebrow was being chased by a badger-like eyebrow on the left and I was going to have to go back under the "knife" or look like a mutant.


Not my eyebrows, but aren't they pretty?

Repeat on the left what happened on the right. I survived. And my eyebrows looked/look amazing!!

She then asked if I would like my upper lip done as well and I quickly assured her that I had just gotten them done but began stammering because she just stood there looking at my lips with this pity written on her face. It went like this:

"And now I do your lips too?"

"Oh no no no, I just got them done a week ago so they're fine. Thanks....I mean...well maybe there's the odd hair that needs to be....er.....I should, I'll clean this up at home.....I guess, yeah, they probably need some uh....but...."

"I do it. For you it is free."

"Oh. Um. Er. Thanks. Yes. Er." (I TOLD you I'm like a Saskwatch!)

So she razored, I mean threaded my upper lip as well. Thank the Lord Almighty I had just had the main patch harvested and there were only a few stragglers to clean up.

Again she went from my nose to my chin....was that really necessary?

Then she stepped back and I saw her eyes begin the "roam about" on my body and she offered, " I also do arms and more..."

I clutched my hairy arms and ran away. Away from the cotton balls and the tiny little scissors and the harmless looking little thread.

But sadly, I'll go back. Because it was only $5 and she was really good and I lived. I'll just have myself a little pre-threading drink next time.


Also not my abs. But aren't they pretty too!

On the Verge

I feel that I am right on the verge of becoming a more diligent blogger. I can feel it; it's going to happen. (It's either that or gas, but SOMETHING is coming!)
My reasons for this optimism are as follows:

• I have lots of nonsensical things to share with the world at large. Because we all know that the (entire) world at large goes charging to my humble blog at each new update.

• I have energy for the first time since last November and I am accomplishing things at a high rate of speed around here which means that any day now I will run out of things to do, fix myself a cup of tea, and become a proper blogger. Or have a baby....

• I am planning to purchase a new camera that will make it easy for me to take decent pictures and this is going to inspire me to be that mom I've always dreamed I'd be. You know the ones, they create AMAZING homes with $2.50 and a tin can, plan spectacular birthday parties using nothing but bread crumbs and tissue paper, take fabulous photos of each precious moment with their impeccably dressed, adorable children, have devotions at 5am, are stylishly dressed in every season without ever going into a store, are slim and tan...you know the types. That will be me soon and I will then post it all on a well maintained blog with handcrafted giveaways every third day just to make the "world at large" feel gross about themselves.

• I have about 8 posts circulating in my head at this very moment. All with pictures and stupendous wit. They're going to make you pee with laughter. (Hey don't mock, I do daycare and whilst tuning out the noise I have imaginary conversations with adults and plan blog posts. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!)

• Daycare is about to end for the summer and I'm certain I will accomplish 2 years worth of projects in those two months. Or have a baby....
  

• I just feel it ok. I have a feeling. I feel it. Stop being skeptics.

Stay tuned for the new me. We'll call it CW 4.0.

P.S. What exactly does the world "at large" mean?

P.S. I don't have my (life changing) camera yet, hence no pictures. Plus I haven't put on make up or done my hair or actually gotten properly dressed yet. I'm not discouraged, CW 4.0 is right around the corner!!

Lost in Translation

Funny conversation between myself, Evanie, and her friend, a 4 yr old E:

Evanie: Mama ah-wanna-eata-soooooup.

Me: You want soup for lunch?

E: No she said she wants shoes.

Me: I don't think she wants to eat shoes.

E: Evanie do you want to eat shoes?

Evanie: Ya ah-waaaanna-eata-soooup!

E: Do you mean MY shoes?

Evanie: Ya!

E: (very worried) Carolyn she says she wants to eat my shoes!! I don't want her to eat them!

Me: I'm certain she won't eat your shoes.

E: Evanie do you want to TAKE my shoes?

Evanie: Ya!

E: Now she wants to TAKE my shoes! I don't want her to take my shoes. They're my NEW shoes!

Me: This is getting out of hand.

In all fairness to the poor 4 year old, Evanie DOES try to claim everything of hers because she thinks the 4 year old is THE standard in all things interesting and cool. So it is completely in character for Evanie to claim and demand her clothes, her food, her toys, and her barrettes. But in this particular instance, I think there may have been a bit of a mistake.

34 Weeks

I have been pregnant for 34 weeks- might be a good time to put out an update about it. My poor second born is already getting the shaft and it's not even finished baking.

I'm already pre-frustrated at the fact that it will have the typical second born baby book. The empty one. I sincerely don't WANT that to happen, I just know it will. I've heard they make "baby book" calendars...does anyone happen to know of a good one? It opens up a slight possibility of baby #2 getting the odd event or milestone recorded. I'm open to any and all suggestions!

So here are the preggo stats at 34 weeks in:

• cravings -nada, but I've lost the will to say no to sugar and chocolate
• energy - finally finally back at 7 months. I kiss the makers of Innate Iron!
  
• heartburn - an ol' buddy
  
• headaches, sciatica, pinched nerves, wheat sensitivities, or nose bleeds - NONE!
• leggings - my daily uniform
  
• current pillow count - four
• watermelon jokes count - only 1!! (my 'oh so funny' sisters don't count)
• bathroom trips - about 50% when compared to my first pregnancy! Thank you so much little peanut!
• sleep - meh....
• movement - crazy! Easily twice as much as Evanie. And strong! Little stinker makes me gasp.
• weight - 19 lbs and counting
  
• Braxton Hicks - constantly since 20 weeks
• vivid, awkward dreams - 100s. So not cool.

Things I've done to prepare for this birth and this baby.....well....writing this post is pretty much step one. Nice.

Actually, now that I think of it, this week I've tried to stop gritting my teeth through the Braxton hicks and breathe and relax instead. That's a step. And I've been reading a book of birth stories to get me into the right head/heart space. So I guess this post is Step 3! Yay, look how prepared I am!

I even have a slightly out of focus 34 week picture.



I'm not the pregnant person I once thought I would be. I always imagined I'd have this ethereal glow, I'd be incredibly in tune with my body and my unborn, and I'd feel fully feminine and maternal.

But this is not my experience.

I find myself viewing my pregnancies as something to cross off 280ish days on the calendar. I wish I were more "glowing" and "ripe with life" but I just don't feel that way. I'm very grateful, it is 100% miraculous, and I genuinely anticipate meeting the precious life God is forming....and that's as ethereal as I get.

With Evanie I was afraid I would be as detached from my child as my pregnancy but that fear was obliterated in powerful tsunami of love for my little girl the instant she was born and I held her wet little body close. So I'm not concerned this time. I'm eager to meet this person who is going to so thoroughly imbed itself in my heart, I will become its mother in a single instant. I can't wait.

Moon Catcher

Remember when your parents were superhuman and capable of anything? They knew all the answers and were never wrong. I've just realized that right now, in Evanie's eyes, I'M the superhero.

Some day she'll be shocked to realize that I'm human and frail and chronically wrong and gave birth to her in my 20s and truly had no idea what I was doing. Just like everyone else.

But for now, there are no limits to what I can do and to what I know.

Today we were out for a walk and the following conversation happened. Evanie was in the stroller, her neck craning towards the sky, her little hands cupped as high as she could reach.

E: "The moon Mommy! I see the moon!"

Me: "Sure enough, you found it."

E: "I catch it mommy. Here moon. Coooome. I catch you!"

Me: "I'm not sure if this is going to work out like you think..."

E: "I can't reach it."

Me: "That's because it's way way high in the sky, Evanie. I'm pretty sure only God can reach it."

E: "Mommy do it? Mommy reach it!! Ok?"

You see? She thinks I could just get a little step stool and pull down the moon for a cuddle! What an adventure you have as a kid...and you never really realize it until you're not a kid...