Pregnant for a year....

Way back during Logan's pregnancy I read Dr. Sears Baby Book and it opened my eyes to attachment parenting. I have re-read pieces of it and love some of the ideas of parenting this way. I love raising my toddlers by involving them in daily life. With my babies I love wearing them and moving about making dinner, or holding Venice on my boppy and playing with Sylvie.

I love the idea that you are pregnant for a year. For the first 3 months outside mom baby is figuring things out and needs mom to help out. Knowing this makes me okay with holding her more, sleeping upright sometimes with her in my arms. This week she is 8 weeks old and growing so much. She is more in tune with us and our rhythms, and voices of Jorge, Logan and Sylvie. She is moving away from only mom can do, to being happy with dad. And more independence. She slept in her rock and play all night last night! I feel like we are seeing the end of 3 months and its exciting to see what is next but also sad to see the newborn phase coming to a close.

I love that she still falls asleep drunk on milk almost every time I nurse her.

I love how she rubs her head into me, burying herself.

I love when she sucks on her binky, smiles wide and coos at her toy bird.

I love how her legs pop up during diaper changes, and she stretches her arms up and arches her back when she is waking after a long nap.

I love the way I have been able to bond with my babies and having the ability to nurse them, providing nourishment and soothing, and that I have time to hold them, kiss them and love on them. I love that I've shared it all with Jorge, then Logan and Sylvie. What a blessing it has been to have this girl in my life.

Don't Blink....

I'm holding Venice on my chest, on the boppy. She's all curled up and warm and calm as she listens to my heartbeat. I just want to cry thinking about how quickly time flies and moves this little being into a real person, a real personality and a "big kid." This is such a luxury to get a chance to do it all over again....just one last time to taste newborn toes, smell newborn skin, get those gummy smiles and fall in love all over again.

And bonus that I get to see my kids fall head over heels for this newbie as well. Sylvie is so in love with her sister she just cannot get over it, and tries to find words to express how excited she is about her sister. Consistently through the pregnancy she said "why did you want another baby...." and I tried to explain how in love I am with her and Logan and that I was so excited to make a new person that would join us. And in the car the other day while she was having trouble expressing just how much she loved Venice already I told her "Sylvie, now YOU know why I wanted another baby. It's the most exciting thing to make a new person and love them so much and you just met them."

Venice, thank you for joining our family. You have brought us SO much joy in your 7 short weeks!

Cellphone Speak....without the phone

Logan told me....

LOL stands for 'Laugh out Loud'

he proclaimed "Oh Ehm Gee!" (oh my god)

and he said "Mom, want to know what SOL stands for?" Well, since in my world it has meant 'Sh*t out of Luck' I was curious what he was going to say and he said "Shouting Out Loud." Phew!

Who let this boy get so big?! It's scary to let them out in the world under the influence of ...gasp.... other 8 year olds!

Christmas!!!!

So, how didi we survive the holidays with a newborn? Well!

We made Christmas cookies!

From a very simple mix. And the rolling pin hung out on the counter for a week.

We gave the teachers the perfect gifts!

Somehow Sylvie's came back home and Logan gave a gift card to the family restaurant to the teacher on accident.

We put up a christmas tree.

Jorge gets all the credit for puling this one off.

We had a great collection of gifts to give.

We did almost all of our shopping online and there were definitely last-minute gifts purchased.

We made it to church.

Jorge and I each were nodding off at different times.

We had an impressive table spread and a clean house on the 24th.

The kids basically watched tv while Jorge cleaned and the baby hung out attached to me for hours on end.. He got everything in one glorious trip to Whole Foods.

Santa came! Santa Came! SANTA CAME! And there was joy in this home and thats all that mattered.

January

Let it be known that this year wher Sylvie turned 6 there was no snow on the ground and we played at the park in sweatshirts!

And this November when Logan turned 8 it snowed big fluffy flakes that stuck around for awhile. Backwards weather rocks! I am 6 weeks postpartum and took a bike ride on the trail!