Mother's Day

For the past several years we've had my mom over for brunch for Mother's Day.  Jim's the youngest of 6 so his  mom often already has plans and since I'm an only I get to be with my mom every year.  I always enjoy just having a low key day and being with her.  It still seems like the day is about MY Mom and I often forget that the day is for me too.

Stella loves to take pictures and hams it up - Lu is just kind of oblivious to it all (and it was past her bedtime.)

First, Lulu woke me up at 4:30.  I guess she just wanted to be able to spend a little bit of quiet alone time with me on a special day - she sure wasn't going to get anymore that day!  This year, on top of brunch, my Mom offered to help us put together the swing set we'd gotten for the girls.  I LOVE that I have the kind of mom who'd be willing to spend her special day this way. I love that we were out showing my two girls that women don't have to just sit back and watch while men do the labor. Both girls got some experience with tools and both girls had a ton of fun doing so. (more on the swing set later)

Lucy's first movie night with Stella and I - what a dream!

As much as I loved the day, I'm thinking next year I'd like to do things a bit differently.  I think we'll do brunch on Saturday and Sunday will be a day to just be with my little family and reflect on how blessed I am to have these two beautiful little girls in my life.  I spent so many years praying for kids and so many holidays with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat thinking of all that was missing from our lives.  I don't want to ever get to the point where I take motherhood for granted and where Mother's Day is just another Sunday to get work done around the house.  I want it to be a day that I celebrate, not me as a mama, but that fact that I get to be a mama at all.  A day where I say an extra prayer for the women whose prayers haven't been answered yet and still cry those tears.  I don't forget how much I wanted them, not for a second.  I think about it when I watch them sleep at night, when I watch them play, when they love me up... I think about our life "before" every single day and am grateful.  Now when I cry it's a, "I can't believe how lucky I am.  I can't believe how beautiful they are. I can't believe my body can hold this much love." cry.

 

After their bath, in clean jammies, before bed... such a  dreamy time of night!

I'm rereading the book "Lift" by Kelly Corrigan and highlighting parts that I want to be sure to point out to my girls when they're grown.  The author (who fought cancer) wrote to her daughters, "I've had cancer twice and if I had to pick a fate for you, cancer or fertility problems, I'd pick cancer."  I've never had it so I can't say I'd wish for the same, but it's sure nice to feel like somebody who got pregnant easily understands just a bit of the heartache.

I still wish I had been able to be a younger mom.  I still wish I had been able to choose when I had them.  I wish it hadn't involved all of the $ and trips to Seattle and Drs.  I'm trying to let go of all of that though.  I'm so very grateful for what we have and the Plan that wasn't my own but far exceeded anything I could have possibly wished for.

So next year Mother's Day will look a bit different.  Maybe I'll get to sleep in, have Starbucks delivered in bed, and a family trip to the beach.  I want to take the day to slow down and reflect more.  (Don't get me wrong, I did have a GREAT day.) I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

A beautiful weekend in the PNW

There's so much I want to write about and so many pictures to post with such little time!  We've had a ton of outdoor fun, Mother's Day, a new "toy", and some funny stuff happening around these parts.  I'll try to break it up into a couple of posts.

First, we've been enjoying some amazing weather and everybody seems to be soaking it up.  The last two springs have been miserable and I'm pretty sure everyone would like to just shut down all schools and businesses for the week just to sit outside!  We've definitely been making the most of it.  A couple of weeks ago we got the front yard fenced in.  I'm SO VERY HAPPY that we finally got it done!  Stella is big enough that we don't have to worry as much about her, but with a new walker I'd never have been able to relax out there with her for fear she'd toddle out into the driveway/road. 

I think the front yard at this house is at least as big as our entire back yard at our old house.  We can leave the side gate open and the girls (and dog) can pretty much have the run of the place.  It's such a change from last year when the yards were SO over planted (though I don't think I ever got around to posting about the mammoth job Jim did last year outdoors!)  We still have tons of work to do, but it's the fun stuff now.  Trees, plants, flowers, firepit... I'm looking forward to spending a whole lot of time outside this summer!

We got the girls a fun little sprinkler and I can just sit in the grass and watch them play - lucky mama!

Daddy helping our little chicken jump.

Lu in her clothes oohing at something.

She was pretty interested in it.

Oh, that bitty tongue!

Um, Mom... do you think she knows there are showers INSIDE our house?

Yes, Lula Bug did get to wear a bathing suit.

More "oohs" and pointing

Stella kept running up to it and then chickening out.  I "encouraged" her, but who am I kidding... she IS ME!

Come on...

sizing it up...

working up the courage... 

looking to Mama for reassurance...

She finally went!

...and stuck the landing.  Coach Erica would be proud!

I hope you've been able to get out in the sun and lets all cross our fingers that this summer turns around, I could get used to this!

Teacher Peeps...

You know that time of year when you're tired, crabby, and just need to be done? I'm there today. I know as we get closer to the end it will get better but right now there's just way too much to be done in far too little time and all I want to do is hang out outside with the fam!

For now, I'm clinging to my countdowns, promises of amazing weekend weather and all if the little mini breaks between here and the end that make it feel manageable.

PS- Jim and I picked something up last night that I'm very excited about and have been wanting for a LONG time... You'll have to wait until Monday though. ;)

Winners and walking

Jenn & Lisa, if you email your info to juliem.snider@gmail.com I'll send each of you a vinyl (I just so happen to have two!)

Lulu's been walking a little bit for several weeks now. Yesterday we went to my moms and she walked around and around the house the whole time. I think she's finally realized how fun it is and soon we'll have a full-time walker. It's going to make going outside SO much better! Here's to hoping for some nice weather this spring/summer!

Fours - you got me!

Things were going so well.  I was telling everyone who would listen to me that 4 must be the greatest age ever. Stella seemed to have grown out of the fits that we'd had some experience during her threes (believe what they say - the name Terrible Two is just a trick.  Just when you think you made it through and it wasn't all that bad the threes jump out and slap you across the face!)

Cheering for the undefeated boy's soccer team.

playing with the camera at the game

She was my buddy.  We've had so much fun having dance parties, movie nights snuggling on the couch, and we've mostly outgrown the whiny afternoon period and she doesn't need to be held constantly.  Plus, she's an absolutely A.MA.ZING big sister!

Then last week arrived.  What a reality check for us all.  The fits returned full force, sometimes twice a day.  We got angry, we told her we'd take her toys if she didn't do as she was asked, we tried to rationalize with her, we tried time-out...  This little girl most often would just put her hand on her hip, dig in, and get sassy!  The more sassy and whiny she got, the more patience we lost.  It was a vicious cycle.

This is usually what happens when I try to take pictures of her!

Thursday when we were getting ready for school she wanted her second cup of cocoa.  I'd been having a tough time getting her ready in time so I thought it was an opportunity to use the cocoa to my advantage.  I cheerily told her that she could have it as soon as she got dressed.  Much whining and ten minutes later I ended up helping her get dressed and told her she'd lost the chance for a second cup.  She threw a FIT.  She whined. She stomped. She screamed.  She was still whining and crying in the car.  I calmly asked her why she was crying.  She said, "because I want more COCOOOOOA!"  I said, "I know you do, but we've already left the house and it's too late so why are you crying?"  We repeated those two sentences more than a dozen times.  Finally, she looked at me in the mirror like she was looking at a flying cow and asked, "why do you keep asking me that?"  But guess what, she was so distracted by the fact that I was repeatedly asking her the same question even though she'd clearly answered it, that she quit crying!  It was a small victory, but by that point it felt huge!

She's been practicing her cartwheels and Lulu's been practicing her walking!

Saturday I talked to my mom on the phone about it.  I told her it's so hard because I just don't know how to best handle her fits.  She is SO stubborn and just won't give up... EVER!  I don't want to let her think it's ok to talk to people with that attitude, but at the same time I felt like we were getting into an ugly cycle where she'd be sassy, we'd get frustrated, she'd act out more, we'd get more upset...  We decided to let go a little bit. I don't know how much it helped, but things seemed to get just a little bit better.

Barbie diving

Sunday night I was making our bed while Jim was supervising bath play time.  I heard her tell him, "some mamas love one child more than they love the other."  He asked her why she said that and she told him because some mamas yell at one of their kids but not the other.  I was practically in tears. I know she's had moments where she thinks everyone is over the moon for Lulu and she's been pushed aside a bit.  He asked her if she thought I felt that way and she said, "no, but some mamas do."  When I took over in the tub we talked about how babies don't get into trouble and when she's 6 and Lu is 3 Lucy will be get in trouble SO much more than she does.  Then at 11 and 14 it will be Stella's turn again, and at 14 and 17 we're all in serious trouble!  She was laughing and I told her that she and her sister were my two favorite people in the ENTIRE world (which she couldn't quite believe and made her smile) and that she was the answer to the prayer that I had prayed for SO many years.  I think that she felt it, I pray that she felt it.

I know that she's growing up and trying to figure things out.  She's becoming more independent.  She's learning about life.  I just pray for the patience and guidance to best know how to help her through the frustrating times.

My new home!

I was having some issues with my blog last week.  I thought it was due to blogger (turns out I was just out of storage for all of my pictures!).  I also wanted to give my blog a little bit of a facelift.  While considering all of the changes I wanted to make I also addressed an issue I hadn't been happy with for quite a while.

I first started reading blogs while searching for knitting patterns/information.  I thought it might be fun to share some of my knits and other crafts as well.  Since that time, we've lost two pups, bought a new house and had another miracle girl.  The name Lotus Blossom was tied to my Etsy shop and it was just about ME (a nickname Jim used to call me for a silly reason).  That doesn't seem to fit anymore.  This blog is about so much more than me and I wanted the name to reflect that.  Silly?  Perhaps, but that's ok.

So, perhaps the new name sounds just as random to others as Lotus Blossom did.  I just never came up with a creative play on words.  For some reason "Bits and Pieces" came to mind.  Partially (and most obviously) because it's about all of the different bits and pieces of my life.  Family, crafting, our home, etc.  More importantly though is what I hope it will always mean to my lovelies.  Do you know that feeling when your heart swells and you just want to grab your little ones and just squish them to pieces?  I always tell my girls that I "love them to bits and pieces" and quite frequently this saying simply becomes, "bits and pieces kid, bits and pieces."  It's one of those things that I'll be able to say to them anywhere/anytime and others won't know what I'm talking about so it won't embarrass them.  It's just ours.

Nothing's changing with the ole blog, the change in it's focus has already occurred.  Now it just does a better job of reflecting that.

If you want to follow my I hope you'll bookmark the new address!  http://sniderbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/

Want to celebrate with me? I have a vinyl saying that I'm going to put up in my hallway with pictures of the girls.  "Loving them for who they are and who they will become."  Jim's sick to death of the quotes, but I simply love this one!  Check it out here.  Want one for your house?  I'm giving one away!  Leave a comment here and I'll pick a winner randomly on Friday!

I said I wanted to work on taking and using more pictures of my girls with my camera as opposed to my phone and more specifically with my 50mm.  Here are some random shots from yesterday:

Dinner table fun.  This is pretty typical.  Stella making funny faces and Lucy is completely amused!

 She thinks Stella is SO hilarious!

  She got a family band for her birthday and loves the egg maracas!

 Aw...  kisses!