o christmas tree

Tonight I was standing in the laundry room looking out the window waiting for they dryer to buzz. I watched the snow come down and was amazed at how quickly it was accumulating. Honestly, the snow is so ridiculous at this point that it's sort of laughable.

Sort of.

But then I saw our christmas tree. We had hoisted it into the grove in January. And since trees are heavy, it didn't get very far. I saw that tree and decided she wasn't done shining yet. I thought it would be funny to set her up in the front yard for all the neighbors to see, a christmas tree lit up on April 22.  So I told Ivar we should go out and decorate our christmas tree again.

Ivar loved the idea. He happily put on his boots and joined me in this adventure. And he said, "remember we get our christmas tree with Mark and Kathy and Baby Isaac!" Ivar doesn't seem to forget anything. We found the tree stand in the garage, grabbed the light box off the shelf and walked around the house to find the outdoor socket.

The tree is half brown and half green. And it is lovely. I hope my neighbors enjoy it too.

We are ready for spring here. Don't get me wrong. But this did seem like an appropriate way to make lemonade out of these lemons.

Once Ivar went to bed, I went out again and got some pictures when the sun was going down.

  

And now I just took this picture out the window. The snow had me down earlier this afternoon, but this christmas tree has brightened my evening. 

Elsie is 9 months old

Oh Elsie. I love you so much. You are a happy girl. Your personality is showing itself more and more. You started talking a lot more and you like to scream and screech. It is obvious you are proud that you can be loud. You talk in your crib for a long time before we come to get you, practicing your sounds. You now can crawl and sort of inch worm your body around the house. You are fast, and gates had to go up immediately once you learned you could move.

You smile a lot and often scrunch your nose and eyes when you're really happy. That's my favorite, because then we get to see all of your teeth. (all 4.5 of them.)

You say, "Mama" clear as a bell and I love it. You can pretty much get me to meet any of your needs with that magical word. It stops me in my tracks.

You do fine in the nursery at church, and fine when others hold you. But if you sniff out that I am about to leave you, you can get quite nervous. As in a big lower lip and crocodile tears ready to pour out. That's okay. I know we're good pals and it's hard to be apart.

You are a tremendous eater and love taking a bottle. I like giving you your bottle because we just stare at each other and smile. You put your fingers in my mouth and scratch my cheeks. When you're ready for sleep you are happy to be set in your crib. Your bear from Ruby and pink blanket from Mimi are your favorite things to snuggle with in your crib. 

When you're out of your crib you adore your baby doll and the monkey Katherine gave you. Both make you shriek with delight. 

Elsie, you are sunshine to me.
I am so pleased I get to be your mama.
And overwhelmingly grateful that you are my girl.
Love,
Mama ma mama

switching rooms

We switched rooms with Ivar this week.  I was so excited to move into the bigger room. So happy at the thought of having a closet in my room, a reading chair, creating a little haven where I might find some quiet. 

Well, it was a nice thought. But it didn't work...at all. Ivar's new room is the only access to Elsie's room. So when Elsie woke up each morning, she woke her brother too. Who happens to be very crabby if he doesn't wake up on his own. And naps were terrible too. Ivar goes down before Elsie for the afternoon nap. So I had trouble sneaking Elsie into her crib without waking Ivar. 

After five nights of miserable sleep, Rory announced that we would be switching rooms again. It was the right thing to do. Our kids are good sleepers, and this just wasn't worth it. So we took our queen bed apart again, moved the mattresses back through the doorways, lifted the crib through both doors, switched the dressers, brought all the toys back to the big room and switched all the wall art again. 

I have a feeling we won't be switching rooms for a long, long time.

*And yes, that is Ivar's crib. The boy hasn't tried getting out yet, and based on stories from other parents of kids not staying in their beds, we decided to keep Ivar in his crib until he's 17. 

...Or until he actually attempts to get out.

so much maple syrup

Well this has been quite the year to try our hand at making maple syrup. The conditions have been perfect, the sap is plentiful and we'd consider our first year a success. Rory has collected over 90 gallons (!!!) of sap and we can hardly keep up with the evaporating. We found food-grade 5 gallon buckets to keep the sap until we can get it boiled down. On Saturday night I came home around 10:30 after meeting my sister for dinner. I turned into our lane and found Rory next to his fire, waiting for the sap to boil down. It was quite the site.

We're mostly excited because this much syrup is going to mean lots of gifts for family and Rory is hoping to bottle enough to sell. We have learned a lot about Minnesota Grown at our farm class and are really excited about the thought of recouping some of our costs this first year.

body image and baby bangs

We came home from the library with this book in the stack. Ivar loves it and constantly asks if we can go there. He likes the idea of going swimming.

I love the book because each page is like body therapy for me.  Each mom pictured seems to say to me, "it's okay. we've got little kids. life is hairy. you're doing your best. we're all okay. besides, you are most beautiful when you are taking good care of your kiddos"

The words are few in this book, but very accurate. And the facials on the mom are awesome. She looks tuckered after this adventure.

Having babies take a toll on the body. And being chronically tired often results in lots of high sugar "quick energy" grabs. And having kids can lead a mom to many thoughts about her identity and all that it means to be "Mama" but also all that it means to still be "Becca." And as if all of that were not enough, she's given a mohawk of whispy hairs, right in the front of her forehead, called Baby Bangs.

I never got baby bangs with Ivar. But I'm making up for that now. I saw a friend post a picture of her baby bangs on instagram and it made me laugh out loud. Thought I'd post my magnificent front poof in an attempt to laugh at the mess I have to deal with each morning.