9 months!

Nine months ago today, these baby blues were unleashed upon the world...

In the last month, Cohen has become a top speed crawler, put everything he has got his hands on into his mouth, babbled things like baba and dada and mama (even though he doesn't know what they mean yet), showed us more of even more of his little personality, and, oh yeah, this...

you know it!  Brother can do the slow rise from a squat position.  You can see the concentration on his sweet little face.  He'll be chasing Addy in no time and judging by how she's already grabbing his hands to force him to dance, sister is ready.

Happy nine months, Cohen.  We love you. 

Welcome to the family...

Last Friday, the 16th of March, my mother in-law and her fiance (more commonly known in this house as Mimi and Clint Cwint), made it official.  We couldn't have asked for a better husband for Doris, grandpa for our kids, step-dad for us, and friend for the whole family.  He's a great dad to his three beautiful daughters.  He has no obligation to be "there for us", but he has been...and keeping us laughing all the time.  We're so happy to have you, Cwint and happy for you, Mimi. 

Are they not the cutest couple ever?  I mean isn't this picture what it's all about - having someone to share and enjoy all of the little moments with? 

~~~

And on another note, we added one other member to our clan recently.  After much debate, Addy passed up the rats and bunnies and decided she'd like to have a fish (cue the collective sigh of relief from all the mothers out there). 

She proudly picked out the rock, plant and most importantly the little goldfish she wanted to take home.  She named her Coral (from finding Nemo).  Although we wanted Coral to have a spot on Addy's dresser, I kept picturing her "taking Coral out to play" or trying to move her and ending up with a flapping fish and a lot of rock on her bedroom floor.  I guess I didn't give her enough credit, because it only took a quick discussion about Coral needing water to live to keep her from even moving her bowl.  Here she is...Addy's grossly overfed golfish (seriously, see all those floaties?  fishfood.)  Sometimes, out of nowhere, Addy will say, "I just love my new pet, Coral.  She's the best fish."  This fish has been every bit worth the 15 bucks we spent on her.  I love the excitment in Addy's eyes and you can tell she enjoys the little bit of responsibility attached with feeding Coral. 

And what would make a successful trip to the petstore complete without a fishie shaped grilled cheese sandwich?  :)  

Happy Sunday! 

**Happy St. Patty's Day**

I had to pop in to share our little St. Patrick’s Day celebration.  On Saturday, the kids and I headed to downtown Rock Island to watch the parade with Auntie Lauren, Stevy, and Brenleigh.    

Cohen clapped and squealed.  You could tell brother was digging the energy.  Or maybe he was just showing off for his guuuurl, Miss Brenleigh.  Look at this cutie…

And seriously, they shared a moment or two on the blanket.  I saw sparks. ;)

Addy was Addy…asking a random girl for one of her animal crackers and then helping herself to the bag…brushing up against a tree and asking a little boy to kiss her arm to make it feel better (I’m relieved to know his parents won’t judge…thanks Nando J)...collecting a pile of "poppycones"...shaking her booty to the music on the passing floats…

And I know I’ve said it before, but I feel nothing but lucky to have a few amazing friends who love my littles.  Auntie Lauren shared Addy’s excitement over Santa’s appearance at the parade.  She held on to the back of Addy’s shirt in the protective way that usually only a mama does.  Aaaand she didn’t even flinch when Addy repeatedly wiped her hot little hands on her clothes…and let me tell you, those hands were covered in sap from pinecones, sucker saliva, melty pink tootsie roll and good old fashioned dirt.

Sidebar:  I love that you can read their genuine excitement by the particular smile on their face.  Cohen’s give away is his little tongue barely sticking out of one side of his grin. 

Addy’s is the squinting, teeth-gritting, cross-bite smile.

These faces always make for one happy mama.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Procrastination

Alright.  The first step is admitting you have a problem.  I, ReAnna Day, am a procrastinator.  Maybe I should say, I, ReAnna Day, am a perfectionist.  This is what happens…I have a “to do” list.  If I do something that’s not on the list, I add it to the list so that I can quickly cross it out because the feeling is oh-so-wonderful (yes, I’m letting the freak flag really fly this evening, folks).  As a task slips further and further down the list, it becomes more and more insurmountable.  It’s sort of like our storage closet.  I’m not about to tackle cleaning it unless I have the time and energy to do it perfectly.  I’ve developed a “if you can’t do it all, don’t do any” sort of mentality.  So instead, every time I need something out of it, I cringe and straddle lamps, gingerly step on baby shoes, and scale plastic storage containers overflowing with Christmas decorations to find my prize.  That, my friends, is what happened to blogging in the last month.  I kept adding to the list of things I wanted to blog about.  I watched the list grow longer and longer and realized I couldn’t give up a single damn thing on the list.  I let more simple tasks slide in ahead of blogging (I also had a birthday, some good books, a lot of THIS, and some other drama to keep me entertained).  But anyway, I decided something the other night…I miss blogging.  And in the middle of the night, when you need to go downstairs to the refrigerator in the dark, you really only need to feel around for the first step, the rest just happen naturally.  So here’s my toe, inching over the first step.  I’m starting at the end of the list, even though this blog should have been posted a stinking month and a half ago.

~~~

On January 28^th, Jason turned big 3-0.  Since he was adamant that he didn’t want a party of any kind, I started planning a surprise getaway back in November.  My coworkers were taking bets on whether or not I could keep it a secret.  I bit my tongue as Jason made comments like, “We need a vacation.”  I set it up to have our mamas take turns with the kiddos.  I even called ahead to his boss to ensure he could get the time off.  I ended up having to tell him the night before (which actually worked out better so he could help with the packing and because Addy was super excited to help give him his birthday present).  So we spent 4 nights in…

We collected shells, coral, and sand dollars for Addy (which are currently stowed safely in her butterfly purse).  We ate, drank, and soaked up the sun.  Here it is, in photos...

 

 

 

 Why is it so much easier to let go, chill out, and live in the moment when you’re footsteps from a beach?  And while I loved every minute of it, I missed my babies like crazy.  Somehow “letting go” and thinking about them all of the time really can coexist.  I swear they can.  I think part of being a mother means that no matter how much fun you’re having, your subconscious is still with them.  You check your phone obsessively waiting for a picture message with one (or better, both!) of their sweet faces.  You hear the squeals they would make at the sight of the ocean.  It’s burned in to your psyche in the most amazing way possible.

Anyway, the point is…I really missed this.

Happy Monday!