A big day for our little buddy...

Yesterday was one of those days that, as a Mom, I believe I was dreading from the time I first saw the two pink lines on my first pregnancy test.  I had visions of the first day of kindergarten being a traumatic one for both Joshua and me, with tears and nerves and all sorts of things that may have been likely to  lead me to a stiff drink.

I can report with great pride that none of the above  happened.  Joshua was so ready for his first day of kindergarten that he nearly forgot to hug me before running to Daddy's truck to get on the road for school.  Apparently he marched into his classroom like a pro.  All reports point to a fabulous day.  He earned 8 sticks (3 is the benchmark for an OK day- you either gain or lose from there for good (or bad) behavior), made a new best friend, got to help Mrs. Case illustrate the correct way to hang up a backpack, and did some great papers that he brought home.  His teacher is amazing, and I think he is set for a really wonderful year.  My heart wanted to burst when I picked him up after school.  I don't think I could possibly have been prouder of him.

 Here was the whole crew before school.  Please take note of Lauren's bed head.  I swear, her curls are as wide as she is high most mornings when she wakes up.  She had just finished crying because I had taken Joshua outside for a picture.  As you can see from her flip flops, she insisted on one as well, and I now have an un-first day of school photo of her in her pajamas with red eyes after having thrown a fit.  Oh Lauren.  I love you, but bless your sweet heart, you're just a mess sometimes.

And here's an action shot of this little superstar who has, in the past few days, figured out a modified crawling technique that literally has her ALL OVER THE PLACE.  We were not ready for this.  But she is one determined little munchkin.  I secretly love watching her conquer her world, but goodness, she exhausts us with this showing off that she is doing.  Nothing is safe these days--- in 3 seconds of looking away to check on dinner the other night, I found her under one of our end tables attempting to chew on cords to the lamp.  Oh yeah...

Vacation pictures to come as soon as I finish the laundry.  Don't hold your breath.

Mara, you're 7 months old!

 Dear Mara,

Somehow, it has been 7 months since the day we met.  I can't believe it, honestly.  Someone once told me that, as a Mom, the days are very long, but the years are short. And that's just about exactly how I feel.  We spend our days jumping from thing to thing, crisis to crisis, to-do list item to to-do list item.  And somehow, in all of that, seven whole months of loving you have come and gone.

You have been quite busy this past month.  First of all, you have hit a major growth spurt in the past few weeks.  You weighed 12 lb 12 oz at your 6 month checkup on July 11th, and just last week when I snuck you on the scale at the doctor's office, you were 14 lb 2.5 oz.  It's as if I can almost see you growing right before my eyes.  You've gone from 3 month clothes into all 6 month things in the past week or so.  Although you're certainly not the biggest baby, it is such a relief for me to see you growing well.  You love to eat- and still nurse about every 3-3.5 hours (sometimes it's every 2, and every now and then you give me a 4 hour window to work with).  You are also now enjoying two solid meals every day, usually consisting of a bowl of oatmeal cereal, a vegetable and a fruit.  You love all of your veggies, and all of the fruits except for peaches. Usually, you finish the whole container of each.  You also love your mesh feeder and can be entertained with a piece of banana in there for about 15 minutes while we eat our supper.  For that reason, the mesh feeder is Mommy's MVP right now.

You have also mastered sitting up on your own.  I have even watched, on a few occasions, as you have sat yourself up from a laying down position.  You manage to get where you want to go right now by rolling yourself there.  You are pulling up on your elbows, but so far your knees have no coordination to get underneath you to try to crawl.  And let me tell you, that's 100% fine by me.

We got some toys out for you in the past week or so, and so far you love your ring stacker the best, with a few books you can chew on coming in a close second.  Anything that has a tag on it is your favorite thing to play with.  You like your exersaucer still, but only if you're close by to Mommy and know that I can get to you in a hurry if you get tired of it.

Speaking of which, I have termed you a velcro baby in the past few weeks.  For some reason, only Mommy will do right now.  It's a little frustrating for me (not to mention everyone else who wants to hold you), but I tell myself all the time that this phase will pass all too quickly and I'll miss it.  I love carrying you with me, but find it a little tricky to do the things that need to be done while you're in my arms sometimes.  But we manage.  You and I are quite a team these days.

Mara, your sweetness continues to melt my heart every single day.  How did I ever get so lucky to get to be your Mama?  You are such a blessing, and we can't even imagine life without you in it.  We love you so much!

This is a picture from this past weekend when Nana, Aunt Libby and all of the kids went to visit your Great Pappy Ray at his apartment in Belleville.  He was so happy to see all of you!  Although you were a bit noisy, I think he loved having you all there.

Happy 7 month birthday, Mara Kate.  You are so loved.

Mommy

All about July

Does anyone know where summer has gone?  I am getting a little sad as we get ready to turn another page on the calendar to move into August this week.  It starts a whole lot of forward planning to get ready for the new school year, and a whole lot of cramming to get all of our last minute summer fun things completed.  But if we're in a race with summer right now, summer is definitely winning!

We have been having lots of fun, although my picture taking has been a bit lacking.  I blame the 6 month old little girl who won't allow me to put her down for even a second...and don't think I'm kidding.  To tell you about the crocodile tears that  I see when I sit her down so that I can, I don't know, use the bathroom or something totally selfish like that.  It's making me a little bit crazy...and I may well be on my way there if she weren't my third such baby.  But I know it's a phase, and I've made it my mission this time to just enjoy each stage instead of dreading them.  So, things have been a bit more challenging in terms of being productive,  but I've also had a whole lot of baby kisses and tons of snuggle time with Mara.  And I know that, down the road, I'm going to cherish those slobbery kisses more than I am an empty dishwasher. And so it goes.

Early in July, right after my last post, we started a week of Bible School.  Lord, please forgive me, but this is likely my least favorite week of the entire summer each year.  Not because it isn't awesome, because it certainly is.  But because I get so worn out by the end of the week from working all day, running home just long enough to change clothes (if I'm lucky), stuff food into the kids and then rush out the door again, only to return three hours later with dirty, tired, sugar filled kids who need to go to bed, but still need baths, another snack, pj's and some general winding down.  Do that 5 days in a row, and that ought to explain my sentiments on the subject.  This year, Joshua was a big boy and went to his own class without me.  I stayed with Lauren's class with Mara attached to my hip (shocker).  We had fun, but spending that time with that many small kids was probably part of my exhaustion.  The picture below is a picture of Joshua on the night they were asked to dress up as cowboys or cowgirls.  He was all over it!  The highlight of the week for him was winning the contest that night for the best costume.  He was the only one of the kids who brought a horse.  But in his words, "Every cowboy needs a horse."  True story, Josh.

The kids have spent many afternoons swimming in the pool on the deck.  It's not fancy or big, but it works when it's hot and they need to cool off.  I so wish I had more time this summer to have spent days with them at the big public pool, but the work schedule just hasn't allowed that.  They both love the water, but I'm learning that I'm going to have to be much more purposeful about getting them into swimming lessons.

We had a great time on my birthday at the Sunday School class picnic at the house of one of our classmates who have a pool.  I will spare you the details about the tragic ending to that event when, on my last trip to the van with all of our belongings, I spilled an entire container of pasta salad all over Mara and their kitchen floor.  We'll focus on the positive, which was that all three of the kids had an absolute blast swimming in the pool.  Joshua is getting more brave, Lauren remembered swimming from last year at the beach and wasn't afraid and Mara just kicked and splashed and squealed the whole time.  Really, up until the pasta salad, we were having a great time!

There has been a whole lot of sister love lately.  Mara is smitten with Lauren, and the feeling seems to be mutual.  I absolutely love watching the girls together, smiling and giggling with each other.  I just hope it is a bit of foreshadowing for the years that are to come.  I pray daily for the relationship of all three of the kids, and that they will always be close with each other.

Mara has been working hard on some big girl stuff in recent weeks.  She has mastered sitting up on her  own and now rarely falls over unless she's reaching off to her side or purposely wants to roll over for a while.  She has also been a pro at eating baby food and has made it through all of her fruits and veggies.  The only ones she doesn't really like are peas and peaches, but even the peas have been OK lately.  She's eating two solid meals a day right now- a veggie, fruit and cereal around lunch, and the same combo at supper.  We'll soon start some yogurt as well.  She is growing like a weed- lately moving into mostly 6 month clothes and putting on what I estimate to be a little more than a pound since her 7/9 doctor's appointment.  As I recall, this was the same growth pattern that Lauren had, so I'm hoping that all of the worries about her weight gain are behind us.  She continues to nurse well, and often- usually every 3 hours round the clock.  If we're lucky, we get one 4 hour stretch during the day, which is helpful for the pumping situation while I'm at work.  The sleeping, well....that's not pretty.  She's up constantly and only sleeps soundly when she's either in my arms in the rocking chair or sleeping beside me while she nurses.  We have some work to do there, but this too shall pass.  What hasn't changed is that we love her to pieces.  Honestly, I just can't get enough of that adorable grin.

See, I can't even stop myself from taking multiple pictures!

And finally, Mara isn't the only one with big girl milestones to celebrate.  Look who else got to move out of her crib/toddler bed into a big girl double bed!  She was so excited about it, especially when she got to pick out her bedding and decorations.  It was no surprise that out of a whole aisle of girly bedroom stuff at Target, she chose the purplest one.  She's such a big girl all of a sudden.  The best news is that she hasn't woken up in the middle of the night since we set the bed up for her.  And that, my friends, was worth every penny.

Hope your summer has been going well, just like ours has.  We are gearing up for a very exciting August- a trip to Lewistown this coming weekend for the Richard Reunion, our yard sale and the beach trip at the end of the month.  More pictures soon!

Beating the Heat

With the summer temps reaching triple digits, there was only one way we could think of to beat the heat...

...Turn the deck into our own summer oasis.  Daddy and the big kids had a day together on Saturday while I travelled to Lewistown with Mara for the memorial service for Jill Richard.  And I think he had the right idea when he disappeared to Target on Friday afternoon for the necessary supplies to set up this pool for the kids.  Evidently they were in it all afternoon and had a blast.

When Mara and I returned from our trip, we even jumped in for a dip.  It was Mara's first time swimming, and I think she liked it.  Regardless, she looked adorable in her suit.  Me....well, not so much.  But it's about the kids, right?

Today we went to church, and then headed home for round 2 on the deck.  They're still having a blast.  Mara has had a nap in her crib for the first time, and is now happily playing beside me in her exersaucer while the big kids swim.  They even had a visit from the ice cream truck (who happened to be Jason's Key Club advisor from high school...the whole reason we ever met).  Needless to say, they enjoyed their Dora and Spiderman popsicles immensely.

We are appreciating these 80-ish temperatures a whole lot more than the super hot ones of the past few days.  VBS starts tomorrow, and with it the rat race of working and then hurrying home to get everyone fed, changed and packed up for the evening, along with snacks made to match what the other kids are having.  My prayers are for stamina for me and that the kids will have a really good time.  They're looking very forward to it.

Overload

At the risk of overload, I decided to combine a few posts into one tonight.  It's like Christmas.  More Dugans than you can take all at once.  But I'm learning my limitations, and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there was no way I would be able to be hands free long enough tonight to do three separate posts.  So, hang on...

Today is Mara's 6 month birthday.  To say I wonder where the time has gone would be a huge understatement.  Honestly, I can hardly imagine that it was 6 months ago this evening that I was making frantic calls and text messages to let people know that Miss Mara was coming a week before her scheduled debut.  And then, on the other hand, it's hard to imagine that there was ever life without her.

Mara continues to be such a joy.  She has taken a bit of a turn into the "Mommy crazy" department in recent weeks, but as I recall from our first two rodeos, this is about the age when that starts to happen.  And so, she is my velcro baby, always attached to me, whether she is eating or just coming along for the ride.  Many times, I find it maddening to have to do everything one handed---- everything.  But mostly I'm just so happy that I don't care that it takes me 4 days to fold a load of laundry.  And I'm not exaggerating.

Mara is a decent sleeper, as long as she is in her miracle blanket.  I usually put her into her crib by 9:30 and she has been sleeping (Lord, please don't let me jinx us by saying this out loud) until between 3-4 am until she wants to eat again.  Usually I can get her back into her bed within an hour and catch a few minutes of sleep before it is time to get up for the day.  She is still nursing 6-7 times a day, and isn't supplemented with formula anymore at all.  My guess is that she weighs around 12.5 lb (not quite to the double birth weight that they want to see), but we'll confirm that next week at her doctor's appointment.

Mara loves her cereal and eats either rice or oatmeal cereal two times a day.  She gobbles it up and then kicks her legs and arms asking for more.  Just tonight, she got to try some carrots for the first time (the big kids picked which veggie they thought she would like).  The verdict was pretty good- she probably had a full tablespoon without too much protest.  We have just moved into size 2 diapers and she is still wearing 3 month clothes.  The length is going to get us before the waist measurements.  Luckily with summer sunsuits and shorts, we're in decent shape for a while.

Mara is a rolling champ and loves her exersaucer.  She has recently started to be able to sit up with the boppy around her, and is enjoying playing with teething toys and rattles.  She is a chewer for sure- loving to chew fingers, phones, anything she can get her hands on.  I often say she's like an octopus, grabbing things from my hands without me even knowing it.  Frustrating at times, but all part of the development I'm sure.

Sweet as ever, and such a blessing to us.  Happy half birthday, sweet girl.  I couldn't possibly tell you how much I love you and love getting to be your Mommy.  But I'll spend the rest of my days trying to show you.

*****************

One of our favorite Lewisburg traditions happened this past weekend as we joined the Mowry crew and some other friends at the Lewisburg 4th of July parade.  This year was extra special because Daddy got to join us.  Here is 1/2 of the gang...

 ...and there is the group of 6.  Notice that Lauren is protesting her participation.

We had a great time, the kids ate about 16 lbs of candy and had their patriotic fill by the end of the parade.

Then, on Sunday morning, we barely squeezed everything into the van for what has become an annual trip to Benezette with my family.  How Jason made it all fit is a miracle.  2.5 hrs later we were pulling in to the Winslow Meadow Lodge for some mountain fun and relaxation. We saw a bear almost immediately upon arrival but no elk, which I am sure is a direct result of the noise level that 4 small children create.  We swam, did crafts, chased each other around the deck, made campfires, walked the trails at the new Visitors Center, ate too much, had slumber parties in the living room and laughed a whole bunch.  It was wonderful.  We are all already looking forward to the October PSU weekend we have planned there.

So many special memories -- and we still have half of summer left!

A GREAT weekend!

Yesterday marked the season's first trip to Knoebel's.  And judging by the reaction of the kids, I think it will be the first of many for this summer.  After a long stretch of being cooped up with not one or two rounds...but THREE rounds of strep throat in the past 4 weeks, it was time to get out!  This trip was extra special because we got to go with the Mowry's, always a treat for us to do anything with them. 

This was Mara's first trip to Knoebel's, and I would say that she enjoyed it...so long as I was holding her. She wasn't content in the stroller, and much preferred the Moby wrap or just being held.  The big kids ended up using the limosine length double stroller more than Mara did.  But oh well.  Mara seemed to like watching Josh and Lauren and McKenna and Cooper while they rode the rides.  We stopped a few times for her to nurse, and I can now add the middle of an amusement park to the list of places I never dreamed I'd breastfeed.

My words will fail me with the rest of the specifics, so here are some pictures!

 McKenna was Lauren's riding partner all night and was such a sweetheart to Lauren.  McKenna is a special, kind and very compassionate little girl.  Lauren adores her (and so do we!).

 I'm pretty sure Joshua's insurance rates are going to be ugly judging by his bumper car driving skills last evening!  But he had fun.  This was progress from last year when he spent the whole time stuck in a pileup in the middle of the rink.

This was one of Lauren's favorite rides.  I literally had to drag her away from it after she had ridden it (alone) 4 times in a row.  I believe the ride attendant was beginning to feel stalked!  The fact that those bugs are purple certainly didn't hurt matters.





 Here was sweet Mara on one of a few rare moments that she rode in the stroller.  It didn't last long after the camera flashed, but at least I got one of her!

This one cracks me up.  Please don't miss Cooper at the top left riding the kiddie roller coaster all by himself.  Emily and Joshua are in the next car and Jason and Lauren are behind them.  Figuring out who would ride with whom was probably our most difficult decision of the night.  Earl and I (certainly the least enthusaistic riders among the group) were on baby/stroller duty.  Cooper was so brave, though!!  Lauren declared that this was her favorite ride- never mind that it gave me a heart attack that she was on it!

Look out--- swift subject change ahead.

And today I think I hit the photo jackpot with a picture of all three kids that includes at least a relative smile on everyone's face.  This one will be in a frame before week's end, I assure you.

After church today, the kids and I worked on this little golf cake for Daddy in celebration of Father's Day.  They thought it was hilarious that we put a golf ball in Daddy's cake.  Looking at it here, I realize just how much my cake icing writing leaves to be desired.  But it was the thought that counts.

Since May 14th...

The problem with blogging is that it works best when you are pretty timely with posts.  As in, not waiting several weeks to make a few observations about what has been happening.  All I can say is that I have gotten this part all wrong in recent weeks.  So, as I got set to upload a few pictures this morning I realized just how much has happened since I last posted on May 14th. So here we go...

 Summer has officially begun at our house.  I am oh so grateful for one less person to have to get up and ready prior to 7:30 am. Is it bad that I am already dreading it beginning again in August when Joshua returns to school?  Joshua had his program on May 17th and we were so proud of him.  He sang and did his motions like a champ.  They sang "Trust and Obey" and a cute song called "Jungle Jamba" as well as reciting the entirety of Psalm 100 as a class.  Go ahead and look that one up...it's LONG!  And they are 4 and 5 years old.  This picture is of him with his teacher, Mrs. Deitrick, and the school principal, Mr. Baughman.  It was a great year for Joshua at Meadowbrook and we look forward to all that next year will hold for him in kindergarten as well.

 Mara has been doing quite a bit of Bumbo sitting lately.  Mostly she bends herself in half to chew on it, but since she has been quite needy lately and pretty much requires being held by me or in her Moby wrap tied to me, this has been a solution for those few minutes that I just need to have my arms free.  She will sit there while I cook or hang a load of laundry to dry, but wants to be picked back up within a few minutes.

We have  been blessed with not one, but TWO rounds of strep throat, which has necessitated a few of Daddy's special chocolate milkshakes for the big kids.  Hopefully this last round of antibiotics has kicked it out for good, because I can do without a recurrence of that for a while....or ever.

Mara has really been showing interest in our food lately, so we decided a few weeks ago to set up the high chair at the table for her so that she could sit with us for dinner.  This was a big improvement over me holding her while eating, or nursing her while eating (which more often than not was the situation).  After she started opening her mouth when we took a bite, and reaching for food, I decided to let her try some rice cereal.  On her second attempt, she decided she really liked it and has been having a little bit each night when we eat our supper.  She smiles so big, giggles and kicks her legs when she sees me get her bowl.  All I can think is that if she likes this stuff, she ought to love veggies and fruits when we start them.  I will probably wait until the 6 month mark for those, but the cereal has been a good first step I think.

This little blogging hiatus has also included a whole week that Daddy was away on a business trip.  I have to tell you that I have tremendous respect for single parents, because I was EXHAUSTED after his trip.  Between balancing working, prepping everything at home, getting the kids tubbed and into bed each night on my own, and all of the other household things thatneed togetdone without having the option of asking for a little help from Jason, I didn't know which end was up.  My mom had come to help for one of the days, which was so appreciated.  And Jason's Mom was here during the workday and was a huge help.  But goodness.  We hated that he was in Orlando without us along for a Disney vacation, but realized that this year, with the kids the ages they are just wasn't the best choice, especially since Jason was tied up in meetings most of the days.  Hopefully soon we'll start to think about planning our maiden voyage to Disney as a family..

While Daddy was gone, the big kids also had their very first (non-family) babysitter.  A super sweet college student from church agreed to come and stay with them one night that I had a meeting to go to.  They did great and seemed to have a wonderful time.  I could hear them squealing and giggling from the garage when I pulled in and came inside to find them chasing Meagan all around the house.  I'm still not ready to leave Mara with a teenager yet, but Josh and Lauren seemed to love the change of scenery!

 Lauren has managed to have a major growth spurt in recent months and has somehow outgrown her tricycle, so she became the proud owner of her own big girl bike the other night.  It's a Minnie Mouse bike and might possibly be the cutest little thing I've ever seen.  It was raining when Jason put it all together for her, so she rode it around the kitchen and had a blast.  Can't wait for some sunshiny (is that a word?) evenings that we can go out and watch her ride.

And finally, this was the scene last night as Joshua constructed a Harley for himself and his sister to drive.  Please don't miss the details on this one.  The "do rag" on his head is a dish cloth, and they obviously both needed goggles for eye protection.  His Woody vest is supposed to be his leather vest, and the rest of their configuration  was pretty creative as well.  Although it plays me out from time to time, I have to say that I love to see his imagination at work.  And Lauren  just loves any chance she gets to play along with her big brother.  I think Pap would be proud of this Harley riding team!

More to come tomorrow when I report on Mara's turning 5 months old.  I know...I can't believe it either.

Plans

For anyone who has known me longer than five minutes, it's painfully clear that I am a planner.  My most treasured possession is my planner book, without which I don't know what is going at the office, when Show and Tell is at preschool, or what to make for dinner.  I've always been this way, carrying a "to do" list as early as middle school as I recall.  But I wouldn't be shocked to learn that I had one in my Trapper Keeper in elementary school days either.  I just can't remember.  The addition of each child into our family, however, has taken this planning thing to a whole new level.  As there are more balls to keep juggled in the air, it takes more thought and organization.  At least for me.

So, on our calendar for this weekend were a whole lot of special things.  We started planning Cousins Day about six months ago, getting the date on everyone's calendars so that all of us would be there.  This once a year day to spend with my cousins is such a joy to me, especially now that there are so many cousins of the next generation that we love so much.  I had a list of things I was baking to take along with us (see.....a list!) and the kids and I were beyond excited for Saturday to get here.

Well, strep throat was NOT in my planner.  And we didn't appreciate its imposition.

Joshua started on Wednesday afternoon with what I thought was a stomach bug.  I'm no doctor, but the number of times he threw up in the 24 hrs from Weds afternoon until Thursday at supper time seemed a good clue.  But after running into one of his classmates on her way into the pediatrician on Thursday as I was coming OUT with Mara after her 4 month checkup, I learned that Sophia had strep throat.  Sophia and Josh are friends who seem to get the same bug around the same time, so I decided to take him in for a look on Friday morning.  And sure enough.....strep throat.

By the time we got Joshua back from the doctor, Lauren was on the downhill slide.  And this picture went from bad to ugly in a hurry.  Here were our sleeping arrangments on Friday night.

Just for fun, on Saturday morning I woke up feeling like one of those circus acts who swallow swords.  It's no wonder given that a sick kid was breathing, crying, puking or snotting on me for the duration of the past 48 hours.

And there ended any glimmer of hope that we could still make it to Cousins Day.  Or to be able to spend Mother's Day with Nana.  Or my sister.  There went all of our plans.  I wanted to cry.

So Saturday, we nursed everyone back to health the best we could.  We sat around in our pajamas, took a lot of Tylenol, and did a whole lot of cuddling.  And praying that the baby wouldn't pick up the same thing.  Mara was the bright spot in the day for all of us.  While the big kids were whiny and miserable, she was smiling and happy, only wanting to play and snuggle and eat just like always.  She even did her first stable Bumbo sitting while I worked in the kitchen a little while on Saturday afternoon and seemed to appreciate being a part of the action.

I feel a bit like God has been working on me with this planning thing.  I read a devotional each morning called "Jesus Calling" and I love it!  But lately there have been a whole lot of references to the fact that a need for control is a sin- a complete disregard for the fact that God has our lives ordered and controlled in His hands.  When we try to handle things here in our own control, we're saying to Him that we don't trust His plans and think ours are better.  So through all of this, I was feeling a bit convicted and tried mightily to see that we must have been supposed to be home this weekend, feeling icky and miserable.  And there must be good reason, despite the fact that I couldn't really understand why.

When the sun rose on Sunday, Mother's Day, the big kids were feeling a whole lot better.  Antibiotics are amazing.  At 8:30, Lauren asked to play in the sandbox outside.  I was just thrilled that she was up off the chair and no longer fevered, so out we went.  Joshua slept in, but when he woke up, he joined us on the deck and requested his breakfast out there.  And we didn't go in all day long.  It was a wonderful day.  I desperately missed church, but was able to tune in to my Aunt Carol and Uncle Jerry's church service in Southlake, TX via an iphone app while on our deck nursing Mara.  I was so grateful for the chance to do that.

The rest of the day was great-- lots of sunshine, lots of playtime for the kids, windows open at the house to air out any remaining germs, laundry caught up and a dinner I didn't have to cook.  Perfection.

And finally, here is the Mother's Day photo, 2012 edition.  (Don't you love Joshua's lack of interest in this photo?)  I guess one out of three isn't bad for looking at the camera.  Strep throat or not, ruined weekend plans or not, 3 nights of sleeping with sick kids at my side or not...there is nowhere I'd rather be than with Jason and these three beautiful blessings.  I must be the luckiest Mama in the world.

Recovery Day

Jason and I had a chance to celebrate Christmas in May this year.  As a gift for Christmas, when I was so expectant with Mara, he gave me tickets to see Lady Antebellum in concert.  We had looked forward to it since then, and Sunday was the night.  Grandma stayed with the kids while we headed for Hershey to watch the show.  We had a great time!  The show was great- Thompson Square, Darius Rucker and Lady A...and none of the three disappointed.  It was a super late night, though, and since I am famous for being fast asleep on the couch at 9 pm, we weren't sure how long we would last.  But the concert was so good that we stayed the whole time.  We returned home a little after 1.  Mara must have sensed our presence, because she was awake and waiting to eat when we got in the door.  I fed her and finally gother settled around 2.  And then, before I knew it, the alarm was ringing to get ready so that I could get Joshua ready for school.  Despite the short night, having a kid-free night out was so worth it.

So, needless to say, Grandma needed Monday to recuperate.  So I stayed home with my three favorite munchkins.  My tail was dragging, but we survived the day...perhaps with a little more tv watching and a little less playtime with Mommy...but you do what you must to get through.

But there were a few things that made me happy.

First of all, I was mixing up a snack mix for Joshua's celebration of reaching 100 in their counting in school.  Everyone needed 100 small snack items so that they could make a snack mix to share.  So I counted out his 100 Runts, and then made a mix of safe things for him.  Lauren spotted the Swedish Fish that I was putting in and proceeded all day to try to sneak them out of his backpack.  The part I loved was that she calls them "gooey fish". And I will give her points for persistence. 

Secondly, Lauren, our family's Energizer Bunny who doesn't ever need a nap, crashed on the couch mid afternoon.  I actually struggled to wake her up for supper.  That nap improved her mood greatly.  If only she'd do it daily.

Precious smiles from Mara make my day.  And this picture is definitely up there with my favorites.  This smile is what we get most of the day...such a happy girl.  I swear I fall in love a little deeper every single day..

And one more for good measure.

Joshua has been such a sweet boy lately too.  I was just happy that  he allowed me to take his picture.  I know the blog has been lacking in photos of him, but he's evasive when  he doesn't approve of his picture being taken and I lack the energy to chase him.  His happy news of the day was that since Daddy wasn't going to be home for supper, he chose grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner and promptly gobbled it all up.

Monday was a good day.  Always a blessing to be home with the kids.  Even when I was tired!