Trip to Utah

Rachel and I went on a little plane ride when she was 26 days old.


And I was about as nervous as she looks in this picture.

I didn't know how she would do on the plane with "ear pressure", crying, and anything else that could make for a long trip with a baby.

I was also scared about the fact that I would be doing this alone because when it comes to navigating, I'm a "follower".  So the thought of getting dropped off at the curb of the the Delta terminal and relying on nobody else but me to get to all of the places I needed to go in the big huge Boston airport was a bit scary.

But, it turned out easy peasy.

And when I got to my gate, I sat next to a super friendly couple with a seven month old baby.  They were so nice and complimentary of the baby, it was almost like I knew them, they were just so warm and easy to talk to.  

In fact, once I boarded the plane and was watching the other people board, I was amazed at just how friendly everybody was.  And not just to me, but to each other.  I was surrounded by some of the most charismatic, kind and outgoing personalities I've ever seen, and in such a confined space! 

Then I quickly learned that I was on a plane full of Boston Marathon runners and their family and friend cheerleaders.  They were heading home after the big (and hot) run.  

I've never seen so much under armor in my life.

Yup, even that nice young couple with the baby.

So two things were seemingly confirmed to me:

1.  Westerners really are more open and friendly than us New Englanders.  (Sad, but we do have a reputation of being "closed" and reclusive people.)

2.  Endorphins really do make you happy.  Seriously, this was an unusually happy/friendly bunch.  So the whole exercise-produces-endorphins fact was totally validated as far as I'm concerned.  

I think I would have felt a little intimidated by all these power house athletes, but the fact that just three and half weeks earlier I pushed an entire human being out of my body made me feel comfortably among them.

But regardless, I was so grateful to be flying a mile off the ground with so many great personalities from all different walks (or runs) of life ;)

And to boot, I sat next to a mom and her 20 year old daughter, who were cheerleaders for their husband and dad marathon runner.  Could this possibly be more ideal?  They had no problem with me nursing right next to them, or holding the baby so I could get up when I needed to, and I was so thankful for that!

So why was I flying with such a young baby 3.5 weeks postpartum? 

Well, not to sound cliche or anything, but it was all because two people fell in love :)

Yup, my dad went ahead and fell in love with this fabulous woman, Bertha, whom we all love, and I was so grateful to meet.

I was happy my dad got to meet his newest granddaughter too. (and doesn't he look great!)

My sister planned my trip for me which was so nice and made everything so easy.  (Thanks Kim!)

I had so much fun with she and her family.

Check out my beautiful nieces, Mirium and Liesl:

And I loved seeing my brother Michael.

He loved Rachel too.

I was also psyched to see my brother Josh and sister in law Tausha:

I got to see my aunt Julie, who has lost 36 pounds since the last time I saw her!  Doesn't she look great?

I also got to see my uncle Reese, which is always so fun!

I love Rachel's little face looking up at him.

My sister in law Elizabeth (Rachel's middle namesake) stole me away to take me to lunch and hang out for a bit, and it was so much fun!

Her twins (Simeon and Ciel) came too, and I loved seeing them.

Then came time for the wedding!

And it was a beautiful ceremony.

They looked so happy.

And I got to see two of my great lifelong friends, Kaycee and Lindsey.  I seriously wished I could have stayed out there longer to see more of them.

I also got to see my grandma Jerree, who I love so much.

It was such a great trip.  Short but oh so sweet.

The flight home I sat next to another very nice and accommodating mother/daughter combo, which if you ask me was an obvious blessing and a half!

Because seriously, what are the chances of that happening twice?

And Rachel did awesome.  

No crying.

No painful ears.

Just 5.5 hours of snuggle time with my precious newborn. 

Goodness me, I have THREE!

And I couldn't be happier about that fact.


Just look at my sweet babies.

Our little Rachel Elizabeth joined us on March 22nd, and we are thrilled to death to have her in our family.

And she seems thrilled to be here.

  

If I could possibly describe how much love we all have for this little bundle I would, but there simply aren't words eloquent enough.


She's perfect.


And I have to say that the third time really is a charm.

I am having a completely different experience with this one than I did with my other perfect two.  I'm chalking it up to the fact that before she came, I was shaking in my boots about having three kids. You always hear that three is the real "hum-dinger".  I don't know how many times I've heard, "if you can have three, you can have ten."  And that had me scared.


Real scared.


In fact any glimpse of excitement I'd get would quickly be squashed to smithereens by this dark shadow of fear.  Largely because of just how well I remember those first months with a newborn in the house.  The sleep depravation, the blow-outs, the spit-up, the crying, the post pardom blues, the sleep depravation, the cradle cap, the teething, and did I mention the sleep depravation? ;)


And How on earth was I going to deal with all of this newborn hoopla while dealing with the needs (and shenanigans) of my other two? 


Yeah, I was a little loopy with fear.


But to my lifesaving surprise, an absolute angel was placed in my arms.


-She's an incredible sleeper.
-She doesn't have blow-outs.
-I didn't get post pardom blues.
-She doesn't have cradle cap
-And the spit-up is totally bearable (which is a first).
Not to say that babies who are the opposite of Rachel aren't angels, but I'm so grateful that I got her, just the way she is.


Hallie expresses her love daily for Rachel.  In fact the day we came home from the hospital, Hallie sat on our bed and read to her for a while.

And I was worried about Chan, but he took to her oh so lovingly.

In fact Chandler grew about six inches and gained 40 pounds while we were in the hospital.  He's HUGE, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mourning the loss of my baby boy.  I miss my limitless snuggle time with that little guy.


Elon had a month long paternity leave, which I'm well aware of just how awesome that is.  And in that month, he was my knight and shining armor.
-He cooked.
-He cleaned.
-He tackled mounds of laundry.
-He put Hallie and Chandler to bed every night, solo!
And other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention.


Then the choir sang in my ears when he told me that my job is way harder than his.


Can you say "plumb tuckered"? - The poor guy was exhausted! 

Did I mention that he is in love with his new princess too?

So many people came to visit us, and bring us dinner and/or gifts, which was SO appreciated!

Among these were, my Grandma and Grandpa Libby:

And was there ever a cuter Grandma?

My friend Jen came with her girls:

So did my friend JaNeal with her cutie patutie Sonnet:

And my friend Rose with her daughter Sara:

And others who, for whatever reason, didn't get a picture taken, but are VERY appreciated.


Just check out this sleeping beauty.

She seems to be a "blonder" Hallie, which is kinda fun.


Hallie thinks so too.

St. Patrick's Day 2012

A little catching up needs to take place before I can blog about our sweet new "you-know-who" because our last family memories as the Firmage four are just too sweet to skip. 

Like St. Patrick's day.

This is how the morning started:

And my kids thought that was pretty darn cool!

Then we decided to do a small-scale scavenger hunt for Hallie that involved this little leprechaun Hallie made at school with her 5th grade buddy.  He's been holding our fridge up for a while.

I came into the kitchen and "gasped" telling Hallie and Chandler to come quick.

The leprechaun was missing!

And in it's place was a note: (Elon's handiwork)

He sent her to about four different places, upstairs and down, until at last they reached the hidden treasure:

There he is, dangling above Hallie's little window-well garden on the side of the house.

Isn't that such a sweet reaction?  It was well worth the nine-month-prego sprint I did in my slippers to get out the door with camera ready.

She ate this whole thing up hook, line, and sinker :)

Chandler on the other hand couldn't have cared less.

 And trust me, I didn't make him play with only green toys on St. Patty's day ;)


Then Elon took the kids on a walk to the playground, and I was lucky enough to be sitting out on the porch when they crossed the street home.  Check them out all clad in their green :)

Hallie came running ahead yelling, "mom, we're going on a picnic for lunch, at the park!" 

This was news to me, but what the hay, it was such a gorgeous day, I didn't mind packing up a few sandwiches and drinks to take to the park.

  

And it was packed!  

We had such a fun day.

That night Hallie took each family member's cup (yeah we have our own "special" cup that we use for a couple days before they get washed, otherwise we'd go through cups like tissues and I would go crazy.) and she filled the bottom with those chalky candy hearts left over from Valentine's day, and drew each of us a picture to go along with the candy hearts.  She said it was our St. Patrick's day gift from her, and I thought that was so thoughtful.

  

She then asked where her present was from us.

Hmmm.

Elon politely informed her that we were behind the scavenger hunt, and that it was our gift to her because we knew how much she loved scavenger hunts. 

Unfortunately this went over like a lead balloon because she really thought it was the leprechaun.

I sat back and watched Elon try and dig his way out of that one, and I think for the most part, it ended up okay.  She really knew it was us, but never wanted to be told that it was.  She totally loves to soak up the magic of such things, and I'm so glad she does.

 

Molasses candy

Hallie loves the "Little House" series, and we have three that we've almost completely worn out reading for the past three years.  And probably our favorite one is "Chirstmas in the big woods," because whenever we get to the part about Laura and Mary making molasses candy with Ma, Hallie expresses her desire for us to try making it.

So after three years of talking about trying it, I finally made it a priority out of sheer fear that Hallie was going to sail through childhood without ever filling pans with snow and making swirly little designs out of this simple candy syrup.

The day before, Elon took Hallie to the library to check out the Little House Cookbook.

So during Chandler's nap, I set out the pans, and figured it would for sure happen if I had the ingredients sitting on the counter ready to be poured into the saucepan.

Plus I told Hallie before she got on the bus that we'd make the molasses candy when she got home.  That was probably the most effective thing I could have done in ensuring that molasses candy be made that day.  

And just like clockwork, when she got off the bus, the first thing out of her mouth was, "are we still making molasses candy?"  And I was grateful I could say "yes" with flying colors!  I told her to go in and hang up her backpack and then we'd grab the pans sitting in the entryway and head right back out to fill them with snow.  As we were heading out the door she said, "I can't believe the day is finally here!"  


And I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I handed her a long-handled serving spoon to fill the pans with.  

But I'll tell you what, I'm grateful this shovel was hanging in the garage, because it got the job done lickity split, ensuring that we'd finish while the sun was still up.

Then we headed in for the "heating and stirring" portion of the process.


And Hallie is an expert pour-er.

And stirrer.

Once it had boiled up to a scary temp (with me stirring), Hallie went out and hauled all those pans of snow inside by herself!

And the pouring began.

Funny they didn't turn out quite as attractive as they were in the book :)

And lets just say that the tasting portion of the activity yielded a little girl with a very questionable look on her face.  

In fact, it would've been nice if there was a note to the parents printed up on the same page as the recipe that reads:

         "Attention Parents:

                     If your child has ever eaten a lolly-pop, skittles, m&m's, or any of the like, they will most likely think this candy is nasty."

But we had fun determining some of the shapes.  Can you find the giant #4, U, M, whimsical tea kettle, sitting cat, rainbow, and the little boy driving a car?  

So now I can be at ease to have indulged Hallie and I in something we've been talking about doing for sooo long. 

And even though it didn't turn out to be the most palatable, it made for a fun memory with lots of laughs. (Especially when Elon came home and politely declined a piece ;))

My Golden Birthday

I really had no intention of blogging about my birthday, but it just so happens that this particular one is most likely going down as my favorite yet. 

Yes it was my golden birthday (28 on the 28th) and I swear I'm one of two people who know what a golden birthday even is because everybody else seems to be surprised by the concept.  The back story on how I know, is that at age 15-ish, I went to babysit for a boy (and his younger siblings) who was soon turning 12, and his dad told me that his son's golden birthday was coming up- 12 on the 12th of whatever month it happened to be, and among all the useful knowledge I've learned and forgotten over the years, that one stuck like glue to my brain for 10+ years.   

Anyway, that has nothing to do with why this birthday is blog-worthy.

It has more to do with Hallie getting really into gifts from her, which is really fun to see.   And the day before I became a late twenty, she insisted that her dad take her birthday shopping for me.  So off they went, and they were gone for a really long time.

When they came back, it would be an understatement to say she was bursting at the seams with excitement.  So much so, I thought I might just have to open it a day early.

She said, "I just can't wait for you to see your present!" about 237 times.

Elon then informed me (in private) that she was very particular about what she wanted to get me, and there was absolutely no swaying her, so he hoped I could just "love" it for her.  Of course I didn't need that last bit of instruction, in fact I couldn't wait to see what my Hallie's "100%-gift-from-her" was going to be.  And if nothing else, I was going to love it entirely for that very reason.

So the next day,  I got up to a decorated chair, which pulled at my heart strings when Elon told me Hallie had gotten up early and was busy cutting and gluing (yeah gluing) those little squares on.

Then I opened the card from Elon and Hallie, which had me rolling, cuz if you knew what kind of week Chandler and I have had, you would understand why they just had to get me this one: 

Yup, it's been one wet and poopy adventure after another! (more on that later).


So then came the moment Hallie and I were waiting for.


And I LOVED it!
 
I would not have guessed it in a million years.  


Elon said she waded through a thousand patterns before she decided on this particular one- (It being one of the only dress patterns with modest sleeve options).  Then I have this mental picture of them going over to the giant drawers to locate this pattern (what a great dad!)

And then choosing the fabric was another very lengthy process.  They (with the help of the "fabric lady") narrowed it down to this one.  

Despite Elon's efforts to talk her into going to TJ Maxx to buy me a dress already made, she shot it down with a hefty dose of Hallie logic - "she needs to practice sewing dad." which I find very ironic seeing how a few weeks ago I had a running list of things not to pursue in this season of life I am in, and sewing was one of them.  I guess I'll just have to pull that pattern out, and learn how to do it.  I say "I" but I've already recruited my mom's help :) 


So guess who will be wearing purple next Easter Sunday??  (Once pregnant bellies and nursing are a temporary thing of the past.)  Believe it or not I am so looking forward to making this dress and wearing it.  Was there ever a sweeter gift from a little girl to her mom?!  The thought of Hallie loving me so much to give that much thought to my special day turns my heart to mush, and makes my eyes swim.  


This is why I had to post about my birthday :)

I do however have to hand it to Elon for pampering me with a yummy breakfast, then blindly taking me to Longfellow's greenhouse since my birthday happens to fall in the bitter cold with constant gray skies (which I thought was so creative).  Then we took advantage of my free movie, and dinner!  All around it was a fantastic day.