Crista Acosta Photography »

How I love you.  You and your long days, filled with shrieking laughter of the little ones.  Brimming with the promise of summer… of hours spent outside letting the sun slowly kiss the shoulders of my babes until their skin is a nice golden brown.  I love the simple pleasures that come with beginning of summer, the pure joy of slowing down to enjoy family and friends.  The countless barbecues, and impromptu get togethers.  The long summer nights filled with meandering conversation among friends under the twinkly lights in our little tent on the patio.  The dirty little feet that parade up our back steps every night, exhausted and protesting bath time with the pleas of playing outside for “just a few more minutes, peeeeeease?”.  The sprinkler swirls around in our yard much to the delight of the littles, who easily lose their afternoon running through the streams of water and creating their own games.  The driveway becomes an every changing mural of sidewalk chalk, and my heart is happy.

June, don’t tell October, but you’re my second favorite…. and I welcome with you with open arms.

I can’t believe you’re already two.  Yesterday we celebrated your birthday with all the people who love you, and I thought back to the day you were born.  The moment our Dr announced “it’s a boy!” and Daddy looked over at me beaming with pride and said “that’s L.A.’s best man” will forever be seared in my memory.  A whole lifetime of you two playing, wrestling, and leaning on each other flashed before my eyes.  From the very beginning, you have been the snuggliest little man in the world – something I soak up every chance I get.   You’re our soulful one, the one who sits back and watches with those big brown eyes, taking in the entirety of a situation before deciding if you want to participate.  In the quiet safety of our own house though, you are a jokester and a crazy man.  You’ve taken to stripping down to your birthday suit on a regular basis and parading around the house proudly pointing at your chest with a big smile saying “I King Nakies!”.  Though slightly inconvenient, it makes me laugh and I never want to forget that.

I love everything about you.  Your crazy surfer curls, your crooked little teeth, those deep dark eyes.  I smile every time you ask when the phone rings “Who dat?”.  I marvel at how tall you’ve suddenly gotten, and wistfully take notice of the way your face is changing, the baby features slowly fading and being replaced with those of a child.  I relish the way you snuggle your face into the curve of my neck when you’re tired, sometimes closing my eyes and just breathing in the memory.

My little peanut, my monkey baby, happy (day after) your birthday.

One year ago today, on a Thursday evening I was working late in my office when when your dad came home from work.  From the minute my eyes met his, I knew something was going on.  It was the day that we learned about you.  There were tears, and shaky hands, and a million questions, but you were already a part of our family – a part of our future.  From that very first night amidst all of the confusion, there was never a question that you would be a part of our lives.  It would be a little over a week until we actually met you, but over the next few days more information started to trickle in.  Your name, bits of your personality and your past, a picture of your sweet face.  I will never forget the first time I saw that picture.  I cried, because you looked so much like your brothers.  I’m not going to lie, those first few days (weeks?) were a blur of emotion and pockets of numbness, fear of the unknown and a whole lot of hope.

I can’t believe it’s already been a year, and yet I can’t believe it’s only been a year that you’ve been in our lives.  We’ve come so far – all of us – but you, especially.  From the quiet little girl who was so scared and unsure – to the crazy singing, dancing, loving one that you are now.  Early on you were so timid with Daddy, and while we understood it completely, I think we yearned for the day when you would feel comfortable and be able to let your guard down.  So on those nights when we’re all snuggled up reading in bed and I look over at you nuzzled into the nook of his arm with tears in my eyes, know that they’re happy tears…. insanely happy tears that come from a place so deep in my heart.

You are gift, S.G.  A gift that we were incredibly lucky to receive, and I hope as you get older you will understand how much we love you.

Happy one year family anniversary.

So says my little wiser than his years three year old.  He’s been having a rough time lately.  C and I aren’t sure what’s going on… he’s always been “spirited” (is that the latest PC way to say super fresh?), but lately he seems to have gotten more intense.  He’s having a hard time controlling his frustrations, and it’s wearing on all of us.  We’ve been spending an awful lot of energy redirecting, reprimanding, regrouping, and trying to figure out a way to help his behavior.  Yesterday was a really tough day for all of us, and as I drove to pick the boys up today, I said a little prayer for patience.

Funny how that works, because today was a gift.  The lift exactly when I needed it, from the moment he ran to me with arms outstretched – it has been a wonderful day.  The kind of day where you marvel at how amazing your children are, and tuck the memory away to pull out on a difficult day.  The type of afternoon where we dug in the dirt for hours and looked for treasures, where I chased the boys around the yard while they shrieked in delight, and music filtered over our fence from the neighbor’s yard as if providing a soundtrack for our fun.  Music really does help your heart.

It was a day that makes all the rough ones worth it…. and this?  This is the icing on the cake.

He needs a haircut, and I have a few of him with a super smile on his face, but this one… this one tugged at my heart because I know the twinkle behind those eyes is saying “mom, I really am not interested in taking a picture, but I will because I love you”.  The only trade off was he made me promise if I took his picture that he could take mine.  Not bad for a three year old and a camera that uses back button focus.

I love that boy so much.

I want to talk about the prelude to Spring we’ve had these past few days, but can we first touch on this little one?  My quiet, laid back, easy going guy?

Yeah, well… I may have jumped the gun a bit on that description.  It’s been a transition I’ve noticed happening over the past few weeks… a little defiance here, a little lack of fear there… and then before you know it we’re spending Saturday morning in the E.R. getting staples in his head after an unfortunate fall from the lego table onto a monster truck.  Le sigh… I swore he’d be the “easy” one.  Back to the drawing board there.

Prior to that incident though, there was Friday night… A night reminiscent of summer evenings playing in the driveway until the sun finally sets behind the neighborhood and our children protest as they walk up the back stairs, dirty and finally worn out.  We’re all having a bit of spring fever around here, and these couple semi warm (okay, not freezing) days have us already pulling out all the riding toys from under the deck.  Bundling up, and yelling over the fence for the neighbor’s children to come play.  The adults smile inwardly as the big ones have truck races, and then run circles around each other – while the little ones are learning how to share again after months off.  My peanut excitedly points to the sky as each airplane swoops low above our trees preparing to land in the next town over.

Those two little stinkers above?  Not gonna mince words.. that scuffle ended in a full blown meltdown complete with tears and the necessary mama cuddles at the conclusion.  The end of our Saturday evening brought another preview though… of our friends and neighbors gathering around our patio for a shared drink and good conversation as the sun kissed the sky goodnight.

The weekend was full of all things outdoors…. Sunday morning was a driveway coloring, basketball playing, bike riding, t-ball learning, Daddy snuggling kind of morning.  (Sidenote: How the heck does my sweet girl suddenly look 14?!?!)

It was a beautiful, long, love filled weekend.  Lots of lounging, and reminders of all the joy there is to be had once the last of our snow pile melts away and the ground finally dries up.  Picnics, and running through sprinklers, and late night chats with friends by the dim light of our gazebo.

Happy (almost) Spring, friends.  I can’t wait!!

Before I run out the door to go snuggle a sweet little girl who was born on Valentine’s Day, here are some things that are getting me through this cold chilly winter.

1.  An old photo of C and I (circa 2000) that sits on the windowsill over our sink.  I glance at it as I wash dishes some nights and smile at the two crazy kids we were back then.  Sparkly eyed with love, and our whole lives ahead of us.  It’s a good reminder of where we came from on days where the kids are driving us batty or we’ve been snippy with each other, because I know deep down we’re still just those crazy kids in love.

2. The Shack by WM Paul Young.  I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m hooked.  I fully expect to devour the rest of this book before Monday arrives.

3. Tulips.  I’ll admit, this picture has been sitting on my iPhone for a few weeks now, and those beautiful flowers have since made their way to floral heaven.  Have you treated yourself to a fresh flowers this winter?  I know they brighten up my whole week when everything is cold and grey outside.

4. Burt’s Bees.  As an admitted chapstick addict, I have no idea how I have lived (almost) 31 years without this in my life.

5. My kids loving each other when they think no one is watching.

6. Family traditions that started back when we were just dating, and now carry through to our family of five.  C and I have always signed each other “I love you” in the morning before we part, and I love watching the littles try to contort their fingers to participate.

7. A beautiful warm quilt and my toasty slippers.

8. Tyler Candles.  I love these things…. such beautiful scents, and pretty little jars to boot.  My favorite scent at the moment is Wysteria Lane… it’s a hint of Spring inside the house.  To make it even better, I know the best dealer in Connecticut.  ;)

9. Pretty coffee mugs that bring a smile to my face.

Every once in a while, I’m looking for something in my computer, and I’ll hunt around and bounce into our family photos.  Yesterday, while doing exactly that I found this gem of little dude.  Taken in October when the air was still warm and our grass was still visible, it’s SO him.  That little impish smile, the dimples, the twinkle in his eye.  I don’t even remember taking this photo, likely because it was in the height of my busy season and it wound up sitting in a dusty folder on my desktop to be forgotten.  It’s a reminder to me though to keep taking photos of them, even when I don’t feel like it… because maybe, just maybe… one of them will show up to brighten a frigid February day.

Here’s hoping for no more snow days (this week, at least!).  I thought I’d share another snowy day project we’ve been working on so that you might tuck it into your back pocket in case you needed some crafty inspiration.  Sweet Girl recently started getting Highlights delivered to our house, and I might have been more psyched than she was.  I LOVED Highlights when I was younger.  These cute little guys were in the latest issue, and totally adorable for Valentine’s Day.  So here they sit, adorning our mantle… one for each member of our family.

Things you’ll need:

Styrofoam eggs, paint, pipe cleaners, pom poms for the head and nose, googlie eyes, and felt to cut out for the hands, feet, belly decorations and wings.

Have fun!