Goodnight Sweetheart

Well, I'm officially the parent of a six year old and two toddlers. I'm not sure when it happened exactly, I've thought of Sera as a baby for so long and she is so little it's hard to imagine that she's 18 months and is starting to talk. See, every night we get ready for bed like everyone else does. We changes diapers, put on jammies, and head to bed. Loralai climbs up into her bed and curls up under the covers with her teddy while Sera and I sit in the rocking chair and rock until Sera is almost asleep. Sera gets put in her crib and she's asleep within seconds then I have time to cuddle with Loralai before she passes out. The girls get one final kiss and an I love you before I head out the door. It's a pretty flawless routine that usually results in limited tears and they both get some time to cuddle just with mommy, a little time during the day when they don't have to share my lap or my attention.

Tonight was different. We went through our normal routine and headed to the bedroom. Loralai grabbed her teddy and hit the sack and Sera and I took a seat in the rocking chair. But she wasn't too excited about cuddling. She was talking and pointing at things and trying to get down. I finally gave up and just put her in bed. She was asleep before I even walked away.

How is it that even though I see her every day I've managed to miss her getting big?? I look at the other two and I do the same thing. The other night I was downloading a ton of pictures off of an old website that I no longer use and came across some pictures that made me realize just how big my girls are really getting. Kira will be 7 in a little over a month. Seven. It's a scary word. We're officially one year closer to boy drama and high school graduation. I mean, how did Mei go from this:

To this:

(ignore the date on the picture, it's wrong)

I guess my point is that I get so caught up in life, that I miss life. I'm sure Sera will want to cuddle again tomorrow night, but she might not. Loralai eventually got to the point where she just didn't want to cuddle very much anymore. I know many moms out there who can sympathize with their kids growing up too fast. I've heard the stories about how time flies when you have kids, I guess I just didn't think it flew by this fast. It seems like just yesterday I was checking into the hospital, and I can still remember so much about each and every single one of them on the day they arrived. Kira's dark skin and how she looked so much like Kris from the moment she was born. Loralai and her super pale almost translucent complexion and how she snuggled right up to me like she knew she was mine. Seraphina had a mop of black hair and the best lungs on the floor, even the nurses complimented how powerful she was.

As a mother these are the memories I hold on to when the girls decide that a 20 pound bag of cat food needed to go all over the hallway floor. I try not to dwell on the fact that I puked more than I pushed the first hour with Loralai, or that the doctors were so worried about my hips dislocating with Sera that they were taking x-rays during labor. I choose to remember this most:

 Little Loralai and how I couldn't wait to hold her and kiss her. I'd been waiting for her for so long, I could hardly even believe she was finally really there.

Seraphina and her fat little cheeks. Those things could put the Pillsbury dough boy to shame.

The way Kira always wanted to be up and looking around. The kid never was content sitting in one spot for more than ten seconds.

I know that the adoration and the emotion that goes along with motherhood doesn't make much sense to the people I know that don't have kids but, for me at least, Bruno Mars had it right when he said, "I would catch a grenade for you, throw my hand on a blade for you, I'd jump in front of a train for you. I would do anything for you." I know the context is all wrong, that song is really totally different than the love for children, but the lyrics are still right. There is nothing in this world I wouldn't do for those girls. It's a devotion that can not ever be denied. And their sweet little kisses at the end of the night, regardless of time spent cuddling, makes every single kibble of cat food worth it.

Rubbish and Love

So I've been putting this off for over a week. I haven't done so intentionally, it's just been another one of those weeks around here. I wish I could say that not all of our weeks are full of hectic-ness and late nights, but I've a good feeling that I've got a few years yet until I'm able to relax in a blissful state of nothingness. Someday, right?

So a month or so ago we bought memberships to zoo and the aquarium. The weather up here a week ago was beautiful! We're talking sunshine, little breeze, and close to 60 degrees. This time of year up here 60 degrees is a big deal. So we packed the cooler, threw some bags and the stroller in the back of the van and headed for the beach! It was nice to know that the whole trip was gonna cost us about $30 bucks worth of gas. We had packed lunch and snacks the night before so we didn't heven have to worry about buying food.

We were at the aquarium around noon and spent about two hours there.We started at the seals and went from there. At first we went to the little windows below and didn't see any seals but Mei managed to grab some awesome pictures of the duck feet and the rays of sunshine coming through the water:

Once we made our way to the upper levels and worked our way through the crowds we finally saw some marine life!

Cute little seals swimming around and chasing each other around the pool. Mei was so excited she almost squealed!




The Oregon Coast Aquarium has this cool new exhibit that displays trash found in the ocean. They've taken tons of trash found on beaches and created art out of it. There is a giant whale skeleton made from plastic milk jugs, a big green turtle made from various bits of green, a jellyfish made of soda and water bottles wrapped in netting, and  a few other really interesting things. It was really enlightening. I never realized how much pollution seeps into our oceans. Certainly makes me rethink those plastic water bottles and soda cans....

The trash tunnels led to the deep dark under ground full of tunnels, sharks, and fish bigger than Loralai. There were sections of the tunnels that had glass on the floor so you could look down and watch the fish swimming underneath. Lora was all about laying on the floor and staring at the "kitties". She could have stayed there all day.

We spent close to an hour in the tunnels and finally headed to the rest of the aquarium. The kids were especially interested in the jelly fish and the touch pools. Loralai kept poking the anemone , and Kira was in love with the starfish

 Mei thought the piranahs and the anaconda were pretty interesting. They had a big mural of how big the anaconda actually was and Mei was flabbergasted that a snake could be that big. They had a neat hole in the middle of the piranha tank that the kids could stand up in and look around:

<----- Piranha




Anaconda
        ---------->






A few years back Meghan showed us this awesome park in Lincoln City that has a HUGE play structure and a small area where the kids can play in the sand and water without the parents worrying about the kids getting run over by boats or dragged out to sea called Regatta Park. We headed there for snacks and playtime after the aquarium. Sera got her first feel of sand and needless to say, she LOVED it!

Nina kept putting sand on her feet and curling her feet together rubbing the sand between her feet. Loralai had more sand in her pants than she did in her shoes. We got home around 6 with three very tired little girls and a day of adventure accomplished. When we looked through the pictures that Mei had taken that day we found some very interesting photos that she had taken while driving in the car. Apparently she got bored hahaha

Kris and I were laughing so hard we were crying, especially over the Gene Simmons rock out look.

We've got plans for a trip to the zoo soon. Hopefully Mei will get bored in the car again and provide us with some high quality entertainment :)

Good Medicine ...

Lately I've been exhausted. Not just a little tired, we're talking the beautiful morning sunshine peeks through the curtains and all I wanna do is chuck a pillow at the window and scream at the sunshine to go away. I know we've all had those days. I know they're normal, right???? Nodding would be a good response... Regardless of my preference for my oh so soft sheets and the weight of the quilt on my back I have managed to gather the strength required to roll out of bed every morning, curling my toes and muttering under breath about that rug I keep meaning to buy when my nice warm toes hit the cold wood floor. One of these days I'll get that rug and quit cursing when I wake up. Some day, right?

It's been a good week in this little cottage we call home. The giggles and quiet conversation between Sera and Lora are growing with every passing hour. Rather than attempting to smother her little sister, Lora has become quit fond of kissing her little "Nono" and letting me know when "Nono" is sleepy, stinky, or "ahnts cuuuupppp". She is turning into quit the little love bug, and I love it. She begs to go outside, and this weekend we certainly managed to do plenty of the outside thing. We made a trip to the aquarium, and hit Regatta Park before heading home (more on that tomorrow night). Tonight I want to delve into the awesomeness of Oregon springs. When you step out the front door to a sunny and clean 59 degree day and bask in the feel of the morning sunlight on your face. The air smells faintly of summer, just a hing of spring flowers mixed with morning dew and fresh cut grass. The breeze rustles the trees in just the right way, and it takes all you've got not to stand with your face upturned into the small streak of sunshine soaking up the distant whir of lawnmower blades and rustle of pine needles against budding pinecones. Then again, why not? Turn your face to the rays filtering through the branches and soak it up baby. It's Oregon, who knows when it's gonna be like this again, right?

Sunshine sure has some amazing medicinal properties. I am pretty sure I managed to get more done last week than I've accomplished in the last 6 months. We've got the back deck completely fenced in underneath, the front walkway is done, and Kris put lattice up for the Honeysuckle to take over. August and blooming Honeysuckle can't come quick enough. Loralai loves the outdoors as much as her parents do. Nina was napping so Lora and I grabbed the monitor and hit the front yard faster than the weather changes in these parts on Friday.

MMei on the other hand is still as much an outside girl as she always has been, but she's slowly starting to prefer inside. She's super big into this whole fashion designer/model thing and there is no talking the girl out of it. The camera for Christmas was a HUGE hit by the way, she never puts the thing down.

Most of the pictures of her are taken by her, as well as a lot of the ones I post on here and on Facebook. She's pretty good with a $40 Kodak, think we may have a backup plan for the future in case the whole Paris fashion designer thing doesn't work out. She;s growing up faster than I realized she would, and it's becoming more apparent every day that I didn't grow up as fast as she did. I try to ignore the fact that every once in a while she tells me she's not a baby and glares at me when I tell her she'll always be my baby. Six going on 16 folks. We definitely have our hand full.

Night times are easily the best part of our day around here.I mean, who can resist a bathtub full of shrieking, laughing, yummy smelling littles?

 And baby footprints? Melt my heart folks, although after three kids I gotta admit those darn Hallmark commercials warrant tissues far more often than they did 10 years ago (which was rarely ever by the way and is now practically every stupid time!).

There are always going to be days when the sweet bliss of sleep calls to me far stronger than a double espresso, but there is nothing that could ever compare to the little things in life that make every day better than the last. Here's to more days of seeping sunlight, the whir of lawnmowers, and rose buds; but right now I think I'll settle for that nice cozy set of sheets and the weight of a nice warm quilt holding me down.