Time is...

Art is long, and time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Today I spent a combined 3 hours (at least) of cuddling today while reading or singing: fairy tales, nursery rhymes, lullabies...all the while knowing that in a few years these activities will no longer be on the daily agenda. If you can comprehend carrying around a 50lb. weight around on your body everyday, and felt your veins might just be filled with poison instead of blood, than you can imagine only a few reasons why this felt really, really nice. But mostly, I just love getting a microscopic view of Flora's button nose and Elliot's long eyelashes while I memorize their personal scents (bad breath and all). 

Baths make me tired too.

Mood-balancing activities not pictured: Cleaning poo smears off the carpet and chubby toddler legs.

The Weekend Starts Now!

Pretty much every year, all I ask for for my birthday/Mother's Day is a day off. The husband will take all three children away (including nursing baby...eek!) for 24 hours starting Friday night. I will proceed to finish every project that has been piling up for the last five years, and then...we all return together happy. This is what I may be up to when large with child, but this year it's gonna be blood, sweat and tears, of joy. My major obective? THE MASTER BEDROOM. This poor room is always left at the bottom of the pile when chores are concerned and I am ready to have a place to escape and relax to instead of what is currently a cave. In the five years we've lived here, it has never (not once) been painted and I am more than ready to get rid of the pasty pink nightmare someone once called "barney beige"! One day I'll even finish that king size quilt and bag the wal-mart ghetto-quilt (even though I'm kind of attached now).

I've been prepping for two weeks now to get things lined up for the big day.
Let's see if I can't get most of this done in 24 hours:

Paint:
Bedroom walls: alfalfa
Ceiling: white (NEVER paint your ceilings anything else people!)
Doors: white (don't paint those anything else either! And don't get me started on the closets! ack!)
Headboard: chartreuse (yeah, that one. the baby blue beauty that's been in my garage for three years)
Desk: just like this


And if I have time (assuming I get the above finished):

Sew:
King Bed Skirt
Day-Light Curtains

And if I really get on a roll with that audio book (it's a good one):

Paint:
Family room ceiling: white (last room to have been painted in the house, also "barney beige").
Family room walls (sand the mud from projects first).
Touch up banister chips and kitchen cabinets.


I also hope to enjoy a bike ride, a run, some homemade cooking to my liking,  a little soaking in the tub and one very good nights rest. My only real distraction will be pumping every so often.;) Sound like heaven? There's more... Rod is picking me up Saturday night for an all-you-can-eat sushi date! Am I excited?
Hell Yes.


If I had 4 more weeks days , they might include:

• A Deep Clean scrubbing of the enitre house (blinds, curtains, window tracks, floors, drawers, closets, shelves, carpets, doors, walls...  etc), including organizing every square inch of pictures, files, all systems.
• Sewing to my hearts content: quilts, dresses, baby clothes, accessories, refashioning, recovering furniture, home decor...the list would never stop.
• Gardening for hours on end, planting new spring perennials & maybe a few annuals, weeding every square inch with endless audio books in my ear.
• Painting & drawing in the mountains for pleasure. Hiking with my camera.  Building a treehouse in my (too small) Locust tree. And possibly boarding a plane to a secret destination for spontaneity's sake (that day would have to come with some extra cash too).
• These days also include reading in bed until 2 a.m. nightly, eating in-season/local produce & soup/sandwhiches by the belly-full and exercising when temperatures/vista views are ideal (sunset or sunrise).

What would YOU do? I'm honestly interested, do tell?



Ready? Set? GO!

P.S. Don't call or come a knockin'. I won't be answering. Thanks, in advance.
 Oh, and I also carry a knife/gun/poisonous arrows under my pillow... for any freaky stalkers out there who want to mess.

P.P.S. I just realized I'm out of dark chocolate. Not. Good. 

Winter Break

Excuse the delay on my ultra-boring 2009 recaps 

(which I have no choice in finishing now, so please brace yourself...).

No excuses really, just been kind of unmotivated and sick of posting about 6+ months ago. January surprised us with warmer temperatures than December and we've been outside every minute the sun has (even if it still meant freezing our extremities off). I have been soaking up these three beautiful babies in the sun's absence and holding on to more good moments than I can count or store away in my pocket; and that sort of makes me sad. How I love them so. Oh, how much better I am at being a Winter Mom when I'm not pregnant!

Plus we're all in a fluff getting ready to visit my family in WA/OR for the next little while. Fun times ahead. Let's hope I quit having gallbladder attacks so I can put my nose to the blogstone when we return.

Have you ever gotten drunk off the breeze?

Today, I did.

{photo credit here}

Maybe it was the constellations that were still visible and sparkling at 5am.
Maybe it was the thin sheet of fluffy cotton spread over our azure globe all day; a blue only Autumn can produce.
Maybe it was those dreamy clouds that left only enough patches for the sun rays to perfectly kiss your skin warm.
Maybe it was the dying leaves struggling to hold on to their tip-top fingers while filling the air with sweet, crispy rustling sounds.
Maybe it was the children coming home from school on their wheels of all shapes and sizes, holding onto the last days of their summer shorts and sensing their seasonably quiet neighborhood.
Maybe it was our lawn that stopped growing weeks ago, but has left quite a comfy mattress for a blanket and bound fairy tale.
Maybe it was the mile-high-library-pile of Dr. Seuss books for Elliot and Encyclopedias for Milo that made their way to the trampoline with pillows and giggles.
Maybe it was the several pairs of rosy, dirty cheeks blurring down the corkscrew slide at the park.

Or perhaps, it was just the cool, clean breeze that lifted my chin to the sky and kept my gaze there for what felt like hours. It's been too long since I noticed you, Father Sky...


At any rate, it's days like these that someone would have to drag me away from this state in a straitjacket if they expected me to live anywhere else. Just don't ask me in January, Ok?

One of those days.

You know?
Those days that start slowly and sweetly.
The temperature is picture perfect.
A sweet, late summers breeze and a sleeping baby.
The kids are happy and playing.
Garden produce is plentiful.
Relishing my last year with three at home.
No school, no schedule.
Underwear bums and juicy faces.
Picnic patio lunches and dragonfly chasing.
I breathe easy and count my blessings.
And wait for it to come again.

Until then,
The spaghetti sauce is not going to make itself.

Back to the daily grind.

Mom

This afternoon I happened upon a picture...
and instantly burst into tears (postpartum hormones).


This is my mother.
She is holding my older brother.
She is swinging next to my older sister.
She is probably pregnant with me.
She is at a park with her kids.
She is happy.
They are happy.


Mothers have been doing these kind of things for centuries.
And now I am doing it.
And I am happy.


Thanks for taking such good care of us, mom.

Suddenly, taking care of a newborn is as easy as pie.

No one should be as spoiled as I.

My family's support with Flora's birth has been amazing; a miracle to me, really. Tay was here all summer and through the first week after Flo was born. My mom arrived the very night that Tay left and got us through a very stressful weekend, along with the help of my awesome in-laws (there was more to it than mentioned in the last post, trust me). Now, my mom has driven back to Oregon with the boys where my sister and then dad will be watching them for the next TWO WEEKS!
No meals to be made or messes to clean up after, no bums to be wiped or teeth to be brushed, no bedtime routines or disciplining, no whining, or teasing, or running away. What mom wouldn't give anything in her world for a few days of that? But, I sure will miss those dirty faces and little voices...and I hope my poor pregnant sister survives. I thought I'd be jumping for joy but today has been a little rough. Just give me some time.


Although I have mixed feelings about them being gone so long (I actually sobbed when they left, even though I previously laughed myself silly at the thought), I am mostly SO excited to have Flora Jane all to myself. I mean, seriously, look at her. I have to stop myself from inhaling those cheeks.

Lower on the list of priorities, besides snuggling with my little girl, are:

Napping
Reading
Eating
Exercising
Sewing
Painting
Organizing
Cleaning
Reupholstering
and working my way through My Project List literally four pages long, front and back, without much interruption. I am on a mission!

Please don't be offended if I don't answer or return your calls!
(Oh wait, I never do anyways.)

How to pamper yourself when gifted 24 hours alone:

1. Make dinner (easy & delicious).
2. Listen to fresh book on ipod (a good one!).
3. Deep clean house, top to bottom (oh my, that felt good... 5 hours later)
4. Midnight yoga session (not as easy as it once was, but still refreshing).
5. Lavender bath (ran out of essential oil, had to use scented baby bath).
6. Clean-sheeted bed (king size and all to my very large, achy self).
7. Morning tea & fruit plate (childhood favorite: bananas on watermelon checkerboard).
8. Attempt at a long walk (back did not agree).
9. Actually get dressed and put on make-up (and took my time!).
10. Personal reading under morning sun (just about done with this one).
11. Pick yard bouquet of lilacs and do some gardening (ooooo, they smell divine).
12. Still listening to my book on the ipod (still good).
13. Finish sewing dress (forgot to pick up right color thread for 2nd dress, dang it).
14. Finish laundry (yeah, you heard me: done...for now).
15. Eat left over soup, veggie sandwich & fruit smoothie (um, favorite combo, ever).
16. Work on mile-high-stack of pin-wheel quilt squares (didn't get even close to finishing).
17. Cut out new dress pattern and fabric (mmm, olive green & stretchy).
18. Finish book on ipod (oh yeah, it was good).
19. Bake double chocolate oatmeal cookies (even though I shouldn't have but still guilt-free).
    
20. Watch my three boys roll in from their adventures (never seen them so dirty and exhausted...wished I would have sent husband with camera).
21. Wash them up just in time for babysitter (in my newly scrubbed tub, cringing).
22. Movie and dinner with husband (made him get clean first too).
23. Home to sleeping kids and ready to zonk myself (fell asleep in 3 seconds flat).
24. Enjoy a relaxing Sunday with weather that couldn't be more beautiful (and an adorable family I am quite fond of, once again).

Thanks Rodger. Let's do this again sometime.

It's that time again.

Time to clean out some picture folders.

Here are a few from the last few weeks:

Another Bluth get-together in Elkridge, UT.

Elliot is finally warming up to Great-Grampa Santa.More cousins! Casey & Shane.
Welcome home from the mish, Shaney.

Their younger brother, also my cousin, Kaden.
He's a hoot.

Cousin Kaeli, the only girl in her fam.
She's spicy, and she knows it.Aunt, Uncle, & Cousin Logan.
This kid has a 3.99 GPA!

Casey is my closest-age-cousin.
We kissed a lot when we were 2.

Great-Grandmother Boynton came up from Arizona.
She is simply incredible.

Seriously though, wasn't he adorable?

And I thought this fabulous picture was hilarious.

But I can't decide which is funnier: us in ecstasy, or Steve's roar.

The day before I left for AZ:

They were loving it, but I didn't have enough energy for a snow man.
Next time boys, ok? There will be plenty of next times, trust me. Yummy.

Cousin Reags had a Birthday Bash.

She wasn't messin' around either.
(This is only 1/16 of the people in attendance.)

My Alpha Dog.

I'm loving Rod's beard.He'd like us all to refer to him as "Alexander the Green Dragon."

I get to babysit this Sweet Thing every so often.
She is the BEST baby.
(Are 18 month-olds still babies? hmm...they are to me.)

Bed Time= Wild TimeElliot hits low and aims for Milo's precious Go-Wack.Nakey-J-Bird-Bath-Time-Routine

Which of course, always ends in tears.