Dear Elsie, almost 17 months

Dear Elsie,
You are almost 17 months old. That is amazing and awesome. You are so full of life, so full of passion and so determined. Not a day goes by when your daddy and I don't comment, "She's really fun" or "She's so sweet, isn't she?" You amaze us and surprise us.

I'm not sure what we were expecting...probably another little Ivar. But you are completely your own and I love getting to know you.

You are messy. Food ends up everywhere on you and you don't seem to mind. But this pairs well with your love of baths. You also have a real joy for toothbrushes. Most of the day you will have a tooth brush in your mouth or in your hand. If anyone is in the bathroom, you come begging. Your stocking this year will be full of tooth brushes, and I can't wait to see your reaction.

You don't let me put you down until you are ready. Your little legs clench my waist and if I dare peel you off of me you let me have it. Your scream is angry and your feelings are so sad. There's a real hint of drama in you, Elsie. I'm sure we'll see more of that as the years go on.

You have just a few words: Baba, Mama, Dada, Lolo (lotion, for your itchy, sensitive skin), Daydo Daydo (kitty, chicken, animal...) and my personal favorite: Crakah (which can either mean cracker and tractor).

Going outside is your very favorite thing to do. You get very excited when we start to bundle up and helpfully bring your shoes and jacket to me. Once outside you visit the cats and talk and laugh with them, and then visit the chickens. Even in this terrible cold you insist on being outside and protest with sadness when it is time to come back inside.

You love your brother, and lately have been taking the lead in finding things to do. He watches you, and no matter what you are playing with, you make it look fun. So he wants it too. You are the one who pulled out all of the canned goods to play with. You are the one who figured out how to climb onto the kitchen table with no assistance.You are the one who waddled into the living room with the bread knife you found in the open dishwasher. You have no trouble finding things to do...

When you wake up in the morning we will hear you jumping in your crib, hanging onto the crib you jump as high as you can. And it is impressively high. Eventually you tucker out and start to call for us. But listening to your squeaky mattress crib aerobics in the baby monitor makes us laugh every time.

We love you so much, Elsie. Love your smile. Love your spirit. Love your strong sense of self.
I am so glad you are mine.
Love,
Mama

baby shepherds of the star!

Ivar keeps our days full of giggles. And I make a serious effort to grab a pen to get the words down exactly as they were said...because you can't make this stuff up.

My personal favorite as of late was while he was playing the the fabric nativity people that velcro onto our advent calendar. He said,  "Baby shepherds of the star! Don't talk grumpy! Okay. That's better. That's nice."

Ivar was making up silly nonsense words to the song Let it Snow.
I said, "That is super funny."
Ivar replied, "It certainly is."

While he was telling me something he snorted involuntarily. It was like he inhaled too quick and it really surprised him. He said, "Did you hear that sound? That was in my butt hole that is way back in my mouth!" And he pointed between his upper lip and nose.

Ivar wanted a watermelon when we were at Alde and we discussed foods that are out of season. This morning while eating breakfast he commented, "We haven't had rice krispies in a long time!" He ate for a while and then added, "That's nice it's rice krispies' season."

(This picture above stopped me in my tracks. He looks so old. I felt like I caught a glimpse of who this boy will be in a few years. The picture on top is still more "true" to who I see every day...but something about the expression in this second shot made me remember this boy is growing every single day!)

painting projects

After finishing the kitchen, and loving it, I decided to keep moving on this whole 'paint the house' project. Saturday I went to Menards and found the paint guy who knows me quite well now and told him I was moving onto the stairwell. Ivar helped me before he went down for his nap.

The next night I got a little carried away. I finished my second coat on the bottom of the stairs, and decided it might look nice to paint the wall going up the stairs red as well. I worked fast, excited about this idea. And not until the wall was painted did I step back.

And I didn't like it immediately. It felt gloomy. And I don't do gloomy.

So Monday night I cracked open an old can of primer and covered my mistake. I might have been more annoyed, except Rory was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and this made for awesome listening as I repainted two walls.

And then on Tuesday night I put down my first coat of Antique White, or Masking Tape...the same color I painted our sunny room.

Wednesday night I worked on a message I was giving at our thursday morning bible study. But Thursday night I hit it again, while listening Carrie Underwood in the Sound of Music. And that was way less fun than Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

And now it's done! Last night I taped up the upstairs hallway so it's ready to be painted next. Since I have all the paint stuff out anyway...

Currently I'm at the auto shop with the truck, hoping we can get the wiper fluid to stop leaking and start squirting. I love it here. It's quiet, they have coffee and I'm catching up on so much. I'm off today for my second Soul Sisterhood Mother Daughter Retreat and feel so ready to hole up for a weekend of crafting and cooking with moms and daughters. Happy Weekend everybody!

real life decorating

We drove home from Thanksgiving and got all fired up to spend the next day decorating the house. We talked excitedly to Ivar about putting lights on the chicken coop, setting up all of the nativity sets and hanging the advent calendars on the wall. 

We went to bed and woke up the next morning and I was in a terrible mood. Just crabby. Rory was ready to hit it, but I was annoyed that the kitchen had been hit by a bomb. I wanted to take half a day to clean the house before we added more stuff to it. And then I said, "what I'd like to do is rearrange the furniture in the living room, but if we do that, I really should just paint the walls when we have the china hutch moved out in the middle of the room. And if we do that, then we really shouldn't hang anything on the walls yet, until the walls are painted and we know where everything is going."

At this point Rory told me he'd be outside hanging the christmas lights on the chicken coop.

He walked outside and I heard what I had just said. I decided to take a timeout. A timeout for me includes a cup of coffee and putting my contacts in. I took a few moments, let the caffeine hit my system and realized I wasn't up for moving furniture either.

The miraculous part of the day is that it actually turned around. Rory came back in the house and I told him I had uninvited Crabby Becca to our Friday. I introduced him to Caffeinated Becca and it worked. She was much nicer and we actually had a second start to our day.

That, and I completely lowered my expectations realizing we couldn't do everything I wanted to in my head. I had Ivar play happily with all the decorations from one bin while I cleaned my kitchen and got a handle on my house. I was completely able to join back in the merriment.

It's funny the way life actually plays out sometimes. The vision you have in your head versus the reality of the moment. You don't ever see bad moods on Pinterest. I was thinking about Friday's events while we unwrapped our tree tonight. We had planned on getting it with Mark and Kathy again on Monday, but the forecast is supposed to be terribly cold, and we each have little kids. The awesome idea of cutting our own tree and the reality of freezing temperatures and blowing snow just didn't match up this time. So Rory went out tonight....by himself...and bought a tree at Menards while I gave the kids a bath. It's not a super inspired story, but it's real life. And the tree is beautiful. 

Anyway, I think I'm writing all of this to say that I believe I am actually making progress in letting things go. Pinterest can set the bar pretty high. And some of those things are possible, but not all of those things are possible. And sometimes the heightened expectations can turn a girl into a monster. But what I'm learning is that the girl still has control over the monster and can reset her ideals in order to make a much happier home. 

milk and cookies party

Last December we invited all of the people on our street to our house for a Milk and Cookies party. It was the easiest little gathering in the world to plan. The house is already looking festive and all you have to do as the host is provide the beverages (and clean your bathrooms).

It's a great way to see neighbors in the wintertime and an easy way to build community with the people you wave to nearly every day. This year Ivar helped me make invitations by watercolor painting the back side. Last year I just made ten phone calls and verbally invited everyone.

I wanted to throw this idea out there, because I have a feeling there are many of you readers who would totally be up to hosting something like this. And it's still early enough in the month to pull it off. Don't over think it. Just go build community! Eat cookies! And enjoy your neighbors!