so sweet

These kids of mine, I tell you what, I sure love them so much.  

3:45 a.m. happiness

As I was turning off the light after nursing little miss H, the sight of these shoes filled my heart with happiness.

I bought them yesterday.  I've walked my old running shoes to a status of "mostly dead."  I can still walk in them, but I'm certainly not going to start up running again in them.

I'm excited and little bit scared to run again.  I haven't run since December, and even in December I was only doing about 5 minutes of running to 10 or 15 minutes of walking.  Hopefully my body will remember how to do it and it won't be too painful.

Here's to jogging at least twice this week, however many minutes I can make it!

love

I love seeing snow dusting mountain tops (it happens even here, I promise!).
I love when my little boy can't do anything else after coming home from the library until he's looked at all his newly-checked out books.
I love grapefruit.
I love watching M*A*S*H with my love.
I love feeling this littlest one squirm and poke around inside me.
I love imagining holding her in about a month's time.
I love singing, singing, and singing some more whatever song Eamon is currently fixated upon.
I love pancakes.
I love remembering what it feels like to run and bike.
I love gazing at my little angel boy asleep.
I love sitting in the sand, digging, filling up buckets, and creating "towers," just so Eamon can crush them down under either his hands or feet.
I love kisses and hugs from my boys.
I love blooming trees.

five pounds for one dollar

oranges.

deliciously sweet and juicy oranges.

we bought a bulging bag full of them.

now i'm wishing i would have gone for ten pounds.

because we'll polish off the rest tomorrow.


it's always nice to find a great buy like that because living here is not cheap.

sleeping in?

The past few mornings I've woken up just before six and found myself unable to drift back to sleep.  My aching hips weren't even the culprit this morning--it was my spinning and swirling mind.

I think about this baby squirming around inside me.  I think about Eamon and Andrew.  I think about all our loved ones.

I think about what E and I are going to do to entertain ourselves (i.e. not die of boredom) this week.  

I think about these lines: "For women giving birth for the first time, labor usually lasts between 12 and 24 hours, with an average of 14 hours.  For women who have given birth before, labor usually lasts between four and eight hours, with an average of six hours" (from my pregnancy bible).  If I was "average" the first time around, I hope to follow the trend this time around.

I think about dumpster diving and how we found a chest of drawers last night outside by our garbage cans.  Score!  We also found a nice tall lamp that works.

I think about this talk about caregiving.

I think about how blessed we are, how blessed I am.  Usually I wish I could sleep until E wakes me up, but I  realize these quiet morning moments also bless me; it's nice to have some space and time to read, write, and think.  I know once this new little one comes, moments like these will be even more rare.  But oh how I can't wait to bask in the presence of such a newly born babe.

Happy Sabbath.

german pancakes

Over a week ago, Eamon began his morning singing.  It could have been "Down by the Bay" or "Baa Baa Black Sheep" or something else entirely.  The point is, the kid is pretty happy when he wakes up in the morning, so it's not the most unpleasant task to open his door, walk over to his crib, tell him, "Good morning, Sunshine," lift him up and out, and kiss his neck.

After replacing his wet diaper with a clean and dry one, we made our way into the kitchen.  He has become quite an expert Whisk Holder, Flour Dumper, and Egg Beater.  Luckily we haven't had any major messes because he carefully mixes whatever we happen to be making.  Besides some flour here and there, it's usually a jolly good time with not too much mess.

First we mixed the white flour with the wheat.  Then we added the milk.  The most exciting part came next--eggs.  Eamon gets very excited about eggs.  Who wouldn't?  They're beautifully shaped and out of them comes such a gooey and colorful substance.  And when making German pancakes, you need at least six of them.  After taking turns at mixing, we added it to our hot and slightly buttered dish.

"Pancakes?  Pancakes?  Pancakes?"  He petitioned and questioned several times during the requisite waiting period.

"Soon, Hon, in a little bit they'll be done."

Done baking, the big fluffy pancake was taken out of the oven.  We topped our portions with Gramma Joyce's apple pie filling and some syrup.  I was taken straight back to Gramma and Grampa's house in Springville.  Gramma would fix us these after sleepover nights.  Oh my goodness, they are pretty much the best thing I've ever tasted.  It was the most scrumptious meal we've had in a long time.  Even Andrew was rather impressed.

We have enough apple topping for one more German pancake breakfast (we've enjoyed one other since this first one).  We will certainly cherish and enjoy it.

I now have a new goal: learn how to can Gramma's apple pie filling.

a new year

We've been busy having good times.  The snow has piled high all around the house and we crunch our feet in it every time we go outside.

I thought I'd take a few moments to record things I'm grateful for of late:

• Andrew changing E's diaper last night while we were in the JSMB.  (It's getting harder to wrestle that bug, especially with this growing belly.)
• Walking on the track this morn as Marmee ran.
• Going up to Temple Square last night with my boys, Josh, Ma, and Pa.  
• Hearing Eamon say, "Big one Jesus," as he gazed up at the Christus.

Well, that's all I have time for now.  E just woke up, so more later, hopefully.  Happy new year!