So grown up.

Everly slept in her crib until she was almost 3, despite her wish to move on. As a caring mother, I kept assuring her that some little girls weren't "lucky enough to sleep in a cozy crib for a long time!". She wised up and stopped buying that as she rounded the corner towards preschooler-hood. I mentioned that she might need a real bed sometime soon to Jeremy, who (in Everly's best interests) surprised me by taking apart her crib and putting up a 'real' bed while I was at work one day. That was a little over a month ago and then the room came to a standstill. I had all sorts of fantasies about creating a big surprise for her, putting in some of the wonderful things for an older girl, and having her walk in and watching her elated smile light up. I didn't get around to it, and now her room housed both nursery items (why do we still have her cloth diapers around?) and all of her collections that she's made as she gets older. I realized last week that walking into her room was like being on the set of Hoarders, so I finally spent a few hours cleaning up, transitioning, and making a big note for Jeremy To Do when he arrived home from work the next morning. We tag teamed it and did a room makeover in just a few hours. And now it's one of my favorite rooms in the house again. Aaaaahh.

I already had her sheets, bedspread, the tent and a floor pillow all stashed in the closet for months now, along with a bunch of big girl decorative things. And in a very thoughtful and romantic gesture, Jeremy and I went to Target and got a bunch of bins on my birthday to organize all of her big girlie stuff.

The only thing I still need to add is a little book rack for her reading corner.

The branch I made to hang over her crib is moved over to the corner.

And the top shelf is still reserved for all her sweet and lovely baby memories for now.

ThirtyWhat?

Simplicity and normalcy is the key to our days right now. So that is the way I ushered in my 34th birthday. With a normal day at work, cupcakes my sweet mom dropped off, a dinner of macaroni and cheese from a box, and reading some very sweet birthday messages on facebook. My oh so favorite part of the day was tearing up while the two littles sang Happy Birthday to me. There's is nothing better than an off-key, make up your own words, substitute your own name, heartfelt version of that song while staring into my eyes so that I know they REALLY mean it. And then repeat and repeat again for each of them. Because, why not? Happy Birthday. To all of us.

Foreverly.

Three years ago my sweet Everly was born at 2am. Just 4 hours prior to meeting her I sent a text that read "I am SO not having this baby tonight". You surprised me then, and you have continued to surprise me throughout your amazing three years. You are my sweet Foreverly.

With all that has happened these past weeks, we celebrated your birthday with a lot of love and simple moments. We started with pizza and presents at La Fiamma.

After you opened up your new fairy furniture, we let you and Parker head to the Toy Garden to pick up a fairy to move in, and stopped for an impromptu Easter craft.We followed that with cookies at Colophon.And some running around town.

Some surprise balloon fun...

And a birthday wish.

To my Tenacious Everly.
Although you are just three years old today, you have been insisting to everyone who would listen that you have been a range of 1 to 7 for months now. I'm glad you've finally settled on three. You wake up in the morning with a big grin on your face and you go to sleep smiling to your pillow. You beam at anyone who glances your way and between that and the twinkle in your eye, you bring joy to those around you. You have an imagination that is beginning to take shape. You talk to your fingers and pretend they are your friends (sometimes well behaved, sometimes not!) and you create stories around your special stuffed animals. You are passionate about your interesting sense of fashion and you have costume changes a minimum of 5 times a day. You are determined to keep up with your brother and that desire has led you to ski on your own, try to ride a bike, attempt to swim, and play cars with the best of them. You like to draw, be read to, and you are up for any adventure. You are sweet, outgoing, determined and you adore pestering your brother. Thank you for making us laugh, for sharing your smile, and treating everyone you meet like your new best friend. I love you and I can't wait to see what this third year has in store!

Love,
Mom

The Golden Egg

This is the first year I've actually dyed eggs with the kids. Call me crazy, but two kids who are prone to spilling everything (literally everything- even things that seemingly cannot be spilled) made me a little wary of activities with instructions with the words "dye pack" in them.

Well 2012, apparently you are my year for throwing caution to the wind. Easter egg dying, here we come. Nothing could persuade me to change the plan that day. After 5 years of preparation for the fated Egg Extravaganza, Parker's ear infection, the fact that he fell asleep at the table at one point, the countless eggs Everly broke, and the smudged dye throughout her hair left me unfazed. Because, really...it was so very, very adorable. Brilliant Easter Egg colors and carefully drawn crayon designs on them will make any heart soften.

Swimming With Fish

The kids have been begging for pets of all kinds for years now. Especially Parks. His latest animal requirements in no particular order are: more cats, a hamster, a gerbil, a dog, a rabbit, a parrot, fish and another dog. Avoiding a mutiny and getting off easy, we got...(drumroll)...fish! Two goldfish. Just about the easiest fish that you can possibly find. And it's a good thing too...


Because just as Everly's love of Molly knows no bounds, so does her love for the fish. Being a natural caregiver, she has rearranged their bowl several times, fed them chocolate chips, stirred their bowl with her toothbrush and toothpaste and also tries to catch them a lot (just to give them a little hug). We might be heading towards a midnight replacement sooner than later.

Parker The Protector is always there to tattle. Which I'm actually encouraging in my effort to Save The Fish.

Their names are Memo and Go-ey. Everly's Memo sounds just like Nemo, only I think Everly actually named her fish after my nickname for my beloved Mimosas. ("Jer? Can you make me a Memo please?") And Parker's was named Stop-ey Go-ey for a while, but we thought that might be sending mixed messages to the fish so he settled on Go-ey. Live on, fish! And good luck.

Standing Still

It is hard for me to believe that it has been three weeks since my last post. I did recover from that cold quickly and then took off on a business trip after a busy week. I returned to another busy week and then on a Tuesday night, two weeks ago, time stood still. And it has been standing still since then.

There was a normal work day, kids to wrangle, dinner plans being made during my lunch, groceries to be gotten and then messages from my husband that kept coming to me in spurts while I was seeing patients. None of them made sense. None of them made me worry. After my last patient left and after my last co-worker had gone home, my husband called. A child in the hospital. A dear friend is in need. I can go straight there. Our dinner plans (with that family) have abruptly ended and a dark tidal wave was beginning to take shape. Our dear friend lost her sixteen year old son that night. Time stood still. Tears, grief, clocks that read confusing hours, emptiness and getting in the car and arriving home after a drive I don't remember.

Our friend moved in with us for these past days that turned into weeks. It felt good to give hugs when needed, cry together, and watch her from across the room, trying to always keep track of this dark tidal wave that is a part of our lives now. We said goodbye to that beautiful sixteen year old boy on Saturday night and I felt the uncertain feeling unfairness creep in and wash over my entire body. How unfair that I was so privileged to have this dear friend at the birth of Everly - to welcome her into the world, and now I had the honor of praying for her son as he left us. Dear, sweet boy. We'll miss you and your smile that lit up the room, your dreams and plans taking shape of becoming a pilot, your infectious enthusiasm for so many things, your ability to lead groups of kids of all ages and create a world of make-believe that inspired all of us who watched from afar. Thank you for making my boy passionate about boats, for stopping mid-stride on your way to your fort to give me a hug, and for endlessly pushing my kids on your tire swing. We will all deeply miss you.