December 3: My mom ordered a pattern for a super neato advent calendar and spent many hours sewing it for us. It has Jesse tree ornaments and verses. Hannah loved hanging up the ornaments and helping to tell the stories.

My sister sent me a recipe for easy gluten-free cookies since we’re trying to keep Violet off for a while to iron out some digestive issues (but she’s doing better with dairy, woohoo!).

So the cookies turned out well even though I didn’t really use the actual measurements and I added a banana. Someone was trying to sneak them while I was taking a picture.

Then a cookie meltdown ensued. There was wailing and repeated pointing to the cookies while dramatically signing “please.” So we took a cookie meltdown picture.

After dinner, we decorated the Christmas tree. There is the classic kid clump of ornaments in the front center.

Yep, there were shorts worn while decorating the Christmas tree. Texas.

Violet recently learned how to do “cheers” with her cup and thinks it is quite exciting. You can see the gusto.

It was really a pretty quiet day at home, so the Christmas activities do supply some extra photo moments. Now hopefully Violet will break her trend of the last week of getting up four times a night, so I can have some sleep. After I rearrange the ornaments just a bit…

December 2: I washed the couch. A couple months ago, we bought the Ektorp sleeper sofa from Ikea. We had shopped various stores without finding the perfect one, so we got this with the main appeal of washability. I’d never washed a couch before. Turns out, not hard. Back to a nice white sofa, and it felt good to sit down, kind of like that first time you slide into freshly-changed sheets.
If you’re contemplating an Ektorp sofa, leave a comment and I’ll expound further…

One of the songs I like to sing to the girls is “You are My Sunshine.” If you aren’t familiar with the words, they go:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.

After I sang this to Hannah this afternoon, she asked, “Why are the gray guys mean?” She often changes subjects randomly, so I was confused.

“What gray guys?” I responded.

“The gray guys who take me away.”

She thought the words were “You make me happy when guys are gray…” Which means this whole time she apparently thought this song was about strange gray kidnappers.

I’ll be reviewing other often-sung lyrics in the coming days with her to make sure we don’t have any other potentially nightmare-causing confusion.

Here are my sunshines enjoying the November sunshine.

One year ago, facing the arrival of a new baby, I posted about my intense mother love for Hannah and how I couldn’t imagine loving anyone else the same way. When I posted the link on Facebook, I asked, “Does the love really multiply?”

The following comments were amazing. Friends and family jumped in to re-assure me, and of course they were exactly right. I was blown away by their openness and encouragement. This morning, I re-read my post and wanted to share some of the responses to brag on the wise people in my life and to encourage anyone else who may be facing the same fear I was.

Going from one to two (or more) – does the love really multiply?

Kay – idk, mine came all at once, but I can tell you I don’t love one more than the other, they’re just different and special in their own way. … do I sound like The Bachelor?

Sarah – Yes! Things change though, you will miss alone time with Hannah but you will also find time to have alone time with each child. Even more joy comes when they begin to play with each other.

Vanessa – The love multiplies in such a way you can’t even imagine! With your first I think there is a lot of adjustment (at least there was for me) and I didn’t necessarily bond with him at first… but with the second, I’d already been a mom, had already known what it was like to love a child so deeply, that it was instantaneous. I agree with Sarah. You will find alone time with each kid, and I think that alone time becomes even more special and more cherished. Also, there is something unbelievably wonderful about watching your kids love each other. One of my favorite things in the world is hearing them laugh at each other.

Peggy – I really struggled wondering about the timing of adding a second child and if I was taking something away from J. Now when I see them playing together, talking, and holding hands, I know we did the right thing and I can’t imagine life without A. I am sure you will feel the same when they begin to interact.

Dana – You can’t even imagine!

Jan – definitely… the workload MORE than doubles… and God gives more than double the love — and grace. You know how you loved Brett before, and seeing him as SUCH a wonderful dad to Hannah makes you love him even more? That’s at least twice the love MORE than you had before… Love grows exponentially, which is ALL about multiplying, not adding!!!

Chere – There’s no end to the love each human being can share!

Jeni – I cried my heart out when I found out I was pregnant with E. Don’t get me wrong, it was a desired pregnancy, but I felt so guilty about D having to share our love. Thankfully the love really does multiply. But I understand how you feel.

Laura – There is such a primal feeling of joy and love every time I see I and C playing and having a good time together that it it totally worth it!!

Kristine – While I went to two kids all at once, it’s so much fun having two little ones! The interaction between them is priceless.

Kelly – It’s hard to imagine sharing motherhood. I notice that I hold onto the little things R says and does right now because I know that it will all change once his sister gets here. However, I have been reassured by every mommy of multiples I know that as soon as the second one arrives, the same love is there we felt the first time, and the family no longer seems complete without the baby.

Jennifer – I remember crying my eyes out the night before my second child was born for just this reason, but Kelly is right. Your feelings are normal and natural. Also remember, bonding sometimes isn’t instant – it can take a little while, but one day very soon, you’ll have that same deep heart feeling for your new baby that you have for your first baby. Then you’ll feel just like Kelly said – you won’t be able to even imagine life without your newest family member.

And my Grandma Ava – It is indeed impossible to picture how life will be when baby #2 arrives…. all the changes in your routine with Hannah and Brett. I can say that once the baby gets here, you’ll find it difficult to picture life without the new arrival. The same will be true as/if your family grows in the future. Each new baby is so precious and special.  The family circle grows. Love knows no bounds.

The comments were so personal and meaningful from the context of each person’s family – moms of many, twin moms, adoptive moms, math teacher moms, moms of big kids, moms of little kids. I know some pretty great moms.

So, happy birthday, Violet! It’s been a wonderful year. You made Hannah a sister and multiplied the love in our family from the moment of your arrival.

Letters, counting, Bible stories, baking, art projects… These are things we (and most moms) were doing anyway, but I decided to add a little more structure and novelty by planning some activities and calling it “homeschool.” No, I’m not attempting to teach my kid to read at four, that’s not even developmentally appropriate, but I’m spending some extra time being intentional and planning teachable moments.
I’m talking one hour, one day a week. We’re doing a letter of the day, and I’m planning a few activities related to that letter or a theme.

First day: A
Looked at the letter A
Drew A in salt
Traced A’s on a paper
Colored a picture of A things
Learned A in sign language
Read the book “Amazing Airplanes”
Made paper airplanes
Baked an apple dessert

And because we want to encourage STEM for girls at an early age, we assembled a chair from Ikea. Just kidding, that was just random.

Hannah will be back to preschool at the Baptist church close to us. It will be her third year, and she is full of anticipation. We went to the open house night, and it was fun to find out that one of her teachers is the mom of a boy from her class last year. The classes are arranged by birthdays, and Hannah’s class is June-September with Hannah being the youngest. There are several kids from her class last year and several from her class two years ago. So familiar faces as well as new friends. Her buddy Cody is in a different class again, but they are totally fine with that and usually see each other at playground time.
Preschool is two days a week from 9-2, which seems to be just the right amount for us. Enough to give Hannah some fun social time (and me some quiet time) but not so much that it takes over our schedule. We still need days for dance lessons, MOPS and plenty of playtime around the house.
So that’s what we’re up to “school”-wise this year.
Anyone have fun ideas for First Day teacher gifts?

My first link-up… Crossing my fingers this all works…

Today I’m joining Five Minute Friday, a link-up where hundreds of bloggers write on the same topic and post their links together. Each Friday, a new word is posted, and the challenge is five minutes of writing – unedited, real and flowing.

As an English major, I took a creative writing class in college. We were supposed to write essays each week. Essays? I thought, no sweat. I can crank those out, no problem; I had the formula down. Five paragraphs, thesis statement, blah blah, three points, closing paragraph. But in creative writing class, my products were stiff and formulaic… because that’s exactly what I was doing. I had to let go of the comfort of my five-paragraph form and re-train my brain.

That’s kind of how I feel right now. Wow, five minutes goes fast.

Today’s prompt: Last

After eight months as a “host family” for an international student, we were saying goodbye before she went home to Korea. To mark the occasion, we went out for a sweet treat. Cupcakes!

The last time to see her. It’s hard to make those final moments count. You feel like some significant wisdom should be passed. Significant memories should be made. The last words, the last moments. Must be just right.

But maybe they were. Cupcakes and giggles, then tears and goodbyes. Sprinkles help.