Renewal...

The last two weeks have gone by in a blur. We are all trying to get used to going back to school, to having our day paced by pick-ups and drop-offs. I can't decide if I love it or hate it. It is nice to have a framework to plan around, I am so tired that it helps my numb mind stumble through the day, but at the same time, when we have a good "stay-at-home-day" all I can think is that I love the freedom to do whatever we choose, it is so great.
Big Daddy is traveling and has been traveling too much this month. I hope that by doing all of his trips now we can move on to being a cozy family again...maybe finishing up some of the kitchen odds and ends? (hint, hint...I know you know!)
But this season, the starkness of the trees, the dampness, the darkness, but then the green tips show up on the bushes when we have a few warmer days...I have such mixed feelings. Every year I do. This year I am marking my fourth anniversary of saying "Adios" to the time card. Blondie is turning 4 in March and I was pregnant with him when I worked that last day at the Wastewater plant. I have been missing my old cohorts lately, maybe it is time to drop by and say "hello".

I am settling in to listening to the call of the baby. I am accepting again (how soon you forget) that babies have their own time, you can get a routine going around them, but it does come down to them doing just exactly what they want, when they want. Sometimes they don't want to nap, they just want to sit in your lap and smile and coo. Maybe you want to quilt, but the quilting keeps and the baby smiles don't. They are different everyday. Baby Mango just started to roll over last week, the boys were never that interested in rolling over, but it had become her passion. She rolled and she rolls all the time this week... but now she gets to her belly and thinks "What now?" Last night she pushed up on her arms and scooted herself off the blanket. Oh my. I was hoping that she would become a nice fat baby that just wanted to sit for a few more months, that we would all huddle around her and pat her belly and giggle at her roly-poly legs. Maybe no. She may turn in to the lean machine, the likes of her brother Blondie, never stopping until he passes right out. I am here just waiting to see what the new day will bring, I can never know until it is upon me.
I did finish this quilt during my blog hiatus. I finished the top this summer during Quilter's Affair so I think that I am going to name it Gwen and Freddy. What fun memories.
The afternoons have been spent playing Christmas games. We got a few card games and Brownie is a 6 year old card shark. Sometimes if Blondie and I team up we can win a couple. We have been enjoying Monopoly Deal (really fun, a quick game with lots of opportunities for strategizing.) and Sleeping Queens (great artwork and was originally made by a 6 year old and her family... pretty cool.) The games have been a great opportunity to see these boys as the great people they are not just bickering brothers. A way to get past the squabbling (too much lately) and see how their minds work and just have fun with very little agenda.

Seeing your kids as people in their own right, isn't that one of our main jobs as parents? yep, when they are not trying to get each other in trouble, they are pretty cool little dudes.

Be on the look out for signs of spring! (I am!)

JMB