11 months and growing

holy smokes, you guys! this month! there is so much happening in this world, our country, and our family lately. to those topics i wish i had a magical salve, or at least larger arms to wrap the whole of humanity in the warmest of hugs. we're sending up prayers over here and doing our best to spread warmth and comfort. from our house to yours, we're sending you love.

it's also been a pretty big month for amelia, too. somehow, we're almost an entire year in with this one, and i can't begin to tell you all of the feelings i've got bubbling as i gear up to plan her first birthday party. this month, mia started crawling. as happens most months, the minute i hit "publish" on another of her monthly updates, she whips around the corner with some new magic trick she's been keeping in her sleeve. this month it was a shiny new front tooth, speed-crawling, stair and furniture climbing, and my personal not-favorite - spitting. mia loves to fill her tummy full, but once she's done you'll know it from the layer of colored spit she's showered you with between bites. spaghetti night is a particular favorite for mia, and we all walk away covered in a slick, orange dusting of spit by the end of it. her face is covered in beet juice, below, which is just as fun.

she bobs around the house on hands and knees, chasing one or both parents. and although she is fascinated with henry, she mostly lets him carry on without interference. if she catches him in his high chair, though, the story changes on a dime and she's below him immediately, like a puppy on the hunt for discarded scraps. except mia's interested only in unharnessed climbing up his high chair to pick at h's shorts or sneak one of the toys he's squirreled away beside him. sometimes, henry thinks mia's tiny fingers on his toes as she makes the climb up his high chair is hilarious and sometimes he snatches his foot away in agony. it's a gamble to engage with a hungry henry, and mia's more than willing to take the bet.

the other night, in a battle to keep mia from stark danger on our wooden staircase, we did a mini-tutorial on a safe decline from the top floor. henry was super excited to show mia how to "go down on your tummy, mia!" wrapped, as he usually is, in two or more blankets, no shirt, and soccer shorts, he slid down the stairs one by one while coaching mia on her form. "no, mia! on your tummy!" it was actually pretty endearing, and i wish i had it on video to brag/share with the world.

somehow, next month we will have a one year old in our home. i'll try hard not to focus on that reality until it comes, and in the mean time try desperately to remember the way mia growls to show us what a bear says, "aaahr", and that she loves open mouth kisses with her tongue mostly out. joey loves the way she'll happily dole out hugs on demand, although her generosity is waning just a bit as our requests for more and more hugs heat up.

she's still the sweetest around and we are so blessed that she's ours. happy 11 months, mia girl.

amelia and henry through the months.
amelia at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months.
henry at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months, 12 months, and 13 months.

amelia at 10 months

my mia girl. she's got a lot she's thinking about lately. she's teething, scooting, learning how to crawl/stand/talk/eat/be a human. she's also been tasked with the enormous job of navigating her relationship with her brother. last night henry was feeding mia string cheese, in the smallest of bites, with ever so much care. amelia just watched him, skeptical as he placed each piece in her mouth. she opened gingerly for each bite, both eyes locked on henry's face. is he joking right now? and then, without warning, he chomped off the top half of the whole stick, did a little dance (i'd like to think he wasn't taunting her...), and threw the rest of the stick on the stove - which wasn't hot, thankfully. ah!, she must have thought. that's the brother i know! he's crazy!

she scoots around the house like she's scavenging for berries. always curious, in search of some juicy pile of loot she can dig apart and taste before the rest of the humans in the home discover her and remove her from her prize. she stands on wobbly legs (well supported by a parent or piece of furniture) and still can't figure out the mechanics of walking. one foot in front of the other looks more like one pointed toe out and a lot of wobbly legs. it's one step forward and a half a step back, but she's catching on more each day.

she's got two bottom teeth and three on top. we're waiting patiently for the gap in her front teeth fill in, and lately her mood tells us it won't be long at all (teething is the worst!).

she sleeps like perfection, nice long naps and straight through the night. i am currently pondering a way to teach henry to do the same (even at 3.5 yrs old he has never consistently slept through the night). she doesn't love the car, but as long as she has a parent close by and they are willing to sing song after song, she will tolerate her position in the car seat. her paci will resolve just about any disappointment.

as i say every month, and will say again and again, my mia is an absolute joy to have in our lives. her smile and shouting conversations keep us giggling all day. we are ever so in love with you sweet heart. happy 10 months!

amelia and henry through the months.
amelia at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months.
henry at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months, 12 months, and 13 months.

a little letter to my (not so) little girl - 8 months

dear mia,

we call you mia because amelia rolls off the tongue less easily, although i still think your name - amelia elizabeth larson - is beautiful and suits you well. we started calling you sis when you were born to help henry understand who you were, and it stuck so quickly and so hard that we've struggled to move away from it. daddy still calls you sis sometimes and probably always will.

you are a strong sleeper, but prefer a space as dark as can be. you sleep in our bedroom, and i can hear you searching for your paci in the night. sometimes you struggle to find it, and although i wish you and i were both sound asleep i smile to myself as i walk over to you. your neck cranes up to find me in the dark, and when you know it's me you are alert and rarely settle back down without a snuggle and a short dance in the dark.

we think you are the sweetest baby sis there's ever been, and everyone loves when you're around. you are never still when you're awake. if you're standing, you're jumping. if you're sitting, you're reaching. if you're eating, your hands are moving. table food makes you especially excited, and when you see food coming you stretch your arms out until you are the letter "T", and you move your wrists around and around as if all of your excitement is wiggling through your arms and out your fingertips. you make short little bursts of sounds, like hiccuping exclamations of joy, while we sing songs about your yummy food and play peek-a-boo because we can't get enough of your bright smile.

if you are on the floor, you roll to your tummy, which is so round and too heavy for your short little arms. you are puzzled about how to lift yourself up with your arms, much less your knees. you spend a few minutes wiggling your limbs, stuck in one spot. your tummy is like a fulcrum, glued to the ground. and though you try with all your might to get your tummy to roll you to where you reach, you are like a roly-poly toy, stuck in one place with your arms and feet in the air.

your slanted eyes become thick hyphens when you laugh, and your wispy hair dances in the wind. when you are frustrated or sad, your throaty cries are echoey and persistent, your arms stretch out like branches on a tree, and your face crumples in gloom. there is no one in our house who can bear to hear you sad, and those cries are quickly soothed with daddy's goofy smile, henry's sweet songs, or snuggles from mama.

at eight months old, you are mostly quietly observing and reaching for the things you'd love to explore. i wonder about who you are behind your wide smile and gooshy cheeks. what are you thinking while henry skips past you and throws himself into a ball on the floor among his itty bitty toys and easter eggs (his newest obsession)? i wonder if you will be a boundless ball of energy and excitement like henry, or if you will be a quiet introvert with worlds of thought rolling around in your head. will you love to explore and spend summers with thick dirt beneath your fingernails or will you tell stories to your teddy bears while you serve them tea beneath a tree? i love to imagine that you will be all of these things and all of the things i couldn't possibly imagine. i imagine henry will drive you crazy and be your biggest supporter all at once. because he loves you, mia, more than you will ever know. we all do, sweetheart. and we are so proud that you are ours.

amelia and henry through the months. 

amelia at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months.
henry at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months, 12 months, and 13 months.

amelia elizabeth, we love you very much - 7 months

amelia wakes up every morning by slamming her feet against her crib mattress as if in announcement - alright guys, let's roll! henry used to do the same thing every morning. it's maybe a strange thing to stick out as important, but because h and a are so different in just about every single way this tiny similarity seems precious to me.  

when mia was born, henry was very cautious of the extra time and attention the strange baby stole from him, and for the most part mia was just quiet and small enough that he could ignore that she existed much of the time. if she cried, henry cried out in agony from the noise. if mia got too close to him or his things, h recoiled quickly, snatched his precious toys, and then carried on with his business in a corner somewhere safely removed from the intruder. his eyes were usually locked on a set of toys or the tv instead of bothering to peek at mia. 

these days, h seems to find mia just slightly entertaining and worth a glance here and there. when she cries, henry soothes her with a song or an aggressive pet on her head. when she laughs, henry tries to tickle her under the chin to make her giggle more. for the most part, he isn't bothered when mia touches his things or plays with his toys. he still keeps himself at a healthy distance from any of mia spit cloths, obviously, but he's fascinated when we change her diaper and he stands close by when she's having a bath or eating solid food. when we're playing or if mia gets a little fussy at night, i sing to her a silly little rhyme with her name in it that instantly makes her face light up. last night as we were taking some pictures, henry came in and started singing her song, and my heart exploded. 

at night, henry tells mia he loves her and in the morning he sits nearby as she drinks her bottle or jumps in her favorite spot. 

mia eats some solid food these days. she prefers apples and sweet potatoes, and she refuses bananas all together. last week she gave up drinking her bottle during the day and started drinking a few more bottles through the night. this week, she's back on schedule with her daily bottle in-take and last night she slept all night long without a drink. she's been trying to cut teeth for over a month, and every now and then she'll have a day spent drooling and grinding her gums - which is a sort of disgusting thing she does that makes her look like a very serious bubble gum chewer - and we'll be convinced a tooth is coming, only to find sweet little pink gums and no sign of a tooth just a few days later. UPDATE: mia is getting her first tooth! we found one on her 7 month birthday (lower right central incisor).

she loves to be outside and would happily swing for hours at the park while henry mills about finding worms and sticks. 

riding in brother's three wheeler is the bees knees. although, you'll have to take my word for it, because we caught her mid-frown in this photo i guess.

i always have trouble ending these monthly posts without droning on and on about how amelia is the most amazing, well-tempered baby on the planet, because she really is. and every month gets better and better with this one. i love you more every second, mia girl. happy 7 months!

amelia and henry through the months. in case you care to see. 

amelia at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months.
henry at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months, 12 months, and 13 months.

amelia at five months

just a few pictures to scatter about in the wind. tiny little bits of color that represent our home, i suppose, but of course not really. because how do you capture a home in 4x6's? the home lies somewhere beneath the layers of color, woven into the rugs and splattered a bit on the walls.

"my like our new house," henry says one day after school. "what day we going to go back to our old house?"  

"we're not going back to our old house, babe. we live in st. paul now."

"when we going to go back to dc?"

"we live here now. do you like living here?"

"yeah, me do!"

when we get home from daycare pick ups - henry from preschool, amelia from our sweet friends' house - we mill about settling into borrowed routines from our past life in dc. henry understands that his role in it all is to take off his shoes and coat and find something to do until dinner. on some days he finds the responsibility much easier to handle than on other days. 

"my listened at school! now me watch tv?!"

"just wait henry. can you bring me your shoes, buddy?"

sometimes he does. sometimes, he throws his shoes as far as he can get them instead. 

"what's daddy doing?"

"he's still working babe. stay upstairs, he'll be done in a little bit."

"my just going to give him a kiss and a hug."

"no, henry. please stay upstairs. what do you think we should have for supper tonight?"

sometimes he stays upstairs. sometimes, he can't take the wait and he pads down the carpeted stairs towards joey's office instead.

life in st. paul is breezy and sweet. no rush hour traffic to contend with. our family is a (relatively) short drive away. we are blessed. we are so content here.

two days ago, amelia turned five months old. she makes us all deliriously happy. sometimes i wonder if i developed the opposite of postpartum depression when amelia was born. i can't get enough of her gummy smile. i miss her constantly, even if she's just in the other room. she flips immediately to her tummy if ever laid down on her back, and she sleeps like an absolute angel. she falls asleep at almost exactly 6pm every night - just an hour after we're home. she usually wakes around 3:00am for a bottle, but she's back down - tummy plump - 10 minutes later.

in a month's time she will have been here half a year, and i can hardly stand to think how quickly it's all gone. the long days and nights i remember with henry have turned so quickly into a blur of giggles and hurried week nights with two precious babes i have never felt so lucky to know - much less mother. life is such a crazy whirl of bitter and sweet, and i am constantly floored by the flood of emotion that comes when i think of how lucky we are.

amelia at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months.
henry at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months, 12 months, and 13 months.

fresh new start

we're desperate for some cool weather around here, this summer's worn us clean out. what is it about autumn that just washes it all away? fresh start, is what i think of, when the soupy heat finally lifts from my early morning commute.

this weekend, we're taking henry to a puppet show. eh anold, is what henry would call it, except it's a surprise, so henry has no idea he'll spend his saturday morning surrounded by farm animals on strings (i think...). i hope he loves it, i can already see his squirmy body working out all those squeals. being a mom is really the best. these days, he's been calling for the beloved "e.yiy.e.yiy.yoh" every blessed second of the live long day. it's on repeat in the car, on demand from dr. youtube the second we get home, and pulled from the shelf as soon as bedtime nears. only the craziest kind of parents would seek out the incessant tune when it could well be avoided. mom and pop crazy we be.

today, cody started chemo and radiation. what a segue. i do that a lot lately. in the middle of a scheduling conversation at work with a faculty member - something exciting, like which room we'll hold a class in next week.

"no not that room, we already have the 'cardiac and circulatory functions' session in that room." and also, cody starts treatment today. but i can't say that out loud, because how do you say that out loud without screaming?

did you feel that? did your chest tighten too? something must be wrong with my circulatory function.

"what should we do?" i ask.
"there's no other option?"
no! there's no other option!

except he means about his room, and i care less about his room than i've ever cared about anything.

i meant, literally, what are you going to do about this? you're a doctor. what. are. you. going. to. do. about. this?...

but there aren't any answers. none that are good enough.

a few months ago, we bought henry a potty chair, because we like to set ourselves up for months/years of impatiently waiting. it took a few tries, but we finally convinced him the plastic throne was safer than safe, and now he loves it! he'll sit/stand/sit/stand/put his foot inside the bowl for multiple minutes at a time. fully unclothed is how he prefers to take his potties. although, he hasn't actually done the pottying in the chair... yet. i emailed daycare yesterday to inquire, because if he's going to feign all this potty exuberance, we're going to need the people he loves most (not his parents) to hold him accountable. not five minutes after my email sent, daycare emailed back to let me know we were definitely within reason to start the potty training process (yay! and also, what?!).

joey brought out the potty chair to bring to daycare this morning, and henry demanded to sit (unclothed, with his milk, on the potty) for some morning silence before heading out. they arrived to a standing ovation at daycare, everyone cheered as the potty was brought in. henry stood confidently, slight smile, and enjoyed the cheers. we'll keep you posted on how it all shakes out ;)

and also, wear grey! :)

around here

 

singing. not choking (i swear it). 

once upon a time, i hated the grocery store. all kinds of decisions. all kinds of too high price tags for my measly pennies. when joey and i first moved in together, there were all these negotiations in the produce isle, like - 

"i really don't care, though." 

"no, i know that you care, you just think i won't like what you pick."

"just, tell me what you would have chosen if i wasn't here." 

"ugh! please, j.u.s.t.p.i.c.k?!"

grapes? green or red. maybe that was the decision. either way, what a dreaded waste of time.

and as riveting as those conversations sound, they were terribly irritating. and so, as essential as it is, the grocery store and i had a hard few years.

fast forward a zillion years, to this kraaaayyyyzzzay life, and it's grocery stores to which we are magnetized. because our grocery store has a splash park out front. and henry's barber. and a coffee shop across the street - although i have it on good authority there's a big bad starbucks coming in that's going to wipe our neighborhood coffee joint clean out (bummer!). it also has a cvs. just next door. don't park there - says the girl whose car was recently towed for a lofty price.

the last two weeks have been packed full of house guests. my mom for a week, joey's mom and our nine-year-old niece last week. then, my brother and his wife rolled in to bum around until cody was planned to start treatment yesterday at duke. then, plans changed. they left us on monday evening, and we've been ghosting around the house searching for ah-yee (holli) ever since.

we really hated to see them go! but we had the best time while they were here!

 

there are a lot of things i want to tell you about my brother, cody. he's 2.5 years older than me. when we were growing up he didn't go to bed one single night without first yelling through the wall at me - "good night, jamie. love you!" he got stitches approximately once per summer, because he was a maniac on recreational vehicles. i'm not sure he's any less of a maniac now, except he's banned from driving these days. he and i once spun (i'm talking complete 360) a ford explorer in the middle of a highway while pheasant hunting. that was scary. we did the same thing a few years later in the middle of the busiest street in our hometown because he was trying to pass a car on the way home from school, on ice. like i said, maniac. yet, he hates to get into a car with me if i'm driving. brothers. 

ten years ago, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. for the past ten years we've been giving the middle finger to brain tumor diagnoses, because he beat it. he was healed. and then one day, he wasn't anymore.

i've linked to my sister-in-law's blog a time or two before. i'll do it again probably a dozen or million times. they're in a hard fight right now; luckily, they've got a great team backing them.

if you want to help, there are lots of ways. here is a flyer for a fundraiser on september 13th. 

here, you can buy a shirt to show your support and also contribute to their treatment fund. there's also a link on the site to donate, in case you don't like grey shirts.

you can read all about it, here, but this family's story is that they're incredible people, with three incredible kids. and cody's got this terrifying disease with a disgusting prognosis. and they, like everyone on the planet, do not deserve this journey. but they're determined to give it everything they've got. thank you so much for any help and/or prayers you can send them.

not my story

but it lives in my heart.

pray hard for the one in the middle (and maybe say a few words about the hair on the left), he needs some love right now. his wife is documenting his fight with brain cancer, in the link above.

19 months

in two days, henry will be 19 months. he climbs the stairs at the park all by himself. swings his leg up, one by one, until he's all the way to the top. he scurries around in wiggly circles once he's safely landed, king of the jungle (gym). then, as if magnetized by the potential energy radiating from the gaping opening, he saunters over to the slide and sits himself down. with little hesitation, he scoots to the edge and smiles wide the whole way down. no one to catch him. no care in the world.

he wakes up bursting with agenda items.
"a poo poo" (a new diaper would be great.)
"gaut!" (i'd like my blanket, mother dear.)
"mama?!" (is mama somewhere? i'd like her in sight at all times.)
"a bu bye." (let's bounce.)

life doesn't seem so busy these days, somehow. we've taken on a new rhythm, i think. it's soothing the way the days beat on in a steady sort of way. nothing too radical, always safe and cool.

we've be talking incessantly about moving lately. sometimes, moving to the next town over seems like the solution to any problems in the world. other days, nothing will do except a uhaul back home to a cute little house in short driving distance from the people we'll always be looking for here. the truth is, the distance seems much wider when scary things are happening in our family's lives, and being here makes us both feel incredibly helpless and sad.

but we're learning, day by day, where to find the best parks in virginia and the best coffee. we've found a pizza place that will never be this (our first date!), but will do for now. and our friends here are turning into some of the best we could ask for. this place, and our little family as we wait it out here, are all going to be alright.

h + mom = love, unless grandma's in town

last week, henry remembered how awesome it is to have his grandma in town :) every day he got to sleep really late, wake up and play until his little body was worn plum out, and all the while enjoy the luxury of at least 2 pairs of eyes on him every.single.second. simply heaven.

my mom and her husband drove from south dakota again this year to spend time bumming around in virginia with us and to deliver all million and one pounds of our christmas gifts. henry wasn't spoiled even a little bit the whole time. he was a sad, sad babe when mama came home from work every day to play too, aka ruin henry's life! my sweet, devoted mama's boy wanted not one single thing to do with his silly mother the first few days of grandma's visit. who could really blame him, though? mom's a total snooze.

on saturday we took our visitors to the air and space museum near dulles, va. it's such a cool place to explore, and the weather was crummy all weekend so being inside was the perfect way to pass the time. 

isn't it funny how different 9ish months makes! 

poor h had to say goodbye to his favorites on monday night so they could take off early on tuesday morning. we're excited to have grandma back again in march. thanks for a great visit guys!

fourteen months

you know the thing we talk about at our house probably 94% of the time we're home? sleep. did henry sleep? when will we sleep? is one hour of sleep during the day enough for my fourteen month old? no! is the correct answer.

henry comes home every day with a sheet of paper that describes various things about his day, including the fun stuff he and the other kids his age did all day - spanish songs, practice walking (he still can't walk by himself!), etc. it tells us when and what he ate, when and what matter he extracted from his body (ie. how much he pooped), and when and how much he slept. and every day, the time spent sleeping decreases by a half hour. it used to be two naps, then it turned into one. it was a 2.5 hour nap, now it's one hour. soon he'll sleep none at all and eat nothing but red beef and baked beans.

this kid is ridiculous on a no-nap schedule. he comes home as pleasant as a hungry and exhausted grizzly bear. the night before last he and i spent fifteen minutes in the kitchen either screaming and arching our backs or staring in complete awe at the tiny monster the other one turns into when the spoon isn't shoveled in just exactly right. sometimes, it's completely unacceptable for mother to get anywhere near the spoon, by the way. and sometimes, that's the only way he'll eat. 

he's this new kid i hardly recognize, and i miss my sweet boy who did nothing but reach for mama and hand off kisses like they poured from his sweet puppy lips. this weekend, joey has guards so h and i will be head to head. i'm hoping we'll find some mutual ground early saturday so our weekend doesn't resemble the uglyish week we've had. pray for patience :)

here's my babe, in all of his 14 month glory tonight.

in case you tire of "guess the caption", this is my huck. he's ticked because he couldn't, with all of his strength, lift the vacuum cleaner onto his highchair tray. and now, i've run out of words.

when in doubt, share your christmas tree photos

you know, if i've said it once i've said it enough time to elicit a trillion eye rolls - there just ain't enough time in a day. or maybe it's not time that's keeping me from blogging lately but good home-cooked imagination, motivation, exhilaration (that last gem was kind of a stretch, but only kind of). but seriously, it takes all of those things to hash out even mildly comprehensible rants. and i'm not complaining, because nobody asked for this little sliver of heaven-in-a-blog - believe me, i know! - i'm just lightly peppering the screen with excuses to take up space before the video (taken on a dark and grainy cell phone video camera - sorry)...

and pictures...

we spent the holidays back home, in south dakota, like we always do. but before we left, we had allison stop over to take a few pictures of our little family in our little arlington apartment. it's important to us that we remember these moments that are slipping by so quickly, and us in our home seemed like the perfect way to encapsulate our family this christmas season.

one more of our little gal, taken by me (the non-professional), because you've been good.

my angels in front of my mom's christmas tree the night before christmas eve. since we were kids, my brothers and i have always woken before the sun on christmas eve to celebrate christmas with my mom. there've been many version of this tradition, but without fail santa has always come by 4:45am christmas eve, my mom, my brothers and i are always there with bells on (some of us trying harder than others to hide our glee), and every year we walk away dizzy with happiness and completely in awe of the amount of generosity that spills from our family's hearts. this year, like all the years did before, takes the cake as my favorite.

because of these guys :) all of them woke up before the sun rose, some tried extra hard to hide their glee, and every single one of them left the adults completely happy and a lot dizzy. because 4 kids, all 4 and under, throwing around colored wrapping paper as they paw towards their next gift, or desperately gouge at their last gift to dislodge it from its packaging, are straight chaos and are louder than 17 freight trains crashing through the living room window. no exaggeration, i promise.

henry made a haul (boy loves his batteries).

we had such an amazing time with joey's family on christmas eve night. seriously, soooo blessed to have the family that we have. i know i say it a ton, but it can not be said enough!

and we rounded out the trip at the farmers market on friday night with my dad. my dad and brother made my niece and nephews this amazing play food stand, complete with cash register (not pictured), awning, and baskets of any bread, fruit, or melon you could crave. henry craved them all, and took big gaping bites out of eachandevery piece of not-juicy-at-all produce. sorry guys, those fruits just looked so delicious! he stopped mid-chomp after he realized (again) not a lick of that styrofoam was tasty. 

we got home late on sunday night, after a long day of not flying, then flying, then bribing a squirmy/unhappy child with chocolate on the drive from the airport, etc., etc. etc. we left sioux falls a few hours later than we'd planned, but luckily we weren't stuck at the airport the whole time we were delayed because our airline called 10 minutes before our alarm was going to chime its petulant ring to tell us to stay in bed an extra 3 hours and rest. so we did. 

but flying out of a midwest airport in december means mandatory delays for de-icing, fiddling around, etc., etc., etc., and we were still about an hour late flying out, even after our first delay. aaaaand, because of the added delay after the delay we missed our connector in dallas and spent a rousing few hours enjoying texas for all that it is. rousing.

but we made it. through the silent prayers and joey's thrown out back (luggage can be a beast if you let it) and constant flight anxiety exacerbated by additional turbulence and a blessed extra seat nestled right between the two seats we paid for on the flight home. we made it. and like we always do when we find ourselves in particularly harried situations, with a tired and not pleasant henry, we promised each other we would 1. never fly again*, 2. never have another baby**, and 3. seriously, never fly again. 

i hope you had a wonderful christmas full of family and laughter, good food, and big, genuine hugs from people you see too little and love so much. tomorrow is new years eve, and i get to stay home and catch up on my tea drinking, bath taking, and lazy making. i plan to get my hair cut, a luxury i never knew would sound so sweet. happy new year!

* we lie to ourselves about never flying again everysingletime we fly. we both hate it, for completely different reasons, and we always end up doing it again and again and again. 

** scared ya, didn't i grandmas. god willing i will have 6 more babies, but no - i'm not pregnant, for all inquiring brother-in-laws ;)