when christmas is magical

over the years i've heard various people say that christmas is best with 4-6 year olds, so we are entering our peak magical years, and this one did not disappoint. there were many little bits of delight this season that i want to remember. 

• jack watching 'white christmas' very intently, following the story and asking questions, not wanting to miss a second

• clapping our christmas lights on and off with archie

• jack waking up on christmas morning and exclaiming "santa came for real life!"

• archie's delighted laughs

• the pure excitement about every gift that was opened, not matter who it was for, and no matter what it was [even the light up toothbrushes were met with unbridled enthusiasm]

pretend christmas in st. louis had its own kind of magic. we started the morning with stockings and presents. there were a variety of piano performances [jack had a whole routine ahead of his songs, which included cracking his knuckles, which cracked us up]. we ate christmas dinner and my mom's stuffing. we played games. and at the end of the night we were all in the living room together sitting near the tree, the floor littered with christmas, watching elf, eating skinny pop and snickers trees, and drinking sparkling juice. i looked around and felt so thankful for this wonderful life.

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archie is one

 [aka little archie; archie doodle; archibald; arch] 

these are ten of the things we love about you: 

1. you adore your big brother and he gets your best smiles

2. you are an avid climber and can scale things quickly

3. watching you mimic us by playing arms up, sticking out your tongue, or face planting into a pillow

4. you are often slow to give smiles and laughs, but once you get going they are so delightful

5. we've been a little lax on your nap schedule, but you are content to hang right along with us

6. you have a good temperament and are generally pretty chill [as long as mom isn't trying to drop you off in the nursery]

7. when you cover yourself up to initiate a game of peek-a-boo

8. the scrunched up face you make when you are displeased with something

9. how quickly you calm down when you snuggle up next to mom or dad

10. the way you throw your hands up and dance when a good song comes on

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making things beautiful

i have a problem when it comes to finishing house projects. i can get very close to the finish line, but my perfectionistic tendencies often trip me up and keep me from completing the final touches on a room, for fear of not picking the most perfect thing. that's a long way of saying that while jack's room was mostly done, i never quite got around to finishing the wall decor. i had some ideas here and there, but nothing was jumping out as the perfect thing.

when we were going through ivf with archie one of the verses that i kept coming back to was lamentations 3:21:

"yet i still dare to hope when i remember this; the faithful love of the Lord never ends! his mercies never cease. great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. i say to myself, 'the Lord is my inheritance; therefore, i will hope in him!'"

i knew i wanted that reminder somewhere and finally had the idea to paint a mural on one of the nursery walls. i enlisted lindsey to help take my inspiration photos and turn them into a design and i loved what it became. 

not long after i finished the mural jack suddenly became quite interested in coloring, which hadn't had much of an appeal up to that point. he often spent part of his rest time happily coloring pages in his coloring book, and typically when rest time was over he would come downstairs on his own. one evening i walked into his room to tuck him at bedtime in and was greeted by a crayon mural all over his door. i was so shocked that my only reaction was to gasp and cover my mouth, at which point jack immediately started sobbing and repeating "i'm sorry! i'm just so sorry!" over and over. after he calmed down a bit he managed to get out that he was so, so sorry, but he was just trying to make his room beautiful. 

when i pointed out a couple marks that were unusually high on the door he confidently explained that he had pulled the snuggling pillow [aka bean bag] over so he could reach up higher. he was so genuine and lovable in that moment i couldn't even be mad.

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life with jack and archie

i am keenly aware that we have less than a year before jack starts kindergarten and have been doing my best to enjoy the time we have together. it often feels like the days are slipping past quickly, but i'm so grateful to get to spend every one of them with jack and archie. they are funny and fun, and i love going on adventures with them. 

jack is learning a lot and loves finding rhyming words and making patterns, along with his well earned title of puzzle savant. he has quite the theatrical side that often makes us laugh. he also loooves getting to play with other kids. in the spirit of seizing the pre-k day we took a couple trips to visit the broomies and the taltons and he was in heaven having other big kids to run around with.

archie got to take his first flight for one of those trips and while he was a bit of a wiggle worm, he was a great little traveler. he continues to get lots of comments from strangers about his bright eyes and just generally how cute he is [and of course we agree]. he has started protesting when we drop him off in the nursery at lakeland [i haven't made it through a whole service in a number of weeks], but i'm know this too shall pass. he is standing on his own and sooo close to walking. he can be generous with his smiles, but you have to work for his belly laugh [it's definitely worth it].

we are doing well, but there is much in life around us that is hard. we are doing our best to take what comes with each day. caring for our people and working through hard things together. and remembering to enjoy what we have today.

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life with archie

we are loving life with our little archie! jack has been a great big brother and is really enjoying archie's snuggles and smiles. we stuck close to home a bit more than usual for awhile, but now that it's summer we're heading out on adventures and archie is content to tag along. he doesn't have an especially predictable schedule, but we're all getting a decent amount of sleep and are settled into a good rhythm. unfortunately pumping and supplemental bottles re-entered our lives around five months, but he's starting to dabble in solid food so there's a light at the end of that tunnel.

archie hasn't ever been super interested in his pacifier, but has recently discovered his thumb and seems to be a big fan. it's pretty adorable. he also loves chewing on everything [including the windowsill] and moving as much as possible. current favorite activities include kicking in the pool [which makes mom very happy] and pulling up on anything he can find.

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things jack says

most of this lingo is used so often at our house that it's become part of our everyday language. i love getting to be the one who knows what it all means:

• pichu = a gun of some kind

• queen of statues = the statue of liberty

• pass it over = repeat [e.g. a song or story]

• the pink lady = mariah carey [because she wore a big, pink dress in the macy's thanksgiving day parade]

• buh-jammies = pajamas

• the a-bobble head = the abominable snowman

• map = game instructions, puzzle box, etc.

• ticket = paper money

• lip chap = chapstick

• sh*t-tle bug = skittles [this one was both surprising and hilarious]

• tracker = his stuffed horse

• coolock = his baby doll

• key = his toy snake [which mom is NOT a fan of]

and these are some of his best quotes, most of which we hear pretty frequently:

• "happy sunday morning, happy sunday morning, happy sunday morning, get up and go to church!" [the song he sings every sunday morning]

• "poop, poop, i went poop!" [the alert that lets us know he went poop]

• "let me do something 'bery' quick"

• "i just need tell you one thing. the thing i need to tell you is..."

• "look, there's beautiful mom!" [pretty sure dad influenced this one, but i love it]

• "okay my queen" [not sure where this came from, but it makes us giggle]

• "an idea popped into my head"

• "i got an idea...let's do a family hug!"

• "mom, i think i really love you!"

• "not today spikey balls! i have shoes on."

• "...that's my plan. is that a good plan mom?"

• "first i have to get everything situated." [like mother, like son]

• "dad i like your shirt. you look handsome. you look like a handsome zookeeper."

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jack is four

these are ten of the things we love about you:  

1. you are polite and grateful, often without prompting 

2. the way you "whistle" when you want our attention

3. you love racing to give the first hugs when we're leaving dyer dinner

4. how you cover your mouth and scrunch your shoulders when you laugh 

5. you don't stay mad and are quick to forgive 

6. when you make heartwarming comments out of the blue, like "mom, i just love being with you!"

7. how you crawl into our bed to snuggle every morning

8. you catch surprise us by using "smart" vocabulary words in the right context 

9. your choreography to 'here come the grannies'

10. the way you play and giggle with archie

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anniversary number ten

as our friend michelle was taking photos on our wedding day, she spotted a claw machine in the corner of the lodge and handed donald some quarters. these games are not exactly known for their high success rates, so i was shocked when he took one turn and pulled out a stuffed pink heart with the words "i love you" embroidered across. we snapped a quick photo with our prize and went on with the day, but it gave me the idea to start a little tradition of taking a photo with the heart every year. 

we've also been trying to make it back to pere marquette every five years, but since one of our little tagalongs was just two months old an overnight stay felt a bit daunting. so we decided to just make a day of it. we listened to our wedding playlists on the drive, took a chilly ferry ride, played some chess, and of course enjoyed the lodge's famous fried chicken [and scored some free desserts!]

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