Anti-nesting

Inevitably every pregnant woman hits the "nesting" phase during the last few weeks of pregnancy.  It manifests itself differently I suppose.  Some women cook and clean like crazy, others decorate and set up house, some reorganize furniture while others pay bills and tie up loose ends.  The one thing any doctor/website/blog will tell you is, "Don't move while you are pregnant."  Why?  Because packing boxes and living in disorganization is stressful and simply the complete opposite of nesting.  My Dad aptly called it "anti"-nesting.

I don't know how we Longmires plan it so well, but each time we have been pregnant we have moved and this time we are moving 2 weeks before D-day.  My nesting bells are ringing through my head all of the time and I am living in a pile of boxes and well, more boxes.

The one AMAZING thing about moving when I am this far along is that when it comes to lifting and doing anything other than packing and taping, I am out of commission.  Thankfully we have got so much family and lots of moving helpers to help us get the job done.  Packing and cleaning are being done in small stages because I get tired so easily!  The other day Memaw and Papa came down and helped me for a while,  Dad is a great box packer and Mom was wonderful to help clean!  Lily of course was only to eager to help.

Although it is challenging and very unsettling, the Lord has BLESSED us with a house and space!  I cannot wait to be out of apartment living especially with two little ones to manage.  Yes it is stressful, and yes I wish it could have been planned a little better, but I am not complaining.  When good things happen you roll with them!  Even when you literally have to "roll" with them.

Evie Dear, You are Almost Here

Precious Baby Girl,  in just a few short weeks you will be in my arms.  Every time that you roll around inside of my tummy I think about the day when you will be here, snuggled close, probably crying, but beautiful.  I am getting so very excited to meet you.

This past weekend you and I got to be showered with love by a bunch of women at our baby shower.  It was such a wonderful time and one that I will not soon forget.  There is something so special Evie about having amazing women come around you and love on you.  Our family knows a lot of neat people and they already love you!  Even though they haven't met you!

Memaw and Aunt Jayne threw the shower and Memaw made your very special cake!  She loves you a lot little one.  The cake was lemon, YUM, and we had all sorts of good fruit and veggies as well as a delicious punch.  Oh it was so very very wonderful!

We got a brand new jogger for you, me and Lily to run with and a new baby carrier and lots of clothes!    It was just perfect!

Now that we are all done with the shower we have to pack our apartment up so that we can move into our new house!  I am so very excited because you and Lily will have your own special rooms to play in.  Lily is so anxious to meet you and she has already told me that she wants to show you all about horseys and swimming pools.

I am having a lot of contractions lately so you might just come early. That would be okay, but I would really love to get moved first!  Whatever happens though, your Daddy, Lily and I can't wait to meet you!

I love you

Mom

You Make Beautiful Things

All this pain

I wonder if I'll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change at all?

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found

Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust,

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us.

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You.

These are the lyrics from a song by a little known band called Gungor.  Yeah, funny name, but I just love the song.  The image of a perfect God taking our messes, our hardships our troubles and our lostness and making it beautiful.  There is no doubt about it, God makes beautiful things out of the dust.

The Lord has been doing some beautiful things in my family's life and I think that it is time that I introduce you all to my brother.

Yes, I have a brother that came into my life about 4 years ago.  It is new, it is exciting, and surprising, but simply wonderful.  For those of you bursting with curiosity, I am not going to get into the details, they aren't important.  What is important is that the Lord has taken past events and turned them into beautiful things.  I have a brother, sister in law and a niece and nephew.

Mike, Kathy, Mikey and Maggie all came for a nice long visit this past week and we really did have a blast getting to know one another and catching up.  Mike is a big teaser and I kept on telling him that maybe it was a good thing we didn't meet till we were adults because I probably would have punched him too many times to count growing up.

Much of our time was spent letting the kids (especially mine) enjoy the horses up on the mountain.  They had a blast and Lily of course couldn't help but enjoy every minute.

She was especially cute when Memaw told her to hold onto Foxy while she grazed.  Lily did as she was told by holding onto the far end of the rope.

I could not take enough pictures of this little mess.  Too precious!

One of the days she got bored waiting to go riding with Memaw so she decided to get dirty instead.  I was simply amazed at how cute a dirty little girl could look.

We made a stop at Jumpstreet with all of the kids and took some time at the Broncos Stadium to get race packets for the Colfax Half Marathon.

It seemed like we rarely slowed down and the week went by in a blur.

It was nice because I hit the 36 week mark during their visit!  Ah, another milestone down!

This past week has brought to light the amazing redemptive power of the Cross and of Christ.  This week He redeemed a relationship, this week He made beautiful things out of the dust!

MOM

Well, inevitably so, I have gotten behind on my blogging.  With so much going on in my life, doing a day after Mother's day post just didn't happen and I have now found myself nearly a week past that day and just now getting to it.  Oh well, such is life.  I keep telling myself that this is just the beginning of being to busy to stay on top of things.

Anyways, Mothers Day was an interesting day this year primarily because Grandma Fran wasn't here.  Every year I send cards to all of the Mothers and Grandmothers in our life and it hit me really hard when I realized that I don't get to send my Grandma her card.   It seems that the loss of Gran Fran is somehow harder now than it was 5 months ago.  Furthermore, I knew that Mother's Day was going to be especially difficult for my Mom and Aunt Jayne.  They are now in a whole new place in life where they have become the matriarchs.  Their Grandmas and now Momma are gone and I can only imagine being in that space.  With so many new babies and life amongst us it provided a lot of joy, but the loss was felt too.

We decided to keep it simple and enjoy a picnic in the park just Bob, Lily, Evie, Memaw, Papa and Me.  It was wonderful and quiet, a perfect way to enjoy the afternoon and celebrate Mom and Me.

 

I found myself relishing the fact that I am now considered amongst the Mothers, and that I too, am hopefully raising a new generation of Mommys.  A Mother is such an incredible person.  I have always loved mine, and am eternally grateful for her.  Becoming a Mom and seeing how much Lily loves me and wants me in her life is so humbling and so unbelievably rewarding.  If you have a great Mother, honor and love her, every moment, every day.

Mother's Day is a special day of just being able to pause amidst the rush of "being Mom" and remember why we do what we do.  It's so we leave a legacy.  One just like my Grandma left my Momma, one that she is leaving for me, and one that I will be blessed to leave to my girls.

Happy Happy Day to all of the great women who call themselves a Momma!

Dear Lily

We are getting closer and closer to the time when our little family of 3 becomes a family of 4.  I love you so much little girl and even though I love your sister a lot too, I am gonna miss just you and me.  Its  going to be a lot of fun once Evie gets here and the three of us girls have got a lot to look forward to, but I want you to know how much I have loved the time I have had with you.

You are special Lily Grace and every day I see more and more of God's handiwork in you.  I simply cannot wait to see you in the big sister role and know that you will be great at it.  You are so independent, so strong and such a leader.  Those are very special qualities especially for a big sister.

Today I wanted to take some time and write down all of the neat and frustrating things that you are doing these days.  I also wanted to write down all of your favorite things right now.  These things seem to change as you grow, but I never want to forget each stage with you.

You LOVE Minnie Mouse, especially your pink Minnie shirt.  If I would let you, you would wear it 24/7 and never take it off.  I can't wait till you meet the real Minnie!

Veggietales is still your favorite music and you love the "Family Song" and "This Little Light of Mine" right now.  I have to play them over and over and over again.  When the Family song starts you always say "Mommy, put your fumb up!" and we go through all of the fingers together.  When This Little Light starts you tell us to "Put your shine up!"  We do and you love to stick your light up too.

At night time you only want bedtime stories from Mommy, but you LOVE shower time with Daddy.  Franklin the turtle stories are always on the agenda and of course you love your Bible stories.  Right now I always have to read you the "Don't cut his hair" one (story of Samson) and you love the "Dinner story" where Jesus feeds the 5000.  Your other favorites are Jonah and the big Fish, Jericho, Lazarus and the one where Jesus teaches the disciples how to be fishers of men.  You simply love your Bible and Jesus.  It thrills me!

Horses are still your most favorite thing, much to Memaw's delight.  You have your two big horseys named Precious (the brown one) and Hatch (the grey one).  You read to them, have Daddy tickle them, watch Elmo with them and always remember them for night time.

Speaking of Elmo, boy do you like him.  "Elmo's World" or "Elmo Potty Time" gets a viewing nearly every day.

You give great kisses and even better hugs!

Frustration is a hard thing for you and you just HATE when you can't do what you want to do.  We are working on learning to problem solve right now because when you can't fold your blanket just right or get your stroller where you want it you scream and yell instead of ask for help.  Memaw says you are just like her.

You have been wanting to test your boundaries lately and have gotten hurt as a result.  You grabbed Mommys shaver and cut your thumb then you decided you wanted to touch the hot iron after I had ironed Daddy's shirt.  We have told you not to numerous times, but you have a mind of your own.

You love to hide with Daddy under a big blanket, you call it your "fort."  Tickles and throws are still your favorite activity with Daddy and you LOVE to walk around the lake by our apartment.

You love to run, especially in bare feet!  Speaking of bare feet  you never like to wear shoes!  When you are not bare footed, you love to wear your horsey socks, one pink and one purple!

Whenever Baby Evie starts to kick you like to hug her and tell her that you love her.  Evie loves it when you hug.  I know this because she moves around when you do!

You have such a sweet spirit Lily and are so kind to others.  People love you because you give hugs and love to talk to people.

You can count to 10 in English, Spanish and French and you love your numbers puzzle, princess puzzle and Minnie Mouse puzzle.

You love to wear dresses and put bows in your hair.  After you are dressed you always run to Daddy so that he can see how pretty you look.  You love your Daddy a lot!  You also like it when your fingernails are painted.

You know why Jesus died on the cross and you also know why to tomb was empty.  Your heart is open to Jesus and I can see Him in you!

Baby Girl, you are growing up so very fast and becoming a simply beautiful little girl inside and out.  You are so important to me and so special.  I know that things are gonna change when Evie comes into our lives and we will have to learn to share each other.  But never forget that you are my special flower.  My one and only Lily!

All my Love
Mommy

Another Family Picture

So I have become known in my family as the lady with the camera.  Pretty much guaranteed, any family event and I will be there snapping away.  I am grateful that I come from a family that gets it, understands it and is willing to pose, position and smile for my obsession.

Pictures are so personal and special to me.  I try to stay active on social media, but with all of the new mediums constantly trying to "connect" you to the world I have found myself only drawn to a few.  Bob tried to get me all "Twittered" up a while ago.  I tried, and failed.  I just don't get the point.  Twitter is kind of like random ramblings.  Who cares what you tweeted, I want to SEE it! So when I was introduced to Instagram my whole world opened up. YES, this is how I see the world, how I communicate and how I love to communicate to others.  I just love images, moments captured in time.  They are timeless and something that 5, 10, 20 years from now I can look back on and remember.  I love pictures.

You might wonder when this picture obsession really started for me and I want to share.  Since this blog is hopefully going to be read by my daughters one day, I want them to know why their mother takes pictures......relentlessly.

It can be summed up in one word......REGRET.  Yep, that is how the picture craze started for me.  When our dear friend Armando died suddenly several years ago, all of us were asked to look for pictures that we had of him. We were BEST FRIENDS with Traci and Armando for over 4 years and do you know how many pictures I could find of him, and us? About 3, and only 1 of us all together.   I couldn't believe it.  In the years of adventures, dinners, celebrations, birthdays and fun we had never taken the time.  I was heart broken.  No, a person isn't a picture, but so many memories will be just that, my memory.  I made a new commitment to myself and my family.  I was going to take pictures and lots of them.  Never again would I feel regret for not having taken the time to take pictures.

When Grandma Fran passed away, I had no regrets.  I had so many pictures of her and our family that we had taken over the past year.  I have her with Lily, I have her with me, and I have all of us together. No regrets. She is saved permanently in my heart and forever on my lens.  I didn't miss the moments and now I have the memories.

Sweet Jessi-  Isn't she beautiful?

So here is another family picture.  My cousin Jessi and her boyfriend Josh came down from Durango and we all met them for dinner.  We don't see her that often, but every time we do I have a picture.  Beth's dad Marty was also visiting.  Marty is a cancer survivor, and I wouldn't have missed a chance to have his smiling face in our picture.  This family is special, and this moment is permanently etched.  It was just a dinner, nothing fancy, but it was a priceless.  The 3 minutes it took to take this picture was time eternally well spent.  Glad we didn't let it pass us by.

Cinco De MIRE!

We are not big Cinco de Mayo celebrators  but this weekend brought with it a wonderful visit from Grandpa Longmire!  With all 5 of us Longmires together I couldn't help but be cheesy with the title of this post.  Since we will not be having a little boy (Robert Edward Longmire the 5th) Bob won't get his "Cinco" nor will he be born on May 5th, so a blog post is going to be the closest he gets to expressing his cleverness. 

We haven't seen Grandpa Longmire in over a year and it was such a special weekend, albeit short.  We talked about Grandpa visiting all week long and Lily was simply beside herself with glee and infinite talking subjects when he arrived on the scene.  She immediately told him all that she knew about horseys, her babies and tickles and throws.  Oh she was just delighted!

Story time is the best with Grandpa and Mommy!

Mischievous little girl showing Grandpa how she throws rocks in the water.

The next morning we decided to head to the zoo!  Lily is LOVING the zoo these days and we were so excited to take her with Grandpa.  On the way to the zoo all she could talk about were the tigers, elephants and the carousel horses that she would hopefully get to ride on.

The zoo has been updating the sea lion exhibit and every time that we have been there it has been drained.  Not this time!  Lily got to see the big sea lion show for the first time with her Grandpa.  Let me tell you, it was the talk of the weekend.  The big sea lion's name was Nick and we heard about him every time we mentioned the zoo.  So precious.

The most exciting event of the morning, however, was definitely the carousel horses.  She ran practically around and entire zoo the second she knew that we were headed to the carousel ride.  O my goodness was she excited.  Grandpa bought her two rounds of rides and she was simply beside herself with glee.

Baby Evie had a major kettle corn craving while her big sister was on the ride so I munched on a big bag of the stuff.  I am certainly glad that I did because once Lily discovered the good stuff she hunkered down in the wagon and shared only under duress.  Even when faced with the Big Apes, she was content to stare mesmerized while keeping her cheeks full.

The zoo was wonderful and firmly cemented Grandpa as one of the coolest people ever!

Sunday I was sicker than sick so our trip to go hiking in the mountains was unceremoniously cancelled.  Oh well, we decided to go to the park and spend our last few hours with Grandpa together. 

You can tell, Lily had a blast.  Before we had to take him to the airport, Grandpa took Lily out and bought her a special present, new furniture.  It was such a blessing and the furniture, Lily calls her "Princess Bed."  She is so excited and I cannot wait to get into a house and see the awe on her face when she has her own special princess room!  Thanks Grandpa!

Yes the weekend was short, but it was so wonderful to spend some time with Grandpa Longmire!  Hopefully next time Grandma Lynn can come too!  Just think, we will have two little girls they can love on.  One thing is for certain, we LOVE our Grandmas and Grandpas!