*Edenita cumple 4

Our little Edie turned 4 last week!  Ahhh my little baby, I don't want her to get any bigger  :(  She is such a hilarious, fun and adorable little girl - if a *little* difficult at times. We saw that coming as early as 9 months old when she would bite me if I tried to redirect her.

Here she is on her first day of preschool back in September! She loves it - just 2 days a week. This is her "school outfit" that she wants to wear every time.  Her teachers have serious Boston accents and once after picking her up Edie asked if I'd gotten her "picktcha" :)

She of course LOVES her baby sister, always trying to hug and kiss and hold and even lick her. Yes, she licks her on the top of her head or sucks on her fingers. That's Edie.

When she gets the "good girl" bug she can be so helpful!  Here she actually folded all the laundry out of the dryer, put it all away and then proceeded to sweep the kitchen - all her own ideas.  She was so proud of herself and so wanting to please.

She is enamoured with Vera - so excited to share things, tell her things, etc. She always wants to get Vera a sticker at the Dr.'s office or bank, share her snack, etc. It's very sweet. She can also be a major pain in the butt - I think most siblings have those moments, yes?

I found this on my phone a few weeks ago :)

*treinta y cinco

I just wanted to write down about my birthday today.  I was wishing today that I'd documented each birthday - you often think, this is the best one ever!! but it still just runs together with the rest of the years. Well this wasn't one of those best birthdays ever, but it was emblematic of my life currently. It was fairly uneventful all day - I watched my friend's little guy this morning, we walked to CVS, enjoyed some sunshine, took Vera to her (first!) violin lesson at school... I did make gnocchi with brown butter and sage (yum) and had bought a few small special cheeses at Whole Foods along with some wine.  Ruth should have been getting ready for bed, but I held her for a few minutes at the table.  She was just in a diaper and her sweet warm little body was so loveable. Vera sat us down later and they sang Happy Birthday while she twanged out some notes on her violin [she actually did improve in the hour or so she played around with it after her first lesson] - that was incredibly sweet and made me tear up a bit.  The girls drew me several cards which they were so excited for me to open. They gave me a postcard OF some handmade baskets from Bolivia [they disappeared at the market on Sunday, I thought they actually bought something hahaha]. Edie picked out this lovely card for a 90 year old but the two both had near-meltdowns because Vera was trying to sign it too... I don't really know what when on with that.  When I read it I had a hard time not crying from laughing so hard and trying to not make Edie feel badly because her card was hilarious.

Anyway, it was funny and fun and I am grateful. I had some reflection time this morning in the 20 minutes Ruth was sleeping and before Isaac came - I realized lately some major failings of mine as a mom [please don't say otherwise :)] and was totally humbled. Reflected on the words of one of my favorite hymns and it felt very real today: Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee!  What good words - I'm going to remember this 35th birthday and move forward with His grace, loving my family and my friends and neighbors like He has loved me!

*8 meses

I love this little baby girl so much, I literally can't stand it. I would describe her as someone who loves to be alive. When she wakes up in the morning she is SO incredibly happy, kicking and flapping her little arms, squealing and laughing.  She yells and growls and squeals and makes lots of ooohhhh noises at the things she sees - other babies, balloons, dogs, her sisters, Trixie [we have a new bunny, have I noted that here?], books...  It's amazing. She is now crawling (earliest of the 3!) but is still pretty easy and I'm not having to keep her out of trouble very often.  She isn't sleeping through the night - on a good night she only wakes 2x which lately is becoming more often. Now that I said that she'll wake 5x tonight.  If she keeps it up, I may have to make a plan :(  I didn't know how lucky I was with Vera!! Anyway, we all are just incredibly smitten with this little one.

Here she is in her room which is finally looking like a nursery and not a guest room/place where you put things you don't know where to put.  I think she likes it  : ) She even ooohhed at the embroidery hoops I put up which made me feel good.  Poor thing, it only took me 8 months!! Maybe I should get working on her birth announcement ....