already a week ago?

Has the week already gone so fast? I knew the day Jenn, John and Imogen landed that they would leave before I knew it and they did. I should really be in bed right now, but then I saw all these pictures from a week ago. Angie is holding Emora with an egg that had her name on it. Asaco is her daughter-in-law from Japan who got to color eggs for the first time in her life. She made each kid a special egg and the one Ivan is holding that says Japan in Japanese characters, among other eggs. She had as much fun hiding the eggs as the kids did finding them. It was another beautiful moment among many.



I have more pictures from the week, as you can well imagine. We had a wonderful time together, doing fun activities in the city, doing crafts and spending time together. Auntie and Uncle even babysat one night so that Brian and I could go out. Such a treat! No supper to cook, or kids to try to convince to eat, or fighting or dishes... they even bathed 2 of ours for us. It's funny when you have kids, you don't realize all the little steps that go into taking care of them.




The kids adjusted pretty well to having the house back as it was. They asked where the auntie, uncle and cousin were, quizzed us over the details of their leaving, declared that we needed to go to Canada and reclaimed their room. I'm hoping we get up there this summer and trying to focus on that and not miss my little niece and her parents too much. It's always so short. It seemed even shorter too because we were all so worn out by all the youthful energy. Visiting was limited due to the fact that we took naps in the day and went to bed not too long after the kids were asleep. Ah well, that is life with toddlers. I told Jenn that someday, they would be teenagers and we could visit a bunch while the next generation hung out.




We've been doing laundry all day, undoing and making beds and scheming with Big Buddy for his birthday plans. He turns 92 next week and wants to celebrate with a seafood night- fish and shrimp. He wanted lobster, but I don't even know how to eat it, yet alone cook it! I suggested we go to Red Lobster, but he said "their bills are too high". So he is going to fry fish and I'm going to make something with shrimp. Any pointers? I've never cooked shrimp except ready to use salad shrimp in a soup!

Dedication

Tomorrow we have invited friends to come to our home to speak words of blessing, promise, hope, goodness, prophecy, love... over Emora. We would love for you to share in this celebration with us by writing a message for Emora. These will be spoken over her not only now, but throughout her growing years. We believe in the power of our words and that the messages spoken to her from heaven and from our hearts/soul/minds will have a great influence on her. Feel free to post a message here or e-mail me at:

angelabaggett@gmail.com

We are excited to know who our daughter is and are full of joy for her future with us and in the world. We know that she is so very precious and that it is a huge privilege for us to be able to speak life and love over her.

Easter day

Us adults would love to hang out and visit in the evenings, but by the time we have all the high energy toddlers bathed and ready for bed, we are beat! And 3 of us adults are taking naps in the day too. Crazy how a few little 30 lbs wonders can wear capable people out like that. We took them to the library today and did some more camp cousin activities. It is so wonderful to be together. I got to hear Imogen's gurgles and laughs as she played delightedly tonight. She loves the baby so much, it's nearly dangerous. Dominique wants to guide and direct her little cousin. My trio are basking in the love of their auntie and in the charm of mystery man. It's so cool. I think web caming has really helped in that they already know each other a bit and can just add depth and memories to their technology permitting get togethers.

Camp Cousins!

We have a song. We have shirts. We're doing "camp cousins" with activities, smiles, laughter and mayhem. It's a blast. Our days seem full and must be since even Ivan has been taking naps. Sat. we went downtown to a museum and did a craft and visited the library. Sun. we got to see big Buddy and had 3 egg hunts in 2 locations- one on a farm where we also roasted weiners and marshmellows. Today, we went swimming at the YMCA. We have 119 pictures on our camera and probably twice that amount on Jenn's so prepare to be inundated when I catch a minute to post. Cousin Imogen is enthralled with our pets and her cousins and her cousins are enthralled with her. The weather is being absolutely perfect- sunny and room temp. We even got some refreshing rain one night.

Dominique

My little girl isn't so little anymore.








Dominique has an uncanny ability to get herself dirty. I'm used to it, but it really aggravates me when she is wearing a new shirt. This was the first time she put this shirt on. I saw the stain at diner time. It was from her eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at lunch. Amazing how talented she is huh? I did remember wiping up jelly from the edge of the table, but I didn't think to look under her sleeve. (Tighe this was a shirt you lent us of Lily's, but I managed to get the stain out!! ;)

Dominique loves her little sister so much and enjoys "playing" with her. It amazes me how the kids are not at all frustrated that Emora can't do more than sit and laugh at them. They are thrilled when she smiles at them and try to entertain her if she is crying (sometimes it helps, sometimes it makes Emora cry even more!)


Dominique reads a story to Emora. I love the animation she adds to the story. In case you didn't figure it out, she was trying to say that someone fell. She loves to look at pictures and retell a story. Usually she just repeats over and over "then he said... then he said..." She hasn't figured out that women and girls are "she" so everyone is a "he" in her book. I don't understand much of the rest of her story apart from the falls and "I love you" part. And I didn't make much sense at the end either, so maybe she gets it from me!

Right now, we are getting ready for the grand arrival of the cousin- Imogen and her parents: auntie Jenn and mystery man. We are getting the house in order and buzzing with excitement. Only 3 more hours and they'll be walking in our door! I need a nap so bad, but there are still a few things to do. I better go check my list and get to it!

Bluebonnet serenaded

Thanks to Trish for these bluebonnet pictures. We went to visit our friends in Clyde and found one of the few patches of bluebonnets this year. I dragged my kids into the beauty only to find out that it was infested with stickers (these are not cute little sticky backed pictures- as my northern readers are accustomed to, but small horribly painful thornish balls that cling to clothes and shoes, pierce skin unmercifully and can easily pierce a bike tire). I was actually trying to have my kids sit in the hazardous field for these pictures, but we settled for standing once we saw the treachery we had unwittingly stepped into. We carried them back to the car and picked hundreds of stickers out, painfully and diligently. But the pictures did come out good!

I also wanted to show you that Emora is loosing her hair. Ivan lost all of his but a tuft on top. I used to call him my little samori warrior. Dominique kept hers. Emora seems to be going in the way of her brother. Right now it looks like she has had a really bad hair cut. She has lots of hair that cascades toward the right of her head, thin hair on the left of her head, a blank spot where her hair cowlicks and a spot rubbed bald under that. Her neck is tickled with beautiful growing hair that frames out the bottom of her head. It's quite the look! So some day, if she does something crazy with her hair as a teenager, I should remind myself that it has been worse!


Ivan & Dominique sing to Emora. Notice how Dominique changes from singing "baby" to singing "cheese" when she sees the camera?

Emora

We were able to introduce our friend Mary to Emora. She loves babies and we went on a walk to see the tractors and someone's chickens. The cows weren't in the field this time around, but the kids found plenty to look at. Dominique kept gathering stones off the gravel road, then found this stick. She loves dresses and pretty thinks, but also likes to get dirty and play with bugs. She has even caught a couple of flies with her hands in the house and brings them to me. Funny girl.




Brian has been getting plenty of projects done and things fixed around the house. Ivan loves to "assist" him and Dominique does too, but she needs her naps so doesn't always get to participate. It's amazing how Ivan soaks up every detail. He already knows more than I do about carpentry and lawn mowers. He was telling me all about the different saws, which ones cut metal and which ones don't, the lawn mower's filters and which one ours uses... Crazy how fast they learn.

Olivia, Tighe and I try to get together once a week or so for activities with the kids. It's pretty nuts when we are together and now I see why. Just look at all those little kids! I don't know how day cares do it. We have three adults and it gets pretty hairy, but is so worth it. We all love to be with our friends and create memories together.





Ivan and Dominique with Dora inspired dance.

baby dolls

Our little darling is not so little anymore. She had her 2 month doctor appointment, got 3 shots, one of which is a triple wammy of diseases and a vaccination by mouth. It was pretty hilarious when she glared at the nurse, after her first taste of the stuff. She is cooing and laughed at me this morning during our little chat. She likes to "talk" and smile. She smiles at her siblings too, which they think is pretty cool. She is now 12.15lbs and 23 1/2" long.

Ivan continues to come up with cutsie and not so cutsie terms of endearment for his littlest sister. Tonight he asked how his "little cheesly dumpling" was doing.

Some children name their dolls sweet girl names like Suzie and Mary. Not my Dominique. She has many dolls, but their names are more descriptive. There is "buck naked baby"- the doll who is always naked because Dominique won't let her wear clothes. Then there's "pink baby". This doll's pink clothes are sewed to the doll and can not be removed- so she's "pink baby". Another one is "white baby". Her clothes have also been removed, but her body is made of stuffed white cloth, thus the name "white baby". I guess since Dominique is not allowed to be naked all day, she has started her own little nudist colony of babies who are free to be clotheless without a mean parent impeding on their innocent freedom. Tonight she did want me to put a diaper on buck naked baby though- because she didn't want her to "poop in the bed" (that's what she told me). She's a smart kid, our Dominique.

Hope you enjoyed our tire swing photo shoot. I love the way Dominique's eyes are accentuated with the blue. Emora's eyes are still blue, but they are a darker color than Dominique's so we'll see if she keeps them or not.

super sweet

Emora with our budding and flowering peach tree. A sure sign of spring.





Ivan and Dominique painting helmet/masks we made together.





Dominique's hair made these cute pigtails after swimming in the pool one day.


The kids are different with Emora. Dominique's favorite thing is to hold or play with her sister. Ivan loves to talk sweet to her. Nana has this singsong voice she uses with him when he wakes up in the morning while she says things like: "how's my sweet little pumpkin?" Ivan can imitate her perfectly and often says these sweet little somethings to Emora. This morning he asked her: "how is my sweet little sunshine doing?"

Ivan's dance video: