Ellen Rose 10 months

The maters are finally coming in. Ellen and I have taken to driving the pink car out to the garden and loading her 'trunk' up since we are getting more than a handful lately. She insists on carrying at least one back in the house.















We also tried a popsicle (GrandDad's suggestion a while ago) and she was less impressed with eating than she was 'sharing it', and I was not prepared for the ATTACK OF THE POPSICLE MONSTER...




















This is huge news around here-HOLD and DRINK from a sippy cup. YEHAW for self-feeding.









And we've been trying and trying to get a picture of her sleeping, it's scary to do b/c the risk of waking her is high but oh so worth it. Mike got this one-he is the brave one. I know I'll never stop wanting to watch her sleep. I love how her hair grows forward and is always pointed at her face and there are little tufts of curls int h back--she is very 70's that way. Like her name should be Ralph or Larry and she needs some big smoky glasses and some polyester pants.















to be continued...

Squirrel Weekend

I am totally uninspired and not as thoughtful today but it's not a reflection of things being uninteresting, that is for sure. Not only was this weekend the annual SQUIRREL WEEKEND, it was just fabulous I thought. Those girls have turned out to be a group of women that no matter what are kind, fair and supportive to me. I cannot say that for all the people I have loved in my life (family and friends alike). Not one of them has ever intentionally hurt me for selfish reasons or ever will. That is a REAL FRIEND. I think they are Mom's way of looking out for me sometimes. I hope I have been the same to them.

Dinner on Friday was so wonderful for me. I drove the whole 13 minutes with all the windows down, the music up and decidedly over the speed limit. Then I happily had 1 margarita and found I am a lightweight and stopped there so I sobered up through dinner with the girls. Then I got home just in time for Birdie's 12 pm feeding and went to bed. I was dragging Sat am so Mike took the girls for a run. He showed back up with a special suprise. As he was passing the thrift store, this was out in front...now the little car she was in that he had to hold her in the reverse choke hold is a thing of the past....

So despite the fact that it was $3 whopping dollars, I think he would have paid $300.00 given this expression.

Have I mentioned that love is a baby????

Saturday was equally as fabulous-an afternoon at the spa, and then dinner downtown Athens, we were there for 3 or 4 hours and the topics of convo were great I thought. I again arrived home in time for Birdie's midnight feeding and went to bed. If it had not been for the newborn and 6 month old, we'd have been out of town again and I WOULD HAVE LOVED THAT. But this was a good starter break for all parties, and Ellen didn't suffer too much, she missed one feeding and even tho she ate like she was starving Sunday morning, she slept fine, so she didnt pay a big price for Mama's fun. And SuperDad allowed me 2 (!!!) naps on Sunday after being the caretaker all weekend and managed to do as much if not more parenting than I did yesterday. Feeling like one one lucky squirrel mama.

On the fitness front I am still working out. And recording what I eat. And still opposed to goals. They seem to be the hallmark of those who dont reach them to me lately. Big elaborate plans that turn out to be pipe dreams. Not that I haven't come along way, I have. But I am ready to just appreciate where I am instead of feel like a failure for not having reached my 'goals' for a while. It's nice.

Just got off the phone and Ellen Rose will be starting Parents Morning Out in September. There is an orientation and everything! I am so stoked I can hardly see straight. It is at the church that is spitting distance from here and it comes highly recommended, so am not having one ounce of reservation.

p.s. Birdie turns 10 months tomorrow. WOW.

OK, so I did have alot to say. Shocker.

LOVE is a BABY

Every day with this baby is just more precious than the last. I feel like I am finally seeing the beauty in 'staying at home.' Each day the question of whether I should go back to full time work just gets further and further from my brain. Our days start between 6 and 7...she and her Dad handle the morning diaper change and meet me at the couch for the first feeding then she goes back to her Dad if he has any time before he has to get ready for work. We spend the next hour to hour and a half playing in the floor - some days she plays by herself and I try to make beds, brush my teeth, change, etc... or on days like today, I sit and we explore everything together. Lately I have been lettting her play with a cocktail shaker (of all things!) but its shiny and has ridges and makes neat noises with her other toys. And she LOVES little rubber balls like golf balls. I keep thinking each morning she will get tired of these things but nope, before I know it, she has one in each hand and banging them together and grinning like a cheshire cat the whole time. Then we go do naptime routine and I use her naptime for breakfast, a little email time or little chores like the garden, etc. Call Dad, Call Mike, sweep, finish getting myself ready for the gym and like a clock she is up 1 hour after she goes down. Then she has her morning snack - usually cereal with bananas. We just found out she is a little anemic so we will be adding her iron drops to her cereal...I tasted them yesterday. They taste like car exhaust smells. SO after she eats, we head to the gym where she is the local mascot and is so loved. As we approach the door to Candace's room, she gets her big "peek-a-boo" grin becauses she knows when we round the corner Candance is going to jump up and smile and laugh at her, and she laughs and reaches for her the minute she sees her. I thank the good Lord for that every night. Then we head home and she has nother feeding, and a little play but usually she is whipped so we head straight for nap. I shower and eat lunch and she us up and we have the whole afternoon to kill. It's so hot, we have been just hanging inside. He she is yesterday during the afternoon. The piano continues to be a favorite.

And so does the camera...

Once Mike gets home, we have an hour or two to just lay in the floor and play (WHAT DID WE DO BEFORE SHE CAME ALONG!!???) and then it's bedtime... Then we start dinner, eat, veg for a minute and head back to bed, checking on her each night before we turn into our bedroom and shut everything down for the night. Last night she was flat on her back like a big starfish with her arms straight up over her head, just a' sawing toothpicks. She was OUT. She woke at 10, so I fed her and she slept thorugh until 6:45 this morning. Bless her for that. I'm ready to drop the 12 feeding, so I'll happily exchange it for a 10 so I can do it before I go to sleep for the night.

So, as we are prone to say around here alot...LOVE is a BABY.

Visitors

No shortage of wonderful family who just love to play with Ellen. Just before the reunion, her Uncle Chandler was here and I really don't know who was having more fun. I can't believe how at ease he is around babies! He is so sweet to her, it just melts my heart. Here they are working on their first concerto.
then Nane, Michele, Sarah, Ethan and Luke came by after they finsihed shopping for school clothes and brought Ellen Rose a first day of school shirt just like Sarah's. Priceless. We also got a shot of what looks like pure joy. I can't beleive this isn't blurry...they were FLYING. I was trying to decide whether to take the picture or rush over to intervene. Mike is holding her in a reverse choke hold to keep her from flying off the darn thing. Oy vey.

The Lake Reunion

The Rickett Reunion does it again. All weekend I had this running thought process of how amazing it is to me that we do this year after year. All the schedules that have to get (re) arranged, all the planning and preparing Aunt Ann does, all the traveling that has to occur, and for all the married-ins, all they go through to come to the weekend and add as much as they do. Although it is really a Rickett Reunion, it's all the "non-Ricketts" that caught my attention this weekend. Every single one of them is a special addition to our group (even the ones who've been divorced out-as is evidenced through the kids they've raised or are raising, whether we like to admit it or not). We've managed to attract the cream of the crop and marry them, making our family that much more special. And they are loved as if they were raised right up along with the rest of us. And they love us all back, too.

The other conversation I had with myself was about the four siblings. How different and how similar they all are (as much as they like to think they aren't a bit like each other at times). They are all strong willed, teachers, talkers, observers and challengers. They are all sweet, stubborn, intense and patient in their own ways. But the thing that occurred to me this weekend was regarding my Uncle Bill, the oldest brother. In a way, he has raised us all. He has at one time or another counseled each of us with patience and love on everything from a silly spat we were having with our parent (usually in front of everyone), and I speak from experience to very very serious matters. I speak from experience there too. Despite the very small volume of conversations he and I have had, it's always full of wisdom, advice or support. He also appears to do all things with good humor and a good heart, too. He goes the extra mile and I've never heard him complain. I don't know if he has always been this way, or if he has grown into this person through the years, but he sets an example that I want to follow. I am a speak before I think type of person, riding my emotions and acting on them in the moment, selfish, and lot more volatile than I'd like to be. These characteristics don't apply to him at all. So, although I know he is human, he just didn't seem that way to me this weekend.

I also looked around at all us cousins and thought about how much we've grown and changed through the years. As a little-er cousin, I was less close to my cousin Rhonda and more close to the cousins my own age...now I talk to Rhonda as if I see her every weekend and our age difference seems to have melted right away. And how incredible it is for me to be forming bonds with her children. All in a maximum of twice-a-year visits. And the cousins I live right next to I am finding an integral part of my life more and more as the months pass. The sisters and brothers I never had. I never would have imagined this growing up. I wonder if all the kids (Savannah, Chelsea, Chandler, Bradlee) know what is in store for them.

So I guess it left me extra thoughtful this morning, extra thankful I have a family I can feel this way about...and extra sad I did not take my camera.