New Baby, Old Threads

I have a love of old things. Old furniture, old table linens. Little old ladies.

So, when I was given a lovely little old fashioned baby blessing dress and bonnet, I knew they would be just perfect for our Emme.

They were.

She looked sweet. She is sweet. She may also be Amish.

Here is her blessing cake:

And here are her blessing feet:

 Dear Family-we missed you being here.

Dear Friends-thanks for filling in.

In celebration of Emme, we drank this yesterday. We liked it. You may like it, too.

Tender Hearts

Like me, you may have had a good cry over Japan in the last week.

My girls and I have talked a lot about it. They've asked about the children and where they sleep at night and how people are getting the food they need. They've started rounding up some of their toys and dolls they want to send to them. It's done my aching heart good to see their tender little hearts at work.

 I tell you what, I'll be holding these little ones a little closer.

I Get my Day in Court

Background:

In the last 6 months in Pittsburgh I have:
1) Had my van towed literally out from under me when I returned to my meter, trailing 3 kids and pregnant, 5 minutes late. Cost-$219.00
2) Gotten a ticket for going 6 mph over in a flashing school zone, but wait for it. . .teachers had been on strike for 4 weeks and school was not in session. When I pointed this out to the officer, he said, "Welcome to Pennsylvania." Cost-$109.00
3) Received a parking ticket (Caleb) for parking on a certain street on the 3rd Wednesday of the month between 2 and 4 pm-designated street cleaning hours. They never actually clean the street, just distribute tickets. Cost- $25.00

Then. . .
I picked up a $10 ticket for leaving one of our cars out overnight in front of our own house on our wide, quiet, neighborhood street. No biggie. Except I forgot to pay it in the 4 days allotted because I was 8/9ths pregnant and hosting 25 people for Thanksgiving that week. The next week I was served a summons by our mailman. My little parking ticket was now a $70 fine and required a court appearance. Oh, heck no.
My sweet little mother was in town to witness the absolute unhinging that transpired that day. Thanks for having my back mom, and for sitting in the car with the kids while I huffily entered my plea of "not guilty" with the court secretary and requested a hearing.

Late in February, the day of my parking ticket hearing arrived. At 9 am, with a carseat/baby on one arm and a bag full of snacks, diapers, etc. on the other, I shooed my girls into the 10 x 14 waiting room at the courthouse. It was already packed with characters who watched wide-eyed as our entourage shuffled by. A nice man with some seriously impressive body art moved seats so the five of us could sit together.

For the next 40 minutes, the girls downed baggies of cheerios and Craisins while I watched the clock. In retrospect, perhaps I should have thought twice about providing such a high-fiber snack. . .

At about 9:45, Emme let me know it was time for a refill. With no more private/sanitary options in sight, I plugged her in under my cover and prayed they wouldn't call me before the judge in such a state. Just then, Jane informed me that she had an urgent need. I pointed to the bathroom door opening directly off of the waiting room and told her she'd have to go by herself, which filled her with great joy. She skipped in and closed and locked the door. That's when all of us in that waiting room discovered that the bathroom door created a sound barrier similar to that of a piece of cardboard.

After a minute or two of shuffling around, we heard the clinking open of the potty lid and the sounds of a wee lass climbing aboard. Then, apparently knowing she was going to be there awhile, Jane treated us all to the overture from swan lake, sung in her loudest LA LA LA's. Shoulders around the room began to shake in stifled chuckles and I'll be darned if the boat tatooed on the nice man's bicep didn't start sailing away on its fleshy sea. After an impressive finale with a long drawn out "la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Jane's private theater went silent. I knew what was coming next, but trapped in my milky prison all I could do was wince my eyes shut as Jane shouted, "Mom! I need you to wipe me!" for all to hear. Stifled chuckles broke into open laughter. I sheepishly placed my newborn into her car seat, instructed Jane through the door how to unlock it so I could get in, and then took care of business like every good mother does.

Praise be, the moment we walked out of the bathroom we were called before the judge. I only had to tell my girls once to climb off the bailiff's table as I presented my case, whereafter his honor rolled his eyes at us, declared me not guilty, and sent us on our way. Bless the mother of a wayward adolescent who grabbed my arm as I walked out and told me we all had made her day.

Well, Pennsylvania court system, I may not have my pride, but I've got my 70 bucks.

Hey Lovebirds...

Here is our Valentine photo essay.

The decor:

 The drinks:

 The crafts:

 The eats: (if you have not tried this recipe yet, it's a goody.)

The rendezvous:
My intentions: Meet caleb at the door before he sees the surprise the girls and I set up, greet him with a kiss and send him back out to take our girls to the arranged babysitter, put the baby to sleep while he's gone, and treat him to a romantic dinner for 2 in our "cafe" (um, I nailed sheets to the ceiling.)

What actually happened: I spent the day baking, running cookies to preschool, driving kids back and forth, and making a horrendous mess of my kitchen. Caleb arrived home earlier than I expected. My 6 year-old lookout forgot to warn me and instead welcomed him into the house. Non-showered and wearing a filthy apron, I walked around the corner calling orders to the kids about getting on shoes and coats, then actually jumped and screamed in shock upon seeing Caleb in the entry, and blurted out, "What are you doing here?!"
Welcome home, Valentine.
Later, Emme joined us for dinner where she ate, pooped, and barfed during each course, and then insisted on dancing with us to death cab for cutie by candlelight.

It was all the stuff my Valentine dreams are made of.
Actually, for real it was.

My other valentines (blurry ones):

Hope your day was memorable.

It's Date Night in the Cultural District

We went on a date. I totally recommend doing that.
All my real photos are currently tied up in hard drive limbo, so you get these:

Hot chocolate at the andy warhol museum cafe. So good.

The only human being in the museum that night not wearing a shade of black: Emme Wilson.

(She was a big hit. I don't think the museum crowd gets enough baby.)

The coat room of the Warhol:
Dark outerwear lined up like soup cans.
The white one is mine.

So what did we learn from date night?
1. We aren't as hip as we think we used to be.
2. It is nice to be married to someone just as unhip as you.
3. People on first dates who put their fist to their chin, nod, and say "uh-huh..." with a discerning expression, while looking at abstract art, as their date uses their hands like a viewfinder, are fun to secretly chuckle at if you are married. Because we've so been there. Isn't it nice not to be there?
4. We still love each other.

All in all, I'd say the evening was a success.

I Miss My Hard Drive and my Self-Control

Blogging from Caleb's computer tonight because mine crashed this morning. I weep for me! Please bless the good doctors at geek squad can make it all better.

I don't know if what followed was a result of computer-crash-induced desperation, or a simple, albeit shameful, case of supply and demand, but here's what I ate today-

Breakfast: the rest of the Oreo's we found leftover in the kitchen at church on Sunday, with a root beer chaser.

Lunch: 4 or 5 funsize snickers.

Dinner: half a bag of haribo gummi bears.

Before you flog me with a licorice whip, let it be known that I did feed my children actual food today.
(Although it's questionable whether my nursing newborn got much more than sugar water.)

Caleb got home just before nine and thought dessert and a "Chuck" episode sounded about right. I didn't tell him about my other dietary selections for the day until after I'd finished the large root beer float he made me.

Upon hearing, Caleb told me to sit on the time-out stair and think about what I'd done.

Funny, funny man.

Well goodnight, all. I think tomorrow I will try to find my running shoes and some spinach.

Have You Seen This Girl Lately?

She's suddenly sprouted curls, and I'm just eating them up.

Olivia spends her day following me from room to room, chatting me up. She is in love with her new little sister in a major way and whispers "Oh!" in adoration whenever Emme is near. It's about the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

 She became a smash hit with the Sam's Club staff last Friday by shouting, "Free sample! Free sample!" from her cart-seat the whole way through the store.

Another choice Sam's club moment from the week:

Caleb rolled up to a sample cart with three of our four girls.
The pretty, slender black woman working the cart looked at him with wide eyes and asked, "Are these all yours?" He confirmed. She replied, "You done LOST yo' mind!"

Caleb spat with laughter. Olivia shouted, "Free sample!"

Then Caleb pointed to me heading their way with our fourth girl.

Woman: "Another girl?"
Caleb: "Yep."
Woman: "Tell me the day and year?"
Caleb: "Of what?"
Woman: "When you done LOST yo' mind!"

We are quite a spectacle these days.

Speaking of spectacles:

Kids in glasses: never not funny.
This girl pretty much has my heart in her pocket.

Her Public Needs Her

So Emme is back, by popular demand.

Pardon the hiatus. Emme has had a full schedule, consisting of:

Getting less squishy-

 Getting even more less squishy (please notice double chin)-

 And getting positively plump-

Emme has been a pure delight thus far. Slept six hours straight three nights last week, and she is ridiculously pleasant when she's awake.

Good thing. Because I suddenly feel like I have a LOT of children. I may have almost forgotten her in her car seat at old navy when moving from the infant's section to the girl's section with my other 3 girls in tow. Mom, I hereby forgive you for the time I got left at Surf 'n Swim for half an hour when I was 7. I totally get it. And what was I thinking taking all 4 girls shopping with me? Not again until they're 20.

Just a few gems from the ladies lately:

While working on Malan's homework-
Malan: "You don't know about math problems, Jane."
Jane: "What's a math problem?"
Malan: "Like, if you don't know what 4 plus 5 is, then you have a math problem."

Jane at our FHE about spirit prison/paradise: "Well, I just hope I get a pretty dress. I don't want to wear the stripes. You know, the black and white stripes?"

Olivia, feeling a little displaced by new sister, is now alerting us to her need for attention by, multiple times daily, spinning rapidly in circles while shouting: "I'm funny! I'm funny! I'm funny!" until she falls down and we all laugh and applaud. Very mature, I think.

Caleb and I are doing fine. So busy. Hope to come up for air soon.