My Maeve

Nita said that Maeve was at the window yesterday and thought she saw my car. She laughed and said my name over and over in joy! Then the car passed and she realized that it was not me and she cried. I'm going to be honest with you--I teared up when Nita told me this and I'm pretty sure my heart broke a little too. Sigh.

Fire Explosion Cats

I did chalk outlines of the boys and Asher was quick to draw a face on his body. Naturally he drew a cat but not just any cat--a fire explosion cat!

Maeve was busy being super stinking cute.

Those blues. I live for them.

Asher drew a 'golden axe' to prove he was a fire explosion cat.

Fire explosion cats pack heat, yo.

This was Soren's face. He called it an alien cat.

I love four year old boys!!

Cold Times Outside the NH Museum

Asher in his 'uniform' including crazy hair.




We parked RIGHT in front of the NH museum so I had the kids leave their coats in the car--it was a chilly few minutes getting into the entrance.


Wow! One of Maeve's new favorite words.




I love chasing those buns.


Crazy hair again!


Turquoise!!!


Maeve loved her some amethyst.


Freezy-Freezins!


Big Stepper.

I love parking right in front of the Natural History museum! If you hit the mall right before 10am then parking is super cinchy! This is a favorite museum of ours (of everybody with kids???) because it has dinosaurs, big cats, fish, bugs, birds, and my personal preference...gems! I had hoped to see the butterfly exhibit for free and had a great spot in line for timed tickets when suddenly an explosion of sound erupted behind us. The dreaded school group! They had somehow reserved their tickets in advance so even though we should have been able to go right into the exhibit we would have had to wait over two hours. Gag. No thanks. Until my kids are in a school group--I will continue to find them annoying.

No problem though--plenty to see and enjoy in the museum. Yay DC!

Little Things

I lack the creativity and command of language to describe how much I love my children. My heart swells with love and admiration for my little ones and yet I don't know how to translate that love into words. When I am in Maeve's presence, it's like my world is suddenly a little more colorful and well, wonderful. So often I look at her irresistible face and her sweet profile so full of long lashes and happy cheeks that I feel as though nothing could be more perfect. Everything she does and says causes me to swoon. It is exquisite to experience so much unbridled love. Maeve is cheerful, quick to laugh and clever. She's fun and funny. I am so grateful for her and so grateful to be her mom.

I remember being in the hospital after Maeve was born and feeling so much discomfort and even despair. My body ached from pushing for three hours and then having a c-section. My breasts were engorged and nursing was beyond excruciating and yet...every time the nurses brought little Maeve into my room at night so I could feed her, my heart fluttered and I was SO excited to see her. Since then, those little flutters have grown into explosions of joy. Even when Maeve gets me up in the middle of the night--my time with her is rewarding and sweet. Essentially my love for Maeve is not complicated--it's just natural and gratefully, eternal. Loving Maeve is effortless but even more remarkable is the bounty of her sweet love. She exists in a tender realm of happiness and play and I adore that little world of hers and feel privileged to be a part of it.

Asleep at the Wheel

Asher was so tired he fell asleep with his face smashed in the wheel of the shopping cart. Here's hoping for an early bedtime!

Tasty Beans and Celebrity Chef

Would you have been surprised if this guy had served your husband a rice bowl? I was and I kept trying to figure out where I had seen his face...was it Chopped or was it Iron Chef? I later figured out that he was once on Iron Chef and his name is Nate Appleman.



Jamie and I went to Shophouse in DC for lunch on Monday and I would mos def go again. I had the noodles with tofu, green beans, tamarind vinaigrette, pickled veggies, micro cilantro, and chopped peanuts. Perfection! The beans were so spectacular that I would have been happy eating a bowl of just them! Jamie had rice, eggplant, and the red curry sauce. His was hot, like even a bit too hot for him! If you find yourself in DuPont circle and you are hungry for spicy Asia food then I recommend Shophouse. Oh, and good luck finding a seat!

The Sweetest Slumber

I had to wake Maeve up for church on Sunday and this is how I found her. I nearly died. She was so perfectly cute and cozy--alll snuggled up with her soft sheep. At this age Maeve is super sweet when I have to wake her for whatever reason (as opposed to her brothers who will gnash and wail and tear my head off if they could). She startled a bit but quickly gave me a hug and patted my shoulders and asked for Asher. Some things I never want to end and everything about baby Maeve is that way. I can't stop her from growing but I can do my best to document all the little details I admire about her baby cuteness--like how she says 'tickle tickle' and gives you a good tickle. I also love how she pretends to feed me food, complete with little chewing sounds. Love, love, love (or om, nom, om).

It's Tiny but We'll Take it: The Backyard

Saturday's weather was amazing...and yet we didn't leave the house. Fortunately, we do have a tiny, tiny backyard that occasionally gets used. The boys asked to play outside and I was happy to oblige. They tossed balls, tackled each other, and created a pile up of various construction trucks. Maeve joined the boys after her nap and she was right in the middle of the action throwing balls and fighting for toys. We all loved the soft sun on our faces and heady grass under our feet. No sense in taking the kids on an 'adventure' when they were content at home.




I've mentioned Asher's obsession with Plants vs. Zombies and his passion for this game has led him to invent his own zombies. Asher's imagination is limitless and such a joy. He has an impressive list of zombies but my three favorites are farmer zombie, baby zombie, and graham cracker zombie. Farmer zombie gets really angry when he gets out of his tractor and his hat falls off! You better run! Baby zombie attacks you by throwing dirty diapers. Hilarious, no? Graham cracker zombie is harmless until he runs out of graham crackers then he freaks out and chases you. Asher also did an amusing sketch of a baby zombie in a diaper wearing a shirt with a diaper on it. Asher is such a funny kids and talks all day long about new zombies he has invented or he likes to ask about things that cats like. "Why do cats like milk?" or "Do cats eat ice cream?" Gripping stuff.













In other news, our washing machine flooded the basement. Our neighbor Kristin was the family hero when she came over to turn the water off and help Nita mop up some of the water. The carpet was so severely soaked that we had someone rip it up. This is only the fifth time our basement has flooded. Awesome. This time, however, we had the privilege of buying new appliances and carpet. No bigs, right?! Wrong. The new appliances will be in this week and we are in the process of selecting new carpet. I'm leaning towards gray carpet. Thoughts???

Counting

Maeve started 'counting' this weekend! She will point at things and say, "One, two, blah, blah, seven." It's hilarious and kind of unbelievable. Jamie made me laugh when he said, "Maeve is only 15 months old and she can count to...two." Put that way it sounds silly but her cleverness and keen sense of observation are remarkable.

While taking a bath Maeve will pretend to squirt soap on her hands then she'll rub them together and pretend to wash her entire body. She'll also put pretend soap on her hands and pretend to wash Asher's hair. I'm telling you--everything she does is so amusing and so adorable.

In church on Sunday she went wild when she noticed Jamie passing the sacrament. "Da da!!!" she yelled over and over! That was another first. She also rocked out during hymns, waved 'hi' to most of the congregation, gave me enormous hugs and pats, and then proceeded to put her foot on the shoulder of the woman sitting next to her. Nice.

I am so crazy for Maeve. She wore this little outfit to church and even she knew it was ridiculously cute:

Gulf Branch Nature Center

There exist numerous nature centers in our area and I'm determined to visit more of them this year. We went to Gulf Branch Nature Center in Arlington on Friday with friends. It was a lovely little piece of wooded quiet in the middle of a beautiful neighborhood.


There is a pond loaded with noisy bullfrogs--in fact, it sounded like they were laughing at each other's silly jokes.

Asher looking for bullfrogs.

Thoughtful.

From quiet to crazy in like two seconds.

Angry Soren.

Sweet Maeve feeling the liberation of the outdoors.

Hazel and Soren at the water's edge...

Maeve on a log.

Soren under a log.

Asher, Soren, and Niko.

Ankle deep without a flinch.

Ineffably cute.

Soggy knees.

Woo hoo!

Soaked! Both boys! Soren worse than Asher!

One whole soggy side.

Nice.

The call of the stream was pretty fierce. The kids were drawn to it and couldn't resist it. Asher walked right into it and didn't seem bothered at all. The weather was so warm and wonderful that even after both of my boys were severely soaked they hardly complained. We loved it.

Wandering outside to walk, stumble, and trip over stream rocks was pure joy. We didn't even make it into the nature center, which I hear is loaded with animals and neat exhibits. All we needed was the nature part, not the center part. There are advantages to a mild winter and a soggy day at the nature center is one of them!