Nueve

This little gal.  Oh she's been fun lately.  And by fun, I actually mean she learned how to crawl and developed a little itsy bit of an attitude this month.  

She's such a delight.

 

We are in the crawling all over and trying to stand up whilst crawling so she topples over and hits her head a lot stage.  It's a good one. 

She learned how to clap her hands and how to wave this month.  Charming.  She decided she doesn't like snuggling anymore and immediately positions herself to look out at the world when I carry her.

And good news!  She started sleeping a little better this month.  Now she only wakes up two or three times a night instead of seven or eight.  I'll take it.

She loves being outside and has taken a strong liking to our dog, Daisy.  When we take her outside, she stares at Daisy's kennel and tries to will herself in that direction.

I've mentioned it before, but her eyes.  Her eyes!  They just kill you.  Everyone who meets her comments on her eyes.  They are a deep blue - like giant blueberries - and she has dark eyelashes that ever so delicately curl.  Plus, they sparkle.

And really, she's just a lovely little piece of heaven in our lives.  Aside from the fights that ensue over whose turn it is to get her out of bed or to hold her, she brings nothing but joy to us.

Things I Miss #10 - My Pigs

Throughout my early adolescence, I collected pigs.  Mostly figurines.  This was back when peach was a trendy color, so decorative pigs were easy to find.  I had a bookcase in my room and the upper two shelves were filled with knick-knacks, mostly pigs.  It grew to be a pretty good collection.

But, at some point, I guess I decided they weren't really cool anymore and I got rid of most of them.  Now, I regret that.  It's not like I would have the entire collection on display in my living room, but it was such a big part of my personality through those years that it would be a nice thing to keep in my cedar chest.  I'd love to pull out my box of pigs and tell my kids about each one and who gave it to me or why I liked it.

Luckily, I kept a few around and two of those are these cute little fellows that Floyd sent me from Germany while he was on his mission.  In Germany, pigs are good luck.  He didn't know that, he just knew I collected them so he sent them to me.  They even survived the Floyd's gift and memories purge that occurred after we broke up one time.  So I guess they really are good luck!

Green Rainbow

I like Irish Blessings, but I was trying to find one to fit my life and it didn't work out so good.  I don't have any fields that need blessing or roads needing to rise, so I created my own.  

May you have time to clean one mess before the next happens

May lunch appear like magic each afternoon

May your baby sleep longer than two hours at a time

May the school stop sending papers to your home

May you have uninterrupted showers

Not so poetic, but way more applicable to my life.  So. 

And, for your viewing pleasure, I present the Griffiths family Rainbow of Green that was St. Patrick's Day at our house this year:

Mint Green

Tree Frog Green

Spring Leaf Green

Forest Green

Summer Grass Green

Also known as "I can't take selfies green"

Pale Skinny Stripe Green

The official color of Obscure Holiday Scrooges Everywhere

Ocho

Time for yet another monthly update.  Eight!  Can you believe it?

At eight months, Miss Molly Abigail:

-Acts like a starving child from Africa.  She is hungry all the time and is pretty much already over the baby food and wants the good stuff.  She kicks her legs in delight all throughout dinner as long as I just keep the bites coming.  

-And speaking of kicking her legs, that's her thing.  She just bounces those little babies like crazy whenever she is happy, which is most of the time.  It's usually both kicking together.  

-Has gotten rather particular about Mom leaving the room or not being the one to hold her.  She obviously still likes the whole family, but Mom takes the cake.  Hooray!

-Got her third and fourth teeth a few weeks ago.  Two on top, two on bottom.  Yay for making it through four kids with no fang teeth coming in first!  It always kinda freaks me out when I see babies like that...

-Doesn't really crawl, but is a very efficient bum-scooter.  Floyd keeps trying to make her crawl because apparently he thinks I have too much time on my hands and need to be chasing her more.

-Has come up with a couple dance moves: the shoulder shake, wherein she shakes her little shoulders up and down, and the air-split, a move Annie is also proficient at and cheers each time Molly displays it.  

-Loves being outside.  We have enjoyed the early spring weather.

-Is still very mellow and calm.  As long as she's fed and rested, she's pretty much content with whatever life brings her. 

Oh how we all adore this little babe! 

Things I Miss #9: Montero

In my family, we didn't go through cars very frequently.  My parents bought nice vehicles and then drove them for quite a few years until it was time for a new one.  I drove the same car from the time I was 16 (good old Bonny) until I was 22 and bought my first car. 

And then I married Floyd who likes to change cars like he changes underwear.  I have definitely lost count of how many vehicles we have owned in our 12 years of marriage, but it certainly averages more than one per year.  I don't really love changing vehicles that often, but so be it. 

Most of them are pretty forgettable, but there is one I still miss.  My Montero.  We've actually owned two Montero's - it's the second one I miss.  We owned it for about three years (which might be a record).  It was fun to drive and had a nice interior, but I think the thing  I liked the most about it was that it didn't scream "Mom Car."  Sure, I was packing three kids around in that thing, but nobody really knew that just by looking at me.  A little vain of me?  Oh yes, very much.  When I had to sell it, I was not happy about the monster that would be replacing it and was complaining about it to Karlee.  Her wise words to me were, "Just be glad you have all those sweet kids to need it."  That's what I try to do and I am, of course, very grateful for those kids.

But every now and again, I remember that the Montero had seven seat belts and we would still be able to fit in it if it weren't for all the stuff we have to pack everywhere we go.  Curse that stuff!

Valentine's Tea Party

We started a fun little tradition a few years ago, and it looks like it will stick around until Annie's a teenager.  Or at least until Molly is old enough to take over the tradition.  These pictures look strikingly similar to the pictures from last year's tea party.  

The Food

 

The Guests

 

The Impromptu Taylor Swift Dance Party/Cheer Stunt Routine

The menu was the same, the guests were mostly the same, but the dance party has evolved through the years.  The girls used to dress up in Annie's princess dresses and pretend they were princesses.  Now we're on to cheerleaders.  

So predictable girls, so predictable.  

 

Things I Miss #8: Sleep

Last night was a pretty good reminder of why I miss #8.  Sleep.  I'm not really a person that requires tons of sleep, which is good.  My children are probably the world's worst sleepers, or at least in the top ten.  They are not good, and admittedly, it's probably mostly my own fault because I am not good at sleep parenting.  If I could go back to my graduate-school self, I would tell her that a good dissertation topic would be "How to Promote Healthy Sleep Habits" because that would be a useful chunk of knowledge whereas language development in Latino families, the topic I actually selected, has not really proved to be very helpful in my day-to-day life.

So, my kids.  They don't sleep which in turn means I don't sleep.  I remember so clearly the moment when Cole was about six-months-old and I thought to myself, "I may never sleep through the night again because by the time Cole sleeps through the night, I'll be pregnant and I won't be able to sleep and then I'll have another newborn and when that baby sleeps through the night, I'll be pregnant again and that cycle will keep repeating itself until I have teenagers and parents of teenagers never sleep cause they are so worried about them and then when I don't have teenagers anymore, I'll be old and old people can't sleep very good either."  It was not a good moment.

Luckily, it wasn't an entirely true statement because there were probably two months or so in between when Annie slept through the night and when I was pregnant with Ben.  That was a wonderful two months.

It's not really the lack of sleep I miss the most so much as it is the lack of control over my own sleep schedule.  I can't just decide I want to stay up until 3:00 and then sleep in the next morning because I know what will happen when morning rolls around (not that I've had any reason or desire to stay up until 3:00 for over a decade, but still...).  All things considered, I think I've adjusted to the new reality pretty good.  I always let Floyd be the one to sleep in on the weekends and I'm really not a zombie most days.  But every once in a while, a night like last night sneaks up on me and I think, "gosh, it would really be nice to just go to bed when I'm tired and wake up when I'm not tired anymore." 

If it ever happens, I'll be sure and write it down and enjoy every second of it.