After Dinner Family Fun

 

Dear Bugaboo, 

Last night we did something that was so much fun! Daddy and I decided to have a family fun night with you every single night of the week!  We all eat dinner together as a family, and right after dinner and right before your bath, pajamas, bottle and bedtime stories, we take 1/2 hour to spend together doing something fun together as a family. One night, we had a musical jamboree and we all played instruments and listened to music. Another night, we built a fort out of couch cushions and watched "Winnie-the-Pooh" and read bedtime stories. But our favorite after dinner activity so far has been drawing homemade train tracks and playing with your trains with you.

You have always loved trains so much! They are your very favorite thing in the world.  You wake up in the morning saying "Train! Trains!" and you go to sleep at night holding your trains.  When we are driving through town we say "Wee!" when we cross the train tracks and you always get so excited when the train passes us by.  We know exactly where all of the trains are in town! And in a few short weeks we will be going to Roaring Camp to meet the real life Thomas the Train himself. You are so excited!

Here you are playing with Daddy. We put paper down on the table and colored homemade train tracks with crayons. We drew bushes, trees, clouds, people, bridges, a train station, ponds and of course, train tracks. Then we played with all of your trains and we had so much fun saying, "Chug-chug!" and "Choo-choo!" You didn't want to stop playing and we all stayed up way past your bedtime! But it was worth it to see how happy you were, and daddy and I had lots of fun playing with you!  

CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHOO-CHOO!!!  

All of our love to you always and forever, Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

2000 Ladybugs

Last weekend we had so much fun catching and releasing ladybugs in our garden! We drove down to the local plant nursery and purchased a bag of 2000 ladybugs! Then we put them inside a container filled with twigs, leaves and dirt (we wanted the ladybugs to feel comfortable and at home.) We gave them some cold water to drink because the ladybugs were very thirsty. And every once in a while we would open up the lid to give them plenty of fresh air to breath.

Nathaniel was very gentle with the ladybugs and liked to feel them crawling on his fingers, hands, legs, and back.  We didn't take any pictures after we released them because we were so busy watching them crawl away.  There were ladybugs everywhere! One even got caught in mommy's hair and this made Nathaniel laugh.  Then a ladybug got caught in HIS hair and we all laughed about that too!  We watched the ladybugs for over an hour.  There were so many! They seemed happy to be free : )

It finally grew too dark to watch them and we all had to go inside for the evening. The next morning (which also happened to be Mother's Day) Nathaniel woke up and rushed outside to see if there were anymore ladybugs to be found. There were! And even though most of them had already flown away, there were still plenty leftover for him to play with. 

This turned out to be so much fun and it was a wonderful beginning to my third ever Mother's Day!  I couldn't have asked for a nicer day, or a nicer weekend spent together with my family.   We went for a hike in the mountains above San Francisco, and my favorite part was pointing out all the bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, spiderwebs, pinecones, flowers, moss, etc. to Nathaniel.  Everything is new through the eyes of a two year old! We found a cute little picnic table and the three of us had lunch together as a family. A perfect, sunny, beautiful Mother's day. I am so very grateful for our life together!

All of our love to you always and forever, Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

Good Night, Bugaboo!

Dear Nathaniel,

This post is all about your bedtime! At 7:30pm, I give you a bath and get you all snuggly and warm in your jammies. Then I put you in your sleep sack that Grandma Linda says looks just like Sweet Pea. Then we go to get your pillow. It is a white and yellow pillow with furry little lambs on it. You have had this pillow since you were a baby and it is still your favorite one. When you are all nestled on my lap with a bottle, I ask you if you would like to hear a story, a poem or a lullaby? You usually want to hear a story first, and your favorite one is "A Mother for Choco." It is a beautiful little book and you ask me to read "Choco" again and again.  You look up at me with those precious little eyes and say, "Time" which means, "One more time."


After our storytime, sometimes you ask me to read you a poem. This one is always your favorite. It is called, "Its Time to Sleep My Love." It is a poem and a children's book, too.


Sometimes I also recite "The Road Not Taken" and "Rose Pagonias" by Robert Frost, "Trees" by Joyce Kilner and "I Carry Your Heart with Me" by E.E. Cummings. But most often I recite my favorite poem to you which goes like this...

Cleaning and Scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow
For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep

I think you like the gentle rhythm of poems because you ask me to recite them to you quite often.

After our poems, I sing to you while you are drinking the rest of your bottle. Here is your favorite lullaby, the one that I have been singing to you since you were a baby. Grandma Dibble taught it to me, and we have been singing it to you ever since.

I see the moon and the moon sees me
Shining through the branches of the old oak tree
When you see the moon won't you tell him for me
To shine for the one I love

Sometimes I change out the moon for sunshine, butterfly, ladybug, birdie, mommy, daddy, etc. like this...

I see the butterfly and the butterfly sees me
Fluttering through the branches of the old oak tree
When you see the butterfly won't you tell her for me
To flutter for the one I love

And when we run out of ideas, sometimes we get really silly!

I see the hamburger and the hamburger sees me
Flying through the branches of the old oak tree
When you see the hamburger won't you tell it for me
To fly for the one I love

Do you see what I mean? Really, REALLY silly! : )

Around 8:30, when you are cozy and sleepy and beginning to drift off, we brush your teeth and I tuck you into bed. I always say "Goodnight, I love you" And you say, "Goodnight" to me, too. We have a little game that we like to play. I say goodnight, then you say goodnight, then I say goodnight and then you say goodnight. We keep saying it back and forth until I finally shut your door for the night. It is the sweetest little game, and I love your little voice calling out, "Goodnight!" It is the best part of my entire day!

Bedtime is my favorite time of day with you. I get to snuggle with you, kiss you, and whisper in your ear. We talk all about our day, say our prayers and sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and Jesus Love Me. I would not miss this special time that I get to spend with you for anything in the whole wide world!

Good night, Bugaboo. I love you!

All of our love to you always and forever, Mommy & Daddy

xxxooo

For Nathaniel

Dear Nathaniel,

Have you ever loved somebody so much that you just can't contain the emotion inside of you? This is how I feel about you, my beautiful little boy, each and every day. I wished for you my entire life, and now you are here, alive, healthy, a part of my life and my heart forever. I consider it to be the greatest gift of the Lord to be your mommy, and if nothing else significant or exciting every happens to me for the whole rest of my life, I will have considered myself lucky and blessed to have been given the privilege of raising you and being your mommy. Sometimes I am so overcome with joy to be your mommy that happy tears, and tears of awe just spill from my eyes. You are my beautiful gift from God. You are my heart, every breath that I take. I love you Nathaniel, and I will always do my best to be the very best mommy that I can be. This is my promise to you each and every day.

Love, Mommy xxxooo

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away.

~Anonymous