Life...As We Know It

At this time in the life of our family, there isn't too much wiggle room, so I have the opportunity to truly study my children. These two babes, with whom I share this life in transition, are each enormous wonders to me. I find Linc's day-to-day changes remarkable as he is like a bean that I planted in a small Dixie cup, in this small spot, three months ago, but has grown, rather rapidly, out of larger and larger-still pots! His 9-month old body wears a size 18 months-2!!! His once baby like hands are now these massive, strong manly hands that I know will one day wax his truck, and take the hand of his first love. And, within the confines of this rented townhouse, Wendy's fantastic imagination moves these walls and takes her places I get to witness on a daily basis! Sure, James and I miss our yard, our garage, and all of our stuff that's in storage at our folks' houses, but for Wendy, home is home as long as she has her basics--Pooh Bear and Company, my homemade concoctions, and love.
Wendy, in her flights of fancy, completes fanciful monologues~~I mean she comes full-circle with the why's and how's of her stories. Her mind never stops. And, she simply says the cutest things, which I want to make sure to share here, as I don't know where I stored her quote book!
The other day, I told her she'd be going with Daddy and Linc to a park, and would be meeting up with Daddy's good friend, Kyle, and his two kids! I told her he has a son, 3, and she'd surely have a marvelous time playing with John. At first she said, "I can't play with him because he is a boy." I replied, "Boys make great friends, too, Wendy!" Then she said, "Well...and it's okay that he's only 3, because when I was 'stree,' I was QUITE NICE!" She came back later that evening and said, "Even though he is a boy, I still had fun playing with him, Mom! I CAN BE FRIENDS WITH BOYS!"
When she is being disciplined, she cries out loud, "Boo HOOOO!," because she thinks that's how one is supposed to express profound sorrow! James and I always struggle not to laugh.
I've got lots of short-term goals for the kids---Trying to grow Wendy's hair long, and her bangs, out. It's at a tricky stage. Trying to wean Linc for several reasons--his teeth and claws HURT me, he needs cow milk at 12 mos and needs to be able to take fluids from a bottle or sippy cup, and so that James and I can leave him with someone now and then. Wow. Does he fight it! TEMPER TEMPER!!!
Below are some pics from this last week--Last night, Daddy got her started on a paint craft, and together, she and I finished it! She was sooo excited!

Linc just loves to rough-house. What big ole boy doesn't like that?

Yeah, here is a momentary glimpse into Wendy's wild imagination. What?! You don't get it?! Hello, Tex has popcorn sunglasses of course!

More Tub Time...

Catching Up!

Sneak Peek! Linc's Halloween costume! Thank you, Grandma T!

I find this picture hilarious because...well, because Wendy is over 4 years old. Linc is 9 mos. Yeah, she's a teensy distance behind him, but STILL! HE'S A TANK!

We just returned from another visit to Houston. I went in order to enjoy some time with my family and to help host my sister-in-law's baby shower! While there, we got ahold of a darling chicken costume James' mom got, and while it's intended for Lincoln, our little Chicken Head, Wendy simply HAD to try it on! Of course!

I got the chance to pay a visit to my dear friend, Julie, as well as Baby Izzie! I felt so incredibly warm and fuzzy holding her.

Beautiful Belle...

So soft and sweet...

Makes me want to have another!!!!!!!!!!!

So brand new in her brand new crib.

Check out her gorgeous poppy nursery!

Back at my mom's, Linc was all smiles!

Being close to family again is such a blessing! Here is Linc in action with cousin Mary Ellen.

Cousin Maggie and Cousin Wendy, Two Tiny Dancers~~~

Cousin Ike!

Cousin Eva Rose! I put her make-up on for her!

What? No, Linc's not too young to wrestle on the floor with Granddaddy!

Chicken Little ---Er, Chicken Lincoln!

Once a Mother, A Mother to All

It's the dang-darn strangest thing~~~~~this thing that I realized earlier this week.
Four and a half years ago, when I stood in that cold public bathroom at CVS Pharmacy, with my size-4 denim overalls on and my hair in a childish ponytail, and I glanced down to see that fateful red line on MY pregnancy test, that is the moment I first knew I was a mother. Nine months later, when I held my 7 lb pink piglet, whom I'd just forever-named Wendy Lynn, and gazed into those cloudy but definitely big blue eyes, I knew again--- that I was a mother. As her four years have unfolded, moment by moment, and she's grown, and quite proudly I might add, out of diapers, bubble suits and noise machines, I, too, have evolved alongside her.......into someone else entirely.
Everyone knows the various ways in which a woman is forced to change as well as the ways in which she changes, naturally, once she becomes a mom. The first jolt of change comes with the territory of having that first baby--the unbelievable fatigue, the steep, STEEP learning curve, the awe and wonder of baby!!! After that amazing soar through the first canopy of motherhood, come higher and higher-still thresholds of learning....for the mother. "Motherhood doesn't get easier," a friend told me after I'd been caught crying in bed while my screaming infant could not, or would not, be soothed, "it just gets different." As I held my baby on my tear-sprinkled Boppy, I looked up at her face to try and discern her motive in telling me such a thing in that raw moment! Her face was a pleasant smile, and I know she loves her life, so I knew that this challenge was a great one to have, one that stretches, one that refines. I took those words, fashioned them into a new thought I could deal with at the time, "It doesn't get easier, it gets different, but different would be great right about now." Four months later, the magic age arrived, and baby's cries were finally rational! And then a new, not easier, but different, bend was around the corner.
Motherhood changes a woman. Remants of the former self remain, but new, necessary attributes overwhelm that nature-past, and present a new person altogether.
Lincoln was born last December, and becoming a mother to a little man with a very manly grin has split me in half now, and one half functions as mother to Wendy, and the other half mothers my infant son. The dance is delicate and not-yet mastered, for Big Sister is a jealous Big Sister, but this mother that types these thoughts is still---changing. You think this is my point. It's not.
Earlier in the week, I shopped at HEB, by myself as James had the kids at home, and I stood luxuriously before the choices of breads, savoring the peace and quiet when two college girls infringed on my "me time." I couldn't help but hear their banter. One girl said to the other, with the most pitiful voice, "I need a boy. I want a boy. I'm bored." I discreetly glanced at her from the side. This girl looked forlorn. She looked lost. Her friend, seemingly disinterested, just kind of "uh-huh'ed." I instantly recalled a similar conversation I'd witnessed a few weeks ago, at a different grocery store. One friend, with smeared mascara and wrinkled party clothes, said to the other, "Why did you let me go to that party last night?! I SO shouldn't have bla bla bla."
On both of these occasions, I wondered, "Where is this child's mom? Where is her family?"
I was surprised to feel like their mother!!! WHAT?! I'm only almost 32! I'm not really old enough to be their mother! But, I felt protective. Is that whacked?! Because I remind myself that about 10 or so years ago, I was still a college student, in this town. I had friends. I was there! But, hearing words like these today---I fear for them. I somehow know that some of these adult-looking people will go on to make more mistakes until they hopefully fall into grace and are no longer bored or remorseful. I came home. I told James. And I prayed for them. And I just embraced the fact that perhaps, as we reach this point in life, it's okay to care for the entirety of mankind (even if it makes you feel like a school-marm)~~~Maybe loving others, through my mother's eyes and with my mother's heart...isn't such a bad thing.

A Mimi Visit

Mimi spent a couple days here this last week so that I could have a doctor's appointment, and what a lovely time we all had! She picked Wendy up from school, and it was fun for Wendy to see Mimi standing at the doorway of her classroom instead of me and Brother!

We enjoyed a fun lunch at Chick-Fil-A with my friend, Shannon, and her son, and although the pics we tried to take of the boys together turned out a blurry, fussy-Lincoln mess, the ones of Linc, pre-meltdown, turned out rather, shall we say, "fuzzy duckling head-ly?"