"These Are a Few of My Favourite Things!"

Julia put these on and came to show us.

Mila getting it right.
"Take a picture of Liam and me, Mom"

The past 2 days I have had this "Sound of Music" song in my head ... and the following moments make the list:

*When Liam wakes up in the morning he very rarely starts crying. He makes noises... like he is singing or calling me and then pauses in between to suck his thumb. When I pick him up he smiles at me as I lean in to his crib and then burrows his head into my chest as I lift him up. I pull him into bed to breastfeed and when he is done he starts to crawl all over me. Sometimes he places a big open-mouthed kiss on my face and other times he zerbitts me.

*Quiet time. From about 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock is "quiet play time" at our house. Mila plays quietly in her room during this time and Julia sleeps (although the last 2 days she managed without a nap). This a little piece of sanity in my day!

*Cheesecake, real bottled grape juice, strong cheese, blueberries, ginger beer

*The feeling I get when my children achieve something they have been working hard at - Mila starting riding her bike without training wheels. At first she was frustrated and focussed on the fact that she would fall and hurt herself but then she held her balance for a second and realised she could do it. Her whole attitude changed - she surprised herself - now she rides every day and is getting so confident.

*When my children play together. Mila and Julia's latest game is that they are both dogs. They fence themselves in with boxes, blankets, pillows etc. on the upstairs landing. Then they arrange their 'houses' and run away from their 'owners'!

Julia empties the toy box in the middle of the lounge (living room) floor and plays with Liam. Yesturday they had a screaming/ laughing session. She first gave a high pitched scream. He smiled and did his best at high pitched right back at her (which is not bad!) they carried on doing this and then laughed at each other!

*Eating dinner at the kitchen table together as a family. We never used to do this much but it has become one of my favourite parts of the day.

*When Kurt gets home he wrestles with the girls. They look forward to it everyday. In the last 2 months as Liam has started crawling, he makes a beeline to Kurt with a big grin on his face when the wrestling starts ... he does not want to miss out.

*When Julia and Mila both want the same thing - a pink plate, a particular seat, the mcdonald cup etc. and Mila says Julia can have it to avoid an argument.

*When Julia sings at the top of her voice when we are outside and she is riding her tricycle (she is doing really well with Maddie's old tric, Heather). On Sunday we walked to the pond near our home and she burst into song "I love Jesus .... and Dora because I do...." and it went on. Kurt and I almost burst at the seams and tried to keep a little distance so people might wonder if she really did beling to us!!

*Negative pregnancy tests. Yes, I love my kids but what a scare! I have been feeling quite gross for a couple of weeks - nauseous and frequent headaches. I did a test just before Kurt's B-Day but didn't even tell him because he had so many other things on his mind... then I repeated it today. I guess I am just "hormonally challenged":). I would rather be that than pregnant right now though! Mostly because I want to treasure Liam's babyhood (if there is such a word) ... not puke my way through it if you know what I mean!!