just overwhelmed with love today for her.

an afternoon walk to make my poor runny-nosed love feel better turned into a climb-out-of-the-stroller-and-run escapade. and then…swear…unprompted, for the first time…she posed. just smiled at me all “you’ve-got-two-seconds-to-snap-away”-ish. so i did.

before i put her bed tonight, i smelled her. just inhaled right in the crook of her neck. and she smiled. and i explained, as if she would understand….”i’m smelling you so i never ever forget because someday, i’m gunna want this moment back, right here.” i find myself saying that to her more and more.

and i kissed. and i smelled. and i squeezed. and i breathed in every bit of her love.

i want to stop the clock and just enjoy this a little longer.

(yup. she smells her feet.)

i love her. i love her. i love her. i do.

whew. just had to get that out of my system tonight.

the house is pleasantly disheveled. which means the laid-back meter is high.
and i still have a full week ahead with brett home. and we are pretty much just holed up in this happy solitude just playin’ life by ear. like we sip coffee at ten and shower by eleven and maybe by noon, we have a loose plan of our evening. and, by plan, i mean fire and a movie? or fire and watch lainey play?

and, speaking of play, we christened the kitchen with a real play date today. (can’t stop smiling at that play date term. because that means my baby is a girl…i am the mother of a girl…a girl who is grown up enough to play…in a kitchen…with a friend).

and baylee brought lainey her first real dress-up clothes. thank-you, friend.

drinking this wonderful cup of “vacation” life today. it tastes so good.

and, for the record, i may or may not be returning e-mails or phone calls until after brett goes back to work. because this is just too good right now.

…enjoying the happy-to-be-home things. ~k

i’ll spare words today as they would, most certainly, cheapen the magical stuff that is floating around our home.

the boys are with their mom, but should be arriving shortly.

in the meantime…

there was magic of the christmas eve sort last night…

…as we sang away in a manger at the little church up the road. it must be the candlelight service. cuz that’s what i had as a kid, and that’s what i want for my own. and it was beautiful.

and then home to wrap presents, sit by the fire, sip champagne, put lainey to bed and begin the magic.

when brett pulled the first piece of the kitchen out of the box, i cried. it was one of those moments in life you just don’t forget. i sat forever, organizing food, painting the plaque that would hang above, hanging cups and dish towels on little hooks.

(oh, and p.s.: merry christmas to me, i finished my photo wall)

and then, at one in the morning, i was ready for bed.

and brett & i laid in the dark with a warm, snuggly plaid-jammied baby between us. and i felt thankful. not for what was to come the next day, but for that very moment. the whole world could have melted away, and i would have been happy right there in that bed with my family. so, i closed my eyes and went to sleep.

and this morning was everything it was supposed to be.

and here’s where words fail me.

oh, i cannot believe i have a little girl, and she has a kitchen. somebody pinch me.

…and i gave daddy a dvd i made for him with all the pictures of him and his babies over the years. and we watched it together, and he cried. cryderman rule: it ain’t christmas ’til somebody cries.

and then we spent the morning stirring pretend soups and sipping fake coffee that she poured for us in little tin cups. and it was delicious.

we are happy to have grandma here, happy to have brothers on the way, and happy to be relishing in all the little joys of christmas.

merry christmas from ours to yours.