Wishful thinking

This is where I wanna be right now. No, not back to the day when Maggie was this sweet little thing...I'm thinking it would be nice for ME to be that little baby again...just for a day. It sure would be nice to just sleep, eat, be cradled, repeat. Ah, such a simple existence!

Fly on the wall

Well, in honor of it being Valentine's Day-- the day o' love-- I will tell a little love story. Don't want you all thinking I'm an absolute Scrooge...or whatever you would call someone who doesn't like Valentine's Day. :)

Last weekend one of my friends had her baby. I was fortunate enough to visit her and her new little one in the hospital. What a sweet little baby boy! While I was at the hospital I got to witness a very sweet interaction:

My friend's mom was also there in the hospital room, and towards the end of our visit little baby Nathan was again being held by his grandma. Even though there were 6 of us in the room, it was as if it was just her and the little baby in her arms...and I was a fly on the wall. Everyone else was engaged in conversation, but she sat still, staring down at her grandson with a soft smile on her face. What captured me was the sweet look on her face. All at once it captured love, acceptance, gentleness and reminiscence. In the past, I've witnessed my own mother holding my babies and looking down on them with this exact same look. It's absolutely pure and beautiful.

I realized that although a mother can view her child through the lenses of unconditional love, only a grandmother can view her child with the love of understanding that comes through life experience. Living the experience of raising a daughter and seeing her have children of her own...that's love and wisdom on a whole different level. It's so amazing to think maybe one day I'll get to see my sweet Mia and Maggie have babies of their own. Maybe then I'll truly understand this "look" I witnessed in my friend's mother and my mother on an even more personal level.

V Day

Today I had to run to the grocery store to pick up a few random items. As I was walking up to the front of the store to checkout, I went through the card aisle. There were about 5 men rifling through the Valentine's cards, looking for that perfect card to capture their feelings. Or maybe I should say, the one that they think their wife or girlfriend will like the most.

I have to admit that every Valentine's Day I am rather annoyed! I just can't understand for the life of me why on earth we need this day!? Shouldn't we be showing our loved ones that we love them on a much more regular basis than one day a year? V Day really just seems like a way for all the stores to make more money...it's like they were experiencing a sales slump between Christmas and Easter so they filled in the gap with Valentine's Day!

OK, I know that's not the true origin...I'm just ranting. Like I said, it's annoying. I hate it that men are pressured to buy their special someone a cheesy card and some tacky balloons-- oh, and don't forget the Russell Stovers chocolates. Nothing says "I love you" like a box of Russell Stovers chocolates! Perhaps even worse than the fact that men cave to the pressure is all the women who make their husband or boyfriend feel like he HAS to do something "special" on V Day!

Alright, rant over. :)

Spring Tease

Lately we've had a bit of a spring weather. Almost all of the snow has melted, and it feels like spring is here. Of course, it's only a tease because it's February so winter hasn't had her final say-- but we'll take it! It was 60 degrees and sunny yesterday so we were actually able to go to the park! Who would've thought we'd be able to have a park day in February!?!

Yesterday was the first time in quite a while that the girls were able to go outside without coats and hats on. When we went outside to get in the car, Mia started dashing around, absolutely ecstatic. She had her face up to the sun, huge grin, with the wind blowing through her hair while she did laps around the car. Then I realized...she's acting out exactly what I'm feeling right now! The beautiful weather had absolutely gone to our heads and we were totally giddy! Even I felt like jumping and sprinting around in glee! Weeeee! Hooray for this taste of spring-- we needed it!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Today is my hubby's birthday...
Since it's all about Gabe today, I wanted to list just a few of the things that I truly love about my husband. There are many things of course...these are just a few!

First of all, I completely appreciate and love how he makes me and the kids his priority. There's never a doubt in my mind (and never has been) that we are Gabe's whole world. I know that all he wants is to love us as best as he can, and he really does such a great job at it. I've never felt unloved or rejected by him. He is never rude, disrespectful or dishonest. I can't tell you how much I value the fact that I can say that! Even if Gabe has a bad day or he's a little cranky, he never acts it out on me or the kids. I know that it take a lot of self-control and personal responsibility to do that-- that's definitely an area I am working on!

Along this same line of thinking, I admire the love and compassion that Gabe has for everyone. He can and will talk to anyone and everyone. Somehow he always finds something to talk about --even people who he has nothing in common with-- and it's never awkward. People open up and tell him things about themselves or their lives, even without you asking! He truly has a way with people...

I love Gabe's boisterous laugh and zeal for the things he's excited about. It's not just me that feels this way...ask anyone who knows him-- his excitement and intensity are contagious! I love to be around him! He is outgoing, exciting, funny, spontaneous, smart, and all around a great man. I love you Gabriel with all my heart!

Let the dress-up begin!

Mia is finally in that stage where she's loving to play dress-up. And it seems like it happened all of the sudden-- she even WANTS me to take pictures of her in her costumes! Playing dress-up is one of my favorite pastimes too...I specifically remember the pair of my Mom's high heels that were my favorites to play in. A rockin 80's heel with a corky looking heel and a twisted leather, strappy upper part. Thanks Mom. :) Here's a few pictures of Mia's finest...

Can you all tell that a lot of bed-jumping goes on in our house??

Poor Maggie...little did she know she'd be enlisted to be a hippie fairy today!

I'm wondering if Muslim lingerie looks anything like this ;)

Steeler Nation

Well, Steeler Nation was in full force at our house last night. For those who don't know, my hubby is from PA so he grew up rooting for Pittsburgh. It was rather ironic that they were playing Arizona in the Superbowl as that's where we moved from just a year and a half ago! If it had been any other team besides the Steelers, we probably would've rooted for the Cards. I mean let's face it, it's fun to root for the underdog. Funny thing is though, the Cards were always such a joke for Arizonans. People would laugh at how awful they were...season after season. Now all of the sudden they're good-- and that Larry Fitzgerald! Holy cow, he's awesome!

Anyways...getting back to the Steelers. Gabe had his Steelers shirt on along with his Terrible towel. Even Mia was whippin' that Terrible towel around shouting "Go Steelers" in a cheerleading type of chant (OK, I admit it...I taught her to do that!). We had a bit of a scare in the 4th quarter but the Steelers pulled it off! It was fun watching with Gabe because he was so exuberant---he was half of our entertainment! Some of our friends got to witness just how loud he can get-- good thing he warned them beforehand! Ha! If they ever wondered where Mia got her energy from, there is now no question. :)

Go Steelers!