Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mother's Day

Laurie captured this sweet picture, and sent it to me as a gift.  I love it so.
My first Mother's Day!  It was certainly a foreign experience being the celebrated, as opposed to exclusively the celebrator.  I found myself delighting in the mere fact that I AM a mom.  I love this new role, as it is the most fitting and natural role I've ever known. 
How grateful I am for all the wonderful moms that I am blessed to claim as mine.  I have such beautiful examples of motherhood, at which I truly marvel.

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We had Chip & Laura, Busha, Kacey, Al & Hadley over for dinner.  We set the girls up on a blanket, and plopped a bowl of watermelon slices in front of them.  They LOVED it.
My favorite moment was when Scout decided that sitting up was requiring too much energy, and figured that she may as well get comfortable...while still eating her melon slices, mind you! (Please note that she is wearing only her diaper...and shoes.  It's such a rock solid look.)
 Brett couldn't be any prouder of his watermelon-loving girl.
 Papa sure loves his girls.  The feeling is mutual.
Busha was kind enough to share some of her apple pie, though Old Eagle Eye Dad was really raining on the parade by reprimanding Busha for the bites that included ice cream.
Scouty was loving her Nana time, as she always does.

The Taming of the Beast





Though all but gutting a home and remodeling it shouts "home ownership" pretty loud and clear, for some reason putting in an irrigation system shouts even louder in my books.  We have been in the throes of home ownership for the past week--trench digging, shoveling, and rototilling galore!  Brett and I felt like regular old ranch hands, working as soon as Scout went to sleep until dark.  This weekend the ever-faithful Chippy came over to lend a hand.  The two dudes busted out the irrigation system, and...dun, dun, dun...it WORKS!!!  Confession: I held my breath when Brett turned on the water.  When I saw the water spewing forth, I somehow refrained from doing a happy dance and running repeats through the sprinklers like a 4 year old.  I did an internal happy dance instead.  It was much more appropriate.

Do  you know what this means?

We will grow a lawn.  A lawn.  A FREAKING LAWN!!!   Sayonara weed patch.  Brett and I have tilled the soil, and flattened it as much as possible, readying the upper terrace for grass seed.  I am getting so excited to have a place in our yard to set Scout down, and let her crawl around.  Oh, it will be glorious. 


Our veggie beds will be on a DRIP SYSTEM.  No more hours upon hours of hand watering.  Halle-freaking-lujah!!!!!  Seriously, nerd alert up in here.  Our yard will soon sustain LIFE!!!  This is the barest our yard will ever be from this point forward.  Can I get an "Amen"?!

Here's evidence of life: strawberries!

Nana was a huge help, as always, by watching Scouty while I worked in the yard.  Thank you, LoLo for always being willing to spend time with the Scouty-Doody.

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When there wasn't a whole lot for me to do in the back, while Brett was doing his "figuring", I kept myself busy by carving out a path in the front.  Since we have the narrowest driveway ever created, it seems only right to have a designated path upon which to walk that doesn't involve shimmying between cars, or trudging through the dirt/mud to find our front door.  I was really one with the shovel, rake, rototiller and weed wacker.  It makes me feel pretty B.A. getting all western with my yard machinery.  I showed the front yard who's boss.  My path will kick your path's you know what.  Just sayin'.  Sometime in the not too distant future the path will be complete, and we will be awarded Garden of the Year.  I can just feel it.


The Cracked Ceiling

The whole ceiling-cracking-bit was an unexpected, not to mention unwelcome, surprise.  But it wasn't as catastrophic as it could have been.  We had a 4'x4' piece of OSB duct taped to our ceiling for a few days, and a messy kitchen during the repairs, but that's really small beans compared to everything else this little house has undergone.  I'm pleased to say we have a freshly sheet rocked, and textured ceiling, good as new!  It has yet to be painted...but that's neither here nor there.  Maybe that'll get done...maybe, sayith the Master Painter Extraordinaire.

Scout was pretty excited about all the action.  Believe it or not, having a crawling baby makes one ever more aware of filth on the floor.  Especially in the fine powdery sheetrock/drywall form.  Thank goodness that was a quick project.  Otherwise, I probably would have gone a little nuts.


The Fastest 11 Months...EVER

It is due time for a little Scout shout out.  She is our joy.  Cliche?  Yes, but ever true.  Watching her grow is so incredibly wild because of how rapidly everything about her changes.  There are things I hope will last forever, like how whenever she hears music of any sort, she throws her arms in the air and sways from side to side, most often with a huge smile on her face.  My favorite is when she looks up to the sky while swaying, as though she REALLY feels the Spirit. 



I also love her call-and-response style of low grunts, and the way she scrunches her nose and repeatedly exhales loudly.  She and Hads spur this on in one another.  They may not be using words, but they are having a conversation. 
I love watching Scout crawl around the house with determination, and how she stops to make sure someone is watching, begging the onlooker to chase her.  She squeals, turns around and crawls a few paces, turns back around to make sure she's being chased, then commences.   This game goes on indefinitely.
I love how clear her signal is when she is tired.  She begins pulling her hair.  If she happens to get tired while eating dinner, her food inevitably gets rubbed very thoroughly in her hair.  This particular concoction was sweet potatoes and avocado.  We promptly gave her a bath and put her to bed after this pic was snapped.

There are certain things I hope will last forever, but know they won't, while there are also things I hope won't last forever, but am certain they'll never end (i.e. the clingy whiny phase).  I want to do a better job of savoring all the phases--the lovely and the not so lovely.  It is all part of who Scout is becoming. And she's becoming a little girl right before my very eyes.  She hardly seems like a baby any more, which boggles my brain.  I know the evolution is gradual, but I don't recognize the change until it's passed.  For example, where in the world did that wild and crazy sticky-uppy dark hair go?  I now have a toe-headed little girl with pigtails, whose hair may get in her eyes, but certainly doesn't stand up on end.  I kinda sorta (like, really) miss the wildness of her baby hair.  But alas, my baby is becoming less of a baby...right under my nose.  Savor.  I must savor.

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Over the past couple months Scouty has gotten to spend good time with all of her grandparents.  She gets to see her Nana and Papa twice a week, if not more, which is a blessing I can't wholly express.  They are always willing to watch Scout, which affords us the opportunity to get a lot of work done on our house, work our jobs, and...even go on dates!  Win!!!  We love having their involvement in our lives, and specifically, in Scout's little life.  She loves her Nana and Papa.


My mom, Grammy, came over Easter, and a couple weeks later, my dad and Laurie, Grampy Hoppy Toad and Grandma, and Aunt Hanna came for a visit.  It is fun to see the special relationships that Scout is forming with each of them.  Scout is very loved.  While we don't get to see them all that often, we truly do cherish each visit.



   
The other day as Scout was crawling around the house, my mother-in-law, Laura, said, "Maybe you should've named her Stay Put."  Ha!  Scout is a very fitting name for her, though I did wonder pre-crawling if she would grow into her name.  She used to be perfectly content sitting still, exhibiting no real desire to venture out.  Gone are those days, people!  She likes to see what there is to see.  She likes to explore our house, and if we let her, she'd crawl all around our disaster of a backyard.  Being that our yard is surely chalk full of roofing nails I don't feel too great about letting her go.  But scout it out is exactly what she'd do.  I particularly love the below picture because it perfectly captures her.  She looks entirely disheveled and unkempt, rockin' her Carhartts, and a single pigtail.  It says, "I play, and I play hard.  And I like it."
 
She is very aware of her surroundings, and likes to really check people out.  She doesn't like anything or anyone obstructing her view, be it a hat, a sun shade, or a human.  She wants to survey the scene. 



One of Scout's favorite pastimes is eating.  She is her daddy's daughter...and mine, for that matter.  Truly, though, she doesn't discriminate against any food.  If it's edible, she wants it.  It makes my job easy.

Our little girl (who sometimes looks like a freaking 6 year old) is our radiant joy.  We are just shy of a year.  ONE YEAR!  Here's to savoring the big and small developments.