ice machine

If I could freeze some moments in time, here are things I would want to remember forever . . .

Yesterday, the girls were drawing with chalk on our back patio.  Before long, Hallie called in with excitement that they were digging for dinosaur bones.  Here are some of the things I overheard:

 "We're paleontologists right now, Claire."

"Look, here is a dinosaur tooth!  It must be from a therapod.  Therapods are meat-eaters so they need sharp teeth!"

"Here is dinosaur poop.  It doesn't smell though because it is a fossil."

The girls have a newly acquired habit of getting out of bed after bed time.  Hallie has recruited Claire to be the spokesperson for their needs.  We normally hear little feet at the top of the stairs, followed by Claire announcing something like "Uh, we heard something.  What was that sound?"  Or "We just had bad dreams!"

Last night, Claire announced "We just heard something scary."  Chris suggested they could say a prayer and then go back to bed.  Claire walked back down the hall a little ways and then we heard Claire say "Daddy says to say a prayer," followed by some mumbles.  As we struggled to decipher what was being said, little phrases floated down and touched our hearts: "please bless us not to be scared and to go to bed. . . please bless mommy, daddy, Hallie, and baby brother . . . please bless church and Jesus and the temple . . . amen."  Then Claire firmly told her 5 and a half year old sister.  "Okay, now let's go to bed."  Our eyes were pooling with tears. That sometimes feisty little two-year-old was taking so much initiative and being such a good example.  What a big strength and personality and such a cute little package.

Claire most often refers to Grant as "baby brother."  But when she says it, it comes out as "bay brudder."

This baby boy has been our easiest newborn so far.  Chris and I are consistently in a state of newborn bliss.  And when the other cuties go to bed, and it is just the two of us with our thin but slightly chubby infant, we have to frequently pause a movie just so we can gush and stare and then steal kisses from his warm neck.  Chris sneaks in cheek squeezes as much as he possibly can without irritating Grant to no end.  We frequently talk of how complete he makes us feel.  The house feels so peaceful - it's as if Grant brought a whole troupe of invisible angels with him when he came into our home.

 I am in an almost constant state of gratitude.  So thankful for my kids.  So thankful for my husband.  So thankful for our jobs.  So thankful for our cool friends who are family - and our family members that are so cool we would choose them to be friends.

I know this round the clock joy is not going to be constant.  I am well aware that is is an after effect of adding to our family.  It is the blessing of literally having a piece of heaven in our home.  (I have no doubt that is where Grant came from.)  We can't help but breathe in as much of that peace as we can before "real life" settles in.  Although, the blessing of being an optimist is trying to look for as many pieces of heaven and good as we can in the everyday doldrums of work and raising a family.  I just don't want to forget how near-perfect these precious first weeks have been.