Sunshine, on a Cloudy Day

Another day, more rain, classical music on repeat and Quinny snoozing by my side (in my dreams! Quinny tossing and turning and whining by my side!) If we get a nap in before pick-up I may just cry some legitimate happy tears. I won't bore you with the details, but ever since Christmas Break the baby Wiggy women are acting like midnight chats are where it's at, and the last few days we've had to remind them that actually, midnight chats are so NOT where it's at. Sleep training 3.0, good times.

But before there were three hour screaming sessions and grumpy, over-tired babies there was the cutest little friend on a rather rainy day smiling and waving and acting way too big in her 12-month clothes for her Mama to handle. She brings so much joy to us all and truly is the brightest ray of sunshine on a cloudy SoCal day. 

This is big news! She will now hang out on her stomach to play with toys. She rolls around the whole room, but she may be attempting to wiggle around to grab things. My babies never love tummy time, but they seem to catch up quickly!

She's starting to wave at people and reach for me and she smiles with her whole face.

NO ONE can make her smile bigger or laugh louder than her siblings. Quinn loves to love on that baby!

Wasn't Quinn in this outfit just yesterday? Why yes, yes she was! And then I blinked and Quinn was wearing 4T and I had another baby. Life is toooo fast.

This crew thought the crazy rainstorm was the coolest part of pick-up. I was hiding under the awning like a scaredy cat while they were dancing around with their tongues out! 

PS--QUINN'S ASLEEP!!!

Baby Besties

I love these two baby besties with all my heart. I don't know what life would be like without Annie and the whole Burnett family, and I don't even want to consider it! The Wiggy kids all have their own Burnett bestie, and their Mama has quickly and completely become mine. There are many things to be grateful for in my life, but these specific friendships at this specific time always finds its way to the top of my list. 

A few little fun things--Winter Break in LA

After spending the majority of our Winter Break sick in Sac, we spent the last week recuperating, cleaning, and then having a few little adventures. So much has changed since the days I would do big city adventures all winter with just the little boys in tow. I wouldn't trade my life now for anything, but I do miss those outings sometimes. I miss the big lights and museums, treat shops and Christmas tree crawls, the Santa's and the lists of Mommy Poppins approved activities. But then I see their faces in these pictures, their smiles and twinkling eyes, and realize that they don't care if we're at a fancy museum or the park up the road, they just want to be loved and have fun with friends. And they are loved by me, so very much. And as far as friends are concerned, we have the best this world could offer. We are blessed in so many ways--I'm glad Winter Break reminded me.

If you're looking for Talmage, odds are you'll find him shooting hoops on our new basketball hoop. He makes goals for himself and won't let himself stop until he reaches them. "Mom, I got 200 points. That's 100 baskets. I just had to keep shooting until I reached my goal!" And yes, he is barefoot and in shorts during the first week of January. I LOVE CALIFORNIA SO MUCH!!!

Even Everett said this outing was a success, which is say-ing some-thing! They rode their new scooters with friends and Ever said, "Dis was pwobawy da best scooter hill of my wife. Weawy! I'm sewious!" It really was awesome and I joked that this was the equivalent of sledding anywhere else. Again, I love LA and our "winter" sports!

Quinn's favorite pastime is ruining whatever the boys are playing with. She pulls apart their legos, she smashes their magnatiles, she rips up their papers and she even eats their snack. Her nickname as Baby Monster fits her quite nicely! One morning she was up to no good so I took out the train sets and asked Quinny to help me set them all up. You see, I'm understanding more and more that Quinn just wants to be part of the action, and sometimes--especially when the boys don't want her around-- that manifests itself in not so pretty ways. So this morning the trains were her turf, and the boys had to ask her to play in specific areas. My idea was a success and all four children played nicely together for THREE hours while I was watching in delight, and playing by their side. It was a good mothering moment, I savor those!

Our last hurrah was at the coolest park in LA with some great friends. We played at multiple playgrounds, scootered the best paths, walked around a duck pond and saw the most amazing view of downtown LA. It was just what my kids bodies and my soul needed. A perfect ending to our {not so} perfect break! 

Singing in the Rain

It's the middle of the afternoon and I'm sitting on my bed, cuddled next to a sleeping Quinn, enjoying the sound of the Classical music that lulled her to sleep and the rain beating against the rooftop. None of this feels normal--the nap nor the rain--but both bring so much peace and calm. I'm such a summer fan but also such a sucker for a heavy winter rainstorm. I'm also goo-goo for thunder and lightning, but today it's just heavy sheets of much-needed rain.

It's chilly as far as Los Angeles is concerned, we're hovering in the mid-50's, and we've had more rainy days in the past week than we've had the whole last year combined. Winter is such a novel thing when it's usually non-existent, and the kids have loved jumping through puddles, using umbrellas and generally just getting wet. I've had the heater on high, a daily pot of soup on the stove and today when Quinn was raging with exhaustion I knew the only answer was cuddles in Mama's warm comforter. She fought it for a second, but with Beethoven and Bach blaring in the background her eyelids grew heavy and she melted into her Daddy's pillow. Goodness she's feisty but watching her sleep I realize how little she is, and how much I love her.  I'm due to pick up the boys and four of their friends from school in 30 minutes, so with this post I will sign off in exchange for peacefully listening to the pitter patter and enjoying the calm before the storm.

Chalk Art

I am absolutely obsessed with my backyard. It's so fun to have space for lots and lots of friends to come and get their wiggles out. A few days ago there were boys playing basketball, boys playing football, littles riding scooters and girls playing restaurant all at the same time. When those activities started to fizzle I got out my big bucket of chalk and I traced the kids and let them either color their own person or tell me what type of person they wanted to be and I used my amazing art skills (cough cough) to create magic. It's always so amazing to see their creativity at work! We had superheroes and ninjas and mermaids and Star Wars people and I was SO glad that I took these pictures to capture them because that same night it rained and bam, goodbye chalk art! Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Sweet and Seven Months

A lover of words and images and little moments and still, I can't adequately paint the joy that sweet Coco brings to my life. To think, I cried for a solid month after I found out I was pregnant with her for fear that I wouldn't be able to handle the task of four little ones, especially the two girls back to back. Had I been able to see Cora Nicole at seven months old, surely those tears would be of joyful anticipation. I want to savor her goodness and remember how beautiful babyhood can be. She is the light of my days lately and I thank God for giving me this last drop of sunshine.

I'm in the mothering trenches right now. The boys are mostly easy, aside from a little back-to-school attitude and some surprising fits of rage, but that two-year-old sister of theirs is giving me gray hairs, a muffin top and so very many reasons to book a one-way tickets to Anywhere. Her attitude is sky high and she has no respect for my existence in her life. A few days ago I asked her to do something and she said, "Just stop Mom, It's not yo pwobwem." and she's also been known to say, "Don't tell me dat, OK? I my own body." I'm serious. If anyone is feeling anxiety about how Quinn and I will fare cohabiting during her teenagehood, join the club.

My biggest source of stress these days is sleep. We're on day six of no naps and it's killing me, straight up killing me. When my boys were this age and tried to stop napping I fought their battles and pretty easily won, but this stubborn little thing seems to get joy out of sneaking out of bed and stuffing her face with my nice Christmas chocolates, or dumping out a whole bottle of hand sanitizer, or unwinding multiple containers of floss, or just nonchalantly walking into the room and saying, "I done wif nap. I wake. You so happy?" And that's on a good day. Most nap times find her screaming at the top of her lungs for two or more hours as I walk her back to her bed and then she follows me back out the door yelling, "No! You not charge! I not nap!" Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

By the time two hours has passed it is often time to pick up the boys from school and then it's too late for a nap (although I tried today for a late one, to no avail) and of course she's exhausted for the rest of the day and spends much of it destroying T's legos, Evie's homework and my sanity. She screams and hits and loses total control over her body and brain and then when it's time for bedtime and I pray that she'll pass out from exhaustion, we go through the whole hours-long process again. I'm tired just thinking about it--but she's not. Unfortunately she's not.

I'm not going to lie, it's been tough. I've never dealt with such a head-strong child before and I keep telling myself it's a stage but she's got me a little freaked out that it's not. That this is our new normal. That I am never going to sleep again and that this is only the first of so many battles to come. Irrational? I hope so! But until I know so, the constant toddler-tude is making me feel a little on edge.

But then there's Cora, perfect and sweet seven-month-old Cora. Aren't seven month olds the dreamiest? She's rolling around the living room now and she reaches for me when I walk by. She's babbling and singing and has the best belly laugh when her siblings say silly words super loud and in crazy accents. She loves to be carried and holds on to my shirt like a little koala, but my favorite is when she gets happy and shy and can't stop kicking her legs and burying her face in my arm.

This afternoon I was talking to an elderly member of our ward who I don't know very well and she said, "I was thinking of Cora today and told my husband that seeing her every Sunday growing and smiling is one of the highlights of my life." My baby is one of her life's highlights! I feel like Cora belongs to all of us and I am so happy to share her shnuggles and love with everyone, especially my sweet sisters at church.

Someday Cora will be two and might even give me a run for my money like her big sis, but for now I'm going to will those days to never come and enjoy her chunky legs, dimpled smile and sweet disposition. I love you, Cor!

Happy New Face

It was noon on December 31st and Ever said, "I'm so excited to pway Pie Face tonight. It's my favowite famiwy twadition!" We got this game last year and sure enough played it on NYE, but who knew it was memorable enough to bump it to tradition status?! As a lover of parties and traditions and my little people, I happily obliged and we had a great time getting whip cream shoved in our faces! We had a low-key holiday with an ordered pizza and orange soda, cranberry pie with whip cream for dessert, a few rounds of Battleship and then a Netflix countdown at 9ish. We finally got the girls to sleep at 10:30 and I'm afraid it wasn't long after that before I was in bed. This was the first NYE since my mission that I haven't stayed up to celebrate, but guys, I'm so tired lately! Here's to a fabulous 2017--and maybe a little more sleep?!

What do you get when you put together New Year and Pie Face??? A happy NEW Face! Goodbye mountain man beard, we're starting out 2017 so fresh and so clean, clean!