Sweet Sisters

 Three Stories:

1. Sophie is my little chef in the kitchen. She loves being a "good helper." I'm slowly finding out more things she is capable of safely doing in the kitchen. The other day we were making kabobs and she successfully skewered pieces of bread and cherry tomatoes. It was a great lesson on patterns and how to not impale yourself with the stick. 

2. I've been feeling a lot of anxiety lately. As parent there is always some source of anxiety, but other current factors have been adding to my stress levels. From world affairs to our own trials and tribulations to watching friends and family face trials, I've been a little overwhelmed. I burnt dinner one night (why can't I cook brown rice?!) so we headed over to Daniel's favorite Mexican restaurant for replacement food. I was animatedly expressing my frustrations on the drive there and told Daniel, "I need something good. I need to see goodness. Something, anything good."

We plopped Emery's carseat on the table at the restaurant and walked up to the order window. Emery was facing away from me, but I watched a elderly Hispanic man walk up to the carseat, smile at her, and hand her a dollar! I kind of laughed and told him thank you. As I stood back in line I started to choke up. It was silly and I felt ridiculous. Regardless, it soften my anger and frustrations just a little bit. In spite of everything that's going on, personal or otherwise, I am constantly reminded that my greatest blessings and source of joy are two tiny little girls and their dad. 

{Side note: there's an elderly man that hangs out at Fred Meyer and so far he has given Sophie a quarter two times. Who knew we would be bringing in so much money?! ;) }

3. One night after Daniel left for the gym, I was rocking Emery to sleep when Sophie wandered in, waiting for me to put her to bed as well. Occasionally when I'm feeding or rocking Emery, Sophie will request for me to pop the footstool out on the recliner so she can snuggle too. She asked and I obliged. This kid loves being scratched--on her back, belly, arms, wherever. So she wiggled around between my legs and the nursing pillow finding various (un)comfortable positions and requesting I scratch whatever body part was closest for me to reach. Eventually she ended up with her arms and legs wrapped around my leg with her head just inches from Emery's on the pillow. I scratched her back until all of a sudden she was asleep. So there I was covered in sleeping little angels. Naturally, I am always tired so I decided the best thing to do was to also fall asleep. We slept like that for two hours until I thought I had the opportune moment to move everyone, but everyone just cried at me. Oh well. It was as blissful a moment as ever while it lasted. 

Our little slumber party

This girl loves her binky and her swaddle

Grandma bought bath crayon. FYI: They don't wash off as easy as advertised. 

She eats her hands alllllll the time

  Sophie is seriously loving that Emery is getting more playful. One of Sophie's favorite things to do is to run in Emery's room once she is awake and unbundle her from her swaddle. She says things like, "Oh hi pretty baby." "Biiiig stretches." "You're free!" (which are all things I say all the time, but it's so much cuter when Sophie says that) Sophie calls out to me whenever Emery is crying and says, "Mom, Emery needs you!" I often tell Sophie to go talk to Emery when she starts getting fussy and she happily does so. She loves to play with Emery's toes and tries to give her toys. I can't wait for all the playing to continue.