I used to spend so much time...

...just thinking about the marvels of motherhood. Breathing in that smell of baby shampoo... and photographing every new expression on my baby's face. I tried to write down or record every sound Maya made...and I think I wrote down every new thought that I had about my life as a Mother. And back then...I had time to blog about these things several times a week.

I'll never live up to that 'first child' precedent. Motherhood doesn't involve quite so much sitting and cuddling on the couch as it did for a while. It's really more like chasing and catching and picking up and playing and correcting and pretending and encouraging and running and wiping up gross things and laughing and sighing (or screaming?) in frustration and sweeping and listening... (and I only have two girls!) But never just sitting and thinking.

Now, I still revel in the surreal sounds of my girls talking and laughing (They are so ridiculous and fun together). And I still use baby shampoo on their hair. (I think I'll stretch that out as long as possible.) And I am every bit as mesmerized by the uniqueness of Sophia as I was with her big sister. They both surprise and delight me every day.

But far fewer of these delights make it onto this blog.

Still....I'm treasuring "all these things in my heart".... Unfortunately, you just don't get to see as many pictures or hear quite so many stories of all the funny conversations we have every day.

So...here are a few random bits I'll share from my overfilled brain files of "remember these things"....(I'd probably forget them if I didn't share them ....hoarding never works out well for me anyways.)

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Sophie talks about "Gate Papa" all the time now. For about a week after we visited "Gate Nana Jean" and "Gate Papa" she would start taking about them almost every time we put our coat and shoes on. "I go dare now...see Gate PAPA!! Gate Papa's house now, Momma. Go dare." It is a pretty magical place.

Sophie is working on quitting her "baba" habit (pacifier). We really haven't worked at this very much at all...but it's definitely time. Ryan told her tonight that "Doctor Tom" said that she was getting too big to have her "baba" now. And she sadly said "okay." Her unexpected sweet compliance broke Ryan's heart a little.

Maya is sleeping with a warm rice sock to ease her freshly diagnosed ear infection. She loves the warm rice sock. But I miss it. I think we'll have to make another one. She seems to be on the mend. It's been a rough week and a half of coughing, difficult sleeping, lots of Kleenex, and 2 missed ballet classes.

Maya and I have just started reading real "chapter books" together at bed time. Tonight, she found a pretty pink satin ribbon to mark our spot in "Little House in the Big Woods."

Sophie's "day-day" has now matured into a crystal clear "thank-you"...it's pretty adorable and a little sad to lose those baby sounds. She puts several words together quite often. Pointing to something...then smiling and explaining what she's thinking about... "Dada gave dat a me." or "Go-go has dat too." or "Nana sings dat one" "Sissy, I need dat book!!!!!" "Maya Gace wait (wake) up now"

We made molasses cookies tonight. I've been thinking for months now about these soft gingery cookies that my Mom used to make. The girls helped me dip the little brown balls of dough into sugar before they arranged them on the cookie sheets. Baking all together is starting to be really fun. Though Sophie would love to just dump all the ingredients into the bowl herself. She started first by just shaking the baking soda into every measuring cup and bowl she could find...in about 3 seconds.

Last week, we had a "girls' night" sleepover at our house (while Ryan was in Montreal). Aunt Katie and cousin Chloe, Katie and Willow and Ginger, and Maya and Sophie and I had stromboli for dinner. Then, we wildly filled our house with violin playing, dress-up, quite sophisticated pretend plots, laughter, shushing children to keep other children asleep, reminiscing, and not much sleep. I think everyone left happily exhausted.

Cousin Chloe and Kelly were in Michigan for two whole wonderful weeks. They left today. Maya and Sophie were enamored with their beautiful baby cousin. They were overwhelmingly entertaining and nurturing too. We all loved watching Maya make her baby cousin laugh. She was very persistent in her efforts to amuse Chloe (whom she lovingly called "Little One") with silly voices and crazy faces, rhyming, and jumping...

Sophie has been talking about the "elligater" ever since Grandma Go-Go took her on an escalator and an elevator in one magical day. She also took them to a pool that day. Hard to beat. A few days later, at Calvary's Homecoming game, Sophie watched from afar as her beloved cousin Emma got onto the elevator with her friends...without Sophie. The injustice tortured her all night long...and for a few days afterward...she told everyone she met with sad, pleading eyes about the "elligator...Emma...up." I think we'll need to have an elevator adventure soon.