lassoing the moon: Getting Ready for Our New Normal

After moving back into our house things kicked into high gear for getting ready for our little guy. As our lists dwindled down and the day began to actually draw near for our departure to finally meet him, I began to feel a little weepy about how our lives were about to change in such an amazing way- the weight of the blessings being bestowed on our little family....I wanted to capture some of our "normal" during these final few weeks...savor the life we have now before it becomes even richer. So here are some glimpses of our "old" normal days before we welcome our "new" normal with hearts wide open...

We love to visit friends. This is my amazing friend Rebecca and her sweet little lion, Cillian. I especially love this pic because while playing over there, Lily discovered some lip gloss that belongs to Rebecca's daughter and proceeded to apply it non-stop for about an hour.

We like to work on projects together. Lily's favorite projects right now always involve painting and stickers

She has a big girl bed, but still loves to sleep in her crib (which will be moving to brother's room) so I just wanted to capture a glimpse of her reading books in her crib on one of the last mornings...

One of the joys of having a big girl bed and the ability to get in and out of one's crib whenever you like, is discovering things like this after "nap time"...

We love going to the library...

For about the past year and a half Lily and I have helped out in the child care of our favorite Jazzercise center. It was such a blast (most mornings) because both instructors for that class time have kiddos around Lily's age, so she has made some great friends and it was like a weekly play date for her.

Then there are those sad days when bunny needs a bath... (yes, there are times when I stuff my machine to the gills!)

We both went to the eye doctor together...

We spent a LOT of time getting brother's room ready for him...

While I cannot say its part of our regular routine, we attended a fancy, Spring Fling tea party (Lily's first) and it was so much fun! She had a blast and our hostess was prepared to make Lily's experience one for the books. Lily LOVED it.

...sipping her virgin mimosa....

...this guy even made an appearance thanks to Lily's imagination....

...just a glimpse of my sweet girl being her cute self...

...we love to visit parks all around the city and play...

swinging is her absolute favorite...

We wrapped up our final visit of the school year with some shaving cream fun...

we love the Parents As Teachers program and especially Miss Cara!

Miss Cara brought some fun things to cut during her last visit as well. Lily has really been getting good at using her scissors.

These two girls are some of our favorites to play with...

we just happened to stop over on a day when they had a HUGE bounce house set up in their yard! It was next to impossible to get them out of there- needless to say, bounce house = bliss for Lily

We have hosted some neighborhood get togethers. We are really fortunate in that we have met 5-6 families who all have kiddos Lily's age who live right around us. We have really enjoyed getting to know them better and look forward to many more fun times ahead.

When the weather is nice and before it turns brutally hot, we love to have friends over to play some yard games in our backyard... Kubb (pronounced Koob) is the current fave...

These two....

Our house is pretty busy these days...it seems like everywhere I turn, there is some new "project" or mess being created... I love it though.

...I guess I cannot complain too loudly, I made a great meal from scratch, but the clean up...wow.

We love to get together regularly with these cuties...it has been so much fun to watch them all grow up!

...pals....

On a typical day when I'm trying to make dinner, this is what it has been like underfoot for me. We have been going through tubs of baby stuff and slowing pulling out baby toys etc for brother. Lily has been making sure they are still up to snuff... non-stop!

We celebrated birthdays and Father's Day (a little early before we left)

of course, our normal trips to the grocery store....

We have loved going to the pool as much as possible. This pic cracked me up because Lily found the little sunglasses from when she was a baby and strapped them on and did not want to take them off! Hilarious!

Art is a big thing and its really fun to see her creativity start to bloom...

her first face...

Our car was rear-ended, so we had to rent a van- Lily loved it!

Most Saturday mornings for the past couple of years, Joe and Lily have had their special time together. This was taken at one of their most recent outings...to Union Station to see the trains.