Holiday memories

Its been 10 days since my little girl was born, and it feels like she's always been here. I just wrote on a local message board how I'm living in the moment, and how life has always been different since having children-and w/ each child we've added to our brood, it just gets better. It may be chaotic and noisy, but its a happy home. Laughter, silliness, spontaneous adventures reign. It definitely has changed since the days of having two in diapers-and I commented to Robert as we took Rebecca to the dr for her first well baby visit on Wed how it doesn't seem that long ago that we were there w/ Gabriel as a newborn, and Matthew was the little one tagging along next to us-now it was Elijah walking and talking as Rebecca was snug in her carrier. We've come full circle, of sorts.

Last night we took our family to K town's annual parade. It was the first time that Robert went with the older boys on the Boy Scout float, and I took Elijah and Rebecca w/ the preschool float. It was different having the children split up that way-but signifies how our family is evolving as our children get older. It felt really good to get out of the house with the baby-and no less chaotic or challenging than it was to go out with three. It was great to run into friends at the parade-and to walk alongside them during the parade route. The scents of holiday food and lights surrounded us, and it felt magical. We came home and feasted on the chili we made earlier in the day, and capped it off w/ homemade sugar cookies and hot cocoa. It was a wonderful experience, and I look forward to including Rebecca in more of our holiday traditions this year.

Next up-making goodies for family, friends, and neighbors!