the fear

Dear Hopie,

Today I took your picture. What's new, right? Well this time when I took your picture, I saw it.

The Fear.

It was clear as day. I'm a woman who recognizes The Fear when I see it. The Fear strikes when you're in the process of changing the biggest blow out diaper you've ever seen and you remember the bag of wipes are at the other end of the house.

Or when you're watching Lion King 3D and Mufasa plunges to his death and your three year old bellows, "why isn't he moving???" for all the theater to hear.

The Fear.

What I can't figure out is how, at seven weeks old sweet girl, you've encountered this fear of which I speak.

Oh, that's right. I remember now.

I'm sorry Sissy, I won't let her do that to you again.

If she does, I'll just let you tell her what happened to Simba's dad and we'll call it even.
Love,

Mom

home videos

Chica knows a new Bible verse and I thought her grandparents might want to hear it. She was so enthusiastic about us getting it on video we went ahead and recorded a few of her singing so I'm posting one of those as well. And because every three-year-old needs a hype man, Baby Sister got in on the action too. Next time I'll make sure she has a towel to swing around. :) Enjoy!!

Happy Fall!

I'm taking the plunge this fall and starting to shoot on my camera's manual setting. I'm hoping in the long run the switch will mean better pictures of my girls but in the meantime it makes for a memory card full of bad shots. I did manage to get one keeper. Here's hoping for a fall full of memories captured manually! :)

a list for Saturday

1. It's been six weeks since Little Sister came into the world.

Time to reconnect with an old frenemy:

I started this week. One day Chica did it with me. It was great because her interpretations of the exercises distracted me from the fact that my entire body was on fire. Things took a turn for the worse when she stopped, looked at me, looked towards the TV, then back at me and remarked "Mama, you don't look like them at all." Nothing like the sweet encouragement from your three-year old trainer.

2. MOPS has started back up! My friend Leslie is the coordinator and I think it's going to be a great year! There are a ton of new girls which is exciting, especially because many of them have recently moved to the area. I can't wait to get to know everyone more. Also, where else can you arrive with baby spit-up on your shirt and not only are you allowed to stay but a room full of women immediately understand?

3. Thursday afternoon Danny called from work and asked if I was up for a date night. Heck yes I was! Well, kind of. When he got home we had a little time before the baby-sitter was scheduled to arrive. I asked him if he'd rather use that time to take a quick nap or for me to take a shower. He said nap. Gotta love married life. :) By the time we pulled out of the driveway, neither nap nor shower was had. Gotta love parenthood. :)

4. My sister gave me a Sleepy Wrap when Hope was born. I've used it so much in the past six weeks. It's comfortable, frees up both hands to wrangle my other child and saves me from having to lug around the ninety pound car seat when we run errands. Plus people's reactions are hilarious.

"Can the baby breath in there?"

"Oh, there's a baby in there! I thought you were pregnant but then I saw a head sticking out!"

And my personal fav:

"Is that for a school project? Oh, never mind, that baby is real!"

5. We're on smile watch. I went digging in the blog archives and Chica smiled at exactly this time. Danny and I think we've caught a few smiles here or there but it's been so sporadic we're still not sure. I did capture this the other day while waiting for Big Sister to set up our Cootie Bug game. I'm not sure if she meant it or not, but it makes me that much more excited for her to smile for real. Come on Sissy!

6. Let it be known that this week all three Hinton girls survived their first trip to the grocery store together. I contemplated taking my real camera but was afraid it would jinx us into meltdowns all around. Plus Danny would never let me live that down. I did ask the cashier to take a quick picture on my phone.

Chica took several more on the way out of the store to document the victory.

Happy Weekend!!

back to school

"Mama! I'm ready to go to school now!" she yelled from her bed this morning. Her voice carried down the hallway into the bedroom of her not-yet-ready parents. We had proper warning. She's been talking about school starting since it ended last spring. Every time we drove past the building this summer she'd ask how much longer until the door wasn't locked anymore. (It was the easiest explanation I could come up with.)

The great and glorious day has arrived, much to the delight of our favorite pre-schooler.
Here she is on her big day last year:

We love you Big Girl! Let your light shine!!

funny faces

This is Chica's current favorite picture of her little sister. I hope it makes you laugh as hard as we do.

Sissy makes great faces. Much to our entertainment, even sleep doesn't keep her from trying out the entire emotional gamut of expressions. I think she's practicing up to join the likes of the other two, how shall I say it...demonstrative women in her family. Heaven help our lone male. :)

double take

What do you think? Can you tell these babies are related?

Sister #1:

Sister #2:

Sister #1:

Sister #2:

M-I-Z!

The Tigers are playing in Arizona tonight so we're staying up late to cheer them on. Being on a newborn's schedule is super helpful when your favorite team is playing a night game out west. :)

It's Little Sister's first season cheering on the Tigers. Let's hope it's a good one!!

1 month old

Little Sister is one month old today. I'm not quite sure how that happened. I think Dan said it best when he described the last four weeks as the fastest month of his life. Except for that week when Chica and I did our best to put each other in therapy (or extend what is sure to be many hours of future therapy) I have to agree.

I'm amazed at how fast the days go. It seems like when my feet hit the ground in the morning they don't stop until Dan gets home from work at night. Even then there's a multitude of half finished tasks because on the way to completion a diaper needs changing, toilet paper needs replacing, a snack has rolled under the table or the washing machine beeped. I'm so grateful for the support of our family and friends as we adjust to this phase of life. Especially considering how flakey I've become now that I'm responsible for two tiny women. :)

At one month old Hope loves: sleeping, spitting up, ceiling fans, warm baths, cool car rides and going on walks.

She does not love: gas, being cold or getting her clothes changed.

Throughout the pregnancy I wondered how I could possibly love another child like I love Reese. Moms of multiple children assured me that I would and could. Turns out they were right. When Hope came into the world one month ago, she hightailed off with our hearts. I tell her all the time how much we wanted her and how glad we are that she's here. How time flies! Speaking of time, how about a picture from the archives for a fun one month comparison? :)