Sit and Be.

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!  ~Albert Einstein 

My blog has been collecting dust. Neglected and set aside as I've really been taking the time to focus on each day. To be more preset. More involved. I've become distracted from documenting and sharing, allowing myself to indulge fully in the richness and beauty that resides in these days. To just sit and be. To make little mental notes. I've lost the itch that comes along with a blog and a devoted following of friends and family anxious to know what this little trio has been up to.
Forgive me.

We've been no busier than usual, no special vacations or outings. We're just in love. In love with each other. With our life. With every present moment, every twist and turn being thrown our way, seizing opportunities and revamping our perspectives on certain circumstances.

Even in the final resting hours of each long day after the last few precious moments where I lay my sweet girl down for the night, I sit in recollection of our day. Of our family. Of the warm feeling that resides deep in my heart when I think about these two beautiful people.

 

I can't help but feel truly blessed. Fortunate enough to have a family with such dynamic beauty. Such love. A love that has sprouted out of one that started almost six years ago, surpassing the convoluted seasons of life, allowing us to truly flourish in this present moment. It's authentic and it's real. 

I love this man with all my heart. I love him for his patience. For his kind heart. For his cheesy sense of humor. For his ability to see the beauty and good in everyone. I love him because he nags me about continuing school and furthering my education. He encourages me to pursue writing and art, knowing that those, among many other things, are my passion. I love him because he loves our little girl. The way his eyes light up, his face consumed by a smile that shines brightly when he hears a very predictable chirp, a papa, as he turns the key and enters the door. He is my child's father.  And he is good.

I love my little girl. I love her innocence.

She has her father's kind heart and her mother's quick temper, my little spit-fire. She is gentle and loving and affectionate, always demanding hugs. She is a learner, anxious and energetic, eager to explore and discover new things. Her eyes are deep and warm, easily piercing the heavy-hearted. She is emotional. A feeler. Easily visible by the tears that form when she sees little puppies or any animal that's moved her. I love that I get to be her mother.

We are thriving beautifully in this land of life. Enjoying each other's presence, the little things. I am blessed to own the life I live. It's a good one.

Little Things - Family time

We spent Saturday together. Reconnecting. Enjoying a rare opportunity to spend a full day in each other's company. We joined the club of weekend brunch goers. Though no real club exists, none that I'm aware of at least, following the unspoken weekend moral code, if you're not working, then you better be brunching, we packed up and headed out. We dined on benedicts and two-egg-breakfasts, soaking up bits of sun strong enough to make its way past the outside patio's awning. 

After breakfast, we walked to the grocery store in search of the next great meal. Deciding on carne asada tacos, we gathered the required ingredients and headed home where I let Pieter in on another unspoken weekend moral code, if you're not sleeping in, then you better believe you're guaranteed a nap. After the two hours of family nap blissfulness, we ate an early dinner and later bartered chores in exchange for paying rights at Gunther's Ice Cream.

*****

Gunther's is a cute little ice cream shop with a big small town feel. So much in fact, I swear there are deleted scenes taking place in this very shop somewhere in The Sandlot archives.

During Summer months, the patios are always filled with frozen-treat-loving patrons. As we headed inside, only stepping a few feet passed the door, Lola was consumed by a horrible case of ice cream envy. 

She was not amused as she was taunted by the sights of others enjoying their scoops of heavenly bliss, nor was she amused at the thought of waiting in line for her "I-keeeemm".

See, not amused.


Lola and I found a table outside while Pieter waited in line for our ice cream. Taking advantage of an opportune moment to ink Lola up, she's now an official member of the Gunther's family!

 My daughter's a bad ass!

Lola, wide-eyed with anticipation and excitement, caught a glimpse of Pieter making his way toward us.

 One part peanut buttercup, one part cookies-n-cream, baby!!!

 Still don't believe that Gunther's is absolutely delicious??? The guy in the background can vouch for us, agreeing that this ice cream is finger-lickin'-good!

 I'm not a random stranger photographer,  I swear. It proves my point though, doesn't it?

Bad ass...

*****

As the sun set on our perfect family day, I sat reflecting on my life and my two loves, realizing how fortunate and blessed I am. I have a beautiful daughter, wildly energetic and spunky in every part of her thirty-one pound little body. 

I also have a constant example of unconditional love. A love that fuels him to put up with me through all of my "feisty Mexican moments". An unconditional love that allows him to be understanding and patient with others even when they aren't necessarily worthy of it. He is perfect.

As I crept in to take one final look at my little sweets before I headed to work the next morning, I saw the little reminder of our wonderful evening. I carried that with me all day.

Happy Tuesday!

Daddy's Little Helper

We've been neglecting the laundry baskets that line our closet doors for two weeks now. And we all know how our laundry of list things that need tidying gets put on hold and left neglected when the ones we love are under the weather. Last night, Pieter was nice enough to tackle the six weeks worth of clean and unpaired socks and Lola was kind enough to help her papa out.

Pieter worked with her patiently, trying to explain the varieties of white tube socks to our little sweetness. He would have her search for the ones with the gray toes and would continue pairing as she was on the hunt for the last few straggler- or so he thought. When he was focused on pairing, Lola would quickly scurry over and toss single socks into the bucket.

 Pieter quickly realized that this daunting task would not be done quickly because of the little saboteur on his team. He finally settled with giving her the task of dropping the paired socks into the container.

 She clearly was little help but her anxiousness to join in and take part in pairing socks was so cute, we couldn't resist but to let her help. She has been showing promising signs of being a responsible little human. She picks up her toys, most of the time, puts her dishes in the sink, most of the time, and throws her garbage away. This little family session of getting most of our dreaded laundry put away was more work for Pieter than it needed to be but was worth the laughter I received from it!

Guess what today is???

Today is a special day. Today I celebrate the two lives that mean the most to me. Pieter and Lola share a birthday! Cute, right?!? 

More about this later...

Such A Perfect Day

Wednesday was jam-packed. Every minute felt like it passed by faster than the one before and all I could do is hold on tight, hoping to accomplish everything I wanted to. Lola and I spent an extra long morning tucked away under covers. She was tired from a late night of celebrating the completion of Pieter's very first novel, and I, well, didn't feel like a birthday girl's duties should consist of mopping floors, dusting shelves, and tackling the pile of neglected dishes from god knows when. Not right away at least! So we soaked in the sun filled sky through our little bedroom window. And as Lola snuggled up to me trying to find that sweet spot, I held my phone tightly, reading through the sweet words residing in your tweets, emails, Facebook posts and comments, texts, and messages. I felt the love. I really felt the love.

We finally started our morning, baths filled to the rim with bubbles, the cold morning breeze creeping through an open window offering some relief from the steamy, warm, sauna-like bathroom. Tackling Lola's lotioning, fingernail clipping, and dressing post bath can be a challenge at times. Luckily for me, Sesame Street was on. Lola is really liking "Almo" and Abby Cadabby. 

We went out for an early lunch. We took our time. We enjoyed the moments with each other. We shared an eggplant sandwich, farewelled the waitresses that favor Lola, and headed out. 

We ran our errands, stopping at the drugstore for nail polish and lip gloss. I asked Lola for her advice on colors. She recommended "puple". I went with lilac. A good compromise, if you ask me!

On our walk home, the skies went from powder blue to dark and intense. And within a matter of seconds it began pouring. I scooped Lola up, trying desperately to make it home. Lola stretched her arms out, put her face up, and began laughing. I laughed too. Hard. And from the time it took me to go from L to Capitol, the clouds had parted and the sun was out. Amazing!

 

The rest of the day, I ran around like a mad woman. Cleaning this and that, spraying here and there, dusting, scrubbing, moving the couch and unveiling all the treasures Lola had hidden for me. I painted our nails, revealing matching mother-daughter manicures. Lola liked this. My neglected locks went from the classic mom-pony to half curled because of the brief intermission to finish up this post. I put on my face, feeling anxious, excited, beautiful. I wore special jewelery, pieces presented to me from loved ones. I wore boots and the over-priced cardigan I just couldn't pass up. I'm glad I didn't because I love it!

We dined at a little urban bistro in East Sac. I indulged in bruschetta, parsnip mashed potatoes, and a pork chop the size of my face. I washed it down with wine and was refreshed by cucumber water. I don't remember what Pieter had, and it doesn't really matter because my food was that good!

We held hands, had wonderful dialogue. We were like the hearts of young lover's, fully in tuned, fully awake, fully focused, he on me and I on him. It was beautiful. It was classy. It was romantic.

30 Little Things

Day 10:

Brought to you by Pieter.

Soaking up the suds.

Sweet.

Year Five

We are rolling around the time where Pieter and I will be celebrating yet another anniversary. I can't believe it's that time again. While sorting through pictures of Lola, I stumbled upon some early photos of Pieter and me, when our relationship was just a wee little thing. It is always nice to look back on pictures and remember. Remember the good times, the great times, and what we thought were, the rocky points of no return. But here we are, practically five years later, through the long-distance relationships, the break-ups, the make-ups, our pregnancy with sweet Lola, and her long awaited arrival. Here we are, another year, easier than its prior competitor, and sure to be outdone in 365 days!

 So here's to the good ol' days, and the wonderful days to come! Happy (soon to be) anniversary, babe! I love you!