what momma writes

I've been truly blessed to have had all my grandparents for 30 years of my life. Today my first grandparent shed his body and entered into the next phase of his spiritual life. While I know he's so very at peace and I'm so happy for him that he's experiencing the bliss of afterlife I'll still miss him.   My dad, my grandma and uncle were there to send him off to new life and comfort him during his last earthly breaths. It sounded like it was peaceful transfer and that is what he wanted. He was able to die at home, in bed surrounded by some loved ones. Grandpa told me a number of times "Caren, ah, it's hell to get old." as he talked through his frustrations of his declining health.   For the last year and half he's been up and down with some major health issues, so I've had time to mentally prepare for the day I would "lose" him. But, no matter how much I prepare for the inevitable, it still hurts. I still cried (I might not be do...

i'm a little behind due to being under the weather, but i have to say what a fun, full weekend! one of my dearest friends, miss taryn married jer. i'm over the moon thrilled for these two. it was so apparent that they are crazy in love and compliment each other so well. the mood was relaxed, the weather was like fall and our friends and babies played! it was stella's first time in a wedding (she's now tied with me) and apparently she parties better than i do. right before the wedding i broke our camera (fail) and my phone was on low battery so i had to constantly steal photos and iphones to snap some shots. i had great intentions of being awesome at both haha! thank you so much, jeryn for such a good time! it was an honor to celebrate with you and be able to reconnect with friends. missing you already.   crap. i just realized i spelled awesomeness wrong. i'm not changing it now.

here are some snaps. 1. rainy day fun with markers 2.  grammie terrie reading 3.  uncle bry reading 4. cousins sharing the same seat where rough housing occurred 5.  celebrated dalia turning ONE!  6. kids on the backs to the beach 7.  living in a moment 8. three  little pigs giggling 9. three lit tle girls splashing 10.  dada and birdie fun in the pool 11.  first family beach photo 12. littles loving the waves ... ready to go back ...

ahh, the beach. we love the beach and had a wonderful time away in Hilton Head. ...Can't wait to return.  our family, my sister's and my parents were blessed to share a family vacation at the beach.  the weather was glorious, minus some rain the first day. while it's always hard to share space with multiple people, over all it went well and no major headbutting ensued. I stole some hi-lites about the kiddies, written by my mom: Josie- has an extra stomach for ice cream. Used to live in HHI with Poppi Booboo a long long time ago. Likes to swim naked and walk barefooted. Painted every one's toe nails. Stella- leech to Moma. Belly laugher at Josie. Loves to give kisses. Vocabulary sky-rocketed. Explorer. Can become o ver-stimulated. Likes to rough house. Dal- Strong as an ox; ridiculous strength. Always happy. Likes to be in and out of booster seat. Loves wooden fish in PawPaw and Grammie's room. Splasher! after a week and 4 days on the road, i learned a...

a little something light hearted today. this little clip makes me so happy. i started taking pics because bird was so interested in the guitar. i was able to snag this little piece of dada and daughter making music. i didn't really know what i was catching until afterward. and then. i melted into a liquid form of love into the floor. it's short, but i just love that bird brings her own little beat to the mix. rock on my little eggnoodle!

happy father's day to my mister. my guy had to work the weekend so that totally blew, but we attempted to make it a nice weekend for him. we took mister coffee on sunday and got some take out in the eve. (which works for me too since i got out of cooking).  we had a bday for vince/pops day cookout at my grandparentals house on saturday where the cousins proceeded to wear each other out. no really, bird didn't fall asleep until 930/945p and slept until 945am! while this was great for me since i don't set an alarm, poor papabear didn't get to enjoy the extra sleep. arrrrrrgggggg!  i was able to snag some great finds through out the weekend at the city flea , hyde park farmers market and some other local spots.  we've been talking about getting a globe for a while and also starting a garden. i had this big, bad idea that i was going to build a garden this weekend and surprise the dada. then i quickly realized a few things: 1) oh yea, i have a toddler. 2) i do...

i'm not sure what to think of mother's day after becoming a mom. i know that sounds sorta oxy-moronic, but honestly shouldn't we be thanking our mother's and those that do motherly things for us more than just one day? last year i did a big old brunch with both sides of the family. while that was fun, it was at the same time stupid. why did i host something for all the mom's when all the women ended up doing all the work? doesn't that defeat the purpose of moma's day? isn't this day supposed to be a thank you and a break? lesson learned. don't host mother's day - you end up more tired than you started.  this year, i tried to go in with no expectations, but on the same token i can't deny the fact that i want to be appreciated for the things that i do for my familia. luckily my mister knows that i cringe over materialistic gifts and appreciate thanksgiving and action. (although sometimes we have to remind each other. that's marriage, tho...

every monday i come into work and  our small staff gathers for a few to have our own weekend update  (not as good as seth meyers of course). it's very common for me to find myself brainstorming "what in the world did i do this weekend?" while i always feel like our weekends are full, and i'm simultaneously making less set commitments, i can't remember anything that's share worthy of 'what i did this weekend' ... and perhaps it's because what we do now is usually drama-free and in-home togetherness (i know, puke. sorry i couldn't think of the right word). and it got me thinking, how did i manage to fill every ounce of time before bird even entered our lives. while i'm sure it wasn't all meaningless errands, it's still mind boggling to me that i was so busy when i didn't have a toddler to chase.  our time is spent working as a team to manage a home and care for this little gal. it's really forced us into cultivating ...

this post is a little late since we had two easter celebratory weekends this year and some spring time fun as well. it's been fun to take advantage of the easter festivities in the city with family along with running barefoot in the yard, playing with cousins, and exploring parks and swings.  fun at the park with grands! we are so lucky to have such great parks in cincinnati and our new favorite is in Over the Rhine. it's newly renovated the past year or so and has such great energy and activities. mamawm, pawpaw, birdie and i had brunch at a favorite coffee spot downtown after the egg hunt that didn't happen for us. lil gal was enjoying hamming it up with the spoon and making friends with folks. ummmmm, so we went down to OTR for an egg hunt and i neglected to look and see that the age brackets started at age 3, so uh, we hung out with the massive amounts of people in the park and the EB happened to be there. i'm not the type that will stand in line for ...

it's been a long winter and as i write i hope i don't jinx the fact that spring is on it's way. this winter seemed extremely long to me and has taken the greatest toll on me, mentally. sunshine today and a play date with friends in the park does give me a glimmer of hope that spring really is coming... soon! here's a little bird picture update through the winter.  bird being her happy bird self. bed head and all, playing with her rosie red doll. i'm sorry, but i think she looks like momabirdski here. tired bird bopping her head to our favorite mumford and sons on the way home from a coffee shop. what's that? why, yes your eyes don't deceive you: it's pebbles twin! birdie gets a pony. on deck: another hair trim to figure all of that out... a large sign to moma she is growing up.   we haven't left the oral stage. i'm afraid we never will... winter brings lots of playing indoors unfortun...

this year we toned it down. and by toning it down we had 4.5 christmases instead of 5 or 6. we had a lovely time and it was much more fun with bird being 13 months than 1 month. shhhheeeeew. no offense to anyone with newborns around the holidays, but the thought of it brings back exhaustion. (if i have anything to do with it, a spring or summer baby we shall create... not any time soon). below are some picture hi.lites. i snapped what felt like, millions of pics, but truth be told, when there are 3 little people and relatives in town i didn't snap all that many good ones when it comes down to it. stella on christmas morning with her new handmade fox from the city flea / let's play the game 'get 3 kids under 3 to smile with their great grandparents / playing at grandma and grandpas / pockets in the snow / me with TWO tired ONE year olds (please excuse my wine stained teeth and stella's hair bows in my hair) / zonked from present opening. whe...