Welcome home

Last week we proudly welcomed 2 of these into our home.

Two midcentury Ethan Allen vintage chairs, courtesy of our local Craigslist. They are extremely comfortable, well-made, and the perfect size for our little cozy house. Can't wait to learn to reupholster them and unveil their fabulous potential. I've definitely got my work cut out for me with these.

Can't Believe I Made It

It seems like today was a very hard today for a lot of my fellow mamas. For some reason, today was not a hard day for me because my boys were such sweet boys and because of this, I feel very blessed and reflective today. At one point today, we were at playgroup and I looked over and my boys were sharing crackers while Boozle had his arm around L. Such a tender boy.

If you would have asked me a year ago if I ever thought the day would come that my day would glide by and be filled with playing, fun, creativity, and sharing, I would have said no way. When L was a little baby, I was so completely overwhelmed I felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Two babies under the age of 2 was just too much for me on many days. Luckily I have a dear friend that came to my rescue many times, watching them while I took a shower and cleaned the bathroom, taking them to the park so I could run two errands on the same day (!!) etc...

Today I got a text message from a first-time mama friend with a newborn baby saying, "Thank you so much. I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I don't think you're old, but you've been like a mom to me." It made my heart swell and it made me think of that dear friend was like a mom to me when I had Lincoln. Everyone living far from family needs that "mom" friend: the one that offers the exact bit of advice you need that day, the one that gives you a breath when you feel you're drowning. I recently read this article and it brought back so many memories. I absolutely love the line that says:

"When I had only one child, she was so heavy. Now I can see that children are as light as air. They float past you, nudging against you like balloons as they ascend.

Dear mother, don’t worry about enjoying your life. Your life is hard; your life will be hard. That doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong—it means you’re doing it right."

And, although not every day by any means, today I feel exactly this: my children are floating past me with their strong spirits leading them along and I am extremely grateful to be able to watch the ascent.

Extremes

How is it that in one day my babies can be stealing every possible toy from each other and fussing about it every time and 10 minutes later can be hugging each other in a box, never to let go? It's the latter moments I hope to remember and the former I hope to forget.

A Bit of Cheer

To quote Boozle, "A flower needs 3 things: sun, water, and soil," which he learned in our seed plant class at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum. And today we put that fact to the test as we filled my new Mothers Day sunny window boxes with soil and flowers.


Then, after we were done, Boozle loved dumping the water on them and watching it run out the bottom. Thanks to the green thumb of Oma, I think they just might add a bit of cheer to our porch.




So so happy that spring is here!

Happy Easter

Blue was the theme of the day today: crystal blue warm skies, Reese's peanut butter eggs wrapped in blue for Boozle to devour, a new blue and white Easter shirt for Boozle, and of course the knitted blue owl vest for Big Baby. I always love Easter Sunday. Spring is in the air and the Easter hymns and messages at church spoke to my soul. What a glorious time of rebirth and renewal and what a gift Jesus Christ gave us all. For this I am introspective and thankful today.

happy easter!
love,
the nilssons

Goodbye Creaky Old Floors

Tears welled in my eyes as I walked through the 91-year old hardware store for one of the last times. The floors creaked as I pushed the babies through one of Boozle's favorite stores in Morristown. It will soon be gutted and turned most likely into another restaurant. Just what this town definitely doesn't need one more of. Moore Hardware: filled with antique tools, an old fire engine pedal car (hence, Boozle's favorite), and the nicest store owner around. Today as we bought our last purchase, I felt completely comfortable leaving my perfectly content babies with Howard, the owner, while I ran next door to get cash from the ATM to buy our rake, shovel, and umbrella. When I came back he was telling Boozle tales of his grandsons playing at the shore and asking him who his favorite Thomas engine was.

I expressed my sadness about the store closing and Howard said, "Yep. It is sad. But it's also a new beginning. The end of an era, but the beginning of things for me, too. And this is what really counts," as he pointed to the cash register. "People just do their shopping out on the highway and they just want specialty stores here in town." I then told him about how one of the reasons I love Morristown is because we can literally run our errands. Other than the post office, the double jogger fits into every store and we love to jog to pick up our diaper spray from the health shop, our books from the library, and our picture hangers from Moore's. Now we'll have to join everyone else in driving out to the highway to the big box aka local- and history-crushing stores. Sad, indeed.

Check out more about it here.

Bathtime Baby

One of Big Baby's favorite books says, "Bath time baby, sit and think, while you soak in this green sink." And the other book in the same favorite series says, "Bath time baby, splish splash in bubbles."

Bath time synonyms: fun time, crazy time, scream as loud as you can time (the boys, not me), try not to get paraben- and phthalate-free (free of those but unfortunately, not tear-free) soap in babies' eyes time, try to prevent Boozle from pouring water on Big Baby time, try to get the soap out of Boozle's thickest ever hair in a timely manner time, try to prevent too much bath water consumption, and try to prevent Big Baby from standing up in the bath time.

Usually bath time evenings = early bedtime for Mama.