Wax Poetic

Happy almost 2012! I, as many people do, wax poetic and make grand proclamations and promises on how I will do better, be better in the next year. But you know what? This year, I am just hanging at home, barely keeping awake before the ball drops ( hubby is already asleep on the cough, kids are in bed) and I am just plain thankful. Thankful for the year I have had and hopeful for the next one to be filled with as little strife as possible. Do I want to lose weight in 2012? Of course! Do I want to be more organized and sane and be Mrs. Perfect? Hell, yes! But more than anything, I just want to look back on 2012 the same way I am now looking at 2011. As grateful as I should be.
Happy New Year!

Nutcracker and A Lifelong Friend...

We went to the Boston Ballet's Nutcracker today.  The first annual with Maggie and her best friend Emily and Emily's mom and I.  Maggie is five and Emily turns five this month, and watching them today and listening to them interact with one another was one of the most amazing things.  These girls have been friends now since before they were two.  Our first ever outing together was Elmo live about 3 years ago.  Now they have gone from playing side by side to laughing at each others silly jokes, playing 'no block' tic tac toe, and admiring their dresses for the show. 

Bonus- the girls got to meet Clara after the show.  Mommy herself was too star struck to get a photo- oops!

 Maggie and Emily at 'Elmo Live' over three years ago!

Maggie and Emily at lunch before the show having a blast!

Happy 5th Birthday Maggie!

Five years ago after a pretty long and intense labor, I gave birth to my beautiful Maggie Lane.  Margaret Elena.  She turned five today.  A few weeks after she was born I started a blog called "Life with Maggie". I wrote and chronicled much of her life from those first hectic and amazing months until now.  I altered the name to "Life with Maggie and Ben" when her wonderful brother entered our lives.  I am overwhelmed by how much has happened in five years.  My children growing, my husband and I surviving sleeplessness and the occasional marital strife that comes with being in the throws of early parenting.

And now, five years later, we stand as an amazing family unit.   Maggie starts kindergarten in a couple of weeks as I embark on my Master's degree- we both get to buy shiny new notebooks together. We have lifted ourselves from the fog of baby haze and are entering the world of homework and heartbreak.  I am so excited to be on this journey with my children.  And I am already so amazed and proud of the person Maggie is turning into.  She is her own self.  Proud, silly, dramatic, caring, and full of humor.  She loves to laugh.  She loves her family.  She takes such pride in knowing how to spell the following words without any help:  Mom, Dad, Maggie, Ben, Izzy (our cat).  She draws us all together, sometimes under rainbows, or in front of a house next to a gigantic flower.  She grows up with a huge amount of love and support, from us, and from the rest of our family and friends.

Maggie my darling, I started writing on this blog for you.  I wanted you to look back and know more than just a lock of hair, a random drawing or class picture.  I wanted you to be able to read about our lives and see you through my eyes.  I love you so much my baby girl.  When you woke up this morning and I scooped you out of bed singing 'Happy Birthday', you laughed and shouted, "Monkey hold!" and I abide and drop my hands from your waist so you could swing from my neck.  "Mommy," she asks, "am I too big for you to carry now that I a five?"  I hug her close and descend down the stairs, and whisper, "No, no my Maggie, I will always carry you."

Happy 5th Birthday my little Maggie Lane.

As usual, even though I am a rare blogger this days, I always link back to the birth story on their birthdays.  Click here to read Maggie's.  Its a doozy!