Molly Piper

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Can anyone else relate????

Abraham actually sent me this the other day, not because he needed to apologize, but because it made him think of me.

One of the things my husband has had to learn (the hard way, I’m afraid) is that when I get hungry, I get mad. And I mean mad.

I didn’t even realize this about myself either, until we had some major meltdowns/fights after a prolonged interval without food. For some reason (pure grace, I suppose), my husband has much better coping skills in this area. He was always the one trying to figure out what the heck was going on…why is that we were having a good time 25 seconds ago and now my wife has turned into a raging animal?

I guess that’s part of marriage: figuring out the things that set you off and trying to help each other with them. Abraham has learned that there are certain high-risks times and situations and tries to anticipate with feeding me regularly. For example by lunch time after church we’re usually at a threat level orange.

I’m not proud of this flaw of mine. But it’s a pretty easy one to take care of, all in all. And I’m glad he doesn’t shame me for it. I know he’s not always happy with my behavior in my times of hunger, but he accepts my weakness.

And then, after my blood sugar’s had some time and perspective, I get to offer my apology for my hunger-induced actions. It usually goes something like this: “I’m really sorry I did (fill in the blank). I was just super hungry.”

Abraham captured a cute moment the other night:

Why don’t they ever do that stuff when I have a camera close by?

There’s lots of cute moments around here at 18 months. They can kind of say “I love you” to each other, and it’s a real heart-melter. Capturing that on camera is next on my list! Or maybe I should just have Abraham do it. Apparently they do their cute tricks for him.

Last night we started talking about how many years we’d been together. Eight. Then one of us asked, “How many days have we been married?”

Our cursory calculations (I didn’t go strictly, like September is 30 days, October is 31, etc.) showed that we’ve been married for 3,064 days.

When we put it that way, all of a sudden it was…different. Thinking about the fact that I have spent over 3,000 nights sleeping beside him… over 3,000 days waking up to his face. They weren’t all happy nights. And there were mornings when it didn’t feel like the “joy came in the morning…”

It’s a silly exercise, but quantify your marriage. How many days have you been married?

It made me thankful for all 3,064 days. I can’t imagine loving another person the way I love Abraham. There just something about us….

And it made me realize that my love for him can’t be quantified. We know we love each other with a ferocity that astounds both of us–I didn’t know I could have that in this life. I certainly didn’t know that at Day 1.

It took me 3,064 days to get here, to love him the way I do. What’s it gonna be like after 3,064 more?

Saturday, January 25th…another proud library user was born!

He was so excited he called my parents to tell them about it.

I have to admit I got a little teary, watching his little hand grip the fine-tipped Sharpie and print his “signature” on the back. I can’t believe he’s old enough to do all that.

I will also admit that it wasn’t intended to be quite so meaningful. Our library system has recently instituted a 30-book limit per card. I had just been to the library for the kids, which meant I easily checked out 30. But then a few days later, Orison and I were running errands together when I remembered, “Dang! I have a book on reserve for my book club that I need to pick up!”

I tried to check it out on my card, but the computer promptly scolded me that I had already reached my limit! So, being the genius that I am (and not wanting to leave without my book), I turned in beautiful slow-motion and meaningfully placed my hands squarely on his shoulders and cooed to my precious firstborn…

No wait…this is me we’re talking about here.

TAKE TWO!

I quickly solved the problem, whirled over to my son and very practically said, “Hey you wanna get a library card and check my book out for me?”

So his first check-out will seem rather odd:

The Falcon’s Feathers by Ron Roy

and

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Is getting a library card a rite of passage in your family?

OR

What is the most library books you’ve ever checked out at one time?

Orison led the charge in writing these letters to Santa on Christmas Eve. He even served as scribe for Morrow for his letter!

Thankfully we already had a remote control car for Orison and a clipboard lying around the house to give him. A friend of ours ran an 11th-hour errand to pick up the construction paper. Orison was thrilled!

Morrow didn’t seem to notice or care that he didn’t get anything on his list. I think probably the power of suggestion (read: Orison) was responsible for most of the things on there anyway.

And bonus points for anyone who can tell me the source for the question to Santa, “Did you have a good summer?”

[photo via the amazing Wendy Maybury]

Some of you will have gotten one of these in the mail recently, but not all of you. I wish I had the money (and time) to send them to all of you, because getting personal mail is just that awesome, isn’t it?

But I do sincerely want to thank you all for your continued participation here on my site. And I wish you the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years from our Piper clan!

I apologize for the poor quality of this video (taken with my phone), but I just had to show you why I don’t blog anymore.

I had walked out of the room for a minute and then found all three of them up on the bed when I came back. I have no idea how they did that! And then they were all rockin’ out and dancing together. It was awesome.

This is why I rarely have bloggable thoughts. Imagine this kind of energy, all day, every day–awesome and exhausting.

My husband Abraham started a new blog. You might know that he’s run 22 Words for a long time, but just recently he started a more personal blog where he can be more of a…well…person.

Anyway, he wrote a really funny post about how he’s been trying to manage the incessant potty humor going on between our two oldest boys.

BONUS: There’s a short video, too!

Happy Friday, everyone. Next week I’ll have a fun giveaway, so be sure to check back!

This past weekend we took the family to central Wisconsin for a few days away. Now that we have a school-aged kiddo, our time away has to coincide with fall breaks and such–still getting used to that.

We left Wednesday night and I drove while everybody slept. I typically do the lion’s share of driving on road trips. I don’t mind it, I can stay awake pretty well, and then I don’t have to be the one turning around every 10 seconds to hand something to a kid in the seat behind me.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, which was just what we needed. No internet connection, friends. NO INTERNET CONNECTION! (Which I believe is directly responsible for us getting 9+ hours of sleep every night. Glorious!!!)

I found out that Orison’s a kid after my own heart, a true lover of Little House on the Prairie DVDs (which Morrow calls “House on the Fairy”). We watched a good bit of Season 1 together.

Funny about my love for Little House… I thought it was horribly boring as a kid and never watched it. But then after I was married and had Orison, Abraham went back to school full-time (and was working full-time). Needless to say, I had a lot of alone time that year and a half.

Since it was in the days of yore (pre-Netflix and streaming video, dontcha know), I had to busy myself at night with these things called DVDs. A friend of mine owned all the seasons of Little House and convinced me to take the first set.

I had no intention of liking it, but then how can you not shed a tear when the man who can’t speak makes a bell for the church with the help of all the children of Walnut Grove? Or when Pa makes a prosthesis for the girl with the limp? How does that not get you right.there????

Anyway, just thought I’d confess publicly that I’m a Little House junkie. And I’ve turned one of my sons into one, too.

(He’s kind of a sensitive kid, but I have to say both Abraham and I were a little shocked when he started openly weeping and lamenting during Stuart Little when Stuart decided to leave. He also laughed the hardest I’ve ever heard him laugh during the final wrestling scene of Nacho Libre.)

In other news…

-The twins went on their first hayride at the local pumpkin fest thingy.

-We played a lot in the yard because the weather was sublime.

-The kids went crazy in the open cinder block basement at night.

-And did I mention that I slept 9 hours each night?!?!

It was a super good weekend. Hope you all had a good one, too!

This morning when I was taking Orison to school, Morrow was hanging out with our nanny. He told her, “I hear the ferlickity truck!”

Any guesses?

After a few more questions, she deciphered that he was saying recycling truck!

Later in the morning he was telling her about a movie and kept talking about the “Colosorus.” [kuh-LAH-suh-rus]

He was talking about a rhinoceros! Cute!

He also says “Tamorine” for submarine. And he has “tamorines” on his Pull-Ups (which he’s still using. Because he’s still not fully trained).

All of these things are too cute for even this Speech Language Pathologist to correct, except maybe that potty thing (still working on it-ARGH!)!

Also, if you know me in person (IRL if you will), you know I’m a word-clipper. My BFF Danielle and I have been like this since college. It’s a mother’s pure joy to know her children are following her example.

Morrow’s been known to use “fave” for favorite and “Sars!” for sorry.

Be still my heart. This kid is too much. I think I might cry tears of joy the first time he uses “adorbs!”

[photo via]