think.

occasionally i'll be stricken with anxiety and doubt about my life. 

life is too short to realize my dreams.

what am i doing with my life?

life is passing so quickly.

am i making any difference in this world?

will i ever get to do stuff i'm made to do?

does my life matter?

et cetera, et cetera...blah, blah, blah.

but tonight, when i rushed to my daughter's side as she cried out for me, tucked her back into bed, whispering comfort into her ear, and kissed her good-night; i thought...

man. i have an amazing husband, two beautiful daughters, a wonderful home, and i am surrounded by people who love me. i have a whole life ahead of me and i am already so blessed.
thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.

love.

ack! i've been the worst blogger lately. are you not doing, thinking, wearing, seeing, loving, or dreaming anything, you ask? i promise i am. but unfortunately the new norm doesn't include a whole lot of time for blogging. each day i write out the day's events in a letter for mr. a so after that, i'm pretty much spent.  but here's a mini-post for you....

do with this gorgeous weather we've been having, we have tried to spend as much time outside as possible. here's a cutey-cute picture of baby quinn on a cool day at the park:

thinktomorrow will be the half-way point and, after a few hellish weeks, i must say things have been going okay. not great or easy, but...okay. at one point i just cried thinking, i'm never going to get used to this. but actually, i have gotten used to it. nevertheless, i ache for mr. a and can.not.wait. for december 18th.

wear ummm, no actual outfit pics. but this week is friends & family discount week at the gap & co. and i'd like to use my 30% off for this little chap:

see receiving this picture in my e-mail box was the highlight of my weekend. can you see mr. a?

love my dad showed me this amazing online radio site called pandora radio. it's so amazing. you can create your own radio "station" simply by choosing a song or an artist you like and it will choose songs that are of similar style. if it picks a song you hate, you just click a button and it reformats for your taste! i'm loving it. i've been creating new radio stations all day, even one for little P! plus there's like, one 20 second commercial every half hour (or maybe even less). check it out here.

dream christmas is always a time of year we look forward to, but this year i can't help but daydream about it allllll the time. since mr. a will be home it just makes everything extra-special. i can't wait to pick out a tree together, take piper to look at christmas lights, and wrap gifts on christmas eve while watching some great christmas movie (White Christmas, A Christmas Story, or Home Alone top my list). last year piper wasn't quite old enough to enjoy all the festivities, but it seems like this year we can start some traditions for our family that she will remember. what are you daydreaming about these days?

do.

support your local dollar spot.

piper and i picked up this goodie the other day & were entertained for hours! okay, at least one hour.

piper made sure the tub was nice & warm for the waterbirth.

one by one, the little monsters came into the world.

and one by one, they were plucked out of the water,

and given a kiss and a name.



once we dried them off, they were ready to play.


meet the newest members of our family:

iggy and ziggy (the twins), ophie, cecile, and kevin.

wear.

that's life.

jacket: topshop

(bought for me by the ever-stylish everyday prorsum on his european vacay last year!)

t-shirt: j.crew

(hand-me-down from joseph's mom!)

jeans: gap

shoes: very volatile (from von maur)

do.

wow, what a week. you may have noticed there was nary an update on this blogspot. (why? see: first sentence of this post.) i would apologize, but there's no room on my
Things to Feel Guilty About list. ha.

anyway, the past week was a blur of crying, tantrums, and time-outs (for piper, too). but it actually ended on a nice note...

we joined a group of childless-hipsters* and trekked out to the Happy Apple Orchard. it was, indeed, happy. we made some new friends and reacquainted with some old friends, all the while plucking tasty apples right off the trees. piper was making us laugh because she'd want to eat an apple but didn't like the skin, so she'd take one bite of an apple and chuck it as hard as she could. this happened again and again.
(what do they say is the definition of insanity?) afterward, we ate potato soup, apple salsa, apple cider, and caramel apples. it was the perfect fall day.

*the childless hipsters. a term i use in endearment and mild jealousy.

aaaaand chuck.

quinn joined in the fun.

i wore....

scarf: forever21

vest: gap (soooooo old)

sweatshirt: j.crew

jeans: gap

boots: bitten (steve & barry's)

this is piper and i last year at the Happy Apple Orchard...

the changes a year brings.