Life Lessons: You learn something new everyday.

"I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."  ~Abraham Lincoln


True that, Abe.  Wise words.


I love overhearing conversations between Kate and her daddy.  These conversations can cover a myriad of topics, anywhere from boxing to the intricacies of fishing (I dare you to ask Kate what you have to do to have fish available for dinner) to who knows what else.  The other day their conversation came around to learning and the good ol' "you learn something new everyday" got thrown out there.  He asked her what she had learned that day... after some hmms and umms, she told him all about the things she'd done at school.  Then she did something that I absolutely loved- she turned the tables and asked him what he had learned that day.


It got my mind spinning!  What about me?  If she'd asked me, what would I have said?  I do, truly, believe that we should all be learning something new and growing everyday... but if we're not consciously looking for it, we may just be missing the multitude of lessons presented to us each day.


One example, albeit, a silly one: I learned why baby soap bottles say Keep Out of Reach of Children.  No, no one in our house downed a bottle of Aveeno.  But Kate did decide to dump the entire bottle into the empty bathtub.  When bathtime rolled around, I still did not know this (she is so sneaky) and was very surprised when the tub started to fill with mass amounts of bubbles.  That's when she fessed up.  Crazy girl.  So, super fun bubble bath time ensued.  It was, of course, a photo moment but this is the internet and there are creepers around every corner... so I'll keep those just for us.


We learned too, that a crib is no match for a toddler.  While Kate never dared to scale the sides of her crib, her brother took to the challenge like a champ.  Nothing like sitting peacefully, knowing your son is happily stowed in the safety of his cage bed, only to hear a loud thud followed by the thunderous 'pitter-patter' of chubby feet.  Sigh.  Now what?!  

I learned, too, that my sweet Kate is as emotionally delicate as her mommy.  Now that Kennedy is 6-weeks old, the older two have figured out that this baby, is in fact, here to stay.  Kate is now finding herself getting less attention than she was used to, which has led us to such tear-inducing statements as, "You love Kennedy more than you love me," and "Mommy, you always hold the baby sister.  You never hold me or Will."  Guess they haven't hit that topic of avoiding "always" and "never" in pre-school, huh?  I kid.  But honestly, these little statements shattered me.  Have I been ignoring her?  I didn't think so... Have I left her feeling less than the amazing, smart, funny, beautiful girl that she is?  What have I done!?

Her words have not fallen on deaf ears- I am trying so hard to dedicate my baby-free-arm time to making her feel as special and important as she truly is.  


Truth is, it's really hard to spread yourself between three little people who all require your attention every moment of every day.  It is chaos in our home, but a good chaos.  A busy, fun, chaotic place.


Here a few other random lessons learned:
* Kids grow fast: just when you think something is out of reach... it's not.
* If you lay a 6-week old on a surface that you don't want them to spit up/ poop on, then they will spit up AND poop on it.
* The train at Disneyland is an ideal place to nurse a baby when you have two other kids who won't stay still if you try to sit somewhere quiet.
* No matter how much pink you put on your baby, old people will still call her "he".


Before I forget, as promised, here is a little recap of Easter 2012...
Kennedy had her one week birthday on Easter day.  We didn't try to brave the crowds at church, since she was still so little, so we enjoyed our morning at home with some bunny pancakes and hunting for eggs.

Our first picture as a family of five!  

Anyway.  That is that.  And I leave you with this {predictable} question...


...what did you learn today?