A Visit from Good Friends

I'll begin with these two photos, as they just make me laugh. You know how there are times when you can either flip out and get really angry OR, you can just go with it? This was one of those situations. Sarah, Erin and Lauren came to play today and close to the end of the visit, Sarah and I heard uproarious laughter coming from the bathroom. Sarah got up to investigate and found this.
Or, more to the point, this. The child decided to bathe herself in the sink using B&BW foaming hand soap. Yikes! The bottle was brand new and full this morning...

Apparently, the girls became "filfy" whilst playing outside and Lil decided to rectify the situation. Um, yeah...

Before Sarah and her girls arrived, Lil and I were dashing around trying to clean and unclutter spaces upstairs. Realizing Erin is wearing size 5, I dragged out the bins and tubs of Han's clothes to hand down to Sarah. I also found the HUGE tub of baby clothing--everything from 0-3 to 18 months. Whew! Because Lil is so tiny (even as an infant--how many 6 month olds do you know who wear 0-3?) some of the baby clothes have actually been through four girls, soon to be a fifth--Hannah, Ella, Erin, Lily and now Lauren. Don't you just LOVE hand-me-downs?? :o) As Sarah and I were talking about that, maternity clothing was mentioned as well. We split clothes last time since we were pregnant at the same time--Erin came two weeks after Lil--but this time (should I be blessed to get pregnant), I have a TON of clothing awaiting me. :o)

I lugged all the tubs and bags downstairs prior to Sarah's arrival. As we want Grandma to make a quilt of our favorite of Hannah's clothes, I went through them before sending them on. It was fun to reminisce over so many of the pieces. In some instances, I had just taken clothing straight from her dresser drawers and tossed them in the tub--pj's for example--so they still held faint traces of her smell. Oh, that was glorious and at the same time, so bittersweet. I was grateful to have those fragrances but so desperately wished I had her instead of just a smell.

There was only one bad moment for both Sarah and me. Mom's friend Terry had come with her and was the silent help behind the scenes during those first few awful days after we lost Hannah. She had done a few loads of laundry and stashed Han's clothing in paper bags for me (or maybe Edie did it, I can't remember much from those days), I guess realizing that would be a task that would be beyond my capabilities at that time. The clothes were all her favorites, ones she wore again and again, so that part was tough in and of itself. Then, towards the bottom of the bag I found the red hat Hannah had been wearing that day, the hat that was recovered before my baby was. Then, below that, her cut and torn bathing suit.

Not only did that give me a horrible jolt (Sarah too, as she was with us that day), but I found myself rather livid. I realize the clothing belonged to Han and should therefore come home with her, but who the hell sends home something like that from the ER???? What were they thinking??? Why oh why did they have to send it home??????? I know it's not their fault and that many people would treasure something such as that, but not I. Just typing this I'm filled with such anxiety as images and sounds pass through my head, awful reminders of what was, without a doubt, the worst day of my life.

I quickly took the offending items, buried them in a stack of clothing that was too stained to give away and promptly trashed them. No more bad reminders, no more unexpected anxiety inducers. Whew.

Otherwise, the trip down memory lane wasn't overly painful, more wistful than anything else. I know that initially I was unsure of having Lil wear any of Han's things as those clothes were the ones I most closely associate with her. Going through them today, I'm not so sure. There were some wonderful pieces that were simply beautiful that I had LOVED purchasing, knowing Han would adore them. I think Lil might like them too. To that end, I asked Sarah to please return them to me when Erin outgrew them because I think I might be ready to try some of them on Lil.

Handling those articles of clothing, I remembered just how tall and lean Han had grown. I could see her body filling out those pieces that look so HUGE compared to Lil's teeny clothes. I also remembered I had three tubs of size 3 clothing out in the garage and lugged those in as well. As I pored over them determining what Lil could and could not use, I once again remembered Hannah wearing each piece. :sigh:

I noticed something odd as I sorted through the tubs (all Rubbermaid or Sterlite with lids)--many of the items I had put away and assumed were stain-free were covered in stains. I am quite careful about pre-treating and removing stains and know I wouldn't have put those articles of clothing away stained and yet, there they were. I can't help but wonder how they got there. All the stains are yellow-ish (on things stored both in closets and in the garage) and not only on the front, but on the backs of sleeves and such. If anyone has any good stain removal tips, I'd LOVE to hear them. :o)

Lil and Erin played hard this afternoon, so much so I forgot Lil would need a nap, which in turn led to a HUGE melt-down when it was time for Erin to leave. The girls got along SO beautifully, I didn't hear a cross word the entire time they played. In fact, all I really heard was gobs and gobs of laughter. Is there a more wonderful sound in the world than children laughing?

(Not so) little Lauren is having a slightly rough time of it right now as she and her parents struggle to cope with reflux, poor baby. She's such a cutie pie and has so many of those newborn movements and actions and newborn sounds. Yet, you look at her and realize she's close to 10 pounds, which really isn't that tiny at all. :oP She was a real snuggle bug and utterly delightful to hold and smell. There is nothing so wonderful as a new baby. :happy sigh: :o) Now, if only the medicine will do its thing so everything will settle down (meaning that which she has recently eaten). I actually got to hold her for a decent period of time since Lil was too busy playing with Erin to notice. ;o)

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These are photos taken over the course of the past few days. I finally uploaded them this evening...

This is how Lil drives whilst playing Mario Kart. Hee hee! We learned you can drive backwards from watching her play. Who knew?!?

Lil also discovered Hannah's ladybug "lips" in one of the drawers upstairs and thought she would look even more beautiful if she were to put some on. ;oP


How cheesy is this face? Brien and I were thinking "Joker" here, but she is FAR cuter than he. ;o)

And, these last two are from the garden:
Hee hee! How chuffed am I to have peppers?? :o)

Oh, these guys are going to make some grand BLTs and wedges. Sometimes, I like to take a tomato and a just eat it, like an apple. Ahhhh! :o)

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Today's Sparklies:

1. Amy, thank you SO much for introducing us to the "hiccup fairy" ("Pick-up fairy" to the rest of you). There was much crying and complaining today, but no desire for the hiccup fairy to come for a visit and take the toys that were lying out, so Lil (rather begrudgingly--I'm thinking we may just have to let the fairy come for a bit of a visit so she can see how much she doesn't like it) cleaned up both the playroom and her room. Two little girls can do some damage! ;o) I also had to remind myself Lil was very disappointed Erin had had to leave, and she was functioning with no nap so that helped contribute to the grumpies. That notwithstanding, the rooms look FABULOUS! :o)
2. Our night night stories tonight were Bats at the Beach and Bats at the Library. If you haven't yet read either of these books, I highly recommend them as they are utterly delightful and clever. Use the "look inside" feature on Amazon to check them out. :o)
3. Our visit with the Greathice was so fun! Thanks for coming to play with us, guys! :o)
4. Jessie and the kiddos arrive tomorrow for a week-long visit. Woo hoo! We're gonna go to BG, WC and CW among other things. I'm also hoping to get in a trip to Va Beach as well. :o)
5. It felt good to go through Hannah's clothing and remember how much she loved certain pieces and why. Lily is very much like her sister in that she loves anything soft. Some of the most worn articles of clothing were those that were soft or fuzzy. ;o)
6. The studio is usable once again. Hooray! It was rather destroyed last Saturday and I got it cleaned up. Woo hoo!
7. We are almost through book 5 in HP (they go slowly when you read/listen to them only two chapters a day).
8. Ibuprofen is a gift from the gods. Ahhhh.

Milestones:

I got through the clothing. Not only that, I sorted it into piles of clothing I would like for Grandma to use to make a quilt. We'll see if she is still willing to do it.