Dear Blog,

I apologize for being MIA for what? Three months now? Not cool, I know. But you see I have been soaking in the precious moments with my babies (you thought I was going to say I've been busy, right?). Who isn't busy these days? So my excuse is not that I was busy but rather I was living and then I got so caught up in living that I got overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to blog about to remember one day when I am old and my sweet babies are out of the house and have families of their own.

There is so much I want to remember. And it's all the little things, the things that happen in the middle of the night, or things Van says when we are driving around town, or things that blindside me on a random Tuesday. 

For instance, Rory has been teething like nothing I can remember from Van. Her incisors are slowly, painfully slowly, making their way to the surface of her gums so there are nights she screams bloody murder for an hour. I always go to her. I pick her up, I try to make her comfortable and when she calms down enough I lay her back down in her crib and lay my hand on her chest. Right over her heart until I can feel her breath slow down and when she is asleep I tiptoe ever so quietly out of her room. Except, sometimes I think she is asleep and she is isn't and as soon as I remove my hand from her chest her eyes pop open and she pats her chest wanting me to put my hand back down.

Sometimes we go back and forth like this for 30 minutes. It's so sweet to me how comforting that is for her.

So as my New Year Resolution, I resolve to try to be better about writing down all the little things, the precious moments, the not so precious moments, the real life stuff so Van and Rory can look back and see what life was like when they were little and so I can one day read these words and try to imagine the little faces I get to see every day, smile at the scent of baby shampoo and laugh at the things that I may not find so funny now.

For this life is not perfect, it's messy, it's sweet and sticky and often times smelly. But it's ours and it's beautiful.

I will try to take the next few posts to remember what October - December held for us and post lots of pictures. 

Thanks for being here. For caring about our little family enough to read about what is happening in our lives. We are happy to call you friends and family. We wish for you all a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year! 

Love,

The Utseys