as I write this, you've actually been two for several weeks! your special day concluded our crazy string of birthdays (three birthdays in three weeks!). you are most definitely two, with your rapidly expanding vocabulary, your sense of humor, your strong opinions, and your (thankfully rare) falling on the ground, kicking your feet temper tantrums. you love to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", the ABCs, "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and "The Wheels on the Bus". you are obsessed with Cocomelon and have a few singing Cocomelon toys that are on heavy rotation in the car and diaper bag.
you were thrilled to try on Cece's cheerleading hair bow
updates from daycare... they're continually impressed by how much you love yogurt!
baby in a basket
playing piano with Cece and Daddy
you frequently melt our hearts by telling us "I lush you". you can say the names of everyone in the family including yourself ("Ellie"), Greta ("Gaga"), and Victoria ("Towia" or "Toto" or just "baby"). you get into everything and we've had to put latches on almost every cupboard and drawer downstairs to keep you out of mischief. the salt and pepper shakers can no longer stay on the dining room table, and wallets and phones are no longer safe on the kitchen counters. you have a knack for sneaking completely silently into your sisters' rooms to stick your fingers into Greta's lip gloss and move the dolls around Cece's dollhouse. it's a good thing you're so cute!
I was standing in the kitchen just around the corner and out of sight while you helped yourself to washable paint that was in one of Cece's bags, unbeknownst to me. five minutes later when I checked on you, you held up your hands and said "gloves!" and your feet and said "socks!".
kisses for baby sister
you love playing with baby dolls and frequently parrot phrases you hear all day: "it's okay, baby! shhhh. oh, honey, it's okay. you drop it? oh, goodness. oh goodness gracious. hurry up! oh, you fell down. kaboom! no worries. I wipe your bum. all clean!" and when you're frustrated: "oh, come on!!"
this incredible wool coat set was a hand-me-down from your Auntie Amelia.
you strutted down the street to church
when I knelt to get your picture, you knelt too. if a little Victorian girl had a beatific vision, I'm pretty sure this is what it would look like.
for your birthday dinner, we had chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese, with cupcakes for dessert. you were absolutely thrilled with your new lunchbox and water bottle, with a straw spout just like the big girls have. in typical Murphy's law fashion, you were sporting a brand new black eye for your birthday, the result of falling and hitting your cheek on a wooden chair leg. poor baby!
after dinner, you absconded with a hardboiled egg from the pile I was peeling for the older girls' school lunches
Oh she is so adorable :) And toddlers are just the best!! That was so sweet that she kneeled down like you, they are always watching and listening and you are obviously a very sweet family based on how she acts and what she says :)
welcome to the world, George Nicholas! our fifth baby was born two weeks early, completely upending my previous delivery pattern -- all of his sisters were born just before or up to 10 days after their due dates, except for Victoria with a scheduled induction at 39 weeks. a 39 week induction was the plan for baby boy too, and our dear friend Amy had requested the day off work to come doula for us again, bless her! my coworkers kept telling me I was going to go early with him and I kept confidently responding, "oh no, my babies like to stay cozy in here!" as I left the office on Friday (at 37 weeks 2 days pregnant), I told them, "see you Monday!" they all looked at me and said, "well... maybe!" and I reassured them that I would be there. the last "bump" photo I have, on July 4, just 9 days before baby would make his appearance! Amy texted me that weekend to see how I was feeling. baby boy was definitely sitting lower and I was having some inter...
for as long as I can remember, I've envisioned having four kids. to me, it seemed like a sufficient number of kids to emulate the big family feeling I so enjoyed about my own childhood. plus, I like the symmetry of even numbers. having grown up as the oldest of six, however, I thought I might not be cut out for being a mother of six, so four seemed to be the magical solution. the Geiger six at the wedding reception my parents threw for us back in Washington state. there is a 14 year gap between oldest (me) and youngest (Krista). do you see why we used to call her Pink Baby?! this is such a classic photo I had to include it, even though it was before Krista was born. I sewed my own dress if you couldn't tell. #homeschooled all that to say that after our fourth child, Victoria, was born in 2023, I felt quite at peace with our family size ... but not to the point of giving away all of the baby stuff. after all, I was "only" 37. we did feel strongly though that we should ...
over a year ago, we had made plans for Greta to go on a trip to Paris over Holy Week 2026 with her elementary school choir (pinch me now!). since Cece was going with Nick on an epic European pilgrimage in the summer of 2025, we decided it was only fair for me to accompany Greta. ;) also, Holy Week is Nick's absolute busiest time of year as a church musician and he definitely would not be able to take the week off to travel. a few months after sending in the deposit, we learned that not enough families had signed up and the trip was canceled, so our deposit was refunded. we both were quite disappointed! then Nick said that she and I should pick another place to go for a mother/daughter trip in its place. after much deliberating over various options, including a trip to NYC for shopping/shows, a visit to North Carolina to visit my sister and hopefully see one of the shows she and her fiancé are involved with in the local theater they run, a trip to the beach, or a cruise, Greta fina...
Oh she is so adorable :) And toddlers are just the best!! That was so sweet that she kneeled down like you, they are always watching and listening and you are obviously a very sweet family based on how she acts and what she says :)
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