Lyla is a bottom feeder. As in the fish. She spends the entire day on her hands and knees scouring the floor for anything and everything to put into her mouth. I can't even begin to tell you how many giant slobbery hairballs, sticker remnants, small rocks, dried food, and other strange articles I pull out of her mouth every day. And who knows how much random crap she has actually ingested. So, she has been rightly dubbed, The Bottom Feeder. Normally this status is reserved for the family dog, but since we will likely never have one of those (if I have anything to say about it), and our cats refuse all table food except raw broccoli (yep. weird.), Lyla has no competitors. Not even the broom, apparently, since no matter how often I sweep, I still am digging the same amount of treasures out of her mouth every day.
Since we are talking about Lyla, I also find it amusing that since I didn't start her on solid foods until this month, she skipped the puree stage completely, and is perfectly happy and content feeding herself small soft foods from the high chair tray. Her favorites are always what Lexi sneaks her while my back is turned. So far, she has generously been gifted a PB and J sandwich, raisins, peanuts, almonds, an entire banana, half a sweet potato, chocolate chips, half of a chocolate chip cookie (at least Lexi is sharing, right?), a cinnamon roll, breakfast cereal, cucumbers, and hummus, just to name a few. Naturally, most of these items were excavated from her mouth as soon as I saw what was going on (usually given away by the sound of mild baby gagging due to having a very very stuffed mouth). Older sisters are so helpful.
Really, they are. My sister is now living with us and has been nothing but helpful in the week she has been here. All the hard to get to places in my house that have been layered with filth for months are now sparking. Seriously. You should see my stove. I half expect one of those animated twinkly stars to appear every time I look at it. And my shower curtains. Spanking clean. Makes you kind of want to bust out in song as you scrub. Kids are thoroughly entertained by the energetic auntie. Lots of happy singing in the house with her and the girls and I am far from lonely with good good company.
A little history on how my sister landed in our house. She decided it was time to move out of the deep south and come back to be with family in Chi-town (hooray!). It had to be a quick move, so we offered our home to her and the next weekend Eric and my brother drove all night down South on Friday, picked her up Saturday morning, and drove all day and into the night to bring her home early early Sunday morning. That was last week. This weekend, Eric's brother and sister-in-law are here visiting and Brian is simultaneously working on turning our ancient filthy basement into a lovely studio garden apartment. Once it is finished, my sister will be able to have her own living space, while still being a part of the family as she starts a new life here in the city. We are thrilled to have her, are thoroughly enjoying the helpful hand and company, and are excited to see what life holds for her here.
But currently, as I type this, the boiler is turned off as they re-route pipes, and since our heat comes fully from our radiators, let's just say it's getting colder by the minute up here. Lyla is napping in her snowsuit and Lexi is sound asleep (despite the crazy racket of equipment - kid's sleeping abilities are unmatched) under a pile of blankets on her bed. We have to replace all the windows in the basement as well, so all the windows are pulled out (there are quite a few of them down there) which means that the basement is no warmer than the outside. And I'm pretty sure this weekend is the coldest it's been all winter. Go figure. This is why I am upstairs...
So we are thankful for warm blankets, warm mugs of hot liquid, family, and the roast cooking in the crock pot that promises a hearty dinner later on this evening. And of course, we are anticipating the sound of the boiler firing up within the hour (we hope) as the guys finish up the whole re-routing of pipes business.
Once the basement is nearing completion, I will start posting pictures of the construction process. In the meantime, let's just say that our house is every bit of 98 years old and it is starting to show (hello, old rusty pipes!). But, in spite of the age, it has good bones. And I am so thankful that God has given us this peaceful little space to welcome others into as our family and ministry grows.
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