Time and Place Des Vosges

Harrison is a bucket of laughs. He's emotive, he's loud, and at least 30 times a day, we laugh and say how crazy he is. He is enormously chubby and, it is already obvious, that he is going to live life big.

Viola on the flip side is delicate and attentive. While she's slow to speak, her brain is constantly absorbing the world around her and taking in details that you would never expect a person of her tiny size to note. Her words are nearly songlike and she speaks so softly, I'm constantly leaning in and asking her to repeat herself to understand her.

To be completely honest: I've failed since having Harrison at being a good mom to both of my kids. I can be an awesome mom to one. Cooking with Viola, cuddling with Harrison, reading with Viola, singing with Harrison. It's all fun and games until the other enters the scene. Then it's mass chaos and no one seems to be happy. I've seen some really ugly versions of myself emerge as a mom- irritable, grouchy, short-tempered with self-interest emerging as an overarching theme. To put it mildly, it's been a humbling year for me.

I wish I could stop the gross admissions here and turn this blog post around with a great list on how to juggle multiple tiny kids. But I'm not there yet. Every day, I'm working on new ways to keep it all together and praying for patience and joy for the day ahead.

One thing that we are doing is trying to take Viola out with one of us when we are running simple errands. That way, she gets some undivided time with us at a few points each week. Maybe it's nothing monumental, but hopefully- they can add up.

Today, we decided to go to Place des Vosges after work. We used to take her to play there during our last spring here in 2014, so it seemed like a fun idea to return with just the three of us like back then. It ended up being such a nice time- just the three of us- on a little adventure again.

We played in the park, walked on the park benches and then headed to La Carette outside the gates.

At La Carette, we went all out: macarons covered in raspberries, a hot fudge sundae the size of a small house, chocolate cake, one hot chocolate and a giant pot of coffee.

The day was sweet and we all walked home holding hands, indulging her in the occasional swing up in the air. (An old favorite that is nearly impossible with a baby in the mix.) She pointed out the items in shops and we carried her when her legs got tired.

I wish every day could feel like such a parenting win. Oh well. I'll try to take enough photos when those golden moments do come around to someday fool my kids into thinking that we actually had it together. ;)