my little sweetums has not one, but two easter dresses for her first easter. spoiled much?! or just the perks of being the first and only grandchild on both sides of the family? in this picture, she’s wearing the rosette floral dress (complete with crinoline!) from the children’s place. isn’t it lovely? aveline says thank you, grandma susan and great grandma catron.
happy 19th birthday to my little brother, john! (well, he USED to be littler than me)
i love you john. and because i’m your big sister, i need to embarrass you a tad.
remember when you were still in a high chair and would stop eating dinner when someone mentioned the word cookies? we started calling them galletas, but you learned that in like three days.
remember how i would (rather wildly) bounce you on my knees when you were smallish? (papa had a horse, his name was jack, put ‘im in stable and he fell through the CRACK!)
remember jeremy the ant-sized boy? he and his adventures would only be told when we had to sleep on the pull-out couch in the basement because there was company in our rooms.
remember singing david cassidy’s i think i love you at the top of your lungs into a fake microphone? (i told you this was going to be embarrassing. but you were like 4, so it’s ok)
remember requesting a caterpillar birthday cake…for three years in a row?
remember when i curled all your hair and dad got mad? ha ha ha.
remember singing big bump the bubble tree riding around wisconsin in the back of the old van?
remember when you started skiing and people called you “the baby on skis”? (note to my blog readers: don’t miss john’s incredible you tube skiing channel!)
remember reading aloud ALL the street signs, bumper stickers, and billboards on the way back from chicago? you were driving everybody batty so i just joined in too.
remember when i snuck up behind you in the pool at our house in california and whispered helloooo, little boy? you nearly punched my lights out.
remember taking my camera and taking picture of your head, then quickly putting the camera back? (as if i wouldn’t find the pictures.)
remember memorizing verses together so we could do fun things off our summer list, like bike to the store and eat donuts?
remember when i told mom i wouldn’t take you for bike rides because you would just charge through intersections like a maniac? (blog readers: it paid off. he’s got crazy awesome bmx bike videos.
remember the last time i beat you arm wrestling and then i retired from the sibling arm wrestling competition so you would forever be stuck in third place? muah ha ha ha.
so, happy birthday, john. you’re an amazing, talented, artistic, wonderful brother and i’m superbly proud of you.
(ps. andy, don’t breathe a sigh of relief yet. you will get your turn…)
dear aveline,
we didn’t sleep so well last night, you and i. (and daddy makes three). you tossed and turned until midnight, and then finally fell asleep at 12:30. you were up again at 2 and didn’t fall asleep until 3. up again at 5. i was so tired i could hardly see straight, but somehow just your tiny little presence, restless in my arms, filled me with happy joy.
you wouldn’t go back to sleep, so around 6:30 i started singing softly to you, hush little baby, don’t say a word / mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird…
and you smiled at me. you looked up through your little tears and red-rimmed eyes and smiled at me. …and if that mockingbird don’t sing / mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring…
my heart melted, and just kept on melting …and if that diamond ring turns brass…
your eyes slowly fluttered closed, then opened again to look at me …mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass…
i heard soft clinking sounds coming from the kitchen, and smelled coffee in the air. …and if that looking glass gets broke…
you sighed, a deep, satisfied sigh, and drifted into a peaceful sleep as the first rays of dawn peeked through the windows and cast soft shadows over your sleeping body. i could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier. your daddy walked into the room, set a fresh cup of coffee down on the bedside table, kissed my forehead, and said, you can drink it later.
and then we slept, baby. you and i. after that restless night, we slept.
so hush little baby / don’t you cry / daddy loves you / and so do i
love, your mama
i’ve taken to drinking an iced coffee every afternoon. i’m relying on the placebo effect, since it’s all decaf these days. but caffeine or not, there is just something so satisfying about coffee.
last week was a bit on the rough side. the wee one suddenly decided she preferred the newborn schedule of waking up every three hours at night. she also decided there was no need to nap during the day. by the time the weekend rolled around, i was ready to flop myself down on the floor and sleep for days. and glory be, on sunday afternoon i actually fell asleep on the sunlit bed, with josiah next to me surfing the interwebs, and aveline snoozing peacefully in her crib. when i woke up two hours later, i was utterly confused at the foreign feeling of restfulness, but deliriously happy.
it’s amazing what a little sleep can do.
and now, it’s tuesday afternoon and she’s napping. napping, people!! (in this new world of parenthood, a baby napping is an epic joy — something to be celebrated. i’ve celebrated by showering and eating a proper lunch.)
and you know? this new life is beautiful. even the chaos is beautiful, because it’s not a chaos of strife or contention. no, it’s a beautiful chaos. like the lapping waves of the ocean, it’s constant motion; changing always yet the sound is a steady rhythm. the scattered blankets and washcloths and teething toys on the floor of the living room are like the stones and shells scattered across a sandy beach. there is no precision, but it’s all beauty. there is high tide and there is low tide, there is the scorching high noon sun and there is the charcoal darkness of the new moon. but it’s life, it’s all life, pulsating with love and punctuated laughter.
and we are sitting here, joy-filled, holding our precious baby and reveling in the spray of the ocean air. our hair is wild with the wind and the salt, our eyes looking onward, looking forward, our hearts firmly planted in joy and hope and peace.
where has the time gone?
i love this living room, from the IKEA family live spring 2011 magazine. like, really really love. that’s a whole lot of happy.
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