Are you having a bad day? I just dare you to keep on being grumpy after seeing how Aveline feels about Mondays!
Tag: aveline alenka
Polka dotted sunshine.
Today, the morning sunshine is wearing a polka dotted shirt.
How can you hate mornings when they look like this? (And what a ham. She totally poses when she sees a camera.)
My baby is ready to run
It’s sweater weather, finally. The air conditioner is switched off, and in the evenings when the windows are open, the curtains float up off the ground.
Aveline is getting reacquainted with hats, long sleeves, socks and shoes.
She is a tropical baby. She barely knows what these things are.
For the longest time yesterday, she curiously pulled at her sleeves. She looks upward, tilting her head back as far as it will go, trying to understand what a hat is. This morning she kept turning the ties of my hoodie over and over in her little hands.
She laughs when we take her outside and the cooler air hits her face. She laughs, and wriggles and squirms and tries to get down out of our arms.
She can’t wait to walk. Even when she stands on her wobbly legs, she doesn’t stand still. She waves her hands wildly and bounces.
She took her first step the other day. I know she’ll take off soon.
I know she’ll start running and when she does, she is not going to stop.
All I can do is I tie the laces on her teeny-tiny Converse a bit tighter, and hold her hands a bit more loosely.
My baby is ready to run.
I love you, my little Aveline Alenka
Aveline is amazed by the simplest things. I love that. Yesterday she was amazed because I pulled open the blind and let her look out the window. She stood there for the longest time, just taking it all in, softly jabbering away in her tiny (okay, it’s not always tiny) baby voice.
I love her to pieces. I love to scoop her up and kiss her all over her cheeks and forehead until her eyes crinkle shut and she giggles. I love the way her head smells, and the little microscopic curl she gets at the back of her head when she’s sweaty. I love her sticky little hands and her clammy toes.
Yesterday, she stood up all by herself. Josiah and I looked over at her, and there she was, standing up on those fat little legs without holding on to anything. She wasn’t even wobbling, and acted like it was no big deal, like she didn’t even notice. Then she “jumped” up and down in that cute way babies jump — with her knees getting all bendy but her feet staying on the ground — she jumped three or four times before she plopped back down on her soft bum.
My wee girl, standing.
I don’t know where the time has gone.
I do know that her laughter makes the world go round. I know that when she falls asleep in my arms at three in the morning, and I hear her tiny breaths rise and fall in between Josiah’s sleeping breaths, I am so happy my heart could burst. I know that I prayed for her, and I know God answered with a miracle. I know that she is a gift, and I hold her with open hands.
Aveline Alenka, my little babushka baby, I love you more than I can ever tell you.
More Wordless Wednesday :: Morning Light
Wordless Wednesday
The day we opened the windows
It rained this weekend — all night Friday, all day Saturday, and right on into Sunday afternoon.
Rain. Lots of rain. Five whole inches of rain, to be exact.
Aveline’s favorite Johnny Cash song seemed appropriate.
How high’s the water, mama? How high’s the water, papa?
Hey, come look through the window pane,
The bus is comin’, gonna take us to the train
Looks like we’ll be blessed with a little more rain,
Four feet high and risin’…
But then, on Sunday afternoon, the clouds thinned. The sun shone down on the brand-new little sparkly rivers that had swollen up alongside all the streets … and the unprecedented happened.
There was a cool breeze.
The air conditioner didn’t turn on.
And we opened the windows.
For this first time in months, the air outside smelled fresh. Everything seemed different, like we’d suddenly traveled thousands of miles and were somehow suddenly home.
Fresh air changes everything.
People who wax poetic about the Sunshine State have never spent a whole summer here, because the endlessly soggy and static season which stretches from March to October is a lot less like summer and a lot more like being steamed alive. There is no crisp moment before the day starts. There is no pause of cool rest after sunset, no quietly sinking lower into a refreshing overnight calm.
But last night, in that pure grey moment after the light slipped behind the ridge across the road, October finally raised its voice and said, “I’m here. Let me wrap you in this cool breeze like a blanket. Let me welcome you to fall.”
And right then, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the open windows, the slate grey sky never seemed so beautiful.
Day at the Beach
We spent Saturday at the beach, and yes, I went a little picture crazy. But do you blame me? I mean, we’re talking about a day at the beach. Delicious picnic food, sunshine, Hannah — who is suspiciously absent from these photos, although she is the camera-girl behind the pictures of Josiah and I together — deliciously salty air, the water’s steady rhythm, and Aveline’s first time splashing in the waves.
Baby’s inaugural trip to the ocean was this spring, but as she wasn’t even three months old yet, she mostly slept. So, last Saturday was her first time really experiencing it. How great is it that Auntie Lauren was there this spring, and Auntie Hannah was here for this moment? Hannah even captured video of the moment Aveline walked into the water. I just wish you could have heard Aveline’s tiny giggles when the water touched her feet!
I was really surprised that she didn’t eat handfuls of sand. I mean, she’s the girl who puts everything in her mouth, so I just fully expected her to try to chow down on sand. (I’m so glad she didn’t.)
We walked alongside her, and let her crawl along in the wet sand next to the water’s edge. She was delighted, and kept making happy little sounds.
Our own little beach baby, our own darling girl. It’s such an unspeakable and overwhelming feeling to share these joyful moments with her. Thank you, Lord!
[Note: For those of you who’ve asked, Aveline is wearing a Raw Amber Teething Necklace c/o Hip Green Baby. It is designed especially for babies; the plastic clasp is designed to break, and there is a knot between each bead to keep them secured.]
P.S. Yes, yes, Josiah is getting a haircut this weekend. You can stop tsk tsk-ing now. ;-)
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