I hope you’re all enjoying the wonderful three-day weekend! (UK readers, do you get a Bank Holiday?) Here’s Aveline earlier today, during her first-ever outdoor picnic.
The weather turned out to be lovely, despite the intriguing forecast this morning.
And now, we’re all snuggled together on the couch for a little TV before bed.
Dear Aveline,
I love how happy you are. You bring me so much joy. You’ve recently added many new sounds to your vocabulary in the past couple weeks, and your babbling voice is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. You sound like you must have come straight from heaven. In a way, you did. You’re the answer to our prayers.
Yesterday, you discovered your feet. You spent an unbelievable amount of time bent over, intently grabbing at your feet. You grunted in the most hilarious way. And I am sorry, but I couldn’t help but laugh when you got squawking mad because you were unable to pull off your toes.
I love you, my little sweets.
Always and forever,
Your mama
the dishwasher surges and pauses, a mechanical ode to the ocean’s pulsing tide. my spoon scoops up the last bit of milk off the bottom of my cobalt cereal bowl. behind me, i hear josiah laugh and talk into the headset as the xbox goes beepbopboopbeep.
aveline is asleep. my eyes feel like sandpaper. her sleeping moments have been scarce, these last few days. i flip my just-washed hair back over my shoulder, and a few drops of water drip off onto the pink fabric of my pajama pants. i reach for my water glass and drink deeply. i sigh, satisfied.
my eyes can not stay open much longer. i hear the click of the tv behind my turning off, and hear josiah’s footsteps across the grey carpeted floor. i rub my eyes. sleep will come soon.
oh life, you are beautiful.
the windows are open this morning, and the a/c is switched off. there’s hardly ever a cool-down at night here, so the fact that it’s just after 10 am and still nice enough to enjoy open windows is really something. the hardest part of florida weather for me to get used to, besides the humidity, is the lack of a cooling overnight delta breeze! (you sacramento valley dwellers know what i’m talking about.)
aveline is freshly bathed, laying happily on her stomach playing with toys. and i..well, i just realized that i left my coffee in the french press.
off to rescue my coffee and thus the morning,
gina
it’s friday. i woke up to grumpy little noises, an impatient baby reminding me she hadn’t eaten in three whole hours. i picked her up and walked into the living room — right into coral-colored sunshine. the rays had painted a bright swath down the middle of our living room, and were dancing happily against the edges of the window. i smiled. it’s been a long time since i thought a morning was actually beautiful. mornings and i aren’t the best of friends, but lately, we’ve grown closer and closer. i’ve been seen all the shadows of the sundial over the past four months. sunsets, sunrises, and all the faces of the in-between moon.
it’s beautiful, this life. this wild, great, unpredictable life. and it’s so full of hope. this morning i read jeremiah 46:26: But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
there’s so much comfort in those words. i read them over again, as the coffee filled the air and aveline leaned her velvety cheek on my shoulder. fear not. be quiet and at ease. none shall make you afraid.
happy weekend, dear friends. be filled with hope today, and face–without fear–whatever the day brings you.
can you believe it? sixteen weeks already. i took the top photo this morning as she was lying on her quilt, looking at me with those huge eyes and impossibly squishable cheeks, melting my heart. she’s amazing. she babbles away non stop, and is becoming shockingly mobile (rolling and scooching and doing the worm).
she never stops moving. and she smiles dozens and dozens and dozens of times per day. she’s such a happy baby, and she’s growing up so fast. even looking at the other picture, it’s hard to believe she was ever just two days old. it seems like yesterday she was that tiny, but it also seems like a lifetime ago.
i can hardly remember what it was like before she was in our arms. i’m treasuring every single moment–even the sleepless ones.
…happy mother’s day! we took some photos this morning to email to her assorted grandmas and great grandmas.
is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby?
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