Love You Too, Toad!

We were talking about relatives and how people are related to each other while driving home from school today. Josh was full of questions for me. Like this one:

Joshua: "What is Auntie Raini for you?"

Me: "Auntie Raini is my Sister-In-Law."

Joshua: "Sister what?!"

Me: "My Sister-In-Law. That means that she is not my sister by birth, but she is my sister by law because I married her brother."

Joshua: "...Oh."

Me: "But I love her like she's my sister!"

Joshua: "And I love you like you're my momma!"

Well, okay, then!

While Waiting

While I was waiting that extra week for our little Evelyn to be born, I crocheted this cocoon thingy for a photo prop. Finally got around to putting her in it and snapping a few shots yesterday - good thing, too. She's just on the edge of too big to be sausaged into it!

She slept so well in it that after the photo shoot I laid her down still in it and she slept for 2 more hours!

In the Quiet

It is just before 6 am. In the silence of the predawn stillness the only sound I am aware of is her breathing.

Her cheek rests against my skin and her tiny fingers grasp a fistful of my shirt. her eyelids flutter open and closed, open and closed.

We sit together in the stillness and rock in our chair.

I could go back and crawl in under the covers and try to steal a few more minutes of sleep, but these moments with her will never be mine again, so I stay.

She breathes. I breathe. I close my eyes and feel the weight of the little bundle in my arms. She fits perfectly and it seems as though my arms have been designed by God just for this.

No, I don't want to sleep.

I want to make this memory stay. I want to shove every little detail into a little box and put it somewhere safe and never, ever lose it.

She sighs.

Something tightens in the base of my throat, and my heart begins to beat in a painful little way.

Thankful beyond words, I hope my Father above hears what I cannot say.

Birth Announcement

Evelyn Claire
born August 29, 2010 at 1:50 am.
7 lbs. 15 oz. ~ 20.5 inches long.

I thought I'd take a minute to add this to the blog. Someday I'll add a birth story, you know, someday when I have enough time to put two thoughts together in a row again! lol!

A Little Laney Bean Anecdote

Just wanted to share this cute little tidbit before it got lost in the shuffle:

Teaching a little girl how to properly put on her undies can be tricky sometimes. Three holes in the material and two legs to place correctly often turns up some.. interesting.. configurations. Usually I tell Laney to find the bow on the front and that helps her put them on the right way. But not all little girls' panties have bows on the front. So I'll say, look for the tag, the tag goes in the back. But, again, not all panties have tags in the back. Most notably, baby gap panties. Their tag, for whatever reason, is in the front. And off-center.

Totally confusing for my little girl.

The other day I caught her running around with her gap panties on backwards. It was ridiculously cute and funny, particularly if you get a kick out of wedgies.

I laughed a little as I said to her, "Elayna, come here, baby, I can see your butt crack! Let me help you fix it."

She whipped her head around and stared at me with utter dismay.

"OH NO!!!", she cried, "My butt is CRACKING!"

Oh my. Poor little thing. Took a while to convince her that her rear end, was, indeed, just fine and that there was definitely NOT a need for a great big band-aid.

Forty Weeks

Oh Look, according to my cute little ticker, it is "go time".

Someone should inform this little pumpkin here all cozy and comfy inside my belly. She has apparently missed the memo.

There is NOTHING going on here. Not a single contraction all day. And for someone who has had weeks of prodromal labor/Braxton Hicks/non-productive contractions - this almost seems a cruel joke.

No. No, I will choose instead to believe this is simply the calm before the storm. A reprieve to recharge the ole' batteries. A much needed rest.

Although, according to the multitudes of moms who have been there and done that (albeit many, many years ago) all I really need to do is push a car, shovel snow, or walk 20 miles and voila! labor will inevitably happen. I just have to stop being so dern lazy about it.

I still remember the utter exhaustion of the 30 hr. labor to get Joshua and well, I guess my philosophy is that I would much rather go into labor (which I WILL, when my body is ready to) well rested than right after wearing myself out. Call me crazy.

So...

What do you do when it's your due date and there's no sign of a baby and it's hot and humid outside?

GO SWIMMING!!! And no, I don't mean laps at the pool...

I'm talking floating on your back on a caribbean blue body of water while your whole body relaxes, listening to the water lapping around you and smelling the white pines on the shore.

See ya on the far side...