Laughter

One of the best sounds I've heard lately is Laurel's laughter. She just started laughing a few weeks ago, and no one can make her laugh like her dad. And when she laughs, we can't help but laugh, too! As I type this, she's just laughing away in the next room! Here's a short clip.

The Work of My Hands

Here are a few things I've done lately...now I just have to open the cards, write in them, and get them mailed!

And here is a toque that I finally finished last night...

Photo Shoot

It's Monday afternoon.  The laundry is well underway.  The dishwasher has been run.  The bed is made.  Laurel and I were wondering what we should do next.  And then we thought, "Let's do a photo shoot."  So, we did, complete with wardrobe changes.  Here are some pics from that little adventure.  Captions are below the pictures...

"This is our winter line.  Notice my hat matches my sweater."

"I've got lots to think about."

"Don't you have anything more challenging?  I'm kind of a modeling pro, you know."

"Okay, mom, this is a little much.  Can I lose the hat?"

"I'm pretty much the cutest."

"Are we done?"

Blitz Blog

Okay, so I know it's been forever since I've written.  And the five of you who sometimes read this blog have probably given up even checking it.  It's not that I haven't had anything to say--it's that I've had too much to say and haven't taken the time to sit down and say it.  So, here is a blitz of the last month....

1. We went to Chinook, Montana so that I could baptize little Ezra Arntzen.  It made me reflect on what the Parable of the Sower has in common with infant baptism--the grace that is lavished on us, though we have done nothing to deserve it, even before we are capable to respond to it.

2. Laurel went on her first plane ride all the way to Ohio.  She was a star traveller--she even slept during take off and landing.  

3. From Ohio, we travelled to Danville, Kentucky where I got to see four of my college friends.  There was all kinds of laughter as we remembered our Centre days.  Those were great days and great friends...even if we were dressed in hiking boots and flannel shirts.

4. My friend Annie Parsons drove from Nashville to Cincinnati to see us!  And I got to be one of the first to buy her new cd!  I highly recommend it.  And I recommend her blog.

5. Laurel experienced her first Halloween.  

6. We flew back to Edmonton.  And Laurel was great, yet again.

7. Since being back, I am trying to discern the line between cautious and paranoid when it comes to the whole H1N1 scene.  I am eligible to get vaccinated on Tuesday...so I just keep thinking I just have to make it to Tuesday (and then the two weeks it takes for the vaccine to kick in) and then we'll be good.  Laurel is too little for the vaccine, so I figure her best defense is for me to stay healthy.  But am I being paranoid or just cautious if I don't want to go out in public at all?

8. Laurel got her four month shots.  Yes, she's that old already.  These were harder than the two month shots because she was all smiles, thinking everything was okay, and then BAM she gets stuck with 3 needles...at two months she wasn't really smiling yet, so somehow I didn't feel like I was betraying her trust quite so much.

That's the blitz blog.  I will try to write more often and more reflectively in the near future!

Days and Weeks and Months

We have moved from counting time with Laurel in weeks to counting time in months.  She is already three months old.  I don't even know how many weeks she is any more.  Three months means that I have cleaned out the little onesies that no longer fit her from her drawers.  She is now fitting into things that once looked so big for her.  Three months also means that she is grabbing ahold of the toys that hang above her on her play mat.  She went from waving her arms and accidently bumping into the toys to intentionally grasping them.  And three months means lots of smiles.  I love it when she smiles--her whole face lights up.

I remember visits to a friend who was a mom of young kids when I would be home in Ohio.  I would tell her of all my recent adventures, but when I asked her what was new in her life, she never seemed to have much to share.  I feel like I am there, now.  My days are filled with meaning.  But it's not meaning that makes for great conversation (unless you are as obsessed with Laurel as I am).  My adventures have to do with moving from a diaper service to washing our own cloth diapers (today's that day) and trying to figure out how to keep her hands warm at night and making a slow simmering spaghetti sauce and being reminded that time sensitive things are harder with a baby (like yesterday when I was ready to knead our bread dough right when Laurel woke up and needed to be fed).  My adventures involve bussing to the grocery store and seeing how many groceries will fit in the little storage space under the stroller.  Or trying to get my cereal out of the cupboard without finding a dead mouse or setting off the mouse trap.  These are my days.  And I love them.  Even if they are melting too quickly into weeks, which are melting too quickly into months.

My friend Jen is measuring her baby boy's hours and hoping that they pile into days and weeks and months.  Henry was born just over a week ago and immediately faced all kinds of complications.  And so he is in the NICU.  Maybe because it was just three months ago that Laurel was born or maybe it's because it makes me recognize how vulnerable our children are at this age or maybe because I care about Jen and want good things for her and her family or maybe because of all of these things and more, I find them on my heart often throughout the day.  And, along with those who know and love Jen and Nate, I dare to pray big prayers.  Jen has asked that we not be afraid to pray for miracles.  Will you join me in praying for them?  Will you join me in asking God to lavish his grace on this family in such a way that they have heaps of days and weeks and months and years of time together?  Will you join me in asking God to bring little Henry through this without long term effects?  We have a big God who can do big things.

Putting on My Big Girl Pants

It's 1 a.m.  I am wide awake.  Why?  Because my car alarm just woke me up.  And when I went to shut it off, I noticed the passenger side door was open.  Did someone just honestly try to steal my car?  My 11 year old car?  Seriously?  The thought that runs through my head isn't about the potential of losing the car, but the potential of losing the stroller that's in the trunk.  And now I'm wondering if I left something valuable in the front seat...because if they were trying to steal the car, why would they open the passenger side door and not the driver's side door?  I am hoping that there was nothing there to steal.  But now I am freaked out...and therefore wide awake.

And.  Of course.  Jon is out of town.  Because why would something like this happen when he's here?  

That.   And I'm sick.  I mean, not full out can't move sick.  But not feeling well.  And, truth be told, when I don't feel well, I just want my mom.  33 years old and I still call my mom when I don't feel well.  Sigh.  

But now I'm a mom.  With a wee little one to care for, whether I feel okay or not.  I guess it's time to put on my big girl pants.

****

And now, at 9 a.m....I have found a dead mouse in the mouse trap by the cereal.  Seriously?  That mouse couldn't have been caught 48 hours ago when Jon was home to deal with it?  For Pete's Sake.

Circle

We journeyed to Banff last weekend and spent some time in the hot springs.  The last time I went to the Banff hot springs was almost 30 years ago.  I remember being there at the ripe age of 4...but, as with most things, the springs were much bigger back then.  

I spent a chunk of our visit in the locker room nursing Laurel.  As I sat feeding her, I watched an elderly lady make her way towards us.  She was hunched over and very unsteady on her feet.  I feared that she was going to fall, so I played out in my mind what I would do when it happened.  But she made it safely to our bench and sat down next to us after getting her things out of her locker.  As I continued to feed Laurel, she slowly and. perhaps, painfully, changed her clothes and we chatted here and there.    Looking down at this new baby girl who has so much ahead of her.  And then looking over at this old woman who has so much behind her.  I was struck by the circle of life, by the beauty of a new baby and the beauty of a woman who has lived and loved and learned and laughed.