And it came to pass in the twenty and first year...

We baby-sat on saturday, well, Jonah had a playdate rather! Nicholas came over to play. Nicholas is such a good, easy going baby! He really is. The only time he fussed was when he woke up and wanted to play, way to go Nicko. Nicholas is only 3 weeks older than Jo, so it's cool to see how much they are alike and how drastcially they really do differ. First of all, if you take the bottle out of Nicholas' mouth while feeding him he doesn't scream bloody murder like Jonah. Nicholas is really content watching the world go on around him. Jonah is an attentionaholic, which of course isn't bad, it's just what he is. Nicholas likes to play with toys, Jonah likes you to play with toys with him, which makes it REALLY fun to try to eat meals when he wants to play. They are both about the same weight, but Jo is about 2 1/2 - 3 inches taller. That's really okay because David and I are both a bit taller than either of Nicholas' parents. They have such cute and wonderful boys! Of course, they are a handful, but it is obvious that they love them dearly, other wise they wouldn't have so many!!

Oh! When I came home from practice & class on Wednesday, David said, "We have a suprise for you!" As usual, my immediate thought when when my husband says suprise, 'Food? Dessert? What?!' No, Jonah has teeth!!! Can you believe it? He's getting his vampire teeth in. The one on his right is peaking through, and the left is not too far behind. No wonder he has been SO grumpy this past week, I thought. Mom came down for a visit on Tuesday and he hardly smiled for her. She had to work REALLY hard for a tiny little laugh, good effort though, Ma. We don't have picture becuase Jonah doesn't like being touched on the face unless it's a tickle. I am sure that digging around in his mouth surely doesn't feel like a tickle!

Mom bought me this great book right after I had Jo on one of her many walks due to boredom. It has made me laugh and cry with every page, and perhaps every phrase. It has also made me really reflect on how great a blessing being a mom truly is. I want to describe the book to you, but instead I will just share a few paragraphs in the beginning to just give you an idea. If you're not a mom, I don't think you'll understand...
"When I was pregnant, I never thought of his cry. I only prayed for a healthy baby. The ten-finger-and-toes prayer.
I never remember wishing that our baby would be the kind that slept ten hours straight. I never prayed for the proper latch-on or a good appetite or a baby who loved the stroller or traveled well. I read books about what to expect, how to acheive the optimal blanket swaddle... But the stuff you only know about a person when you know him--not his vital stats... but the particular way he likes to be held, his favorite perch, the spot where he burrows his face between your collar bone and shoulder tip, the way he likes to be rocked from side to side, not back and forth, the sound of his sighs in triplicate just before he goes limp for the night, the subtle gradations of mood shifting across his tiny face like a cloud across a late afternoon sky, his newborn eyes still puffy and crossed, his heart wrenching cry--these things I could never know before now...
In his newborn fear of falling, this child has asked me to stare long into a new life and trust. Myself, him, the process, God. Not an easy thing when you're used to relying on tangibles, feedback, and visual cues.
But as I lay crouched between the walls of my newborns helplessness, it dawns on me that whatever control I thought I had over my life prior to the birth of my son was nothing more than a sleight of hand I had learned to buoy me in an uncertain world...
I write to preserve myself, my mind, memories, untamed fantasies, dueling emotions, the ancient language of pantomime between baby and mother in the first stages of courtship...
I find... the territory is mine to chart. There is no external compass, only this baby with his sky blue eyes for arrows and his voice that sends me into the woods hunting for clues...
We are now two separated at birth...
Sometimes when he is sleeping on my chest listening to the rhythm of my beating heart, I wonder how on earth I am ever going to have the courage to let him go. That's when free-falling feels like an eternal passage. I look at my son in these first few weeks of our new life together and wonder if my feet will ever touch the ground again." Lu Hanessian, Let the Baby Drive, pp 8-10. And that's just the beginning. There are so much more heart warming and eye-watering moments through out every chapter and on ever page. It helps me remember that every baby is not easy, that this new life is supposed to be a journey, a journey on the scenic route. If anyone would like to borrow it, you sure can!
Well, it's late, but I just had to share. I have just finished the book, so now it's available for lending.