Saturday, December 31, 2011
the difference a year makes
Posted by jess at Saturday, December 31, 2011 0 comments
Sunday, December 25, 2011
my christmas wish for you...
Posted by jess at Sunday, December 25, 2011 0 comments
Friday, December 23, 2011
this time last year
On this day last year we were driving to Chicago for Christmas
I was hugely pregnant
And we must've made at least four potty stops on that 6 hour drive to his parents' house
I remember walking around for hours downtown in the snow and freezing cold with my big black puffer jacket wide open because my belly was too big to zip it up
I kept thinking how weird it would be next Christmas to have an almost one year old to celebrate with
Last Christmas my mind couldn't even fathom exactly what was growing inside me, or how it would make its way out, much less able to imagine what would transpire throughout an entire year
Now we're here. On the other side of birth, already planning for a sibling and watching that little baby grow into such a little boy.
It's crazy how quickly a year can feel.
Gone in a blink but slow as seconds ticking too.
It's a year that I will hide in my heart, like Mary, for all of my life. It was a wonderfully fast, yet exhaustingly slow year...and it's not even over yet.
Posted by jess at Friday, December 23, 2011 1 comments
Thursday, December 8, 2011
adjectives & adverbs about my boy
Dust-finder
Wheel-lover
Head-shaker
Army-crawler
Stand-upper
Bath-lover
Breast-feeder
Food-monger
Wood-knawer
Photo-smiler
Sweater pill-picker
Kid-watcher
Book-eater
Toy-hoarder
Hot sauce-licker
Graham cracker-muncher
Hair-puller
Button-biter
Cereal-muncher
Expert-sleeper
Sippy cup-slurper
Wide eyed-watcher
Finger holding-walker
Posted by jess at Thursday, December 08, 2011 0 comments
Sunday, December 4, 2011
these are the days
Sometimes life's best when schedules fly out the window and you just roll with the day
Sans naps, a hood instead of a proper hat to shield the rain
With enough time to hold hands and push strollers on wet pavement
These are the days when car naps, reheated pizza for dinner and early bedtimes are savored like a decaf coffee in the late afternoon
These are the moments I'll miss oneday
Nursing in a baby gap nursing room filled with headless child-sized mannequins with one lone arm chair
Stopping at the bookstore for coffee and staying over an hour, holed up in the kids section playing with toy trains, him standing, fascinated by the table of wooden tracks,
For the little boy who said, "babies don't know how to play," and how he blushed with pride when I responded, "well, if you show him how, he can watch you and learn."
We set out to buy gifts but came home empty-handed but with bellies full of love for days like this
that end with a little boy in a pile of toys
and in bed, asleep, before the clock hit eight.
Posted by jess at Sunday, December 04, 2011 1 comments
Thursday, December 1, 2011
still thankful, even after thanksgiving...oh, the nerve
every year, i hate the way that christmas is pushed further and further up the calendar.
before thanksgiving
before even halloween in some places.
i hate that autumn is rushed for the long winter that comes after.
i was not feeling the christmas spirit last week.
the switch in my brain on thanksgiving night didn't switch and i wasn't ready
didn't want to decorate for christmas, get a tree, go on the hunt for presents.
i just felt blah about it all.
but we did it anyways.
last friday, before the thanksgiving leftovers were even eaten
we went with Curtis' family to the tree farm about an hour and a half south of here
we took a slay/hay ride (in 60 degree weather mind you), browsed their shop of holiday cheer,
had a nice lunch, and we even stopped at lowe's on the way home to pick out our tree
(we decided a few years ago that the hassle of tree cutting is overrated, and expensive),
we even decorated our little home that night, complete with christmas music, but it was just business for me - pull out the boxes, unwrap the ornaments, hang the kissing ball and practice with my boys.
let's get it done, i kept thinking, so when i do feel some holiday cheer kicking in, it will already be up and ready for my enjoyment.
but then Curtis grabbed Micah and held him up by the top of the tree - just like the photo i have of my dad and me on my first christmas, with my first christmas tree - and that did it.
just like that, i saw the holidays through the eyes of my son.
who last year was still kicking away in my belly
who can now crawl up to the tree if he wanted.
he may have no memories of his first christmas, but we'll have photos of him
hovering over his first tree, in footie pj's before the lights were strung and the tree skirt laid around the base of the stump.
and although i'm slowly letting the holiday spirit sink in with all of its gift giving and tree decorating,
i'm still trying hard to keep the little spaces of our home sacred.
and it's not easy.
so i guess i don't mind that i haven't fully gotten into the swing of holiday things quite yet. maybe i'd be wise to guard myself from some of the voices that tend to speak a little too loud into my ears this time of year anyways.
Posted by jess at Thursday, December 01, 2011 1 comments