Lately, Jonathan has been enjoying reading Mercer Mayer's The New Baby, and when we talk about the baby, he'll pat my midsection and give it a kiss. (Hopefully such loving gestures will continue after the baby arrives.) But, somewhat surprisingly, he hasn't mentioned anything about Garrett or "baby brother" when we talk about the baby. It'll be interesting to see how he processes everything as the due date approaches, and what he'll think of the baby coming home and staying home this time.
Since Jonathan and I both see Sharon Riester, and he was due for his two-year well-baby visit the same time I was due for my second prenatal appointment, we rolled our checkups into one. He had accompanied me for most of my prenatal appointments with Garrett, so it wasn't entirely new to him. And I told him before hand that Sharon would put a wand on my tummy to listen to the baby's heart beat. When Chris got home from work later that day, Jonathan told him that he got two stickers at the clinic, a tractor and Thomas the Tank Engine. And then he told Chris he got to "listen to my baby." I thought it was sweet that he'd refer to the baby as his baby.
While we were eating dinner the next night, I encouraged Jonathan to eat his pasta to fill up his tummy. He stretched back and lifted his shirt to pat his belly and said, "My baby in the tummy." I tried to explain that little boys don't have babies in their tummies. Only mommies have babies in their tummies. But he was adamant that he had a baby in his tummy, too. Then he took a spoonful of applesauce and tried to feed it to his bellybutton.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
May 22 - Big News
I've been thinking about a few lines from John Mayer's song "Wheel" lately:
And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again
With that, Chris and I are happy to share that we are expecting another addition to our family in late November or early December. The due date is Dec. 7, but since it'll be another planned C-section, this munchkin will most likely be born some time the week before that.
Having been thoroughly assured that Garrett's condition was a rare (approximately 1 in 3 million), unexplainable, but nonhereditary thing, we have no reason to think this little blessing will be anything other than perfectly healthy. Of course, another baby could never replace Garrett ... When he passed away, though, we not only had the grief of losing a child, but we also were sent reeling by how far our plans and dreams for a family had been knocked off course. As parents, I don't think we'll ever fully get over losing him, but it feels good to take a step toward getting our vision for a family back on track. And, honestly, I'm thankful that the timing of this little one's arrival will offset some of the rough memories of last Thanksgiving and Christmas.
So here's to a joyous holiday season, a house filled with baby sounds and burp cloths, early sibling affection and rivalry, and nights of sleep sacrificed for diaper changes and snuggles. This year, we'll actually get a Christmas tree and pull out all our decorations. And if we're really on top of things, maybe we'll even send out cards wishing everyone a happy New Year.
And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again
With that, Chris and I are happy to share that we are expecting another addition to our family in late November or early December. The due date is Dec. 7, but since it'll be another planned C-section, this munchkin will most likely be born some time the week before that.
Having been thoroughly assured that Garrett's condition was a rare (approximately 1 in 3 million), unexplainable, but nonhereditary thing, we have no reason to think this little blessing will be anything other than perfectly healthy. Of course, another baby could never replace Garrett ... When he passed away, though, we not only had the grief of losing a child, but we also were sent reeling by how far our plans and dreams for a family had been knocked off course. As parents, I don't think we'll ever fully get over losing him, but it feels good to take a step toward getting our vision for a family back on track. And, honestly, I'm thankful that the timing of this little one's arrival will offset some of the rough memories of last Thanksgiving and Christmas.
So here's to a joyous holiday season, a house filled with baby sounds and burp cloths, early sibling affection and rivalry, and nights of sleep sacrificed for diaper changes and snuggles. This year, we'll actually get a Christmas tree and pull out all our decorations. And if we're really on top of things, maybe we'll even send out cards wishing everyone a happy New Year.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
May 20 - Happy Birthday Jonathan!
Last Saturday, May 15, was Jonathan's second birthday. A couple weeks earlier, I told him that he had a birthday coming up and we'd have a party for him with cake and presents, but he was more interested in hearing who all would be at the party. I'd name all the family members I thought would likely make it, and his smile would grow bigger and bigger. Every day after that, he'd recite to us who all would be coming to his birthday party.
With thanks to my sister-in-law, Pam, for lending me her cake decorating set and letting me try out her great cake and frosting recipes, I made a fairly decent Blue's Clues birthday cake, if I do say so myself. And it survived untouched almost until we sang Happy Birthday. But, sure enough, our little guy got close enough to give it a little poke. (You'll notice the "a" in "Birthday" is a bit disfigured. That's rather minor, though.)
Jonathan was so interested in playing with all of his visitors, though, he didn't want to be interrupted to have cake and ice cream or open presents. I guess he has his priorities in order. Below you can see his somewhat listless expression of, "Ah, man, I'd rather be out running around ..." Thankfully, it was a beautiful day and he got to ride his trike and chase after his cousins to his heart's content after opening presents.
Happy birthday, Jonathan! We're so proud of the little man you're growing into. Soon enough, you'll be graduating and moving on to conquer the world, and we'll wonder what ever happened to the full-cheeked boy with darling dimples we used to rock to sleep. Until then, though, we'll cherish each day we get to give you great, big bear hugs and good-morning kisses, listen to you sing Miss Mary Mack and Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and play hide-and-seek with you in your ducky towel.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
May 8 - Mushroom Hunting
I'm a little late in posting this, but better late than never, I guess.
Last weekend, we went for a hike down in the valley with a few of Chris' brothers. The proclaimed reason was to search for morel mushrooms, but I was more interested in just walking around and seeing what was new. We go down every spring, and sometimes enough mushrooms are found to fill grocery bags, but I'm never the one to find them.
Personally, I'm more interested in seeing how the usually-dry creek bed has transformed with the season's snow melt, and looking for unusual rocks exposed there. Unfortunately, plenty of dirt has been washed into the creek bed over the past couple of years, so now the rocks are mostly buried and grown over with weeds.
For Jonathan's part, he was content picking flowers (er, "flowers" ... as they were mostly dandelions) and jumping off fallen trees.
Tom was the first to find some good-sized morels (below). Chris found some more later. We followed the dry creek bed almost to the property line and decided to head back -- although we'd lost track of Chris by that point. He had been encouraged by his initial find, and was on a mission to find more mushrooms.
Jerry had taken a different path on the way down, and found a calf that must have just been born that morning. Apparently, a cow will often hide her newborn in the bushes and take off for a bit. I'm sure the cow wouldn't be happy to see us around her calf when she returned, but she wasn't anywhere in sight, so we let Jonathan take a look. He said he wanted to give the baby cow a hug. I didn't let him get quite that affectionate, but the calf wasn't moving around much, so I let him pet it a little.
It's a long, steep walk back up the bluff side, but Jonathan was lucky enough to have three uncles to alternate between for rides on their shoulders. Chris showed up not long after we reached the top. We didn't hit the jackpot like we have in years past (not yet, anyway), but there was enough to sauté and enjoy with dinner.
Last weekend, we went for a hike down in the valley with a few of Chris' brothers. The proclaimed reason was to search for morel mushrooms, but I was more interested in just walking around and seeing what was new. We go down every spring, and sometimes enough mushrooms are found to fill grocery bags, but I'm never the one to find them.
Personally, I'm more interested in seeing how the usually-dry creek bed has transformed with the season's snow melt, and looking for unusual rocks exposed there. Unfortunately, plenty of dirt has been washed into the creek bed over the past couple of years, so now the rocks are mostly buried and grown over with weeds.
For Jonathan's part, he was content picking flowers (er, "flowers" ... as they were mostly dandelions) and jumping off fallen trees.
Tom was the first to find some good-sized morels (below). Chris found some more later. We followed the dry creek bed almost to the property line and decided to head back -- although we'd lost track of Chris by that point. He had been encouraged by his initial find, and was on a mission to find more mushrooms.
Jerry had taken a different path on the way down, and found a calf that must have just been born that morning. Apparently, a cow will often hide her newborn in the bushes and take off for a bit. I'm sure the cow wouldn't be happy to see us around her calf when she returned, but she wasn't anywhere in sight, so we let Jonathan take a look. He said he wanted to give the baby cow a hug. I didn't let him get quite that affectionate, but the calf wasn't moving around much, so I let him pet it a little.
It's a long, steep walk back up the bluff side, but Jonathan was lucky enough to have three uncles to alternate between for rides on their shoulders. Chris showed up not long after we reached the top. We didn't hit the jackpot like we have in years past (not yet, anyway), but there was enough to sauté and enjoy with dinner.
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