Post Category → Beatrice

eleven weeks

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Today, this newest miracle is 11 weeks old. To celebrate, she decided to become huge. Overnight. Jameson said today, “Look how big her hands are!!” So fast.

Also, to mark the end of 11 weeks successfully weathering Life On The Outside, she found her fist. I noticed her staring at it with bug-eyed excitement, waving it around and marveling. I’m not sure she’s figured out that it’s her fist, obeying impulses from her brain, but we’ll get there. (I’ve noticed that by the time any of my children have needed their fists in self-defense, they’ve figured out that hand-brain connection.)

She’s adored. Beatrice came up to us while I was cuddling Fiona yesterday, and said sweetly, “Mama, I love your Fiona Elspeth.”

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toddler toes and thanks

Beatrice is not supposed to touch my phone. But sometimes she does. And sometimes I find her photography, and it is ridiculously cute:

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Other cute things in my day have included a baby, drifting to sleep…

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…a toddler, beyond excited about watching Mother Goose…

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…an oldest son writing a worship song…

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…and a baby who burst into smiles the minute I glanced her way.

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And all that before noon! Not to mention the breath taking beauty of autumn’s brilliance-and-shadows interplay out my windows.

There’s nothing adorable about my laundry pile (which I just conquered! And it’s back again!), or the frustrating mole hills in our yard, or so many other things. There are children to train and my own attitude to rule, wars in the spirit to wage, and hardships to endure.

But there is a “Rejoice always” that I so long to learn. I want to leave the fragrance of joy and thanksgiving wherever I go.

And taking a minute to enjoy those little toddler feet? That certainly helps.

interruptions and rest.

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee
Ev’ry hour I need Thee…

So true. And some hours, the needing is extra-strong.

There have been a few of those the last few days. Thursday evening, as I was putting dinner on the table, I realized that a part of me was still just waiting to get the day started. I had been “catching up” on the stuff of life all day, just waiting to get things caught up enough to begin our day’s routine. And it never happened.

Huh.

Good thing we get to try again every 24 hours!

But the really, really good thing?

That those days that never get “started” because they’re so “interrupted” — those days can still count. Interruptions and unexpected happenings are only interrupting and unexpected to us. God knows our days. Our times are in His hands. And His beautiful, good, profound work in our hearts and in the lives we touch — that doesn’t get interrupted by any curve balls life throws our way.

And when our cranky response to those curve balls does threaten to stall His work? We don’t have to wait 24 hours to try again. Repentance, grace, and help are always right there. Wide open. Just waiting.

*****

Some goodness:


Stop. Are you kidding? Those perfect fingers, plump cheeks, sweet lips? Beautiful.


Jameson left our second freezer wide open, and I discovered it 24 hours later. Yup, that was my Thursday. London broil for dinner, chicken baked and stashed in the freezer for another day, roasted turkey and lamb for the work crew down the road at my Mom’s. And interruption that worked out to be a blessing.


Me, feeling badly about not getting the school books out while cleaning the mess of a thawing freezer and cooking meat like a madwoman — look over and realize Jameson has created a football field from paper, duplos, and Lego men, and he and William played all day. That was way more creative than any lesson plan I had.


Two handsome boys. Two. Ready for the first day of Friday School. So big.


And so cute.


Beautiful CSA bounty. It feels like the best gift, every single week.


Cooking. I like to be in my kitchen.


And this? No matter how busy the day, no matter how little I get to just sit with my baby, I know that this will eventually happen. I love my Fiona-girl.


Her aunties love her, too. Her sweet face popped up in my feed last night. I said to myself, Yes. Yes, she is beautiful.


This morning, she woke up and celebrated her 6th week with us. It’s raining and cold and very October-ish. So she wears the sweater knit just for Dunphey #4 by my friend, Carol. It’s just the thing for a sweet babe.


And while Daddy and Jameson showered and dressed and headed off to church, the rest of us got wool socks and sweatshirts to layer on our pj’s. Vitamin C, chicken broth, afghans, and rest.

Rest.

Even on the busy days. The interrupted days. The I-can’t-quite-catch-up-days. There is an invitation to just rest.

autumn in the adirondacks

I love Upstate New York. (And by Upstate, I mean upstate. Westchester County doesn’t count.) I love living in the wide space of the St. Lawrence valley, I love the rhythms of farm life all around me, I love the seasons and colors and variety of the year, and I love the blue haze of mountains in the distance.

This weekend, we got to celebrate autumn a bit.

First, apples. The first Cortland of the season, just picked that day, with locally made fresh cheese curd. Enjoyed at a picnic table with these favorites:

And apple cider donuts, still crispy from the hot oil bath from whence they came.

Second, mountains. Yesterday, we packed up our four kids, our friends packed up their four kids, and together, we shocked the world with our small-human population! With lunches packed, we journeyed a short distance into the Adirondacks and enjoyed trails just perfect for young explorers and strollers alike. We passed lean-tos and bridges that brought back fond memories from my childhood days, and watching my kids enjoy the world in the same way was just too fun. The sky was blue, the temps warm (thus the white undershirt gang!), and the trees at their peak of color. Three hours later, we parents were warm and tired — and the boys were ready for Round Two.

pause

I just go. Non stop.

So do you, I bet. You know. You fall into bed and wonder where the day went, remember how you meant to do this and that, and somehow you never even had half a chance to remember. Does it count as forgetting if you never had a fighting chance??

But some days, I get to pause. And sometimes, in highlights, it looks like beautiful sunrises during early walks, homeschool opportunities right out your own window, babies who love each other, simple lunch turned into a end-of-summer hurrah, a spontaneous trip to the playground with friends, and beautiful boys who play their hearts out and enjoy each day until they just can’t keep their eyes open another minute.