JCG

What a wonderful weekend with family.  Tonight as we said our bedtime prayers we talked about all of the great moments and our many discoveries.  These were my words for Julia:

My little Julia Claire -

Sometimes I am pretty sure that the whole world could stop turning and I would be content to bask in this moment for the rest of my life.  I said that the moment you were born and I say it to myself on a daily basis when you wrap me up in that life-loving, whirlwind self of yours.  
Goodness, you make me thankful and humble and exuberant all at the same time.  

Thank you for a whole new perspective on life my sweet girl.
May you always be so carefree and filled with compassion.  May you always hold tightly to your faith.  May you always know how much joy you bring to this world.
And Julia's words for me?
Bless the squirrel with God and may all of the horses have carrots.  
Yes, Amen.

Welcome Henry!

Charlie has a new little friend who just made his grand arrival!

One of my bestest friends, Becca had her little girl Zoey 7 months after Julia's arrival and now Henry has arrived almost exactly 7 months after Charlie.  The two little boys will grow up with 2 strong big sisters and will likely need eachother to make it through childhood in one piece.  Welcome to the world baby Henry!  We can't wait to meet you later this week!

Here is Henry's little homecoming outfit that I made for him:

The work in progress - what better way to welcome the new guy with a little "hello"?

 How cute is he?

And his new onesie:  

You will be well dressed Henry (just like your big sister)!  But more importantly, well loved!

and we hit another milestone!

What a magical 7 months it has been!

 Each moment with you has redefined the joy experienced in raising a child.  Every milestone reignites such pride and excitement as if you were the first and only one to ever achieve it.  You make it easy to feel this way.  Your joy continues to spill over in every expression on your face.  Life just seems to amuse you.  I love this quality in you and constantly study you to figure out how to bottle this up.

This month has been a busy one for you.  We have said hello to your first tooth and in return, "Good-bye" to our restful nights.  You've sprouted from your belly to your hands and knees and are just about ready to move.  We will cherish these last few weeks of limited mobility.  Food has not been an easy transition, but your whole 15 pound self is slowly growing into the idea of gnawing on a few things.  I'd like to say that you like pears since that's the only thing you eat, but I am pretty sure that you're just bored with the limited selection and want to move on to the good stuff (the fun things that your sister is eating).  I have a good feeling this will happen sooner than we're ready.  You are so responsive and expressive now.  Julia continues to bring out the best belly laughs (even when you should probably be crying as a result of her actions).  You've started swim lessons and have a blast in the pool.  At first you weren't sure what to think of it, now, you practice your frog swim anytime you're on your belly.  And now your sitting up.  A few weeks ago you'd topple over quite easily, but now you're up and stable and planning out your new adventures once you start moving.

This month was a huge transition into the fun parts of babyhood.  It seems to just get better from here as you really start moving and communicating.  

Happy 7 months little guy.

Why?

True conversation in the car yesterday:

Julia: "Mommy, do you know about woodpeckers?"

Me - "No Julia, what can you tell me about them?"

J- "Well, they are kind of weird, they bang their head against the trees." 

Me- "Hmm, that is kind of weird.  Do you know why they do that?"

J -"Because Christmas is over."

This sentence has permeated every one of our conversations with Julia lately. The one and only time we have said, "because Christmas is over" to Julia was when we took our tree down.  She became very concerned with the rationale behind the removal of our tree, which had become somewhat of a houseguest according to Julia.  Each morning around Christmas Julia would wake up and greet the tree, she'd play hide-n-seek with it and run her toys into the trunk. It was very much a member of our house for that wonderful month.  She loved it more than we knew.  

 A girl and her tree.

 Now, "because Christmas is over" spans every conversation from "why did you take off your Pull-up and pee pee in the crib at daycare?" to "why don't you want to finish your breakfast?"  This is Julia's reasoning for everything she does.  We're not really sure if this is an act of defiance.  It is a common theme when she doesn't want to do something or has done something wrong and is sometimes blurted out with a dose of tears.  I have this image of her 20 years from now leading a protest against the extinction of our forests.  No, it really doesn't make sense to venture to a tree farm, pick out a beautiful, living, piney friend, bring it home, decorate it, sing songs about it, lovingly water it, open gifts under its lovely branches, only to take it down, and haul it to the end of the street for the garbage trucks to remove.  So, when Julia does something that doesn't make sense (which is quite often), why not use this phrase?  

Now we get it.  

So why do those silly woodpeckers bang their heads against trees?
Why do we cut down Christmas trees?

Who knows?  

Christmas is over.