just photos

Eliza Jane is smiling

Benjamin had a delightful time with his Aunt Amy.  They went to the zoo...

read lots of books ... 

went to the museum... (well, that's me, not Amy)

and cooked and baked enough to fill our freezer.  

Little E Jane grew out of this onesie a lot faster than Benjamin did when he was  a baby.  Out of her newborn clothes in about three weeks.  

Isn't this just sweet?  

And Lizzy lou with her uncle jeff the wandering minstrel.   We've had good visitors.  

Eliza Jane

Aunt Mary came by this week to meet Eliza Jane and she asked, incredulously, "Did you hear about the woman in Florida who gave birth in the hospital parking lot?!  The security cameras caught it on video!"

No, I hadn't heard about that woman, but if we had waited 10 more minutes I would have BEEN that woman.

The clock struck midnight on her due date, May 23, and Eliza Jane started her descent into the world.  I had contractions all night and managed to keep it to myself until about 6am.  I informed JB she would be arriving that day, we took a minute to acknowledge the significance of this, went through a list of things we needed to do to get ready, and the adrenaline (for him) and oxytocin (for me) started pumping.  

Probably the best decision I made about this birth was to invite my friend Shannon, who is trained as a doula, to help me with labor.  She was awesome.  When Benjamin was born, JB was able to focus all of his attention on helping me, but this time, with B around, we needed someone to play with him the whole day too.  JB's parents arrived to help mid-way through the day and by then I was thankful to have both JB and Shannon for support as I labored.  The contractions were coming at a steady 8-10 minutes apart until about 3pm.  They were bearable enough that I felt, quite frankly, bored.

At around 4 the contractions were steadier, longer, and harder, and we called Christy. She said she'd come over to check me before we went to the hospital.   After one more contraction, I told JB to call her back and tell her we were going right to the hospital.  What if I had not acted on this intuition?

By the time we pulled up to the entrance of the hospital the contractions were so close I could barely make it to labor and delivery.  As a nurse described it later, JB and I "waltzed" in the doors to labor and delivery, with my arms around his neck.  My water broke right there at the door, he wheeled me into the delivery room, and I made it as far as the bathroom when I started feeling the baby coming down the birth canal.

JB remembers having two thoughts almost simultaneously:  "Oh my God, she's ready to deliver the baby" and "Oh my God, there's our baby!"  Fifteen minutes after getting to the hospital, Eliza Jane was born in one push as I stood up in the bathroom of the delivery room.  Christy arrived just in time to catch her (literally) as Eliza sped out of the womb.  Christy didn't even have time to get her gloves on.

It all happened so fast I didn't have time to process what was going on as it happened, so the memory is a blur.  Much more so than Benjamin's birth, which took long enough that I have clear pictures in my mind of each stage.

Eliza Jane is a healthy 8 pounder and despite being a biting barracuda, has managed to get plenty of milk and didn't even lose weight in the first few days of life.  Tomorrow she will be three weeks old.  We've been blessed with visitors for much of that time.  What a help they have been as we've adjusted to having a newborn.   JB and I can't really remember Benjamin's first two weeks of life at all, and I kind of hope that we forget many parts of these first two weeks of Eliza's life too : )  I'll leave reflection on these last few weeks until I've had a little more distance from it.

Mother's Day Outing

For me, a perfect mother's day includes spending time outside with my family.  This year we went to the Lake Waco Wetlands, one of Waco's hidden treasures.  I think JB and I went there just a week or so before Benjamin was born and here we are again a week or so (we hope!) away from our baby girl's birth.  Last time we were there though, B was younger and it was all we could do to keep him from throwing himself into the water.  This time e played in the water without trying to get in and was interested in all of the wildflowers and little critters we saw as we hiked.  He even hiked! And picked blackberries!  I love that Mother's Day is during blackberry season--we'll have to take more advantage of that in the future.  

We stopped at the hospital on our way out to the wetlands to get our bearings again--which entrance to go in, where to park, etc.  The whole Women and Newborns floor is completely renovated since the B was born.  Nice to have a swanky setting for your pain and suffering...I mean, beautiful birth experience.  

And here are my Mother's Day helpers busy with the dishes.  Not that they don't do the dishes at other times : )

Any time now...

All Benjamin's idea.  He's moving all around and saying "the baby's kicking!"  

At 37 weeks, our daughter is full term and I've hit the point in my pregnancy at which Benjamin was born 2.5 years ago.  A couple of nights ago I dreamt that I was in the early stages of labor and as I lay there half-awake a few times I was convinced I was going to have the baby.  I was going through in my mind all of the things I would have to re-schedule and stressing about how I would get my grading done.  When I finally woke up fully in the morning it took me a few minutes to establish that no, I was not in labor at all.  She's still happily shifting around in her warm little sac.  

"Ta-da!" says Benjamin. "It's just a bathroom towel!"

It's still so much fun to see Benjamin's growing understanding of the new baby.  We were in the grocery store yesterday and from his perch in the grocery cart, he reached out, grabbed my shirt and said, "The baby's going to drink milk from those." Yes, indeed, little Ben.  I think I only explained this to him once, but it obviously made an impression : )  

Not too much else right now.  JB has finished a few projects around for the baby like painting the dresser we got for Benjamin from Midge.  And the yard is looking pretty spiffy, I have to say.  This rose bush below finally bloomed in all it's glory this year after some rather sparse years.  We were still harvesting snow peas until a few days ago, and the tomato plants are looking full and green.  Benjamin knows that when they reach the top of the trellis, Aunt Amy is going to come visit, so he likes checking their progress.  First Grammy and Grandpa from NY, then Aunt Amy.  What a month June will be!

Dandelions and other scary things

 Here are a few pics of B at our church's annual Easter retreat, which was some weeks ago now.  The first scary thing of Easter weekend:  the smile on Benjamin's face in the picture above turned into a look of grave concern when he realized that the wagon he was climbing on was going to MOVE.  Was he really afraid of a hay ride?  JB was with him, and it sounds like he got over it and made it through the ride, but two year-old fears are sometimes inexplicable.  

Another case in point:  B put his food down on a patch of dandelions and started screaming and jumping around as though fire ants were biting his feet.  We took off his shoes and socks, but no ants anywhere to be seen.  Then we tried to put him back down on the ground and he would not let us put him anywhere near where he had stepped before, but the only things there were . . . dandelions.  

It slowly dawned on us that he was afraid of the dandelions, and the fear stuck with him for some weeks. I put him down in a patch of grass scattered with dandelions a week later and he would not move from the spot until we carried him through the dandelions.  I know it's difficult to imagine a two-year-old STANDING STILL for any length of time, but that's what a fear of dandelions will do.  He could not explain WHY he was afraid--maybe he thought they were thorny like cactus--but we've worked on it over the last few weeks and just this evening I saw him go over to a dandelion, pause for a couple of seconds, bend down, pick it, and blow the seeds away.  Phew.  

A tragic accident like the one in West, Texas (just 12 miles down the road) this week has a way of putting our lives into perspective, but I think I can still say that this has been a hard week.  I've felt proud of JB for working so hard to do the best coverage possible of the explosion and aftermath in West, but he worked a few 15 hour days dealing with some hard things like talking to families of first-responders who died in the explosion.

During those same days I picked up a stomach virus which had me quite sick and then Benjamin got it from me.  I know what we went through was nothing compared to the losses that many were experiencing right down the road, but I think being at home alone all day sick and with a sick child has a way of isolating you from a larger perspective on the world while you are in the middle of it. It wasn't that I thought JB should be home with us--not a all--I deeply respect his commitment to reporting on such important events.  I'm just saying it still felt hard.

We've all been better today and JB had the whole day off, so after church, naps, and some desperately needed cleaning and mowing, we went out to the lake for a friend's birthday party.  We're all thankful to be resting and playing together after a long week but still sobered by the losses from which many will not get a break this week or any time in the near future.

day trip to Dallas

I don't think I've included a picture of our second child on this blog yet, so here it is.  She's more active than I remember Benjamin being in the womb.  I may need that in writing to prove something when she's older.  

We took another of JB's days off to meet his family in Dallas to break injera bread together at a great Ethiopian restaurant and do a little shopping.  We also discovered a delightful stretch of Lee Park with a series of quaint bridges, lots of blooming red bud trees, and--to Benjamin's great joy--a playground.  

I wonder how we will think differently about taking a day trip to Dallas when we have two children.  I often feel like I'll just be holding my breath until baby girl turns two.  A few times I've been able to imagine the moments of joy in having two small ones, but mostly I think of it being hard. May the joy take me by surprise.  

And here are a few lovely things we did to celebrate my birthday last week.  B and I had a fun day together without any chores or errands.  The highlight was an afternoon at the park with a picnic snack (cupcakes!).  Later in the week we had some friends over for dinner--JB made a wonderful Moroccan-ish meal and we enjoyed drinks of various sorts in the goblets from Midge.  They won't be kept behind glass in our house!  I also made a strawberry cake, which I've been dying to make ever since I saw one at our new local bakery, Lula Jane's.  

A day on the farm

JB was able to take a few days off for Spring Break this week, so we took some time to do some really springy things like visiting the spring chickens and baby goats at the World Hunger Relief Farm.  In the above picture, I think you can see the delight on B's face at being on the farm.  

I think the picture also shows well that B is still a lot more enamored with the people he meets than the furry little creatures we expect him to like.  Holding the chicken was fine, he showed almost no interest in holding the bunny, but what he talks about after a visit like this are the people that he met.  The girl in the 2nd picture down accompanied us on our tour of the farm, showing B the goats and playing with him on the hay bales.  He wouldn't hold any hand but hers and talked about her all day long.