MollyMadonna.com

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splish, splash!

Bath time has become a favorite in our house. Henry has always loved the water, but now he is thoroughly enjoying all of the splashing, “swimming” and laughing that getting clean can offer. I can’t resist his happy little face in the process–he is just SO content in the tub. I see some challenging, “No, Henry, it’s time for bed now…only two more minutes in the bath,” kind of conversations in our future. The good news: for as long as we love bath time so much, we’ll often go to bed clean and shiny! 🙂

such a joy!

lovin’ my water baby,

mm

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one more for the road.

Dear Henry,

Tonight is the last night of 2011, and you are finally asleep. I understand why you didn’t want to let it go–staying up nearly three hours past your bedtime and fighting with all your might to stay awake. It’s been a very big year, hasn’t it bug? This time last year, your dad and I celebrated in grand fashion, anticipating you and all of the change we thought you might bring. In some ways, we were right about 2011–about you and how you’d teach us things like patience and selflessness and priorities and love (and you’ve done an admirable job). And we were right about how we knew you’d capture our hearts and enhance our family and fill up our days, but there was so much we didn’t know. We pulled into 2011 preoccupied with getting ready for your arrival, and the winter flew by. Before we knew it, the time had come to welcome you, our perfect bundle, into the world.

Somehow, eight months have gone by since then. Eight months. Your birthday is still so clear and poignant to me that I hardly believe it sometimes. Time is flying by so quickly, I’m a little nervous to blink. Each time I turn around you are mastering something new: clapping, high-fiving, waving, giving kisses, drinking from a cup. You army crawl wherever you want to go, pull yourself from sitting to standing, take steps with help and kick a ball when encouraged. You laugh when I make crazy noises and tickle your toes, and you wake up smiling almost every single morning. I look at you a million times a day and wonder, “How did we ever get so lucky, to be entrusted with you?”

As of late, your new faces and antics have those of us around you in stitches. You blow raspberries when you’re frustrated, furrow your brow when you’re focused and clasp your hands together in excitement when anything delights you. Drumming has become a favorite activity, while race cars and trains captivate you wherever we go. Story time is still one of the best times of the day.

Your first Christmas has been epic to say the least–six Christmases in six days, with travel and family dynamics in between. There’s no doubt you understand tissue paper and wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and bags at this stage of the game. You’ve uncovered gift upon generous gift, eyes wide at every turn, taking it all in. As your mama, I could have skipped the presents altogether–the simple joy of watching you in action as you learn and discover has been the highlight of this whirlwind week. Every night as we fall into bed, I thank God for the gift you have been to this family, bringing beauty and life everywhere you land. We couldn’t ask for more…

 On New Year’s Day last year, I was unwrapping gifts at your baby shower right next to Aunt Bridget, who was opening wedding shower presents of her own. This year, we’ve just said goodbye to Aunt B and Uncle Teddy after celebrating their first Christmas married and your first Christmas EVER, all together in the little blue house. It was a sweet time for your mama, soaking up every minute of the chance to do life under one roof with the people I love the most. You were irresistible in red and white striped Christmas pj’s, your first Christmas brimming with so many good things…
The clock has struck midnight now, the New Year in full swing down the street, around the corner, elsewhere in the world. As for me, I’ve just ended the year the way I began it–thinking of you and loving you and wondering what the next calendar year will bring with you in our world to fill it up. If 2011 is any indication, I have no doubt you’ll make your mark on 2012 in the best of ways.
Happy New Year, Henry David. You were the perfect reason to ring things in quietly tonight. Thank you for making 2011 beyond noteworthy, sweet boy.
love you, hank.
mommy

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“don’t blink,” everyone always says.

Ok, it’s happening. And it’s weird, and I don’t know if I like it or what exactly to think about it, but…all of the tiny babes who were born this Spring alongside Henry are growing up! As if completely out of nowhere, they’re suddenly these little people who move and make amazing sounds and display remarkable levels of cognition, and WOW. I just suddenly feel like time sped up in one short moment.

Because I’m fairly certain that I was just meeting them all for the first time, and they were scrunchy and seemingly helpless and ohsoincredibly fresh from God in those early days. Now, while no longer scrunchy and murmur-y and such, they’re reminding us of how perfectly creative a God we serve in entirely new and refreshing ways. And I have loved both seasons.

Still, I’m completely in awe of the change.

I held a friend’s beautiful, perfect, tiny little three week old this morning and my heart skipped a few beats. He is just the cuddliest, coziest, warmest, sleepiest little being at the moment, and a few minutes with him on my shoulder was pure Heaven. How much must God delight in the newness and sweet vulnerability of a tiny babe? Already, Henry is in a completely new and dynamic stage of life, and I’m beginning to wonder how long I’ll have to wait before we step into that sleepless and marvelous space again with a someday brother or sister.

Time. There is plenty of time. But in the midst of watching newborns turn rapidly into five and six month olds, and as we celebrate the incredible new lives entering the world all around us (seemingly all at once:), it’s hard not to anticipate the process again. It was, after all, the most wonderful thing we’ve ever put our lives into. And he still, most certainly, is.

amazed,

mm

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a little bit sassy, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.

Our little man is always up for an adventure, and his mama is, too–so a few weeks back we grabbed our packs and headed out for a day of travel, hard work and exploration into unknown territory. In other words…

A friend mentioned an open casting call for baby models in Grand Rapids and sent me the link, which was all I needed to entertain the possibility of taking Henry and seeing where the wind would blow us. Jason and I talked it over (this wasn’t exactly something we’d planned to do with our kids, let alone our three month old), and at the end of the day we decided that Henry and I could go. We also agreed that if anything about the experience felt strange, I’d turn the car right around and head back home sans modeling career for the little dude. Of course, a casting call is just a shot at a once-off job in most cases, and this was no different. Still, we joked about Henry’s future as a well-photographed babe, and figured that because he’s been in front of a camera since the second he was born (and really, before then), he’d be none too worse for the wear. Then off we went!

The Sassy Baby call was fun and lighthearted–just a bunch of young moms like yours truly and their cute kiddos, waiting semi-patiently for their turn to play with a few toys in front of the lens. Henry was 24th on the list, and after a good nap in the car, he was perfectly happy to stare at the photographer for a few short minutes, to collect his free toy, and to be bundled right back up again for the car ride home. We had a scintillating conversation on the way back (read: Henry made a noise, I mimicked it, and then we repeated that pattern for the next 40 minutes), and we both agreed that Mommy/Henry dates to Grand Rapids are quite a lot of fun. The weekend came and went, and on Monday, the phone rang…would Henry be available for a photo shoot on Wednesday in GR? Um, yes.

So Wednesday we were off to GR again, mommy and her little bug, just slightly nervous about feeding times and napping times and a smiley three month old and such. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud of the little rockstar. Thing is, he napped all the way there and woke up, bright-eyed, as soon as we arrived. And darn if he wasn’t the happiest, smiliest, easiest little baby the whole time as I signed waivers and changed him into his onesie “wardrobe.” When it was time for Henry to get in front of the camera, he was an absolute hoot to watch–smiling widely and hamming it up as if he knew what was going on all along. Surely, everyone working the shoot helped to eek every possible glint and giggle out of the babe for an hour. The end result? Hundreds of wonderfully bright and happy photos of my favorite bug and plenty of viable shots to use. Oh, and Henry’s chance to check “be photographed by Mitch Ranger by age one” off his bucket list. Why not? 😉

I couldn’t help but delight in H’s kissable face on screen as we went, and all in all, the experience was 100% enjoyable for both of us (as far as I can tell). To round out the afternoon, Henry went home with a few fun toys, new onesies and a hard hour’s work on the clock. Kudos to our little saver for contributing to his own college fund before even knowing what that means.

The day was truly one of my favorites with Henry to date. The chance to watch him interact with others, to see him light up over and over again at every new toy and face, and most especially, to be out with my boy doing something a little off the beaten path, crafted a handful of memories I won’t soon forget. I asked the Sassy Baby team if we might be able to snag a few of the pics, and they were kind enough to send some through the other day. There were so many more that I absolutely loved, but it’s reasonable to expect that I can’t just have them all at my fingertips. Hopefully, we’ll see a few crop up on the website or in other places in the days ahead (wouldn’t that be fun?)! In the meantime, here’s a smattering of happy moments from our Sassy afternoon together. Loved the day. Love the photos. Love my bug.

we're here!

the sassy baby photo shoot.

ok, mom. i'm ready!

when do we start?

such a grin!*

happy boy!*

look, mom! a mirror! with a baby in it!*

we could do this all day! in fact, we pretty much do :)*

whew, that was a hard day's work!

so...how do you think it went?

i’d hire you any day, my darlin’. it’s such a joy to be your mommy!

mm

*photo credit: mitch ranger

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for this reason.

Every night I want so badly to arrive in this space and share about the day…my thoughts, my misgivings, sweet moments, memories I’d prefer not to forget–all of the fare you’d expect from a new mommy. But here’s the thing…

Lately, I’ve been tied up with this:

and some of this:

and a whole lot of this:

And then at night when I once used to be busy blogging, Henry is busy doing this:

Truly, I wouldn’t change it for the world. But my sleep tank is slowly draining down to very, very little, and these past few nights have been especially trying for this still-adjusting, still-new momma. So lately I’ve been planning on things like blogging and sleep but holding an unhappy babe instead. New mommies do a lot of planning and a lot less executing of said plans, I think.

Tonight, Henry is down for the count and I will be quick to follow. Three hours a night just isn’t enough for Henry’s mom. Nope. But I couldn’t resist at least a little post 😉

and now (fingers crossed), to bed for a few (?) hours,

mm