thank full

our “just add water” thanksgiving – 2010

table settings: lucas
put turkey in bag: andrey
stuffing: stove top
rolls: costco
pie crusts: pillsbury
baby milk: lindsay

supervisor: gavin – of course. 

baby mine

 charlie grey – month one
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this sweet boy is made of magic.
we’ve yet to really hear a cry from him.
he is peaceful and content.
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a champion nursling.
a growing wonder.
a deep thinker.
a bassinet sleeper.
a swing lover.
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a piece of baby cake.

right now:

dear passionista:
right now:

+ a blanket of calm happy is covering this little house. thanks to the fresh-still-falling snow.

+ i’ve got a belly full of peppermint hot cocoa. sipped from a red holiday starbucks cup. (the first real sign that winter is on it’s way.) a surprise treat from my true love.

+ my growing-too-fast charlie babe is snuggled up and swish-swooshing in his happy swing.

+ joe purdy pandora station humming through my cozy home.
heartbeats/jose gonzalez (dreamy)
and the happy thought of lucas declaring that we dance instead of walk today.

+ boys and their dear cousins pulling a bright orange sled in the backyard. i can hear them laughing. i can remember that happiness, too… a declared SNOW DAY!!! on cleveland street growing up.

+ still laughing at the thought of mini gavin in full snow-play garb for the first time. thinking i’ll call him randy for the rest of the afternoon.

+ thanksgiving feast on my mind. must buy a turkey! today! and make a few of these sweeties for my loves.

+ finally felt like making a holiday wishlist. must remember to tell andrey!

+ wishing you and a collected other few of my favorites would join me by the toasty fireplace. for music and giggles and fresh-baked-somethin’-good.

happy first snow, my friend. i know you love this. today i will love it for you, too.

but just for today.
love, lin

imagined: gratitude

through the speakers this very moment:
beautiful boy – ben harper

…she had her own little corner of the world.
it was bright with the colors of a string of peaceful prayer flags.
it was perfumed with handmade bars of patchouli soap. (heavy on the patchouli)
it echoed with her laughter like the happiest of franti songs…

while i was pregnant with boy three – i would often find myself counting the months ahead and wondering what belly and life would look like - come september. i wouldn’t be super huge yet. lucas would start preschool and i’d be able to load gavi up in the stroller and waddle ourselves over to pick him up.
september came and went and we strolled that belly just like i’d imagined.

come october i imagined - the baby nest would be ready. cath and her lil’ red mini would pull into the driveway and we’d settle in to welcome boy. i imagined she’d make herself a little space in the guestroom of her own. i imagined my labor would come. imagined the birth the best i could. knew the day would come that we’d know his name. that we’d ink his foot prints and introduce brothers. i imagined oatmeal for breakfast and her spaghetti. i imagined she’d paint with gavin and win his heart. that she’d sing franti and dance with my lukey. that she’d mother my husband with beef stew and spoil me with late afternoon naps. i imagined we’d stay up late and wish for my sisters to join us. i imagined my dad would visit and they’d whisper and snuggle like young loves. i imagined she’d visit old friends and even make new ones. that she’d midwife a few of my own.
 
i imagined that come november she’d pack up her things. bags a little fuller than when she’d come. that i’d bury my head in her shirt and cry my eyes out. that she’d kiss the top of my head and tell me she’d see me soon. that i’d send her off and we’d both be a little(big) bit different than when she’d come.

she left her corduroy coat on the back of her desk chair. and a few other things here and there. she left me with charlie grey. brother three. grandchild ten. born on a early sunday morning during a gentle rain. caught in her hands. my mama’s hands. just like i’d imagined…

kindred spirit

the house was peaceful for a minute this afternoon.
peaceful minutes are hard to come by in these new days as a mother of three littles.

during my minute:
gavin was deep nap sleeping
pandora was singing straight to my heart
-belated promise ring (iron + wine)
-and then you (greg laswell)
-nobody knows me at all (the weepies)
-all the way (glen hansard)
a dear friend was baby laboring at home just down the street
the perfect little ray of sunshine was peeking through our skylight
the mailman dropped a big box from canada on my doorstep
  
i snapped a picture of “wild charlie” lying in the sliver of sunlight.
turned up the pretty tunes and carefully opened my happy mail.

i can easily count on one hand a small handful of people that i have met and instantly felt a tug at my heart strings.

joanna is one of them.

bliss

    

this boy is a dream.
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i am in such a happy state of postpartum mommy bliss, right now.
just took in a big deep breath of my delicious newborn.
then wrapped him up tight and snuggled him into his bassinet,
so that i could sit back & study his baby perfection.
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he is calm.
peaceful.
the sweetest.
just like i knew he would be.