Jodilightful!

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, January 23rd, a new little girl entered the world and entered our life.  No, I didn’t have another baby (in fact, Juniper now holds the new record for Oldest Youngest Young, since she is 11 months old and has no little sibling on the way).  My cousin and his wife, who live right around the corner from us, but whom we don’t see nearly often enough, have just welcomed their first daughter, Ellie Elyse.

Ordinarily, the birth of a new first cousin once removed*  is not blogworthy.  I confess I’ve welcomed at least four others in the past two years and not mentioned a word about it!  But Ellie gets a special welcome, because she is going to be a pretty major part of our lives beginning after Easter.

After much thought, discussion, and prayer, Trevor and I decided a couple months ago that it would be wonderful to look after Ellie during the day when her mom goes back to work as a kindergarten teacher in the Spring.  Thankfully, her parents have deemed us up to the task and are willing to share her with us.

Since making that decision I have looked forward to this little one’s arrival almost as if it were one of my own.  We didn’t know her gender (quite right, too!), and   wondered if this might finally bring a bit of blue into our otherwise very pink household.  Isn’t God good for knowing better?  Can you imagine what my girls would have done to a little boy with so many princess dresses and tutus hanging around this house?  It just doesn’t bear thinking about.

I had also wondered, back in the dark corners of my mind, if it would be hard to care for someone else’s baby.  I know my way around a baby, and I knew I’d be okay with the logistical aspects of looking after her, but what if I couldn’t bond with her?  What if she seemed foreign to me, and I didn’t feel the same natural affection I have for my own kids?

Well, last night, I met her, and I held her, and every worry I had was banished from my mind.  Though she couldn’t possibly look less like one of my own children (a newborn with tons of dark hair, can you imagine?!), I am completely smitten, and am so looking forward to getting to know her and have her in all of  our lives.

Welcome to the world, sweet Ellie!

*If you’re not sure how the whole first-second-cousin-once-twice-removed thing works, you’re in good company: I wasn’t either.  I sorted myself out here.  Go ahead, learn something new today!

January 23rd 2006 - 5 days till due date and still smiling! (Do you love these PJ's my aunt sent me? Because every pregnant woman needs one-piece pajamas with matching slippers!)

January 28th is a date that will be forever etched in my memory.  Four years ago today (you know, at least roughly) I was supposed to have a baby.  It was Romilly’s due date.  And each year I marvel at what a long time it is from this date until the actual date of her arrival.

Due date.  What a funny old term.  It had worked out okay with Pippa.  They told me she’d come on September the 5th (or so) and lo and behold, on September 5th I was in labor, though she wasn’t born until the next day.  There wasn’t time for me to get philosophical about the whole thing.

On January 28th, 2006, I went into due date mode.  I had nothing planned but to sit at home and will contractions to begin.  Little did I know I would still go to church two more times *without* a new baby, and field days and days of  ”Are you in labor yet?” type phone calls.  Little did I know the visit from my in-laws to meet our two-week-old baby would actually commence two days after she was born.  No, I was going to go into labor any second.  Any… second…

I want you all to pay attention to this moment in time.  Take note of what you are doing right now.  Of the circumstances of your life.  I want you all to remember this post and this day in your life when I come back in a while and tell you that it is, in fact, Romilly’s birthday, a long, long time from right now.  I will tell you this, I haven’t even decided what day we’re having her party yet.  It’s not even on my imminent to-do list.

Juniper Lucy, aged 11 months, is now caterpillaring (runs in the family) all over the place and pulling up on everything she can reach.  She says ma (for more, not for me), da-da, hi/hiya and uh-oh.  She has seven teeth, and she waves and claps.  When did all this happen?  (I know, totally not wordless.)

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

(Psst… Megan, still loving the frock!)

After a bit of a hiatus from MoJoing, I came back to the whole thing with fresh eyes today and realized I have neglected to tell you about one of the absolute key ingredients to my sanity joy in mothering: a little bit of structure and a healthy bit of sleep!

I am not a planner.  I am very much a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl, and for the most part, that’s worked out okay for me.  But even before I  had a baby of my own, though, I discovered that babies (and children) like routine.  They like to know there’s a plan.  They thrive on knowing what’s happening next in their day, and without that sense of security, things tend to go a little wonky.

I guess everyone has routines, so what I’m saying here isn’t rocket science, but I really don’t think you can overstate their importance, especially for small babies.   We’ve always followed (roughly) a feed-play-sleep pattern throughout the day with our babies, and that has worked really well for our family.

There was a time when I felt quite dogmatic about these things (back when I only had a six-month-old, and I knew everything!), but I realize now that God has made every family different, and there is no one-size-fits- all routine, so I try to save my advice for when people actually ask for it.  Or, you know, for here, where I can say whatever I want and nobody can argue with me.  Except in the comments.  Be nice, though, okay?

I will say this: if it weren’t for a regular naptime in the afternoon for my little ones and quiet play time for my big ones, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have a blog at all (not that you’d notice the difference these days!).  That’s what they’re doing right now, in fact.  If it weren’t for regular(ish) bedtimes in the evening, my kids would not be at their best during the day, and I would never get to have a grown-up conversation with my husband (although, we totally still call each other Mummy and Daddy after they’re in bed.  That’s a tough one to shake off in a few short hours!)

These are important things for us as parents *and* for our little ones.  I think there is a perception among those who follow a different parenting philosophy that expecting babies to nap and sleep according to a routine is selfish and maybe even a little bit cruel.  We have found that *everyone* in the family benefits from being well-rested, and that when mommy *or* baby is sleep-deprived for any length of time things start unraveling very quickly.  But, like I said, I do realize that not everybody is us.  And that’s probably a very good thing!  As the girls at Girltalk faithfully reminded their readership when they blogged about this very topic * a few years ago, it’s just a suggestion ** .

(By the way, yes that *is* our eleven-month-old baby girl pulling herself up in her crib.   Isn’t she sweet?)

*Follow the link and scroll down to the bottom of the category to see their series of posts on routines.

** This post makes a great case for Christians being united as followers of Christ and His gospel and *not* identifying ourselves by things like breastfeeding, homeschooling, and birth control which I have, perhaps, been known to get my feathers ruffled over on occasion.  Excellent point, well made.

• Your two-year-old asks for more to-mah-toes at dinner.
• You have to take more passports than people with you when you travel.
• Your children are taught how to say “I’m half and haaahf” as soon as they can talk.  Just because it’s totally cute.
• The ladies in your small group all stare at your husband when a volunteer is needed to read the Bible passage (especially when it’s a really long one, like the book of Colossians.)
• You call a pack ‘n’ play a “travel cot” and don’t even realize why people are looking at you funny.
• Your children say things like “What a lovely day!” and “Are we going to bed straight away when we get home?”
• You watch old episodes of Silver Spoons, and your husband laughs hysterically, because it’s totally new to him.
• Everyone thinks your kids’ names are really weird, except for your mother-in-law, whose only complaint is that Philippa rhymes with Juniper.
• You put the kettle on at least twice a day for a cup of tea, even though you don’t personally drink tea.
• Your kids have “Big Cook Little Cook” in their regular rotation of DVDs.
• Talking to your husband on the phone makes you just a little bit weak at the knees, because, for some reason, you no longer hear the accent in person, but you do on the phone, and it’s still *so* fun when you notice it!

Every one is different.  Isn’t God amazing?

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Well, I couldn’t pass this one up.  I Heart Faces is celebrating its first birthday with a photo competition simply titled, “Best Face”, and I happen to live with *the* five best faces God’s ever made (you know, *I* think).  It was just hard to pick one.

This was the girl who cooperated today, though, and it seems like her baby sister’s been stealing the bloggy limelight a little lately anyway.  Here’s Beatrix, just being her sweet self.

Yawn!

Well, I’m here.  I have woken up and stayed up (more or less) at 6 AM six times now.

I was hoping that at this stage in my rising-while-it-is-yet-night journey I would have something marvelous to report.  I thought my house would be clean and my demeanor calmer.  I thought I would be completely up-to-date on my Through the Year Bible reading program (what, you didn’t know you could already be behind by January 11th?  Oh, you totally can.)

Well, as you might have guessed, I don’t have any of those things to report.

But I do have all of these things to report, and I look forward to seeing what else God will work in my life through this new habit.

• I have a whole new respect for what my husband does for us every single day.  I have always known that he was a trouper for getting up so early and braving the cold, but now, I really get it (well, the cycling part, I still don’t so much get).  I get why he wanted to be in bed by 10:15 each night when I would have preferred a bit more time for us in the late evening.  Now, each night it’s a race to brush our teeth and be in bed first.  If this were the only good to come out of this whole thing, it would probably be worth it.
• I have been dressed and ready for the day when the girls wake up, which has mostly meant that they get a little more of me during the day.
• I was *on time* for a 10 AM appointment with all four girls in tow.  Wait… 10 minutes early, actually!  This was largely a result of the above.
• I have had more time to spend in the Word, and I’m not as sleepy while I’m reading as I thought I’d be.  Also, reading at the table seems to be better for my retention than reading in bed like I used to.  Can’t think why…

What I still need to work on:

• As always, the main struggle is still using my time well.  Just because I have more of it now doesn’t take away the temptation to fritter it away.
• I haven’t quite worked out how Juniper fits into my morning.  She doesn’t always wake up at the same time, so it’s hard to plan my time.  I have learned that feeding her lying down in bed like I used to isn’t real conducive to me staying awake.  That was Friday’s lesson, but if there’s a day to half-fall off the wagon, I guess it’s Friday.

How hard is it?

It is crazy hard until about 6:30.  Then it’s a little bit hard until about 7.  By then, the sun’s up and it starts to feel like a pretty normal day.  A normal day, except that my dishwasher is already turned over, and I am excited for my girls to wake up instead of closing my eyes tighter and pretending not to hear them stirring in their room.   By about 7:30, I begin to remember why I’m doing this.

I have to say a special thank you to my dear friend Emily, who has had a particular hand in urging and praying (yeah, she prayed for this, can you believe!?)  me toward this change.  You are a true and faithful friend.  (Now, don’t all fight over who’s next to be prayed for in this way.  I’m sure if God can get me up at the crack of dawn, He can do it for anyone!)

I was *not* going to do this week’s I Heart Faces Challenge… until I saw this photo, which was just asking to be tweaked to the specifications, don’t you think?  So, yeah, my ten-month-old can’t really write on her own forehead, but she does really eat crayons.  The smudges above her eye, around her mouth and *on her tongue*?  Totally not doctored.  Sad, but true.

Trouble!

I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.

For more totally adorable and creative I Heart Faces contest entries, click here.