Category Archives: family

skywatch friday

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I took the photo above on the patio this morning. We’re in store for another beautiful spring day around here. Yesterday, Meagan and I had fun shopping at garage sales and a resale shop for Brooklyn. I must say, that’s the way to go, especially for toys and clothes that they grow out of so quickly. It’s starting to seem real for all of us, that this new little soul is going to come into our lives very soon. And yet we often seem to add, “if everything goes all right” at the end of a sentence when talking about the baby and the future. We’ve tried to stop feeling that way, tried to assume that everything will be fine this time, but I think the truth is we are all balancing precariously on our own individual emotional tightropes. Going through each day eating, talking, working, pretending everything is okay all the while afraid deep down that one more heartbreak may be one more too many. Sometimes I worry that we need this little girl too much, is it really fair to expect one small baby to heal so many bruised and battered grownup hearts? Then again, maybe we’re already falling. Maybe we’ve been falling since we lost my mom and baby Kiley, maybe the moment we hold Brooklyn for the first time each of us will finally find that soft place to land.

Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven. ~Henry Ward Beecher

(almost) wordless wednesday

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I made this doll for my granddaughter Brooklyn, who is due on July 1st. When I was a young girl I loved Raggedy Ann and I still keep a small collection of handmade Raggedy Ann dolls in our guest bedroom piled high on an antique chair. I’ve often daydreamed about how fun it would be to have a granddaughter discover them someday while crawling around and exploring our house. We dream a lot of dreams in our life, dreams about big careers and big paychecks, about exotic vacations and maybe even about movie star boyfriends, as Americans we are taught to dream big. But I think maybe it’s the little dreams that matter the most. The little dreams along with those small everyday wonders that when added together expand our hearts and make us more grateful, more loving people. So maybe give yourself a break today, set aside those big dreams that seem to be a million miles away, and go ahead and dream yourself just one sweet and lovely little dream.

See other Wordless Wednesday participants here.

(almost) wordless wednesday

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Mr. Bookbabie is making an appearance on my blog today in honor of Earth Day. That’s my guy enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame on the front page of the newspaper a “few” years ago. He was a very young Biology teacher at the time displaying a water purification system and he just confessed to me last night that he was actually distilling booze! Oh well, it was the early seventies after all, at least he didn’t have the students growing “herbs” in the greenhouse. He also told me he wishes he still had all that hair and those really groovy pants 🙂

See other Wordless Wednesday participants here.

tuesday tidbits

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the-reader-crowned-with-flowersNeed some help picking your next book? Go to this reader generated website, plug in one of your favorite books and get a list of similar books. The painting in this post is by the French painter, Jean-Baptiste-Camille. Looking at his work has gotten me thinking about taking one of the photos I did of Andy and Meagan and painting it. I seem to be “thinking” about going back to painting more and more lately, which is good I suppose, now I just need to put those thoughts into action! I still haven’t quite kicked the flu, it’s been over two weeks and I’m feeling a little frustrated. Luckily, I did a lot of the prep for Meagan’s baby shower earlier this month so I’m not stressing about the fast approaching May 3rd date. Meagan is feeling good and baby Brooklyn is over three pounds now so we are all counting our blessings and waiting for the day we can count her tiny fingers and toes!

easter memories

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Once upon a time, on a lovely sunny Easter morning just like this one, three little girls got all dressed up in their Easter finery. Before they left to go to their grandmother’s house for supper, they posed with their pretty mom for a picture. When their daddy said “smile” they did, thinking the whole time about the Easter egg hunt, the coconut cakes dotted with jelly beans, and their many cousins waiting for them at the other end of 8 Mile Road.

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. ~Anthony Brandt

grandbaby bump

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I did some new baby bump photos of the kids last week. I’m having fun planning the shower, we’re using the photo on the right for the invite. We had a slight scare yesterday when Meagan developed pelvic pain. Her doctor determined that it’s not preterm labor (a huge relief) and we’re hoping that the pain goes away soon, she still has 100 days left to incubate our little granddaughter! I love how women today wear tight tops and bare their beautiful tummies at the beach when they’re pregnant instead of trying to cover them up under tent-sized tunics. Perhaps Demi Moore’s controversial Vanity Fair cover taken by Annie Leibovitz helped spark the belly-proud movement. Now, unfortunately, we have that photo of Octo-mom’s giant baby mound, which definitely falls under the category of too much information and is enough to make any woman give up the idea of motherhood altogether and get a puppy!

Making a decision to have a child–it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

baby bump

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I strong-armed my son Andy and my daughter-in-law (actually, it was my son who needed the coaxing) to model for some iStock pics this weekend. Before we got started I offered to do some photos for them of Meagan’s growing tummy. So far, everything is going great with this pregnancy. When they first got pregnant again we were all so guarded, trying to push back our emotions, afraid that…well, just afraid. Some of Meagan’s friends, when trying to comfort her after she lost the first baby, told her that everything would be fine this time because they already had a heartbreaking event. And as we stumbled through the baby’s loss last year and my mom’s progressing illness and difficult death, we sometimes told each other the same thing. Sometimes. Most of the time we knew the truth. That pain and heartache know no boundaries. That they will come into every life, even when we think we least deserve them, even when we think we just can’t take any more. But we have also learned another truth. That hope is not just a word. It is a light that can lift you up off your knees and carry you into a tomorrow where broken hearts are slowly mended – where joy replaces fear.

skywatch friday

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I captured this shot when I got up this morning. I liked the way the sun was lighting up the flag and silhouetting the porch against the clear blue sky. Tomorrow it will cloudy with a chance of five to eight inches of that white stuff. We were going to get together with family for a winter birthday birthday bash but cancelled because we have some family with long drives. My sister is one of those and seeing the flag this morning got me thinking about her son, he may be in that next wave of Marines going to Afghanistan. So this post is in honor of Charlie and all the other brave men and women who serve in our military.