What happens when you leave Dad in charge

First Fruits

After a week away I came home to a gift in the garden. But if the zucchini plants keeps this up my kids may not be so thankful to be eating zucchini at every meal!

Echoes of snow.

On a bright sunny summers morning it is good to remember what my world looked this only a few short months ago.

How does your garden grow?

It has been a dry, hot month. This has meant that I have been out watering in the early morning,  usually with a cup of tea in hand. I love those moments. Standing in my bare feet,  pj's still on, listening to the birds sing their morning prayers.  Under that big sky that is often already heating up the earth I feel God in the simple existence of the earth. The biggest miracle I know is that any of this is here.

DIY Lady

Ok this might be bragging or boastful but look what I made!

I mean the baby carrier. Yes, I also made the baby but I can't take total credit for him.

I have been using a ring sling for the last few months with this little guy, but now that he is not so little my back was getting pretty sore. I could not find my old mei-tai carrier. (I think it got lost in the move). So crazy lady I am, instead of buying a new one, I make one.

I think the prairie pioneering spirit is infecting me!

(If you want the instructions I followed check out www.grumblesandgrunts.com)

It goes so fast

When I had my first child I was so excited by every new milestone he reached. I wrote everything down in his baby book. I even had to add in new sections to the book so I could include everything I wanted to record. I was very proud that he was "advanced" as he smile a week before the books said he should. I was so anxious for him to role over, sit up, crawl. I was always ready for the next step.

Us with our first born

But now, as I hold my youngest boy all I can think is that he is growing too fast. Over this first five months of his life I have held him every chance I could get. I held him even when "the books" said I should put him down. But with 12 years of parenting under my belt I know that the days that I can hold him will be over very soon.

Don't get me wrong, I was very happy to see his smiles come "early" and I will be excited when he starts to crawl and at his first steps. But they will also be a little bitter sweet because I know that those first unsteady steps will be the first of many that will take him on his journey.

I already miss his newborness. I love that he is so alert, that he laughs and interacts with his siblings. It was pretty fun the first time he rolled over. But I miss his little rolled up fists, his sleepy grey newborn eyes and that he was small enough to hold all the time. Now he is too big. My back gets sore, plus he wants to wiggle and move.

As I was doing laundry, I found a sleeper that he has outgrown. I held it for awhile before I put it away in my "too small" box. This sleeper was one that I passed down to all my kids. I know that twelve years ago, when my first wore that sleeper, some nice lady told me to treasure every moment because they go so fast. It was not that I did not believe her, but it felt like he would be this small forever. Every day (and night) felt like a year. But now, I get it. It goes so fast.

I know that I can not stop time. Nor do I want to hold my kids back. I want them to grow up and become they great people they are meant to be. But I want hold then now, as they are today. Not push them too fast forward either. Because they are only going to be this size once. And if I forget to pay attention I might miss it.

Prize

Look at what I found in my cereal box! Now that is a good prize.