How Do You Measure a Year?

Here's one way:

October 20, 2011

October 20, 2012

And what a year it has been...(the best of my life!)

Babies Don't Keep

Lately, Mark has been kind enough to handle Henry's middle-of-the-night feeding by giving him a bottle and letting me sleep.  Last night, though, I decided to feed him when he woke up at 4:15.  We had left Henry with a non-family babysitter for the first time that evening (in fact, with our nanny, but I'll save the back-to-work story for another day), and I wanted some extra snuggles.

After he was fed and changed, we sat in the rocker together for quite some time, nestled close.  At one point, I looked down at Henry and he was staring at me intently, with his mouth slightly open, as if to say, "Hi, Mama.  I feel so safe, cozy and loved right now."  So, I told him I loved him, too, so much.

As we were rocking, I couldn't help but think of the famous poem:

Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

 

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.

 

 

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

 

 

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

 

Henry and the Giant Pumpkin

Recently we took Henry to a local farm so that he we could choose some pumpkins for our front steps!  This farm also offered a corn maze, hay rides, a giant slide, and various autumn treats, but Henry was a bit too young to appreciate all that we could do.  I have a feeling next year will be a different story!  I did have an apple cider donut, and Mark bought a couple of apples, so we got a little more out of the $20 admission fee than just selecting pumpkins.  Other than that, the point of the outing, as I told Mark, was to indulge my need for a photo session with Henry all decked out in his adorable fall outfit, which Mark's mom so graciously purchased for the occasion.

Without further ado, pictures from our trip:

Doesn't Henry look thrilled to be at the pumpkin patch?!

I love his expression here!