Eyes

A couple of weeks ago, all of my favorite people were together on the couch on a lazy Saturday morning.

Mothers Day

I'm a little bit sad that I didn't get any pictures of me and my mom and my girls all together. Oh well. We had wonderful day. My family was here, and it was the nicest day we've had so far this year. My mom and I decided margaritas sounded good, so Bryan blended us up some tasty ones, and we sat out on the porch in the warm sunshine and enjoyed ourselves. We said it was almost as good as being on a cruise.

Everyone else slowly trickled out onto the porch, and I decided we needed to add the kiddie pool to the equation. So we did.

23 Months

Recently I've been having a hard time grasping the fact that my first baby is almost a 2-year-old. But sure enough, she's growing up. Every day holds something new. She says something new. Does something new. Learns something new.


"Patty cake, patty cake bakers man. Roll it. Pat it. C! Oven for Chloë!"

She sings constantly. (I can't imagine where she gets it.) Unless we ask her to, and then she gets all cute and embarrassed and won't do it. She's always singing or humming some cute little song, usually something she made up.

A couple of weeks ago, we were home, just going about our evening, when she suddenly stopped what she was doing. She started making a face. That face. On a whim, I asked her if she wanted to make poo poos in the toilet. She got really excited about the suggestion, and was the happiest little girl in the whole world that night. We really aren't ready to potty train her quite yet. We have a trip in a few weeks that includes new places and airplanes, and I'd rather not complicate things by having a toddler who is partially potty trained. But it's good to know that when we are ready to potty train, she won't be afraid of the toilet.

Here's one of her great faces. It's her attempt at the "I'm Chubby" face.

And this is her space face.

And then this face was just today. Mimi had the camera and said "smile!" and this is what we got:


Last week I went to the mall with the girls. We met up with Betsy and her kids, and we all splurged at Starbucks Happy Hour. Frappuccinos were 1/2 price, so I figured I'd introduce Chloë to the wonderful world of frozen coffee beverage. Of course I ordered hers without the actual coffee, so it was basically a chocolate smoothie. She eagerly consumed half of it, and then gradually sipped on it as it melted into liquid. At one point I looked down to see some of the beverage was on her hands. And then I saw that her cup was empty. Oh no. She had dumped the last half of her beverage on to her lap, and was happily sitting in a 2 inch puddle of melted frappuccino. She made quite a mess, and didn't seem at all phased by being covered in frappuccino.

Our church had their annual Easter Fest a couple of weeks ago, and Chloë was old enough to enjoy all of the fun; face painting and dancing, among other things.




It was so much fun watching her watch the dancing. We kept asking her if she was ready to come home (since it was nearing bedtime), but she kept insisting on staying to watch more. I think we might have to put her in ballet lessons in a couple more years.

She's always been curious about what goes on when I'm nursing Elaina. I guess she finally figured it all out and decided her bunny sock monkey was hungry.


Now that it's May, we've finally had some nice warm days, and Chloë is thrilled that she gets to spend so much time outside. Today she got completely drenched while I was watering our just-sprouted grass. She kept running in front of the spray of water, giggling and shrieking with joy.

A couple of days ago, helping Papa with a project.


Playing with Louella, who now lives much closer than Seattle for the summer. Hurray!

She would play outside all day long if I let her. Even though our back yard is totally fenced, I'm really not quite comfortable just letting her run around without supervision back there. Soon though.

Since we've been outside so much lately, there have been lots of little bumps and bruises and scrapes. She's funny about scrapes. She doesn't like band-aids, but she's quite distraught at the sight of her "wound," as we've come to call them. Of course she usually has one knee or the other scraped up, and as long as she doesn't see it, she usually forgets about it. But if she notices it, she can get quite upset about it. The thing that helps the most is to tell her to be "tough like Samuel." And she nods and agrees and usually cheers right up.

She is quite the emotional child. Happy and cheerful most of the time. But fussy and whiny at other times, especially if her nap wasn't long enough. Last week, I randomly made up a little song when we were putting her to bed. She calls it "go sleep Chloë." It's a simple little tune that has now become part of our naptime and bedtime routines. "It's time to go to sleep, now Chloë. It's time to close your eyes, and sleep. Mama loves you very much. Daddy loves you very much. Jesus loves you very much. And now it's time to sleep. It's time to go to sleep, now Chloë. It's time to close your eyes, and sleep."

She seems to love all living things. Since we've been outside a lot lately, she's become quite familiar with various bugs and critters, and loves seeing squirrels and neighbor's cats out and about. We stopped to see the grizzly bears over in Pullman, and she thought that was pretty great.


She's such a sweet spirited girl, and so good with her little sister.

I Love My Girls

I love spending time with them; playing, laughing, running, talking, reading, singing. And so I try to avoid spending too much time on this silly computer; shopping, price comparing, planning, buying, reading, networking, and blogging. I always have at least five firefox tabs open, usually including email, facebook, a new recipe to try, and maybe an inspiring blog post someone wrote about how simple in can be to be a good mom: Spend time with your kids. Play with them. Love them. Hug them. Read to them. Let them help you with the laundry, dishes, baking and sweeping, even though it takes twice as long.

I know this. I love to do this.

But it is easy to get on the computer "just for five minutes" and suddenly I'm starting a blog post, comparing prices on diapers, planning a party for next week, browsing craigslist, looking for a rental car for our trip next month, and checking email and facebook.

I don't want to give up on this blog entirely, but it's certainly not my top priority. Blogging about how wonderful my life is means nothing if I don't live it.

So here I am, getting off the computer, so we can all go outside and play and water the new grass that we planted on Saturday. I'll carry Elaina in the Bjorn, and Chloë will run around, getting wet and muddy.

This is why my life is wonderful.

Three Months Old

Blogspot recently revamped their website, and I'm having a miserable time figuring out how to adjust the layout of my posts.  If things look sloppy and weird, I do apologize. 

My baby girl is three months old.  How quickly these last three months have gone.  Elaina is a sweet, happy, chubby baby.  She is content to sit in her bouncy chair for a good portion of the day, while I putter around trying to get stuff done.  I do feel a little bit guilty that I don't just sit and hold and stare at her as much as I did with Chloë.  But I do get to snuggle her every two or three hours when she gets hungry.  She is so happy when someone is holding her and making faces at her.  She smiles and coos, and is so close to laughing.  She's given me a few one-second laugh sounds when I nibble her neck.  But she has yet to break into a full laugh.

She eats still eats every 2 hours or so during the day, but will give me about a 6 hour stretch at night, as long as she is swaddled.  She sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed, and it works out great.  She is awake a lot in the mornings, and a little bit in the evenings.  She is such a great baby.  I love her so much.

She is awfully adorable.  And getting quite rolly poly. 

 

 The eyes.  The jowls.  The pouty lip.  I love this girl.

She loves making spit bubbles.

And she really loves smiling at her mama.

She and her sister get along so well.

She poops a lot.  That is what babies do.  I'll give you one guess as to what she was doing at the moment this picture was taken:

Then apparently she thought it was knee-slappin' hilarious.

My chubby, happy girl.

Chloë loves her.

Her first dance with her Papa.

Getting all fresh and clean.

Lounging in her bouncy chair.

Really, I do apologize for the lousy layout.  I've spent about an hour trying to figure out this silly new system, and am about ready to throw my computer through the window.  Not really.  I think I'll just have to publish this less-than-perfect post and I'll go start dinner.

Elaina's Baptism

Growing up, I attended various denominations and branches of Christian protestant churches. My family moved around the country a few times, and we always did a bit of church hopping before finding one my parents decided we should regularly attend. Presbyterian, Community, Baptist, Charismatic, and other various Non-Denominational churches.

When I married a Reformed man, I knew I would stir up a few controversial topics among my family and old friends. But I also knew that when it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter if our music is centuries old, or written last week. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if our sermon is preached from a man wearing a robe or faded jeans. It doesn't matter if we use the King James version of the Bible, or the NIV. What matters is that we believe in one true triune God, and one Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ.

I never would have guessed I would end up attending a Reformed church that I love. The people there are some of the kindest, most generous, and most sincere people I have ever had the pleasure of befriending.

And we baptize our babies. Because we believe in the promises of God.

Elaina Halcyon Blakey was baptized on April 29. Thanks be to God.



"Elaina will spend the remainder of her life learning to be a Blakey. That’s a life-long project for anyone. More profoundly, she will spend her life growing into her name as a child of the heavenly Father, a sister of her Brother Jesus, walking with the Spirit of adoption. God is true. His Name sticks regardless. God calls her by baptism to be a true witness so that God’s truth will shine in her." -Dr. Leithart
Read the rest of Dr. Leithart's exhortation here or below.



"As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."


The little dress that Elaina wore was the same dress Chloë was baptized in. And it was one of my cute little dresses when I was a baby.




Exhortation by Peter Leithart, April 29, 2012

Matthew 28:18-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.

Baptism is a naming ceremony. Your daughter already has a name, and a meaningful one. Baptism adds another name because in baptism she becomes a member of a new family. She receives the family name of Father, Son, and Spirit. At the same time, God Himself takes on a new name, for here He promises to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and now Elaina.

We Protestants don’t like to say that baptism works “automatically,” because in some respects it doesn’t. Baptism doesn’t guarantee eternal salvation. But in this respect – as a naming ceremony – baptism is automatic. Everyone who is baptized receives a new name, whether they want it or not.

Like everything else Elaina has, this name is a gift of sheer grace. Elaina didn’t choose you as her parents. She didn’t choose to live in Moscow, or to be an American, or to be born to members of this church. And she doesn’t choose to be given the family Name of the Triune God. God chooses her. Through this water He lays His mighty hand on her to declare to the world that she is a daughter of His love.

Names always come at the beginning. You didn’t hold off a few years to discover your daughter’s temperament so you could make sure to give her an appropriate name. You named her as soon as she was born. We name our children in hope that they will live up to their name.

God does the same. He doesn’t leave us wandering around trying to find our name. At the beginning, before we have shown our true colors, God risks placing His name on us and adopting us into His family.

Elaina will spend the remainder of her life learning to be a Blakey. That’s a life-long project for anyone. More profoundly, she will spend her life growing into her name as a child of the heavenly Father, a sister of her Brother Jesus, walking with the Spirit of adoption. God is true. His Name sticks regardless. God calls her by baptism to be a true witness so that God’s truth will shine in her.

Jessie's Bridal Shower

Christa put together a fabulous not-so-little Bridal Shower for Jessie out at the ol' Alpaca Farm on Saturday. We estimated about 70 ladies showed up.  We had a great introduction hearing a brief version of Jessie and Kaleb's romance.  There was lots of food and fellowship, and of course lots and lots of presents.

 

 

Talking To Her Blanket, v2.0

When Chloë was tiny, she loved talking to the quilt that hangs above her changing table.  Apparently Elaina does too.



A couple of days later, Elaina definitely seemed more interested in talking to me than to her blanket.  She's really become quite the chatter box in the last week or so.