RICHMOND ZOO

We went to the zoo!

The build up and hype for this zoo trip was tremendous. Ken and I talked about it all the time in the days leading up to the event, and we had an easy and willing audience because Sloane loves animals. We're all benefiting from this love; turns out, it's a chance for us to appreciate them all over again.  In the week before, we watched planet earth episodes, talked about the upcoming outing at least a couple of times a day and even studied the zoo map to get ourselves acquainted with the animals we would get to see. 

Ken and I, we love getting excited for things together, and now that we can include Sloane in our adventures, it just compounds the joy and anticipation leading up to things (and us annoyingly asking her over and over again, "are you excited??" somehow doesn't get old, and she readily responds with a "yes!" each time). In that regard, we were all excited for the zoo, and we were not disappointed. 

I felt like a kid myself walking through the zoo; we were all, "Wow look at that!" "Come here, look there!" There is something about animals that are magical, especially ones that we don't usually get to see, and during this trip it was even more amazing because all of us saw them through Sloane's eyes. 

Sloane studying the zoo map.

We were able to get so close to the giraffes, it was amazing.

It was so darn special to have this experience with all these family members - my parents, Ken's mom and sister and Ken's cousin that we hadn't seen ken a while.

After the zoo, we came back to our house, sang Sloane a rousing rendition of happy birthday and opened presents together with the family. She seemed overwhelmed by all the attention but look at that face!

And look...the four of us! 

LOGAN AT ONE MONTH

Logan is one month today.

These days... I pick her up and feel the swoosh of love come up my spine and over my shoulder, down my arms and into my hands that hold her.  I hope she feels that swoosh. I nuzzle her warm body into my neck and smell her; she smells like softness. I kiss her face, covering every square inch, as she closes her eyes when she feels my lips come close to her lids.  I hold her and watch her sleep. I hold her and we watch each other.  Hi baby.  Hi mama.

There are days when she goes three hours between feedings, and some nights when she goes four hours and it's wonderful.  Then there are those days and nights when she wants to nurse every two hours and I can feel myself float out of my body from exhaustion and I want to turn to Ken and ask him to take over the nursing for a day...but alas.  I remind myself that this is my job right now, to plump up this baby, to nuzzle her, and to keep feeling these swooshes of love. That's my job, and I revel in it.  I can do this, I remind myself, as I look my older daughter, healthy and brilliant and full of life.  

She is a lot like Sloane at this age, and sometimes my brain thinks I am doing that all over again. They are similar in that they were and are good babies. They eat and sleep without much ado.  But there are differences... Sloane made squawking dinosaur noises, Logan squeaks instead, and also has these adorable baby cooing noises that I never heard from Sloane.  Sloane's cries were loud, while Logan cries are extremely high pitched.  Wow, Ken and I will say looking at each other, eyebrows raised, as Logan hits notes that seem impossible for a human to hit.  Maybe she'll be a singer.

She is getting chunky and rolls are appearing everywhere, on her arms especially, and her cheeks - oh her cheeks - are getting tremendous. She nurses, efficiently, but almost always falls asleep before she's done.  I spend a lot of time trying to wake her up so that she can finish.

It's such a joy to see those fingers and arms plump up. They are still so tiny, though. I finger her feet and they are like pebbles in my hands. Her toes are tiny bubbles. Her fingers are getting stronger and she clutches my shirt as she holds me, as she nurses, as leverage as she tries to lift her head.

I'm really enjoying her right now- how tiny she is, how helpless, how miraculous.  I know from experience that this time goes by so fast and it will become a distant memory that I will try to recall now and then. Thank you God, for this time. Thank you even for how fleeting it is, because I have to learn how to stay in this moment in order to fully take it in. Thank you for how you are going to grow this babe, I will trust in you. 

P. S. For the sake of comparison, Sloane at week 2 and 3...wearing the same onesie!

SLOANE'S THIRD BIRTHDAY PARTY WITH FRIENDS

Sloane turned 3 this past week! The past two years we had celebrated her birthday with just family, but this past year she was acutely aware of 'her friends', had attended friends' parties and was particularly excited about the idea of having her own, so we had ourselves a little birthday party. 

We kept things simple, the main objective being a table with little friends gathered around a birthday cake, singing happy birthday.  We also had read aloud time, because Sloane could sit for hours being read to, the cake was ice cream because Sloane requested it, and the cake was surrounded by animal figurines because she loves all sorts of animals these days. 

It was so much fun to talk about the upcoming party with her - to discuss friends that would come, to talk about the cake, to get excited about everyone singing the happy birthday song together.   I worry sometimes about raising a kid who takes things for granted, and want to teach her how to be gracious, generous and compassionate, so it made me feel proud to see her get serious about handing out party hats to friends, and tell me that she wanted to make sure everyone got a balloon.  She seems to understand that birthdays are special and that special things are that way because they come around only once in a while.  I'm sure she felt special that day, and the day before as we celebrated with family, and I'm so glad for it.

I had this moment during the party of taking stock of the munchkins gathered around and feeling gushes of gratitude for them and their parents that are walking alongside us in this whole adventure of parenthood.  Celebrating these milestones is a precious reminder that this life is so much better lived together with others.  

Plus, it's a great excuse for ice cream cake.