New Year's Resolutions

During the coming year I resolve to drink more milk, take more naps, spit up more, suck on more things, sit up, crawl, babble, and walk.  Because I love my parents, I also resolve to do more of this...

...and much less of this.  Happy New Year everybody!

Happy New Year!

In celebration of a magnificent 2009 and with high hopes for a wonderful 2010 for all of you, we asked Katie to pose for a slightly early New Year's photo shoot!

Our lives changed permanently on the afternoon of November 10, when our family went from two to three and we first laid eyes on our beautiful little girl.  She's already brought a great deal of joy and laughter into our lives, and it's only been seven weeks!  We've been amazed and humbled by the generosity that so many of you have shown to us over the past few months.  Thank you for your gifts, cards, prayers, advice, visits, support, and love.

The three of us wish all of you a Happy New Year!

And here are a few especially good out-takes from our photo shoot that we thought you might enjoy!

Katie is 6 weeks old!

It's hard to believe that our sweet Katie was born 6 weeks ago yesterday. Even in this short amount of time she has already brought so much joy into our lives.

Recently she's shown some exciting signs of development. The most wonderful has been her SMILE! There is nothing more heartwarming than those first few open-mouthed, intentional, beautiful, beautiful smiles. My eyes water every time! She's also discovered her hands and her ability to grab and hit. Yesterday when I was using the aspirator to clear out her nose (an activity she thoroughly dislikes) she smacked the aspirator right out of my hands! Her neck muscles are improving everyday and she can now hold her head up for a few seconds. Her ability to see at a distance is also increasing and she can track us as we move around the room. We love to watch her grow.

My sister Lauren came in from Portland, Oregon and got to meet Katie for the first time this week. Katie loves her Aunt Lauren and has already taken a few naps on her. It's so special to share your baby with the ones you love!

Sweet smile!

Loves her Aunt Lauren

The four girls

Some Thoughts on Christ's Birth

The past 6 weeks have been challenging and wonderful, but mostly wonderful.  We've loved caring for and marveling over our daughter.  She's so sweet, beautiful, funny, helpless, demanding, sturdy, fragile, peaceful, and earth-shatteringly loud, all at the same time.

I went for a long, chilly walk the other night and found myself meditating on the wonder of Christ's birth and experiencing deep fellowship with Him.  

What a gift and what a mystery His birth was!  He brought together infinitely more diverse qualities than Katie does. His helplessness and hunger and cries were those of God Himself.  The Creator had entered His own creation.  

I'm so thankful for the healing and peace and forgiveness that Jesus brought and still brings.  He came in weakness to help the weak, to bind up the broken-hearted and free those who are discouraged and burdened by their sins. Jesus is alive. He is merciful.  He is strong to save. 

It's been beautiful to watch Maureen care for Katie so tenderly, patiently, skillfully, and selflessly.  I love this photo by our friend Kristin Moore.  It makes me think of Mary holding Jesus in her arms two thousand years ago, loving and treasuring her little baby with all her heart and trying to wrap her mind around the fact that her child was also her Savior and her God. 

We Got Almost 2/3 of a Katie of Snow!

A Christmas Miracle

Digging through a drawer this morning in search of something to wear out into the snowstorm, I stumbled upon a pair of corduroys that I do not recall ever buying, borrowing, finding, shoplifting, or receiving as a gift.  As should be obvious from the photo below, this is a particularly handsome pair, made by Banana Republic, boasting thin wales and a very rich taupe color.

Corduroy has a freighted history in our household.  I am a huge fan, embracing this noble fabric as excellent attire for all seasons.  Cordurory can be worn casually or in finer settings.  It never needs to be ironed.  It lasts a long time. It makes a pleasant sound as one moves through a room.

Maureen, largely, I would say, in reaction to my advocacy, spent the first year of our marriage disparaging corduroy. Under my tutelage, she has progressed to the point where she now owns a pair of her own and recently mentioned the possibility of buying another.  This pleases me, of course, though I will not be fully satisfied until I see her wearing corduroys on a hot day in July.

Given this history of dischord, it is worth noting that it was Maureen, not me, who referred to my discovery this morning as a "Christmas miracle."

Ah, wondrous textile!  Your powers are greater than even I had imagined.  You alone among the cotton-based fabrics can reconcile warring spouses, filling them, filling us all, with good will and Christmas cheer!

Paging Bing and Laura

It's almost certainly going to be a White Christmas in Media, Pennsylvania this year!  We're sitting through one of the biggest December snowstorms in recent memory, with as much as 17 inches of snow expected before it ends tomorrow.  That may not sound very impressive to those of you who live in Maine or Massachusetts, but I've lived south of New England long enough that anything over a foot now qualifies as a blizzard.

Maureen and I recently re-read the fantastic Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, describing pioneer life during the late nineteenth century.  Looking outside this morning reminded me of the sixth book in the series, which describes the Ingalls family's long and difficult winter in the Dakota Territory.  It made me glad that we're sitting here in a warm house instead of shivering with Pa and Laura out in the sub-zero temperatures of the woodshed, twisting frozen hay into bundles for burning because we've run out of coal.

Quarantine

This week we all caught a bad cold.  More accurately, I caught it from someone on the train or at Penn, Katie caught it from me, and Maureen caught it from Katie.

As a result, it's been a strange week.  We've all slept more than usual (except Maureen, who caught her cold today and has been busy taking care of Katie and me).  Time has slowed down and sped up.  The patterns we've begun to form have been temporarily disrupted.  

It was disappointing to have to stay home and miss a couple get-togethers with friends that we were really looking forward to.  And it was hard for me to go for a couple days without holding Katie (before she caught my cold and caution became unnecessary).  

Worst of all, we've had to listen to Katie suffer through some pretty bad congestion.  We bought a humidifier, broke out the saline drops, and leaned on Maureen's growing expertise with an aspirator (pictured in the grim still life below).  But after doing all that we've still had to sit by and listen to a lot of labored baby-breathing, which is just about enough to break your heart.

Mom told me today that she struggled through the same thing when my brothers and I were kids.  It's always reassuring to hear her say that sort of thing.   

Third Reading Assignment

What Katie Likes The Most

Katherine Anne Witmer is in love.  With a picture frame. Please allow me to explain.

Katie spends a lot of time on our couch these days, looking up at the ceiling and inspecting her surroundings.  As her eyesight has improved and her neck muscles have strengthened, she's become increasingly alert and increasingly interested in seeing the sights.

Naturally, Maureen and I assumed that she would mostly be interested in seeing us, the two people who gave her life and brought her into this world.  Sadly, this was a faulty assumption.  

The thing that intrigues Katie beyond end, the thing that she finds endlessly fascinating and endearing and riveting and absorbing, is the black picture frame hanging on our living room wall.  Maureen tells me that this is because of the contrast between our light walls and the dark frame.

Maybe so.  But it can be hard not to take Katie's preoccupation a little personally.  I often sit next to her on the couch, singing and cooing and smiling like mad in an effort to attract her attention.  She just as regularly cranes her little neck to see around me and gaze adoringly at the frame.  Hopefully this is just a phase.

View from couch of Katie's best friend

Visit from Kristin

You know those wonderful moments in life when you meet someone and you just click? Well, I had that experience during my first few days at JMU. When I met Kristin Moore I knew almost instantly that we were going to be friends forever. Eight years later Kristin continues to be a dear, sweet friend to me and now to our family. This weekend she braved the elements (we got 2 inches of snow on Saturday afternoon) to come and meet Katie for the first time. We had a wonderful visit. She even let us go out to Target while she watched Katie! It was so great to have a warm, familiar friend and fellow new, young mom (her beautiful daughter, Madeleine, is a little over a year old) here to talk and laugh with. Kristin is also a very talented photographer and she snapped some shots of us. Enjoy!

Kristin and Katie

Hello Holidays!

Our holiday season is off to a great start! For Thanksgiving we decided to go to Bethlehem to visit my family. Since Katie was only a little over 2 weeks we wanted to steer clear of any big crowds but we really wanted a big, tasty dinner that we didn't have to prepare :) We got both! Our visit was particularly special because we got to introduce Katie to her Great-Grandma Betsy for the first time. It was a great day.

My mom and sister, Leanne, came for a visit last Friday to help us get ready for Christmas. We went out and got a little, live Christmas tree. Katie looked especially fetching that day in her sweater, courtesy of her Great-Grandma Witmer and hat, courtesy of my friend Joey. It really is one of the most wonderful times of the year, especially for us this year!

Meeting Great-Grandma Betsy for the first time

Kisses from Aunt Leanne

A very stylish Katie all suited up to get our Christmas tree

Most Like an Arch

Our dear friend Kristin Moore spent this past weekend with us (more about her visit in a later post) and snapped some wonderful new photos of our family for us.  

Kristin's composition of the photo posted below reminded me of a poem I've long admired, published in 1958 by John Ciardi.  Katie's arrival, and our sharing in her care, has given the poem—with its references to marriage's delights, solidity, delicacy, and promise that two weaknesses might together create a strength—fresh meaning.  I like to think of Katie sheltering in the arch of our marriage.

"Most Like an Arch This Marriage"

by John Ciardi

Most like an arch—an entrance which upholds

and shores the stone-crush up the air like lace.

Mass made idea, and idea held in place.

A lock in time.  Inside half-heaven unfolds.

Most like an arch—two weaknesses that lean

into a strength.  Two fallings become firm.

Two joined abeyances become a term

naming the fact that teaches fact to mean.

Not quite that?  Not much less.  World as it is,

what's strong and separate falters.  All I do

at piling stone on stone apart from you

is roofless around nothing.  Till we kiss

I am no more than upright and unset.

It is by falling in and in we make

the all-bearing point, for one another's sake,

in faultless failing, raised by our own weight.

Second Reading Assignment

First Reading Assignment

Cute/Not Cute

That moment right after you take your little baby out of the bathtub and she smells all fresh and clean, that's cute.

Wrapping her up nice and snug in a warm, fleecey towel shaped like a duck (see Figure A) and feeling her snuggle against your chest, that's cute, too.

Figure A.  Cute

But forgetting to put a diaper on your baby, so that when without warning she evacuates her dinner with the explosive force of a nuclear bomb, drenching her duck suit, the carpet, and her mother, that's not cute. 

And spending part of your Wednesday evening dealing with the aftermath on your hands and knees (see Figure B) on the nursery floor?  Definitely not cute.

 

Figure B.  Not Cute

Blessings

Katie is now ten days old and what a ten days it has been! Besides still being confused about nighttime and daytime she is doing really well. She is a great nurser, which has been a huge blessing and answer to prayer. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she has already surpassed her birth weight, weighing in at over 8 pounds!

We've also been so blessed by our families and the families in our community group at church bringing us gluten free meals almost every night. Although it's sometimes hard to see through the fog of exhaustion, we are so blessed!

A visit from the Huffmans!

Striking a pose

Our happy (and exhausted) little family

So Who Does She Favor?

Katie is less than a week old, and the inevitable question is already being asked and answered pretty frequently.  At her Aunt Lauren's request, we've decided to post photos of Katie, her Mom, and her Dad, and invite our friends to weigh in.  When we asked our friend Matt yesterday what he thought, he said, "I think she looks like a baby."  Can you do any better than that?

Visitors from Maine

My parents met Katie for the first time this afternoon. She was quiet, happy, and unfailingly cute, showing no signs to a doting Grandpa and Grandma Witmer of her hours of crying and fussing the night before! It was fun to see Dad and Mom hold Katie, and wonderful to hear Dad pray for her. Isn't it great how such a little person can bring families even closer together?

Sleeplessness, Thy Name Is Katie

Maureen and I are now smack dab in the middle of that first grueling week of parenthood, during which Katie, like most other newborns, has determined to sleep only when we don't really need her to.  Amy, my sister-in-law, told us this evening that newborns are nocturnal.  The trick during the first couple weeks of their lives is to switch their schedules around so they sleep at night and are awake during the day.  That reprogramming process is beginning to occur in our family, but at the moment it's not always clear who is being reprogrammed. 

Child With Boppy Pillow

Grandparents and Great-Grandparents!

Yesterday Katie enjoyed a visit with her grandparents and aunt. This is Dad and Mom's first grandchild and it was so special to have them visit on the day of her birth. It was also fun to think of all the wonderful times we will have together in the future! Today we enjoyed a visit from Andrew's grandparents. Katie's middle name is Anne, in Grandma's honor. We pray that she will love and follow Jesus as faithfully as her great-grandmother has!

Grandpa and Grandma Whitebread

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Witmer