Rub A Dub

I understand the words "bath time" may evoke about as much excitement in you as say "nasal decongestant," but humor me here. At our house, bath time is often the highlight of Celia's day. Which, in turn, is a highlight of our day, too.
Andy and I have entirely different methods of bathing...I use a washcloth, he uses a loofah. I choose a couple bath toys, he throws them all in the tub. I use a little soap and am careful around her face, he uses lots of soap and piles suds on her head. Andy's bathing method often requires an extra towel to mop up water that splashes out of the tub, but his ways also seem to elicit more smiles, so I sure don't complain.

JEB

For the Love

I love you, I love you, I love you. The words tumble effortlessly from our mouths, again and again.
I hesitate hardly a second before hauling her into my arms. I lean in closer so as to breathe the scent of her hair. I notice the tiny rolls in her neck and feel the bony points of her shoulder blades, terrain I've mapped before.
There are certain details I wish I could freeze in amber: the red ringlets at the nape of her neck, her iridescent pink fingernails, and those eyebrows, raised as if they've had help from a forklift!

And Andy is no less guilty. Celia. He balances her name lightly on his tongue, as if it's made of feathers, and when he whispers in her ear, the words - so comforting, so full of love - sound like they're covered in blankets. Entire conversations take place in silence between the two of them, because the heart has it's own language. And he will wish to remember everything she says, even though she doesn't say a word.

I love you. Three little words. One huge truth.

JEB

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

So there haven't been many silent nights around here lately, but Celia has been resting a lot. She crawls over to be held, and snuggles her legs in tight around my belly, burrowing in like I might have developed a marsupial pouch when she wasn't looking. And I stop folding laundry, or whatever is I'm doing in an effort to be productive, and enjoy the rest myself (all the while trying to ignore the 30 0r so pounds of extra weight on top of extra weight). And Andy captures this on film. You know, not so much so that we can remember what sleeplessness does to the fabric of marital cooperation, but more to document for the next baby how much he/she is loved by his/her big sister.


Because Celia has been nocturnally slumber-challenged, she's particularly lethargic during the day. This morning she had breakfast shortly after 9am, we played a bit, and then she needed a break. Here she is, in a self-determined location, about 10:30am:

Although she seemed perfectly content, I moved her to the couch...
Getting up multiple times through the night hampers my creativity and hurts my sensibilities. But instead of laying here festering with self pity, since Celia is sweet-dreaming (in her crib this time) I may try, too.

JEB

'Tis the Season

It's snowing. The tree is up, twinkling with white lights. The house is quiet, holiday music playing softly. Stockings are hung. Several doors have been opened on the advent calendar. There's a tricky balance this time of year, between the magical and the overwhelming. Right now our scale is tipping toward the magical. Hope yours is, too.


JEB

How many

times can we blog about Celia's affinity for H2O, about how much she seems to relish swimming? Swimming in her grandparents' pool, swimming in her grandparents' big red tub, almost swimming in the backyard pond...
We took Celia to a local community rec center's open swim last weekend, and she wore herself out. We didn't get the camera out till we were all dry, so this photo is more about post-swimming than swimming, but she sure enjoyed the fountains and slides, almost as much as she delighted in cuddling with Daddy to dry off.

And not completely unrelated, but admittedly somewhat random, for some reason I was thinking of some additional "how many"s recently. Like how many nails I am responsible for keeping trimmed around here - currently it's 60 (because I do a good job with Colby's nails and it makes Andy kind of nervous - funny, considering he spends lots of time cutting and sewing people...) Anyway, that's a lot of nails to keep trimmed.
And soon it will be 80. Oh. my. goodness.

JEB

Light Fantastic Daddy Fantastic

Well, the nursery is done. Early, if we're talking about the newest Betz. And only about 21 months behind schedule for Celia, but she'll get to enjoy the new light for a few months...
We've had this chandelier, from Mom's basement, for a couple years - Andy rewired it and painted it white and cleaned the crystals, all in anticipation of Celia's arrival. We just didn't get it hung. What, with a working light in her bedroom and all, there really was no hurry. But now it's up, and boy is it sweet. Almost as sweet as these two, napping during the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving morning!


JEB

Thankathon

This time of year, when we're reminded to give thanks, we've been especially grateful for the time we got to spend with Kate. It was a busy week, not quite the marathon of Thanksgiving meals it's been in the past and we didn't get to visit all the family we would've liked to see, but it was still a holiday filled with good things.

• Aunt Kate spoiled Celia; she cooked her squash pancakes and watched cartoons with her and sang to her and even held her while she got some blood drawn.
  
• Kate took me to lunch and we shopped and she did like 8 loads of laundry for me and she reminded me that someday, maybe, I can be "half an Olsen twin" again.
• Kate took Andy ziplining in Hocking Hills and shared Yuengling with him (and with Colby).

We can't wait till Kate comes back in February!

JEB