Kissing Cousins

Thanks to Uncle Adam for the post title, and thanks to cousin Vanessa for the sweet kisses...
Tucker is one lucky little guy to get to grow up with Vanessa close by. He'd better start storing up energy now, in order to keep up with her. When Vanessa visited earlier this week, she was working on numbers and bouncing balls...
We look forward to Tucker learning lots of things from his older cousin!
A&J

Big Sister

It's official. Celia's been a big sister for nine months, but now she's gotten to meet her little sibling...
Clearly, she's thrilled beyond measure.

When I became a big sister, at about the same age that Celia is now, I was equally thrilled. Given a stuffed alligator toy, I insisted "Alligatie sleep with Katie." No dummy, I thought if it didn't eat her that first night, then it wouldn't eat me.

Or maybe I was just really into sharing...

JEB

Thomas Everett Betz

"Tucker"
March 7th, 2009
11:02 AM
8 pounds, 7 ounces
21 inches


Tuck, Shim, Pirate (a new nickname, thanks again to Aunt Kate, based on the fact that he often looks at things with only one eye open)... No matter what you call him, we're proud to call him our son.

A&J

525,600 Minutes

(Note: this post was written previously and scheduled to appear today, on Celia's 2nd birthday, in case we were otherwise engaged with Shim's arrival...)

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?
How about love? How about love? How about love?
Measure in love.

These lyrics, from RENT, remind us that, although it wasn't exactly the kind of year we may have wished for when we helped Celia blow out one candle a year ago, it has been a year full of love, and that's the best way to spend a year, especially when we're not sure how many years we'll have with her...
JEB

FYI

is on the way! More soon...

A&J

Holding Hands

It's a little like touching heaven...

JEB

Birth

It was about 2 years ago that I was born into motherhood. Writhing on the hospital bed, I thought I might surely die, but instead it was if there were two births that day. Celia made me a mother. She is still making me a mother. I have to dig deep, but there’s the possibility of greatness. And Celia reminds me that greatness is not in me, but comes through me.

I don't often do bold things like shower or eat an entire meal at one sitting or go to the store by myself. But I have better things to do. I get to read books aloud and change diapers, kiss a small forehead and leave projects unfinished.

And, I get to worry. I've gotten a good taste of the primary preoccupation of motherhood – questioning, second-guessing… I bend myself into knots with the constant weighing of pros and cons, often with no discernible “right” answer. I’ve read books about how to be a good mother, and I’ve worried about what others will think. I spend more time with my daughter than authors and neighbors, than anyone, actually, and I often instinctively know what’s right for her. But sometimes I still wonder…

Wonder about her greatness, though, I don't. She was, indisputably, born filled with it.

JEB