a road trip and reflections~

The holiday joy continues as we are in the midst of a lovely visit with family and friends.  Good food is all around and I am doing my part to put it in a proper place, I assure you.  Seafood, lasagna, cinnamon rolls, chocolate, quiches, etc..... whew!  I aim to get out for a nice wintry hike tomorrow with the babe and papa and whoever else we can coax along.  I am certainly enjoying the taking in of all of this delicious food but my body also really wants to get moving a bit.  I've found it easier to embrace Winter these last few years, and getting out there and being in the snowy woods is such a nice way to do just that.

Our drive up North took a tad bit longer than it used to, but that's to be expected I suppose.  Claire hasn't been much of a fan of riding in the car these days and slept a whopping 45 minutes or so during the 11 hour drive.  That was not expected.  But alas, that's what was.  Claire also seems to have forgotten what a bottle is and how to go about using one (after not having had one in the last 4 or 5 months) and so mama spent a good deal of the drive leaning over the car seat.  Mmmm-hmmm.  Somewhere along the way I also got 2 1/2 squares knit for her soft blocks that I've been slowly and not-so-steadily (what with all those owls and all that baking!) working on.  I'm thinking they will be a first birthday gift.  FIRST BIRTHDAY gift.  Wow.  That's right,  my baby girl is just a couple days over 11 months old and so our next stop is 1 year.  What a year it has been.  Moving into a new home, welcoming a new beautiful being into our world, and learning (some of) the ins and outs of this new parenting gig of ours.  The tiny little babe that we met nearly a year ago has now more than tripled her size and is showing us new things every day.  I'm finally getting used to saying "my daughter" and "my baby" and feel like I've got a fairly solid footing with being a mama.  What an amazing thing it is, to be someone's mother.  I think about how I viewed my mother when I was a small child, how she was very much my world and who/what I used to figure out how to interpret so much of what I was surrounded with.  And now I am someone's that.  Wow.  It is humbling and exciting and a little wild all at once.  I am both filled with anticipation about what is yet to come, and very much trying to be present and enjoy what is going on now because there is ever so much going on now.  I feel honored (and grateful) to be able to spend so much time with her, watching her become whatever and whoever it is she is becoming.

She wakes up pointing to things, wanting (I think) to know what it all is and what it is called.  She has favorites, too.  The ceiling fan and lights, the Christmas tree, her books, her Papa and her Nana, the windows and a couple of little bird statues... I watch her and wonder (over and over) what is going on in that little head of hers as she watches and learns and touches and feels and tastes this mysterious world.  What is she thinking?  Does she remember things from yesterday?  A month ago?  Her birth?  Does she dream?  Does she think in words?  In pictures?  In feelings?  I think I could just sit back and watch and wonder these things forever.  I won't have to though.  As time passes I know that soon the day will come that she will look over at me and tell me just what is going on in that little mind.

Welcome, 2011.  I know you have a lot in store for this new little family of mine.  Much happiness and love and laughter and health, I hope.  Surely some walking, some talking, some teeth, and LOTS of exploring as well.  I will do my best to take good care of you and treat you right, as the gift that you are.
Cheers!