6.23.2015

of babies, bonnets, and cherries~


We drove ten hours up to New Jersey last week, stopping just for gas and bathroom breaks.  And donuts.  On a trip north last fall it came to papa's attention that there is a family-run donut shop inside a gas station not far off the highway in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  It is now of course a regular stopping place.  She had a chocolate frosted and after a few bites she yelled up to me "mama! this chocolate doesn't even taste like chocolate it tastes like super super sweet!".  I responded that she was no doubt right about that and that I thought she probably had very good taste buds.

We'll be back up in Jersey at the end of July/beginning of August on the way to and from a trip to Maine, but we had some very important business to tend to and it couldn't wait that long.  We had to meet a sweet baby girl, our new niece.



She smells, as new little ones typically do, delicious.  I spent a good many minutes just inhaling her sweet baby smell.  I held her for long naps, watching her closely and smiling at her little sleep sounds and gurgles and such.  I am smitten.  Claire is smitten.  She held her several times and even got to feed her once and help nana with bath time.


I could watch this little lass for hours.  I did watch her for hours, actually.


I'll just come right out and say that, despite being smitten and all, I think this little family of ours will very likely remain a family of three.  It feels good, we've found our groove.  We are quite on the far side of diapers and nursing and my goodness as of the last week Claire is even sleeping on her own now.  She tells us goodnight and we give her a hug and kiss and she crawls in bed and we say 'goodnight! see you in the morning light!', and we go sit on the couch somewhat stunned.  I mean, I thought surely I'd be laying with her to get her to fall asleep until she was at least thirty or so.  But I felt that way about nursing too and then one day, poof!, things change.  Part of me wants Claire to experience a sibling, part of me wants the opportunity to do it all again after having gained at least a bit of wisdom from these five years of mothering....... but all in all we are pretty settled and it's hard to imagine going back into that foggy newborn world now.  No doubt if we did we'd all rise to the occasion and it would be just grand.  But still.  Three is good number.


Also, cherries.  There is a big sour cherry tree in the front yard at my in-laws' place and every other year it is FULL of tart pie cherries.  In 2005, the year Mike and I got married in their back yard, it was full of cherries and my mom and I made pies for the wedding.  I never even saw the dessert table at my wedding, but I know there were several cherry pies along with some peach and apple pies as well.  I suppose we were too caught up in visiting and dancing and smiling to eat pie.  It's a special thing, though, to go back up there around our anniversary and walk along the horse fence where some of my favorite photos were taken.  And to pick and eat those cherries.  And to stare into the yard and imagine the white tents and the music and the people and the flowers.  Good stuff.









We also got to visit dear friends in their new home.  Erin and Mike and I were roommates in college and worked on the student-run CSA together.  She married Gilad last summer and I can't imagine a better match than these two.  Claire adores him.  He plays the guitar and piano, making up songs for her or playing according to how she is dancing.  It is all such fun and she eats it up and then pleads for more, more, more!  We had a fun, silly, wonderful, and delicious time catching up with them.




And then, of course no trip up to NJ is complete without at least a quick visit to Howell Farm.  It is only about ten minutes from nana and pipop's house and it has long been a family favorite.  We went on the summer solstice, father's day.  It was pretty quiet and Claire got to collect eggs from the henhouse, grind corn with a grinder from 1900, and pump water for the horses.  She also picked out a new bonnet.  One with roses that has plenty of growing room.













And then it was back to the house for a father's day dinner, cherry-pitting, last snuggles before the morning car ride back to NC, and a dessert of ice cream with stewed cherries on top.  Thanks for another great visit, NJ!


28 comments:

  1. Looks like a wonderful trip. Love the bonnet. I think three is a good number too :)

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    1. we had a lot of fun! and those bonnets are so sweet. I tried on the largest one but it was a bit small and I suppose perhaps a bit silly looking. still, I wonder........ maybe I could pull it off.

      three feels good. in so many ways.

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  2. What a wonderful time! And seriously that is a lot of cherries! :)

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    1. oh it was hard to stop picking them! we came home with a few quarts of frozen cherries- enough to make a couple batches of hand pies and some cherry cobbler, perhaps. I wonder how sour cherry ice cream would be?

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  3. Great picture of the little babe, I love the one where his neck looks good enough to eat. :) That bonnet is the best. I know it was the same for me, the more milestones we hit, the harder it was to imagine doing it all again with another baby. Now my girls are 8 and making their own food! Glad you are feeling at peace with it all and had such a great trip!

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    1. thank you, she was sooooooo sweet! and those bonnets, I love them so much, and I love that she does too.

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    2. Sorry! I saw that she was a she, my cousin just had a little boy baby and I've got him on the brain. :) She looks so sweet.

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    3. ha! no worries! I doubt she'll be offended ;)

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  4. Oh my goodness, sounds like such a wonderful trip! We had a ginormous cherry tree in the garden when I was growing up and my grandparents had a smaller one in theirs. To this day I can't eat cherries without thinking about climbing the big tree, picking cherries with family and canning cherries. Cherries are without a doubt my favorite fruit!

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    1. oh I love, love, love when good food brings back good memories. reminiscing and eating are two of my favorite things and I find they compliment one another very nicely ;)

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  5. happy to see you had such a joyful time, also glad to see you're back home, safe and sound. and oh, those new babies... they'll put a spell on you, that's for sure. i can still conjure up the smell of milk breath.....ah, so good.

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    1. oh yes, babies are definitely little charmers, aren't they? mmmmmm mmmmm good.

      and yes, we're home! let's play soon! see you at Franti this Friday, right?
      xo

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  6. How cool to have a cherry tree in one's front yard. We would gobble them suckas down quickstyle. Congrats to you and the family on another sweet addition. She is beautiful. I want a donut from that place! I hear you on being past diapers and oh the sleepless nights. I love holding my nephew and then it's bye bye, you go back to your mum and go home. I love the freedom I have now with my girls being older.

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    1. I know! If that tree was in my own front yard I'd have a hard time stopping without getting ALL the cherries. yum, yum, yum.

      we're definitely starting to experience more and more freedom these days. Thursday is our tenth anniversary and we're leaving her with a friend and going out for dinner AND to see a dance company perform- something that would've been much trickier and less realistic a year ago.

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  7. Your niece is beautiful, bless her. However I do know what you mean about three been a good number, do what suits you not what other people want you to do. How wonderful to have a cherry tree in your front garden, I would be making pies/crumbles every day.

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    1. thank you!
      oh yes, if that tree were in our own yard (it's at my in-laws') I'd be out there and up the ladder every day until those cherries were gone! yum!

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  8. We are a family of three also, with our one little perfect girl, and we intend to stay that way also. We aren't really "kid people" and so this works for us. As you say though, sometimes I wonder if it would be better for my daughter if she had a sibling, especially since we have plans to move to a homestead in a rural area. But then I remind myself that there are a lot of successful, well adjusted adults who grew up without siblings also. We are currently in the nursing/co-sleeping forever stage (not that I actually mind) - so it is interesting to hear that one day they do just grow out of it.

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    1. that's what I'm banking on- the idea of a successful, well-adjusted only child. I've met several of them so I know they exist ;)

      oh yes- I know it seems like it will never end. and then one day....... poof!

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  9. love your thoughts on your family number. I stopped at two after both were colicky (not fun). A family is a family no matter the number. Looks like a fun trip and I love the farm you visited. Quite interesting!

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    1. Claire was definitely one of those babies that needed LOTS of movement and holding and nursing and swaying. Of course, who knows if maybe we affected her behavior in that way by always holding and rocking and nursing, etc. Now that those newborn fog days are long gone, I'd find it hard to return to them. I love children, but yeah- a family of three feels just right to me.

      that farm is great- it's a living history farm and we go there every time were up in NJ.

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  10. Oh, sour cherries! I'm so jealous. Cherries don't seem to grow in Maine and its been years and years since I've had a real sour cherry pie. And that bonnet is so cute...looks like a wonderful trip. And babies are lovely to visit when you can give them back to their mamas and go get a good night's sleep. ;)

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    1. I do love them. still haven't made a pie yet, but I will soon. I'm surprised that they don't grow up there- I wonder if there are cold-hardier varieties that would do well...

      oh gosh, yes indeed. and the fact that Claire started going to bed by herself at the same time we were meeting that sweet little one just made that all the more clear. I do so love my sleep now that I've been reacquainted with it.

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  11. Oh how lovely, all of it. Brilliant too that she is going to bed alone now. You're a great Mam to have met her needs. 3 is a perfect number. I would just gently say though that the newborn days went a lot quicker and easier the second time around, despite similar challenges. Freedom could be yours again quicker than you think. I hope you don't mind me saying. I thought your post invited comment xx

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    1. thank you~ I felt sometimes like maybe we were giving in too much at times in terms of all the attachment parenting bits, but really, I get it. children need what they need. and though I wasn't always super excited to give, it looks like it has worked out well after all ;)

      I don't mind one bit about you commenting about that! By all means, I feel that if someone puts something out there in a blog post, then they should be open to receiving others' (kindly worded, of course, as yours are) opinions and such. I can definitely see how that would be/is the case- the second going much more easily. 95% of the time I am all about the number 3. 5% of me wavers when I think about a second go 'round and hold sweet little babes ;)

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  12. Had a moment today when I thought about having another baby. And I nearly threw up. Guess that's my answer. LOL. I'm GOOD too! XOXO

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    1. HA!
      oh Cory, you are too funny. yep, I think that answers your question loud and clear my friend.
      xo

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  13. I've never seen a cherry tree in real life!!! Amazing and so cute! You know that song...Three is the magic number? I always sing that to myself when I find myself on the topic of family size. Yes, definitely easier these days with just one six year old. Though my one is such a handful! I'm still exhausted much of the time! I feel like the addition of a dog was just enough for us. We (I) am really enjoying him!

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    1. I heard that song today, as a matter of fact. I've long thought Claire such a quite one, and then recently she seems to need to tell me EVERYTHING and chatters all the time. It made me think of you and Bea ;)

      oh Beau! has he come home yet? oh I hope so.
      xoxo

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thanks for taking the time to read and comment~