4 Months

Cuatro is 4 months old, and he is officially a giant!  At least, he's a giant compared to the Baird baby who was born Friday.  That's how it always go.  The baby is born and you are in the thick of the crying, feeding, rocking routine - weary and sleepless - and all of a sudden you wake up and the fourth trimester is over and you have a little individual in your arms.

Our little individual is often called a miniature man - he has a deep and probing way of looking at things, and then when you least expect it he breaks the solemnity with a face-wide grin.  His smile reminds me of Songbird's - broad and freely given.  He has also started laughing here and there - especially when being tickled on his tummy or cheeks.  And the boy has no lack of love - in fact, I'm pretty sure he will grow up thinking he hangs the moon with all the doting he receives from the 5 other people in his family. :)

The day he turned 4 months he started rolling over in earnest, but he did it in a non-traditional back-to-tummy sort of way.  Then he started doing it compulsively, but he didn't like being on his tummy and didn't know how to roll back over.  He still hasn't gotten the nack of rolling from tummy to back, though I think he will be doing it by the week's end.

Last weekend he experienced his first snow / ice storm and took his first walk in sub-freezing temperatures (which didn't last long because the wind was unbearably whipping in our faces).  The freezing rain started after dark on Friday and continued through the night.  When we woke on Saturday morning we were encrusted in ice.  The older children had a great time making ice skating rinks and sledding with an older neighbor up the street, while Raindrop and I huddled in the warmth of the wood stove that Papa kept well-fed and worked on painting and beading.  The ice kept the church from opening and the schools from opening, so our already long-seeming vacation kept going and going.  But the children got their snow.

Now, exactly one-week later, we are hiking the mountain and shedding our layers because it is 70 degrees outside.  I keep having to remind myself that it is still the middle of January.

The Boggs came by for a visit, and the warm was welcomed by all.  Elisha and I took a 40th birthday walk together, and the kids made fires, and whittled, and chased chickens, and felted, and cooked, and dreamed.  And our souls were fed.

Look at me!

Cuatro's first snow

Raindrop and I keeping warm with art

The freezing walk

Ice "sledding" at the end of the street.

A hike to Kennesaw Mountain with Caroline when it warmed up.

2016

Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Years' Eve with the Hutchinsons - good college friends we hadn't seen in 4 years!!  We are blessed to live only 20 minutes away from Chet's brother's current home, and so we joined their families for a hotdog bonfire.  It is a special gift to pick up where you left off with like-minded friends and to be encouraged in life and faith.  Thank you Chet and Erin!

This New Years' Day began for us as the night ended, rocking Cuatro through tears and unknown pain.  He slept most of the night in 10-minute increments, requiring constant pacy holding and soothing.  Hubry slept on the floor so that Cuatro and I could share the bed, but overall sleep was sparse for all.  I vaguely remember hearing the loud fireworks ushering in the New Year, and I quietly thought to myself, "it is here."

When the morning finally came to relieve us of our misery, it was greeted by a cold, steady rain.  Raindrop's asthma had kept her awake some of the night as well, Songbird seemed out-of-sorts, and Hubry quickly made the call that we would be staying home from church this day!  And with that began a sweet time of remembering, dreaming, planning, singing, feasting, and now...writing.

When I look back over 2016, I see many gifts and trials and accomplishments, but what stands out the most is Cuatro himself.  He was longed for, prayed after, and realized in January.  He spent the next 8 months blossoming in my womb.  He finally joined us in this pilgrim journey early September, and he finished out his "fourth trimester" just as the year came to a close.  He has added so much joy to our family, I can't imagine life without him!

This afternoon we sat around the fire, steady rain falling outside, offering up our thankfulness.  From 2016 we are thankful for:

Cuatro
The Peach Book - the culmination of 9 years of dedicated work.
Christ Community Church has been a blessing for everyone: Sunday school, Bible studies, small groups, bells and children's choir. We became members in August and have enjoyed being able to participate in a community so close to where we live.
Lots of time with cousins (at the beach, in the mountains)
A dry basement and attic. (thanks, DaddyO).
Fires. And lots of free wood, courtesy of our neighbors Nancy and Ken, cut into wood-stove sticks by Paul Wagoner's amazing hydraulic splitter
Chickens. We wanted to get out of rabbits and into chickens now that our yard is more accommodating, and what do you know? Our rabbitry friend Tom wanted our rabbits back, and gave us 10 poulet de bresse chicks in return, augmented by another friend of a friend's 5 leftover chickens. Minus 6 rooster dinners, we have 9 lovely hens who make a racket and lots of eggs.
Running - Songbird has dropped her 5k time dramatically and has been running better than she ever has. Bro continues to do well, and Raindrop ran her mile diligently with the promise of winter gymnastics in view. Kelly ran her first 5k just 6 weeks after Cuatro arrived, but opportunities have been sparse of late.

9 years in the making!

Self-portrait in the bathroom :)

And on the porch

Isn't it great to be the youngest of 4?

Songbird's artwork

BRO practicing his whittling skills

New Years' Dinner - the beautiful table brought to you by little Raindrop.