This is what you get when you mix a guitar, a silly made-up song and a little girl with lots o energeeee!
angel
AngeLingo – about a tickle
The family tradition continues…from my husband’s mom, and then from us to our son…and now we’ve got our baby girl hooked. Last night she woke up at 11:45, crying. She sat in front of a bowl of Cocoa Crispies, and almost nodded off into it, until something jogged her awake & she ate. After crawling onto our bed, she laid there with me as I finished a movie. She was sick, so it was allowed. Then shells onto her tummy and says,
“Momma, kee-kle back.”
I asked my husband if he heard her, & he smiled. My fingertips barely traced her back ~ in circles, figure 8’s & criss-cross patterns, just like I’ve tickled my son’s & husband’s for years, and just like his mom tickled his, as a child. Angel was so lethargic, we were willing to let her stay in our bed overnight for the 1st time, but when she had her fill, she slithered off our bed & snuggled back into her own. I was kind of disappointed. These are the kind of sweet moments that, if I let them, make me cry.
Get this one?
Sometimes, when you’re just doing the mundane responsibilities life demands, God wants to meet with you, one on one.
Last night at 10:04, I was tryin’ to finish a chapter in my current book when I realized just how sleepy I was. Finally, I let my eyes close…until of course, a minute later when I heard a baby cry & a husband ask, “get this one?”.
Angel (actually 28mo.s old) was struggling to find her way to the door I’d just opened… in tears, and shaking. She kept saying, “Oweee”. She seemed very afraid. Earlier, we’d noticed she was running a temp. I looked over at the new bouncy Ikea Poang chair I’d put in her room for
nights just like this, but it seemed appropriate to just gather her in my arms and my criss-cross applesauce lap, right there on the floor.
She kept looking at me. I thought. I mean, it was kinda creepin’ me out. But then over the next 2 minutes or so, as I studied her eyes, I noticed they were looking right above my left shoulder. Her crying stopped. Her shivering stopped. But her eyes were wide and slowly blinking. There was a few feet of nothing behind me & then a wall, so I reluctantly broke the silence, “what do you see?” and with that, her eyes, as if tracing an object, quickly moved from behind my shoulder, to the door behind her, even causing her to arch her back a bit to see it as long as she could.
I prayed over her and hummed “My Favorite Little Girl“, until she found sleep again, in my arms. This is the third time something like this has happened. I’ve even written about an amazing experience when Braylon was her age. What a wink from God! That He would care so much to send us His angels to comfort & heal. It pleases Him to minister to those who are too young or too disabled to articulate it. I share a belief with Christian author and strong woman of God, Pam Vredevelt, who wrote of a similar story in “Angel behind the Rocking Chair” …that once in a while, these little ones are blessed to experience His supernatural presence in a more tangible, visual way.
Next time your spouse asks you to take care of a crying child, count it a privilege. It may be more worth your effort, than you think. I’m so glad I “got this one”.
At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!” – Matthew 11:25
Mini-Milestones of a Growin’ lil Girl
This week, our “baby” girl learned how to crawl out of her pack-n-play (which we were using for her to sleep in as a transition between crib & bed). One morning, she just walked right into our room and stood there smiling! Then next morning, I woke up to a cold finger and thumb grabbing a hold of my big toe. I just had to capture each step of how she managed to get out…& here’s what I got, in four easy steps:
1.) The angry drop-off
2.) A lesson in leverage
3.) Hurdle-hop
4.) The face of freedom
We actually put her down in her new big-girl bed (thanks to Mr. Paul’s generosity) around 8:45 that night, she would just play with her shutters or a book, and a few times would walk right out (greeted by a ‘pop’ on the hand) but yes, she did get to the end of her day around 10:20pm. She was so out by then, that neither the doorknob or the flash would wake her.
Bye-bye binkie, bye-bye pack-n-play ~ just one last thing to cross off our list: diapers!
a little photoshop action w/our kids
baby velma
“hmmm. looks like we have a mystery on our hands, freddie, but i think i spot a clue.”
photos of an angel
not to brag again, but…
aint she just the cutest little bug! for more, including an HDR-tweeked jaw dropper w/a blue haze, head over to braylon.com & click on the “my sister” link.
tell u what. my hubs is gettin’ better & better at this photography thing. i’m lovin’ it.
sweet surprises from daddy
my husband is a wonderful father…really. i could go on for days, but it’s like 1am, so i’ll just give one recent example. he loves to give surprises:
below is a recording that my handsome, & charming hubby made w/’adobe sound booth’ for my son – well, he took an old recording of me & tweeked it. braylon was sooo excited when rick blurted out how alvin the chipmunk called for him while we were out & got him to record a song over the phone…but not just any song, the lullaby i wrote for him when he was a baby – with bray’s name in it & all.
braylon was seriously ear-to-ear the entire song thru. ricky even printed out a picture of alvin from the internet for the kids to look at while they listened. toward the end, braylon couldn’t contain himself any longer & asked us with a nod, “do u dare me to dance?” & started break-dancing to this lullab, while angel was nearby twirling in circles. i love my family!
Chelan 