Highs and a Bit of Magic

Highs and Lows
You all know I make an effort to do highs and lows each week.  This time I'm dropping the lows because, as you can all imagine, the last twelve days have been full of one tiny little high who has joined our family and none of the lows seem worth mentioning by comparison. 

Bits of Magic
There's another blog I enjoy which is written by D's violin teacher, Karen, called Dreamer.  Each Monday she posts a "10 Bits of Magic" list with a beautifully written, succinct list of 10 somewhat ordinary things she's noticed the beauty of that week under the description "Remembering that grace and wonder abound if I’m willing to see it."

I've enjoyed reading that list for months since I love how she takes every day things that she sees and really notices the wonder that is there. My dilemma is that nothing I write is succinct.  (Take, for example, the fact that we are on the third paragraph here while you wait for me to get to the actual post.)  So, I am going to try to do my own "Bits of Magic" post weekly, but I imagine it will be more of a quick paragraph (or a long-winded ramble) than a vivid, poetic list.  Thankfully Karen is a very kind woman and will probably only say encouraging things to me as I fumble along.

So, getting to the point at last, here is my ramblings of my weekly High and like any good mom I will try to convey to anyone who will listen just how magical the little life of my baby is.

My High and Bits of Magic

High:

Little Liam is 12 days old today. (Yes, thank you, he is adorable.)  I'm sure you can see how mature he is getting compared to my last post.  In the last week and a half he's learned to...uh...can't actually think of a single thing.  But he has eaten and pooped and slept, which as far as I can remember from the hazy memories I have of D and Belle as newborns means he is doing well. 

He is a sweet little baby.  His most endearing characteristic (besides the blessed fact that the child barely ever cries) is that even if he's completely starved and screaming his head off, all we have to do is pick him up and he settles right down.  Really, it makes you feel quite confident as a mother when the screaming is stopped by a touch of your hand.  Granted if the milk doesn't appear in the next few minutes, he'll start grunting his displeasure, but he's pretty content to wait for it as long as mom or dad is holding him.  Lovely child.

D and Belle both think he's pretty great.  Besides Belle's occasional claims of things like, "I will swaddle the baby!" which sends me rushing over in a panic, they are both gentle and seem vaguely fascinated by him and his alien-ness.  It took Belle at least a week to be convinced of the fact that he had no teeth.  They've taken in stride how much of my time he takes up and decided since I'm not available for refereeing they'll just get along. Now I just need to dream up a reason Liam needs me when he's sleeping and the other two may just turn into actual angels.



And it is impossible to spend quite moments with a newborn and not marvel at the wonder of his little being.


Bits of Baby Magic:

1. Skin so soft you can't stop touching it.  
2. Little hands that warm your whole body when they are just wrapped around your finger. 
3. Funny smiles that are probably just because of gas, but make you grin back all the same. 
4. The incredible complexity of his tiny body which works in such harmony together. In the last few months two of my acquaintances have lost babies due to rare health problems.  That and memories of our own little Jack make this especially poignant.  We know first hand what a difference is made in a tiny body if the heart is formed slightly differently.  And it makes us appreciate all the more how miraculous it is that Liam is formed so perfectly.  How many things have to work together in order to form something as intricate and delicate as a human body.  And certainly this gift of life which we come into contact with every day without even thinking about it is about the most breathtaking bit of magic on this earth. 

Linking up to:

Karen's Bits of Magic

and

Jennifer's Highs and Lows