This Present Joy

It's been awhile since I've been on the blog. . . Hannah is recovering from her surgery and gaining weight, which is great. I look back at pictures from the first few months of her life compared to pictures from the last two months, and I am amazed at the difference. Her heart was obviously working "overtime"; she was working so hard to gain weight, let alone maintain where she was. I remember thinking, "She's four months old and weighs what some newborns weigh at 9 pounds some-odd ounces." So, she's home now--eating well--gaining weight--back to the newborn schedule of eating a few times during the night (which, truth be told, is a bit of a bummer to resume the midnight, 3 am, 6 am feedings--but it's completely worth it since it means she's feeling better and READY to eat.) And, last week, she giggled for us! What a joy to hear. I wanted to freeze time right then and there. I had been tickling her nose with a blanket and when I pulled it bac...

A few years ago, J and I sat down to watch one of those movies that I like to refer to as, "an oldie, but goodie". Maybe you've heard of it-- White Christmas. Or maybe not. It's one of those black-and-white films that makes me pine for simpler times, for all the pretty everyday dresses they wore during the 1950s and for busting into song and dance at the drop of a hat. Lately, I've had fragments of one of the movie's songs in my mind. It's called Sisters and here are some bits and pieces of it: "Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters. . . Caring, sharing ev'ry little thing that we are wearing. . . All kinds of weather, we stick together, the same in the rain or sun Two diff'rent faces, but in tight places, we think and we act as one Those who've seen us know that not a thing could come between us. . ." I've started singing it in my mind when I see Carly and Hannah interact. I really just repeat the "sisters...