Remembering...

Tonight at 7:00 pm, along with my sister and many others around the world who have lost a beloved child, I lit a candle in memory of my sweet niece, Natalie.  Her Uncle Mark and I miss her so very much, though we know she is rejoicing in heaven.  

Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  

Lamentations 3:32

Anna Kathryn's First Art Project

On Friday, Anna Kathryn brought home her first art project from daycare. Her tiny little hands are the antlers. (!!) After I finished wiping away a little tear, I had to chuckle a little at the, um, creative placement of Rudolph's eyes. I'm so proud!

Juggling...

... work, baby, husband, house, life in general these days. It's all basically good but by the end of the evening, I'm toast. I now understand why all of my new mommy friends go to bed early. Too bad I am addicted to reading blogs and tend to be a night owl!

Anyway. We are all transitioning into the new routine well, and Anna Kathryn has pretty much settled into her new routine and going to day care (we call it "school"). She likes her new teachers and seems particularly fond of one of the afternoon teachers. She is super tired most nights -- dinner often ends with howls and spitting out rejected bites-- so bedtime is earlier these days. We try to make the most of the few short hours we have with her before bed. My one big wish these days is that dishes would magically load themselves in the dishwasher and that the sponge would magically wipe the counter. I don't mind cooking dinner at all, but after the bedtime routine I want to plop down on the couch and put my feet up, not do the dishes. I usually can't get it all done before bedtime, because that would cut into playtime with Little Miss Sunshine. Mark lends a hand many nights and I love it (and him, especially) when he does. I know I am blessed to be married to such a great guy.

Anna Kathryn's First Birthday!!

Anna Kathryn turned one on November 3, but I have finally gone through all of the pictures from her birthday party and picked my favorites. We had a wonderful day celebrating our special girl, surrounded by family and a few close friends (who are practically family anyway!).



P.S.-- I'm back to posting on this blog at last!! I also have a new-ish name and got a facelift. I may be slightly addicted to redecorating my blogs-- it's more fun than writing posts, honestly.

Where am I?

Yes, I am still posting over at my other blog.  I had planned to cut the cord long before this, but somehow I keep posting over there... plus I am perpetually behind on things to post and keep telling myself that I'll switch back to this blog after a certain point.  There are still a couple of "milestones" I want to post about on the "Journey" blog, and several bouts of flu and such at our house over the past month have worn me out and squelched my blogging energy,  Sooooo... please keep checking over there and one day very soon I'll be back here!

Missing Natalie

Natalie at five months

Natalie's first birthday, August 2007

One year ago, my sweet, beautiful baby niece Natalie died after an accident.   She was a fighter, and so brave, but ultimately her injury was too severe and the Lord took her home.  The past week I have marked the days thinking of what happened each day between the accident and the morning she died.  This has been a week of sad anniversaries for our whole family, but my sister, brother-in-law, and older niece have felt their hearts breaking all over again.   She was just 14 months old.  

I had seen her on just 6 different occasions in her brief life.  We were lucky enough to see her (and the rest of the family, of course) just about a month before the accident.  I treasure those times.  How I wish we'd had more!  A few days ago, my sister sent some photos of the girls, and many were of Natalie.  Some I don't remember seeing before.  I cried as I went through each picture, remembering and wishing I could hug her just one more time.  Wishing I'd heard her call me "Aunt Kimmie", or giggle at Mark's funny faces again, or play the "Crab Game" with Emily.  Wishing we'd had more birthdays, and Christmas together, and that she'd been able to meet her cousin Anna Kathryn on this side of heaven.  

Tonight, I can't find the words to write about all that is on my mind and in my heart.  Sometimes there are just no words.  Hillary, my sister and Nat's mother, wrote a beautiful post tonight about her daughter.  But I wanted and needed to write just a little in honor of this special girl, now our angel, safe in the arms of our Heavenly Father forever. 

Surfacing

Hello... hello... anyone out there??

((crickets chirping))

I'm jumping back into the bloggy world after a three-week break.  I posted over at Journey to Anna Kathryn tonight, but I'll be returning to this blog in the next week or two.  See you over there!