Full house--this is my bliss

Nothing brings me more joy that to have a full home. Rugs awry with fresh crumbs strewn about. The bathroom hand towel wadded in a bunch on the lavatory. The candy dishes empty.

Can it be like this every day?

Thank you, friends and family, for sharing your love and light for our son. Your presence in our hearts makes us richer than King Solomon.

May you be blessed aplenty.

W with Uncle B

G'ma Kathy and G'pa Har

Jeff & Rach, Grant & Carson

Grey

Click here for robot cake recipe

Purity--you see it, too?

Amy & Katelyn

Dave & Amy ("Damey" because they are inseparable)

Ori & Grey

Juls, Liz, me

Drew & SG (they drove the farthest)

W & Aunt Andrea

At the end of the first year, our babies have reached beyond the nest of our arms. They're mobile, discovering and learning on their own. Babyhood drifts into the toddler years in the blink of time's eye. With their burgeoning independence, we're asking new questions, and wondering if we ever really needed all of those receiving blankets stacked in the hall closet. I carried my daughter in a front pack for months, running errands and cooking dinner with her head against my heart, but the vividness of that time has already begun to fade. The first year of motherhood dilutes like watercolor; the soft essence of experience hovers in memory. Sleeplessness probably blurs some of our recollections, challenges, and triumphs.

But that's ok.

We've made it through.

Excerpt from The Mother's Book of Well-Being, by Lisa Groen Braner