Naps and Fall Leaves

You would think that motherhood would create a wave of blog posts, flowing continuously and gently upon the shore of published blogging genius. Not so. Although my head is full of rampaging thoughts that I think would be invaluable to write down (mostly for posterity, and maybe as a venting avenue), I don't . As a mom, you either write, or you don't. There is really no in between. You either spend your days composing about your children's latest antics, or.... your children's latest antics are stopping you from having any sort of moment to create. Thank God for naps, and fall leaves.

 The only descriptive word I could come up with to describe this fall's vast array of color, is, "Astonishing". Isn't God amazing? I'm astonished by a rusty tree-scape, spotted by brilliance of gold, red, neon orange, and luminescent purplely-red-goldy something. I am astonished by how little notice we take to the glory. Why don't we all go outside and just turn around and around, mouth gaping, eyes wide with wonder!? Why do we spend our fall days inside at all? Or at least we could knock out the west wall of our home and just put glass. Glass to be able to see out at all times. To be reminded again that we are not the center of the universe.

Confessions of a love-struck Momma

"I've missed you my Bloggy-blog-bloggers!" (so, I have an 8 month old baby boy. Does it show?) It's been 8 months since I've posted on this blog. Any new moms relate? I don't have time for such nonsense. I'm too busy wiping snot off my son's nose, squirting him with water with his rubber ducky (just to hear peals of baby giggles), and trying desperately to find lost brain cells from all the hours of sleep gone MIA (it's an uphill battle). Plus, I'm way too in love with my amazingly cool little boy to write about it. I don't know where to begin. A friend of mine once said. "Watching my daughter is like watching my heart walking around outside my body." He's a part of me and I love him more and more each day. Right now he's having a blast playing with a new toy my friend Jiyoung gave him. 

Malachi Lewis Dickinson loves everyone and everything. He hates getting his nose wiped and cries when I take him out of his favorite place, the bath tub. He loves his mommy, playing with his daddy outside, and will eat any food (and nonfood) you give him. He is a people magnet, and has only helped me in loving international woman in the name of Jesus. Actually, everyone loves him so much, that I think if I showed up on campus without my chubby little man, they would either ignore me, or demand to know his where-abouts and when he will return. I'm still waiting for my son to develop separation anxiety. I have passed him around from  Indian auntie, to Chinese auntie, to Russian Babushka, to Japanese auntie, etc.... since he was 5 weeks old. "He's so beautiful and strong!" I hear quite often from my friends. I had my doubts, when I was pregnant, about how I would handle working part time and being a full time mommy. It's not easy, and I still drop balls while juggling. But, I have found balance more and more each month. As he changes, I have to be flexible and change. I'm thankful to work for and organization that is super flexible with my family's needs.

I am blessed beyond measure to have a husband who adores our son and helps me with Malachi in so many important ways. We've been trying to figure out how to help him sleep through the night. Brent will get up and change his diaper so that Malachi doesn't demand to be fed. Malachi roars with anger when he see's his daddy, but he quickly calms down and goes back to sleep. Malachi didn't get the memo about our new plans for him and started teething hard-core as soon as we started the grueling "cry it out" method. Oh well, he's only a baby for a year, and 8 months have already flown by. I need to treasure every moment, even the ones when I wish I were fast asleep curled up next to my husband.
We'll, I hear him coming to the gate. We live in a "gated community" now. We bought 4 baby gates to try to save our son from his own curiosity. Baby-proofing is no joke! Bye bye bloggy. See you in another 8 months!