Back in the saddle again!

When Brian and I were first dating, he had a motorcycle. I loved riding on the back of that thing with him! He sold it before he moved to Washington, but on nice days we still often say, "This would be a great afternoon for a motorcycle ride!" Well, recently my brother bought a motorcycle, and he brought it home from college yesterday. Oh, Brian had such fun taking it for a spin! I also got to ride on it, but I must say, I have changed somewhat since my college days. I am so much more safety conscious. When Brian got going over 40 mph, I started yelling for him to slow down. You feel (and are) so much more vulnerable on a motorcycle than in a car. First of all, you are balanced on two narrow wheels instead of four. You are completely out in the open. And it only takes a little loose gravel or a squirrel in the wrong place at the wrong time for things to go awry. I kept mentioning helmets to my brother, but notice how I hopped right on without wearing one myself. Good grief.


Daniel just loved sitting on the motorcycle, and I am already beginning to pray about his future desire to have one of his own. Sigh.

I love this photo of my brother and Danny. Everyone says they look so much alike. They do have identical hair and eye color, but my baby photos look more like Daniel than Jonathan's do. And Daniel definitely has some of his daddy mixed in there too.

Fishing trip

On Sunday afternoon, Brian and I took Daniel on his first fishing trip. The weather was absolutely perfect...cool, sunny, nice breeze. We saw one snake (yuck), two skink, and a family of mice. Brian caught 4 or 5 fish, which Daniel found to be very entertaining. He carried one fish around for awhile, and when told to throw it back in the water, he walked to the edge and tossed it in perfectly. We stopped by my parent's house on the way home and saw some of their new baby kittens. Brian and Annie happened to unintentionally get too close to one kitten, and the mama cat attacked them both! Yikes! Other than that incident, we had a wonderful afternoon of "first" experiences for Daniel. I love this stage...wish we could get past the teething and sleeplessness, but I love this stage nonetheless!

Outdoor adventures

On Saturday morning Daniel awoke at 5:45 a.m. Evidently, he missed the memo saying that mom and dad would really like to sleep in a little . Oh well. Maybe when he is a teenager he will sleep later. Anyway, Daniel was off and running first thing. He went immediately to the back door and started pounding on it to go outside. Brian and I were still half asleep and would not fulfill his request. A couple hours later I said, "Daniel, should we go outside and feed the dog?" He immediately got his jacket and brought it to me. I put it on him, and then he disappeared again, this time coming back with a pair of sunglasses. I laughingly put those on him too, and we went outside. He looked so cute in his turtle pajamas, red jacket, and shades that I had to snap some photos.

One cool dude

Hangin' with the dog

Today we were outdoors planting geraniums and watering the new grass when we came across an earthworm. This was Daniel's first encounter with a worm, and he certainly enjoyed it.

This next photo shows him attempting to eat his new little friend. Luckily, Brian intercepted just in time.

And finally, here are some photos of Daniel in his new swing. He just loves being in it...for about two minutes. Then, he is ready to do something else. He especially likes when Annie runs around underneath him, barking and jumping at his feet!

Sneaky snake

When I opened my front door on Tuesday morning, this is the sight that met my eyes:

I hate snakes. I absolutely detest them. So needless to say, I was not thrilled about this little critter on my porch. Brian was at work, but I called him anyway to voice my displeasure. I didn't think it was poisonous, but I emailed Brian a photo of it, just to be sure. When Brian saw the photo, he said, "Oh, it's a cute little guy." Now, this is where Brian and I have extraordinarily different views. Baby ducks are cute. Puppies are cute. Daniel is cute. But a snake...NO WAY! Brian said it was a harmless corn snake and wanted me to trap it in a jar so that he could "play" with it when he got home. Yeah right. The only interaction that snake and I were going to have was me taking a hoe to its neck. As my dad says, "Get it right behind the ears." :) But, Brian convinced me to leave it be. Of course, when he got home from work, the snake was long gone. However, yesterday it showed back up again and hung around awhile. Much to Brian's delight, it was still there when he got home. He caught it, and we took it to the country to be released. I certainly hope that it doesn't have any brothers or sisters still hanging around my front porch!

This photo shows how very small it actually was. That makes no difference to me. Little snakes grow up to be big snakes. Yuck, yuck, YUCK!

Crocs rock!

As you can see, we are a croc-wearing family. I have never been super fond of the way the things look, but they are just so darn handy! We love wearing them around the yard and garden because any dirt can just be hosed off. And they are comfortable too! Daniel has been wearing his cute little pair constantly this spring. He longs to be outdoors every waking moment. He likes playing with the dog, sitting on the lawn mower, picking dandilions, collecting rocks, and just being in the fresh air. When it was raining yesterday, he stood at the screen door and looked forlornly outside. Every so often he would point at something and "talk" about it at great lengths. I am afraid he will have several more rainy days to endure this week!

The Climber

Thinking back

After Daniel was born, I began keeping a detailed journal to document his babyhood. Today, I was reading back over some of it and came to this passage, written when he was 4 weeks old: “Today I took Daniel to the doctor. He cried inconsolably for almost eight hours last night.”

Yikes! Those were some trying times. Daniel sure was colicky those first couple months. And to make matters worse, I was struggling with post-partum depression. It took hindsight for me to realize that post-partum depression was what happened to me. You know, things seldom look like how you think they will. I didn’t exactly feel depressed. I felt afraid of some undefined horror. As the sun went down, I could almost feel my body tensing and my mood dipping. I couldn’t sleep…even during those rare times when Daniel was slumbering. I would lie in bed with wide eyes, almost shaking, wanting to crawl out of my skin. In my mind, post-partum depression happened to people who were more emotional…less stable. Not someone like me who was a counseling student and knew all the signs of depression. How ignorant and prideful I can be.

The only things that helped was reading Scripture and having Brian and my mom pray for me. Ugh. I would much rather have gone through labor and delivery again than to suffer through those dark nights of depression. However, about three weeks after Daniel was born, it was like the fog began to lift. In addition, Daniel’s colic eased substantially within the next month. I still remember going to church for the first time after he was born. It was Easter Sunday…Daniel was six weeks old. Brian and I were so apprehensive because Daniel had rarely (if ever) gone an entire waking hour without crying. We sat off to one side of the sanctuary, hoping and praying that Daniel would do alright. The little guy did more than alright. He smiled engagingly at the choir as they walked by him. He seemed to enjoy the singing at the beginning of the service, and then he slept quite contentedly through the sermon. We were so relieved!

I am not sure why I am blogging about all this now. I know that many couples have babies with longer lasting colic than ours. And I know that some women suffer from much worse post-partum depression. But these things seemed very major to us! When I got pregnant, the Lord gave me this passage:

Isaiah 43:1-2
But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“ Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.

God kept His promise. He always keeps His promises.