Lily of the Valley

A while back, New Mom mentioned in her blog about the lily of the valley (in reference to a song). Ever since then, I've been extra impatient for our lilies of the valley to bloom this year. And now they have. I love these delicate, graceful little beauties!

~ lily of the valley in the kitchen
~ lily of the valley in the guest room, where my sister Donna stayed last night...she was greeted by the typical enthusiastic adoration that my boys lavish on her :)...the picture above is of her sometime in the 80s...I always looked up to her so much and really, really, really wished I could have her nose! :)

The Bible mentions lily of the valley in Song of Songs 2:1, although I'm fairly sure it doesn't mean the flower we now call lily of the valley. However, it does indicate that the lily of the valley is something really special...so I want to jot down some things that are really special to me. (How's that for a seamless transition?) ;)

Josiah:

This morning, he and David were getting ready to watch The Wind in the Willows movie. I overheard Josiah say to David, "If you get scared, I'll just snuggle with you, OK?" :)

David:

Big news from yesterday: he had a nap (a long nap, in fact) in underwear and didn't wet the bed, for the first time. I'm thrilled!!! :)

A few days ago, we were talking about various cousins, and the boys were trying to figure out what last names they all have (since obviously, they don't all have the same last name as us). Then David said, "What are their front names?" (instead of first names); and I just had to smile.

He's been so interested in word and letter sounds recently. Once he asked, "What does 'fan' start with?" When I asked him what he thought, he sounded out, "Ffffffff..." and then announced proudly, "F!" He did the same with "paint" and probably other words that I didn't write down and have now forgotten. He's also tuned into rhymes and told us the other day that "Reena rhymes with Sheena." Sheena is one of David's cousins, but I don't know who Reena is--a sound in David's mind, I guess!

Tobin:

Before I'm done with the nursing stage with Tobin, I have to write down a few things about it. Sometimes when Tobin is beside himself with hunger, he will try to "latch on" to whatever exposed skin he can find, while I'm fumbling around trying to...well, arrange my clothes. ;) Most often when he's in this state, he'll start sucking vigorously on my arm before I can make other "more productive parts" available. It cracks me up!

The other thing that makes me laugh is how sometimes when he's so completely focused on sucking that he's almost oblivious to anything else, he'll occasionally pop off suddenly and look up at my eyes in surprise, as if to say, "What? Are you here, too? What fun! Isn't this a great party???" Then sometimes it's back to sucking...and sometimes it's time to gaze happily into each other's eyes.

At this stage of life, I LOVE breastfeeding. In the first few weeks of my babies' lives, it drives me to tears (literally) from the intense pain. But now, I can sit back, relax, soak in the sight of my little one, and enjoy the special moments of togetherness. At this point I can say--and really mean it--that I'm so blessed to be able to breastfeed.