8 Months

Dear Devyn,

Happy eight month birthday, little lady!  We are just a few days away from Christmas and we are so excited to get to spend it with you.  Last night we opened our presents here at home.

You got a bead maze, which you already like very much.

And you got a whole set of alphabet blocks, which you LOVE!

Unwrapping presents was fun, but you liked the tree best.

I will have more soon, little one.  Just know that I love you so much, Santa couldn't possibly bring me anything better!

All my love,

~Mommy

34 weeks, 5 days: Tower of Babble

It seems as though, practically overnight, Devyn's repertoire of sounds has graduated from simple "AHHHH!" noises to much more sophisticated babble.  Quite literally, I noticed the difference yesterday from the day before.  Now it sounds like she's trying to make words a lot of the time.

In other news, last night we went to the Yellow Scene holiday party, and she was the hit of the shindig.  I did not hold her the entire evening; she just got passed from person to person and seemed to be happy to be charming and adorable.

Today we are cleaning, doing laundry, and packing for our trip!  We leave Saturday for the Grand Tour, with Christmas in Santa Fe and New Year's in Dallas.  Here's hoping our eight-hour drive to Santa Fe (with baby AND DOG in tow) will not be a disaster!

34 weeks and 3 days: These are the moments

A few quick thoughts for a Monday morning:

• All I wanted this weekend was to pick up some Christmas pajamas for Devyn.  I did not realize this would require visiting THREE stores on the busiest shopping weekend of the season!  TJMaxx only had a handful of Christmas outfits, not pajamas.  Target was sold out of all but the really hideous ones in her size. (And believe me, I wasn't being super picky; there's a reason they were left over.) Finally we went to Kohl's and battled the crowds and found the LAST pair of red and white striped 6 month size pajamas with a reindeer on the bottom.  Next year, I'm going to buy her Christmas PJs as soon as they show up in stores—in July.
• I think my never ending craving for guacamole while I was pregnant has rubbed off on Devyn; I mashed up a quarter of an avocado for her for lunch the other day and she cried when it was gone until I mashed up another quarter.  It's her favorite food right now, and she routinely eats half an avocado at a sitting.
• We swapped out her toy box this weekend (we have two that we switch around when she seems to be getting bored with the toys in one) and this morning she found the little soft dolly that was in the box.  She had a spoon in one hand and the dolly in the other, and for a moment, it looked like she was trying to feed the dolly with the spoon!  But then she stuck the doll in her mouth.  ;)
• She has learned how to not only hold her sippy cup by herself, but tilt it up so that she actually gets water out.

33 weeks, 2 days: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Last weekend we got our Christmast tree and put up the decorations, and Devyn was excited to help.

That evening, we had a bath, and when Daddy gives the baths, he pays special attention to giving her cradle cap a good scrubbing.  This is the result: 

I think that might be one for the high school yearbook...

A Mother’s Prayer for Her Child By Tina Fey

Bossypants

Tina Fey Hard At Work

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,”she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

31 weeks, 3 days: "Buh"

This morning, I notice that Devyn is making kissing sounds with her lips—the precursor to a "B" or "P" sound!

Seven Months (and 1 day) Old

Dear Devyn,

Oops!  Forgot to do your photo shoot yesterday!  So these are photos from when you are seven months old—and one day!  

I was reading through some of my previous letters to you last night, and it's amazing to me how much you've changed.  Things I was amazed by just a few months ago—laughing, grabbing toys, sitting up—are now things you do every single day.  But one thing that hasn't changed is how much I adore spending my days with you.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and this year, you are the thing I am most thankful for.  I wrote a couple of days ago about remembering that I should be thankful for poop blowouts and 3am feedings and crying—every single part of you—because those things, along with all the good things, are what make you you.  And I am so thankful for every part of you.

I am thankful that you sit up by yourself now all the time.  

I am thankful that you love to pull all your toys out of your toy box.

I am thankful that you like to go to story time and play with the other babies.

I am thankful that you really like your little French farm book that makes animal noises.

I am thankful that you are learning to put yourself back to sleep when you wake up at night.

I am thankful that you are learning to take naps without your swaddle.

I am thankful that you love eating big people food—this week we introduced beets and plums.

I am thankful that you waved to your Gran on the computer this week!

And so much more!

Last week we started going to mom and baby yoga classes, and they are awesome.  You really seem to enjoy yourself.  Today you just talked and crowed and laughed the whole time.  So, we will definitely be keeping that on our weekly roster.  And, last week I left you in the gym's daycare for about half an hour, just to try it out, and they said you did great!  

Your favorite book is still "Pajama Time," which your dad and I can pretty much recite by heart now.  Your favorite toys are Sophie the giraffe and anything that rattles or makes noise when you move it.  Your favorite songs are "Shake Your Sillies Out" and the good job song I made up.  

In the wider world this month, the Occupy protest movement is still going on, as is the primary race for the Republican presidential nomination.  (I just learned today that candidate Mitt Romney's full name is Wilfred Mittens Romney.  MITTENS!)  And in Egypt, protesters have returned to Tahrir Square to demand that the military caretaker government hold real elections right away.

I'm so looking forward to all the upcoming holidays with you, sweet baby.  You make every day more special for me.

All my love,

~Mommy

30 weeks, 3 days: On Being A Mom

 
Devyn's naps have started getting irregular again lately—she seems to think that a ten minute snooze in Mom's arms is sufficient for a 9am nap—and so I was letting her sleep after she ate this morning, holding and rocking her and reading blogs on my iPod as I am wont to do, when I came across two things in just a matter of minutes that crystalized how I'm feeling about motherhood these days.

The first was a post in which the author was talking about saying thank you even when you don't feel thankful.  As in, saying "Thank you for this tiny person," as you are cleaning up a massive poop blowout, or "Thank you for this home," as you sweep up yet another pile of dog hair.  The idea is that just the act of putting that thank you out into the universe can help adjust your attitude towards whatever it is you're facing.

The second thing was a post by a lovely author who has a toddler and a creative business and went to an art show this past weekend.  She writes,

to be honest, i felt a little out of place. and in my heart i felt envious; i've guiltily given most creative projects a backseat (or thrown in the trunk!) in my life right now. i wish i could carve out more time for things like this, i thought to myself. more time for cultivating my skills for awesome passions i wish i had time for. if i didn't blog so much, maybe i could be better at fill-in-the-blank. or, maybe if i could cut out my once-in-awhile napping ritual i could read more fine literature or possibly, dig into the new yorker or something equally as stimulating / informative...

soon i began to look around– pushing through those feelings–and saw dan with benji in his arms, mingling with the artists and i realized something. my own toddler is my creative project at the moment. he's the main show. and that is more than okay with me. it was a happy mini lightbulb moment.

I have so felt like this. I took on food blogging as a serious pursuit right after Devyn was born, and I started to meet all these incredible people doing amazing things. I became immersed in this world where people go out for cocktails every night, hang out at restaurants and chit chat with the chef and the bartenders, take field trips to farms every weekend to learn about their food, cure their own meats, brew their own alcohol, go up into the mountains and wander around for hours in silence picking wild mushrooms and berries. 

And I was envious.  That little green monster has taken hold of my heart more than once in the last seven months, making me jealous that I have neither the time nor the disposable income to indulge in so many of these pursuits.

And let's not even get started on the mommy bloggers who are suddenly my peers, and the real-life perfect moms I've met who post online about the dozens of crafts they have planned for the holiday season, the elaborate dessert buffet they whipped up for the PTA meeting, the dozens of Christmas gifts they've lovingly crafted—and finished!—so that they can do nothing but bake and watch Christmas movies with their kids from Thanksgiving to New Year's. 

I've felt that sense of, "if only..."  If only I worked harder, my house would be clean all the time.  If only I managed my time better, I could work out for two hours a day to be fit and healthy.  If only I worked more often after Devyn goes to bed, I could spend more time working with her, teaching her to wave and point to my nose and crawl.  If only...

And then. 

And then there are moments when it all just melts away.  When good enough really is good enough.  When I remember those first days when Devyn arrived and I marveled at her, called her my zen master, and prayed every day that I would be able to learn the lessons she is here to teach me. 

I truly am thankful for the poop blowouts and the 3am waking and the spit up.  And I really am OK letting Devyn be my creative outlet right now. 

Because she is so, so worth it. 

28 weeks, 5 days: The Rest of the Story

Realized today that updates have been a little thin on the ground lately, and that photos only tell part of the story, so I thought I'd fill in the blanks a little.

On Monday we went and had Devyn's 6 month checkup (postponed because we all had a cold).  She weighs 14 pounds, 2 ounces, is 26.25 inches long, and has a head circumference of 16.5 inches.  This puts her in the 10th percentile for weight, the 58th for height and the 25th for head size.  The doctor has little line graphs she shows at each visit, and Devyn is progressing along her graph perfectly, which means, basically, that although she is small, she is growing at exactly the rate they would hope to see.

She got her four regular booster shots and a flu shot.  We have to go back next month to get her a second dose of the flu vaccine (and I think mommy and daddy will get one at the same time), but other than that she is done with shots until she's a year old.

I also filled out a questionnaire about her behavior, motor skills, etc., and she was doing everything on the list consistently except putting her feet in her mouth (she grabs them all the time, but I've never seen her try to eat one) and saying syllables like "ba, ga, da," (she'll occasionally get one out, but not consistently).

Put into a sitting position, she can stay up forever—or until she gets tired and cries for someone to help her, or she reaches too far for a toy and falls over.  It's her favorite position for playing now, and she routinely sits by herself for 15, 20, even 30 minutes.

This morning, she was playing her newest game, which is to pull out all her toys one by one.  I recently bought some fabric boxes to corral toys downstairs, and keep one on her play mat; if I set it on its side, she can be entertained for quite a while, pulling the toys out and playing with them one by one.  (In fact, if you put the toys back, she's engaged for even longer!)

No crawling yet, but she is holding herself up on hands and knees now when we put her on her tummy.  She doesn't love to be on her tummy right now, though—I think because she is frustrated that she can't move or grab her toys.  I don't think it will be long, though.

We aged out of the new moms group we were going to, so now we are going to story time at the library every Tuesday and still walking with the stroller club on Wednesdays and Fridays.  She seems to really enjoy story time—mostly she likes watching all the other babies.

She's also eating solid food either once or twice a day (depending on my schedule more than anything else).  She eats apples, pears, sweet potatoes, carrots, rice cereal and we just introduced chicken—which she isn't too sure of.  She eats about two to three tablespoons of food at a time.  And she LOVES drinking water out of her sippy cup.  (She will make herself sick if we let her!)

We've been weening her off of her swaddle slowly, mostly at nap times so far.  I started by leaving one arm unwrapped.  Now, this week, I've just been very loosely draping the blanket around her, for consistency's sake, and she's been sleeping pretty well!  The next step will be working on sleeping without it at night.

All in all, she is a joy, and I am loving watching her grow and develop.

27 weeks, 3 days: Happy Halloween!

These were some of Devyn's photos from a little photo shoot they did for the Halloween issue of Yellow Scene!  I think she makes a pretty cute flower.  (Thanks to Jenifer Harrington for the pics!)

We've all had the crud this past week—luckily, Devyn seems to have gotten off with just a very stuffy nose—so we haven't been doing much in the way of Halloween activities.  But I think we will put her in her costume for a while tonight to answer the door for trick-or-treaters.

And many thanks to Aunt Em for the "My 1st Halloween" onesie!  (Just please ignore the fact that both of her legs are stuck in one leg of her jeans in this photo!)

More little videos

Just a couple of short videos that I had lying around on my iPod!

This is a little video of Devyn's first-ever time in a swing at the park.

Six Months Old

Dear Devyn,

I can't believe it! Today you are six months old.  Time has flown by so fast and already you are half a year old. You weighed 13 pounds, 6 ounces this week and I feel as though, developmentally, you are growing by leaps and bounds. You can sit up unsupported now and scoot all over your play mat.  You hold yourself up on your arms—doing your push ups as your dad likes to say—and it will only be a matter of coordination before you figure out how to get those legs under you and crawl.

You also started eating solid food this month, which was pretty exciting for me.  You've been eating rice cereal, applesauce, pears and avocados for about a month, and today you will try sweet potatoes for the first time.  You've taken to it like a champ, and you've liked everything you've tried so far.

We also got you an exersaucer a couple of weeks ago, which you really like.  You can stand up in it and play with all the toys.  I'm amazed at how much you look like a big kid when you play in it.  Your favorite toys right now are that, Sophie the giraffe, a rattle that spins and a soft book that you love to chew on. Our favorite books to read are "Pajama Time" and "You are my I Love You."

We've been going to story time at the library this month, since the new mom's group is over.  I think you really enjoy it.  You love to look at the other babies, and you grin like crazy whenever we sing "Shake my Sillies Out" now, which is how they end each story time.  We've been going with my friend Tiffany and her son Logan, who is two months younger than you.  We still go walking with the stroller club, and you love to go for long walks when you can look around in your stroller.

Your Gran and Pop came to visit this past month, which was really fun.  We got to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins, and you looked at all the animals and people. 

You also got your first cold this past week.  I don't think it made you feel too terrible, but you have had a really stuffy nose and maybe an eye infection.  We thought maybe you were cutting a tooth last weekend, because you were really grumpy, but now I'm pretty sure it was your cold that was making you feel poorly.

In the wider world this month, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, died.  A large, national protest movement called "Occupy Wall Street" is making news, protesting against big banks and financial firms. And a man in Ohio released dozens of wild animals that he owned, which then ran amok in his small town.

It's hard to imagine that in six more months, you will be a year old.  You grow and change so fast, that every time I feel like I'm getting the hang of things, they change again.  It certainly keeps me on my toes! But I wouldn't trade a second of it, my darling.  You are the shining star in my life, now and always.

With more love than you can imagine,
~Mommy

Where's Devyn?

I was working on the computer in the office/guest room, and when I looked over, this is what I saw!

24 weeks, 6 days: Exersaucer

I picked this up at the Just Between Friends pre-sale last night.  It was $25 and in great condition!  I thought Devyn might like something like this.  Turns out, she LOVES IT!

Maybe the best $25 I've spent in quite a while!

24 weeks, 5 days: Savoring the Moments

I went back to bed this morning with my angel in my arms.

Some mornings, Devyn falls asleep in my arms while she's eating her 6am meal.  And some mornings I manage to slip her back into her crib, undisturbed.

But this morning, I thought to myself, How many more days do you have when she will fit so perfectly in the crook of your arm?  How many more mornings are there when you will have the luxury of taking your baby back to bed with you, cuddling her and snuggling her while she sleeps, when you won't have somewhere else to be?  How many more moments like this will there be?

And the answer was too few.  Too few by far.

24 weeks, 2 days: Pop and Gran visit

We had a great visit from Gran and Pop this weekend. They were kind enough to drive all the way out to visit us—through crazy wind storms that shut down I-70 in Kansas!

We wanted to have a really relaxed time, and I think we managed it. On Friday we did a little shopping and a lot of chatting, and we picked all the apples and green tomatoes out of the yard because it was threatening to freeze. Saturday, Steve and Sharon drove up from Trinidad to visit. And Sunday, we visited the pumpkin patch!

Brandon my have gone a LITTLE overboard with the pumpkins (we got five!), but we had a great time and a wonderful visit.

23 weeks, 3 days: Leaf Peeping

We took a drive up from our house to Nederland and then around to Estes Park and back down through Boulder to do a little leaf peeping!

 Look at that GQ guy!

23 weeks: Beautiful Bow

22 weeks, 4 days: It's all in your perspective

Subject: Holding hands
From: lacy
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011
To: wendy; emily; branurenner

With her new friend, Baylor, at mom group. Better keep an eye on him, Brandon! 

----------------------

From: Brandon Renner
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 4:27 PM
Subject: RE: Holding hands

Devyn is actually attempting to judu throw Baylor across the room and take his pacifier. hehe

----------------------

From: Wendy Boggs
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Subject: RE: RE: Holding hands


A girl who ALREADY knows what she wants!    wab

22 weeks, 1 day: First Food

 Devyn had her very first "solid" food on Saturday morning: a little rice cereal.  I put solid in quotation marks because we made it REALLY soupy—it was more milk than cereal.  But this is really more for practice than anything else.

She actually did really well!  She wants to try to take the spoon and put it in her mouth herself a lot (with mixed results: see above) but we just have two and keep swapping them out.  She's also still a little small for her high chair, but I'm sure she will grow into it.

This is my favorite photo!  Her very first taste of solid food.  We've been having it once a day ever since, and she's doing very well with it.  I'd say she eats about two tablespoons a day so far.  Today I'm making up a big batch of pear sauce (like applesauce, but with pears) and we will try adding a little of that starting on Saturday.

Also, at our weigh-in this week, she was up to 12 pounds, 13.6 ounces—so she has officially doubled her birth weight!  Big milestones for my little girl.

22 weeks: Not as bad as it looks

What?  You've never read a book while lying in a laundry basket?  I don't get it.

Five Months Old

Dear Devyn,

Happy birthday, my angel!  You are five months old today.  As I write this, you are lying on a blanket on the floor next to me, happily watching the dog and playing with your toes—both new, grown-up things you do! 

A word about Bella, since I've mentioned her: she seems really fond of you.  She's always watching you and giving you kisses, and it's really fun that you've started to notice her.   I can't wait until you two can really start to play together.

Lately you have been really hungry and you’ve needed more food than I have to give, so we’ve been giving you one or two bottles a day to supplement, and you’re growing so well!  You weighed 12 pounds, 9 ounces this week, which is nearly double what you weighed when you were born!  So your dad and I have decided that we’re going to start you on some rice cereal this week.  And you’ve slept all the way through the night twice this week, without us doing anything different, so while I realize it’s not totally likely, I’m really hopeful that maybe you are teaching yourself to do it without us having to do any sleep training with you.

Speaking of sleep training, I gave up trying to cry it out with you at nap time after two tries.  I decided that I wasn’t ready.  Thankfully, you’re napping much better lately; while you’re still taking short naps, at least you are going to sleep more readily without waking up every time I put you down.  I thank you for that!

I am constantly impressed by the little person you’re becoming.  You enjoy playing by yourself almost as much as you enjoy playing with one of us, and you really need your “alone time” to have a good day.  People think you’re serious, because you don’t smile easily when they wave toys at you or make funny noises; I think you’re just contemplative and aren’t fooled by that kind of nonsense, because you smile easily a lot of the time.  You still love it when we sing songs and play games together, and you are learning to explore your world.  You reach out and try to touch everything you can. Anything I’m holding, you want to hold, too.  We went outside yesterday to pick tomatoes in the garden, and for the first time, you were interested in pulling the grass and grabbing the leaves of the trees when we walked around. I picked some herbs for you to smell and watched your little expression change as you marveled at your own senses.  And as I mentioned, you’ve finally noticed that the dog and the cat move around of their own volition and you want to reach out and touch them, too.

You seem to be just seconds away from crawling every time we put you on your tummy.  You still haven’t mastered rolling over from back to front, but I’m not concerned.  You can scoot and rotate yourself on your back or your front—so much so that I’m never sure what position I’ll find you in if I turn my back for even a second.  It won’t be long and I’ll be in SO much trouble, because you’ll be mobile and on the go.  We've also decided that we had better start weaning you off your "burrito" bundle, since you will be rolling over soon.

Last weekend, I went away for two days and an overnight to attend a writing conference, so you and Daddy were on your own—and you guys did great!  He told me you were a little fussy falling asleep, but I bet you did that just to make me feel better that maybe you missed me.  You are such an independent little lady, and I couldn't be more proud of you.

 In the wider world right now, the Palestinians are going to ask the UN to officially recognize them as a country in order to bypass the peace talks with Israel and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" officially ended, allowing gay people to serve openly in the military.

I can't even find the words to tell you how much I love you.  I love spending each and every day with you.  I love watching you grow and change.  I can't believe it's already been five months that we've been together; time is flying by so fast, and I want to be sure to remember every single thing.

I love you and love you, Miss Baby.

~Mommy

21 weeks: Watermelon

Untitled, a photo by LacyLu42 on Flickr.

Believe it or not, that is a watermelon Devyn is holding. That's the only one we got this year, and it's about the size of a softball!

20 weeks and 6 days: Butterfly Pavilion

Untitled, a photo by LacyLu42 on Flickr.

We went to the Butterfly Pavilion with our stroller club this morning. I think Dev was interested in the movement, at least! In a few months, that place will be MUCH more interesting.

Playing with Lamb Chop

Playing with Lamb Chop a video by LacyLu42 on Flickr.

This little lamb was a gift from Devyn's great-grandmother—and it's a big hit!

September 11

Dear Devyn,

Today is the tenth anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001. I was 20 years old and a junior in college. My boyfriend back home at the time worked the night shift, so each morning he would call me as he was getting ready to go to bed and I was getting up for the day. I was sitting in bed chatting with him when his mother came over to his house and told him to turn on the TV and I turned on mine. We watched the tower two burning from where the first airplane had struck it and then, to our horror, we watched in real time as the next plane flew into tower one.

I was living in Santa Fe, many hundreds of miles away from the attacks, and yet everyone was scared. The Los Alamos National Lab, where your dad worked at the time, showed live news coverage of the event. After the second tower was hit, the news said there was a third plane, and that no one knew what the target was. The bosses at his work told people they could go home if they wanted to because people were afraid the lab might be a target.

Classes were canceled for school that day. We had the only all-school assembly of my entire college career. I remember the president of the college telling us that they were setting up a special phone bank for students from New York to call home.

I'm getting a little teary-eyed just typing this. I know it's going to be hard to explain to you when you get older how scary and horrible that day was, and by the time you're really old enough to start to understand, we may be remembering the 20th anniversary, so that's why I wanted to write my thoughts down today.

I think the worst part was not knowing whether or not it was over. The people on the news really didn't have any information beyond what we were seeing, live, through the cameras. There was a third plane, which crashed into the Pentagon, and then a fourth brought down by the passengers who didn't want their plane to be a weapon. We were all just so stunned, so shocked, and so suddenly afraid of what was lurking outside our country that we'd never considered before.

It's been a challenging decade for our country in the years that followed. Our entire perception of the rest of the world has shifted. While your dad and I were not directly affected, it has changed how everyone in this country thinks and acts.

It's easy to say that THEY are evil, that THEY are out to get us, that THEY are all bad and that we are all good. But I think the one main thing I personally took away from this terrible tragedy is something I hope you will learn early in your life: while there may be small amounts of terrible evil in this world, there is always also outstanding good.

There was no nation responsible for the attack on September 11. There was, nominally, an organization which claimed responsibility, but really, it was the evil act of just a few men. In response, some of the things our country did were (quite a bit) less than perfect.

But above it all, there were individuals doing amazing good things. There were the firefighters and police officers who ran into the disaster area to help, when everyone else was running out. There were the passengers who would not allow their plane to be a fourth weapon. There were the thousands of volunteers and workers who tried to rebuild New York. And there are the thousands more who have decided to mark each September 11th by volunteering in their own communities.

When you learn about this event of our history, when you read this as you get older, I don't want you to be afraid of what happened or afraid that it could happen again. We can't live our lives in fear of what might be. All we can do is do what we can to learn from it, and to work toward preventing it, and the biggest thing you and I can do to prevent anything like this from happening again is to learn to practice tolerance. Tolerance is the antidote to fear. Tolerance allows us to seek to understand people who are different from us. We don't have to agree with them; we don't even have to like them. But we do have to grant that they have as much human right as we do to think, act, and believe as they want.

If there is one lesson I hope to teach you as you grow up, my darling, it is that. Be as tolerant as you can and seek to understand those who are different from you. Those skills alone will make you one of the people doing outstanding good.

All my love,
~Mom

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness. If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it. Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion. Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." ~Dalai Lama

Housekeeping: Backdated posts

I've done some backdated updating again! Scroll down for posts about our "sip and see" for Devyn and Grandma and Grandpa Renner's visit over Labor Day.

20 weeks: Devyn's Day in Pictures

In honor of Devyn's impending 5-month birthday, I thought I would document just a normal day we spend in photos. And here it is.

After breakfast, we start with a little play mat time.

And quickly end up slightly off the play mat.  Generally, she plays on her mat or sits in her buzzy chair while I eat breakfast.

Then we went for a walk. It was a little cool, so she got to wear her super cute hat.

This is a mom's eye view.

We took a new path and I found grapes to pick!  So delicious.  I'm going to make grape jelly.

Where the sidewalk ended.  You can see Standley Lake and the mountains in the distance.

But Devyn missed the view in favor of dreamland.

Changing pants (and clothes).  She loves the mobile Grandma bought her at IKEA.

Then she had some tummy time while I changed clothes.

More play mat time while I unloaded the dishwasher.

This is her new favorite form of communication.

Then it's burrito time!  Time for another nap.

More play mat time!  We do this a lot.  This time, she practiced rolling over.

No more photos, please!

After Daddy gets home and we have some dinner, it's bath time!

Then we put on our PJs and eat—I mean, READ—stories.

And that's pretty much what our days look like right now!  Very exciting stuff!