It's not JUST about the baby....

Josiah is twelve days old.  Twelve days of terror, joy, frustration, more joy, relaxation, instruction, researching fussy babies, projectile vomiting, laughter, loving on a now happy baby, and more joy.

Much more joy. It's a new baby!

But I have been doing other things - doing some laundry for baby and mommy ( although I have the most amazing son-in-law who is on top of laundry), making iron-rich food for recovering after surgery, and I have  the early morning baby duty so tired parents can sleep...

Wait, that's still about the baby.


Well, I have been taking bike rides.

Could be Ireland?

Camp Lejuene has pretty decent bike baths- I ride down the Wallace Creek trail through the woods or across the bridge over the water.    I can't get to the marina  by bike baths but I found out they do have kayaks. Not sure if I'll get out on the water this trip.



'Cause I have to take pictures......

....of a hand made hat.
J for Josiah

.... a bib from a long ago life in the Philippines....from Great-Aunt Terry

And a new soft blanket from Great-Aunt Connie. 

He sleeps a lot and even that is funny. The orange bear hat started off on his head.
And his head started off between the pillows.
 Babies are very flexible.
.

Yes, I moved the hat- it's now a prop.

 There are also nice walks to take along the New River which is near Abby and Steve's house.  It's a bit buggy but the sunsets are nice.

Sunset on the New River, North Carolina

But that means it's night and suddenly, the next morning arrives and I should go take another long bike ride. It's so lovely riding my new bike along tree lined streets.

This base is serious about exercise AND heat stroke!
These water stations are scattered along the trails.

But first I need to keep the baby quiet so his mommy and daddy can sleep. It's ok- in the mornings, we read- he likes GK Chesterton's Tremendous Trifles, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8092/8092-h/8092-h.htm#2H_4_0029.  Then he listens to Oswald Chamber's essay for the day. http://utmost.org/.   Or we sit on the screen porch and we both listen to the songbirds as they wake up.


Sometimes nothing works but BeBe is not deterred.... not swinging, not bouncing, not swaddling?.... how about the vibrations of the clothes dryer?

Works like a charm- off to sleepy land, my little man. 

Well, now I can do something else. I do have wedding gifts to choose, airplane tickets to purchase, a blog to write, my own laundry to do. I can read - to myself. I can write. I could exercise.


Or I can take pictures of funny baby faces.

Ah.... the perfect bliss of a sleeping baby.

BIG yawn. 
(He really isn't screaming- it was a yawn)

Oohhh.... maybe I'll think about waking up.
But first, I'll fill my pants.

Ahhh...
See how happy I am. 

Well, maybe it IS all about the baby.

And I savor each small moment, each mindless grin and soft gurgle. The wonderful smell of new baby.   I can  appreciate that this will soon be a blur of memories - more babies will come, along with teething, toddler tantrums, and teen angst.  All good times to come. And the experience of living through it with Josiah's mother and his uncles gives me such a sense of the fleetness of time. Yesterday I was the young mom wondering who had entrusted me with my own little man child.

 Today I am the grandmother,  little man Josiah's Bebe.

Deuteronomy 4:9

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 ^... so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

So for this day, for these precious few days, it will be about Josiah. It's about the joys and funny faces of the first weeks of a brand new person on this earth.

"Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. John 16:21 NASB

Welcome to the world, Josiah Robert.
Your BeBe is having a grand time with you.