Sweet William.



You came slowly it seemed.
We had to wait to try for you.
Then,
You were suddenly there, in my womb.
Then,
Eleven days late.
Then,
Nineteen hours of labor.
Nine pounds Eleven ounces.
You cried with a purple face.
We waited -- seconds seemed like hours.
Purple. Oxygen. Then perfectly pink.
Then,
You suckled in a flash.
You held tight and didn't stop.
You were strong and beautiful and peaceful.
You slept the night that night,
But you've kept me company in the early hours 360 nights.
William, you've given our family such life.
You have been our constant companion.
Your inquiring mind wants to know every detail of dinner preparation,
Lego making, puzzle working, math equations, motorcycle maintenance, fire building, trampolining, chicken feeding, sheep care, Little House on the Prairie, and laundry folding. You inspect and dissect and recreate and unbuild and undo and wear and taste it all.
You want to be in the middle of morning cuddles.
You need naps, you love walks, you love Lucy our dog and ducks and cats.
You adore daddy. You look under the door for him -- waiting for him to come home.
You climb the stairs to the children's room and find a car or an animal and set to work.
You make funny faces. You love a game. You love to laugh.
You love black beans, broccoli, salsa, grapes, blueberries, and meat.
You suck a smoothie down in a flash.
You love to swim. The water makes you laugh.

William, you are one now. It happened in a flash.
The wait was powerfully difficult. Even once you were born,
I was waiting for you to breathe again and again. Listening, waiting, watching.
I was waiting for you to eat right, poop right, be alright.
And you were. You were perfectly right.
Once I got past waiting, I was chasing you.
Chasing time. One is here in a blink.
You are a wonderful work!
Happy Birthday Sweet William August.



Comments

  1. JoniNovember 28, 2012 at 6:33 PM

    Happy 1st birthday sweet boy!!! You are a joy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. tomasDecember 1, 2012 at 11:08 AM

    So thankful for you, William! You were worth the wait :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cattle Are Lowing

Image
We’d waited since February for her to calf. By November 20th, all eyes stayed on mama cow - Trahlyta. Her due date was close and we were more than ready. The waiting wrung our patience.  October was wet and boggy and Trahlyta looked sick. We discovered rotting flesh in her foot. Foot rot set in from standing on soggy ground day after day. George and the children tended to her around the clock as they cleaned out oozing infected sore and cared for her hooves. We’ve had her since she was a few days old. The children raised her. She’s part of our family. And, she’s our first cow to calf. She held the keys to our own dairy supply and to our tender hearts as we watched her stay under the weather. All we could do was wait and make sure she stayed healthy and it wasn’t as easy as we expected. But now, her hooves were healthy and her belly was swollen and we were waiting.  On the morning of the 24th, I rushed to the window at the first day light. Down by the creek, I saw Trahlyta and a red cal
Read more

Love Them. Feed Them. Talk To Them. The Rest Is Icing On The Cake.

Image
We've been homeschooling for ten years. At LEAST once a week I think that homeschooling is the worst possible thing on the planet. I look at my kids and think, "I've got nothin'!" It is scary. It is hard. How many hundreds of times have I called my extremely patient husband and yelled, literally screamed into the phone, "I CAN'T DO THIS!" There was a day, in the middle of a lesson that wasn't going well at all, that I walked out the back door, walked to the pool, jumped in fully clothed and yelled as loud as I could under the water. I got back out of the pool, calmly walked inside, changed my clothes and continued with the day feeling much relieved. George, my husband and biggest cheerleader - also a major part of our homeschooling life, is diligent to walk me off the cliff of homeschool despair. When I feel like I am failing our children, he offers me this morsel... Before I give you his advice, I would like to mention at this poi
Read more

Coffee Shop

Image
A little water. A little dirt. Buckets of imagination. They opened at 9:00 a.m. and didn't close the doors until the mud covered dishes were recollected and soaking at 5 p.m. The Best Food Whale Coffee.  Amelia made special food for the whales to eat. Their play was seasoned with the things we've read this week like the rules (The Code of Hammurabi) for the shop. School met them during their serving breaks. William loved playing along side them. He pulled weeds from the monkey grass for an hour straight and then played at their feet. He had a lot to say as well. The rain started in the late afternoon and George let them make us "real" coffee in the kitchen. A bike ride through puddles. Friday night pizza turned into Friday night spaghetti (I was out of flour due to "Waffle Friday" breakfast).  Whale Food Friday night movie -- "In Cold Blood" -- BBC's reptile documentary. Brilliant. Music turns
Read more