Rainy day fun

Shelley

Three.

Families come in all shapes and sizes.

Some are complete without children.

For some, one child is enough.

For others two is perfect.

Some are even complete with four!

I wanted three.

My great-grandmother, Grandma Rena (pronounced Reenee), was a quilt maker. She sat for hours every day piecing quilts. Even as her eye sight failed, she pieced quilt tops. She would have us pick out the materials we wanted, and put them together, so the quilts would look good even though she couldn't see the colors anymore. She did it all by hand, by touch, by feel. It still amazes me today.

She made my baby blanket when I was born. It was a soft quilt in very seventies colors, browns and oranges. I carried it with me everywhere. By the time I was five, it was tattered and old, and my mom put it away for safe keeping. When I was a teenager she gave it back to me, and I displayed it in my room. It was and still is very special to me, it is my blankie.

When Jason and I were dating, Grandma Rena made baby quilts for me and my cousins, for our future children. I had her make me three. I wanted three. I didn't know what the future held for me, but I knew I needed three.

After Annie was born, Jason felt our family was complete. Two was enough, he said, the world revolves around families of four. For me though, it wasn't right. I knew we weren't complete. I wanted number three.

Even I was surprised though, when Annie was just 16 months old, to find out we were pregnant. The decision was taken out of our hands, we were having another child. I worried that Jason would be upset, but he was wonderful. He was my rock when I was scared out of my wits at the thought of another baby so soon!

And so, I got my three. Three baby quilts, three babies.

The first time I saw a picture of our family of five, it just seemed right. It was whole, it was perfect.

When I got to visit Janelle the other day, she kept saying the same thing. Her families picture came up on their computer, and she said it finally looked right. It hadn't looked right to her before.

They needed three.

I am so excited to have a friend with three, like me. I am so excited for Janelle and Skip that their family is complete! Little Wingman is here! And let me tell you, he is BEAUTIFUL!

I mean, HANDSOME! (Sorry Skip!)

Three isn't easy. In fact it can be really hard sometimes, as Janelle knows from witnessing my crazy life! But it is SO worth it. There are days when my three just about send me into the nut house. But when I see a picture of our family, our family of five, it looks perfect. It's the way it was meant to be.

Grandma Rena went to heaven shortly after Jason and I were married. She never knew any of my babies. But I think she's watching, and smiling, maybe even laughing sometimes at my crazy life. And I think she's happy knowing that she made a baby quilt for each of my babies.

the magic of song

I suppose I'm feeling sappy and sentimental, since Ellie will start kindergarten in 2 days (eek!) Last night as I was putting Annie to bed, she asked me to rock her and then asked for a song. This has always been our bedtime routine with Annie, until we moved her to her big girl bed. After that, she decided that she just wanted to lay down. No rocking, No singing. I guess she thought she was too big for that! Anyway, when she asked to be rocked last night, I happily said, "Of Course!"

As I rocked her and sang to her, I started thinking about all the special songs I have sung to my children.

When Ellie was a tiny baby, she would sleep in our bed. Every morning when she'd wake up next to me, I'd look at her tiny, sweet face, and think of that song, Good Morning Beautiful. It's a country song by Steve Holy (I just put it on my playlist over to the right!). I realize that it's a love song, but most of the lyrics fit with my feelings for Ellie. I would sing this song to her often. She was so very beautiful.

I think Annie was about 1 year old, when I started singing this song to her when I put her to bed. I tried many songs, but ended up singing one that I made up, almost every night. We call it the "Annie song". I would sing...

Good night, to my Annie, my little baby girl. Good night, my Annie girl, my Annie, Annie, Annie girl. My precious sweet sweet Annie Gracie girl.

I still sing it to her when she let's me.

When Austin came along, we were on the go a lot. When the kids would get fussy (aka; the girls would be screaming!) in the car, I would pop in the Kindermusik CD that has the "Hush Little Baby" song on it. It would always calm everybody down, including me! It quickly became my favorite song to sing to Austin, and, although I often just sing a few bars, it usually works like magic to calm him down.

I always want to remember what songs I sang to my babies when they were little. Hence, this post. I love the tenderness that envelops us when I sing.