New Beginings

Autumn is my favorite time of year. It always seems more like a new beginning time of year than New Years. I don't know why I always feel that way. Every year, on the first cool day, I get a feeling that wonderful things are just around the corner. And as it happens, they often are. Here is this year's wonderful thing :-)
It's amazing how much life can change in a year. A three weeks ago, I became a mother. And Wednesday, my little sister became a mother. Talk about unreal.


The moment they put my baby in my arms was perhaps the most surreal of my life. Just looking at the picture overwhelms me with emotion. I couldn't get my mind around the fact that she was MINE. A little soul to cherish, train, love, and show the way to the Saviour. It's a little scary. Now, after a lifetime of watching other people raise children, and trying to figure out why some things work and some don't, I'm the parent. It a awesome, overwhelming, and humbling thing.

We named the baby Ianna Lynn. People keep asking where we got the name. Well, we got it from that most un-romantic of places, a baby name book. But it's like this. Most of the names we both liked were fairly common, like Elisabeth or Victoria, and we wanted something a little unusual. We also kind of wanted something that reflected our families' heritage, which for both of us is mostly Scottish, German and English. And last, but not least, we wanted something with a meaning more profound then "dark-haired girl". Ianna is Scottish, and it means "God is gracious".

A few hours after Ianna was born I was laying in my room, thinking about the events of the day. Poor Andrew was trying to sleep, but I had a thousand things to say. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning Andrew told me that Ianna was born with her cord wrapped around her head, her body, and her neck. Thank God, she was fine, there weren't any related complications. "I think we picked a good name, Love" Andrew said. And as I lay there, with my mind racing, I thought about the totally amazing, painful, and altogether overwhelming experience of giving birth, I agreed. Things couldn't have gone much better. My labor was short, and without complication, and the people I loved the most were there to share it with me. My nurses and dola were wonderful, and I felt like everyone there contributed something that I needed. Here's Robin contributing some much needed laughter. She declared that the chairs were uncomfortable. (And they are, as I found our Wednesday. I was not invited to join her on the bed when she was the one in it, though ;-) )

So anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject sometime. And for now, I'll leave you with some more pictures.

Here is Ianna with Selina two weeks ago:

And yesterday. Neither one of them look to happy, but they wouldn't both be awake, fed and happy at the same time.

For some reason this one decided to come out small. Oh well, it's still cute.


And here's my little family. So yeah, I'm pretty much the most blessed woman in the world :-)