New Beginnings.

Michaela wrote us this card for New Year's:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
It's 2010! Ain't that funny?

I found it quite funny, of course, because I'm her mom and think everything she does is cute and clever and precious, but I also thought it was kind of deep, too, in a way I couldn't quite put my finger on.
Maybe it's because I am still getting up every night with three month old, but I think I found it deep because that's the way I've felt like my life has gone the last few months: Time is knocking on the door, looking for my attention, and because my brain is trying desperately to manage illness and schedules and routines and holidays, if I don't stop for a moment, catch my breath, center myself and turn my attention to the passing Time and smile at it, welcome it into my house, and sit down for a leisurely glass of wine with Time, Time will sneak past me and wreak Holy Havoc on my life... and the next thing I know, it'll be June.

Speaking of time getting away from me, I realized I haven't done a proper Alec update in awhile. Besides this RSV that's he's working, he's really doing quite beautifully. He is solid and strong and loves showing off how well he can hold up his head. He clearly loves women, and flirts and smiles and "aw, shucks... " at all the ladies at church. His eyes have cemented their color, which is a beautiful (again, I'm his mom) deep denim blue, slightly lighter on the inside than around the rim of his iris. He is wearing 6 month sized clothing and is very long in the torso. At his doctor's appointment the other day, he was 14 pounds, 11 ounces. He is adaptable to routine, adaptable to change, adaptable to being held, and adaptable to being put down. He's just flexible that way. He takes long naps in the morning and afternoon, when we can get some things done, and when he's up he loves to coo and sigh and make all those yummy baby noises. He has a great smile that looks just like Dan's and is generally adorable. Alec's latest totally endearing trick is to hold onto my fingers when he's drinking his bottle: he'll reach up to hold my hand that is holding the bottle. He seems to be quite snuggly and affectionate, more like Jenna and a little less like Michaela, who has enjoyed enforcing rock-solid personal space boundaries since birth.

Jenna started a new round of swimming lessons today at the YMCA and is thrilled because her new teacher is a girl. She still resists putting her head in the water but kicks like a madwoman. We got her Kindergarten registration packet in the mail the other day; it is unbelievable to me that she will be five in a couple of months and will be a big girl going to all day school in the fall. (There's that Time thing again!) She is writing her name and recognizing all kinds of letters and numbers and planning out which American Girl doll she's angling for next.

Michaela has opted to play soccer again in the spring and we have to sign her up this week. (Jenna has opted not to play, which is no big surprise.) Michaela loves her Wii Fit and plays with it every day. She was very proud to be in the "Healthy" range when she weighed into the program and asked Dan, "Dad, what's obess (obese) mean?" when he set up his character. She is tolerating her orthodontist stuff really well and gets her much- maligned molar extracted next week. She is on track to be done with the ortho by December of this year. We can already see a huge difference in the shape and space in her mouth, and her gap between her front teeth is now HUGE and waiting patiently to be pulled back together with braces sometime in the late spring. She is selling Girl Scout cookies again this year and I put her in charge of really managing the whole process this year (instead of me doing it for her), and she is so first-born she loves every minute of it. She asked us for the first time (of, I'm sure, a MILLION) if we can get her a cell phone, and was slick enough to immediately go for the "I can use it in case there's an emergency!!" angle. The girl is smart. And cell phone-less.

And finally, we are thrilled about our latest new beginning: my brother and his wife had their second baby on Saturday, a little girl named Megan Lynne. She is beautiful and so lucky to be born into a great family. We are travelling out to Chicago to see her get baptized in March. Alec is only three months old and already has three younger cousins. Talk about a baby boom!

So happy 2010. And if Time knocks on your door, be sure to invite it in.