BOYS!

"The contemplation of things as they are,
without substitution or imposture,
without error or confusion,
is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention."
~Francis Bacon

This newest darling son burst upon the scene, making his debut three weeks early, surprising his family, and weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds.  The G-Family nonetheless quickly dubbed him “Big D” and welcomed him into the busy brotherhood.

Two weeks and baseball games and football games and grandparents’ visit later … Big D quietly rests at home.  Life as a fourth-born looks eminently different than life as a firstborn.  Firstly, if you want to sleep, you learn to sleep despite the activity going on all around you.  You may not even have your own dedicated nursery.  In fact, you may share a room with mom and dad.  And even there, your big brothers will find you.  And love you.  And play video games in your midst.  They may even show you what’s on their screen.  If you’re lucky.  Or just awake.

Big D, in case you ever doubt that your brothers kinda like you, just look back here.  The proof is in the proverbial pudding.  Your mom and dad are pretty smitten, too.  Though, you surely tired out your poor ol’ pop with that all-nighter you pulled before I came to visit.   Hey, did you know that your boppy is multi-purpose?  Looks like it works pretty well as a neck pillow. 

Dad doesn’t like to miss any of the shenanigans, but he didn’t last very long before he got all comfy and fell asleep again; apparently mom is a pretty good pillow, too.

You just slept through ALL of it.  Till it was time for a new diaper and milk …

Alrighty then.  Awake.  New diaper.  Let’s do this thing.  Oh, and I really wasn’t blowing smoke about your mom being smitten.  Look … (and ps… milk drunk babies are the cutest – all that stretching and feeling good and being all sleepy)

Rumor has it, your dad is The Master Swaddler.  You squawked a bit and gave him a chance to show off his prowess.

And we ended pretty much where we started. :-)

"When you painted on earth – at least in your earlier days –
it was because you caught glimpses of heaven in the earthly landscape.
The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too.”  
~C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce

Dear G-Fam, I saw glimpses of heaven in your home.  And I truly hope that I succeeded in my task: that You see those glimpses, too, in the photos I took - these contemplations, if you will, of things as they are …