Celebrations

For me, taking a close-up photo of a snowflake is a way of giving praise and thanks to the Creator for His marvelous snowflake handiwork.

A billion snowflakes fell today, without notice or praise. 
 This one...just happened to land sideways on the leaf of a potted primrose.

The sideways standing snowflake from a bit further away.
How I happened to notice it, I don't recall.  It was out on our deck, where I had placed the plant to catch some sunlight yesterday. 
I had forgot to bring it back inside before the snow began to fall.
Carelessness on my part served me well in this case.
In fact, a photographic celebration was in order!

A different kind of celebration happened on Sunday afternoon.
A marvelous creation is being made in a secret place...a child is being made and a place has been prepared for his care.

Thirty two years ago next week, another child was born. 
His birth announcement plaque now hangs above a rocking chair on the wall of his soon to be born son's nursery.

(Said now adult son added one item to the nursery decoration.  He felt the room needed a "guy" element.  Hardly anything is more "guy" than James Dean in cowboy attire).

For the celebrational event of a baby shower:
A banana pudding cheesecake.
Southern Living magazine always makes me race to the kitchen to try out another of their amazing recipes. 
This recipe...oh I wouldn't DARE make it for just the two of us.
It would be perfect to make to take to a party however.
I meant to slice and set aside a slice for Bernie to take home from the party...but the guests had devoured the whole thing before I remembered my plan!
Yes those are vanilla wafers around the edge and chopped up on top.  Bananas are mixed into the cheesecake batter and the crust is made from vanilla wafers, pecans and butter.

Banana pudding needs whipping cream too, right?
And a few more banana slices and vanilla wafers for garnish too.

The shower was held at our son's house...a crowd of over twenty meant their house worked best for the event hosted by friends who clearly know how to set a spread of goodies.
Mother-to-be Rachel looks relaxed and happy doesn't she?

Secretly I hope Luke arrives in March, like his father and grandmother have, so he will have daffodils as his birthflower.

Seeing daffodils in bloom have always meant birthday celebrations were afoot to our family!

Gifts, gifts and more gifts!

It was so sweet to see all the baby things being examined by the mother-to-be.

We all agreed that the soft textiles of babydom would be super nice if they could be found in grown up people sized blankets and such.

A special gift:  A professional pregnancy photo, taken at the start of the eighth month of prenancy.

A second photo session is scheduled for after Luke arrives.  The same pose will be taken again with the same top, only this time Rachel will be holding Luke in front of her tummy, instead of inside.

I think the photographer photographed her most gracefully. 

 

There was a consensus that everyone at the party wanted a whale bath faucet cover too.

Good to know for when one is stumped for a gift idea...

The doggie was a crib pal that lived in the crib at my parent's house.   The crib was taken down, under protest from Jeff, when he was four years old.  He DID remember the yellow pup!

A single shower game:  Rachel was invited to match up baby pictures of her guests.
There were a couple of "ringers" who were not actually present...and more than half of the guests were not able to bring a photo at all, which made guessing actually more difficult.

Go ahead and guess which of the photos is of me, which is of my mom, and which is a photo of Jeff and which is Rachel...

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#3 is me

#4 is Jeff

#5 is Rachel

#11 is my mom.

Don't you love the Dad in picture #9?
Very Magnum, PI don't you think???

Waiting to make new memories

Our 1st grandson is due in a few weeks...or should I say our third grandson?

Seems that a couple of decades ago our son "adopted" a couple of baby boys.

Cecil Kent...

And Leland Sam.

They shared Jeff's childhood bed and joined him on his romps and "fatherhood" was a lot more like "big brotherhood" back then.

When the days of childish play had ended, I gathered up Cecil and Leland and tucked them safely away. 

They silently waited with other gentle memory pieces; tiny socks and booties and jammies that our son outgrew during those few short weeks of his life as a tiny newborn.

He didn't stay "tiny" for long...

A baby shower so often is a time to give baby gifts to the mother-to-be. 

This shower was to have a gift for the father-to-be as well.

Before such a party began yesterday, I called our son to open the gift addressed to "Luke's Dad".

That address caught him a bit off guard.  It sounded so old to him.

Funny, I can barely remember when I wasn't "Jeff's Mom"....and smiled as I was introduced as such to the young women who attended the afternoon baby shower.

The card noted that we thought that Jeff was going to make a great dad...for real this time.

He was a bit puzzled by those last words. 
Moments later...he got it.

The fact that the adoption papers were still to be found amazed him.

The ladies who had arrived for the shower were amazed that the dolls were still in such good shape.

(A good long soak in oxyclean and some gently scrubbing removed all the grime that had a record of their much loved earlier days).

The boys are ready for playtime again, waiting patiently, as they have for so long, and keeping watch from the crib.

Waiting with us all for the day when their new playmate Luke will arrive.