I'm here.

Hello Blog. It’s been a while.

I have been wanting to get on here quite often since Ivar was born. A few days it has worked out, but most days it has not. I have lots to say… things I am really excited to share. Each day I begin hopeful that perhaps this is the day I might get those thoughts written down. But by bedtime I wonder, once again, if they will ever see the light of day.

This is okay, I suppose. I am enjoying my life right now in every way possible. I keep waiting for baby blues to set in or some sort of sadness. I know this is normal for lots of women, and aware these feelings could drop in at anytime. But at the moment I am still riding a happy cloud, loving my baby and my role as his mama. Even in the dead of night when I zombie-walk into his room, the moment I see him I am overwhelmed by how much I adore this baby of mine.

There is so much I want to remember and reflect on…which is primarily why I use this blog. So even though life is rich and full and therefore lacking time to blog, it is for those very reasons that I want so badly to blog.

I want to tell you about Ivar's baptism and how special it was to have my dad leading that service. I want to tell you about a dear friend’s funeral and how the miracle of life and eternity have been filling my thoughts. I want to tell you about the first five weeks with Ivar Nicholas and how quickly he is changing (he is smiling now!). Part of me wants to be sad that he is already out of his newborn clothes, but I decided recently I won’t be sad that he is growing. This is the whole point. It would be sad if he wasn’t growing…so I’ll just love him every growing day.

I really do hope to be able to blog more often. But know that when I do, it is because blogging outweighed whatever else I needed to get done in that pocket of time. For example, right now, my hair and bangs are air drying. I fit in the shower, but decided to hop on the computer instead of blow dry. (If you see me in the next 24 hours and my hair is dumpy, you'll know why...)

Here's to hoping I'll write something tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that. Or this weekend sometime... Or maybe next week. Or the week after that...

seven grandkids under age seven

Alrighty. I can't just post a picture a day without some explanation. It's been bugging me since the second I posted these pictures. Also bugging me is the fact that my text is centered again. Rory talked me through how to fix this once, but I must not have been listening really well...

So this weekend we had my brother's family from Seattle and my sister's family from Montana all in town for one big Harrington Holiday. It was a blast. And loud. And very, very special. We feasted, celebrated my brother's becoming a partner in his law firm with a 'Howdy Partner' Cowboy party, decorated the Christmas tree, opened Christmas presents, played lots of twister, swaddled lots of babies and baby dolls, went sledding and had a beautiful baptism service for Svea and Ivar. The weekend flew by and today I am lonesome for some niece and nephew love.

sweet cousins.

Last year I took the above two pictures of Mara and Claire Helen laughing and enjoying each others suppertime company. Apparently Sonna has been looking at those pictures and before coming to Minnesota kept saying that she wanted to sit by Claire Helen this time. I think she could tell how much fun the older cousins were having together.

But this year, Sonna and Penny won the suppertime picture series. I love how much these cousins all love each other!

our most important role

I think the thing that has surprised me the most in motherhood is how much deeper in love I have fallen for Rory. I knew I’d love our little baby, and I do. But I cannot get enough of Rory lately. Watching him snuggle and love Ivar, watching him keep his cool while Ivar protests another outfit change, having him insist I take a nap or get in the tub when a good moment presents itself, having him walk half-alive into the nursery during the early morning feeding and sit on the foot rest while laying his head on the boppy pillow on my lap…these are precious moments to me. I absolutely cannot fathom doing all of this without a faithful husband.

When we were in the hospital Rory was holding a swaddled Ivar and got out his Bible. He read to Ivar from Jeremiah 31:31-34, telling of the new Covenant that would come in Jesus. Rory told Ivar that the very most important hope we have for him is that he know is savior and love and obey Him. We cried together as Rory read the nativity story to Ivar, realizing more fully than ever before the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus. Rory read the chapter and there was a holiness as we began to live out our greatest responsibility as Ivar’s parents.

good morning everybody

Ivar slept until 10 am this morning, which means Rory and I did too. It was glorious. I told Rory it felt like a Thanksgiving miracle. It means that I got eight hours of sleep last night! Not uninterrupted, but I feel incredible today and Ivar woke up in a happy mood too. This is going to be a good day. (except that my text is centered and it refuses to left align. but whatever.)

I am starting to get the hang of my new normal. In the middle of the night I figured out that each day I am spending 6 to 8 hours nursing (each feeding takes a while trying to rouse little man back awake so he can get a full feeding. Plus, if you add a diaper change that almost always turns into two or three diaper changes because Ivar has a thing for waiting to fill his diaper until he has a clean diaper on...well, it just takes us some time to accomplish all of this, and each feeding/changing can be anywhere from 45-60 minutes. And it turns out you can't rush a feeding or a changing...)

When I figured out the hours going into nursing, and then added the hours spent rocking and snuggling and bounce walking in circles around the house, it really does make sense where all of my time goes each day.

All that to say, I am letting myself off of the blog hook for while. My hope is to post a picture each day, but maybe no more than that. Because that feels sane and wonderful. Plus, I just downloaded Picasa 3, and with one click of a button I can pick the picture I want to post on my blog for the day. Super simple and fast and wonderful and at this point (after 16 hours as a Picasa user) I'd highly recommend the free program...

Ivar is sleeping again and I just sorted through all of the mail. It is incredible how good it feels to accomplish little projects like this!