Joyful Domesticity

With aching hearts, we share the news that our third baby has left my womb and flown to the streets of Paradise. Joining our first child, Covenant Hope, this new baby of ours now resides in the presence of Almighty God.

Trusting in His great providence and knowing that He does all things well, we have named this baby Glory Hesed.
Glory — for not only does our child now live and praise the King in eternal glory, but we know that this child’s life & death were both accomplished for the glory of God.
Hesed — the Hebrew word for God’s covenantal love & faithfulness, to which we cling.

Please rejoice with us over this third arrow in our quiver, and please mourn with us as we feel the great loss of this little image of God.
May we resound with the hymn,

“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.”

This afternoon we got to go visit the Bennetts again (now that they are home! yay!) to oogle at the sweet twins. Gabriel is pretty much infatuated with his cousins. It’s so cute. But then again… we’re all infatuated with them, it’s just a necessary reaction. 🙂

Gabriel was playing with his toys earlier, then was excited about removing his socks & staring at his hands. Have I mentioned that he also waves hi/byebye now??

Gabriel, seeing Hannah and desperately wanting to touch and cuddle her! So cute.

He loves the babies’ heads, and I love this picture of the three grandkids together.

Grandmama with Noah, right before she got to help give him some lunch.

Five pound angels!

Noah & Hannah’s nursery — including the amazing changing table Grandpapa made. The cribs are in the works now! 🙂

Grandmama with her two grandsons; Ashley with her two babies.

Baby Photo Shoot!
 
I love these family pictures. 🙂

Time for a boys photo shoot!

Maybe this one is my favorite of the boys.

Praise the Lord!! Our God is good and faithful, and has brought our two newest family members safely into our arms.
Colin & Ashley Bennett are now the ecstatic, overjoyed parents to beautiful & healthy twins,

Rejoice with us over these wonderful olive shoots we have the privilege of loving. 🙂
And please pray with us for God’s grace to continue abundantly upon the Bennett household.

 
L: Hannah (she looks just like Ashley)
R: Noah (he looks just like Colin)
 
L: Auntie!!! loves her niece and nephew.
R: Gabriel, meeting his best friends.

L: I love this picture of their precious little faces!
R: Gabriel is already excited about his best friend Noah, and teaching him all kinds of things about being a boy.

L: Auntie with niece
R: Uncle with nephew

L: Grandpapa and Grandmama and Colin… and Hannah (wide-eyed!) and Noah (sleepy!).
R: I love this picture of Colin and his little son.

I am a happy lady right now: a warm fire is glowing in the woodstove, I just ate a great bagel (rare treat), the smell of freshly baking bread in the oven, and my little Gabriel is sitting here excited about spoons. He bangs them, gnaws on them, drops them so he can pick them back up… his excitement over something so small is contagious.

And right now, that contagion has bitten me. My “something small” is the Beaba Babybook I mentioned I got for my birthday a few weeks ago. Well, I am babysitting a friend’s active 2 year old today but didn’t want that to keep me from getting something done in my home too. He’s afraid of the vacuum, so I had to pass that up. And since I don’t want him getting into my cleaning supplies, the bathrooms will wait to be scrubbed until tomorrow. So I decided baking and cooking was today’s task. So! He “helped” me make bread, and thankfully Gabriel didn’t mind just watching. 🙂 And then I decided to make a few batches of baby food.

According to the Williams-Sonoma website, regarding my awesome Beaba Babycook: “The French baby-food maker that has won praise throughout Europe is finally available to American families. This compact countertop appliance multitasks as a steamer, blender, warmer and defroster to prepare fresh, healthy meals for baby. It starts by steam cooking vegetables, fruits, meat and fish in less than 15 minutes, preserving their vitamins and flavors, then purees or blends them to your desired consistency.“

And let me just tell you: it’s so true. I made a batch of peas, a batch of carrots, a batch of sweet potatoes… and then steamed (without pureeing afterward) sweet potatoes for us to have for dinner tonight. Since I teach on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I have to make dinner early in the day. Not only did I make Gabriel enough food (it’s now frozen into cubes and stored in separate ziptop baggies) to last for a couple weeks, I also used the thing to prepare some of our own adult dinner! Pretty slick if you ask me.

I still have mixed feelings about the fact that I started solids so early. Nine months was the earliest I would let myself to do, but was hoping to make it twelve. Oh well. God guides each day and shows us where we need to bend our “plans.” 🙂 So since I was only half-hearted about this in the first place, days like today make me so happy. I know that I am able to make healthy food for my son, using a steaming method that keeps in vital nutrients (especially when I add the steaming water back into the food as I puree it). Plus, it’s easy enough that I can make baby food while caring for my baby in addition to watching someone else’s 2 year old AND making bread at the same time!

Pretty good, huh? 🙂

Family baking day!!

Have I mentioned how much my baby loves his sippy cup? He loves regular cups too… but they’re messier. 😉

And have I mentioned how much he looooooves music?
And how he passionately plays his xylophone? (best toy ever, apparently)

And it was Grandpapa’s birthday yesterday, so we got to visit him at work for a surprise lunch. Yay!

Dinner at my parents’ place on Sunday afternoon was lovely, including all kinds of delicious things to eat & drink.

Then yesterday I had morning coffee with Dad, lunch & shopping with my mom, hung out a little with my sis-in-law, and then got a fancy dinner date with my husband in the evening. What a fun day!

While my mother and I shared salad, a panini, and their famous Pommes Frites (not to mention drinking Carmellas) at our favorite local French bistro/cafe, Gabriel “feasted” on his own lunch of peas and carrots. It was his first time tasting peas, so I thought the bib was appropriate. Haha.

Me and my man.

For my birthday yesterday I was given some awfully fun new domestic “toys” I mean tools — Wustof knives, knife sharpener, cheese/chocolate/nut grater, coffee paraphenalia, and more…
But what I wanted to show off to y’all is my Beaba Babycook from Williams & Sonoma (among other places). I seem to remember Erin mentioning this once on her blog, and I never really looked into it. But whoa — it’s so much easier than doing stove & food processor. I’m already in love with it, and I’ve only been using it for a couple of days.
It might just be my new favorite thing in the kitchen.

((happy sigh))
New domestic toys –ahem, I mean, tools — make my life so much nicer. 🙂

I did it! And I am utterly pleased.
I made a batch of baby peas and a batch of baby carrots — froze them in ice cube trays, and am storing them in labeled ziptop bags in the freezer. Woo hoo!! And it was only $0.44 for the peas and $0.50 for the carrots, and then whatever a little water and a little propane and a little electricity cost. For 16 cubes of peas and 20 cubes of carrots! So pleased. 🙂

If anyone has any tips on making homemade baby food, let me know. I’m new to this.
Like… do any of you cube/freeze fruit, or do you always mash it fresh? How about adding citrus juice to keep avocados or bananas from browning? Do you thaw a cube in the fridge, on the counter, or in the microwave?

Well anyhow, it was so fast and easy and cheap. This little mama is quite thrilled right now. 🙂

My handsome Gabriel David, all tuckered out.

Since he’s nine months this week, we finally bought a box of rice cereal! Gabriel was pretty excited for the first three or four bites… we’ll see how it goes after this. I also got some fruits and veggies to start making baby food too. Wheeee! A new mommying adventure begins. 🙂

My dad was being sneaky, and took pictures of Gabriel having his first communion on Sunday. He loved it! And he loves being able to participate even more. His favorite part of Sunday worship is the singing though. He “sings” right along, and everyone within five pews can hear him. 🙂

He was pretty excited when we visited Auntie and Uncle the other day.

This was the gourmet dinner my husband made me, complete with chocolates and candlelight, for Valentine’s Day. Woo hoo!! Go Husby, go!! 🙂

And the sweet & simple Valentine’s breakfast, courtesy of me. 🙂 Heart shaped pancakes and strawberry smoothies.

And these are Gabriel, enjoying his child-sized rocking chair from his great-uncle and fam. It sits beside the adult-sized wooden rocker in our living room now. So cute! and beautifully made, too.