January might just rival October for my favorite month of the year. October is crisp and bright and pumpkin-perfect, but in October too, there is still so much to come - birthdays and holidays and hosting - things that make me tense and flustered. January is that long exhale afterwards. The light is soft and the air is still and the kids have fallen back into the comfortable rhythm of our everyday after the giddy excitement of Christmas. They have rosy cheeks and muddy boots and far too much time on their hands. They dash outside in underwoolies and overcoats to soak up the fading light and run back inside to beg for hot chocolate or big bowls of popcorn. This is the month for slowing down and cozying up and looking forward to a whole new year. This is the simple beauty of beginnings.
It's been five months and we are still soaking up the beauty of our own little beginning. Jeremy Linden arrived just in time for sunrise on a long August day and has been our big sunbeam ever since. To say the days have gone by quickly is that old understatement that every parent knows. Baby Jem has grown and grown, already too big for the sweater that is still on my knitting needles. He rolls and stretches and inches forward. He has big, open-mouthed smiles for everyone. Giggles, too. He is brimming with sweetness and curiosity and sound.
This morning I watched Owen and Jem on the baby monitor - Owen all sleepy-eyed and bedheaded, whispering to his baby brother in the gentlest voice possible, stealing kisses and snuggles and baby smiles before calling mama and starting the day.
When Juni wishes, she wishes that we can keep him forever.