Four Months Old

Our precious Laney!  Oh, we love those smiles so.  And yes, that is a tutu she's wearing.  She is a Ward girl, after all, and dress-up clothes are to be expected.  The "background" is compliments of Mali, who thought a toy and dress shoes would be the best additions to this photo shoot.  Laney did get the memo that the bedtime at the Ward household is 8:00 pm, which we are grateful for.  She's still usually up once a night to nurse, but it's do-able.  Some days.  She's incredibly interested in watching people eat these days so we think it's time to pick up some rice cereal.  She's also a big fan of her swing and bumbo and car seat toys.  And her sisters are still big fans of her.

Some days call for a slip-and-slide

Who care if it's April?  And next week's forecast calls for snow showers?  Carpe diem. 

Enjoying the Small Things

I've been an avid follower of this blog for some time.  (The big sister featured on it may or may not have been a partial-inspiration for Delaney's name and nickname)  I'm thrilled that the author now has a book out!  I even broke the -no-TV-in-the-morning rule to catch her interview on the Today show. Here's the description for the memoir, Bloom:

Love me. Love me. I'm not what you expected, but oh, please love me.

That was the most defining moment of my life. That was the beginning of my story.
From the outside looking in, Kelle Hampton had the perfect life: a beautiful two-year-old daughter, a loving husband, a thriving photography career, and great friends. When she learned she was pregnant with her second child, she and her husband, Brett, were ecstatic. Her pregnancy went smoothly and the ultrasounds showed a beautiful, healthy, high-kicking baby girl.
But when her new daughter was placed in her arms in the delivery room, Kelle knew instantly that something was wrong. Nella looked different than her two-year-old sister, Lainey, had at birth. As she watched friends and family celebrate with champagne toasts and endless photographs, a terrified Kelle was certain that Nella had Down syndrome—a fear her pediatrician soon confirmed. Yet gradually Kelle's fear and pain were vanquished by joy, as she embraced the realization that she had been chosen to experience an extraordinary and special gift.
With lyrical prose and gorgeous full-color photography, Bloom takes readers on a wondrous journey through Nella's first year of life—a gripping, hilarious, and intensely poignant trip of transformation in which a mother learns that perfection comes in all different shapes. It is a story about embracing life and really living it, of being fearless and accepting difference, of going beyond constricting definitions of beauty, and of the awesome power of perspective. As Kelle writes, "There is us. Our Family. We will embrace this beauty and make something of it. We will hold our precious gift and know that we are lucky."

Isn't that beautiful?  What a reminder that all children are a precious gift.

While I was unpacking suitcases and Easter gifts...

"Mommy!  I need help washing my hands" 
"Why?"
"They are all sticky"

(In other words, she had found a Cadbury Egg in the suitcases and quickly devoured it before she was caught.  The sticky hands, however, will give you away every time). 

And if you really want and earfull, just ask Miss Carrigan about the scary, scary peacocks at the Michigan City zoo.  Those feathers!

Glimpses of our Easter Weekend

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Blessed Easter!

With love from,

Jonathan, Kaethe, Amalia, Brinnly,

Carrigan, & Delaney Ward

Holy Week

This is often a difficult time of year.  Our family has been hit hard in the past few weeks with the general life annoyances.  The dishes and laundry piles keep coming.  Work has demanded quite a bit of Jonathan's time.  Laney has been sleeping, well, like a three-month-old.  Our calendars are a little too full.  We seem to have every possible virus--fevers, sore throats, rashes, hives, pinkeye, and everything in-between.

And that's just with the six of us.  People close to us have been struck by much more severe grief and sadness lately.  Our hearts have been hurting as we have watched dear ones suffer.  This world is a tough, tough place sometimes.

But...we know this is not the end.  We are almost there.  Lent will be over soon.  Easter is merely hours away.  Tomorrow we will once again sing "Allelulia!" for we know that Christ is risen.  He will wipe every tear from our eye.  Small struggles and big ones.  We now how this story is going to end, and we know it will be glorious.