Half

Has half a year really flown by in such a quick speck of time?
i scrolled through some pictures from your birth, baby Ephraim... & Mollen, sitting beside me remarked when we came upon a picture of Gagey holding you, "Oh, lookit how cute Gagey was way back then!"
Way back then...
& now you sit, you grin, you laugh, you bite with your two sweet bottom teeth & your swollen upper gums. You hum & grunt & drool, following jealously with your eyes every morsel that goes in our mouths... You throw yourself onto your tummy from a sitting position & make every effort to get moving, to grab what's just out of your reach.
Your half birthday shows me just how much changes in only 6 short months.
Your newborn skin seemed to peel off, you were so over ripe...& now, that fragile newborn skin has been replaced with buttery fleshy skin that covers your generous rolls...
& when i look around the table... i can't help but notice each one of your siblings has grown & changed & learned too - in that brief 6 months since you came...

oh, Time.

Time is so mercilessly driven, isn't she?
& i just love you so, ephraim...
so much so, i feel a queer ache when i kiss that tiny birthmark on the top of your head. Like i could just stay in that moment forever...
But like a breath - or a heartbeat, it moves on - as incapable of being captured as i am incapable of capturing it. & really, who would want to anyway? Its beauty is in its fleeting nature - in the gratitude for the preciousness that comes from it's uniqueness - & the knowledge that we only do get *one chance*.
i keep catching Gagey putting your fingers, or your ears in his mouth. A couple of times he has left the tiny imprints of his teeth before i catch him, or you cry out in surprise & pain... Gagey has my sympathy though - you are just so darling, it's tempting to nibble your perfect little fingers & your delicious little ears.
i love watching you little boys together. Gagey is impossibly rough with you - & the vast majority of the time, his roughness does nothing more than prompt fits of giggles from you that the rest of us seem unable to evoke quite as easily. There is something precious between the two of you, i'm sure of that.
My sweet little boy - with your dreamy eyes, your perfect nose, your contented nature...
You remind me of my husband's love...
& the lavish grace of my Father.
May you continue to grow in love - & be ever ready to receive God's grace.
happy half...
love, mama