Saturday Morning

It's nice to have a baby in the house. It causes one to wake up early, when the air is still crisp. This is what a Saturday morning looks like at my house. Laurel wakes up before either of us really want to, so we bring her into our bed and try to convince her to lie still. Being a few days shy of eight months, this is not an attractive choice for her, so instead she climbs all over us and grabs our hair and rolls on the pillows until we give up on sleeping in and go downstairs. I mix up some cereal and pears for her and feed her in the kitchen. In between spoonfuls, I wash dishes, fry up eggs. M starts to bake a loaf of bread. Someone puts on a record and the tinkling sounds of Joanna Newsom's harp provide background. Sunbeams make their way through the wooden slats of the dining room blinds. Laurel is in the habit of taking an early morning nap, so once she eats breakfast I put her back in her room and M and I drift to corners of the house to get a little work done. It's the kind of morning that makes you feel like everything is going well with your life.

I really should have some video for you, but there's been a lot of details to juggle this week....contractors and job interviews and house guests. Laurel is squirming all over the place, army crawling across any obstacle to get to something she wants. She's pulling herself up to standing, or at least making strong attempts, and there are many tears of frustration on her part. I don't believe she wants to crawl, I think she wants to go straight to running.

My longtime virtual neighbor Leah is in town this weekend. Leah is the kind of house guest that blends right into your regular life. You look up and there she is, drinking a cup of coffee in your kitchen, and making faces at the baby. It's nice to have someone bear witness to the ordinary details of your life. It's validating somehow.

9:26am, and already so many good things have happened. What will the rest of Saturday hold for us?