Auntie Autumn and Baby Felicity

Auntie Autumn met baby Felicity in the wee hours of the morning. She wore her “meeting Felicity outfit,” a short skirt, tights, and a relaxed top. Felicity, age less than an hour, wore a swaddle.

“Auntie Autumn. Felicity, this is your Auntie Autumn.”

Felicity’s little body was tiny, wrapped in the large blanket. Autumn cradled her, bouncing gently as I watched from the hospital bed. A new mom sometimes gets a surge of energy after birth and I was rolling on the high of meeting Felicity and introducing her to my family.

“Auntie Autumn,” I liked it immediately. My sister’s new title rolled off the tongue as naturally as Autumn holding her little niece. I remembered when Autumn was little how much she liked babies. She held them and cuddled them.

Watching my sister, hold my baby was another strand in the tapestry of Autumm/Lei moments. She loved Felicity too! Not just because Felicity is adorable (which she is), but because Felicity is my baby.

When we were small, Autumn and I played with our dolls. We took them on adventures and took care of them—putting them in tailored clothes, tucking them in doll beds, and serving them tea on little tables. We were rehearing a story we’re enacting now.

Tonight we are visiting Auntie Autumn, and she bounces Felicity whose large eyes are doing the slow droop. Felicity does love her Auntie Autumn—so much—and both of us can’t wait for a cousin!

Comments

Two Little Girls and a Bench

It was one of those moments before dinner in which I could have easily moved into the busy rush of dinner, clean-up, and bed-time, when I was stopped in my tracks. Isabelle, with her round face, and bright eyes, and fifteen month strength, clamored onto a bench and made it apparent to me that she wanted to jump from its one foot height with the help of my hand. I obliged and a game began, a game that was immediately joined by Emmaline, her three-year old sister, who does everything with full abandon. Soon, I found myself holding two little hands as two little girls jumped off a bench in unison. What joy this moment held for them. Again. Repeat. They would have jumped as long as I allowed. Each little face starlit with the joy of leaving the earth for one brief moment in the company of one’s sister and one’s mommy. Tonight I read in Chesterton’s Orthodoxy that, “Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want t...

A Leaf

A couple of weeks ago, I read “The Leaf by Niggle” aloud to five-year old Felicity. Since I was teaching on the story a few days later, I counted my inspiration to read-aloud as a double win towards homeschooling and teaching prep. Didn’t know that my five-year-old, would once again teach me. Tolkien’s short story follows the life of a Niggle, a painter, who envisions a glorious tree, but only manages to paint leaves, a paltry homage to his vision. About half-way through the story Niggle is sent on a journey, presumably death. After some time in a dismal hospital and workhouse, a train takes him to a familiar green space. As he wanders, wonderingly, he discovers it. The tree. His tree. Felicity turned to me as I read and she said with the joy of discovery in her voice, “Mommy! Did God make his tree real?” “Yes, Felicity. Yes, that is it. That is exactly it.” Tolkien and Lewis both thought that fairy-tales and myths, those bear...

They Say One Gets Tired as a Mom

My mom tells me that little Leilani cried her first six months of life and then began to crawl and the crying ceased. She said I just wanted to go places and my baby body inhibited me. Since learning what hands and knees were good for, going places and doing things has been standard operating procedure for me. Energy in abundance and curiosity has enlivened me. And it’s been fun—The read books when one wants, stay up late, travel the world, spend money without thinking, talk to friends whenever, carefree, self-centered, child to adult type of fun. Now the fun is different, because I am a wife and mother. Getting married and having Felicity are the two best things that ever happened in my life, but with those wonderful happenings, I discovered burden bearing in a way never previously experienced. Marriage is said to be sanctifying. The same can be said for motherhood, because in these two experiences an overwhelming desire for the good of one’s husband and daughter becomes ...

MuellerMommyAdventures

Search This Blog