Evy in Tyler’s arms

You’ve been hearing about her. With her parents’ permission, I post this photograph of our new granddaughter.

Evy is  blue eyed like both her parents, with  fair hair like her mother, and a mouth  that’s been described as a rosebud.  Her fists are clenched and tiny and she stares at objects intently as if they deserved to be studied. My daughter says that Evy’s cry reminds her of a bird.  It almost sounded that way when she first woke up, but  I heard Evy cry when our son-in-law called to tell us of her birth, so we know she has a healthy set of lungs.

Monday evening when we got together to celebrate Sarah’s birthday, Tyler was holding Evy and Adrienne was looking on, studying Evy’s features as she slept. She said, “Mom, look at her now.  Get a picture of this.” So we have  this picture of Evy with her hand up by her chin as if she is deep in thought, even if she’s sleeping. She stirred very little as I took that picture. Oh so precious and tiny.

Tuesday, I went to the house to help out a bit. Together we made a casserole for supper that Laura only needed to put in the oven to heat. I did a bit of gardening too.  We tried to figure out the “bells and whistles” on the monitor then decided this was something Evy’s father could sort out.

 Afterwards, as I held Evy, fed and burped her and rocked her to sleep, I was reminded about taking care of my own, rocking and feeding them, and putting them down for a nap. Where have the years gone?

I love to watch babies sleep. They make faces, shake tiny fists in the air as if startled by a dream.  I have the luxury of standing and watching. Indeed I did it when my girls were tiny, but not for long perionds of time, for there were other things that had to be done.

We have no way of knowing what those dreams are, nor can we remember what it felt like to emerge from that warm place into a strange new world. If babies have no words for it, neither do we.

I await another opportunity to hold Evy and cuddle her, and yes, eventually, to tell her stories too.