Art and Nostalgia

Today our whole little family went on a trip to the Utah Arts Festival! Evie's first art festival. And yes, I'm doing that whole "firsts" thing again. Any it was that time of year again so on we went. We lucked out; it wasn't that crowded today (being a Sunday) and I'm pretty sure it didn't actually hit 100 degrees like they said it would. There were a lot of new artists this year and many of them were very good. Spence and I saw a lot of wonderful art that we really wanted to take home with us, but on our income, not quite so much luck. Oh well. Someday! We had a nice lunch and a lovely walk and a great time.

I saw a lot of babies at the festival. Lots of newborns. Made me kinda nostalgic. Don't know if you can technically be nostalgic for something that was only 5 months ago, but it SEEMS like a lot longer. Especially when I look at how much she's grown. I mean, she's still so tiny; she's a 22-week-old the size of a 12-week-old, but she's (slightly) more than doubled her birthweight and that's made quite a difference. Here she is in the NICU, about 3 days old. You can see how tiny she is compared to Spencer's hand:


And here's a picture I took of her today:


I'm amazed at both how quickly and how slowly she's growing. I mean, all things considered, she's growing and developing at an amazing pace. Yet compared to other babies, she still lags behind a little bit. Not that I mind really. Developmentally she's exactly where she's supposed to be, so she's on track, and I like that she's staying on the small side longer. Gives me more time to appreciate it. She even got a new toy the other day. We went to Kid to Kid and traded in her bouncer (which she was bored with) for an activity center. It says it's good for babies as young as 4 months (as long as they can hold their head up) but she's SO SMALL compared to it! It's almost ridiculous! She can barely reach anything, and prefers to just chew on the side of the seat. But she's starting to get the hang of it.

She also has a new teething toy; an elephant we've named Radagast. Most of her things have names. Which I will admit is not for her sake so much as it is for our amusement. She has two pacifiers, Nicolai and Vashdi; the crib is Alfheim (Norse for "Fairyland"; and now Radagast the Elephant. Which she is attached to at the hip, if I might add.


Being with her every day is such a joy. She smiles when I get her out of her crib in the morning. She laughs when I give her kisses. She loves to play and she learns quickly. She loves eating her solid food and trying new things. She loves to splash in the bathtub. She loves it when the dog licks the side of her head. She smiles when you ask her how she's doing. She's just the easiest baby, and such a joy. SUCH a joy. I thank God every day for the opportunity to be and the blessing of being her mother. And I have to admit. If I could have a guarantee they'd be just like her I'd have a dozen more.