Where to begin?

He's here.

Silas Robert was born on April 2nd, after a mere eight or so hours of labor.  He weighed 9 lbs, 2 oz, is 20" long, has the chubbiest, most nommable cheeks, and the most beautiful lusty cry.

Admittedly, since bringing him home we're a wee bit less overjoyed with that cry at times, but we're still thankful, so very thankful, for this little miracle.

Also when he wears himself out crying, he starts making the cutest little crooning noise which my husband spells out as "Woooo Ooooh Oooo!"

I was surprised to find that even in the hospital, cuddling him and counting those perfect little fingers, I still found time to miss Gabriel.  I whispered to Silas that he had a brother in Heaven watching over him.  I wonder if that's true.  I really don't know one way or the other.  Are those who have died already in the kingdom, or are they sleeping, waiting for the Day of Judgement?  Not that Gabriel has anything to stand before God to atone for.  He passed silently from this world, from the embrace of my womb to the embrace of God, I hope.  Maybe there's a Purgatory or a Limbo, but I hope for him the transition was instant, and I wonder if he's at all concerned with this world, or if in the glory of His Presence he can see nothing else.  Does he remember his mother?  The sound of my heartbeat when it was the entirety of his world?  Do the dead in Christ watch us with the angels?

Will I still care when it's my turn?  Will the relationships we treasured on earth mean anything in Heaven, or will our only thought be of God?

On that note, back to the yarn!

I made him a hat.

I have another crocheted hat started for him which is much slower going because it requires making, like, ten pieces and slip-stitching them together, and I lose patience for that kind of thing pretty quickly.

Case in point:

Neither of these projects will be finished before Silas graduates from high school.  I'm not optimistic about the hat, either.

I had a spurt of energy weeks ago that realistically should have been spent on the nursery, but instead inspired me to work on that resolution I had about finishing my unfinished projects.  Ergo, Mirasol has finally had all of her ends woven in (half a year later . . .), and I did something relatively tidy with her hair (should probably be trimmed, too, but eh), and even wove in the ends on her dress.

She needs shoes.

I frogged a couple things that were going nowhere, and worked a few more rows on Andy's cabled scarf.  Then I had a baby and it all came to a screeching halt.  At least Miri looks pretty good.

One more: