Hello, again...

someone said that the short baby boom was over. Apparently, my friends did not get the memo. There have been so many new baby posts on facebook and more babies on the way to count. I have a little bit of an itch to have our second, but I keep thinking about how nice it is to have just Soluna and I together during the day. Things are finally starting to feel a little easier and we've been laughing, playing and exploring together more without as many little baby issues to worry about.

Ben and I feel blessed every day to have Soluna in our lives. She has such a big personality. She makes little jokes (like some of her actions are specifically made to make us laugh). She giggles uncontrollably at times. She enjoys good food. At a wedding this past weekend, she took a break from cake to run to the dance floor and boogie. She kisses me all over, just because. And, she's the sweetest to little babies. Yet, she is still her fiesty, demanding self, which I hope will transfer to a passion to get what she wants out of life.

I love her.

Here she is with a grease high on our trip to North Carolina after eating hush puppies, ribs, fried corn on the cobb, and sweet potato fries:

our j.w. homies...

So Soluna and I have some Jehovah's Witness friends that come by each week. They are these two sweet, older African American women who caught me at home with Soluna several months ago. They started by coming by every few weeks and now it seems like they come by every week. I don't have the heart to tell them to not bother especially since all they do is ask if we can read a bible verse together and talk about it briefly. I am a practicing Catholic and it has taken me a long time to say that about my religion. I figure, nothing bad can happen from chatting civily to two strangers about the bible. Maybe people should be talking about religion and spirituality more often, especially if you know your beliefs might not match up. And, they seem harmless.

They have totally been peaking my interest lately and probably not in any way they want too. I guess Jehovah's Witnesses believe that something really bad is going to happen to the world soon. They haven't gone into specifics, but they think that things are going to get worse in the world and this darkness will lead to some sort of world-wide transformation and then people will be able to sow their own land, own their own home, be healed from sickness, etc. Now, I LOVE end of the world stories whether in a movie or book. So I am actually excited to hear how this will go down and I am secretly hoping that it has some kind of Octavia Butler flair to it.

And this relates to mama-ology... mostly because religion and spirituality have been creeping into my life in so many different ways since I've been a mother... whether it's a reminder from a friend in email, the new people that have come into my life who have been more outwardly spiritual, or in preparation for Soluna's baptism.

And every day I ask myself: What is it that I really want for little Soluna? What are my hopes for her?... And the most important hope is that she loves and believes in herself and at the same time loves and believes in something greater than herself whether it be family, community or religion/spirituality. All other hopes and dreams are situational.