Growth

Here we are. Another year has passed, and before the calendar reads 2010 I thought I should try my hand at blogging once again. Don't worry, it is not for lack of activity. This year has been full of hills and valleys, and the changes in between. I could have filled pages and pages of exciting details. Its just that this whole blogging thing feels a bit like journal writing--if you don't do it regularly, when you finally do you aren't sure what to write, how to summarize the time you've skipped, to know if you should fill in since the last entry or just let the reader figure it out on his own. And if you skip playing catch-up, then what pithy topic does the errant writer choose to break the silence? I don't know.

Lately I have been growing things. I grew a baby, a garden and a thyroid tumor all during the last year. Stella was by far the cutest thing I grew, the garden was the tastiest, and the tumor the least work--so little work I didn't even notice it until my mom pointed it out one day. Now the garden is gone, but just for the season, to be planted again next spring. The tumor is gone, hopefully for good, and I am left with a fading necklace of a scar and some thyroid pills. But Stella, she is still here. Here and growing. I guess technically I am still helping her grow with all the breast milk, but she has really taken on a life of her own. And we are happy she is here to stay.

Before

After

Later
Before

After (this was timely for Halloween)
Later
Late June in the garden (after)