A Journal Entry

It’s been six or seven weeks since I last wrote in my Journal. Blogging and scrapbooking really is taking over the handwritten Journal, which now only exists for rants and funnies that just don’t belong online.

But that means that every so often I just have to record things for the benefit of family history. For instance:

Julianna
Julianna has always been fresh and sweet and adorable, a constant surprise. She always makes us laugh. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Southern Illinois at the in-laws’, and on Saturday Christian’s brother and his wife brought their new dog, a little terrier that yaps a lot. Julianna generally thinks dogs are very interesting and funny, so we put her down to meet Cocoa. Only this time, he was straining on his leash and barking a lot, and she got scared. Now, most kids wail and turn to Mommy or Daddy and bury their faces. But that would be far too wimpy for Julianna. No, Julianna believes that when something scares you, the best policy is to get in its face and scream back. So she plopped on her bottom, clenched her fists out to either side, stuck her chin forward, and yelled “EEEEEEAAAAAAAAA!” She had the situation well in hand, but of course we rescued her anyway…though not without laughing.

It was a rainy weekend, so Sunday afternoon we all went to see “Night in a Museum 2.” It was Alex’s first movie in the theater. Christian was concerned that Julianna would get antsy so we got a huge tub of popcorn—the kind you can refill for free—and he refilled it midway through. He had a little triangular cup that he kept filling for Julianna, and every so often she’d say, “EEAH!” and he’d realize she was empty. Finally he got tired of it and just stuck the tub in front of her. She spent the entire movie going through it one piece at a time. She is her mother’s child, and her grandmother’s granddaughter. 🙂

Since coming home from the hospital, she seems even cuter, even sweeter and more beautiful than before. I wonder if it’s just because, once again, she’s been returned to us from the brink–if it’s all in our perception. Or maybe there’s something about adversity that naturally deepens the most beautiful parts of our spirits, and it simply reflects on the outside. Either way, oh, she is so, so beautiful.

Nicholas

I just need to do this one with a photo.

Magic. Pure and simple.