in full bloom

when we learned you were growing inside of me, the first chill of fall had entered the october air and the leaves had begun to fade from their bright summer green to rustic reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. they soon fell, and the trees and bushes stood bare against the sky's late autumn gray, and days turned to dark night by late afternoon. a long and cold and snowy winter descended upon us. and all this time you grew, and i thought of you.

the snow and cold felt like they would never leave this year, and stayed with us well into march. spring was icy and wet and windy. it was late april before i noticed the first buds on the trees, before it was wet and warm enough for will and quinn to splash through puddles in the backyard. and through all this you grew, and i thought of you.

when i thought of you i thought of flowers blooming. i told myself that when i planted the flowers in their pots in may, you would nearly be here. and that when the pale lilac bush blossomed at the end of the driveway, your arrival would be imminent. i planted the flowers, zinnias and salvia and baby's breath, and the lilac bush bloomed. and still you grew, and i thought of you.

then, time stood still and the world stopped moving, and you were born. 

in nature's perfect synchronicity, the white bouquets of the hydrangea bush next to our front door burst open the day we brought you home, announcing once and for all the return of summer and the joy of new life.

i think i'll always be reminded of you when the flowers bloom, rory. you, like the fresh blossoms surrounding us, represent the end of a harsh winter and the beginning of life's best season of all.

rory, in full bloom at six days old.

he's here!

introducing 

rory colin moynihan

june 19, 2015

5:31am

7lbs 12oz and 20.75 inches long 

and loved beyond measure.

to bean, on her tenth

introducing, taylor swift!

too pregnant

too pregnant to walk, to pregnant to bend, too pregnant to play, too pregnant to sleep, too pregnant to write. 

but not too pregnant to show off these photos of my beautiful chicks. 

will and quinn's baby brother could arrive any day now. we're swept up in the excitement of anticipation and the tension of waiting and wondering, waiting and wondering. one thing i don't wonder about: the love these two will have for their brother, which has been growing in their hearts for months now. 

rory is a lucky baby, indeed. we are all so very lucky.