Today, on his sister's 11th birthday, he is 11 months old. He's snotty nosed and globs of drool fall from his mouth. He has scratches on his face and a bruise that's almost faded. His father and I disagree about a haircut. Why does he need to look tidier, different? Can't he be a baby for a little longer? I'm mesmerized by the curl of hair behind his ear. He's the last one. My body has no lingering plans to hold another bundle of cells until they grow into a human. My body will never nourish another the way it does now. So no, let's leave his hair a little longer and let it grow longer.

PS: Please take a moment to appreciate the ankle rolls.

Our families have caught the Covid. Or most of them have. And a few family members requested I update the ol' blog. So darlings, here you go. Enjoy this flashback with some of the people I love best as your recover in your 3 to a bed sickbed. We'll look forward to more good times and memories together soon!

For My Daughter On a Bad Day
by Kate Baer

Life will rough you up. Throw you to the
shore like a wave crashing - sand in your
hair, blood in your teeth. When grief sits
with you, hand dipped with rage, let it
linger. Hold its pulse in your hands. There
is no remedy for a bad haircut or ruined
love like time. Even when death is coming,
even when the filth rises in the back of
your throat -

this is not the worst of it. And if it is?
Listen for the catbird calling. No matter
the wreckage, they still sing for you.

I just want everyone who reads my blog to know that our family had a beautiful ski day together with some of our friends. Holly, Greta and Maeve are currently enrolled in ski school on the weekends and the lessons have really helped them develop confidence and skills. It's been great to see. Maeve is pretty slow, but she loves going fast down the hills and she's improving so much! Maeve was in and out of the sled, sometimes on skis and sometimes riding. One time, when we insisted she ride in the trailer, she told Conor, "when I'm a mom, I'm going to say yes to everything my kids ask for." We skied around Shadow Mountain, had a snack break at the Nova Hut and then returned to the lodge. On our final trail, as the sun was setting and Maeve was happily skiing along, Conor turned to me and commented on how great it is that Maeve wants to ski. We did it. We made it.

One cute moment I don't want to forget, Ira rode on our friend, Parker's back. When I led Enoch to the sled to get in it, he stopped when he didn't see Ira and started repeating, "Ira, Ira" and tried to find him. There's a really beautiful brotherhood bond forming between those two.

Conor loves to do this trick with our babies. And ya, it's pretty cute even when all the photos are blurry. Ira thinks he's the man when he does this probably because we all behave as though he is!