Talents and First Kisses

I have some very talented friends.

Robin is one of them. 

Robin is a busy homeschool mama who knows the staff at the local ER on a first name basis because of the health challenges of one of her children, but she still finds time for little ol' me and my bubba.

I have, since my first babe, had a baby portrait done of each child at about 6 months old with the baby blanket that my mother gave to Ethan when he was born.  Mom is gone, but her gift keeps giving, and the warmth of her blanket comforts babies she never got to hold.

Life is busy with five kiddos, what with all the nose wiping and trip-slip-form signing.  Six months came and went, and tomorrow Jonah boy will be 9 months old.  When it dawned on me that I had not had his portrait done, I panicked.  I could see us in therapy with him at age 16 as he told his therapist, "I wore hand-me-downs from the 90's and I didn't even get a baby picture!"

The thought of dragging all of the kids to the photo studio at the mall to attempt to get one remotely decent picture of this boy was overwhelming.  So I contacted Robin and well, the rest is magical history. 

So, thank you, Robin.  The pictures are amazing and we love them.  You are so talented, giving, loving and kind.  You pack a lot of love into an hour or two.  I don't know how I got to be blessed with friends that are not only warm and generous, but also so very talented. 

Cute baby.  Awesome friend.

What can I say?  I am blessed!

My boy gave me a real kiss yesterday.  As he bounced on my lap and played, I turned him to me and said "Kisses?" He froze, smiled, and gently leaned in and placed his mouth on my lips with a yummy "ahhhh".  Then he pulled back and began bouncing again.  He did it 3 more times, and then once for papa.  Oh, I wish I could share with the world the feeling of that first baby kiss.  Wars would cease, road rage would stop and  all the mean people at Walmart would suddenly start acting nice.  

The love of the universe is contained in just one baby kiss.