Blake-a-bye

 This week a friend at church offered to loan me his amazing Nikon lens. I happily accepted and have been enjoying shooting some beautiful shots around my kids. I will also get to take a good friend's family pictures tomorrow with it. I thought I would share some of Blake because they look so much like him that I feel it might give you a peek into our third born joy. 

 I often call Blake "Blake-a-bye" or just "Blue". He is a very observant little guy with a sober side. He smiles often but not easily, and usually very full and brief. I have not caught very many grins on camera, but when I close my eyes I can see his smile bursting his cheeks into shiny rounds spots, and making his eyes into little almond-shaped sparkles. He has eyes very like my Grandma's. She passed away 5 years ago, but lived with us for 9 years before that and her beautiful eyes stick with me. They were just the shade of Blake's blues.

 Since birth Blue has loved two things. #1 To see eyes. In the night when he woke to nurse he would instantly cry until a light was turned on and he made eye contact. Eye contact soothed him every time. #2 He loves to hold onto people. He wraps your hand up in a hug surrounded by both of his arms and holds it close to his chest. I speculate that when he fusses in the car, it is not for the soother (pacifier) but for the hand he knows will bring it - he always seizes the arm and talks to it in happy grunts.

 The thing that makes him smile the very fastest is his brothers. Jack lays his head on Blake's tummy and Blake wraps his arms around his wooly head and holds handfuls of Jack's hair while gurgling, drooling, and grinning. London likes to lay cheek to cheek with him and Blake responds with repeated flashes of smiles. I can just imagine him dreaming of keeping up with them as they race around him in the living room.

Though he was born bald, he has put much effort into growing an anonymous color of hair. He may be blond, or brown, or dark colored, but each angle presents a different shade, so we are still waiting to find out. He was the only male to skip getting a hair cut today, we still have time to decide what color his mop top is.

This is my baby, and I love him.