~Little Ben at four weeks old~

After an entire week of baby-loving, I am experiencing withdrawal from this sweet thing.

I arrived in Kelowna, BC, last Tuesday to find Joan exhausted and little Ben needing a lot of holding. It was my pleasure to lend my arms. For seven days I carried, snuggled, rocked, fed and burped the wee fella to his (and my) heart's content. Nothing else. I did not cook more than one meal, and that was just vegetable/cheese scrambled eggs. I did not do dishes. I did not call friends. I did not even visit Dad; he had to come to me, which he did several times.

Once I went for a walk. Once I went out and pulled grass from the flower beds. And that was it. The rest of the time I totally and completely relaxed (except for one day lost to some strange flu; that was spent in bed, nauseated and fevered), and totally enjoyed giving my sister a break from the needs and demands of her little one, or maybe reading a story to my niece, who is five, at bedtime.

Pretty lazy. Who knew a whole week could fly past so easily, so quickly? A couple nights I kept Ben with me so Joan could get a good chunk of sleep. I logged many satisfying hours of not saying to myself "Oh, I should be doing something else, not just sitting around." It was great to have so much time with Joan and Jordan, not trying to accomplish anything beyond keeping that baby happy. It was a real good rest for me.

Dad drove me to the airport on Tuesday, and I snapped this photo as we were circling over Kelowna to head out for Saskatoon. Joan, I could almost pick out your house -- I'm sure I saw the dog park near your place.

*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,

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