The New Drakelings blog

Welcome to the inaugural post of the new Drakelings blog. I’m hoping I’ll be able to upload some of the older posts, but basically, I’m doing this for one reason: simplicity. For years, I’ve been trying to create my kids’ entire site in iWeb, and it just isn’t working. Granted, iWeb ’09 has an essential new feature—you no longer need a .Mac account to upload only the changes to your site, instead of the whole thing—but the site is still absolutely huge, what with all the pictures and stuff. (To give you an idea, our iPhoto library is up around 80GB, these days!)

So I guess I’ll start by telling a story about last night. Leah’s friend Miranda and her little brother Jacob (who is sort of David’s friend, except for the whole “I’m only eight months old” thing) were over for a while, and we went out back, so they could play on the new swing set. As they were playing, I started talking with them about what an absolutely beautiful day it was. (I don’t remember the last time July was so comfortable—as of right now, 9:50 AM, it’s still only 67˚F! But I digress….) The following conversation ensued:

Me: “What do those clouds look like, Leah?”

Leah: “I dunno” (her favorite phrase, atm).

Me: “Well, what do you think they look like?”

Leah: “I don’t know!”

Me: “Please don’t yell. Just look. What do any of the clouds look like?”

Leah: “I… don’t… kn—oh, that one looks like a horse!” ^_^

David, on the other hand, has recently started speaking a lot more clearly: forming complete sentences, expressing what he really means, etc.. A couple of days ago, I was leaving the room after putting him down for his nap. He absolutely loves it when I sing to him before he goes to sleep, and generally requests one last song, just as I’m going out the door. On Sunday, however, he had an extremely different request:

David: “Daddy?”

Me: “Yes?”

David: (says something unintelligibly softly)

Me: “What was that?”

David: (says ostensibly the same thing, unintelligibly softly)

Me: “What do you need, bud?”

David (smiling): “Nuffin.”

…and that was that.

Great-Grandma is gone.

I’m actually posting this to the blog a couple of months late, since it’s a major event that happened during the four-month hiatus, but am dating it appropriate to when I should have mentioned it: on 11 May 2009, just before noon, the kids’ Great-Grandma Drake passed away. She was 85 years old—just a few months younger than her own mother was—and her health had been failing, for a while. After multiple hospital and rehab stays, she passed away at home, in the apartment where she had lived for over 35 years (twenty-something of them with the kids’ Great-Granddad, who passed away in 1995).

Our family rented a minivan and were heading out to New Jersey, in hopes of seeing her one last time. Unfortunately—or fortunately, judging by my father’s description of how she looked—that was not to be: we got the call as the kids and I were sitting in the van, waiting for Anna to lock the front door to the house. Pop (my father) was pretty broken up about it, but the rest of the week—though hectic—was actually quite nice. Great-Grandma was buried with Great-Granddad, behind the First Reformed Church of Pompton Plains, where my parents (and, occasionally, grandparents) attended. The church’s new pastor, Kathleen; my parents; and I all spoke, at the funeral.

It’s funny…. I do miss my grandmother—there have been plenty of times I’ve wanted to call her, to tell her something funny the kids are doing, and then remember I can’t—but it’s the same peace I had when my grandfathers died, in 1995 and 1997. I know where they are, I have a basic idea of what they’re doing, and I know it’s possible for us to be together again. She was a wonderful woman in life, and I expect she’s still wonderful in death. We miss you, Great-Grandma, and we love you more than we could ever say.

Three and Two

As of about 26 minutes ago, David Cortland is officially two years old! Of course, he’s been acting like a stereotypical two-year-old for weeks, now—probably even months—but now he’s finally got the number to go with it.

In some ways, it feels like only yesterday that we were in the hospital in Noblesville, waiting for him to come out and then finally bonding with him, once he did. In other ways, it seems like an Eternity ago and we can’t even believe it’s been a mere two years.

Whatever the case, we’re incredibly grateful for our beautiful, little two-year-old and all the joy he brings into our lives. Happy birthday, David!

Scheduling

With Church at 11:00 this year, we generally get home at around 2:45 and start on a very late lunch. (Yes, the kids get snacks on the way there, and David gets another in nursery.) So needless to say, even the earliest we can get done with lunch is already into naptime. This past Sunday, Leah never went down—nor even bothered to get re-dressed after her Spaghetti-Os!—and David napped very shortly, so we had some playtime left between his waking up and extended family coming over, at 5:30—and Daddy actually thought to get the camera!

Check out the photos!

Finger Painting

There something about the death of a child that really makes you reevaluate your priorities. Even if you think you’ve been doing pretty well, up to that point, you start to genuinely take stock of things and make a point of spending time on the essential things, instead of just the important ones (or even the unimportant ones).

Case in point: last night, Mommy told Daddy that when he got off work, we would be finger painting, as a family. Daddy was absolutely ecstatic. We’re together as a family every single day, but how often do we actually do something really special, like that? As it happened, circumstance rendered the session a bit later than expected—we actually did it, after supper—but wow, did we have a great time just being together, a family like our Father in Heaven intended. ☺

(more pics)

Daniel

Today was one of the hardest days we’ve ever had to endure: it’s the day we buried our beautiful little boy. We named him Daniel Carey Drake, following the Drake family tradition of giving the second son a maternal-line surname as his middle name.

Daniel was approximately four inches long and was buried in a tiny, satin-lined casket donated by his mommy’s visiting teacher Patty, wrapped in a white handkerchief and tucked in under a remnant of a blue baby blankey with a parent/child pair of giraffes and the words “Sweet Baby.” (Both the handkerchief and the blanket were from Mawmaw.)

Pawpaw dug the grave in Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s backyard, and the elements were greatly tempered as Daddy dedicated it under a beautiful, sunny sky and a surprisingly warm 35˚F. After the dedication, Pawpaw placed the coffin inside a metal ammunition box that Papaw left him, then placed that inside two plastic bags, to keep out the moisture. Parents and grandparents then each tossed some dirt into the grave and Daddy and Pawpaw filled in the rest. When Spring comes, we’ll be adding a plant to attract butterflies, in his honor.

Thanks to all those that have expressed their love and gratitude during this obviously trying time, and also to those that have remained silent for not knowing what to say. We love you all, and your prayers have definitely been felt in this, our time of greatest need.

Butterbean

We lost our little baby this morning. Butterbean was at almost 13 weeks gestation. We don’t know what happened, but Anna is of course blaming herself and her body’s supposed incompetence. July 25 and August 8 (our realistic and estimated due dates, respectively) are going to be really, really hard to face, but thank goodness for our two other, beautiful children.

Rest in peace, little Butterbean. We love you. ☹