J

...is for James, my baby. Though I don't think he'll be my last baby (I hope not!), he does feel so much more "babyish" than Elisabeth did to me. I guess we always expect more of our eldest children. But this baby, this wee boy, he's so sweet and tender and quiet and soft. He's a gentle soul. And he's a courageous little climber, too. And a silly little growler. It's amazing to me how individual he is; how different he is from how I would've ever dreamed. And he's just 18 months old! I can't wait to see what he'll be like in 6 months or a year or 5 years. I know I am privileged and blessed that I get to be his mama.

...is for Jane Austen. Oh, my, I am really grasping at straws for this one. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite novel. But I'm not super into the rest of her oeuvre. I know, I'm snobbish. It's rather too "happily ever after" for me, though, especially Sense and Sensibility, which I really don't care for. However, I do love the name Jane, and kind of talked about naming my second child that (had it been a girl), though that idea was quickly dropped once I realized that one of Elisabeth's most important toys was/is a doll by the name of Janie. And so it goes.