Moments to Remember: What Can I Do For You?

This story is for the benefit of my 80-year-old self:

Last night i was sitting at the kitchen table. The Professor was sitting next to me and the BabyGirl was in his lap. I was talking with him about something i had worked hard on that didn't work out. I was very discouraged and frustrated. The BabyGirl, although not a part of our conversation, was listening intently. While she listened, she had a look of concern on her face.

At a pause in the conversation, she said worriedly, "You are hurting, Mama?"

I said, "No dear, i'm not hurting, i'm just sad."

Her look of concern intensified. She said, "I'll give you a smoochie." Then she leaned over and smooched my cheek. She smiled and said, "You're all better?"

I said, "Oh yes, i'm all better now."

Apparently i wasn't convincing enough. She hooked her arm around mine, laid her head on my shoulder and said, "What [can] I do for you, Mama?"

It was a very special moment that i want to remember always.
 

Attempts to Take Two-Month Pictures Were Largely Unsuccessful

Bright Eyes is two months old! I did my darnedest to take her two month pictures while the BabyGirl was napping. You are about to see why. Taking pictures of Bright Eyes is quite a challenge when the BabyGirl is around. Unfortunately, Bright Eyes was uncooperative with my photo shoot during the BabyGirl's nap. Therefore her two month pictures include the BabyGirl. Usually you have to take 100 shots of a baby in order to get one decent picture. In this case, 100 shots resulted in 0 decent pictures. Here are the outtakes:

 

 Wait, my eye itches

 Bright Eyes not looking

 BabyGirl not looking

 Seriously, Mama? Lay off with the pictures

 

 Getting silly

 

 Finally, a cute one! BabyGirl is washing Bright Eyes' feet

 

The BabyGirl with her two babies

 

Proof That the BabyGirl Is a Girl (As If There Was Any Doubt)

The Professor and the BabyGirl were in the car running errands together.

Professor: We're going to Walmar to buy _________.

BabyGirl: Wanna go to Garget (Target).

Professor: I'm sorry, but we can't go to Target. We're going to Walmart.

BabyGirl: Wanna go to Garget.

Professor: We're going to Walmart, sweetie.

BabyGirl: WAAAAA!! DON'T WANNA GO TO WALMART; WANNA GO TO GARGET!!!!!


And honestly, can you blame her? Who wouldn't rather go to Garget?
 

Happy ThirtyTWO!

Two weekends ago we celebrated The Professor's birthday. He is now thirty-two. The BabyGirl believes that he is just two, but we've been trying to convince her that he is actually thirty-two. She mostly doesn't buy it, but occasionally she'll say "firty-TWOOOO!!!" She herself turned two back in April, and at the time we worked so exuberantly to teach her that when people ask, "How old are you?" the answer is "TWOOO!!!" The trouble is, now she thinks that two is the answer when asking about everyone, not just herself.

Having a brand-new baby limited us somewhat in our celebrations; we weren't able to do anything super exciting. On The Professor's birthday eve we drove across town to the Dead Marshes Mall (it only has about 2 stores left and everything else is vacant—very creepy) to eat dinner at Chick-fil-A. You'd think that after so many years of living without Chick-fil-A that we would take advantage of this one and go there more often, but we don't. So it was a special treat.

Happy birthday, Professor!

There's a VIDEO in the kids' meal?!?

 

 

We both love Chick-fil-A lemonade!

Except it's incredibly sweet and potent and i forgot to ask them to dilute it. 

For a toddler, it's basically like crack. 

It was Bright Eyes' very first time at Chick-fil-A in her whole baby life!

You can see that it was quite an experience for her.

 

Another noteworthy thing about this birthday for The Professor was that it marked the half-life of his car. He has now had it for half of his life! He loves that car and it has treated him very well the past 16 years. They had a long-distance relationship for a long time while we lived in the Big City, but now are happily reunited.

The BabyGirl, Bright Eyes, and i are all extremely thankful for The Professor and so honored to have him in our lives. We love you, Professor!
 

Bringing Cosmic Back

Were you starting to get bored with how peaceful and happy this blog had become? The last several months were all "we're so thankful for this" and "we're praying for that." There was a significant lack of drama or emotional crisis, and it was starting to creep me out. I was afraid that i'd have to rename the blog "Life Is Going Fine," because it had become a misnomer to say that Life Is Cosmic.

Well, never fear! A new development in our lives is definitely bringing cosmic back.

Allow me to introduce Bright Eyes:

Bright Eyes is VERY cosmic. Whatever particular thing she is experiencing at a given moment, she experiences it 150%. Most human beings go through a progression of "I'm a little bit hungry" to "Yes i'm definitely hungry" to "Okay I'm very hungry now." Bright Eyes, on the other hand, is completely non-hungry one minute and the very next she's screaming, "GOOD LORD I'M HUNGRY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!? DON'T YOU KNOW A HUNGRY BABY WHEN YOU SEE ONE?!?"

The BabyGirl was a very peaceful and serene baby. I remember when she got some shots at her 2 month checkup, it was the first time i heard her really cry. It broke my heart. Bright Eyes, however, cries at that level on a daily basis. In her defense, she's been having some tummy trouble. We recently started her on reflux medication and she's much happier as a result.

It's not just Bright Eyes herself that is making life cosmic. The general combination of sleep deprivation, post partum hormones, and weeks of physical pain from a difficult delivery adds to the chaos. We all love Bright Eyes dearly, but we will love her much more when we don't have to see her at 2:00 am.

The newborn period is sooooo hard. It's a wonder anyone survives. Mostly i just want to fast-forward a few months. But then i feel guilty because she's my precious daughter yet i want to skip part of her life.

I was watching something on youtube the other day, and before the video played i saw one of the P & G Olympic mom ads. I've googled this ad a million times to try to find it again and it's nowhere to be found. It would be so much better if you could just watch it rather than me describing it to you. It was about one of the gymnasts. It showed a clip of her in the Olympics and her mom up in the stands cheering. The narrator said, "Jordyn Wieber knows that her biggest fan . . . is also her first fan." Then it showed a picture of Jordyn's mom holding teeny baby Jordyn.

Of course my poor hormonal, overtired self cried my eyes out. Because right now i'm holding teeny baby Bright Eyes, but one day she may be an Olympian. Or an astronaut. Or a Nobel Prize winner. Or President of the United States. And even if she's the checkout lady at the Evil Dominion of Hy-Vee, i'm her first fan. I'll always be cheering. Right now i cheer when she lifts her head off the floor during tummy time. I'll cheer when she rolls over, and when she walks. I'll cheer at her ballet recitals or softball games or track meets. I'll cheer when she graduates from high school and college.

Yes, Bright Eyes is cosmic. She spits up all over the place and she's more likely to smile at the ceiling fan than at me. But i love her and i'm her first fan.
  

Hug Ambush!

When i first started hanging out with The Professor's extended family, i was taken off guard by how huggy they are. My family is not very physically affectionate, so i wasn't used to so much hugging. Especially when the whole clan converges in Zion, the last human city. There's exponentially more hugging then.

Even just on a day-to-day basis, this is the hugging pattern of a trip to The Professor's dad's house:

• Hug each person present as soon as you arrive.
• When someone leaves, they hug each person present. Let's say that they are just running out to Pizza Hut to pick up dinner and will be back in 10 minutes. Hugging is still required.
• Hug each person present when you are going to bed.
• Hug each person present when you wake up in the morning.

A weekend stay with The Professor's family usually provides a net quota of hugs that exceeds the amount of hugging most people get in several months. Now that i've gotten used to this way of life, i love it and think it's great! Bring on the hugs!

The BabyGirl, true to her heritage, is quite a hugger. She hugs early and often. And during this turbulent time in her life of having a new baby, her hugging needs have increased.

Today was The Professor's first official full day back at work since BG2 was born. He's had a few unofficial half-days, but today was the real deal. I was terrified, truth be told. BG2 is a very difficult baby and the BabyGirl has been a nutcase recently, so they are each quite a handful on their own. Fortunately, a friend called in the morning to say that she was going to come over and bring us lunch!

This friend was accompanied by B, her 3-year-old daughter, so the BabyGirl and i were both thrilled to have a playmate. Neither one of us have had much social interaction the past few weeks and we were kind of people-starved.

When our friends arrived, the BabyGirl and B ran off to the living room to play while Sarah and i sat in the kitchen. We were chatting away when the BabyGirl and B came back into the kitchen. B was preoccupied with a toy she was holding as the BabyGirl was attempting to give her a hug. It's fairly awkward to hug someone who doesn't know that they are being hugged. The BabyGirl would get right up in B's personal space, and at the moment that she reached her arms out, B would back away. The BabyGirl, undeterred by B's resistance, started over. This process repeated several times until both girls were somewhat frustrated, the BabyGirl because her hug was being thwarted and B because she didn't want to hug.

As soon as I noticed that the BabyGirl was unsuccessfully trying to force a hug on B, i instructed the BabyGirl to first request B's permission to hug. She eagerly asked, "Wanna hug???" and B ever so slightly shook her head no. It was almost imperceptible. The BabyGirl asked again and B did the same thing. Her refusal was not emphatic enough to have much of an impact on the BabyGirl, so she continued her attempts. I had to tell her to leave the poor girl alone, she does not want to be hugged right now.

They went back into the living room, where the BabyGirl hung back a little and waited for B to resume playing. Then she came at B from behind and gave her a Surprise Hug Attack! Haha, gotcha! During the course of their playing, the BabyGirl sneaked in a few more of these ambush hugs.

It was funny in that each girl received an admonition from their mother. Sarah told B, "Just let her hug you!" and i told the BabyGirl, "Stop hugging her against her will!" I think they both listened to the opposite mother.

After a while Sarah and B took their leave. As soon as they were out the door i heard B say to Sarah, "That was fun!" Sarah, surprised, asked, "Did you like it when the BabyGirl hugged you?" B smiled and nodded.

The BabyGirl is slowly winning people over to the ways of hugging, just like i was won over by The Professor's family!
 

BabyGirl Meets Baby Sister