Balance

Since things around here have kind of been The Will Show lately, I thought you may like to see my baby.  If you don't think that this is just about the cutest sight you've ever seen, you need to go to the phone and make an appointment with your optometrist. Immediately.

She's been chomping on her hands with serious gusto and I think I've spied the very, very beginnings of where her little bottom teeth are going to be poking through sometime in the fairly near future. On a happier subject, though, she's been sleeping better, going to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 and waking up once around 3:00 or 3:30 and going back to sleep until sometime between 6:00 and 7:00. (Looking at that last sentence is kind of like looking at a bus schedule.) This is most certainly a more doable waking routine. In fact, I almost feel rested these days. But as any parent will tell you, now that I've given voice to Laura's new sleep prowess, she will begin to wake hourly effective immediately.

(Speaking of sleeping, Will is actually sleeping in his room right now instead of spending his "rest time" looking out his window or "reading" books. I can hardly believe it.)

I've been getting out the kids' warmer clothes the past few days and have experienced an unexpected wave of nostalgia while doing so. All of Laura's warmer clothes were bought last winter while I was still pregnant and I swear I can almost feel her moving around inside of me when I look at them. It seems funny that I had no idea who she would be when I bought all of that stuff for her. I just knew that buying girl clothes was an entirely different operation than buying boy clothes. (All the accessories! Tights! Many more matching shoe options! Patterns! Color! Ruffles!) And now I know that I should've bought some 3-6 month selections instead of only 6-9 months, as the Wiggle Worm is STILL wearing 0-3 months in pretty much everything she wears. She is beyond tiny, which I'm suspecting will be evident when she's not even on the growth chart at her six month checkup Tuesday. Oh well. I like tiny babies. Not that I have any other option.

So this is why she's wearing a hat in her swing in these pictures. I was seeing if it was going to be way too big for her, which it surprisingly wasn't. I look forward to cooler temperatures so she can debut this look in public (minus the sleeper).

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My mother-in-law told me while I was pregnant that I would probably feel like I wouldn't (or couldn't) feel the same way about the new baby as I do about Will. And she was right, as that was exactly what I was feeling in the months leading up to Laura's birth. She also told me that I would be surprised by what I would feel after she was born, that I would still love Will, of course, but that he would also probably get on my last nerve. That I would feel so protective of the baby. And I did. I still do. Will has weaseled his way back into my good graces for the most part (despite myself, I still find him utterly charming) but this little girl has been so incredibly easy to love from the first breath she breathed.

Someday when she's a teenager, sulking in her room over not being allowed to do something or biting my head off because I have the audacity to have a different opinion on something, I will remember her like this.

I will remember her face as I get her out of bed every morning, as she looks at me like I am quite possibly the only person she will ever need. I will remember her squeals of delight as I kiss her tummy and pretend to munch on her cheek. I will remember how she sleeps with her little fingers curled into fists. I will remember how her bottom lip puckers when she's crying.

Every day of my life, I will try to be aware of how lucky I am to have this, to have so much to remember.