Late Thursday evening, baby-sweetest embarked upon her first real road trip. Around 9 p.m., that tired baby nestled into her car seat for the long ride to Mississippi to visit her grandparents, auntie & uncle and baby Tyson and his parents.
Along the way, she was involved in a late-night taco fiasco, some drama outside a cheap motel, an unfortunate mattress-dampening accident, a trucker fight between some random redneck and a Fed-ex driver, several fartie-poopies, lotsa hugs, a little holiness and a trip to IKEA.
In addition to the aforementioned craziness, baby-so-funny also single-handedly entertained a room full of grown-kids with nothing more than her own personal amusement over the sweetest little dachshund ever. While the Mississippi crew was sitting around watching videos of the fierce Lucie catching (and maiming) a chimney squirrel, baby-amused was busy getting her entertainment on by watching that same Lucie-dog . . . well, run.
Normally, this type of craziness only happens after several minutes of babyparents tickling or otherwise attempting to be silly for baby-sweetest. This night, however, baby-laughs-a-lot spontaneously cracked her little self right up - all on her own. Don't believe it's the cutest thing you'll watch today? Click the play button and be convinced.
*More stories from the road . . . coming soon to a rockin' blog near you.*
UPDATE: Here's the very same video, in a google video option. Alas, babymama does not have quicktime production capabilities . . . yet.
Thanks to Ty's Mommy for the insight. Babymama apologizes for this mistake, and for any confusion it may have caused for any reader of this blog. Babymama most profusely apologizes to baby-adorable, who may have permanent animal-confusion due to mama's inability to differentiate between chickens, golden condors and other fowl-like members of Kingdom Animalia.
*In mama's defense, this doesn't look anything like this.*
1. Baby-sneaky actually can roll-over. Apparently pretty well, as her teachers at daycare inform babymama that they routinely put her down for naps on her tummy since she's such a good roller. Funny how she refuses to do that for babydaddy and mama . . .
2. Additionally, said baby is also more particular about people than babymama & daddy knew. We've recently discovered that our sweet baby girl determines fairly quickly who she likes and doesn't, and then decidedly makes her feelings known with a stern gaze, a frown and a concluding round of tears.
3. The above mention aside, baby-sweetheart really is a sweetheart. When we talk about her being a good, easy-going baby, we truly mean it. She rarely cries, and when she does, the tears are easily stopped by a meal, a new diaper or a hug. She goes to bed easily, and has only been sick once, and then only for a day. As parents, we occasionally feel guilty. But then we think better of it . . .
4. Since we're sharing secrets, Charlie and Lola is babymama's favorite cartoon, followed closely by My Friends Tigger & Pooh. Babydaddy prefers Handy Manny, and Baby-shouldn't-be-watching-TV loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. (Rah, rah, rah for Rocket!) Our good intentions failed, and that previously cable-free baby now recognizes almost all the songs on the early morning round-up of Playhouse Disney, as well as Ahh and Ooh.
5. Baby-smells good had a bath yesterday. She did not, however, have one today. She'll probably have one tomorrow, but sometimes it's an extra day or so before she spends some quality time in the tub. In between baths, babymama and daddy wipe her down with baby wipes. She is not usually stinky, but sometimes is a little sticky.
6. She grows, says mama. So fast. No, really. Baby-growth-spurt outgrew all her clothes in a span of about 2 days. One day they fit her fine. The next day her little torso was too long for the snaps at the bottom of her onesies. Somehow, babymama did not anticipate this happening so quickly. And now poor baby is nearly naked. *Note to Grandmas across the country: please send pants, size 6-9 mths* Baby-tallest is 26 inches high.
7. In terms of heft, she's a perfect 7.71107029 kilograms. Since you're most likely one of these 3, that's an angel-sized 17 pound bundle of cuteness (give a couple ounces). Now before you start in with the 'what a big baby' comments, you need to be aware that: 1. Babymama doesn't play when it comes to disparaging remarks about her baby-adorable and 2. This is the average size of a normal 6 month old. Which brings us to number 8.
8. All of this . . . the baby stuff of this life, the diapers, the spit-up, the nights of little sleep, all the normal clichés that no longer seem like such, the aches and pains, the worry and uncertainty, the striving and learning and wondering, all of it - every little bit, is the best secret we've ever learned.
*Babymama is so tired. She will strive to add 6 blogs to her tag list tomorrow. Promise.*
Babymama doesn't like chicken all that much, but baby-adorable definitely does . . .
What on earth would a bird-lovin' gal do without her very own baby Big Bird? Luckily, baby-A-O-K doesn't have to know the answer to that one, as her Mississippi Auntie made sure baby-plays-a-lot would have one several months before she was born. That same Auntie also included baby Cookie Monster (babymama's favorite), and mama is soon to purchase Baby Elmo. Now all baby-cutest needs are everyone's favorite nursery pals, and she's good to go.
Babydaddy has the longest, most luxurious eyelashes babymama has ever seen. They are dark, and slightly curved, and absolutely beautiful. You can see them below . . . perfectly mirrored on the eyes of his daughter.
Baby daddy is guest posting tonight. I've been meaning to do this since April - when I first took this picture. I'm not good with deadlines. (See, it's funny cuz I work for a newspaper.)
This was a Friday night and the stresses of the week bore down on all of us. Andie fell asleep in my lap, Darlin' flopped on the carpet and baby-sleepiest (did I do it right?) snoozed in her chair. I sat there, unable to go anywhere, peaceful with the knowledge that my girls were all safe and sleeping. I took this pic with my phone. Unfortunately, our other cat Remy was unable to drag a beer to me, mainly because he was sleeping in some other room.
And it's still a fairly representative portrait of our living room. There is still baby stuff and baby toys strewn everywhere because you really don't know what baby-needy might require on a moment's notice. So we might as well have it all out all the time.
Since I'm updating, the baby faux-hawk is pretty much gone. She's got new hair growing in. I'm once again the only person in the house with a faux hawk.
For the first time since she was born and sleeping all the time, baby-so-tired has put her little self to sleep early. Like 2 and a half hours early. Babymama is anxiously continuing to check on that precious baby, each time expecting to go in and find her awake in her cradle, but each time, she is still all swaddled up and snoring the sweetest, tiny, baby-snores. Babymama can not believe it.
What all this means is yet unclear. Until tonight, baby-on-a-schedule goes to sleep every night between 9:20 and 10 p.m. She makes the exact same sleepy face, rubs her adorable baby-blues and makes that cute little anh-anh sound. Babydaddy & mama then transport her from the playground that is our living room to the dresser-turned-changer in our room. After a fresh diaper and a quick change into jammies, baby-sleepy is wrapped up in the miracle blanket (it truly is - our amazing friend gave it to us, and we OWE her for such a kindness). Thus prepared for slumber, baby-wants-to-stay-awake spends between 5 and 10 minutes walking in daddy's arms, and is finally deposited, with much kissed cheeks, into her cradle.
This is how it works. And in the brave new world of parenthood, we've learned that there is so much that one can't depend on, that things change more & more quickly every day, and that if anyone is so very lucky to find something in this world of babyness that is scheduled, regular, or consistent, that very fortunate parent should rejoice and exploit it to the fullest. So we have. We've loved every moment of our regularly scheduled bedtime routine. And so has baby-sweetheart. But now . . .
Now, it's back to that uncertainty. Is this a test? A new baby joke? Is baby-tricky setting us up for something? Is there some late-night party surprise happening this evening that we aren't aware of? Does this mean no more sleeping through the night? Or, is this (as babymama swears she will believe), the beginning of one less nap during the day and a few more hours of sleep at night?
Only time will tell what awaits us, so for now, here's one of those moments caught on digital and guaranteed to give you sweet dreams.
