I spend a lot of time documenting the goings-on of Walden's everyday life. I take pictures, I jot down notes in her baby book, I take videos...the usual stuff parents do to remember these precious days that go by way too quickly. I want to remember every single, little, tiny moment of her life and, consequently, I have about 2.6 million pictures stored on my computer (and that is just since Christmas). Do I go a bit overboard? Perhaps. Do I really need to keep every single picture I take, even the one where her eye is closed, her foot is blurry, and her nose could use a little housekeeping? Yes, absolutely, I do. Because those are important moments.
But what about parents? Who is there to document all the sweet little moments of a new parent's life? No one, that's who. And I'm fine with that, mostly. Because that would mean that I'd have to apply makeup on a regular basis and wear stuff that doesn't involve elastic and really I can't keep that kind of breakneck pace for more than a day or so. But sometimes I do wish that I had a picture of the times when James and I sneak into Walden's room while she's sleeping and stare and her and smile stupidly at each other. Or a video of the moment when I've rocked her to sleep and she's making little sleepy noises and I can kiss on her face over and over again and she doesn't even wake up. Moments that I just want to bottle up and save forever. Every once in a while, either James or I can grab the camera at just the right moment, like this...
snuggle bug
...but it happens very rarely, especially since our girl is constantly on the move these days. I love pictures of moments like this because then, a long time from now, when Walden is 17 and she asks me if she can stay out past 7:30 just this once and I tell her no, that nothing good can happen at that ungodly hour, and she screams at me and runs to her room and slams the door and blasts an aged, 23 year old Justin Bieber on her iPod, I can flip through those precious, quiet little moments and remember when she used to need me to cuddle her every once in a while.
But thanks to the advances in technology, there are ways that we can recreate other special moments in our lives as new parents so that we can cherish them forever...
And then we realize why the show is called Teen Mom, with drama and babbydaddies and punching, and not Appropriately Aged Mom, which is pretty much a snoozefest and apparently involves James wearing a really tight green v-neck, which no one needs to see.
So let's just get back to the regularly scheduled programming and be thankful that there are no camera crews following me around...
The last few weeks of 2010 were pretty eventful over here in Walden's world...
we sported legwarmers (cue theme from flashdance)
we donned our gay apparel and posed in front of the Christmas tree
we got kissed under the mistletoe
we won staring contests with jake
we were totally unimpressed with santa
we were very impressed with grandpa fenton
we got toys from santa
we got hugs from aunt jennifer
we had our first snow day
And so far in 2011...
we had another round of Christmas with grammie and boompa
we were very serious about opening presents
and also very silly
we decided that lucy is more fun than presents
see?
we were wistful (while sitting, our newest trick)
we chewed stuff (with teeth, our newest things to chew stuff with)
we bundled up
and we wore cute hats
We were a little sad to see 2010 end; after all, it was The Year of the Butterbean! But we can't wait to see what 2011 holds. And plus, I have a feeling that every year from here on out will be the Year of the Butterbean :) Happy New Year, everybody!
If I've learned anything in almost five months of parenthood, it is this:
Babies, though cute and infinitely lovable, are not to be trusted. Neverevernosireebobnotonebit. Nothing but con-artists, they are. Adorable, pudgy-faced, rosy-cheeked little con-artists. And they're good. Oh, they're real good. Take Walden, for instance. One minute I'm watching her do this whole heart-melting routine where she's making eyes at me from behind a teething ring and saying things like "aahh mmmm pppfff" - really laying it on thick, you know - and next thing I know I'm in a sweaty, confused and sleepless heap on the floor with tweety birds circling over my head.
She'll spend hours buttering me up with this move...
la la la just playing with my feet because i am cute
...but behind those innocent, blue eyes, she's hatching a complex plan to wake me up at least 12 times later that night. Or she'll turn on some Oscar-worthy waterworks during what is supposed to be sleepy time and as soon as I enter the room to soothe my distraught child, I am greeted by this...
did i wake you that is funny also i am cute
And my heart melts all over again and I am caught up in her carefully crafted web of trickery.
innocent little angel or brilliant scam artist?
Long story short, my super sleeper of yester-month has taken a few steps backward in the ol' shut-eye department. She turned 4 months old and poof...gone are the days of six, seven and eight hour stretches at night...we're back to a mere 3 to 4 (it's only temporary, please say it's only temporary). These are desperate times. And this is what happens when mama gets on the internet while she is desperate...
It's Baby Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit. I had to buy it. It had the word magic in the title. And it really is magic.
It magically makes your baby look ridiculous. Sleep? Not so much. Walden knows it and I know it, but still we hope.
I suppose being a parent is kind of like living in a snow globe. Just when things get all nice and settled, something (or someone) comes along to shake things up and send us flying. Plus, sometimes you feel like you're drowning while being hurled against rounded glass.
One year ago today, we found out our little butterbean was on the way! Seems like only yesterday that James was telling me, "You know if that thing is positive, you can forget that bottle of cab you just bought" and I was telling him, "Impossible...trust me, I'll have purple lips within the hour."
happy papa-to-be
consciousness regained. excited mama-to-be. less than enthusiastic pups.
Hard to believe it's been a whole year since this little girl started calling the shots :)
Such a busy fall! First...Walden's first Halloween! The little diva had three costume changes (how very Cher of her).
costume #1: piglet
costume #2: boo! shirt with ridiculous headband
costume #3: bear (accompanied by cow with inappropriately placed udders)
Then, we took a trip to the pumpkin patch with Grammie and Boompa where Walden made sitting on a pile of pumpkins look positively effortless.
little pumpkin
chatting with boompa
snuggling with grammie
And we also took pictures to put in our "Photos to embarrass Walden when she's a teenager" file. I must say, though, that I have never seen anyone pull off cellulite the way Walden does.
A couple of weeks ago, we flew down to Florida for the wedding of my dear friend Lauren. I won't say Walden's first flight was a total breeze, but it went SO much better than I had imagined in my very terrifying pre-flight nightmares. Walden was an angel, but there are just certain things that babies do that are more difficult to deal with when you're 30,000 feet up in the air. You see, Walden is a big fan of spitting up. I know this and I plan for it. The girl wears a bib even when she's not eating and we just pretend it's a lovely, chunky necklace. And we have hundreds, if not thousands, of burp cloths within arm's reach at all times. And if spitting up was all that we needed to worry about on our flight to Florida, then we would have been so prepared. So prepared! But spitting up is not what Walden did. What she did...well, no bib or burp cloth stood a chance. There we were, flying along through the air, peacefully and without a care in the world...
when a sleeping Walden opened those sweet, beautiful, blue eyes, looked up at her adoring mother and Linda Blair'd all over the place. And then went right back to sleep. Leaving me no choice but to sit there and soak it all in. What made this extra special was that this happened a mere 30 minutes into our 2.5 hour flight. Ah, yes.
There is also the matter of diaper changing. Walden declined my request that she 'hold it' until we arrived in Florida, so we were faced with the challenge of changing a diaper in a place that simply was not designed for such a thing. People don't really take kindly to having their already-pretty-rank cabin air further polluted, so changing her in the seat wasn't an option. But here's what I don't take kindly to: airplane lavatories. They are nasty and not a place I want my precious baby girl hanging out for any amount of time. But...and I still have a hard time talking about it...to the airplane lavatory she went. With James. I sent her with James. The man who has actually walked barefoot in one of these airplane bathrooms (fortunately for him, i had already married him). The man who thinks showers in hockey rink locker rooms count as real showers (they don't). The man who thinks the lyrics to "Every Breath You Take" include "I'm a pool hall ace" rather than "how my poor heart aches" (perhaps this is unrelated.) The point is, James is the least germ-conscious of the two of us and yet, because I was covered in baby puke and might have lost it if I'd added poop to the situation, I put her in his arms, armed him with disposable changing pads and watched them disappear to the back of the plane. And so, I sat in my seat and prayed. I prayed that the immunizations Walden had just gotten at the doctor included one for airplane bathroom disease and I prayed for forgiveness. According to James, "Everything went fine. I covered every surface and closed the toilet lid before I changed her on it." Thanks, James, for closing the lid first.
Other than that, things really did go pretty smoothly. And despite his questionable hygiene, James was a life-saver on this trip and I couldn't have done it without him ;) The weekend in Florida was absolutely flawless...the weather, the wedding, the beautiful couple...everything! Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!
happy birthday, daddy
free babysitting
walden makes friends from india
walden and will's first date
wedding by the bay
college buddies + babies!
walden learns to fly
what's better than a pink tracksuit? a pink tracksuit with ears.
