Sweet Baby No-no

Here I am again... turns out I spend I lot of my time nursing. I've also begun reading (I'm working my way through "The Picture of Dorian Gray") and figured out how to knit (currently matching Superman woolypants for the girls) while nursing. I feel like all my time needs to be productive, now that there is less of it in my day. I wish I could figure out how to knit two things at once while reading... I need more hands.

So I thought I'd take a minute to talk up my new baby. I had this thought before she was born about all the things you go through when you're pregnant, and how you are doing it for someone you've never even met. It's a situation unlike any other since you'd probably never endure the utter destruction of your body and disintegration of your brain for some random dude on the subway or your Walmart cashier. I also wanted to make a list of all the things that were ailing me so I wouldn't forget (thereby reminding me to not have more kids for a good long while) but of course now that the baby is here I've forgotten some of them, and the others just aren't worth mentioning (plan foiled... new plan needed.)

So, Baby Norah, or as we've been calling her, Baby No-no. Bean can't say Norah, but it's cute when she tries. It actually sounds more like "Na-no" when she says it, but so do most of the other words she's saying. That, "doggie" and "cocoa" are most of her vocabulary... anyway. I love how absolutely soft babies are. Their skin is just like velvet, and I can't help but want to stroke Norah's little cheek whenever I hold her. Her hair is also super soft. All my babies have come with a lot of hair, but hers is so thick and downy, like a baby chick. Then there's the intoxicating baby smell. Babies have many smells, most of which are not great. Norah generally smells like spit-up. But there's that other smell, the one you catch sometimes when they're relatively clean. Not the baby shampoo smell (which I also enjoy), but one that is just pure new baby. When I catch it I just sit and smell her for awhile. There's all the grunts, squeaks and peeps that new babies make. I think those are special because they only last for a few weeks, and then they start cooing which is of course very sweet, but not the same. Same with the little sloth-like movements she makes with her arms and legs. I swear Norah has been smiling at me for at least a week and a half, though Tom doesn't believe me. At any rate, we both seem to be able to coax those first little smiles from her now. Of course, she is quite gassy so we could be mistaken... but she just looks so happy, even when she isn't smiling. She's more alert now, with little bright eyes looking around. Her facial expressions are entertaining if only because it doesn't seem like she's able to control them. I don't know what it is about babies that makes you just sit and watch them for hours on end. The newness, or how cute and sweet they are when they're so tiny and helpless... but even when she's just sleeping, I could just sit and watch her forever. Just sitting and looking at how perfect all the little fingers and toes are, and thinking about how amazing it is that one person can produce another very tiny, but very complete person. And offering up a silent thanks a thousand times a day that she is perfect, keeping in mind the moms who have not been as lucky as I am.

Well, the baby is done eating now, which means that in the near future I will be mopping spit-up off of both of us so I will sign off here. Everyone have a very Merry Christmas, and as you are celebrating your fabulous holidays remember to thank a soldier (you can do it in your head if you don't know any). Do it not because you agree with the war, or the president, or any of that. Do it because they volunteered to be separated from family and friends so that you, and your husband/wife/sibling/parent/friend wouldn't have to. Do it because they volunteered to serve without knowing where they might be sent, or for how long. Do it because they are missing holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, the birth of their children, and years of their families' lives so that you can stay home. Just do it. Merry Christmas!!