Back To Our Normal!

Dear Ava Leigh,

You're a funny little goober pea.

Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve the blessing of being Mommy to the most agreeable baby in the world.  I love taking you out in public, because once I get our rolling circus of baby gear in the car and on the road, your exotic-looking eyes light up at the sight of each new person or place you encounter.

(That is, after you're strapped securely in your carseat and are sufficiently calm enough to roll.  Is there any child who doesn't tear the place down after that final bottom buckle snaps across their tummy?)

I love that even if you have a NASCAR-style blowout in your diaper, you don't wail or  holler.  You'll just scrunch up your face and pooch out your lower lip to demonstrate your discomfort, or simply look at me with smug self-satisfaction as pee runs down your leg (and then mine!).  Such untidy little public events make me cackle now, whereas they might have frustrated me if your arrival had been easy.  My mantra now, as it will ever be: perspective, perspective, perspective.

Looking back over the burp rag over my shoulder at the past week, it's bewildering to think that a week ago today, you were recovering from surgery this very hour.  Since that day, you've had a grand total of ZERO barfing events.  Heck, you haven't even spit up, and you've only had a couple of wet burps, and the only reason I knew you'd had those was because I would brush across sticky little threads of milk on my sweater as I brushed my hair.  Having your hernia repaired did you a world of good.  Now you only fuss if I interrupt your nap, or if you absolutely refuse to fart.  Thank goodness both of those issues have simple fixes: Daddy or I just lift you onto our chest, and as you draw your legs under you like a scruff-carried kitten, we pat-pat-pat your little behind until the rhythm lulls you back to sleep.

I know that caring for you won't always be as simple as it this very moment.  Eventually, you'll become more mobile.  Our methods of soothing you will become more complex, and sometimes we won't discover the keys to your contentment, o matter how hard we try..... But right now I get the feeling that you're easier to care for than most babies, and for that, I'm overwhelmingly grateful that God would see fit to give our family such precious moments of peace.  He knows that you've certainly earned them, little cabbage rose!