Rylan

Guess what I got to do for 60 hours?

Leave Mr Mom in charge and go visit my bestie and her brand spanking new baby on the opposite side of the country! It was a crazy whirlwind trip (postponed once due to a blizzard), but worth every bit of the travel. Auntie Cole was there for the birth of Em, and she babysat Em while Ben was being born. I wished I could have been there for the birth of Rylan but that kid decided to hang out in her Mama's belly an extra 10 days completely throwing off my plans to sneak out of my convention in CA in early Jan so I could be there when she was born. So, basically I missed the meconium but I got the mustard seeds. (That last sentence will pretty much only be understood by parents reading this journal...) :)

Having an infant in the house is actually a lot like riding a bike. I haven't done the infant thing for - sheesh, FOUR YEARS (how did that go by so fast??) - yet being with Rylan consistently for even such a short time brought back all the muscle memory buried deep within. She felt so fragile when I first picked her up, but by the end of our time together I was tossing her around confidently like a sack of potatoes with no fear of injuring her! (Ah, come on, you know what I mean...)

It also reinforced that I am happy to be beyond the infant years and into a new "season" of child rearing. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Let me explain...

When Emma was born we knew we wanted #2 right away. Let's face it, at age 36 I wasn't getting any younger. I nursed her for 6 months, had just one menstrual cycle and got pregnant again. Just like we planned it. When Ben was born we planned the same calendar. Nurse him 6 months, get pregnant with the third and final and then close up shop. But it didn't happen. When Ben turned 10 months old and I wasn't yet pregnant, I was all, "Ya know, I kinda like our perfect family unit. We got the girl. We got the boy. I'm now 38, we can be done if you want." Daddy was all, whatever you want, baby oven. And we closed the kitchen.

We moved into crawling, then walking, then potty training, preschool and kindergarten. We said good bye to Baby Einstein and hello to Daniel Tiger and Word Girl. The onesies went into the donation bin and now we have a dresser full of big kid clothes. I also got to finally stop polluting the garbage dumps with diapers (as a freaky environmentalist - diapers killed me! But not enough to actually use and have to LAUNDER cloth diapers. Yep, I just called myself a hypocrite so you don't have to. You are welcome.)

I love this stage of parenting. I loved having a newborn... It was the lack of sleep that was so tough!

Needless to say, I got very little sleep the past 60 hours, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. Auntie Cole, I love you! I love love love that your little baby girl looks EXACTLY like you. She is the best snuggler, makes the funniest faces, and has an extraordinary smile when she is talking with her ceiling spirit friends. I can't wait to see you all again - let's shoot for sooner than later, okay??

Future EmBen, thank you for letting me go hang out and leaving you with Daddy. Thank you for the giant smiles and snuggles I got all day today after returning home. Ben, thank you for your "grown ups come back" song (and Daniel Tiger thank you for teaching him that song). Emsadoo, thank you for asking to stay up for an extra two minutes so we could "hang out" and then thanks for asking for an encore performance of our song "me and my girl".

Kiddos, I love you so stinkin' much. Auntie Cole, welcome to the unconditional love club. I know you are going to be a great addition to the club - you were born to play this role. Rylan, you are one lucky little baby girl. But you probably already know that...

I may have planted about 10,000 kisses on her head in 60 hours. That's not weird, right?