Lyrics Needed

 

Who do you feel more sorry for?

Well we’ve got a week til we take Alice on her first vacation – although I’m not sure ‘vacation’ is the right word for it. We’re traveling to Florida, but I’m sure there will be times when it will feel anything like a vacation. Fortunately we will have the entire Todd clan there, so we have plenty of support. Unfortunately, not even the most loving of family members will volunteer to take a crying baby off your hands on an airplane – I don’t care what kind of family you come from.

 

Alice has developed a fairly predictable routine of crying loudly and extensively right before she falls asleep. This is usually preceded by her being extremely cute and smiley, and then out of the blue she wigs out. At least she’s getting on a schedule, right? Covering her with a blanket sort of helps, but she’s a flail-er, so the blanket’s only going to stay on her for a little bit. Singing seems to calm her quickly, but I’m not exactly looking forward to singing Rockabye Baby on the plane.

Speaking of the most famous lullaby in history – what a violent song! I don’t think the lyrics mean a whole lot to you when you don’t have your own child who you’ve probably had a horrible vision of dropping while getting her out of the sink bathtub. Nick’s pretty good at making up his own lyrics to songs – I’ll have him come up with a more suitable set of lyrics and will pass them on when he’s done. In the mean time – enjoy the latest batch of pictures!

“The Future”

Alice and I have been discussing what we want to be when we grow up.  After hours of grueling debate we have reached a decision.  Hammocks on the beach in Mexico.  I know what you are thinking, where could you possibly find a hammock small enough for Baby Alice.  Put your minds at ease. I have done extensive research on the subject and discovered that baby hammocks are available!  God bless the internet! It turns out that anything made for adults has a baby sized version that can be purchased online–just add shipping!

No more schedules, no more employee meetings, traffic, do-gooders, busy bodies, and the like.  Just a big basket of fruit and an ocean breeze.  If any of you would like to join us, please submit your resumes through this website and I will contact any qualified applicants for an interview. Thank you in advance for your interest in the position.

Nick.

Change of Subject

I decided that I should add a new post, even if I don’t have anything really driving the post because the last one was so uplifting. We had a couple visitors this weekend. My college roomie, her hubbie, and their adorable little Mina drove down from Minneapolis to meet Alice. It is so exciting to see what Alice will be up to in about 8 months. We will have to do some serious baby proofing – Mina took hardly any time at all to point out everything we’ll have to fix: the bookshelf, the stereo, the wobbly brass lamp, and the door to the basement.

It was fun to watch Angie feed her solid foods – while Mina was reaching for everything in her reach. You really do have to be on your toes and Angie and Aaron are some of the quickest in the business.

We had a fun trip to the zoo, but we were all pretty tired when we left. Alice had her fill and let me know it! She apparently doesn’t like to eat in large crowds – she prefers a quiet, candle-lit environment to the buzzing hot dog stands outside the Aquarium. She did seem to be mesmerized by the fish in one of the saltwater displays. The brightly-colored butterfly fish, angel fish, and clown fish all seemed to catch her attention. Maybe this will convince dad to start up his saltwater tank again???

We had a wonderful time with the Guimaraes family and can’t wait for our next visit.

Enjoy your Monday!

Gray Day Indeed

Warning – This is not a happy entry. I just read – no, tried to read – an intense article in the Washington Post. It is a lengthy article about parents who left their children in their car. This article discussed the physical strains of parenting and how easily our brains become forgetful or distracted. There were some very well researched topics about this horrible phenomena, citing everything from the rear-facing car seats to how parents and families have become busier and busier.

The article followed a few families and told their stories, which made the article so difficult to read. The sections about psychology, memory, court trials, and proposed laws are longer, detailed paragraphs. The sections about the real life tragedies are one word sentences, so there’s no accidentally skipping over a gruesome detail. I read one of those gruesome details and I cannot get it out of my head. I was not able to hold back tears while sitting at my desk.

This image will not escape me and I cannot help but picture my own car and cannot help but put Alice’s face into one of the stories – not because I think this could happen to me, but because this truly could happen to anyone. I will put my purse in the back seat from now on, not because this could happen to me, but because this could happen to anyone. Read the article. I couldn’t read all of it, but I’m glad I read what I read, even with the horrible images it described.