Sugar and Spice

Pumpkin got her first cold and mommy had her first broken heart as a result. It was so extremely sad to watch her struggle to breathe and to wipe crusties from her little eyes. I laid awake for two straight nights just listening to her cough. And you guessed it, I went completely psycho-mom worrying about her. The first day of full-blown sickness Pumpkin was grumpy, wanted to be held, was tired but wouldn't (or couldn't sleept) and just generally had the ickies. I tried to accomodate her and love on her as much as possible. Late in the afternoon, however, something happened and I couldn't figure out what it was. She simply would not stop crying. I held her, I walked her, I offered her toys, I kissed her. As I was frantically bouncing her from room to room in my arms, I realized that for some reason she stopped crying when I got near the kitchen. It didn't even dawn on me WHY the kitchen made her stop crying. I was just convinced she had some serious internal ...

I have used the word "love" before many times in my life. I love God, I love Aaron, I love my family and friends, I love diet coke. I had experienced all these different kinds of love. And particularly since I was an English major and consider myself somewhat well read, I was certain I knew all about love - I had read it, written it, said it, and lived it. Little did I know that on May 6, 2010 my entire world would change in one little 6 pound 12 ounce instant. I will tell you up front that what I'm going to discuss here is something that cannot be explained. Parents know it, the rest can only imagine. To paraphrase the late Justice Stewart, it is one of those "you'll know it when you see it" kind of things. However, I will make an unavoidably weak attempt to explain it for purposes of filling up Blog space. The enigma to which I refer is the love of a child. From the minute her dimpled face was on my chest for the first time, still covered in goo and scream...

Our first out-of-town trip with Pumpkin to the Big Easy this weekend was just that. In fact, it was downright fun and it was pretty hard to drop her off at school this morning after such a wonderful weekend with her. First, in the car she was an absolute angel and slept the ENTIRE way both there and back (including during all three stops that Aaron and I had to make on the way back). On the way there I was afraid she might wake up, so I stuffed myself in the back seat next to her carseat. Of course, she slept the entire way so I was stuck in the backseat alone while Aaron was driving Miss Daisy up front. When we arrived in the Big Easy, we took her out into the Quarter in her Snugli. She LOVED all the new sights. And I have to say, it was a succesful trip to the Quarter despite the fact that I had to change her on the floor of a restaurant bathroom (on a pad, of course). Hopefully this is the LAST time she is laying on a bathroom floor in the Quarter! At the hotel, she couldn't hav...