Alright friends, I hope I don’t regret this. I’d like to introduce the first guest blogger in the history of Friday’s Frame … drum roll please … my husband, Tommy! Be good, dear …
Good day minions. Welcome to my first….and probably last blog entry. As we close on the end of our baby’s fifth week of life, we can’t help but hold her. I find myself not wanting to put her down, even when I have to eat dinner, sleep, or even go to work. We certainly went through a lot to be able to get to this point, and I think Katie and I understand the importance of “taking it all in.” In this photo, I think I was supposed to be waking Gracey up for her supper. I held her like a toddler refusing to go to bed. Since I’m working during the day, I don’t get to spend the time with Gracey that I would like to…..so I hold her, close. Who knows if we’ll have another baby; Gracey will never be 5 weeks old again……so I hold her, close.
Now, let me fill you in on what happened to the Gardner family this past week. I went to work, held Gracey, watched The Simspons, changed diapers, ate dinner, slept……then repeat. Katie, on the other hand, woke up early, fed Gracey, cleaned, fed Gracey, worked, fed Gracey, went to the store, fed Gracey, ate a dairy-free and soy-free meal, fed Gracey, and so on…. Having a baby consolidated my daily life down to a few tasks. On the other hand, Katie’s daily life compounded exponentially. I give her a lot of credit for doing everything she does, with a smile on her face no less. Oh, she has her momentS every once in a while, but those moments tend to be short lived when I do or say something goofy. Who can be cranky when I make our baby say “Mommy, pooping really hurts a lot.” When said in a baby voice can be pretty funny. We have a lot of fun with Gracey throughout the sleepless nights and uneventful weekends. We truly would not want it any other way.
So to wrap up my rambling, I’d like to close with a topic that has not yet graced Friday’s Frame. Katie has spent much of her adult life covering the lives of other people. She posts pictures of other people’s happy times and she writes about how wonderful other people are. She rarely, if ever, writes about herself and the thing that make her awesome. Yeah, she writes about events in her life, but not about what makes her tick. I’ll tell you what makes her tick….love. Everything she does is out of love. She loves her profession, she loves her family and friends, she loves me, and she loves her baby. That’s why we thought the name of her business couldn’t be more fitting. Katie loves life. I’m sure everyone that knows Katie can second that. So next time you see or talk to Katie, let’s all let her know how much we love her. Even if she hasn’t been in contact in a while due to the pregnancy and newborn……trust me, she loves you.
That’s Friday’s Frame through Tommy’s lens.
Gracey may be a tiny bit extra work than some babies, but it’s ok because we’re kind of, totally, no doubt about it … in love. Tommy and I found out this past week that Gracey has a milk protein intolerance, which explains nearly all of her fussiness. (I just knew it had to be something!) What this means for me is, I need to cut out all dairy and soy from my diet. (That, or we could put her on a formula that costs about as much as a second mortgage.) So, no dairy and soy it is! The diet seemed very overwhelming at first (think, mommy with fussy newborn walking around Pick ‘n Save in search of dairy- and soy-free food) … but I wholeheartedly believe in breastfeeding, so we’re going to continue on, in attempts of making it work for as long as possible.
These fleeting newborn moments are so, so precious. Through the sleepless nights and cries I can’t quite console, I try to take in every moment, every smell, every expression, every twitch or startle, every stretch, every baby breath. I really need a camera in every room. I’ve somehow partially convinced myself that if I take enough photos of her now, I won’t ache for these special days as time passes. Wishful, crazy thinking, right? Right. I know it’s crazy … I know I’m going to cry like a baby at her first birthday party … but, at least I’ll have the photos. Photos like this, of her tiny little baby legs … legs that kick in every which direction …
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