Time Flies When You're Covered in Baby Goo...

So today we've had Reagan for one month. I was thinking about that tonight, getting all misty-eyed at the way our baby has grown and changed already. Thinking this is probably the last time she'll wear the purple pjs with the yellow flowers on the leg. She's so big now. She'll be a year old in a few weeks. Gulp.

And I was also thinking about us and what we've gone through in the last four weeks and mostly it comes down to goo. Pre-Reagan our goo exposure was limited. Sure other people's kids spit up on us now and then. We've seen explosive diapers and dealt with one or two of them. We're not total novices. However, when you are with a baby constantly, you're bound to be splashed in one form of goo or another on pretty much a daily basis. I have a hilarious story which my Mom says is a bit crude for the blog but when we meet in person, ask me about Reagan's hair goo, a creation of her own making.

Today we've survived a month of ick the likes of which we'd never seen before. And the crazy thing about it is that we've signed on for more. This is our world, goo and all and we just couldn't be more pleased.

And the Winners Are...

A few weeks ago when we got back I posed a question concerning window shades and take off. We've had two answers submitted. One of them was a complete lie but it sounded good so one of Reagan's stuffed animals (I'm leaning toward a dog formerly known as Roscoe) will henceforth be Christopher.

In first place with an answer that I believe is actually the truth, is a man named Todd who apparently works with my Dad. I'm putting his answer here so the mystery will be solved and all you good people will rest easy. What's interesting to me is that the flight attendants do NOT mention the real reason for our window shade placement. They don't come out and say, "If this puppy crashes, we need the natural light to identify bodies." No. They instead use the very elusive but politically correct "help the captain" phrase I mentioned previously.

So we've discovered the truth with help from Todd who is going to have a pink tiger named in his honor. Thank you and congratulations!

Answer:
If the shades are open, passengers can keep track of which way is up during an emergency. Windows are also a source of light if the cabin goes dark. The crew dims the lights during takeoff so, if the plane loses power, your eyes won’t have a hard time adjusting to the dark.

We Can't Help Ourselves...

We put more pictures on Flickr tonight. It's a sickness. We can't stop taking photos of this precious child. Humor us and go look at them, would you?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/84389878@N00/tags/reagan/

Reagan and Our Other Daughters...

Reagan is our first human daughter but she's not our first child by a long shot. Psalms arrived eight years ago and Autumn, seven years ago. They are spoiled, fat and very, very stubborn kitty cats who we adore.

Psalms talks pretty much constantly (she takes after Danny) and Autumn is shy, loving and willing to take Psalms' abuse.

They think Reagan is a loud rodent of some kind, I'm sure of it. Psalms crouches on our bed with her paws over her ears (literally) and squeezes her eyes shut when Reagan cries. Autumn backs away from Reagan the instant we come out on the front porch. Actually she does a little dance. Autumn wants to come see me, her mom, her protector and friend so she runs toward us and then she spots Reagan. She's torn. She hovers just out of Reagan's reach (and thus out of mine) and cries at me to pet her, all the while eyeballing Reagan like something unwanted stuck to her tail.

Reagan thinks they are the most fantastic thing since Cheerios (and that's saying a lot, you should see this kid eat Cheerios). She crawls after Psalms whenever she can. She bounces and squeals when she sees or even hears one of them meow. She makes the "k" sound and points when they come around because we're trying to teach her to say kitty and "k" is as far as she goes.

Ultimately I think this will all work out. The girls are teenagers now and spend lots of time dragging Main with their friends and even when they're home they're so busy painting their toenails and IMing boys that mostly they ignore Reagan. She idolizes them, however, as any younger sibling does. I'm not too worried about it. All babies lick themselves and eat from a bowl on the floor, right?

Confession

I miss Reagan when she sleeps. Isn't that stupid? I mean, the kid WEARS ME OUT all day long. She's curious about everything, she terrorizes the cats, she eats like a linebacker and she wants me to play, play, play. And she still doesn't have true appreciation for cleanliness.

Yet right now she's sleeping and I miss her. I miss how soft her face is, so smooth and without a single blemish. I miss her hot, formula breath on my face when she gives me an open-mouth kiss. I miss her scrunchy smile as we've come to call it.

I think I'll go look at her one more time.

Good night.