one, twoooooooooo, three!

Lucy has a new favorite game.

 One . . . 

"Twoooooooooooo-OOOOO . . . "

Three!

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i can't take too much more of your love

We're briefly back from the beach before we head there again for Hood to Coast. There are plenty of pictures to post, but in the interim we bring you this video of Lucy showering her newest and littlest cousin with kisses.

kissing cousins from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

finally!

the sins of the fathers

A little boy bit Lucy at daycare today.

One story from our family lore is the day my mom went to pick me up from daycare, only to be confronted on her way in by an angry mother, telling her what a terrible baby she was raising, some sort of little hellion with teeth.Well, I never.

The daycare staff apologized profusely to my mom, explaining that I had indeed bitten one of the other children that day, but that they had a policy of not naming names when it comes to these sorts of incidents between children, and they weren't sure how the other mother had come to discover my trespasses, exactly. But nonetheless, it was true.

Later that week at pickup time one of the daycare ladies took my mother aside to let her know, off the record, that the other mother's darling angel had crossed over to the dark side and bitten another baby herself, only her bite was worse--mine had left a little mark, but hers drew blood. So, there was a pleasant vindication for the mother's self-righteousness, some swift cosmic revenge. But, then, I have to wonder--is this my cosmic revenge, visited on Lucy, slightly stale after 26 years?

Poor little Lucy, with her daddy's sweet smile, paying for her mama's propensity to bite. Or maybe the whole point of that story, repeated throughout my childhood, was to prepare me for this: some little urchin's teethmarks on my baby's flesh, a round red circle broken in two. Be wary, it says, of overreaction; build up goodwill instead for Lucy's inevitable turn on the other side of the teeth.

baby birthday extravaganza

Before Lucy was born, Shaggy and I signed up for all manner of classes to prepare for her arrival: there was prenatal yoga, the ABCs of childcare, breastfeeding basics, birth preparation workshop, and a childbirth class held at the hospital.

For six weeks we ate sandwiches in the car as we drove over to Good Sam to sit in a big room with nine other couples who were all expecting their first babies in the summer of 2009. At first it was kind of awkward, a bunch of pregnant bellies in a room where the only thing you seemed to have in common was the obvious: So, you're pregnant? Me too. Yep.

But the nurse midwife who taught the class was wise: she said food bonded classmates, and so every week somebody brought snacks--watermelon, hummus, crackers, cheese--and in the last week of class we set a date for mid-September to meet again,  this time with babies and beer to celebrate.

The next three months went by in that fast-slow time warp that is waiting out the last weeks of pregnancy and then trying to hold your head above the choppy water of new parenting, but most of us made it to that first reunion. With our babies in tow there was no shortage of things to talk about--pregnancy may have been only one thing in common, but an actual baby was suddenly a lot of things.

Fast forward to almost one year later: the class has stayed in touch, and last weekend we had a baby first birthday party reunion at Colonel Summers park.  It was awesome. The babies were mostly blond and completely adorable, there was clapping, walking, chatter and peekaboo. There was an amazing hand-made train cake, and in one case there was even a baby tackle when Parker surprised Lucy from behind.

Parker is getting friendly. Thanks, Maggie! (For more pictures, go here.)

Lucy getting crazy with a fork. Thanks, Brooke! (For more pictures, go here.)

It has been so fun getting together every few months to watch the babies grow; trade tips for eating, napping, teething, childcare; mostly just remember that other people are doing this too, doing it well, having fun, raising people your little person will be proud to know.

Somebody is going to get somebody real soon.

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fourth of July

To celebrate the five week anniversary of the Fourth of July, here are some pictures of babies and tractors.

How patriotic!

Baby Teagan, almost one month old

Baby Scarlett, rocking the hipster hair

Baby Lucy, snuggling with Nana

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