June 18, 2012

Pockets Full Of... What?	Sweet Surprises
There's an episode of The West Wing (best television show of all time) where the character Toby is in the hospital bonding with his just-born twins. He muses that he didn't know babies "came with hats."  I've always liked that line and thought the concept was pretty funny. Now here's something I didn't know: babies need pockets, apparently.   I guess I never got close enough or cared enough to inspect baby clothes but, yup, sure enough, those pockets in the infant shorts are 100% real and useable. Which begs the question, why? Surely not to put his hands in. Maybe some place to keep car keys, loose change, or his little baby wallet (you're picturing that and smiling now, aren't you?). I'm baffled.  Now, I can slightly better understand the back pockets. Those are basically a patch sewn on only three sides. Easy enough. But the front pockets... I'm no seamstress but that's gotta be about 7, 10, 12 extra steps in the manufacturing process, just to make pockets for a 2-month old. No, I don't get it. Must be one of those oddities life with baby is so full of. Like why, to prevent face scratches, people buy little baby mittens that look almost exactly like baby socks instead of just using, well, baby socks.  I don't really have a point here. I just wanted to let you know what made me scratch my head and say, "huh?" today. And also, not that I needed one, but it gave me an excuse to take a picture of my baby's cute bum.  ~M	Anyone who knows me understands that I’m not usually a fan of surprises.  Well not the jump out kind that make my heart leap.  Just not my thing.  My husband doesn’t mind them and I have successfully surprised him twice with birthday parties so I do like surprising others.  Last July I went to the Doctor because I hadn’t been feeling well.  I was certain I was perimenopausal and I was concerned about my stomach being upset all the time (I have an allergy to gluten).  You can imagine my surprise when we discovered that I wasn’t in fact in the beginning stages of menopause but rather little SJ was in the beginning stages!  SURPRISE!  After the initial shock (I think it lasted about six weeks) the reality set in.  We were thrilled with the idea of a little one to snuggle with and love on and we were scared at the same time.  We were, in fact, starting over.  I had given everything away.  All clothing, all toys, crib, bassinet and everything baby related had been passed on to young couples beginning their journey.  Oh my!  Of course we don’t need a lot and I truly have the most amazing friends in my life who have made sure we have everything we need.  Today we had another surprise.  We found Dr. Little People. There was something very special about discovering Dr. Little People at the bottom of one of my boy’s toy buckets.  There he was hiding underneath Legos, a remote control car, batman and various other toys.  Version 4.0 discovered him all nestled in there.  “Look, Mama!  We can give this to Samuel!!!” he shouted. It was a sweet surprise.  He’s a little worn with some bite marks, scratches and scuffs, but he is beautiful.  A wonderful reminder of fun play time with four of our five.  Now 16 years after Dr. Little People made his first house call he is going to be loved by SJ too. ~A