We Love Having Guests!

Every day KJ and I think Louisa looks a little bit older. KJ keeps asking Louisa not to grow anymore, and she remarked one morning to Lizzy and Martha (who returned for three days but left yesterday) that she was afraid Louisa was already writing her college essays! For the record, she is two-and-a-half weeks old.

We had a little bit of a wake-up call when we all went for a walk--on a beautiful Saturday--to Starbucks down in West Hartford Center. I was surprised to see so many babies and young children around (or perhaps I am more attuned to them now), but we were all surprised by how BIG most of them were. "Like mutant babies," we remarked. We've been staring at our little girl so long I guess we just got used to this sized baby. One woman pushing her four-month old in her stroller saw Louisa and commented that she couldn't even remember her baby being that small. Comments like that are making KJ and me try to remember to appreciate her at this stage (not that we weren't already, but it drives home the point a bit). I remember in the first day she was born, I put my thumb up next to her ear, which was as long as my thumb from the nail down to just the first knuckle. I'm still in awe that all her parts are there--every little toe with each cute little toe nail, all her hair, her little fingers that wrap around my index finger--just very very tiny. I think at least half of all the times I have said the word "cute" in my entire life have been in the last two-and-a-half weeks.

We don't want to forget her being this small. That's partially why we have this blog. It's for us at least as much as it is for whoever else is reading this.

We love having guests come visit. Chris and Joan came last week. Martha and Lizzy were here for a few days. KJ's co-worker Erin Ashton visited and met Louisa. Last night we put Louisa in the Baby Bjorn and walked her just a few blocks down the street to the house of our friends Lisa Mack and Al DeBerardinis. Their little house-warming gathering also had Tom and Jamie Januszyk and Alan Goldstein and Melissa Spiel (Lisa, Jamie, Melissa and KJ are all second-year residents together). Louisa behaved herself and KJ and I agreed--naively, certainly--that we can still be a "cool" couple and hang out with friends on a Saturday night. Ignorance is bliss? I'm still sure I have no idea what we've gotten ourselves into!

Today we are excited to see Gino Beniamino and Jen Pascucci who are passing through CT on their way down to NYC, but were very nice to come a little out of their way for lunch and to meet our daughter. I do feel a bit like we're the overly proud parents wanting to show off their new baby. But I do also feel that as long as they are coming to see us, maybe a little showing off our new prized possession is warranted.

In the afternoon our current plan is to take Louisa to Lyman Orchard, maybe for some apple picking or walking around. But we're starting to learn just how long it takes to get from the living room to the car. So we'll see what happens.

The picture above is from her first ever "real" bath (the clip to her umbilical cord fell off a few days ago).  Louisa was NOT amused.