for the beginning

Last night I went to see Julie and Julia, which gave me the idea to start a blog. This blog isn't really for anyone, except perhaps I'll give it to my grandbaby Annabelle someday. So little Annabelle, this is for you.

Three months ago you came into our lives. Your momma was so so happy for you to be born and so was I. There is a celebrity, Angelina Jolie, who commented that she didn't understand the fuss about babies, that they are sorta just little blobs. You know, in a way, she is right, yes, the head bobbing looking for nourishment was darling, but mostly you slept, cried, ate, and pooped. Lots of poop by the way.

But then, the first smile appears, and life really begins. Your first smiles came at about 6 or 7 weeks, and since then they are what makes my day. You would be surprised at the things we do to try to get a smile across that beautiful face.

When you were two weeks old you had to go into a harness because of hip issues. At 5 weeks they put you in a brace. Both are worn 24/7. The brace brought almost a worse scenario. Everytime you need a diaper change, the brace is removed. Your little legs and hips wiggle and waggle in joy and freedom. Once youre clean and a clean diaper is put on you, we have to put you back in the brace. The first 48 hours of that were absolute torture. You would get so very mad at us and just scream. Understandably. It made us so so sad.

Once your smiles started to appear, they were relatively easier to achieve when you were out of your brace. We would smile at you and you would smile back. May I never lose the memory of that sweetness. It was at that time you developed a love for kisses. You absolutely loved for us to kiss your open mouth. Now, that might sound perverse in some way. It wasn't, I think it was just a new nice sensation for you. That period seems behind us. But, getting you to smile is now much easier. Brace on or off. If we smile and coo at you, we usually are rewarded. If we lift you up in the air, we usually are rewarded.

I think the lesson from today's blog is that a true smile is a great gift.