Listener Supported

As a friend of mine recently said, "If you want unsolicited, stupid advice, wear a t-shirt that says, 'I just had a baby.' " He is so right. However, I like to hear what people have to say because the normal flow of my life is that which is opposite of what most experience. You know the commericals that are like, "4 out of 5 people who chew gum don't get cavities...". I'm usually the 1 out of 5 that defies the odds in an unfavorable way. Therefore, people's advice usually lets me know what I won't need to expect.

As Libby gets older, it gets easier. Now, if you are my friend Hannah, and were on the phone with me this afternoon as my child and Kaylee performed acts that would have caused Super Nanny to wince, you could disagree. The fact that they'd been studying fire safety at school and decided to have an emergency evacuation hurling everything important down the 2 flights of stairs while I was on the phone caused me to scream an explitive. See, you weren't on the phone with me, and because Hannah is a good friend she'd have never told that about my household happenings. However, because I'm honest with my 5 readers, I will tell you, "ain't no pollyanna of an upbringing over here". Nope, but I will say that the most common thing people said from day 1 is (and please use a deep toned red neck twang to read this), "enjoy it now 'cause it gets harder."

LIE. It gets MUCH easier. I mean, the afternoon phone call that overheard the 10 on the Ricter Scale moment is a several times a day happening. However, every day gets easier. I mean when Libby was little she could only cry inconsolably and puke. Now, she can tell us to, "kiss her butt," and "no". And we can gently respond with a properly aligned punishment. Well, as the days get easier, there are good moments and moments that our parents would feel proud that we are getting the paybacks we probably deserved. So, here are a few pictures of the past few days.

Libby's first decision was to not sleep anymore and to watch TV all night. VETO The old routine of daddy rocking her in the bonus room while watching old episodes of 'Seinfeld' have been replaced by her falling asleep on her "nap". The "nap" is her mat from school that she recently outgrew, but she still loves it dearly. I have no clue what the wings were about. You pick and choose your battles. Another thing that puzzles me is that in approx 2000 sq ft, she plants herself on the 3 ft in front of the bathroom. At least she got herself to sleep.

Sunday, we were just running 15 minutes behind and couldn't make it to church. Usually, if you don't make it, you feel kinda bad for like 5 minutes and then you are over it. Not Libby, she tortured us about it for about an hour. "I want to go to chuuuuurch. I want to sing about Jesuuuuuss. You don't care about any-ting. Don't eben tok to me. Stop lookin' at me. You duh meanest people eber." Needless to say, we'll work a little harder to be on time next week.