Babysitting Baby

So why haven't I posted in a week? A family close to us went on vacation to Las Vegas and asked us to watch their six month old, Danica, for the week. Additionally, my sister was up with the girls. Every free moment was spent with family.

Since I've been fighting the urgency for a third baby I thought this babysitting job would cure me. I prayed this would cure me. Everyone around me prayed that this would cure me. Deep, fervent prayers.

I had planned on taking pictures all week but after I took these shots I realized as the days progressed that this was really all the kids did. They were so obsessed with where Danica was, what Danica was doing, when would Danica wake up, why was Danica crying, etc...So instead of showing you the same shots but with the kids in different clothes and in different rooms, I'm just sharing these.

Maddie was only briefly interested, or so we thought. We realized after we took Danica out of the swing that the only reason Maddie was hanging around was because she wanted to use the swing. As soon as she sat in it anyone who tried to move her became a victim of a swift kick to the shin.

Oddly, Jamison exhibited similar behaviors with the Exersaucer. He kept climbing into the thing and getting himself stuck in it. An indicator that your youngest is not ready to be a middle child? He keeps playing with the baby toys and gets upset when the baby plays with them as well.

Jamison was always in Danica's face. For a while he has known that he is no longer a baby. He points out babies to me all the time, as if differentiating himself. My heart made a lurch when I saw him with Danica because it really made me see how big he is now. He also seemed to mature a fraction of a bit when she was here. (notwithstanding the Exersaucer episodes)

And he liked her head. If he wasn't patting it he was putting something on it. Patting and Putting.

In. Her. Face. Continually.

Each time Kristen visits with Maddie and Ruthie we always try to get all four kids in a picture. We always fail. We have many pictures of our failures. So we settled for a candid shot. Jamison and Ruthie are on the swing on the left and Jamison is actually facing the retaining wall and Maddie's finger is up her nose. That's how much we've settled in our quest for the PERFECT FAMILY PICTURE.

Overall the week with Danica was uneventful save for her family getting lost in the desert and needing to be airlifted to a hospital. Just a close encounter with death; nothing unusual. A minor thing like Brian and I on the verge of becoming legal guardians of Danica. Just your everyday things.

And no...despite the spit up and Danica not sleeping through the night and the baby bottles I still don't feel done with children. But I do know that Jamison needs to be way more independent when/if we have more. And I can't see how I can work at the office and manage three. So there's no telling how this will turn out. I hate not knowing.