Monday, December 22, 2008

What child is this...

Look at us.  We are a family.  Oh what a difference a baby makes.

The last three months went unwritten about because I was recovering from birth, mastitis, and sleep deprivation.  But I am learning a rhythm to this role now and Delaney and I are operating pretty well as a team.   

Yes, now my B the G goes by Delaney Louise Coffey.  Choosing the name was a trial and I eventually had to stop telling people the various candidates when they would inevitably ask.  It never failed to amaze me how openly critical some could be when they heard my list of names.  I've been privy to some pretty bad baby monikers in my time, but I would never tell someone I didn't like the name they had chosen.  Or that I went to school with a insert name and she was a real asshole.  People were too honest with me when they asked about her name and I was surprised how many of them didn't get that I wasn't asking their opinion, only answering their question.

So in the end I began giving vague answers about there being a list of possible names and then changing the subject.  Delaney was a name my mother had mentioned to me and one of the very few Justin and I agreed on.  His tastes run much more traditional than mine and while I don't usually like the last name as first name method, there is something feminine and delicate about the name that I find very pretty and unusual.  Which is the word my mother-in-law used when I told her Delaney's name for the first time.  "Well that's...unusual."  I could tell it threw her for a loop, but you can't please everybody with the name game.  And it really suits Delaney.  

Speaking of feminine and delicate, she is weighing in at a hefty 13 lbs now at three months old and Justin and I roll our eyes when we think back to the IUGR diagnosis and how worried we were about her tininess.   Her thighs have glorious, thick rolls in them and her cheeks are chipmunk-y with big rose blooms on them.  Even her elbows and knuckles have fat dimples and I think back to one of my adoption posts where I had to draw a picture of the baby I was going to adopt.  I've got to find that drawing and post it because honest-to-god Delaney looks just like the little papoose I drew.   Granted it was a pretty generic drawing, which was the point of the exercise and she doesn't have a feather coming out of her head.  But she has the same dark eyes and serene expression.  And she certainly is the chubba wubba baby I was wishing for last fall.  

It's a wonder how certain things come to pass.  And why other times we're left guessing.   

So while my Adventures in Babymaking are at an end, I've decided to keep writing when I can about my journey into motherhood.  I've already missed some whopper stories with my absence but I'll try to pick it up now that I'm back into the groove.  Remind me to tell you about the mastitis cum breast abscess.  A real kicker for a new, already neurotic mom.