RECIPE

REMY CELEBRATED HER ONE MONTH MILESTONE YESTERDAY! 

I've always loved to cook and doing so usually means following some sort of a structured recipe. Do you want to know what I've learned since becoming a mom? There is no recipe. Sure, there are books and blogs and magazines. Many of which I purchased prior to Remy's arrival, a few of which I read, and most of which I've now retired to my dust-collecting pile.  There are people who gave valuable "there's no handbook for parenting" advice before Remy arrived, which I stored it in the back of my mind, but never fully understood. And now, here I am. Writing about the lack of a "parenting recipe" and raising my hand in admission that I often wish there was one. But since there's not, I've boiled our "recipe" down to some short words about how we are raising Remy: 

#1)  We love her. Every stinking little inch of her. We love holding her hand and we love her strong-willed personality. We love watching her change each day. We love that she's made our family of two a family of three. We love that she's starting to smile and to discover her hands. We love watching her eyes open wide and then temporarily cross when she sees contrasting colors.  We love her all day long. No matter what recipe you choose to follow, love is always the most important ingredient. 

#2) We will do anything to soothe her. Some say swaddle. Some say carrier. Some say pack-and-play. Some say pacifier. We say, ALL of all of those things - at the same time! When all else fails, we take her for a walk without time-of-day or weather restrictions. Midnight walks in the rain included. 

#3) We let her sleep. And when she sleeps, we don't wake her up. Even when she naps for 4 hours, a quiet emptiness fills the house, and Mom feels super tempted to awaken her beautiful little girl so she has someone to play with ... we let her sleep. 

 #4) We nickname her: 

• Snorker - because she snorts when she disapproves of something. 
• Bunny - because she sleeps in a bunny rocker. 
• RemStar -  because she is (obviously) awesome and has a great ear for music. 
• Sugarplum - because there's nothing sweeter in this world. 
• Miss Mouth - because she eats. all. the. time.  One of her trademark moves is to put a tiny-fingered fist over her mouth and to shake her head like a wild woman. 

And she's always dressed in a way that warrants such nicknames - our pink little diva: 

#5) We whistle.  This is one of our favorite Remy-faces. 

#6) We make bathtime the most exciting 7 minutes of our whole day.  If there was a world record for how many times one could "oooohhhh" and "ahhhhhhh"  in 7 minutes, we'd win.  This type of exasperated excitement also applies to changing diapers, a time during which we make such an overjoyed fuss that you'd think Remy was taking her first steps.

#7) We remind her that while she's the mini-Queen of Hotel Pritchard, there were two Princes here before her. Sometimes, they need just as much love and attention.  

#8) We sing her funny songs about absolutely, ridiculously nothing ... because those are the songs she loves best! And when even the wackiest songs don't entertain her, we call the Grandmas (KiKi and Grammy) for reinforcement! 

#9) We go boating. The family that boats together, stays together. And as we learned last weekend, the baby that goes for a boat ride is a sleepy, cozy baby. 

#10) We trust our instincts.  Right after Remy was born in the hospital, a nurse handed her to Jonny. He looked at her for about five seconds, started rocking her, and said "it's amazing how natural this feels when it's your own baby."   Truer words have never been spoken, and we remind ourselves of that moment almost everyday.  We are blessed with a miraculous daughter who is purely and simply, ours.  This delicious recipe has filled our home with the smells of questioning and discovery. Sleepiness and hunger. Innocence and trust. Curiosity and wonder. Grace and perfection. Life will never be the same. Or more complete.