The two of you are five months old now….Quinn, you’re actually five months and 2 minutes old, if you want to get technical, having stormed into the cold delivery room just moments before your younger (but much larger) brother.
People say time is relative but I’d say time is funny….and family is relative. Five months seems like a quick drop in the bucket, sand in an hourglass, a quick fart in the diaper of life, but it seems like years ago that Jade was pregnant and the two of you were hiding shyly inside her fleshy incubator.
I walked past our television earlier today and saw the first family photo we ever had taken – a young and handsome doctor that wasn’t very good at giving epidurals had snapped it on our digital camera in the delivery room moments after they’d handed both of you to me. I sat with one of you in each arm and Jade laid stretched out on the table, her arms tied down like a death row inmate and click. The photo is ours forever. It just seems like a long time ago.
I put you into your cribs at night and you’re too tall to lay sideways anymore. In fact, you’re both so big that we have you sleeping in your own cribs now. We’d put you both in the same crib, on separate sides, and you’d fuss a little and then slowly go to sleep………and then you’d slowly start crawling towards one another and, once you found your sibling, you would start punching and kicking them. Then the screaming would start. Game over.
We separated you a few weeks ago and I think it’s fair to say that all four of us are sleeping better now. Mostly you’ll each wake up only once or twice in the night and often times one of you will actually just sleep straight through.
You’ve both begun to mumble quite a bit but Rory is definitely taking the lead on vocality. We have a little baby monitor that sits in your room and while we go to sleep we listen to you mumble in the dim light. “mmmrrr…..scwaahhhh……sshhhmmmeeee….we-we!” It’s pretty funny…..but at the same time sort of creepy because it sounds like a demon. You also do this really low growl that sends shivers up my spine. We’ll be changing your diaper and you’ll look right at us and in a raspy wheeze go, “hhhhrrrrrr habba-habba. Grrrrr rabba-rabba”. It really does sound like you’re trying to cast a spell on us.
You’re both sitting up now (sort of) but I’ve gotta say that I think Quinn might be galloping into the lead with stability. Maybe it’s because she’s lighter? Rory, you’re like a little cinder block with a face and Quinn is like a feather with a gummy smile.
One of my favorite things to do lately is to face the two of you towards one another and watch you play. You reach out and touch each other’s toes. You chew on each other’s fingers. You steal each other’s toys. You both cry. It’s loads of fun.
We’re heading back to South Dakota in about two weeks for your first 4th of July and ALSO your first plane ride. I’m really excited about the plane ride and I don’t really know why. Everyone has said that traveling with babies is a terrible, terrible experience but I believe in you!! You’re going to do just fine. We’re going to get on the plane and people will love you! You’ll steal the show – just like a thief at a comedy club!
By this time next month we fully anticipate seeing some shining ivories. We suspect that Rory may be beginning his teething campaign as of yesterday and Quinn I’m sure is not far behind. I’m trying to spend as much time with you as I can and enjoy every minute because I’m sure that in six months I’m going to look back at a photo of the four of us sitting on the floor, me half supporting Quinn and Jade trying to soothe Rory’s sore gums and I’ll think to myself – that wasn’t that long ago but you’ve changed so much…
johnny be bald 