meeting eva marie

Last night, Vanessa and I went over to visit Roxy and Dave and see their new, 4-day-old baby, Eva Marie. Dave answered the door with Eva curled in one crook of his arm, a bottle in her mouth. The moment I looked into her big, brown eyes, my own eyes teared up. It hit me that this little peanut was what Dave and Roxy had been working so long and so hard for - the daily shots, the drugs, the constant early-morning trips to the doctor to get monitored. Now, here she was, the fruit of all their efforts, right there in the flesh - all six perfect pounds of her. And Stephen and I have shared their journey so closely - it's been our journey, too. Before too long, we will be where they are, in the sleepless daze of new parenthood. All this hit me all at once as I stood in the doorway staring at Eva's darling face.

I don't mean to sound like such a sap: It's the hormones. I seem to cry a lot these days, especially when something is momentous and meaningful, and yesterday was what you would call a Big Day. So it was a tremendous relief to hear Dave and Roxy talk about how much Eva farts and poops and how you can smell it from across the room. That got everyone laughing, and my equilibrium rebalanced itself. (And when I got home, Steve was just putting in the tape of last week's The Office, so we got to giggle some more.)

I sat on their couch and held the peanut facing me, with her head rested in one of my hands, so I could watch her face. She has Dave's chin. I could have sat there for hours watching the expressions she came up with. Sometimes she cocked her eyebrow. Another time she looked like she was smiling, and then she was grimacing, and then she was sticking her tongue out. Babies are so funny and amazing that way.

I took a few pictures, too, but the best moments were away from the camera. I'll post one here as soon as I can.