A Day in the Life

Last weekend, I traveled to Illinois for Natalie’s baptism. For those of you who don’t know Natalie (that is, those who haven’t been reading my Blog very religiously!), she is the first child of my very good friend and college roommate Nicole. She is two months old and the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. I have no biases. This is just the simple truth.

When Nicole asked me to be Natalie’s Godmother, I was honored and overjoyed. I booked a flight to Illinois right away so I could attend the baptism and have been looking forward to it for some time. However, as many of you may know, I have never been much of a baby person, so I was a little nervous.

I spent the Friday before the baptism with Natalie and Nicole (and a bunch of their other family members), and the day was nothing if not interesting. I thought it would be fun to reflect on the time – what we did, how I reacted, and what I was thinking as the minutes ticked by. And so, I give you…

A Day in the Life of a New Godmother:

11:00 am – I arrive at Dave’s (Natalie’s daddy) parents’ house in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago, where he, Nicole, and Natalie have been staying for the weekend. Dave gives me a huge hug and thanks me for coming, then leads me to Nicole, who is sitting on the couch, holding a big blanket with a baby under it. “She’s eating,” she tells me. “Oh,” I think. “How…cute?”

11:30 am – Natalie is full. Nicole takes her out from under the blanket and I see her for the first time. She is beautiful. Tiny. With freakishly long toes. I think, “Is this really a little person?” Nicole asks me if I want to burp her. I say I’ll give it a try, but I don’t even know how to hold this little thing. I just get her comfortable in my arms, when Nicole grabs her right back. Right before she pukes. “I saw that one coming,” Nicole says. What a good mama. And what a good friend – that was a new shirt I had on!

12:00 pm – Natalie is finally fed and burped, and now I get to hold her while she sleeps. I am so uncomfortable with this. I know nothing about babies, and this one is so little, I think I might break it. Her. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a live human being. The thought is so strange to me. She’s just so little and light.

12:15 pm – On second thought, my arms are aching a little. This baby is heavier than I thought.

12:30 pm – Natalie wakes up and starts to squirm and struggle a little. She wants something, and I don’t know what. Her mom knows, but I don’t want to give her up just yet. I’m just starting to get used to holding this baby in my arms. Nicole thinks she wants to play on the floor, though, so down she goes. She’s happy down there. She squirms and smiles and she kicks a little. You have to watch out. All of the people in the house – mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, cousin, etc. – are just sitting on the floor staring at this little girl, who is doing nothing more than kicking her legs around. And we are enthralled. For a long time. We just sit there and watch her.

2:00 pm – Nicole and I go to lunch. We leave Natalie at home. After all, Nicole thinks, she’s just going to sit there. Yes, I suppose that’s what babies do. Just sit there. And eat and poop and sleep. Repeat. And yet we are so impressed by them. Even me – the “I’m not a baby person” person.

4:00 pm – We have gone back to Dave’s parents’, where Nicole has fed Natalie again (that kid eats all the time!) and gotten her ready to go out. We drive to Wheeling, another Chicago suburb not too far away to visit our friend, Andrea, who has a two-year-old, Will. We are there for about an hour, during which we watch Will do what two-year-olds do: Run around, say words we can’t understand, eat a piece of cheese, try to drink out of my cup of water, steal my cell phone, etc. He is not that impressed with the other baby. I’m not sure he even knows what it is. If he does, he doesn’t care. He just wants to run around and make noise.

5:00 pm – We are back in Arlington Heights, and I am planning to leave after supper. I’m going to see Natalie again on Sunday, but I am starting to feel sad about having to leave her. I become a bit of a baby hog and figure nobody minds. Nicole hands the baby to me with ease now. I’m still a little awkward at times, when I can’t get her head in the crook of my arm just right; but I feel a lot more comfortable than I did this morning. I realize she is pretty unbreakable, and I even walk around with her a bit. I don’t drop her or bump her into anything, so I figure I am really getting the hang of this.

7:00 pm - I head back to my parents’ house for the night. I am exhausted. I could never do this baby thing full time; it takes a lot out of you. And I didn’t even have to feed or change her. I just got to watch her be cute. I realize I am more of a baby person that I ever thought, at least as far as Natalie is concerned. And I miss her already.

"How surprising," I think…except, I suppose, for anyone who’s met this precious little Natalie. They’d understand completely.