Kellyn Margaret

My life changed dramatically the minute I saw my little Kellyn drop to the floor for the first time, fresh out of momma's birth canal (yes, she pretty well dropped!): I had a girl.

Those first few days I thought quite a bit about how I would handle potential suitors for my eldest daughter, nearly two decades before I needed to worry. And yet, how could I ignore the possibility that some hormone-driven, pimply teenager may one day darken my doorstep and whisk my daughter away on a date! God forbid!

I finally came to the realization that I have plenty of time to build a plan to intimidate these little punks the minute they set foot in my house. Instead, it's best to focus on my precious little one while she's still small and innocent :)

Small may be stretching it a bit; she hasn't been small since about four months in utero. She came out around 8 and a half pounds and packed on the weight very quickly afterwards. About 3 months in, she was so roly-poly that changing her diaper was like a scavenger hunt; you had to search every crevice for feces, and boy did she have lots of crevices! It was quite the adventure!

Speaking of that lovely task, I must admit that I was initially terrified of the whole ordeal. I mean, this little creature had a vagina! What the hell do I know about those things! And I didn't even think females got one of those until puberty! Whenever she had a particularly messy poop, I had to call Shannon in to get the goods out of her (ahem) vagina (I can hardly say/type the word). I had to draw the line somewhere . . .

At about five months old, children get to be a lot of fun; they start moving more, become a little less needy, start babbling, etc. Kellyn was no exception and the fun has continued into her 8th month . . . she's finally to the point where she can be away from her mom for an hour or more and is starting to enjoy my company somewhat. We have lots of fun playing in the floor, tickling, babbling, rocking in the crawl position and jumping. Boy, does she love to jump! Not independent jumping, of course, but I'll grab her in front of me while I'm sitting indian-style on the floor and she'll push with her legs and I'll throw her about a foot into the air; we'll then repeat ad nauseam (she gets to be really heavy after about 30 seconds!).

It's always exciting when they start to move around more, but I forgot how vulnerable your home feels after that. Now that she can army-crawl, she's into everything. Anything on the floor she can get to in seconds. And of course at this age, everything goes into the mouth. She's ruined more than one piece of music I've left lying on the floor . . . serves me right, I guess.

Both of our children are at great ages; it's so wonderful to see how happy they are when I return from a day at work. Cavan runs into my arms and Kellyn gives a look of extreme excitement while kicking her legs. What blessings they are! I can't believe they'll be grown someday . . .