All These New Babies

A couple of years, when I was the much younger age of 25, I realized that a good number of my friends were married or getting married. I've always had a set of friends that are a bit older but it was a realization that resonated very loudly in the back of my head. If my memory serves me, and it is a bit hazy to this point, I believe I silenced the ringing with Margaritas.

Fast-forward to today and it seems like babies are appearing from every corner. A couple of months ago a good friend of mine from high school and his wife had their baby, Jacob Daniel. Last week Anja's new cousin, Alexa Grace, appeared. This week our friends, and Susi's co-workers, had their baby boy, Rowan. A gear-head friend of mine and his wife are due on the exact same day as Susi.

I feel a bit bad for Anja. She is very accustomed to not having any competition for being the cutest one in the room. Cushioning the blow is that she goes to day care nearly every day where she must try to get "Lisa's" attention from a gaggle of other kids. Late last week I started to become more legitimately concerned because Alexa has an older sister. My first niece, Haley, is a four year old tornado. Her arrival marks the end of your attempts to keep order or cleanliness to your home. My brother never tried terribly hard to keep the place up before Haley and afterwards I understand the feelings of futility. Haley has spent the past four years being the only shine to Mommy and Daddy's eyes and has not been adjusting well. She's been acting out, reverting to more baby-like behavior, and as Grandma describes it "being a little stink-butt."

Rowan's parents are also Lyla's parents. Anja and Lyla have played together a few times and they seem to generally enjoy each other after the toddler-ice is broken. Last night we hauled up to their house to make them some dinner and visit the new baby. Even though it has only been a few days it was very clear that Lyla was adjusting. She was finding a rhythm between Mom, Dad, and the new baby. Haley had never even hinted at this level of adjustment.

I'm hoping, given Anja's age and disposition, she will err on the side of Lyla and not Haley. If not then she could share in Daddy's solution - more margaritas.