Baby Ruth

I would like to tell you about my little baby girl, Ruthie. She was born in January and the first night we had her home she cried the entire night. Jay and I were traumatized. We called the nursery at the hospital three or four times, sort of hoping they might say " why don't you just bring her in and we'll see what we can do." They never offered but they were very helpful anyway. Day 2 we discovered the miracle of the pacifier.

Nothing really prepared me for the tiny infant who required attention 24 hours a day. But I began to love her more and more each day and now, almost 10 months later, I truly delight in her and I am so thankful for her life.

She is small for her age, with big blue eyes, lots of light brown hair and a wonderful smile that wrinkles her nose and lights up her whole face. It is especially sweet when accompanied by wiggling and leg kicking. Ruthie hates socks unless they're in her mouth. One sock on is acceptable, but never two. She crawls around with insatiable curiousity and loves eating little pieces of debris that she finds on the floor, or pages of magazines and books. She especially loves our cat, Wally. She exclaims when she sees him and crawls frantically over to pet him, her breath puffing out in short breaths with excitement. When I say pet, I mean grab. Ruth grabs handfuls of fur and yanks, so I intervene and teach her how to be gentle, even though Wally is so sweet and never gets angry.

When Ruth laughs, she gets hiccups. This is sweet but also sort of troublesome, because she'll often spit-up when she gets so worked up. This is passed on from her Dad, who suffers from the same condition. Maybe Ruth will grow out of it, but in any case, the laughter is worth the side-effect. Her laughter is pure, unrestrained glee. She throws her head back, her nose wrinkles and I will perform whatever ridiculous antics I can to hear that sound.

She is a master work, and I defer all praise to the Master. She is beautiful, and I am reminded of the One who is beauty. She is loved by us, but I want her to know the One who is love. He formed her, He knows her, and He holds her.

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Here is a poem I wrote when I was pregnant- it is silly but I like it.

My Belly Button is Gone (Nov 4, 2004-How crazy-I wrote this a year ago today! Wow)

My belly button is gone
It's flat with just a dimple
Or maybe just a crinkle
At any rate a mere shadow
Of what it used to be

I no longer get fuzz
Tucked snugly inside
From clothes of different colors
Little balls of lint
That made me smile

I don't really mind that my belly button's gone
I know that it'll be back
When my daughter arrives
And both will make me smile