babysitting

Ryan and I got to spend a full 20 hours with Delaney last weekend! Whitney had to work the MU vs. OU football game and Troy was lucky enough to go too. The way the timing worked out, it made more sense for Delaney to just spend the night at our house. Fine by me! I bought a bunch of Color Wonders coloring books (and markers!), some new bath toys, a "button" that plays "I Wanna Hippopotamus For Christmas" (which Delaney mastered immediately), and made sure we had plenty of milk and cookies (because that's what Aunts do!) :) It was really fun. Peeking around the door the next morning and seeing Delaney standing there in the pack-n-play (wearing her little pink jammies) was by far my favorite part. She was very smiley and snuggly all morning. It all but confirmed that I'm really, really, REALLY ready to be a mommy. I know it's not up to me anymore (it's become a battle of science vs. God) but I'm ready. I'm SO ready. And I know I don't want to babysit just any kid. Delaney is by far my favorite. It's just rare that you babysit a kid and then get to see that same, cheery little face the next morning. It stirs something up inside - like hope and faith and happiness. This kid makes me happy:

You can sort of tell that she doesn't really want to sit still - she's half-poised to jump up and start dancing again: 

Whitney would be mad if she saw this picture. She always tells her to "turn your legs around" because it's really bad to let kids sit this way. I was really focused on watching her pull every marker out of the box and put them all back in: 

Some very focused coloring - on the back of the book:

Ryan and Delaney watching "Mu...ttets" on the living room floor:  (that's "Muppets take Manhattan" for anyone who doesn't speak Delaney.)

I'm pretty sure Delaney was swinging her legs around and kicking Ryan - hence the "restriction":

In motion - Delaney dancing to "Hip...pot...mis":

Waiting for the purple (color wonder) to appear. The good thing about these markers is that they don't write on skin, furniture, carpet, dogs, or clothing (believe me, we tried). The bad thing is that there's a delay. Kids have a hard time waiting so long - especially this one:

Such a cutie-pie...little sugar pants:

...and the pages got too boring, so she went to the cardboard:

My little Piper finds the sunshine while guarding the front door: