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Saturday, September 24, 2005

Sweet as Sugar

When Deanna was born, she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I know most people feel that way about their new babies, but I had always thought newborns weren't real great-looking - pointy heads, spastic movements, flat noses, wrinkly skin...

Deanna was born at 39 weeks, 5 days by C-Section. Her skin was smooth and pink (at least after 24 hours - for the first 24 she was as red as a fire engine), she had soft, curly light brown hair, her eyes were huge and beautiful blue, she had long, thick dark eyelashes and a lovely little bow mouth. She was petite and amazing and, when she nursed, she crossed her little legs at the ankles - so feminine. She was an extremely alert baby who would look directly in your eyes and smile - no spastic movements for her. I had only seen one other baby in my life as beautiful as her and that was my niece, Alicia. Alicia wasn't but 6 pounds, was jaundiced so she was bronzy-yellow, had thin dark hair and was the most stunning thing I had ever seen - before Deanna.

When I would take Deanna out in public, people would always try and take her out of my arms. Literally, everyone that saw her told me that she was the most beautiful baby they had ever seen. One woman approached me in Wal-Mart one day, holding her own baby, and gushed over Deanna, following me around the store telling me how beautiful she was. My friend, Jane, told me that I should take advantage of her beauty while she was small and get her into modeling, make a ton of money, and then pull her out when she hit about 5. Somehow, I was never willing to put Deanna through the rigors of modeling.

When Dane was born, I was, of course, expecting another beauty. After all, Don had proven that he made pretty babies. Dane was 4 weeks early; I went into labor at 36 weeks. I had a C-Section with him, also, and the first time I saw him, I was shocked. He had no eyebrows or eyelashes, his eyes were oval-shaped, he had no hair on the top of his head, and when he opened his eyes, they were jet black. His face was inverted pear-shaped. He was sort of cute in an awkward way when his eyes were closed but, when he opened his eyes - - - ALIEN FROM THE X-FILES. Honest to goodness, he looked exactly like those green alien pictures. I kept telling Don who would fuss at me for talking that way. But, like I said, I'm not one to think ALL newborns are beautiful. We just got off to a great start with Deanna.

I even went so far as to tell Don that no one was going to try and take him from me when I took him out in public. He was a very strange-looking baby. But, before I knew it, Dane came into his own. Don's genes took over and he grew eyebrows and eyelashes, his eyes turned the most shocking shade of clear blue, and he grew some hair. Then his sweetness began to come out. Oh, my gosh!! Could any other child possibly be as sweet? And, sure enough, before he was a year old, people were trying to take him from me everywhere I went. One day, I was in Wal-Mart with Dane in the seat of the buggy. Deanna was walking next to me. A woman came over on the other side of me, spotted Dane, and said, "That's the most beautiful baby I have ever seen." Deanna peeked shyly from around the other side of my legs and smiled at the woman. "Except for that baby," she added.

And Dane is sweet - pure sugar sweet. It's hard to imagine a child more gentle, kind, and loving than Dane. He is a big block of sweetness in a beautiful package.

Marry into good genes, my friends. Not only will you get amazingly attractive children, but the sweetest imaginable, as well.

1 comment:

Patti Doughty said...

Well, you looked awfully small to me at the time. Come to think of it, you still look awfully small, Miss Size 1 (or 3, depending on the style)! But you were an amazingly beautiful child, as you've been told repeatedly. And, you grew into an amazingly beautiful woman, as well, my love.

Aunt Trish