Every new parent knows how much "stuff" there is out there for babies these days. Between baby showers, presents from friends, and hand me downs, you quickly end up with more baby things than you know what to do with. Such was the case with us, before Lilly was born. When we brought Lilly home from the hospital, for the most part, we had an amazing little sleeper on our hands. Except for one night, which both Jim and I vividly remember. We're lucky that we can honestly say we had one night of very little sleep...it was the night of April 15th. Lilly was four days old and she spent the majority of the night awake...and crying. Jim and I passed her back and forth, trying everything we could think of to get her to stop. We kept looking at each other like the other person should know what to do, when really, we'd both been parents for four days and neither of us had a clue. After what seemed like an endless night, morning came and Jim and I had the "new parent glazed look" in our eyes. That morning, Jim uttered a very Jim statement, because we all know how much Jim likes collecting possessions. He said something along the lines of, "We have so much baby stuff (insert whatever word you want here...crap, junk, clutter...you name it, Jim said it) in this house...something has to cheer Lilly up." So, we went to our closet of "stuff" and pulled out the bouncy chair. Lilly stopped crying. Better still, she fell asleep! Jim dubbed the bouncy chair the "magical bouncy chair," and so began Lilly (and our) love of this chair.
That morning, after Lilly fell asleep, a conversation that we often relive took place. I was on the phone with Mum, and told her about our night, and the subsequent magical powers of the bouncy chair. I told her that Lilly had fallen asleep in it, and asked her if she thought we should let her sleep in her bouncy chair or if we should move her to her bassinet. Mum offered her motherly advice, suggesting we try and move her, but "whatever we wanted to do was fine." When I got off the phone, I told Jim that Mum thought we should move her, and Jim uttered another classic Jim statement: "If your mother wants to move Lilly, then she can come up to Connecticut and move her herself." Needless to say, Lilly slept in her bouncy chair that morning.
Here's her first visit to that magical chair. She's not quite sure what to think, but she's not crying!
April 16, 2009
As time progressed, the bouncy chair became our staple. It was the one baby item we couldn't live without. It traveled with us, and Lilly often took catnaps in it during the afternoons. The bouncy chair states that it is for babies from 0-6 months, and boy did we utilize those six months. Lilly was happy in her bouncy chair. She smiled and laughed in it; she slept in it; she learned how to hold her own bottle in it; and she discovered how to eat her feet in it.
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009 (6 months old!)
So, this time around, when it came to bring out our baby supplies, the bouncy chair made both Jim and me a bit nostalgic. As we were setting it up, Lilly immediately gravitated towards it, as if she knew that she pretty much lived in this chair for six months. We've collected even more baby things along the way, and still, over the course of the the first five weeks of Jack's life, the bouncy chair has been our go to toy.
One week old. Jack hasn't yet learned the powers of the bouncy chair.
Powers learned.
Comfortable enough to cross his hands.
Little hands are my favorite.
Somehow we always lose socks in the bouncy chair.
And so, this magical bouncy chair begins round two with the Clark family. Let's hope it's just as magical the second time around.
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