DD Kimball Road: Godmommy

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Joyous Times

As you know I have yet to have children, but Darin and I are lucky enough to have a god-daughter. Last Monday we were lucky enough to experience first hand what it is like to have children and go to a theme park. My cousin and aunt were coming down to go to Disneyland and we decided to join them. Not only do you have to have an extraordinary amount of stuff with a baby you have to deal with all the other people who have an extraordinary amount of stuff with a baby. You have the diaper bag, the stroller, all your stuff, and of course THE BABY! It was a zoo at the park, but I didn't expect anything less considering they have a new ride, new shows and it's summer! We spent half the day walking around with the stroller and trying to keep everybody cool, including Charlotte. At one point my aunt told Amy, Darin, her friend Wendy and I all to go onto Soarin' Over California in California Adventure while she took care of the baby and tracked down her sister. We didn't have a fastpass so we stood in the line, which was a good 45+ minutes. Then we walked back over to Screamin' to meet up with everyone. When we arrived, we saw that Charlotte was having a meltdown. She was crying so hard and my aunt and her sister looked very frazzled as having not been able to soothe her. Amy took the baby and went to feed her, but mostly to calm her down. Everyone all went on rides so I was left to sit with the stroller and wait. When Amy emerged we did some shopping and waited for the rest of the group. When Darin and my aunt showed back up she had two turkey legs in her hands one for her and one for Darin. They looked so barbaric eating them, but I thought it was amusing.

After a little more shopping we went to go see the new Little Mermaid ride. I had been a long wait all day, but we decided to bear the line, I mean we knew it was going to be worth it. They had told us that we could bring the carseat on the ride, but that Charlotte would have to be taken out while it was in motion. So once we got to the front, Darin picked up Charlotte out of the carseat and went to get in the clam shell. I grabbed the carseat and told Amy to go and sit with Darin. We did a back and forth of you go you go, until they finally told us the bar went down already and we couldn't go on the ride with him. So we both crammed into the clamshell with the diaper bag, the carseat, my camera bag, and both of us! It was crowded. Darin got to ride with Charlotte on her first ever theme park ride....all alone! Damn him! It's ok though cause she LOVED it. It was so cute to see my love enjoy the baby on the ride.

Afterward we did a little more shopping and then went to the car to get the frontpack. Basically a backpack for babies it was a godsend! Charlotte decided that was time to take a nap. We had dinner and then went on Pirates of the Caribbean, which she also loved. Then we made the trek over to see World of Color. After the show the group decided to go onto Tower of Terror. Now I am a big chicken so I told Amy if she wanted to go on the ride that I would take the baby so she could. When it was time for them to go we did the baby pass and I put the front pack on. Which in turn woke up poor Charlotte. She had a full out melt down outside the ride. I felt helpless and like everyone was looking at me like "what a horrible person letting that baby cry!" I bounced, rocked, sang, rubbed her back, NOTHING was working! I decided to take a walk away from everyone so that they wouldn't have to listen to her cry and as soon as I did that she stuffed her hand in her mouth and stopped crying. So I just kept walking until she was completely calm. Whew! Crises averted! I was thinking, "Oh no! She can't be crying when Amy comes off the ride! She'll never leave her baby alone with anyone!" I felt so proud of myself, the veteran mother's couldn't calm her down but I (not a mother!) was able to do it! Score one for me! Hehe! When they came off the ride she was great and calm! :-) It was then time to leave. We walked toward the exit, and my aunt got stopped by a survey taker so we were held up at the gates. While up there California Dreamin' was playing on the speakers and I started to sing to Charlotte and dance with her. She was looking at me, smiling and singing back with her little coos. It warmed my heart and I felt so happy to be her godmommy at that moment. I thought to myself, "this is why people have babies, what a joyous feeling this is." It was a special moment that I shared and Darin got his special moment too! I cannot wait to have more special moments with her, as well as my cousins! Please enjoy some photos from the trip!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I am a Godmother! Not the one that turns pumpkins into carriages!

Whew. What a whirlwind month February and the beginning of March have been. Wedding planning, birthdays, trips and baby showers. Last weekend I went to a bridal show to look into florists for my dear friend Hope's upcoming nuptials in October and went to our friend Shannon's baby shower where I took many photographs as seen here. I had posted before about the baby shower that my mom, aunts and cousin's had been planning for my newest cousin Amy and her new baby girl. In December she was put on bedrest and had little Miss Charlotte premature, so we had to wait to put on the shower but if you wanna read about planning and projects please see Babies, Babies, Babies or Invites, games, and music! Oh My!. My mom and I made some crafts, and my cousin's hubby (who works in the special effects department on CSI Miami) made a wooden closet/toy chest at work to put all of our gifts in. Well all of our hardwork and planning came to fruition this weekend as the shower was held at my Aunt's home in Hermosa Beach. It was a beautiful day with 80 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky. My mom and I woke up extra early to get everything ready, which wasn't very much since she and my cousin had done most of it already. We got ourselves ready and headed out the door. Once we got to the shower we set up, threw the food in the over and awaited the arrival of the guests. We ate lasagna and cheesecake, played some non traditional baby games, and giggled while we watched as the father (my cousin Anthony) opened all the pink gifts and tried things on. Before we knew it it was five o'clock. We packed up our stuff and went to say our goodbyes. As I went to hug my cousin he whispered in my ear that he wanted Darin and I to be his daughters godparents! I was completely taken aback and didn't expect that. I started to tear up and told him of course we would!

On Sunday, even though I was still exhausted from the shower and Darin was tired from partying it up with his coworkers the evening before (neither one of us are spring chickens anymore) we packed up the pup and headed over to my grandma's house to visit our goddaughter. (and the rest of the family too) I was surprised as to how well our pup took to the baby, even though she is seven weeks old, she is only 8 pounds and still teeny. Whenever the baby got fussy, Shelby got very upset and wanted to know what was wrong with her. She would sniff her head and hung out near her the whole time, it was very cute. I always knew that Darin was good with babies, but little Charlotte just loved him and he her. She is so precious, but I could just be biased. We ended up going shopping and getting little Charlee and glow worm and some clothes that said "Mommy" on them for my cousin Amy, you see she was feeling left out because all the clothes said daddy or grandma on them. We went back to the house and had some dinner and chatted some more. We asked when the christening was going to be, and they said sometime in June. I cannot wait to see this little precious child grow up! It's just too bad that they live 4 hours away. We will just have to make trips up and down to see each other.