I got real tired of people, before we had Blanche, making it their duty to tell us every event was ‘our last!’ as a childless couple. Maybe I didn’t get the point of it; yes, we fully realize this is our last Groundhog Day pre-baby. What would you like me to do on this momentous occasion? Make a speech? Get crazy? Are you trying to depress me?: “You’ll never be able to party on New Year’s again.” Excite me?: “Next year it will be so fun to dress Blanche up for Halloween!” For me, it was so blatant that of course, each of these occasions will be different this time next year, as will each ordinary day. You telling me so doesn’t make it any less or more meaningful. So, we had our share of lasts.
Maybe it’s this: Lasts before Blanche are completely unworthy of recognizing, when just a few months later, we get firsts with her. Stop the presses moments such as:
Her first Grand Old Day!
Whatcha got in that Dr. Pepper mom?
St. Paul’s massive block party was a little intense for Blanche, but luckily for mom and dad, she shuts down when things get too exciting. And she clearly got dad’s sleeping genes.
Her first time wearing a jean jacket!
Red White and Jean Jacket
Dad had to get Blanche dressed in red white and blue for the USA’s opening match in the World Cup, and this jean jacket was the bluest we could do. I’d like to think that it helped secure that draw against England.
Lounging with Grandma Bonnie
This boat ride was not on just any old lake, this was on Lake Blanche, for which she was named! Certainly the first of hundreds of boat rides in the coming years, though we hope she won’t scare her preschool teachers by talking about booze cruisin.
Her first wedding!
Blanche, you clean up almost as well as dad!
Blanche’s first wedding experience? A four-plus-hour round trip car ride with a two-hour stop in the middle at Jackpot Junction Casino in Morton, Minnesota. Kristie worked most of the day, so we missed the ceremony and dinner of her co-worker Ashley’s wedding, but arrived to do some showing off and a tiny bit of dancing. Blanche slept most of the night, including all four hours in the car. Kristie claims to be missing out on some of the ‘moments’ I’ve detailed here; the specific, unglamorous but memorable ones, but this night was a moment. The moment where we realized we were now parents–responsible ones–but parents whose choices are now controlled by the headbanded one. We left the wedding dance around ten, right when childless Kristie and Nils would have been hitting their strides. We’ll have a few more chances to be young again this summer, with five weddings still on the horizon, and grandmas and grandpas to babysit while we sneak away for some dancing.
BABYdaddy 
Leave a Reply