Monday, October 6, 2008

My two daughters

For those of you who have children, I'm sure you can relate to the following blog. For those of you debating whether to have children, hopefully this will help you decide.

I was obviously very anxious through Aimee’s first pregnancy, not to mention the fact that I was going to take up the mantle of "Father". When the day came I was lucky enough to see the entire delivery via mirror. I thought I would have been grossed out and didn't really have any desire to watch, but the Doctor put the mirror there without asking and I'm so glad he did. When I saw the full head of hair on a little head poking out, I felt so awed. When she finally "came out" and I heard her muffled little whimper with her little mouth doing a little shake trying to cry, my heart skipped a few beats. The bond was instantaneous. Here was my precious daughter, so small, so innocent, so dependant, so fragile… the doctor then handed her to me wrapped in a blanket and I felt electricity. I handed her to my beautiful wife who did such a wonderful job and we both stared into our little daughters face. Our first child India “Indi” Lily Evans was looking around amazed at all the world around her. Instead of a full blown cry, she had a tender whimper that brought tears to my eyes. She was born on the morning of November 9, 2004. India was a very content little baby; we never had any major problems with her being too loud or crying excessively through the night. To this day, she is still a very level headed, calm child who usually thinks things through before acting on it. I can usually discuss things with her and have her understand. If you want something from her and you explain it in a way that she understands, she will almost accept any request that is reasonable and within her means to accomplish. She will always have a special place in my heart and even if she’s not as affectionate as I would like her to be, she still has a very tender little heart. There are moments where she gets hurt, but she doesn’t want anyone to hug, hold, or console her, she wants to do it on her own, which causes daddy duress. She has always been very independent once she could manipulate the world around her and I’m sure that behavior will continue as life goes on. Every once in a while, I get a rare moment where she will cuddle with me on the couch and I’m sure she’ll never know how much those moments mean to her daddy.

In November of 2006, our second child was born. Meilee Lois Evans. Her delivery was the epitome of her personality. Quick, fast, painful, and LOUD! The whole process from the contractions, to my wife screaming about to pull my head off from my shoulders because it was coming before the epidural had time to kick in, to her birth was around 1-2 hours. This pregnancy was very interesting to me, because I didn’t think I could love anyone as much as I loved my Indi. I didn’t have any more room in my heart. I felt a connection with Meilee when she was born, but it was not immediate, like it was with Indi, which worried me at first. As the months passed by, I grew to love Meilee in a completely different way then I did Indi. Meilee is MUCH more affectionate than India, which is probably one of the big reasons it didn’t take me long to fall completely in love with her like I do my wife and Indi. Meilee is my ray of sunshine, she has an unconquerable spirit and thinks that everything she see is a challenge to be overcome. I look forward to every night putting her down to bed and her taking the time to take the bottle out of her mouth and say, “I love you” with a huge grin. This always warms my heart. Meilee is NOT a quiet baby; she is extremely loud and so hard to take out in public. She is the reason we are waiting to have another baby. Not that we don’t love her to death, but for the simple fact that she is a handful and we couldn’t handle having another one until she (hopefully) grows out of this stage. Meilee is always happy and usually very polite remembering her pleases, welcomes, and thank yous. She is a delight. Unbelievably I found some extra space in my heart where she now resides and I can’t imagine life without my smiling Meilee.

In summary, I love my two daughters. They are both so unique and different, but at the same time very much the same. They get along for the most part and bring their Mommy and Daddy such happiness. I encourage anyone who is still contemplating on having a family to start. Yeah, your time becomes limited, you don’t go out as much, and your life changes dramatically in many other areas, but it is so worth it and your joy will increase exponentially. Clearly, the love of a parent towards their child can never be understood until they have children of their own.

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