Bated breath
Cam has been a friend of our family from its inception - he was, after all, Greg's best man at our wedding. He is family, Uncle Cam. He has kept our secrets, bore witness to some ugly spats early in our marriage and always loved us and been our friend. Which says a lot. So, we are keeping him.
Greg and I had hoped that Cam would eventually settle down and get married. That he would find the right girl. When the time came, I was terribly nervous about meeting Lisa (yes, another Lisa). What if she didn't like us? Would we lose Cam? Also, I had high hopes for our guy - what if he was making a mistake? Now all this worry was in vain. Lisa, of course, was delightful. I would be hard pressed to find fault in her, even if I tried. If anything, I have been somewhat intimidated by her - she is that together and nice and lovely - but that speaks more to my insecurity than to anything about her. Soon Greg returned the best man honors, twice. (Cam and Lisa had a private ceremony followed by a honking big wedding. Yes, honking big. I believe it said so on the invite. All right, I am lying. But it was an affair.)
A couple of years passed, and I became that annoying friend who says things like 'so, like, when you two going to have a baby?', because having both sides of their family pressing on them for offspring just wasn't enough. But I could hardly help myself for a couple of selfish reasons: a) I want to share the joy, and well, the not joy of parenting and b) I had spent 10 years thinking what a great dad Cam would make someday. When Lexi was born, Cam drove a couple of hours and hung out with us. Right about the same time she developed colic and I was in the throes of postpartum depression. Oh yeah, fun times. One of the things that complicated the already trying time was the fact that Lexi really never slept like the book said. "Most babies sleep 10-14 hours a day", my dirty diaper. When she wasn't screaming, she seemed to always be awake, staring at me. I was in a conundrum because I needed caffeine to cope with my never ending all-nighters, yet while nursing, the caffeine was not helping her sleep more. I felt terrible. I remember after the guys had played cards, Cam said he would get up with me and visit with me when Lexi woke up. I sorta didn't believe him. I remembered, just a little, being single and I recalled that I used to enjoy sleeping through the night. Yet there he was, keeping the crabby, depressed me company while I complained and cried about my woes. That this motherhood thing was hard. Hard I tell you. And he listened to me rant and suggested, carefully, that it would get better. It did. Better enough that we had Zack. Cam was there when we brought him home from the hospital. Zack's (incomplete) baby book is full of pictures of Uncle Cam.
So it pleases me to no end that last night, after a rough delivery that ended in a c-section, Cam and Lisa welcomed their baby girl into this world. I am measuring how long I have to wait before I descend upon them and greet this sweet marvel. I am all set to pounce. I am thrilled for them both. I look forward to being there with them as they start their lives as parents - to provide encouragement, free babysitting and plenty of noisy, obnoxious toys. Because that's what friends are for.
Greg and I had hoped that Cam would eventually settle down and get married. That he would find the right girl. When the time came, I was terribly nervous about meeting Lisa (yes, another Lisa). What if she didn't like us? Would we lose Cam? Also, I had high hopes for our guy - what if he was making a mistake? Now all this worry was in vain. Lisa, of course, was delightful. I would be hard pressed to find fault in her, even if I tried. If anything, I have been somewhat intimidated by her - she is that together and nice and lovely - but that speaks more to my insecurity than to anything about her. Soon Greg returned the best man honors, twice. (Cam and Lisa had a private ceremony followed by a honking big wedding. Yes, honking big. I believe it said so on the invite. All right, I am lying. But it was an affair.)
A couple of years passed, and I became that annoying friend who says things like 'so, like, when you two going to have a baby?', because having both sides of their family pressing on them for offspring just wasn't enough. But I could hardly help myself for a couple of selfish reasons: a) I want to share the joy, and well, the not joy of parenting and b) I had spent 10 years thinking what a great dad Cam would make someday. When Lexi was born, Cam drove a couple of hours and hung out with us. Right about the same time she developed colic and I was in the throes of postpartum depression. Oh yeah, fun times. One of the things that complicated the already trying time was the fact that Lexi really never slept like the book said. "Most babies sleep 10-14 hours a day", my dirty diaper. When she wasn't screaming, she seemed to always be awake, staring at me. I was in a conundrum because I needed caffeine to cope with my never ending all-nighters, yet while nursing, the caffeine was not helping her sleep more. I felt terrible. I remember after the guys had played cards, Cam said he would get up with me and visit with me when Lexi woke up. I sorta didn't believe him. I remembered, just a little, being single and I recalled that I used to enjoy sleeping through the night. Yet there he was, keeping the crabby, depressed me company while I complained and cried about my woes. That this motherhood thing was hard. Hard I tell you. And he listened to me rant and suggested, carefully, that it would get better. It did. Better enough that we had Zack. Cam was there when we brought him home from the hospital. Zack's (incomplete) baby book is full of pictures of Uncle Cam.
So it pleases me to no end that last night, after a rough delivery that ended in a c-section, Cam and Lisa welcomed their baby girl into this world. I am measuring how long I have to wait before I descend upon them and greet this sweet marvel. I am all set to pounce. I am thrilled for them both. I look forward to being there with them as they start their lives as parents - to provide encouragement, free babysitting and plenty of noisy, obnoxious toys. Because that's what friends are for.
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