One of the hardest things about breaking up with Asberger has been also breaking up with his family, who I adore and wanted as my in-laws. I haven't spent much time with them since he left, partly to avoid shit-talking A to their faces, and partly because I can't be near them for long without weeping. Still, I call pretty regularly and have been checking in a lot on the progress of A's sister's seemingly interminable pregnancy. Not-so-little Katie Hope was (finally) born last Tuesday; I didn't get the call until THURSDAY. I cried, because what this tells me is that I am officially Out of the Family.
But the KIDS don't know that! Josh and Lydia were very happy to see me when I stopped in to check out the baby, and of course the first thing they did was empty every single item out of my purse and wallet. 
Their favorite game is to take out all my makeup and ask what each thing is and where to apply it: they hold up the lip gloss, I say "on your lips," they show me the blush, I say "on your cheeks," they hold up the- condoms! Shit, the condoms!
"DON'T PUT THAT ON YOUR FACE!"
Devious Lydia 
took all the change out of my wallet and made it disappear. When I asked her to put it back she told me gleefuly,"I threw it away! That was SO FUNNY!" She says she likes being a "Big Scissor," but I got the feeling she's missing being the baby herself. "Take us with you!" she commanded, I asked her where we would go, "Outside." Where outside? "In your car." And where will we go in my car? "We'll go to the mall!"
Why, naturally.
After the purse-rape, we decided it'd be best to play a different game. Josh took out the game board for Candyland, 
opened it up like a very tall book, and began "reading" me a story to go with the pictures, "It was a spoooky night. And then... that guy comes!" He is very proud to be going to pre-school, and very aware that he is seriously the Big Brother now.
As for the baby, she is quite stupendous. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 8 oz. and was born with a shock of wavy black hair and one giant finger.
Josh wants to hold her a lot, but is a little apprehensive about all the regulations; wash your hands, sit back, hold her head... 
Here he is,feeling the weight of the responsibility.
See how long her fingers are?
I so love those kids. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed them. There was a point a while back when I would have been ready to adopt them, back before circumstances improved. Of course I'm glad it didn't work out that way, right? But can you imagine? I'd have adopted them.
They'll never get to know that I loved them that much.
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Anyhow here are a few more pics of the baby, because babies (even if the photos you took make them look sort of dead) are beautiful. Sleep on, little Katie.
I heard that damning occur here: http://www.damn-them.com
Posted by: hexer | February 25, 2005 at 01:49 PM
gosh, those kids are damn cute. and, believe it or not, i do care. thanks for the postage.
Posted by: asberger | January 21, 2005 at 11:09 AM
Hey Typepaddlers! Creating this post gave me hell. Who knows the great tips for arranging text and multiple photos in a single post in a way that sucks less? Email or comments with advice on formatting better would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
em
Posted by: emma | January 17, 2005 at 08:46 PM