In the Name of Love

I've never spent every waking (and sleeping) moment with one specific person for three weeks straight. Honestly, you would think it would be frustrating to be around the same person that much.

I spend almost every minute of every day with Evelyn. She sleeps in my bed at night. She sits in her pink vibrating chair on the bathroom floor while I shower. And the better I get at nursing, I can even feed her while I munch on a snack of my own.

Sound exhausting? It is. But I wouldn't change a single minute of it. The more time I spend with Evelyn, the more I can see her pint-size personality coming out.

Evie likes attention. I know all babies require a certain amount of attention, but she actually commands it. When I talk on the phone while I'm holding her, she cries. If I hang up the phone and talk to her instead, she's perfectly content. Let's just say I make a lot of phone calls during nap time...

The little lady also likes to dance. After searching for things that make her happy for days on end, I finally figured out that she loves for me to hold her in my arms and take a spin around the living room floor. This is Evie's playlist:

"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" -Elton John
"Time After Time" -Cyndi Lauper
"Piano Man" -Billy Joel
"I Wanna Dance With Somebody" -Whitney Houston
"Angel" -Aerosmith
"The Story" -Brandi Carlile
"We Belong" -Pat Benatar

She usually falls asleep after the third or fourth song, but sometimes it's hard not to keep on dancing. The last three weeks have gone by so fast, and I know these times when she can fall asleep in my arms while I dance with her will be short-lived. Not to mention, it's very liberating to act so ridiculous and not care one bit.

Finally, Evelyn likes to go outside. I think she enjoys the feeling of the hot, humid summer air on her delicate baby skin. Maybe it reminds her of the 98.6 degree cave she lived in for nine months. Still, I can hardly stand going outside in this awful heat, so we compromise. Lately we've been going on a short walk to get the mail every day.

She sees the sights and hears the sounds, happily indulging in the simplicity for a few minutes. When we step back in the air conditioning, her dark little eyes open wide and she stares up at me with a look that says, "Woah, who turned off the hot?"

This is my simple existence. Typing out these activities makes them sound so provincial compared to a lot of the things I used to do, but I don't care. I've happily surrendered the average 21-year-old life for something sweeter.

Bonus: My youth allows me the stamina for multiple living room dance parties every day.