Bedtime Stories, Chapter 1

Our bedtime routine is one of the few processes around this household that remains consistent.  Each weeknight about 8 we wrap up whatever game we're playing or show we're watching and run a warm bath for the Bit.  After some time spent streaking the house, we brush teeth and all pile up on the big bed to read a story or two.  Once story time is over, Little Bit gets put in his crib and Big Red heads to his bed.  I chat with him for a few minutes while tucking him in and lately he LOVES to hear stories about himself as a baby.  Recounting his funnier moments has become part of our nightly ritual.  I've started retelling some of the stories, which is a shame because there are so many more to choose from.  I have decided to start jotting down the stories we tell in a journal so that I can pull from the stash anytime and also so that in the future the boys will have them, in their mother's words, forever.  I'm happy to share some of them here, since everyone loves cute kiddo stories. 

 The Birth of Big Red

 A few days before my due date, Handsome told me he had a dream about our son.  He told me the dream was a little fuzzy and he didn't remember all of the details.  He did remember clearly that the baby had a head full of bright red hair.  I remember smiling and dismissively saying, it's possible.  We both have redheads in our families but secretly I was sure we would have a brown haired, brown eyed boy.  I didn't give it much thought after that discussion. 
  My due date came and went.  Two weeks later, I was FINALLY induced and after MANY, MANY hours of unproductive labor we ended up in surgery having an emergency c-section.  My recollection is extremely foggy but the one crystal clear memory I do have, is the sound of a nurse gasping and saying, "Ahhh, Red Hair!"  I immediately responded with a high pitched and squeaky, "What? Let me see!"  Handsome leaned down and excitedly told me, "He does, he's redheaded, like in my dream." It took a few moments, but sure enough, when they held him up over the curtain, he had a mop of red hair.

Handsome was pacing and focused on the baby as the medical staff did the post birth routine, cleaning and swaddling him before handing him over.  Handsome brought him to me and we stared and awed at our new little boy for a while, counting fingers and toes, nuzzling and hugging.  Handsome was telling me the first thing the baby did when laid on the table was S T R E T C H.  Then things faded to black and I woke up in the recovery room a few hours later.

So many people told me his hair would fall out and grow back in another color.  This irritated me to no end because I loved the color.  I tried as nicely as possible to say that I was hoping it would stay, after all, his eyelashes and eyebrows were also red.  He wasn't going to loose ALL his hair.  Some of it did fall out and the baby had a Michael Bolton mullet going for a couple of months: long in the back, thin and balding on top.  As it grew back, it stayed red, although a slightly darker shade and still is to this day.