Babies make me tired

I'm not good about sticking to the schedule. I married late. And I'm late having children (at least according to our friends and family) but I'm still hitting the snooze on the baby alarm. And if I'm hesitant about having children, I certainly married the right woman. Alyssa wants a baby even less than I do.

Alyssa and I have played host for several days to my sister-in-law, Cecily, and our nephew, Owen (wife and son of Russell Willerton, in case you're not aware of my family tree.) Owen experienced a couple of "firsts" on his trip to Dallas. He ate his first real fruit (he especially like lemon slices) and stood up in the middle of the floor without anything to pull up on. He is truly the cutest thing going, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his godfather. (Is there a cooler title on the planet? Can I get cards printed up that say "Mark Reeves, Godfather"?)

Owen has discovered perpetual motion. All you scientists and engineers can call off the dogs on that one. Even when he sleeps, he is in full pacifier-sucking mode and his arms and legs are twitching like that dog in the Disney commercial. In the waking world, Owen crawls. But in his dreams, he's running the Boston Marathon.

The constant movement, the on-the-spot baby-proofing, playing referee in any Owen/Timmy the Cat encounters, the instantaneous mood shifts, cleaning drool off the leather couch, bottle-feeding, changing poopy-diapers... let's just say Alyssa and I turned off the baby alarm all together this weekend. No need to hit the snooze for a while. I'm sure we'll reset the alarm eventually, but right now, we really really really love our life.

If the giggles and bright eyes of our godson don't give us baby fever, it's hard to imagine what will. I'm sure it will happen. When we look far into our future, we like the idea of having had children, it's the front end that doesn't appeal.

God forbid anything should happen to Russell and Cecily, but maybe the godparent thing is the way to go. I'd get Owen after he was housebroken, could carry on an actual conversation, and had some useful skills to offer. Like mowing the yard.

I'm like a Hallmark card, aren't I?