Meeting Baby Otto

On Saturday we went to Baltimore to meet this little guy:

This is Otto.  He is the son of our friends Tim and Angela, and he is so, so sweet.

The girls were smitten.

Hadley even got to hold him.

Otto's thinking, "I dunno.  I heard your Mommy's crazy.  I'm not sure I want you holding me."

To which Hadley replies, "Nah, you can totally trust me."

Seeing the newness of Otto and the newness of Tim and Angela's parenthood makes it easy to remember what life was like four and half years ago.

Or two and a half years ago.

It's quite something to know someone since she was first married in 2000 and to watch her in her first days as a mother eleven years later.  She's a pro already.  At one point during the evening, Otto was letting everyone know he wasn't too happy about his circumstances.  Angela picked him up and their faces were centimeters away from each other, and he immediately calmed down.  I don't know if she realized what happened; I'm pretty sure in those early days of motherhood I would not have been able to recognize it either.  So it was a treat for me to watch it last night.  Which makes me think this:  If there is any advice that you can give a new mom, tell them that their son or daughter knows her voice.  That's what matters. 

The rest of it is a crap shoot.