Before they've hatched

Emily woke up in a good mood on Tuesday, and there was much smiling. She didn't fuss when I changed her diaper or when I put her in a new outfit.

But the morning was barely underway when Misty informed me we had to leave in 30 minutes for an appointment with a daycare center. The problem with this is that we can't both get ready at the same time. Someone has to occupy Emily, or her head might explode. So I sat on the floor of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in my hands and my feet propped on Emily's bouncy seat, shoveling down breakfast as I tried to keep her entertained. It didn't work. The screaming began.

When Misty finished getting ready, she ran downstairs and tagged me so she could take over with the baby while I tired to put on clean clothes, brush my teeth, and shave with about 2 minutes to spare.

Leaving only 10 minutes late, Emily continued her screeching in the car. She doesn't like riding in the car, so all you "experts" who've told me to strap her in her car seat and put her on the washing machine can just shut up. Then again, Emily doesn't like much of anything that involves being awake. The screeching lasted all the way to the daycare (which took longer to get to than anticipated because of a major accident on I-459).

At the daycare, Emily quieted down. She's always quiet around other people because she wants to make us look like liars. True to form, she started right back up when we left and screamed all the way to the next daycare.

When we left the second daycare, though, something miraculous happened. Emily fell asleep. Not wanting such a grand opportunity go to waste, Misty and I took a chance and turned down Hwy. 150 in search of someplace to eat. We chose Cheeburger Cheeburger because we figured we could escape quickly, should Emily decide to wake up and cause a scene. She didn't, though. A few times as we ate, she woke up, took a look around, and went back to sleep. It was glorious.

Drunk on freedom, Misty and I didn't stop after lunch. We went to Hallmark! Misty picked out Mother's Day cards, but I was getting nervous. Surely this kid couldn't stay asleep much longer. She proved me wrong, though. After Hallmark, we stopped by Blockbuster and picked up a few movies.

At that point, we realized that it was well past noon, and we were supposed to have been home by 11, when the service people were coming to fix our air conditioner. To hell with them! We have a sleeping baby! What do they expect us to do? Sit at home and wait for the dogs to bark and wake her up?

Despite our disappointment, we nevertheless headed home. Emily stayed sleeping when I brought her inside, when the dogs came downstairs to sniff and lick her, and when the air conditioner guy showed up. I suggested to Misty that we wake her up and feed her since she'd not eaten for about five hours. But Misty would have none of that. Instead, we watched one of the movies we'd rented (Big Fish). Emily didn't wake up until part way through the movie, and even then, we were able to feed her and keep her quiet until it finished. Later on, we even watched another movie (Stuck on You) with no fussing!

Misty told me repeatedly that this was Emily's best day ever. Nevermind that she'd screamed for nearly an hour straight as we got ready and drove to the daycare. We got to eat a meal in a restaurant and watch two movies! We even flirted with the idea that maybe her colic was on the way out. Maybe our little girl really is getting better!

Then Wednesday arrived. Wednesday was Emily's way of saying, "Oh you naïve little people.