some very special visitors

today, bebe met some very special friends for the first time. soon after josh and i moved to boston i took a nanny job caring for a fourteen-month-old boy while his mom was on bedrest expecting her second baby. almost seven years later, these kids (which have since expanded to three) are some of my very closest friends. way back in 2001, josh and i were sure we didn't want to have children of our own. there are many reasons we changed our minds, but i can't overestimate the impact, for me, of the time i have spent with jack, katie, and will, loving them and watching them grow. being their babysitter has been such a joy (one that i hope will continue even though i am now a mom too), and our time together gave me a real taste of the joys and challenges of parenthood.

these kids have been waiting, somewhat less than patiently, for my baby's arrival ever since i told them that i was pregnant back in february. katie and i talked lots about how she would help me take care of the baby once it was here, jack greeted my belly with hugs and kisses every time i saw him, and will would put his mouth right up to my belly button and yell, in a deep, no-nonsense, voice, "hey you! mr. baby! you come out of there this instant!!!!"

jack is almost eight. when he was one and a half, he called me la-la. when he was three we spent endless hours talking about dinosaurs. he is funny and smart and when he saw bebe he said, "she's even cuter than her pictures!" then he wanted to know how to make a website.

katie is six and a half. i met her when she was one day old. i was with her the first time she laughed, and the first time she ever made a joke. (jack and i were talking about different kinds of bats. me: "fox bats." jack: "fruit bats." katie, age two: "acrobats.") she is one of the sweetest, most kind and caring people i know.

will just turned four. it was his birth in 2004 that first made me start to rethink the whole never-having-kids plan, because when i met him i fell so in love with him. he is really determined and really hilarious, and he more than holds his own in a family with two older siblings.

jack and katie and will and their mom gina brought bebe some presents -- a really cute outfit to wear when she's a little bit bigger, and a blue stuffed monkey. this is a special monkey, because it is identical to one that we got for will (who was born in the year of the monkey and thus was called "the monkey baby" in utero) when he was born, except that his is brown. his monkey is named morris; katie named bebe's flower.

bebe really likes her! this is the first time she's ever played with anything: