No, we haven’t gotten it a Rocky hoodie or a wrestler’s singlet quite yet. . . .

A few weeks ago, close friends and two of our very favorite people were married in a beautiful Mass at a beautiful church on a beautiful day. Please excuse the seemingly poor word choice—no thesaurus has the words to express the strength of the love around us that day. It was like you could reach out and touch it. We all had such a good time because the couples’ joy was downright contagious!

So what does this have to do with the Peanut, or was that post title simply a ruse? Well, our newly married friends have just come back from a honeymoon in Maine (a beautiful place for beautiful people, etc.). The thoughtful and generous folks that they are, they sent us some yummy treats from their trip, and a little something for the one on the way.

Ladies and gentleman (but mostly ladies), I give you . . . Peanut’s first romper!

How adorable are the crabs marching across the bottom? I love this for how CUTE it is, but also because it’s another wonderful way our friends have been so receptive and so excited about this little baby. You are loved, Peanut!

Now I know baby clothes are going to be small. I’ve been around babies; I’ve changed babies’ clothes (like, twice). But looking at this little outfit, labeled for a six-month-old, I’m really amazed at how big it is! I have a pretty good idea of Peanut’s size from the ultrasound last week, the increasing size of my belly, and the babies we’ve seen during tours of maternity wards over the past few weeks. I’d say I have a realistic sense of how tiny newborn babies are (I retain the right to absolutely dispute this statement while in labor). And looking at this romper, I have a clearer idea of how quickly they grow up!

Already I can feel the glorious second trimester start to come to a close, and I feel like time is going by so quickly. Soon enough summer will be over and our baby will be here! It’s like that line from “A Long December” by Counting Crows: “I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself / to hold on to these moments as they pass.”

I guess, then, that this very welcome gift is a kind of preemptive reminder to cherish every day with our baby, before and after it’s born. And that goes for family and friends, and for each other, as well.

I’m exactly two years out of college today, and so much has changed for me and for all of my friends since then. New relationships, ended relationships, leaving jobs, getting hired, med school, law school, grad school, volunteering, engagements, weddings, babies!

It can be overwhelming and it’s easy to feel like a crab in the middle of it.  But it seems sometimes all it takes is a screen print on a baby’s romper to make you stop and smell the seafood.