Arthur's note:
Hi guys; sorry this chapter is shorter than normal. I never really realized how hard it is to write about a newborn baby because they don't really do much. The 下一个 chapter will probably be just a short because the baby will only be a-year-old; but I promise after that the chapters will be much longer! It took me a long time to write this chapter because today I came out to the majority of my family members as transsexual and most of them are confused because I'm still attracted to men; instead of women. Needless to say I've had to do a lot of explaining lately! I hope all of 你 in the MJ 潮流粉丝俱乐部 community will be supportive and understanding in the way I've decided to live my life. :-) Sorry for any typos LOL! I don't really have time to check for mistakes because of my current situation.
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I was shaken awake and rolled over to see Jeffrey standing over me. I asked "what's the matter Jeffrey; its midnight?" He 说 "I'm sorry to wake 你 sir; but Ms. Rowe just called and she 说 to tell 你 specifically to get your butt over to the hospital because it's time!" I jumped out of 床, 床上 and ran to the 最佳, 返回页首 of the stairs. I was so excited that I missed a few steps and fell down the stairs. Jeffrey gasped and asked "oh my God; are 你 okay Mr. Jackson?" I 说 as I brought myself to my feet "I'm fine; I just hope we get there in time! I don't want to miss anything!"
Jeffrey and I must've broke several laws 由 how dangerously fast he was driving to the hospital. When we got there, Jeffrey had arranged for an entire section of the hospital to be off-limits; so I wouldn't get interrupted 由 anyone. I raced down the hallway; almost slipping on a puddle of water because I wasn't paying attention.
I ran to Debbie's side upon entering the hospital room and sat down in the chair 下一个 to her bed. I asked while trying to catch my breath "did I miss anything?" She 说 "all I care about now is getting her out because I can't even talk until I do! I only pushed a couple times because I didn't want 你 to miss anything! Her head's almost out; the doctors didn't want me to stop pushing; but I insisted that I wait until 你 got here! Now if 你 don't mind, I need to get her out because I can't handle this pain anymore!"
I was going to grab her hand and give her support; but she told me that she would most likely break my hand. In the blink of an eye, before I even realized it my baby girl was here. A beautiful bloody mess! The 下一个 thing I knew, she started crying! It was the most wonderful sound I have ever heard in my life and I wish I could play it over and over again!
One of the nurses passed me Alanna wrapped up in a 粉, 粉色 blanket and Debbie asked "what does she look like Michael?" I responded "like an angel!" Curiosity got the better of me and I couldn't help but remove the hat off of my daughter’s head. I smiled from ear to ear as I stared down at the blondest hair I have ever seen in my life. I 说 as I looked up at Debbie "she definitely gets that hair from you!" I walked over to Debbie and tried to pass her the baby. She smiled and 说 "no; 你 go ahead and bond with her! Take her home; the Dr. 说 she is healthy enough to leave! I'm the one that needs to stay for observation."
After filling out her birth certificate, Jeffrey and I left the hospital; but word had gotten out that the baby was born. Thousands of paparazzi and news stations were bombarding me from every direction! Jeffrey did his best to shield the baby from all the flashes; but it was pretty much impossible!" We finally made it to the secret location where we had parked the car and I realized that I was going to have to figure out how to install the car seat. I know I should have practiced a few weeks ago; but that was the last thing on my mind.
I passed Alanna to Jeffrey as I leaned down inside the back 座位 of the Rolls-Royce. I didn't even know remotely how to go about installing this car seat! I reluctantly asked Jeffrey "do 你 know how this thing is supposed to work?" Jeffrey passed her back to me and 说 "it can be too difficult!" After 15 分钟 of him trying to figure out how to install the car seat, he went and got one of the nurses to come help us. I was embarrassed because it only took her five minutes; compared to my half an 小时 attempt. I thanked her and sat down in the backseat of the car 下一个 to the car seat.
Jeffrey pulled into the driveway of the main house on the ranch and I 说 "I can't believe how calm she is! I think she's going to be an easy baby!" Jeffrey helped me carry the few things that I had brought with me into the house while I carried Alanna in her car seat. I quietly shut the front door as I walked inside and set the car 座位 down on the couch. Jeffrey 说 "I'll be back in a half 小时 Sir; I'm going to check the surveillance cameras to make sure nothing happened while we were at the hospital." I 说 "go right ahead Jeffrey; I've got everything under control!" Jeffrey 说 "page me if 你 need anything."
As I sat down on the 长椅, 沙发 with Alanna in my arms, she started to grow restless. I looked at my watch and figured that it was probably time to feed her. The only problem is I have no idea how to prepare a baby bottle! All I can say is I hope that these instructions printed on the back of the formulae can are accurate because I don't want to screw this up!
I carefully measured what was supposed to be the recommended amount for a newborn baby into a bottle and placed it inside the microwave. The only thing the back of the formulae can didn't say was how long to leave it in the microwave for! I started 由 putting it in there for 30 seconds; but that obviously wasn't enough! Then I went way overboard and put it inside the microwave for five minutes. I took it out and poured a little drop of 牛奶 on my wrist to check the temperature. I held back a scream as the scolding hot formula touched my skin! That caused me to drop a bottle and the lid popped off because of the enormous pressure from the heat. 牛奶 just started spraying everywhere and I was so frazzled I couldn't even think!
After setting the baby down and cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, I made another bottle. I went over to the 长椅, 沙发 and grabbed Alanna. As I sat there feeding her, I started talking to her; almost as if she could respond back! I 说 "sorry about this whole thing with the bottle taking so long! I'm new at this whole daddy thing and it's going to take some getting used to! I hope I don't traumatize 你 too much in the 下一个 few days while I'm trying to figure things out! I guess I should probably burp 你 now.”
I put her up to my chest and lightly patted her back several times before she actually burped. Immediately afterwards, she started crying; which was the first time she's cried since she's been born. It kind of made me a little nervous because I really don't know what I'm doing yet. I tried rocking her in my arms, lightly bouncing her up and down, and pretty much everything else I could think of at that moment.
Finally I realized what was making her cry, I lay her down on the changing 表 in her bedroom upstairs and was beyond nervous because I've never changed a diaper before! I looked down at her and 说 "don't worry; 你 and I are going to figure this out" almost as a way to reassure myself in my abilities to do this! I mean how hard can it be?
I unbuttoned snaps on her outfit and remove the Velcro off of the diaper. That's when I realized this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it was. Maybe I should've paid 更多 attention to mother taking care of Janet when she was born because this was the most foul-smelling thing I had ever 冶炼, 闻到 in my life! I 说 as I covered my nose with the 最佳, 返回页首 of my 衬衫 "I have no idea how I'm going to this!"
I paged Jeffrey up to Alanna's bedroom and he came in and asked "what would 你 like Mr. Jackson?" I snickered and 说 "oh yeah; about that… 你 see I kind of need your help changing a diaper." Jeffrey joked "I don't believe that's in my job description; as long as you're doing all the gross stuff; I'll help!"
Afterwards, I breathed a sigh of relief and 说 "I'm glad that's over with! I felt like I should have been wearing a hazmat suit! One thing's for sure, if I'm going to do this daddy thing right, I have to have a stronger stomach than that! I couldn't stop gagging and I almost threw up!" Jeffrey sarcastically 说 "thanks for the details Michael!"
***
It's been a few weeks since Alanna's birth and I think I'm finally starting to get used to being a dad! One thing that seems to bother most people; but doesn’t bother me is having to get up the middle of the night to give her a bottle. I think that's when the two of us bond the most. I catch myself talking to her all the time; as if she can understand me! Changing diapers doesn't seem to bother me anymore; I've kind of gotten used to it at this point.
There was a knock at the front door just as I had gotten the baby up from her nap and Jeffrey answered the door. Mother walked inside and sat down 下一个 to me on the 长椅, 沙发 as I joked "it's about time 你 showed up! 你 haven't even met your new granddaughter yet!" I passed Alanna to her and she 说 "that is the l blondest hair I have ever seen!" I 说 "I know; I 说 the same exact thing! It's taken me a while to get used to being a daddy; but I'll get the hang of it sooner 或者 later!" She responded "I know you'll be a great daddy! I tried to persuade your brothers and Janet to come over here; but they 说 that they would stop 由 eventually when they are not so busy. I know it's an excuse; but there's not much I can do!" I 说 "quite frankly, I don't care at this point! I'm just glad that they haven't asked me for money! Latoya stopped 由 yesterday and spoiled the baby with tons of 爱情 and attention from her! I'm so glad that Latoya and I are talking again! I was still mad about the public statement she made about 你 know what; but having Alanna made the two of us really close again!" Mother 说 "well; I'm glad to hear it! Are 你 thinking of hiring some help with the baby for when 你 have to go back to work?"
I grabbed a cup of 茶 and passed it to her as I 说 "I don't really want to; but I obviously have to! I'm definitely not going to get a permanent nanny; at least not right now. I'll probably just hire her to watch Alanna while I'm working 或者 have to go on a trip where I can't bring the baby! Eventually, when I have 更多 kids then I'll hire a full-time nanny to help me out. Right now, I'm doing pretty well taking care of the baby on my own! I do everything myself! I feed her, change her diapers, bathe her, and put her to 床, 床上 every night!" Mother 说 "you're going to do just fine Michael; she's going to turn out to be one great kid because of you!" I 说 "I hope you're right mother!"
***
I'm so irritated right now because it's been 4 1/2 months since Alanna's birth and I need to get back to work; so Frank will stop being so pushy! The only problem is that I can't seem to find the right nanny to take care of her during the day. 你 can't blame me for having high expectations of the person who is going to be looking after my pride and joy for 8 to 10 hours a day! I don't want to seem like a psycho dad; I just care a lot!
I paced back and forth in front of the doorway waiting for the last potential nanny to 显示 up. I'm really hoping and praying that she's the one because I'm getting really sick of interviewing these 随意 people! I have to ask the same 问题 over and over again! Sometimes it's even worse because some of these people don't even speak English! That's not the worst part; they act like they can understand what I'm saying; but when I asked them a 问题 they would just start sputtering off in Spanish! I'm all for my daughter learning a foreign-language; but I don't want her first language to be anything but English and the odds of that not happening because she's with a Spanish-speaking person all 日 are very high!
I know I'm not supposed to judge a book 由 its cover; but the last nanny just pulled up and it doesn't look very promising that she'll speak any English! She is a tall African woman with curly brown hair. She is dressed in leopard print and carrying a binder in her hands.
She knocked on the door and I answered it politely with a "hello; nice to meet you! I'm Michael Jackson obviously; but 你 can just call me Michael! What's your name? She said" Grace." I noticed a very faint accent in her voice; BUT AT LEAST SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH!" I directed her into the living room and picked up Alanna. She 说 "this must be your little one! Oh how adorable! Look at those ice blue eyes of hers!"
Grace sat down 下一个 to me on the 长椅, 沙发 as I shifted the baby onto my lap and asked "if 你 don't mind me asking, where are 你 from originally?" She 说 "Uganda; but I've been in the states for many years now!" I asked "how much experience do 你 have with children?" She 说 "years and years; plus I grew up with many siblings!" I asked "do 你 know how to do the Heimlich maneuver if necessary and CPR?" She 说 "yes Mr. Michael; I just recently got recertified 由 taking a refresher course to jog my memory!"
I looked down at her resume and was very impressed with her background in 日 care services. I 说 "I like what I see here and I’d like to give 你 a test run for a 日 while I observe 你 taking care of Alanna. I just want to inform 你 a head of time that I'm not looking to hire a full-time nanny at this time in my life because I only have one child! You'll only really be needed if I need to finish something pertaining to my job and occasionally I might have 你 watch her for extended periods of time if I have to go on a business trip 或者 do some charity work in third world countries. I just want to make sure that’s okay with 你 before I decide to do 你 test run tomorrow?" She 说 "of course Mr. Michael; my schedule is as free as 你 need it to be! I'll even 取消 my plans tomorrow so I can be here for your observation!" I never thought I'd actually say this; but I think I'm really starting to like this potential nanny a lot 更多 than I thought I would!
***
Grace just arrived at the house and I'm nervously anticipating her trial 日 as a nanny while I observe. I 说 "I will probably only have 你 stay until the baby's naptime because I have my manager coming over later to have an important meeting with me. She 说 "that's fine."
After watching her interact with Alanna for over three hours, I decided that there was nothing to worry about! Grace definitely put my mind at ease and assured me that she would do anything that I asked her to do when it comes to taking care of her. I really don't think I'm going to need her around a lot right now because all I'm really doing is finishing the last few tracks of "History" and most of the recording I can do right here in my personal recording studio. Even though I don't have to go on tour until a 年 and a half from now roughly, I still hate the idea of being away from my baby all 日 long five days a week! I'm definitely not looking 前锋, 期待 to this!
***
I 爱情 watching Alanna grow right before my very eyes; it's such a cool thing to see! It seems like just yesterday when she couldn't even hold her own head up and now she's able to hold her baby bottle all 由 herself. It's so cute because she loves to laugh and she will purposely throw the bottle off of her high chair just to get a reaction out of me.
I was in the 厨房 while she lay on a blanket on the floor in the living room. I turned around to get something and was shocked to see that she had apparently crawled all the way from the living room into the kitchen. She had just crawled for the first time and I missed the entire thing. I picked her up and asked "did 你 want to come see me?" She smiled at me with her toothless grin and I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked!
***
Alanna is almost 11 months old and she gets into EVERYTHING. She's starting to pull herself up on the furniture and scared me half to death yesterday when she bumped her face on the coffee 表 in the living room. Today I have a baby proofing specialist coming over to the house to install some things to protect her from getting hurt again.
I watched as my daughter walked along the side of the 长椅, 沙发 trying to decide whether 或者 not to let go. I 说 "you can do it; I know 你 can!" That must've done in the trick because she let go of the 长椅, 沙发 and started waddling towards me. I 说 "oh my gosh; 你 just walked!" I almost wish I didn't encourage her to walk because after that she was unstoppable!
She immediately went over to the 书柜, 书架 and started pulling off of every book she could reach. "No, no, no," I calmly 说 as I walked up to her; but every time I would put a book back she would take it down again and throw it across the room. I guess this is when the real parenting starts!
***
If I have to say no one 更多 time my head is going to explode! Something tells me that the days of Alanna being an easy baby are over. I've kind of 给 up on trying to keep the house in order because it always ends up the mess! 图书 are thrown all over the place and she figured out how to open the lock on the toilet 座位 lid.
I was sitting in my bedroom waiting for her to wake up; so I could bring her downstairs. I finally heard her started to cry and went into her bedroom. I took her out of her 婴儿床 and asked "are 你 going to get into everything today? I think I know the answer to that question! That's okay because I still 爱情 你 and I always will!
I bought her downstairs and sure enough, she started to play with the buttons on the TV. I whispered to myself "here we go again!" I picked her up and 说 "no Alanna; don't touch the TV." That's when I noticed that she managed to change the language on the TV settings because people started speaking in Spanish. I chuckled and smiled down at her as I 说 "you really want to give me a hard time; don't you?" I wonder if I'll ever be able to change the language back to English because I still haven't figured it out and every time I watch TV I can't help but laugh at what my daughter did.
***
Just as I was getting Alanna ready for her nap, I heard my mother's voice say "I'm here Michael!" I responded "okay mother; I'll be down and just a second. I walked downstairs and sat 下一个 to her at the 厨房 table. She asked "can 你 believe that Alanna is going to be one tomorrow?" I 说 "no; this is crazy! Everything is going 由 so fast! She started walking and soon she will be talking!" Mother asked me "what are 你 planning on doing tomorrow to celebrate her birthday?" I 说 "I don't really know; all I know is that I want it to be special! What I really want to do is to have just a normal family party like any other normal child would have! I want to raise her as normal as possible and I don't want her to become spoiled 或者 feel that she is entitled to live a certain way!"
Mother paused for a 秒 and asked "can I invite your brothers and Janet to the party?" I 说 "I don't know mother. They haven't even really been around Alanna enough!" She 说 "well; this would be a good way for them to get to know her. It's better than nothing." I reluctantly 说 "I guess you're right; they can come." Mother responded "good; can I invite your father?" My eyes widened and I sternly 说 "NO mother; I can't stand to be around him! Everything with him is always about how he can make 更多 money 或者 ask me for 更多 money! If he comes it'll start a fight; I just know it because I know how Joseph can be! I could barely stand being around him as a child! I don't want my daughter around him! She doesn't need to deal with him like I had to! I don't want her to get hurt! So there's your answer to your question!"
Hi guys; sorry this chapter is shorter than normal. I never really realized how hard it is to write about a newborn baby because they don't really do much. The 下一个 chapter will probably be just a short because the baby will only be a-year-old; but I promise after that the chapters will be much longer! It took me a long time to write this chapter because today I came out to the majority of my family members as transsexual and most of them are confused because I'm still attracted to men; instead of women. Needless to say I've had to do a lot of explaining lately! I hope all of 你 in the MJ 潮流粉丝俱乐部 community will be supportive and understanding in the way I've decided to live my life. :-) Sorry for any typos LOL! I don't really have time to check for mistakes because of my current situation.
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I was shaken awake and rolled over to see Jeffrey standing over me. I asked "what's the matter Jeffrey; its midnight?" He 说 "I'm sorry to wake 你 sir; but Ms. Rowe just called and she 说 to tell 你 specifically to get your butt over to the hospital because it's time!" I jumped out of 床, 床上 and ran to the 最佳, 返回页首 of the stairs. I was so excited that I missed a few steps and fell down the stairs. Jeffrey gasped and asked "oh my God; are 你 okay Mr. Jackson?" I 说 as I brought myself to my feet "I'm fine; I just hope we get there in time! I don't want to miss anything!"
Jeffrey and I must've broke several laws 由 how dangerously fast he was driving to the hospital. When we got there, Jeffrey had arranged for an entire section of the hospital to be off-limits; so I wouldn't get interrupted 由 anyone. I raced down the hallway; almost slipping on a puddle of water because I wasn't paying attention.
I ran to Debbie's side upon entering the hospital room and sat down in the chair 下一个 to her bed. I asked while trying to catch my breath "did I miss anything?" She 说 "all I care about now is getting her out because I can't even talk until I do! I only pushed a couple times because I didn't want 你 to miss anything! Her head's almost out; the doctors didn't want me to stop pushing; but I insisted that I wait until 你 got here! Now if 你 don't mind, I need to get her out because I can't handle this pain anymore!"
I was going to grab her hand and give her support; but she told me that she would most likely break my hand. In the blink of an eye, before I even realized it my baby girl was here. A beautiful bloody mess! The 下一个 thing I knew, she started crying! It was the most wonderful sound I have ever heard in my life and I wish I could play it over and over again!
One of the nurses passed me Alanna wrapped up in a 粉, 粉色 blanket and Debbie asked "what does she look like Michael?" I responded "like an angel!" Curiosity got the better of me and I couldn't help but remove the hat off of my daughter’s head. I smiled from ear to ear as I stared down at the blondest hair I have ever seen in my life. I 说 as I looked up at Debbie "she definitely gets that hair from you!" I walked over to Debbie and tried to pass her the baby. She smiled and 说 "no; 你 go ahead and bond with her! Take her home; the Dr. 说 she is healthy enough to leave! I'm the one that needs to stay for observation."
After filling out her birth certificate, Jeffrey and I left the hospital; but word had gotten out that the baby was born. Thousands of paparazzi and news stations were bombarding me from every direction! Jeffrey did his best to shield the baby from all the flashes; but it was pretty much impossible!" We finally made it to the secret location where we had parked the car and I realized that I was going to have to figure out how to install the car seat. I know I should have practiced a few weeks ago; but that was the last thing on my mind.
I passed Alanna to Jeffrey as I leaned down inside the back 座位 of the Rolls-Royce. I didn't even know remotely how to go about installing this car seat! I reluctantly asked Jeffrey "do 你 know how this thing is supposed to work?" Jeffrey passed her back to me and 说 "it can be too difficult!" After 15 分钟 of him trying to figure out how to install the car seat, he went and got one of the nurses to come help us. I was embarrassed because it only took her five minutes; compared to my half an 小时 attempt. I thanked her and sat down in the backseat of the car 下一个 to the car seat.
Jeffrey pulled into the driveway of the main house on the ranch and I 说 "I can't believe how calm she is! I think she's going to be an easy baby!" Jeffrey helped me carry the few things that I had brought with me into the house while I carried Alanna in her car seat. I quietly shut the front door as I walked inside and set the car 座位 down on the couch. Jeffrey 说 "I'll be back in a half 小时 Sir; I'm going to check the surveillance cameras to make sure nothing happened while we were at the hospital." I 说 "go right ahead Jeffrey; I've got everything under control!" Jeffrey 说 "page me if 你 need anything."
As I sat down on the 长椅, 沙发 with Alanna in my arms, she started to grow restless. I looked at my watch and figured that it was probably time to feed her. The only problem is I have no idea how to prepare a baby bottle! All I can say is I hope that these instructions printed on the back of the formulae can are accurate because I don't want to screw this up!
I carefully measured what was supposed to be the recommended amount for a newborn baby into a bottle and placed it inside the microwave. The only thing the back of the formulae can didn't say was how long to leave it in the microwave for! I started 由 putting it in there for 30 seconds; but that obviously wasn't enough! Then I went way overboard and put it inside the microwave for five minutes. I took it out and poured a little drop of 牛奶 on my wrist to check the temperature. I held back a scream as the scolding hot formula touched my skin! That caused me to drop a bottle and the lid popped off because of the enormous pressure from the heat. 牛奶 just started spraying everywhere and I was so frazzled I couldn't even think!
After setting the baby down and cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, I made another bottle. I went over to the 长椅, 沙发 and grabbed Alanna. As I sat there feeding her, I started talking to her; almost as if she could respond back! I 说 "sorry about this whole thing with the bottle taking so long! I'm new at this whole daddy thing and it's going to take some getting used to! I hope I don't traumatize 你 too much in the 下一个 few days while I'm trying to figure things out! I guess I should probably burp 你 now.”
I put her up to my chest and lightly patted her back several times before she actually burped. Immediately afterwards, she started crying; which was the first time she's cried since she's been born. It kind of made me a little nervous because I really don't know what I'm doing yet. I tried rocking her in my arms, lightly bouncing her up and down, and pretty much everything else I could think of at that moment.
Finally I realized what was making her cry, I lay her down on the changing 表 in her bedroom upstairs and was beyond nervous because I've never changed a diaper before! I looked down at her and 说 "don't worry; 你 and I are going to figure this out" almost as a way to reassure myself in my abilities to do this! I mean how hard can it be?
I unbuttoned snaps on her outfit and remove the Velcro off of the diaper. That's when I realized this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it was. Maybe I should've paid 更多 attention to mother taking care of Janet when she was born because this was the most foul-smelling thing I had ever 冶炼, 闻到 in my life! I 说 as I covered my nose with the 最佳, 返回页首 of my 衬衫 "I have no idea how I'm going to this!"
I paged Jeffrey up to Alanna's bedroom and he came in and asked "what would 你 like Mr. Jackson?" I snickered and 说 "oh yeah; about that… 你 see I kind of need your help changing a diaper." Jeffrey joked "I don't believe that's in my job description; as long as you're doing all the gross stuff; I'll help!"
Afterwards, I breathed a sigh of relief and 说 "I'm glad that's over with! I felt like I should have been wearing a hazmat suit! One thing's for sure, if I'm going to do this daddy thing right, I have to have a stronger stomach than that! I couldn't stop gagging and I almost threw up!" Jeffrey sarcastically 说 "thanks for the details Michael!"
***
It's been a few weeks since Alanna's birth and I think I'm finally starting to get used to being a dad! One thing that seems to bother most people; but doesn’t bother me is having to get up the middle of the night to give her a bottle. I think that's when the two of us bond the most. I catch myself talking to her all the time; as if she can understand me! Changing diapers doesn't seem to bother me anymore; I've kind of gotten used to it at this point.
There was a knock at the front door just as I had gotten the baby up from her nap and Jeffrey answered the door. Mother walked inside and sat down 下一个 to me on the 长椅, 沙发 as I joked "it's about time 你 showed up! 你 haven't even met your new granddaughter yet!" I passed Alanna to her and she 说 "that is the l blondest hair I have ever seen!" I 说 "I know; I 说 the same exact thing! It's taken me a while to get used to being a daddy; but I'll get the hang of it sooner 或者 later!" She responded "I know you'll be a great daddy! I tried to persuade your brothers and Janet to come over here; but they 说 that they would stop 由 eventually when they are not so busy. I know it's an excuse; but there's not much I can do!" I 说 "quite frankly, I don't care at this point! I'm just glad that they haven't asked me for money! Latoya stopped 由 yesterday and spoiled the baby with tons of 爱情 and attention from her! I'm so glad that Latoya and I are talking again! I was still mad about the public statement she made about 你 know what; but having Alanna made the two of us really close again!" Mother 说 "well; I'm glad to hear it! Are 你 thinking of hiring some help with the baby for when 你 have to go back to work?"
I grabbed a cup of 茶 and passed it to her as I 说 "I don't really want to; but I obviously have to! I'm definitely not going to get a permanent nanny; at least not right now. I'll probably just hire her to watch Alanna while I'm working 或者 have to go on a trip where I can't bring the baby! Eventually, when I have 更多 kids then I'll hire a full-time nanny to help me out. Right now, I'm doing pretty well taking care of the baby on my own! I do everything myself! I feed her, change her diapers, bathe her, and put her to 床, 床上 every night!" Mother 说 "you're going to do just fine Michael; she's going to turn out to be one great kid because of you!" I 说 "I hope you're right mother!"
***
I'm so irritated right now because it's been 4 1/2 months since Alanna's birth and I need to get back to work; so Frank will stop being so pushy! The only problem is that I can't seem to find the right nanny to take care of her during the day. 你 can't blame me for having high expectations of the person who is going to be looking after my pride and joy for 8 to 10 hours a day! I don't want to seem like a psycho dad; I just care a lot!
I paced back and forth in front of the doorway waiting for the last potential nanny to 显示 up. I'm really hoping and praying that she's the one because I'm getting really sick of interviewing these 随意 people! I have to ask the same 问题 over and over again! Sometimes it's even worse because some of these people don't even speak English! That's not the worst part; they act like they can understand what I'm saying; but when I asked them a 问题 they would just start sputtering off in Spanish! I'm all for my daughter learning a foreign-language; but I don't want her first language to be anything but English and the odds of that not happening because she's with a Spanish-speaking person all 日 are very high!
I know I'm not supposed to judge a book 由 its cover; but the last nanny just pulled up and it doesn't look very promising that she'll speak any English! She is a tall African woman with curly brown hair. She is dressed in leopard print and carrying a binder in her hands.
She knocked on the door and I answered it politely with a "hello; nice to meet you! I'm Michael Jackson obviously; but 你 can just call me Michael! What's your name? She said" Grace." I noticed a very faint accent in her voice; BUT AT LEAST SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH!" I directed her into the living room and picked up Alanna. She 说 "this must be your little one! Oh how adorable! Look at those ice blue eyes of hers!"
Grace sat down 下一个 to me on the 长椅, 沙发 as I shifted the baby onto my lap and asked "if 你 don't mind me asking, where are 你 from originally?" She 说 "Uganda; but I've been in the states for many years now!" I asked "how much experience do 你 have with children?" She 说 "years and years; plus I grew up with many siblings!" I asked "do 你 know how to do the Heimlich maneuver if necessary and CPR?" She 说 "yes Mr. Michael; I just recently got recertified 由 taking a refresher course to jog my memory!"
I looked down at her resume and was very impressed with her background in 日 care services. I 说 "I like what I see here and I’d like to give 你 a test run for a 日 while I observe 你 taking care of Alanna. I just want to inform 你 a head of time that I'm not looking to hire a full-time nanny at this time in my life because I only have one child! You'll only really be needed if I need to finish something pertaining to my job and occasionally I might have 你 watch her for extended periods of time if I have to go on a business trip 或者 do some charity work in third world countries. I just want to make sure that’s okay with 你 before I decide to do 你 test run tomorrow?" She 说 "of course Mr. Michael; my schedule is as free as 你 need it to be! I'll even 取消 my plans tomorrow so I can be here for your observation!" I never thought I'd actually say this; but I think I'm really starting to like this potential nanny a lot 更多 than I thought I would!
***
Grace just arrived at the house and I'm nervously anticipating her trial 日 as a nanny while I observe. I 说 "I will probably only have 你 stay until the baby's naptime because I have my manager coming over later to have an important meeting with me. She 说 "that's fine."
After watching her interact with Alanna for over three hours, I decided that there was nothing to worry about! Grace definitely put my mind at ease and assured me that she would do anything that I asked her to do when it comes to taking care of her. I really don't think I'm going to need her around a lot right now because all I'm really doing is finishing the last few tracks of "History" and most of the recording I can do right here in my personal recording studio. Even though I don't have to go on tour until a 年 and a half from now roughly, I still hate the idea of being away from my baby all 日 long five days a week! I'm definitely not looking 前锋, 期待 to this!
***
I 爱情 watching Alanna grow right before my very eyes; it's such a cool thing to see! It seems like just yesterday when she couldn't even hold her own head up and now she's able to hold her baby bottle all 由 herself. It's so cute because she loves to laugh and she will purposely throw the bottle off of her high chair just to get a reaction out of me.
I was in the 厨房 while she lay on a blanket on the floor in the living room. I turned around to get something and was shocked to see that she had apparently crawled all the way from the living room into the kitchen. She had just crawled for the first time and I missed the entire thing. I picked her up and asked "did 你 want to come see me?" She smiled at me with her toothless grin and I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked!
***
Alanna is almost 11 months old and she gets into EVERYTHING. She's starting to pull herself up on the furniture and scared me half to death yesterday when she bumped her face on the coffee 表 in the living room. Today I have a baby proofing specialist coming over to the house to install some things to protect her from getting hurt again.
I watched as my daughter walked along the side of the 长椅, 沙发 trying to decide whether 或者 not to let go. I 说 "you can do it; I know 你 can!" That must've done in the trick because she let go of the 长椅, 沙发 and started waddling towards me. I 说 "oh my gosh; 你 just walked!" I almost wish I didn't encourage her to walk because after that she was unstoppable!
She immediately went over to the 书柜, 书架 and started pulling off of every book she could reach. "No, no, no," I calmly 说 as I walked up to her; but every time I would put a book back she would take it down again and throw it across the room. I guess this is when the real parenting starts!
***
If I have to say no one 更多 time my head is going to explode! Something tells me that the days of Alanna being an easy baby are over. I've kind of 给 up on trying to keep the house in order because it always ends up the mess! 图书 are thrown all over the place and she figured out how to open the lock on the toilet 座位 lid.
I was sitting in my bedroom waiting for her to wake up; so I could bring her downstairs. I finally heard her started to cry and went into her bedroom. I took her out of her 婴儿床 and asked "are 你 going to get into everything today? I think I know the answer to that question! That's okay because I still 爱情 你 and I always will!
I bought her downstairs and sure enough, she started to play with the buttons on the TV. I whispered to myself "here we go again!" I picked her up and 说 "no Alanna; don't touch the TV." That's when I noticed that she managed to change the language on the TV settings because people started speaking in Spanish. I chuckled and smiled down at her as I 说 "you really want to give me a hard time; don't you?" I wonder if I'll ever be able to change the language back to English because I still haven't figured it out and every time I watch TV I can't help but laugh at what my daughter did.
***
Just as I was getting Alanna ready for her nap, I heard my mother's voice say "I'm here Michael!" I responded "okay mother; I'll be down and just a second. I walked downstairs and sat 下一个 to her at the 厨房 table. She asked "can 你 believe that Alanna is going to be one tomorrow?" I 说 "no; this is crazy! Everything is going 由 so fast! She started walking and soon she will be talking!" Mother asked me "what are 你 planning on doing tomorrow to celebrate her birthday?" I 说 "I don't really know; all I know is that I want it to be special! What I really want to do is to have just a normal family party like any other normal child would have! I want to raise her as normal as possible and I don't want her to become spoiled 或者 feel that she is entitled to live a certain way!"
Mother paused for a 秒 and asked "can I invite your brothers and Janet to the party?" I 说 "I don't know mother. They haven't even really been around Alanna enough!" She 说 "well; this would be a good way for them to get to know her. It's better than nothing." I reluctantly 说 "I guess you're right; they can come." Mother responded "good; can I invite your father?" My eyes widened and I sternly 说 "NO mother; I can't stand to be around him! Everything with him is always about how he can make 更多 money 或者 ask me for 更多 money! If he comes it'll start a fight; I just know it because I know how Joseph can be! I could barely stand being around him as a child! I don't want my daughter around him! She doesn't need to deal with him like I had to! I don't want her to get hurt! So there's your answer to your question!"