Boston Baby Boom

I am awash in babies these days. What, you say? The perennially single bachelor VTK? Babies? OK, clearly I'm not as awash as the parents of said babies, but I'm a little bit awash nonetheless. Ten good friends of mine (5 couples) have welcomed newborns into the world in the last five months and, by my count, there's one more baby on the way in the next 4 months or so. I think it's just the one. That's in addition to five VTK friend toddlers (1 to 2.5 yr olds) already bopping around. Oh, and there's the seven (soon to be 8) step nieces and nephews out in Michigan - the Costingitos. And the five young children of my cousins that I saw at XMas. So, I guess I'm awash in kids in general, but I've got babies on the mind right now. Counting the five new babies and the one on the way, that makes twelve friends of mine that are now consumed with all things baby, so I'm in second or third degree baby mode by default. Which is probably slightly easier than doing the actual parenting. I get to make faces at the tots and buy them Celtics gear and watch their development from unfocused, contrast-recognizing infants to smiling, more reactive, interactive tiny people. And I don't have to change "poopy diapers", get up at all hours of the night, breast feed, deal with separation anxiety, or feel the pain of hearing my child cry (am I missing anything? that pretty much sums up the experience of being a parent, right?)... Maybe "awash" isn't the right word here. I really do nothing other than go to the occasional baby shower or briss and visit the newborns occasionally. I guess I just went to Baby M's briss last week and visited Baby C and Baby L (aka Baby LDNCSC) the last two evenings, so it seems like I'm awash. In a good way, of course. Kids and babies are great. So untainted by the world. Hanging out with them is sort of like rebooting my opinion of humanity.

So, since it's become a major topic of conversation, supplanting usual VTK topics such as sports, politics, music, etc, I thought I would do a post giving a shout out to all the young babes out there. GOO GOO GAA GAA, y'all! And now, I will rank them in order of cuteness:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

... hmmmm ... maybe I shouldn't do that. Suffice it to say that your baby (yes, you) is without question the cutest I have ever seen.

And now for the real reason behind this post - the latest in the Creepy VTK Picture Series (baby and papa blurred for their protection). Would you let this guy near your baby?