I wish I had a picture

of the look on Emery's face when we took her to the church nursery for the first time today. Dumbfounded might be the best way to describe it, for I don't think she had ever been that close to so many other children, most of whom were mildly to majorly in distress for much of the time.

Fortunately, since she has just woken up from a nap and didn't have an empty stomach, Emery remained calm and low-maintenance and didn't require the loving arms of the nursery workers busily occupied with tearful babies. When I went into the nursery midway through the service to feed Emery, I found her sitting in a swing just staring at the chaos, not really appearing like she needed to get out of there, but not entirely enthralled with the whole situation either. Just tolerant.

As I fed Emery and watched the crawlers eating Cheerios off the carpet and one boy sucking on the wrong bottle, I was reminded, yet again, that my germophobia will soon rear its ugly head in the very near future. I immediately began making mental lists with items like "don't bring bottle or cup to nursery, try to make sure she's full and hydrated beforehand; give Emery her own Cheerio cup that keeps them from falling out and try to teach her to only eat from it, etc." all the while knowing the absolute absurdity in my scheming.

Then, feeling half-guilty for then abandoning her again in all the commotion, and half-relieved to return to the calm and order of the church service, I departed ... and returned 30 minutes later to the same dumbfounded stare. Gratefully, I rescued her from the chaos, showered her with many congratulations and kisses and we proudly departed, I wondering how I'd muster up the courage to return again and Emery likely wondering what in the world was that all about?!