Couch Baby

Hello and welcome to an April-showers-please-bring-May-flowers Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is April 27th.

I'm thrilled to introduce the newest member of our family: Bayment.  With four dark walnut legs, he stands 34" tall, is 77" long and 35.5" deep, "Bay" - as he's already affectionately called - is the the most adorable shade of khaki. Not too dark, nor too light, Bay is the perfect brown for our living room. After weeks of toiling over style and color selection with my trusted couch doctor Annika from The Furniture Gallery, I cannot overstate my absolute joy. 

Bay comes with not two, but four accent pillows - one set in a coordinating khaki print and the other set in "poppy" red - that look adorable nestled in his arms. The pillows are plump, happy additions that fit our little furniture family seamlessly. Our new bundle of joy also comes with a memory foam mattress creating new spaces for friends and family to rest their heads.

Brad and Steve (Annika's husband and father-in-law) delivered him painlessly and without incident on Wednesday, April 24th. Truly the easiest and fastest birth, this mama has experienced to date. (College Kid 2.0 would have come first, but he required postpartum stitches.)

With the newest couch kid moved in, there was a little sadness, as we moved our old couch, Flora Grace, to the garage. 

Flora Grace came into our lives in the summer of 2006 when we moved to Wannaskaland. A parting gift of sorts from our neighbors who sold her for only forty bucks, Flora Grace was old even back then - a floral beauty in all her 1970s glory. But she was sturdy and had a spirit of love we just had to say yes to. Flora Grace has been a faithful furniture nanny, holding together and supporting us as best she could, our butts not quite touching the ground ever, even when 5/7ths of us sat on her. Her cushions endured countless thumps, pounds, and thwacks. She listened to thousands of storytimes, nursed us to health in her restful arms, and was a haven of hiding for cats and toys. 

On Bay's first day home, the kids' initial excitement gave way to concerns and - I think - a little grief. "He's too tall!" they complained. "My feet don't touch the ground!" they observed as their feet swung in mid-air. "I can't get comfortable!" they said as they experimented with different sitting positions.

"Well, Bay's different," I began. "We're used to Flora Grace and how she felt to us. But give it some time, and you'll settle in." The kids eyed him skeptically and sat instead on our striped chair twins, Beau and Belle. It's been a few days, and I've noticed they've given Bay second and third chances. Someone even covered his back with a blanket. The Sixth Grader went as far as to say, "I read my book on Bay today. It was good."

Our old cat Scrawny is still finding her place with the new couch baby. We've been patiently training her not to snuggle into Bay and placed her special yellow blanket on Beau and Belle's matching ottoman. She's taken a liking to the B.A.C.* Right now, her paws are perched on Belle's arms as she quietly watches Bay, no doubt waiting for this mama to either move her off of Belle's gorgeous upholstery or go to work so she can see if there's a future for her with Bay in it. (I assure you, there's not.) The WAKWIR** said cats prefer being up high and having a perch so he's been doing some online shopping for a cat tree. 

Otherwise, all is well with Bay and the family. We look forward to inviting you and yours to our happy home soon.

Beau welcoming our new couch baby, Bay

Brad and Steve delivering our couch baby

* Big Ass Chair
* Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence