Baby Expatriate

...And One More

2010-12-01T17:42:00.001-08:00

Lately Maisie is into letters, and she'll ask what words start with what letters. She doesn't say, "What letter does 'book' start with?," though, she'll ask, "What letter starts with 'book'?" Tonight we went through pretty much everything in her room -- "What starts with ROCKING CHAIR? What starts with PIG? What starts with TABLE? What starts with PAJAMAS? What starts with LULU?," and on and on. Finally I told her it was time for bed. She fussed a little in her crib but finally settled down. A few minutes later I was in the kitchen with Jake fixing our dinner (ha ha -- putting takeout Indian food on our plates) when she hollers down as loud as she can, "WHAT. STARTS. WITH. BARBIE?!" Jake yelled up "B" and she's been quiet as a mouse since.

Maisie Funnies

2010-11-30T18:22:00.000-08:00

Maisie made me laugh so much today that I just had to write down a couple of the things she said while they are fresh in my mind.

First of all, Jake's in California, and every time Maisie asks where he is and I reply "California," she says, "Just like Katy Perry!" She did this the last time he was in California too.

This morning we were over at a friend's house and she leaned over and whispered to me, "Mama, I like you SO MUCH." Sweet baby! She is also quick to tell you that she loves you and give kisses. However...

I kissed her shoulder this afternoon and she said, "No no no! I not want that kiss! I wipe it off!," and she acted like she was wiping it off. I made a sad face and said, "Oh no! No kisses?" She immediately grinned and started patting her shoulder and said, "I put it back on. I put the kiss back on."

This morning we were driving over the Potomac and she said, "Mama, look at that water! Look at all that water!" I said, "Yeah, that's the Potomac River! Can you say Potomac?" She said, "The Potomac! That is ONE. GOOD. RIVER!" Then, this afternoon, we were driving BACK over the Potomac and she said, "What's that water?" I said, again, "It's the Potomac." She said again, "The Potomac!" Then she turned to her stuffed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and said, "Rudolph, can you say 'Potomac River'?" Then she made a high squeaky voice and said, as if she were Rudolph, "Potomac River! Potomac River!"

Driving home tonight I saw a big cute dog so I said, "Maisie, look at that dog! Do you see it?" I don't know if she was telling the truth or just teasing me, but she said, "No, I don't see it. I see the leash, but I not see that doggie. Just the leash."

This evening she was pretending to take pictures of things with a pretend camera. She showed me a pretend picture and said, "Look! It's a picture of you! You sitting down, reading a book." Then she looked at the "camera" again and said, "Look. Here's a picture of Daddy. He cooking something." (I don't cook much, okay, but I do read a lot.)

Finally tonight she walked over to me out of the blue, hands outstretched, palms up, eyes wide, eyebrows raised, like she had the best idea in the world. She said, "Hey Emilie! How about some... [loud stage whisper] ...YO GABBA GABBA?"

TWO!

2010-08-23T12:50:00.001-07:00

Maisie Munkin is two!

Her birthday was Tuesday and her two-year-check-up was Wednesday. She weighs 29 1/2 pounds and is 37 3/4 inches tall -- a.k.a., basketball player tall. If she stays this exact height until she turns three, she will still be between the 50th-75th% for height.

She speaks fluent English now -- sentences, paragraphs, pretend conversations, etc. Still a talker (although she is quiet at first when she is in new places or with new people, or in a big group -- not shy, just quiet. She will walk right up and stare at you, but she might not talk right away.)

She can say her ABCs and can consistently recognize and identify the letters A, B, I, M, O, W, and Z. She knows her colors and her shapes. Right now she's obsessed with octagons. She will sometimes count to ten but usually counts "1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10" instead. We went to lunch today at Sanphan and she pointed at the sign and said, "A for Apple! A for Apple! Two A's." She likes to sing "Twinkle Twinkle," "Row Your Boat," the alphabet, and the Sesame Street theme song. And the chorus of "Poker Face."

One of her favorite phrases right now is, "Oh my goodness sake!" I say "oh my goodness" a lot and I think Jake says "for goodness sake" and she has picked that up. Yesterday we were watching Sesame Street and when Barkley the giant orange dog came onscreen she said, gesticulating dramatically, "Oh my goodness sake, that is one big dog!" Last week it rained all day one day and every time we went outside she said, "Oh my goodness sake, it is STILL raining!"

Much to Jake's chagrin, her pop music tastes have now widened to include the Katy Perry song "California Girls." Jake was on a business trip to L.A. last week and when I told her Daddy was in California, she said, "Oh, like Katy Perry!"

She likes to pretend a lot. She will pretend to be a baby, a cat, my cousin Ben, and one of her babysitters. The Ben pretending is the funniest because she will say, "I Ben. You say, 'Hey, Ben,' and you wave at Ben." She also talks to her Aunt Coco and Eh-ca on the pretend phone on a regular basis. Yesterday she was having a long conversation with someone on her plastic pink phone and when I said, "Who are you talking to?" she leaned over, whispered "I talking to Aunt Coco," and then returned to her call. Also, this morning she walked into the kitchen carrying two of her pocketbooks and a tote bag and rolling a small Hello Kitty suitcase. She waved at me and said, "I going to the airport now."

She doesn't do it every time it's warranted, of course, but she is mostly quite good at saying, "please," "thank you," "excuse me," and "bless you." She almost never misses a "bless you" when someone sneezes, even if it is a stranger in a store.

She likes to sing, dance, dress up, slide, ride her tricycle, take off her Barbie's clothing, read, and draw. She really likes to draw and also likes to watch other people draw, with the caveat that she is the one who will instruct you on what to draw. Favorite requests include dogs, cats, smiley faces, and potties. If you draw something to her liking, she will likely follow up that request with, "Okay, now draw a little tiny one!"

She can throw a toddler fit with the best of them if she gets too hungry or tired, but mostly she is still easy, sweet, and totally hilarious. While I do miss little baby infant Maisie, toddler Maisie is even more fun.

22 Months

2010-06-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Last night, reading a lift-the-flap book, upon discovering a missing flap she had torn out once upon a time:

Maisie: Dis ripped.

Me: Yeah, you ripped that out a long time ago.

Maisie: Dis ripped.

Me: Yep.

Maisie: Dis ripped. We need a refill. We gotta get another one. We go to Target.

***

In the car everyday as soon as we hear some pop song Maisie likes:

Maisie: PEAS TURN IT UP, TURN IT UP PEAS, PEAS TURN IT UP.

***

Eating lunch one day last week:

Me: Maisie, what fruit do you want with lunch? An apple?

Maisie: Strawberries.

Me: We're out of strawberries. What do you want instead?

Maisie: Strawberries.

Me: You ate all the strawberries. We don't have anymore. How about some grapes?

Maisie: Mo' strawberries.

Me: There aren't any more strawberries. They're all gone.

Maisie: Strawberries all gone.

Me: Right.

Maisie: Get new ones.

***

Just before dinner one evening:

Me: Maisie, it's time for supper.

Maisie: Grapes?

Me: Sure, you can have some grapes. And you're having ravioli. Ravioli and some grapes.

Maisie: No ravioli and grapes. Want GRAPES and grapes.

***

One morning when the Today show was on in the background:

Maisie: Dat Obama! Hey, Obama! How you doin', Obama?

(Sure enough, I looked up and she was right.)

***

One morning after Jake returned from a business trip:

Maisie: Daddy went Seattle! Daddy came back! Daddy home! Yay, Daddy!

***

I have no idea what she weighs or how tall she is, but I know she's grown. She's outgrown her sandals (now wearing a 7 1/2) and I only buy her size 3T clothes now. My baby's almost two!

20 Months!

2010-04-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Let me start this post the way I start all of them -- oh, I can't believe it's been so long! Really, though, I can, because it's not like I have been a very good mommy blogger. I didn't realize I had let three months lapse, though.

Maisie Munkin is now 20 months old. At her 18-month check-up, Maisie was 35 3/4 inches and 26.something pounds. Roughly translated, that means she is super tall and weighs just plenty, although she is so tall that she is quite lean. No idea of her measurements now, two months later, but I think she's grown a little. She should, she eats like a real human. Today she polished off my bag of potato chips which quite frankly I was not planning on sharing.

The funniest thing about her now, at 20 months, is the talking. Talk talk talk all the time with the talking. Jake gets her up in the morning while I sleep in (I know!) and I love to hear them. She starts talking before he's even in her room and it doesn't stop. "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Hi, Daddy! Good morning, Daddy! There's Baa Baa! Hi, Baa Baa! Fi? Fi? Downstairs? Come on, Fi!" This morning I heard her as she discovered my keys in my purse on her way down the stairs -- "KEYS! Mama keys! Target? Target?" (Ouch... I guess we go to Target a lot. Oh, well, it's not like the Smithsonian is a few blocks away... oh, wait...)

We spent a good long while this afternoon sitting on our front steps having a snack (well, I was trying to have a super late lunch and she took it -- I managed to finish my sandwich, but she claimed a lot of the aforementioned chips). She loves to sit outside and watch the people, dogs, cars, and buses go by -- especially the dogs. She loves a good squirrel spotting too. So far I haven't taught her that squirrels are pretty gross. Anyway, a lot of times we blow bubbles but sometimes we just sit and watch. Today she was having an especially good time as she sat down on the step next to me. "Mamie outside. Mamie sit. Mamie eat chips. CHIPS SO GOOD!" I had to laugh out loud. (She doesn't eat chips usually, I promise, but I have a feeling she will be asking for them again in the future. She doesn't forget.)

She loves Sesame Street ("Elmo TV? Elmo TV? Watch Elmo TV? Okay!"), especially Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Abby, and Zoe. And Snuffy and Telly and Zoe. Wait, is that all of them? Yeah, that's about right. She loves all of them and she calls them all by name. "THERE SNUFFY! HI SNUFFY!" Oh, everything is so exciting and enthusiastic when you're 20 months old.

She likes to hide, although she always hides in the same two totally visible spots and then yells, "WHERE MAMIE GO? WHERE MAMIE GO?" This is my cue to pretend like I can't find her. I'll say, "Where did Maisie go? Fi, do you see Maisie? Oh, I guess she must have gone to Safeway. Or maybe she went to yoga. Do you think she went to New York to see Aunt Coco?" At that, Maisie usually pipes up from her "hiding" place and cries, "Yeah, yeah!" So you see, she's not so good with the hiding yet, but she does enjoy it. She also likes for me to hide -- that is, she says, "Mama bye-bye? Mama bye-bye? Bye, Mama." Then I'm supposed to go around the corner out of sight, at which point she says, "Where Mama go? Where Mama go? Abbeville? New York? Where Mama go?" Then I pop out and say, "I came back!" She hollers with laughter and says, "Yay, you came back!" It's a pretty fun game, actually, although I'd be fine playing it, say, twice a day instead of 12-15 times.

Maisie loves people, animals, her books, her doll stroller ("stollie"), and any stereotypically female accessory that you can think of. Lately she's been asking for me to put her hair in a ponytail, which she then wants to admire in the mirror. "See Mamie? See Mamie? See Mamie ponytail? Oh, so purty. Purty ponytail." She compliments her own dresses ("Oh, so purty! Purty new dress!") and is way into these pink sandals she just got ("Wear new shoes? Mamie new shoes?"). This morning I put on her regular shoes because it was cool enough that she needed socks and she said, "No. New shoes? Mamie new shoes? Mamie toes? Toe shoes?" I realized she wanted her sandals and was describing them as "toe shoes" since she can see her toes in them. She is bossy and quite particular.

Mostly, though, she is a sweet, sweet baby, and she is great company. I love our days.

17 Months

2010-01-13T15:40:00.001-08:00

Well, technically Maisie won't be seventeen months old until Sunday, but hey, let's be early for a change!

I can't believe that the last time I posted Maisie wasn't even walking yet. She started walking pretty much right after that post, at about 13.5 months. Now, at 16-going-on-17 months, she is running.

She gave up her evening bottle at 15 months. We had given up all daytime bottles already, but I had been having some trouble convincing her to take milk from a sippy cup or a straw (even though she had been drinking water out of cups or straws for months). Finally I decided to go cold turkey and throw out the bottles and she didn't mind at all! She has not taken a pacifier since she was seven months old. As soon as she stopped being swaddled, she would reach up and throw the pacifier out of her crib. I just stopped giving it back to her and she hasn't wanted one since.

She is still mostly taking two naps a day, although more and more often she will skip one or the other. The weird thing is that more often she skips her afternoon nap. Aren't they supposed to drop the morning nap first? Oh, well. For now I'm just going with it. She sleeps 11.5-12 hours a night without a peep still (knock on wood, oh please, please, knock on wood) and is just as happy when she has one nap as when she has two, so it's not a big deal yet. However, I do like having her on a pretty set schedule so if it starts to get too unpredictable I will be consulting Weissbluth again.

Maisie will eat just about anything. Her typical breakfast might be a whole-wheat waffle or a piece of cheese toast (or two pieces of toast), half a banana, and two pieces of turkey sausage. Sometimes she likes a cup of applesauce or some yogurt on top of that. That seems like a lot for a toddler, but she's the only toddler I know so maybe it isn't. For lunch or dinner she will have some kind of protein (whatever leftovers we have from dinner the night before or maybe some grilled chicken or a Gardenburger -- or, yes, sometimes she just has Gerber baby pasta, but I know that is like baby Chef Boyardee and should not be relied upon), some kind of steamed veggie, some kind of fruit, and she usually wants at least one piece of string cheese. (She eats supper at 5 so Jake and I are nowhere near close to eating our own dinner then -- Jake doesn't get home until 7, and she is either asleep or already in bed then, so family dinner will have to come when she is just a little bit older.) She likes to feed herself, although if she has at least one finger food to occupy her she will usually let me feed her the other stuff. More and more, though, she wants to use the fork and spoon all by herself. She's getting better. She's pretty good with the fork, but the spoon is trickier. I think that's just because I am prissy and impatient and I would rather feed her applesauce myself than watch her sling a third of it onto herself and the floor. She is quick to tell me when she wants to do it herself and, if I'm feeding her, which bite she wants next. (Last night I offered her another bite of chicken and she shook her head and said, "No, no -- mo' corn.") She'll also tell me if she wants something I haven't offered. Today at dinner she surveyed her applesauceless plate, looked up at me and said, "Apple? Apple? Apple?" I said, "Oh -- you want some applesauce instead?" "Yeah."

About the talking... it is the most fun thing ever watching a baby learn to communicate. Every single day she says something new or puts different words together. It's probably only interesting to about seven or eight people, but I want to write it all down before I forget -- I know that in a few months I won't remember what she said when. She says too many words to count them all anymore, although not all are pronounced correctly. The ones that have creative pronunciations are consistent enough that we are sure that's what she's saying, though -- for example, she loves to talk about glasses, point out our glasses, and look through books identifying glasses, and glasses are always "gluh gluh." Our dear departed Sammy, for some reason, was always and still is "Bay." She can communicate (with Jake and me, at least) really, really well and I usually know what she wants. She can answer "yes" or "no" to any question I ask and I feel like she understands pretty much everything I say, and she can definitely ask for what she needs when it comes to water or milk or a snack ("nack" -- her favorite "nacks" are "doedish" (goldfish) or "rayray" (raisins)), particular toys and books, most songs, and, increasingly, when she needs or wants her diaper changed. ("Mama! Bye-per. Bye-per. Bye-per." "You need your diaper changed?" "Yeah.") I'm not sure what that means as far as a potty training timeline (I assume it's still a far ways off), but she will sometimes even clarify if it's dirty or just wet.

She also says:

"Hi, [insert name here]!"
"Bye-bye, [name]!"
"More [anything under the sun]" (Sometimes we are lucky and get a "please" ("pea") stuck on the end, too, though that is only when she is really desperate or when I prompt her. She will almost always say it when prompted, though. We are working on "thank you" -- that one is slower coming and sounds more like "da doo" when she bothers to say it at all.)
"I do" (she means "I'll do it," and usually says it when she would rather climb the stairs herself , or when she wants to feed herself)
"I see..." (Mama, Fi, Daddy, people)
"No, Mama, no!"(all the time about everything -- for an agreeable toddler, she says "no" an awful lot)
"Hold this" (usually it's just "hol' dis" and she hands me whatever, but today she handed me her Baa Baa and said, "Ho' Baa Baa.")
"What's that" or "What's this" ("wuh dat?" or "wuh dis")
"It's [whatever/whoever is she's looking at" (usually Mama, Daddy, Fi, Elmo, or Baa Baa)

Funny one-offs that she has said but never repeated:
"Mama, COME ON!" (said today when she was trying to get me off the phone with my mom)
"Bye Daddy, be good!" (when he was leaving for work one morning -- sounded like "Bye da be guh" really fast but it was definitely what she was saying -- that's what he tells her every morning when he walks out the door)
"Have a good day" (also to Jake when he was leaving for work one morning -- "ha guh day Daddy!")
"Gotta get Baa Baa" (she's said that twice actually, now that I think about it -- "gah geh Baa Baa")
"Excuse you" ("scu you" -- said when SHE burped! And actually she's said that more than once too, I think)
I think yesterday she said she wanted to "take a walk." ("Tay waw? Tay waw? Waw waw waw?")

Today she was playing with magnets on the refrigerator and when I walked in she said, "Oh! It's Mama!" (I had only been about four steps away in the dining room, but hey, whatever.)

Once, a couple of weeks ago, I was straightening up her room while she played in her crib. She asked me to get her out and I told her to hold on a minute. She started howling, so I said, "Okay, okay," and got her out. When I reached into the crib to get her, she patted me and said, "Good girl, Mommy."

She can point out even more body parts now: head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, cheeks, neck, shoulders, elbow, heart, boobies (ha!), bellybutton, knees, feet, toes, hands, fingers and back, and she can differentiate when you ask where is her head (or whatever body part) or where is my head or where is Elmo's, and will point to the right body part on the right person.

She can answer some abstract questions, like "Who lives with Bobo [my dad]?" "Nannie [my mom]." "Who else?" "Bet Bet [my parents' dog]." Usually when she mentions Bet Bet, she also says, "Shhhh" because Betsy is always barking when we come home, and then she says, "Good girl." (She also says "Good girl" to herself when she fits a puzzle piece in the right way or when she helps me put her toys back in the basket, which makes me laugh every time.) If you ask her what's outside ("ow sy"), she will answer babies ("baby!"), dogs ("daw! woo woo woo"), cats ("meow"), cars ("caaah"), and "people" (said perfectly). One night I asked her who loved her ("Mama loves you -- who else loves you?"). She listed Daddy and all four of our parents and then when I asked "Who else?" she said emphatically, "Erica!" ("Eh ca!"). She will ask for Jake during the day and when I ask her where he is, a lot of the time she will say "work" ("wuh").

Jake and I ask each other frequently, "Where did our baby go? When did we start living with a little person?" Basically, she is a riot all the time, and her cheeks demand many kisses all day long.

Maisie Funnies

2009-10-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

I think that I was such a bad blogger that no one reads this anymore (understandable!) but I am still going to update so that I can remember the funny things Maisie does.

Her latest funny phrase is "cheese toast." My baby loves cheese, and my baby loves toast, so it makes sense that she would love cheese toast. What's funny, though, is that she loves saying "cheese toast" as much as she loves eating it. Last week one day, as she was eating it, she started saying, "Cheeese toast, cheeese toast." She has a particular intonation and it kind of sounds like CHEE toes, CHEE toes. She grins as widely as she can and laughs when I start to laugh. Well, this afternoon we were driving home from a church retreat weekend and Maisie should have been napping. I was surprised she was awake, but she was only barely awake... gazing out of the window dreamily. I was flipping through a magazine when I heard her start to chant, "CHEE toes, CHEE toes." I burst out laughing and said, "Maisie, are you daydreaming about cheese toast?" She just grinned and laughed and said, "CHEE toes," "CHEE toes!" When we got home and made her a piece of cheese toast, she was beyond delighted. I can tell that as much of the joy comes from talking about it and being understood as actually eating it.

She's also really into trying to do things herself, or pretending to do adult things. For example, if she sees a hair brush, she tries to brush her hair, or tries to brush my hair, or pretends to brush her doll's hair. Ditto toothbrush -- she loves to try to brush her teeth. She also takes the washcloth and washes her rubber duck in the bathtub, tries to feed Elmo or pretend to give him a sip of water out of a straw, and pretends to answer the phone. That last one was hilarious this weekend. We had to unplug the phone in our room at the inn where we were staying because all Maisie wanted to do was pick up the phone, say, "'LO?" and hang it back up. "'LO? 'LO?" And if you do happen to be on a real phone call when Maisie is around, when you say "hello," she'll turn around and yell, "HI!" and start waving, and when you finish the conversation, she'll yell, "BYE! BYE!" and wave some more.

She knows more body parts, I think -- she will tell you where her hands and her knees are, in addition to head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, bellybutton, and toes. She also understands that we all have noses, and will point at her baby doll's nose or Elmo's nose and say "no." "Nose" sounds like "no," but you can tell which she means because if she's saying no, she gets a funny mean look on her face and shakes her finger back and forth. "No no no," she says.

She has a couple of new favorite songs, too, and she knows them well enough that she really gets into them. She knows I always clap during the drum parts in the Avett Brothers' "Kick Drum Heart," and she will clap too. Not at precisely the right time or in the right rhythm, but it's the effort that counts. We sing a funny song by They Might be Giants called "Seven Days of the Week" and I have made up silly and obvious motions to go along with it, and she will do all of them with me as we listen to the song (mostly shaking her head, shaking her finger "no no," pointing to her head, and throwing her arms up). I might be embarrassed to admit that she also now sings "yeah yeah yeah" along with Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." As our friend Will has commented before, I listen to a lot of really crappy music when Jake isn't around. (I don't mean you, Avetts!) Anyway, she also nods her head at the appropriate line in the Miley Cyrus song, and throws her hands in the air. Must get video.

Big Girl

2009-09-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

I guess I was so overwhelmed with Maisie's first birthday that I put off blogging about it... and all of a sudden she is thirteen months and one week! I don't even know where to begin.

The basics: at her 12-mo. appt., she weighed 23.5 pounds (between 75-90%) and was 33 inches long (still off the charts). The doctor asked if she had any words yet. Yes. A lot. I never know whether I sound crazy because it seems like an awful lot for her age, or whether I sound crazy because maybe it's really not a lot after all. Not that it matters. It's very fun, and hearing her new words are the funniest thing, although she is full of personality in other ways too. She now says: Mama, dada, yes, no, more, good girl, nose, toes, teeth, belly, cheese, keys, book, bird, ball, pig, duck, dog, car, baa, meow, woof, nay, quack, moo, Maisie, baby, Elmo, George, shoes, hi, bye, house, bath, door, out, up, walk, night night, water, milk, bottle, cup, Bet Bet (my parents' dog), lalala, oh, uh oh, whoa. Today I am 99% sure she said "owl" and "want." I know there are a good many I'm missing.

She doesn't pronounce all of them correctly yet, of course. You have to use context to distinguish between "book" and "bird" or "keys" and "cheese" or "ball" and "bottle." "Baa" and "bath" sound pretty much identical; it just depends on whether she is pointing at a sheep or into the bathroom. She says "Mamie" for "Maisie" and "guh guh" for "good girl." She repeats other words like her names for our parents (and will say them voluntarily when she's with them). She will repeat "dirty" but only sometimes says it unprompted, but the words in the above list she will say whenever she sees the object. She calls a cat "meow" but will repeat "kitty" if you ask her to. It sounds like "titty." She still won't say Fiona or Sammy, but she will point to them when asked and walks up to both of them and says "good girl." When I tell her Sammy is a boy, so he's a "good boy," she looks at me like I'm crazy and turns back to Sammy and says, "good girl!" again.

She has a great wave and will lean over to people (and by people, I mean strangers) in stores and restaurants saying, "Hey. Hey. Hey," until they turn around so she can wave to them. She likes to yell, "Bye!" or "BUHBYE!" just as much as she likes to say hello. She blows kisses to her daddy when he leaves for work in the morning on her own. She knows to stick out one finger if you ask her how old she is (and sometimes she will say, "WUH!" for "one") but sometimes it takes awhile. She might not answer until a couple of minutes have passed. She is more likely to answer if someone asks ME how old she is and I respond. Usually when that happens, I look over at Maisie and she's holding one finger up.

A couple of days ago she hitched her lunchbox up on her shoulder like it was a pocketbook and said, "Bye!" like she was going somewhere. Shortly thereafter she was playing with my bracelet. When I asked her to put it on, she slipped it up her arm, admired it, and sang, "Oh oh oh!," and did a little shoulder shake... her signature dance move.

She loves music and loves to dance. Her favorite song is still "Single Ladies" by Beyonce and she requests it by saying, "Oh oh oh?" and wiggling the shoulders. She asks to watch the Elmo's Song clip on Hulu every time she sees the computer. We have had a couple of (what feel like) legitimate conversations about it. After we've watched it, she immediately starts signing "more," sometimes saying "more" out loud, and then saying, "Lalala." More Lalala. I say, "No more Lalala. We're all done." She shakes her finger at me and says, "No no no. [Sign for more.] Lalalala."

She requests specific books now (like "Where is the Green Sheep" is "baaa") and can find her favorites. She will find the right toy and bring it to you if you ask, too. She points at things to ask what they are and will point at things when you ask her to identify them (light, door, window, fan, dog, cat, baby, book, bird, etc.). She likes to go up to doors in our house and knock on them ("na na"). She's a wonderful mimic and will try to copy any face you make. If you ask her to make a funny face, she scrunches up her nose and sniffs a little bit, and then laughs.

She recognizes herself in pictures and in the mirror and will happily exclaim, "MAMIE!" when she sees herself. She can also identify Jake and me in pictures and will do so unprompted. She loves to look at pictures of the rest of the family but doesn't usually point them out, although she'll look at the right person when I ask "where's so and so," so I think she knows who they are too. She loves monkeys but says "day" or "dee" for "monkey" -- no idea why. She also will put her hands under her armpits and say "ee ee oo oo" if you ask her what a monkey does. She will also bob her hands up and down if you ask what a bunny does -- it hops ("ha ha ha"). She still knows most of her other animal sounds too, although she can't say "oink" yet so if you ask her what a pig does, she just wiggles her nose up and down.

She loves to lean her head against us and climb in our laps (although a lot of times she doesn't want to stay there), and if you hold her and give her a hug, she pats you on the back or the arm. Sometimes she likes to just reach out and touch your arm, or pat your hand. She offers up her baby dolls and stuffed animals so you can kiss them, and she will pretend to kiss them too, though she doesn't pucker -- just presses her mouth against them and says "muh!" We are working on being sweet to Fi and Sammy. She knows that she is supposed to pet them gently -- and sometimes she will do so on her own, saying "eeee, eeee" because I always say, "easy, easy" -- but just as often she will bop them on the nose. Like I said, we are working on this. Right now I just say "no!" as firmly as possible and move her away from them as fast as I can.

Oh, and she still likes to eat! Her favorites are cheese and fruit, but she likes most everything. She prefers water to juice. She still sleeps great for the most part. She goes on nap strikes occasionally, but they don't last long (knock on wood). She still loves her baby yoga class and can do some of the moves and positions if you ask her to (and if she's feeling cooperative!).

Oh! She isn't quite walking yet, although on several occasions she has taken up to five or six unassisted steps. She can walk quite well even if she is only holding onto my index finger, but boy, does she not want to let that index finger go. I guess crawling is too efficient to give up just yet. I hope she will turn out to be more coordinated and graceful than I am, but we haven't seen any signs of that yet. Ha. She still tumbles around quite a lot.

I will think of a zillion more things tomorrow, but I wanted to get these down before I let any more time slip away and I forget them. She's a funny, sassy, delightful baby who makes me laugh about a hundred times a day.

More Words

2009-07-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

I really have to start watching my language. In addition to repeating all kinds of random things, Maisie seems to bust out with new words every couple of days now. This week, she started saying "milk" ("mih"), "up," "woof woof" ("woowoowoo") and "baby." "Baby" was a big surprise. We were at Jake's parents' house over the weekend (they watched her while we went to our friends' wedding elsewhere in NC last night) and yesterday morning we were playing on the floor. Jake's childhood Cabbage Patch Kid (Isaac, in a baseball uniform, looking much more pristine than any of my own baby dolls are these days) was sitting on a table. Maisie looked up, pointed toward the Cabbage Patch Kid, and said, "Baby." It was unmistakable, plus she then said it about five more times as she dragged Isaac around.

Her Papa also reported that she said "balloon" while they were keeping her. I haven't heard that one yet but I don't doubt that she said it. She loves balloons and we talk about them a lot, considering they are plentiful at our grocery stores and we hit the grocery store at least twice a week.

Eleven Months

2009-07-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

A month from today our baby will be ONE! How did that happen?

I know in my last post (two months ago!) I mentioned some of Maisie's words. The language explosion has continued. She can now say: Dada, Mama, hi, ball, dog, duck, George (as in "Curious"), Elmo, and shoes. She says these spontaneously and usually will repeat them after me if I ask her to. I think she has said "more," "milk," "no," and "toes," but not frequently or reliably enough that I count those yet.

She can nod and shake her head in response to some questions, like "Do you want more?" or "Is that good?" She definitely understands when you say no (though that doesn't always stop her).

She will answer "what does the horse say" ("naynaynay"), "what does the duck say" ("gakgakgak"), and what does the cow say ("mooo" pronounced "mmmmm").

She signs "milk" and "more" and "all done," although she usually only signs "all done" after I've done it. "Milk" and "more" she will sign on her own without my prompting.

She drinks water out of sippy cups (the kind with the in-between no spill nipple). She seems to like water a lot more than apple juice.

She can drink out of a straw, and was so pleased with herself the first time that she clapped after she did it. Very proud.

She knows how to blow a kiss. If you ask her to blow a kiss, she will put her fingers to her mouth and make a smacking sound.

She loves to play peekaboo and pattycake, and will start these games on her own or participate if you start them. Sometimes she will pull a blanket over her head to begin peekaboo or take my hands and make them start clapping until I do pattycake. She can also "roll" the dough with her hands in addition to just clapping during pattycake1.

She dances, shrugging her shoulders and wiggling her bottom, if she hears a song she likes or if she sees us dancing and trying to get her to join in.

She claps when she's excited, or if you sing "If You're Happy and You Know It," or if other people are clapping.

She waves hello and goodbye.

She can make a funny face if I ask her to -- scrunching up her nose and then smiling.

She LOVES to look at herself in the mirror or watch the videos I have taken of her talking.

She loves to be read to, and loves to look at her books on her own. She will ask for specific books that she likes sometimes, too. Sometimes she digs through all of her books asking for "duck" or "George" ("dord") or "Elmo." She especially likes her duck book because it quacks at the end and she likes to quack along with it.

She can grab your nose if you ask her where your nose is, and she will grab her own toes if you ask her where her toes are. She will give Eskimo kisses (rubbing noses) if you ask her to, too.

She points at things all the time now so that I will identify them to her.

When we read her Curious George book, she can point to George on every page if you ask her "Where's George?" (He hides at the zoo in the book.)

She is a tease. My mother will say "I love Maisie, yes, I do," and nod, and Maisie will shake her head "no" and just giggle away. She will offer you a Cheerio and then snatch it away and put it in her mouth and just howl (she always gives it you eventually, though!).

She definitely knows her name and (I think) that she recognizes it's her in the mirror.

She crawls like a champion still, crazy fast, and can pull up anywhere. She can stand on her own for just a second or two but hasn't really tried to walk yet.

She is our joy.

Nine Months!

2009-05-27T19:52:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Maisie is nine months old! And, as she has always been, she's not really Little Miss. She weighs 21 pounds, 6 oz. (between 90-95%), and is 29 3/4 inches long (off the charts). I can't remember what her head circumference was, but it was about the 95% as well. She's big, but she's proportionate.

So much has happened this month. She's crawling all over now, and has been since the beginning of the month. She has also started saying a few words. At first I thought I was a super crazy mama for thinking that she was actually saying things, but I really believe that she has said/can say "hi," "mama," "dada," "ball," and "dog." She had been making noises that sounded like "hi" for awhile, but at the end of April, she leaned over to Fiona, stared straight at her, said, "HI," and then turned to look at me, like, "Did I do that right?" Since then, she has said "hi" to: me, Jake, my parents, Stephanie, Caroline, random mom in our baby yoga class, a couple of neighbors, a couple of people at Safeway, a lady at Old Navy, a Safeway cashier or two, and the nurse weighing her at her nine-month appointment. All of those people were people who either said "hi" right back to her in response or made some other comment to me about how she was talking, so surely that counts?

She says "dada" a lot more than she says "mama," and for a long time I wasn't sure she knew we were Mama and Daddy, but now I think she knows and uses them purposefully. When she sees Jake, she often says, "Dada" (and not just "Dadadadadadadada," though she does that too), and she most often says "Mamamamama" when she is crying or when she needs something from me.

"Ball" was the word that surprised me the most. She has several balls that she absolutely loves, including one that we have been playing with since Christmas, so it's a word she's heard a lot, but I had no idea she could say it until we were at Target last week and walked by a display of balls. She looked at them and said, "Ball." I stopped in my tracks.

"Did you say, 'ball'?," I asked her. And she looked right at me and said "ball" again! (Well, it sounds like "baw," but, I mean, she's nine months old.) I called Jake and he said, "You know, I thought she said 'ball' to me when we were playing with her ball recently, but I figured I was just imagining things." Then, two days later, we were in line at Old Navy and a little girl was playing with a ball in front of us. "Baw," Maisie said, and then kept babbling. The little girl's mother and I started talking -- I think Maisie had said "hi" to her already, and waved -- and the woman said, "Is she your first? That's why she's talking so early," and I said, "Yes, she has been saying 'hi' and 'dada' a lot," and the lady exclaimed, "Well, she just said 'ball'! I heard her!" I was so excited to have it confirmed by an independent source.

"Dog" was almost as surprising. Obviously we talk about dogs a lot since we have two of them, but she didn't say "dog" until we were reading one of her favorite books last week. It's just a book of words, with a picture of something on each page. As soon as we turned to the page with the dog, Maisie said, "Dog." ("Daw" -- different from the "dada.") Jake's parents were here this weekend and they heard her say it again a few times when we read that book.

She doesn't say all these words every time I want her to, of course, but she has said them enough and other people have heard them enough that I don't think I'm totally nuts.

She still really enjoys "How big is Maisie?" "So big," and she loves to give Eskimo kisses. If you ask for an Eskimo kiss, she leans toward you and shakes her head so you can rub noses. She still claps, and still sometimes makes the sign for "more," usually when she wants more string cheese, her new favorite food.

I can't really believe how communicative and expressive she is now (and how mobile, though that is also terrifying). I thought Maisie was fun before, but she is super fun now.

(And of course now that I blogged about her words, she probably won't say anything else until she's like three.)

Miss Maisie

2009-04-19T17:34:00.001-07:00

Telling secrets with Powe at lunch on Easter. They love each other!

Sidenote: I tend to take the most pictures when we are playing in the morning, when she is either still in her pajamas or in her going-to-the-grocery-store play clothes. This weekend I sent a bunch of these pictures to my mom, who helpfully suggested that, "You know, Emilie, now that it's warm, you could just let her wear those smocked dresses I got her as her every day clothes, just to play in." Point taken. Pictures in her southern-girl wardrobe will be forthcoming... eventually.

Eight Months Old

2009-04-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hey, guess what? We're still here, and we still have a baby! And she's still the sweetest and funniest baby we know (we're aware that we are biased). She's also eight months old. Eight months old. I can't believe it.

Miss Maisie hasn't been to the doctor since her six-month check-up, so I don't know how much taller she is or how much she weighs. I do know that she wears 12 months or 18 months clothes, and I bought her a pair of pants last week that were size 18-24 months and they fit just fine. I think it's safe to say that she's still enormous. We have already lowered her crib mattress once, but I think the day is coming soon when we will have to lower it again. My estimate is that she is 20 pounds and 30 inches. For awhile it looked like she was just growing longer and had thinned out some, but the addition of solid foods has brought about the return of her round tummy. About that food...

...she loves it. She still takes a bottle easily, but she loves real food. By real food, I just mean baby food. The only table food I've tried to give her was a real banana, cut in tiny pieces. She has mastered the pincer grasp so she really enjoyed being allowed to put the pieces in her mouth herself, but she truly hated the banana. She looked at me like I had poisoned her. When I said, "Yum! It's delicious! Bananas are delicious!," she shook her head vigorously and then gagged. So far, it's the only thing she doesn't like (and weirdly, she likes banana baby food just fine -- just not actual banana).

In addition to banana baby food, she has also eaten: rice cereal, oatmeal, squash, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, applesauce, pears, peaches, prunes, and Gerber corn puffs. Green beans are her number one fave, but really she likes it all. She eats twice a day now -- usually breakfast of oatmeal and a fruit, followed by lunch/dinner of a vegetable with a few corn puffs.

When she turned six months old, she was just barely sitting up on her own -- it was precarious. She could stay sitting if you placed her just so, but was still unsteady. Within a week of her six-month birthday, though, she had pretty much mastered it.

As of her seven-month birthday, she still wasn't rolling over from her back to her front. She rolled from her stomach to her back before she was even four months old and has been pretty early with every other milestone, so when she turned seven months and still wasn't rolling the other way, I got worried. I wasn't actually worried, really, but I was thinking about it a lot. She was so close -- she could get all the way on her side and could reach and twist and scoot, but wouldn't go all the way over. I think she had done it once on accident. Within another week or so, though, she was rolling all over the place and these days, she could roll across the house if I let her, effortlessly.

She's also almost ready to crawl. She can go from sitting to crawling position, and can get all the way up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. Sometimes she accidentally crawls backwards, but I think any day now she'll achieve proper forward crawling. Just this weekend she started army-crawling -- do they call it creeping? -- where she inches forward on her tummy, pulling herself with her arms. The two things that have sufficiently inspired her to do this are Jake's guitar tuner and the cable remote control. This is unsurprising, because what she wants more than anything is whatever adult thing we're using at the moment -- cell phone, keys, remote control, deodorant, brush, whatever.

Now let me tell you about some of Maisie's tricks. The latest and most enjoyable for her is clapping. We had been singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" for awhile, and she could clasp her hands together but couldn't actually clap. Last week she started actually clapping and oh, she is so proud of herself. She starts clapping as soon as I start singing, or if she just wants some attention and praise, or if she gets excited. Lots of clapping.

She's been waving for awhile now, but she's discriminating. She won't wave at strangers, usually, but she is often excited to wave at our friends. Last week we went to a baby yoga class and she wouldn't wave at anyone when we got to class, but she waved bye-bye as we left. She's not shy with stranger, but she is slow to warm up. She stares intently at everyone she sees (nosy!), but it takes a little work to make her smile. She does remember people and is happy to see people she knows, though -- last night she was very excited to see our friends Will, Jean, and Dave. There was immediate and enthusiastic smiling, waving, and clapping.

Maisie will also throw her hands over her head when I say, "How big is Maisie? So big!," but I think maybe she's tired of that trick. We did it a lot for a week or so, and she LOVED it, so much that if I wasn't paying attention to her at any given moment, she'd throw her hands up in the air and then stare at me like, "WELL? YOUR TURN. SAY IT." The last few days, though, she hasn't really wanted to play and she'll start to clap instead. She also knows where my nose is, I think -- for a few days, every time I'd say, "Where's Mama's nose?," she'd grab my nose. She hasn't felt like doing that today, though.

She does babble a lot and makes lots of sounds -- Dadadada and Mamamama and Nananana and Bababababa and Vavavava and something that sounds like "hey" or "hi" but probably isn't. I just assume it's all noise at this point, although a few times she has said Dada so clearly and appropriately that we've wondered. She definitely knows her name (and all her nicknames, which are many) and she knows who Daddy is and Mama is and Sammy and Fiona. I meant to try to teach her baby sign language, but hadn't really buckled down to do it. One of the only signs I had used more than a few times was the sign for "more," when she was drinking her bottle or eating. I probably hadn't done it for a few weeks, though, and then this weekend she all of a sudden started making the sign for "more" when she was hungry. I don't know if that's what she meant to do or was trying to do, but it's a pretty pointed sign (you can see what the sign looks like here) and that's definitely what she was doing with her hands, and she was definitely showing it to me. She also definitely wanted to eat when she did it. If that is what she was doing, I can't believe that she remembered it! I hadn't done it in ages. If that's what she meant -- and again, I don't know if it is -- but if it is, I suspect she thinks it means "food" and not "more," but who knows? I am definitely going to try more sign language, though, and see if she picks anything (else?) up.

Our usual schedule is up at 7, nap from 9-10:15, nap from between 1-1:30 to 2-3, bedtime routine starting between 6:15 and 6:30 and she's usually asleep around 7 (though that can vary from anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on how long it takes her to fall asleep). She puts herself to sleep and most of the time does not wake up during the night (or wakes up and puts herself back to sleep). Sometimes she'll wake up at 6 instead of 7 and then our routine is slightly off, but that's okay. I call that Schedule B and it works too. It usually just means that we have an extra third short nap somewhere during the day, which I do not mind!

She wakes up happy and she is ALL over the crib. I still put her to sleep on her back, but she usually winds up curled up on her side now, and she usually plays with her Fisher-Price aquarium as soon as she gets up. She has been able to turn it on and off for months now, but for a couple of weeks it was out of battery. It's kind of a pain to change the batteries, so we just left it alone, until Miss Maisie let us know that she was ready for it to work again. She kicked it over and over again and then when we went to see what the ruckus was, she looked at us, then stared at the aquarium, kicked it once more for good measure, and then looked back at us and smiled. She does not have any trouble communicating what she wants! We promptly changed the batteries and we often hear the aquarium's music start up in the middle of the night or early morning.

Oh! Her teeth. Maisie has six teeth now -- three on the bottom and three on the top. She's had her bottom two front teeth for months (since four months). Her top teeth were funny for awhile -- she cut her left lateral incisor (front side tooth) first, so she was quite the snaggletooth. Her right lateral incisor came next, so she looked like a little vampire. Now she's got one of her central incisors coming through, but it's taking its sweet time. She's also got a head full of hair. Her hair fell out for awhile but has grown back in quickly. We still can't tell what color it will be. It looks light brown, dark blonde, or reddish depending on the light.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but basically, she's a delight. She's happy and easy and sweet, and she loves music, the dogs, and Jake, who makes her absolutely howl with laughter. I can't make her laugh quite as much, but I think she likes me too. She hasn't experienced separation anxiety yet -- she's happy to stay in the nursery at church, and she will let anyone hold her (though she will stare them up and down while they're doing it) -- but she definitely looks at me for approval and reactions now, and she definitely wants me when she isn't feeling well or if she's tired or hungry. Most Saturday mornings I go to the movies for some alone time so Jake and Maisie can have Daddy-Daughter time, and although I LOVE the time by myself (and the chance to see a movie), I am so glad to see her when I get home. I love getting her up from her naps, because she is so happy to see me. She grins and waves and gets so excited she either claps or wiggles, which means then I do the same. :)

I will post a separate post with pictures shortly.

Six-Month Check Up

2009-02-18T17:05:00.001-08:00

Maisie's six-month well check was this afternoon and it was an adventure. I woke up yesterday fighting a cold, went to bed last night with chills and muscle aches, and woke up at 3 a.m. feeling like I had been run over by a semi. I just knew it was the honest-to-goodness flu, so Jake worked from home today so I could recuperate and limit Maisie's exposure to my plague. I stayed in bed and watched Party of Five episodes on Hulu, which would have been kind of luxurious if I had not been hacking, aching, sneezing, unable to breathe, feeling guilty that Jake had to stay home, and missing being able to hold my baby. However, I feel considerably better now (not well, but a lot better) so I think it's just a cold and not the actual flu. In any event, Jake took Maisie to her well-check because we figured all those children at the pediatrician's office didn't need my germs, nor did I need to catch whatever else is sure to be floating around there.

Thankfully, Maisie is recovered from her last cold (current mild stuffiness? "Just boogers," according to our doctor) and has recovered from her ear infection (though she did still have a little fluid in her ears, so if she runs a fever, we will bring her in, which we would have done anyway). She was deemed a perfectly healthy, developmentally on target little girl who is also impossibly tall. She's 29 1/4 inches (good thing we got that convertible car seat) and weighs 18 lbs., 6 oz. Her weight percentile has dropped slightly, but she is still off-the-charts for length. We expect that she will plateau soon and her pediatrician predicted that she will just stop growing for a few months in the very near future.

I always like taking her to the doctor and getting a reassuringly clean bill of health, and we do not take it for granted. It's a relief that she's fine and that I am recovering from my own ailment. We're anxious to get back to normal tomorrow. I missed her today when I was quarantined!

And a Few Extra Pics

2009-02-16T18:59:00.001-08:00

Six Months Old

2009-02-16T18:01:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, I have been SO slack on the blog. Do I say that at the beginning of every post? I feel like I do. I have a lot of excuses; the main one is that our good camera broke over Christmas and it just came back from the shop today. I did buy a cheapo replacement, a tiny pink Casio (Jake's reaction? "Great, the whole family can really use that one"), but our picture-taking was stymied and I let that keep me away. It's not for lack of cuteness or general hilarity on Miss Maisie's part, I promise you that.

Anyway, Margaret James will be six months old tomorrow. Six months! Why, that's half a year. We can't really believe it. As every parent can attest, it has flown by. It's flown by so much that I am continually amazed by what she's doing. So, what IS she doing? So much.

-- She's eating some oatmeal, though we haven't moved much past that in the way of solids. This is my fault. I just haven't made it a priority, even though my father has been dying for Maisie to be eating real food since she was about three days old. This morning she enjoyed oatmeal more than ever before and ingested far more than she spit out, so I think we're on our way.

-- She rolls over from her front to her back with no effort at all, but she is reluctant to roll from her back to her front. I think it's because she is an expert at swiveling around. I try to sit behind her while we are playing on the floor sometimes so that she will try to roll over and look at me, but she manages to scoot or pivot so that rolling over is unnecessary. Multiple times a day I think she's about to roll all the way over but she has caught herself each and every time. Soon, I'm sure.

-- She's very close to sitting up unassisted, and in fact can do so for a few seconds at a time, but still tips over fairly quickly more often than not. Reliable sitting is also coming any day now, because if she is leaning back on my lap or propped up on some pillows, she will lean forward to a sitting position every time.

-- She's super chatty. We know it's just coincidence, but she says something that sounds an awfully lot like "Hi!" on a pretty frequent basis. We can finally put her in her crib wide awake and she will go to sleep on her own (this is a fairly recent development, and an exciting one) and when that happens, she talks, talks, talks for at least ten minutes before she drifts off. We suppose she is telling her friends on her mobile how her day was? I don't know, but it's funny.

-- She not only goes to sleep talking, she wakes up talking, too. She usually wakes up happy and we can hear her yammering away (this time telling the mobile what she dreamed about, maybe?). She also has a Fisher Price Ocean Wonders aquarium on her crib, and she sometimes turns that on to amuse herself before we come in and get her, too.

-- She's also super grabby. If it's in her line of sight, she wants to hold it and put it in her mouth. She especially likes glasses, long hair, and earrings. Come to think of it, maybe it's not me that she loves so much, but my accessories. Oh, well. We mothers take what we can get. In line with her grabbiness, she loves all her toys, too. If she can grab it, stare at it, chew on it, or bang on it, she likes it.

-- She smiles and giggles all the time. She enjoys being tickled, dancing, looking at herself in the mirror, engaging with Fiona, staring at little Sammy, kicking her playmat, crinkling anything that will make noise, reading, hearing anyone sing to her, being kissed, being swaddled (we still swaddle her arms -- she still loves it and seems to need it), being rocked, strolling, being in her sling, being in Bjorn. In fact, when I think of things she doesn't like, I can only think that she doesn't like the sun in her eyes. She is a happy baby and we feel so lucky.

We had three potentially trying incidents recently, but all turned out fine. (1) We drove to South Carolina to visit my family, stopping at Jake's parents' house along the way. She screamed most of the way to North Carolina, which was pretty stressful (and unusual for her; she usually likes the car). I think it was a combination of two things -- a needy/demanding phase where she was generally ticked that I was in the front seat instead of entertaining her in the backseat, and the fact that she was growing out of her car seat and it might have been uncomfortable. We just switched to the convertible car seat because she is too long for the infant seat, and she seems happier now. In any event, she was happier the second leg of our journey to SC and she was happy on the way back (and we had a great time while we were there, of course).

(2) Maisie had her first cold. It didn't seem to bother her too much; she slept pretty well still and never ran a fever, but I hated hearing her cough so I took her to the pediatrician even though I didn't really think anything could be done. Well, we were surprised that she had an ear infection, too! It never seemed to bother her and she thoroughly enjoyed her amoxycillin, so we're just glad we found it and it didn't hurt her too badly. She goes to the doctor for her six-month check-up on Wednesday and I hope (and expect) that her ear will be well again.

(3) The most upsetting incident happened this past Thursday. I was getting Maisie ready for bed and was putting her pajamas on while she was on her changing table. Quicker than anything, Maisie kicked a small picture that hangs over the changing table. It hit the (thankfully also small) picture hanging above it, which fell off the wall and hit Maisie on the forehead. It totally nailed her. She screamed, I cried. It was awful. Happily, she was fine in two minutes (probably less) and only has a little purple bruise to show for it. I just knew that she was going to have an enormous goose egg and a black eye, but no. Of course, now I am scared of the changing table (even though the offending pictures have been removed).

Another milestone -- Maisie spent Valentine's Day evening with babysitters, her first time being left with anyone other than her grandparents. Jake and I went out to dinner and left her at our church, where the empty-nesters watched the babies and kids so that parents could have a date. It was great, and I am pretty sure the ratio of adult to child was close to 1:1. Maisie is the youngest baby in our little congregation so we knew that she would get lots of attention, and she did. According to reports, she was enthralled with the older children and when I got there, she was asleep in our friend's arms. It went so well that we left her in the nursery Sunday morning and she had a blast. Apparently she did not miss us a bit.

I still love staying at home with her, and I am thankful every day that I'm able to do so right now. I can totally get why staying at home would not be fun to a lot of people, but it really works for Jacob and me. Maisie and I have a routine and a rhythm that's comforting and enjoyable for both of us, and I think we will have even more fun when the weather gets warmer.

I know I'll think of a million other updates as soon as I publish this. Maisie is just a delight. We say almost every evening, as I am sure most parents do, how did we get such a sweet/funny/precious/cute/perfect baby? (And how did she get to be six months old already?)

P.S. She's still big. Eighteen pounds when she went to the doctor two weeks ago.

More Coming!

2009-01-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Oh, I have lots of blogging to catch up on! I need to write a four-month post and an update on sweet Maisie's first Christmas -- I will summarize briefly and hope to get back on track later.

The highlights: still huge (16 lbs. 9 oz. and 27" long at four months), two teeth all the way through (the front bottom two), losing her hair, still hilarious and precious, a pro at rolling from her tummy to her back but not the other way yet. We had a brief setback with sleeping through the night over Christmas, but (knock on wood) she's sleeping better than ever now (10-11 hours). Her favorite things include: looking out her window at our SC flag, Sophie the Giraffe, the book Ten Tiny Tickles (we read it about four times a day), Curious George (by FAR her favorite stuffed animal), the Who song "Baba O'Riley," and staring/eavesdropping/flirting with strangers in stores and restaurants.

We had a wonderful Christmas in North Carolina with Jake's family. Maisie thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention. She is a lucky little girl to have so many people who love her! She also engaged in intensive shopping training with the girls and so far, she can hang at the mall with the best of us. This will serve her well in the future. Unfortunately, our camera broke over Christmas so pictures are limited but I'll work on putting up the ones we do have.

The top picture is sweet Maisie yesterday, looking entirely too old and wearing a bow that lasted for all of five minutes. I'm not sure whether she pulled it out or it just fell out, but I didn't push my luck.

Happy new year!

For EG: Pictures of Fiona

2008-12-17T20:43:00.001-08:00

Friends

2008-12-15T19:09:00.001-08:00

No, I did not pose them like that.

In other news, my baby has her first tooth. A tooth! I'm so not ready for her to have a tooth, although in some ways it was a relief to discover it. On Thursday afternoon, Maisie woke up from her afternoon nap extremely fussy, and then was awake from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., and she has not been awake for that long at night in, I don't know, weeks and weeks and weeks. Then, on Friday morning, what do I see? A faint white line on her bottom gums (gum? is it singular if you are only talking about the bottom one?). I touched it and sure enough... a sharp little baby tooth just waiting to come out. She's practically a grown-up!

A Few New Pictures

2008-12-02T10:04:00.001-08:00

Maisie and me on Thanksgiving:

Maisie caught offguard on Thanksgiving. "Who? Me?"
Maisie, pensive while getting a bath (in my parents' sink).
Maisie with her granddaddy Jimbo. I'm sure she would be so embarrassed to have photographs of her in her undergarments on the internet, but oh well.
Miss Maisie and her BFF Mr. Powe. This picture makes me so happy!

Three Months Old

2008-11-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

Here is Maisie, looking even more like her granddaddy Greene than usual, wearing her precious apple hat. In this picture she is three days shy of three months old (three months old tomorrow!).

She is still a hoot (I mean, look at that face). She smiles, laughs, and talks to herself (LOUDLY!). Her mobile might be her favorite thing, and it is one of my favorite things too because she will lie in her crib and cackle and talk happily for a solid fifteen minutes while I take a shower or dry my hair. Well, her mobile is her favorite thing after her feet. She discovered her feet a few weeks ago and became quite taken with them. (She especially enjoys having her feet clapped together to the tune of the Notre Dame fight song, putting her feet on your face, grabbing at her feet, grabbing the dangly monkey on her playmat with her feet, and generally just staring at her feet to make sure they are still there, although I think we are past the hey-they're-still-there phase now that we are in the hey-I-can-kick things stage.) She will swat at things with her hands, too, and can shove the bottle or her pacifier out of her mouth with great success (and is getting better at shoving them back in, too, depending on where they are after she shoves them away). She will grab onto anything you place near her hands though she doesn't reach out for things yet. She does like to hold things. If she doesn't have a blanket or a lovey in her stroller, for instance, she will just grab ahold of her dress or whatever she is wearing and ball it up in her fists. She holds my hands when I give her a bottle or rock her.

Her sleeping at night is still great, but we're not on a predictable nap schedule. She'll do the same thing a couple of days in a row and then do something totally different the day after that. That's okay, though. I drove myself crazy, napwise, a day or two last week after reading the baby sleep books, but quickly realized that we were doing just fine as it was. She naps on and off in the morning and we usually run errands (or create errands to get out of the house) in the afternoon, with her napping along the way and when we get back home. She can still sleep in her car seat, stroller, or the sling (not as much the Baby Bjorn anymore, because she likes to ride facing out now and there's just too much for her to look at that way, nosy thing). She wakes up happy almost all the time.

Our days fly by. When we're at home, I just move her around all the time to different "activities" -- we enjoy "table talk" (where she lies on a changing pad on the downstairs table and I lean over her and we discuss things -- she does a lot of the talking nowadays), "sing'n'stare" (where she sits on my lap and I sing to her and she stares/giggles/talk/pulls up/stands, etc.), time in the Bumbo, time on the playmat, tummy time, reading time (she will pay attention through the reading of two board books at a time), bouncy seat time, and general on-the-floor-squirminess time. We listen to a lot of music, which is great. What's not so great is that I kind of enjoyed watching television while I fed her, but she likes the TV almost as much as she likes her own feet. Maisie will contort herself any way possible to watch TV if it's on. Consequently, it's no longer on while she's awake. That is really too bad for this television junkie.

We are going to SC for Thanksgiving (stopping in NC on the way) and I can't wait for our families to see how much she has grown and changed just in the last few weeks.

Maisie on Sunday

2008-11-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

Every morning when she wakes up, I tell her, "I think you got just a little bit sweeter overnight!"

And One More

2008-11-06T08:33:00.001-08:00

I love this picture because it's such a good shot of her enormous, pretty blue eyes. I know that baby's eyes can change color, but I think these are here to stay. I'm glad, because she looks enough like my family otherwise. The blue eyes are definitely Jake's.

Miss Maisie Recently

2008-11-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Big Night

2008-11-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Obviously, Maisie will not remember this evening, nor will she remember the inauguration when we take her in January... but she will also never remember a time or a country where a black president seems like an impossibility. This makes me both jubilant and grateful. Our household feels a profound sense of relief and hope tonight.

Maisie Likes Her Bumbo

2008-10-24T10:08:00.001-07:00

Big Girl

2008-10-21T08:40:00.001-07:00

As of her two-month check-up yesterday, Maisie is 13 pounds, 7 ounces (between the 90th and 95th %), and is 24.5 inches long (95th %). The doctor pronounced her just perfect and commented especially on her pretty skin.

For her part, Miss Maisie knows that she is a big girl. Her head control is great, and if you're holding her, she would really like to sit straight up, please, thank you very much.

She has continued to sleep for six-hour stretches at night but last night slept for just over seven! I think that was in part because of her two-month vaccinations, though. I'm not necessarily expecting a repeat tonight.

I think for a two-month-old she's quite an entertaining conversationalist. She babbles and coos a LOT. Because neither Jake nor I are exactly shy or quiet, we were expecting this. My mom is just dying for her to be a talker like I was so I can see what it's like. I talked so much (and so loudly) when I was little that my parents were scared I would disrupt my own baptism. Mama said that if they had another child, she would not say a word to that child until it was at least three years old.

We're Home!

2008-10-21T08:24:00.001-07:00

Nope, Maisie didn't get any attention at all when she was in Abbeville!

Overdue Post!

2008-10-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hello, neglected blog! I have been meaning to update every day but somehow there is never enough time (gee, wonder why?). I also have a bad habit of wanting to wait until I have new pictures before I update, but I am not comfortable enough with our new camera to achieve that in a timely fashion. I figure I should go ahead and write something in the meantime.

Maisie and I are at home in South Carolina, at my parents' house, and having a big time. We've been here for a week already and will be here for the rest of this week, too. Jake flew down to spend the weekend with us because he certainly couldn't go two weeks without seeing his baby. We will drive back on Saturday, stopping about halfway to spend the night with Jake's parents in North Carolina. This works out perfectly, because not only do I get to stop halfway (thus saving me from ten or twelve straight hours in the car with an infant and Little Sammy), but Maisie gets to see her grandparents and get some extra loving.

All of her grandparents have been glad to see her. We stopped in NC on our way here, too, so she had paternal grandparent time then, and my parents have been spoiling her since we've arrived here. My dad left for a business trip yesterday and oh, he was so sad. He will come home before we leave, thankfully. He has always had a special talent for spoiling little girls (well, Betsy and me) and Maisie is no exception. He sings to her and rocks her just like he did for me. On Friday night she sat on his lap, facing out, while he rocked her and rubbed her little tummy. She was in heaven -- she must have sat there like that, looking all around, wide awake, for more than an hour. It was especially sweet because she looks JUST LIKE HIM. The way she was sitting, with her back to his chest -- the resemblance was unmistakable. It was like one large male face looking at us and then a tiny little female version just below it. My dad tried to claim that he did not see the likeness, but he has had to reconsider because almost everyone who sees her who knows him immediately exclaims, "Oh, doesn't she look like Jim!" Friday night we were out at dinner and the lady at the next booth stopped my dad as he was carrying Maisie out in her car seat. She said, "Is that your grandbaby?" He said yes and she said, "Yeah, I can tell!" I am pretty sure when strangers notice and comment, that means you really do look alike.

In addition to hanging with her grandparents, Maisie has gotten to meet great-grandparents (I have three grandparents who all live in Abbeville, too), some of my aunts and uncles, three of my cousins, three of my cousins' children, and a bunch of family friends. We still have lots of people left for her to meet, too -- that's why I have to come home for more than a week every time I come!

Through all of the excitement of traveling and a new place and lots of visitors and lots of visiting, Maisie has been just a dream. She loves to be held and she smiles so often now -- pretty much every time I try, I can get a big grin from her. I really enjoyed the first few weeks of motherhood (more than I ever anticipated, considering that's supposed to be the hardest part), but as wonderful as those first few weeks were (and really, they were pretty wonderful, especially after she came home from the hospital), the last week or two have been unbelievable. She changes every day -- her hair gets lighter, her eyes get bluer, her lashes grow longer, her fingers grow more and more like mine, she holds her head steadier, she smiles wider, she babbles louder. It's pretty much sheer joy watching her personality unfold. She is content and calm -- already entertaining herself by kicking and cooing in her bassinet for long stretches -- and alert and engaged -- really staring at us and babbling and grinning for as long as we are willing. We think she's pretty much the ideal tiny* companion, right down to how good she smells and how good she feels in our arms. Is there anything better than cuddling a warm fat sweet-smelling smiling cooing baby? I don't think so.

She also now reliably sleeps for at least a six-hour stretch at night, then wakes and goes back to sleep for another few hours. She's been a good sleeper from the get-go but I now feel like I can get an almost-normal night's rest. Waking up once is pretty great at eight weeks, right? I don't have any comparisons, but I'll take it. (Apparently I was sleeping ten hours or so at eight weeks, but I had also been eating rice cereal and other real food since I was about three weeks old, so... times have changed.)

I don't really think there's a downside to having such a sweet and even-tempered baby, but if there is one, it's that on those rare occasions when she is fussy -- and on the even rarer occasions when she actually cries and screams -- I know that something is wrong and I feel terrible. It is, without fail, something that I did (or did not do) and I get all flustered trying to fix it. Luckily this has not happened too often. Mostly she fusses because she's wet or hungry, and those are easy to remedy.

Mainly, she is the most fun little* person we can imagine. Today is my thirty-first birthday and it was wonderful for all the obvious reasons. I have always been a lucky person but this kind of good fortune is just unreal.

*"Tiny" and "little" are relative, of course. At eight weeks, Maisie pretty much looks like a four-month-old.

Almost Six Weeks

2008-09-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

Post-bath. I have to comb her hair carefully so it doesn't stay that way. Look how red it looks! In person it still looks mostly just brown, thought it is obviously and considerably lighter than it was when she was born. When the light hits it right (and the camera light hits it just right, apparently), it is definitely reddish.
My mother specifically requested a picture of her unswaddled and in "one of her pretty outfits." The above is what Maisie thought about that.
Smiling -- at either her elephant or me.
Hey YOU.
Either looking toward Fiona or staring at the ceiling fan. She's a big fan of the fan.

Sometimes I have to stop myself from picking her up while she is sleeping just so I can kiss her or smell her head. She is hard to resist.

At Home With Maisie

2008-09-23T07:12:00.001-07:00

Last week marked my first week at home with Maisie by myself. For two of her first four weeks, Jake was home, and either my mother or my mother-in-law were here for the other two weeks. Last Monday Maisie and I went at it alone, and it's been wonderful so far.

I've tried to go somewhere with her every day. The first two days, that meant that I was able to make it halfway down the block with her just in time to meet Jacob as he came home from work at the end of the day. The third day I managed to make it all the way to Eastern Market to get a lemonade at 6 p.m. Last Thursday, we turned a corner and made it to the pediatrician on time and in one piece in the middle of the afternoon, and even went to the grocery store afterward -- no small victory. I still don't know where the day goes (and how it goes so quickly), but I am starting to feel fairly capable and we have been getting out more and more. Powe and Nora came over one day, Maisie and I met a neighbor with six-month-old twins who will hopefully be our new friends, I can successfully navigate Target with a car seat and a shopping cart, and we will probably attend our first official playgroup tomorrow. We are busy and having fun.

Two main reasons we're able to have so much fun already even though Maisie is only five weeks old: (1) She is a good sleeper, and (2) Jake is a HUGE help. HUGE. He gives her a bottle just before he goes to work so I can sleep a little more, and that makes all the difference in the world (plus he does lots of other things to help out). He and Maisie stayed at home Saturday afternoon watching the Notre Dame game and I went out by myself (to Old Navy, for some much-needed non-maternity clothes) -- I missed Maisie terribly while I was gone, but I was grateful for the break (and the non-maternity clothes). (Incidentally, Saturday morning, Maisie and I went to a baby shower. I was feeling quite smug because Maisie and I were both dressed up, I even had makeup on, I was running only a tiny bit behind schedule -- then I realized, as I was almost at the shower, that I had forgotten the shower gift. Awesome!)

What else? Well, really, Maisie just keeps getting more and more fun. She smiles at us now and has just started reaching for things (usually her stuffed elephant), and she already weighs 11 1/2 pounds -- the size of the average three-month-old! We are going home to South Carolina in two weeks to meet Maisie's extended family and I am so excited for them to get to see her in person. Rest assured that there will pictures.

Hi There.

2008-09-10T14:35:00.001-07:00

Miss Maisie as of yesterday, three weeks old. She gets sweeter every day. We are very much in love.

Three Weeks Old!

2008-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

All is well in Maisie's house. So far Miss Maisie is a sweet and easy baby -- but I say so far because I know things can change -- and in the words of Michael Scott, I'm not superstitious but I'm a little bit stitious -- so no jinxes and a big knock on wood for that. So far, though, she fusses when she has a reason to fuss and sleeps and eats well.

This week my mom left on Wednesday (yes, I cried) but her leaving was eased because my mother-in-law arrived that same day to help through Friday. While my mom and my mother-in-law were here, we ventured out with Maisie to the pediatrician twice, to Target twice, to Barnes and Noble once, and to dinner once, and Maisie behaved beautifully on all of those occasions.

This baby thing has proven to be very fun in other ways, too -- we have had lots of company (which has been wonderful, and we have appreciated all of our friends who have come to visit!) and we've been so lucky to have people bring/send us so much good food! We have had so much good food that Jake and I are officially spoiled. Maisie is getting spoiled, too, because she gets fun packages in the mail just about every day. (Note to self: must forgo nap next time Maisie naps and get caught up on thank you notes again. Note to you: your thank you note is coming, I promise. Thank you!)

We had Maisie's second pediatrician appointment this week, and Jake's mom and I guessed that Maisie would weigh 9 lbs., 12 oz this time. (She was 9 lbs., 4 oz. at birth, and 9 lbs., 8 oz. at her first doctor's appointment.) Well, we were wrong. She is already 10 lbs., 5 oz. -- a big, healthy girl. Happy birthday, Maisie!

Just Because...

2008-08-31T17:46:00.001-07:00

Two weeks old! Actually, this was taken a couple of days ago, so it was before her two-week-old birthday, but still. Today Maisie is two weeks old. Happy birthday, Maisie!

Maisie's Home; Still Cute

2008-08-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Maisie finally came home on Saturday afternoon, when she was six days old. She was fine, but my labor was long enough that I eventually ran a slight fever, which required both Maisie and me to take some precautionary antibiotics. Her antibiotic course ran through the weekend, so although I was discharged on Tuesday, she had to stay in the hospital nursery until Saturday. We spent the end of last week at the hospital, which was pretty exhausting but did accomplish something -- we are so grateful to have her home that I am even happy about the nighttime feedings and diaper changes.

In addition to coming home from the hospital, Maisie got to meet all four of her grandparents this weekend. My mom is still here for another week and we are SO glad. I don't think I would have slept at all yet but for her.

Maisie is already pretty hilarious. I kind of thought that one-week-olds didn't do anything yet, but she is thoroughly entertaining. She makes the funniest facial expressions, and I have to think that at least some of them are more than just gas.

Fiona has adjusted well so far -- she apparently thinks Maisie is her baby, and likes to be close by at almost all times. She likes to sit with me while I nurse Maisie, with her head resting on my leg, and every time I sit Maisie up to burp her, Fiona sits up and watches, only lying back down when Maisie resumes eating. It's pretty adorable. When Maisie cries, she jumps up and looks at me, like, "You gonna do something about that? Help her!"

Little Sammy has not yet acknowledged Maisie's presence, but he did let me know that he was pretty mad that he felt neglected for a week. We went into the hospital early Friday evening and our dog walker took care of them until Monday, at which point Jake started coming home from the hospital just long enough to feed Sammy and take Fiona around the block. Even when I came home Tuesday night, we spent the next three and a half days clocking in about fourteen hours or more at the hospital nursery (at home first thing in the morning and just before bed, with only one midday visit to feed and walk the dogs), not leaving much time for the pups. By the time we got home with the baby on Saturday afternoon, Sammy had been without his mama for over a week and he was pretty mad. Maisie's birth and subsequent hospital stay were stressful -- I'll spare you the labor details, but it wasn't pretty -- but I think I was as sad to realize how depressed Sammy was as I was to realize that my epidural(s) did not work (!). I have tried to remedy the situation by making sure that anytime I sit without Maisie or take a nap, I scoop Sammy onto my lap and snuggle with him. He is on his way to forgiving me, I think, so all will be well soon.

Really, things are great here already. How could they not be when we have this precious (and funny) face to stare at all day long?

One More...

2008-08-21T14:25:00.001-07:00

Here is one more for now. So far, the general consensus is that she looks like a Greene. I look just like my dad and sometimes when Maisie makes a serious face, Jake says that she looks like a little Jim clone. My dad and I also have the same weird feet and Maisie is already our identical foot triplet. Lucky for her, she is much, much prettier than I was as a newborn. I was splotchy and red and not so cute.

We think we can already see the blonde underneath all that dark hair. I had hair that dark when I was born, too, though not that much of it.

Here's What Maisie Looks Like

2008-08-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

First picture ever -- minutes old! Please look at the cheeks and the double chin. --

Maisie on her birth day -- the hair! --

Whoa! Everything is new when you're a baby.

We think she looks like my dad in this one.

Hi! I'm 48 hours old.

Miss Jackson is Finally Here!

2008-08-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

Margaret James Sommer was born yesterday afternoon at 2:27 p.m. 9 lbs., 4 oz., 20 3/4 inches long. We call her Maisie.

With unsurprising parental bias, we think she is pretty much the cutest thing that we have ever seen and, as I expected, Jake is so good with her. They are best buddies already. She is already really fun and it's amazing to feel like we have gotten to know her so well after only a day.

Blogger is being ornery about uploading our photos, but I'll work on that so that you can all see her spiky dark hair, big eyes, and REALLY chubby cheeks.

Miss Jackson Has Not Arrived Yet, But Her Friend Has

2008-08-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still pregnant, but... Nora's not! Sweet little Powe was born yesterday afternoon. I visited them today and he is perfect. We are hoping that Miss Jackson will soon want to follow him into the real world.

I kind of freaked out last night, because I had felt sick all day yesterday and secretly thought that maybe that meant that something was about to happen. Alas, no. I was disappointed. I also started to worry that maybe I should postpone my induction from 41 weeks until 42 weeks just to give her more time to come on her own, while simultaneously feeling like if I had to wait for ten more days I might totally lose it. Thankfully, I talked to my doctor about it at my appointment today and he feels strongly that inducing on Sunday is the safest and best thing for MJ. In fact, he said that we could "negotiate" on waiting until I was, say, 41 weeks and 3 days, but that was as late as he would let me go. When I asked if those extra days were worth waiting on -- i.e., if there was a real benefit to doing it on Wednesday as opposed to Sunday -- he said no. I feel much better knowing that we'll get this show on the road starting Sunday evening and that I don't need to feel guilty about rushing Miss Jackson out of there. I love and trust my doctor so I don't have any doubts that this is the way to go.

And who knows? Maybe she will surprise us and decide to pop out this weekend after all.

Miss Jackson Is Late!

2008-08-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

No baby!

Nora is still waiting, too. I can't complain too much because she is a week late and I am only a day late.

I really believed for several weeks that she would be early, so I was sort of stunned yesterday when I realized that it really wasn't going to happen this weekend. I was grouchy and cranky, which made me sad because it's such an exciting time and I should be full of happy anticipation and not foul impatience. I woke up this morning in a much better mood and I'm currently feeling very relaxed. This will probably change tomorrow, though.

This morning I had a non-stress test and amniotic fluid check (routine when you go past your due date). I didn't know I was supposed to eat breakfast beforehand, so I didn't, and I was a little worried when the nurse acted like that might make it more difficult for them to get a good read on how the baby is doing. Oh, no -- despite my lack of food this morning, MJ was moving all around. The nurses said she did perfectly and it was the quickest non-stress test they had done all morning. This is great news, of course, because it means that she's doing well, but... that also means there is no hurry to get her out of there. My fluid was a little bit low, but not a problem, especially when combined with the really good NST results. So, for now, she is healthy and thriving and I guess I should let her come in her own good time. Easier said than done -- I have been pinching her foot when she kicks me because I am ready to see that little foot (and the rest of her!) in the flesh, up close. I want to hold her and not just pat her through my (ridiculous) belly.

After my appointment, Nora and I went to see American Teen. This is our fourth movie since last Saturday, and after tomorrow (when we will probably see Wall-E), the babies better get here because we will have run out of movies.

Miss Jackson is Still Waiting to Come Out

2008-08-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are here, and Clay Aiken's insemination baby is here, but MJ is not here yet, at least not on the outside. I'm getting increasingly cranky, which is really very whiny of me considering that her official due date is still two days away.

I'm getting a prenatal massage and another manicure today, which should help the impatience. Yesterday I had an awesome long lunch with an old friend (my freshman year of college roommate -- thanks, Facebook!), did some grocery shopping, folded lots of clothes, bought myself some more cute postnatal pajamas, and drank two cups of midwife-recommended raspberry red leaf tea (which is not helping anything so far, but it can't really hurt, either).

Additionally, I'm scheduled to be induced on the evening of Sunday, August 17, if MJ doesn't appear before then. August 18 is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary and my cousin Sam's fifth birthday, so maybe she wants to wait until then to fit in with the rest of the family. At this point, though, I am going to suggest that if she wants to be born on anyone's anniversary, Jake and I are celebrating five years tomorrow and it sure would be nice of her to come on out and celebrate with us.

Miss Jackson is Still Inside, Going to the Movies

2008-08-05T15:12:00.001-07:00

No, she's not here yet. Miss Jackson is still just biding her time, and I am biding my time by going to the movies, which is pretty much the perfect activity when you are enormously pregnant in August, as it provides a chance to sit down, an air-conditioned distraction, as well as delicious concessions. (Though strangely enough, the only movie concessions I have wanted lately are enormous Diet Cokes -- which are not really strange for me -- and hot dogs -- which are. I'm a popcorn-and-Junior-Mints girl usually, but I guess MJ isn't). Saturday Nora and I saw Mamma Mia, today we saw Brideshead Revisited, and tomorrow we will likely see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I am sure we make quite a sight considering Nora was due yesterday. Today as we left the theater a homeless man asked us who was going to go first. We told him it was a close race.

Jake and I did have an unfortunate distraction over the weekend in the form of Miss Jackson's canine brother, Little Sammy, getting sick. Poor Sam is old, mostly blind, and has a myriad of chronic health problems, but he had been doing really well lately... until Saturday, when he had what I will just call a bad night. We worried and fretted all day Sunday and took him to the vet yesterday, by which point he appeared to be pretty much fully recovered. He is the spunkiest, feistiest four pounds of scraggle that I have ever seen, and needless to say, we adore him and are glad that it seems that he has rallied once again. Resilient doesn't even begin to cover what all he has been through.

So, now we just continue to wait, cuddling on Sam and trying to stay cool. I should have known that if Miss Jackson takes after me at all, she will wait until the last possible second to arrive. I am nothing if not a procrastinator.

Miss Jackson is NOT Here Yet

2008-08-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

But oh, how I wish that she were!

I will try to keep posting so you can tell that I'm not in labor, but at this point, there is not that much exciting to report. Right this second I feel calm and relaxed and patient. In the last couple of days, though, I have had one hormonal crying jag and at least three instances of wondering whether castor oil actually works, so I'm not zen all the time. I am filling my time by laundering everything in the house (including our shower curtain... which, maybe you wash your shower curtain all the time, but I really don't), folding baby clothes, writing, reading (currently: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which is going to be magnificent if the first 100 pages are any indication), and going to the movies (weekend before last: The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia; last weekend: Step Brothers; tomorrow: Mamma Mia again with still-pregnant Nora, who is due on Monday!; still on the horizon: Hellboy 2, Wall-E, Brideshead Revisited, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2).

At this week's appointment (on Wednesday), my doctor said we could discuss induction at my 40th or 41st week appointment if nothing had happened yet. I told him I do not intend to have a 41st week appointment. He laughed. I did not; I was quite serious. He also told me that maybe he'd see me tomorrow (as in, yesterday) in labor and delivery because he was on call that night. So, basically, none of us have any idea when M.J. is getting here.

Jake is being very very sweet as usual. He brings me lemonade and fountain drinks on a regular basis, and yesterday he even bought me a bag I have been coveting/lusting after (which will be here courtesy of Endless.com's miraculous free overnight shipping any minute now, a thought that makes me almost delirious with joy). I'll say again, I am most excited about seeing her and her tiny little baby toes with my very own eyes, followed closely by watching Jake interact with her. (Jake is most excited about seeing her and then seeing Fiona's reaction to her... not kidding. He says he knows how I'm going to react to her, but Fiona will be a surprise. Good point.)

We just really want to meet her (and tell everyone her name!).

Miss Jackson is Due in Two Weeks

2008-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the first weekend in months that Jake and I had absolutely no plans. It's been glorious, and we actually feel prepared to welcome Miss Jackson whenever she decides to make her appearance (as prepared as you can be, I guess). Her clothes are washed and folded. Her diapers and bottles are organized. The house is super clean. All of our adult laundry is done. The house is full of food. Basically, she needs to get here ASAP before the house gets dirty again and I feel the need to reorganize all of her belongings once more.

This nesting thing is real, for sure. I've done a ton of writing/revising the last few weeks (after just as many weeks of not doing much because of pregnancy distractions and the aforementioned nesting), I just got a fresh manicure and pedicure, I've picked out her baby announcements already, and on my list of things to do today is "wash makeup brushes" -- is someone looking for projects or what? My errands tomorrow are to get an oil change and the car washed -- oh, and I must finish thank-you notes. I was (only) two thank-you notes behind until this weekend, when M.J. got more gifts from sweet friends at lunch on Friday and an incredible package from Caroline's parents yesterday afternoon (such cute stuff that I wish I could show you, but everything was monogrammed and I can't give her name or initials away yet!). Everyone has been so, so sweet -- so yes, finishing my thank-you notes definitely ranks as more important than washing the makeup brushes, though rest assured that in my current nesting frenzy, the makeup brushes will be taken care of, too. I think even the dogs are going to have to be bathed and groomed. Everything else is shiny and clean, so they should be too, right? And we've already made the arrangements for them to be walked/fed whenever the big moment comes.

We even have a brand-new MacBook, although that has much less to do with getting ready for baby and much more to do with the fact that our previous much-loved and much-abused computer finally died last weekend. (Although the new computer's webcam/video iChat is going to make M.J.'s grandparents VERY happy, even if my parents don't it know it yet because they are not particularly tech-savvy. Jake is going to install a webcam for you, Mama and Daddy, and teach you to use it and then you can chat with us and see M.J. live, for free, all the time!)

The only important thing that I haven't done yet is pack my hospital bag, though I have cute brand-new nursing pajamas and a stack of trashy magazines set aside and ready to be included. I know this should have been done weeks ago, but I guess I must subconsciously want to save it for the excitement of the moment. I love to pack for any trip, and packing a hospital bag to go have a baby is pretty exciting, so I guess I'm trying to savor it or something. (Plus, I've been over all the lists of what to take to the hospital and it's not that complicated -- pillow and pajamas and toiletries and something to wear home and something for the baby to wear home and stuff to entertain me during labor -- what am I forgetting? Jake's in charge of his stuff and the camera.)

The doctor said last week that they would likely not let me go more than a week past my due date, which means that we have three more weeks of waiting at the absolute most. That actually seems like an incredibly long time considering that I would be just delighted if she decided to show up tonight. In the meantime, though, I have still more writing/revising to do on my book, lunch plans on Tuesday and Thursday, an Old 97's show on Tuesday night, book club on Wednesday night, a neighborhood party next Saturday night -- plenty of things to do to keep occupied before our daughter finally decides she wants to come out and see what we look like.

Miss Jackson Listens to A Lot of Music Already

2008-07-16T16:05:00.001-07:00

This is at least the third or fourth playlist I've made in honor of the baby, but it's my current favorite and what I am listening to right this second. It's called, uncreatively, "Tunes for Miss Jackson," and here's the tracklist, in alphabetical order by song title. (And no, not every song is completely baby-appropriate, but what are you going to do? I'm not going to not sing "Baby Driver" to her just because of the "sex appeal" line -- we'll just assume for awhile she won't notice and worry about that stuff later.)

1. A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall -- Bob Dylan
2. Baby Driver -- Simon & Garfunkel
3. Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy -- The Tams
4. Born For Me -- Paul Westerberg
5. Brand New Way -- Rhett Miller
6. Crazy About You -- Whiskeytown
7. Daughter -- Loudon Wainwright III
8. Don't Think Twice It's Alright -- Bob Dylan
9. Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) -- Swingin' Medallions
10. Downtown -- Petula Clark
11. Dream Baby -- Roy Orbison
12. Everyone's In Love With You -- Steve Earle
13. Ferry Across the Mersey -- Gerry & The Pacemakers
14. Fiona -- Lyle Lovett
15, First Day Of My Life -- Bright Eyes
16, Flowers In The Windows -- Travis
17. For You -- Bruce Springsteen
18. Frank Mills -- The Lemonheads
19. Happy Kid -- Nada Surf
20. Head Over Heels -- Tears for Fears
21. Here at the Right Time -- Josh Ritter
22. Here Comes My Baby -- Cat Stevens
23. Hold You In My Arms -- Ray LaMontagne
24. I Believe -- R.E.M.
25. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) -- Stevie Wonder
26. I'm The Man Who Loves You -- Wilco
27. I've Been Waiting -- Matthew Sweet
28. If I Needed You -- Townes Van Zandt (with Emmylou Harris)
29. If It's the Beaches -- The Avett Brothers
30. The King Of Carrot Flowers Part 1 -- Neutral Milk Hotel
31. Love Me Do -- The Beatles
32. Lucky Ball and Chain -- They Might Be Giants
33. Lullaby -- Starsailor
34. Make You Feel My Love -- Adele.
35. Me And Bobby McGee -- Kris Kristofferson
36. My Love For You is Real -- Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
37. Nothing Can Change This Love -- Sam Cooke
38. Red Rubber Ball -- The Cyrkle
39. Romeo & Juliet -- Dire Straits
40. She Will Have Her Way -- Neil Finn And Friends
41. She's A Star -- James
42. Sing Your Life -- Morrissey
43. Sleep Tonight -- Stars
44. Soul Deep -- The Box Tops
45. Star Star -- The Frames
46. Sweet Darlin' -- She & Him
47. Sweetness Follows -- R.E.M.
48. Take Me Home Country Roads -- John Denver
49. These Arms Of Mine -- Otis Redding
50. Tiny Dancer -- Elton John
51. To Zion -- Lauryn Hill
52. When I'm With You -- Sherriff
53. You Got To Me -- Neil Diamond

Miss Jackson Doesn't Mind if I Tell On Her A Little Bit

2008-07-14T14:04:00.001-07:00

I have had a really easy pregnancy so far (knock on wood) but I don't mind, and I don't think MJ will mind, if I admit that it's not all rainbows and glowy skin over here. I'm officially in the uncomfortable stages of pregnancy. I don't want to complain because these are all minor, routine annoyances that pale in comparison to the pay-off -- Miss Jackson, as we assume she's going to be worth it. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I'll go ahead and vent here about some of the not-so-pleasant aspects of being hugely pregnant. Rest assured I am leaving out some things that I promise you don't want to read about. (Poor Jake. He has to hear about every single thing, even those things that I will spare you.)

1. I waddle. There is no hiding it. Walking normally is almost impossible. I walk like a penguin now and there is nothing I can do about it.

2. I used to have ankles. Well, sort of. They were always cankle-ish, but right now, they are nonexistent. I am scared to try on real shoes because I am pretty sure that they wouldn't fit. (Bonus to summertime baby -- flip-flops, so I don't have to confront the unfortunate reality that my feet might have grown.) I already wore a size ten before I got pregnant, so needless to say, I have to hope that these tootsies go back to normal eventually. Even my fingers are swollen enough that they are now dimpled. Yes, dimpled. Drinking Diet Coke makes the swelling worse (the sodium), which is a shame because on a list of Things I Love the Most, fountain Diet Coke would be right up there with poodles, television, and books. (Note: I have not stopped drinking Diet Coke. Who's looking at my swollen digits anyway?)

3. Getting up off of low or soft furniture is a real challenge. Forget getting out of the bed. As Jake says, that's a three-step process. Roll, hoist, lunge. Usually the last couple of steps are accompanied by involuntary grunts.

4. Speaking of getting out of the bed, I have to do that at least twice a night now, to go to the bathroom. AT LEAST twice. Sometimes three times. I usually go to the bathroom right before I get in the bed, read, go to the bathroom again right before I go to sleep, wake up twice during the night, and then have to go immediately upon waking in the morning.

5. And it's not like I can sleep very well in between bathroom visits. You have to sleep on your side when you're pregnant, which hurts your hips when you have a bowling ball strapped to your belly. A pillow between the legs helps, but that just makes it more difficult when you inevitably have to roll yourself over and/or get up in the middle of the night.

6. I'm tired!

7. I burped out loud, on the street, yesterday. Out loud! On the street! I couldn't help it! It just slipped out! This had to be Miss Jackson's fault.

8. I have heartburn for the first time in my life. It's not that bad, but I still liked it better when I didn't have it.

9. I have had a few terrible nightmares, which I think are normal, pre-baby anxiety dreams. For awhile they were dreams that something bad would happen to Jake, but last night I dreamed that MJ came out and she was only a head with a tiny, malformed itty bitty doll body. (We know this is not true because (1) we've had four ultrasounds during which her limbs were present and accounted for, and (2) I can feel her kick me ALL THE TIME. It was still a sad/scary dream, though.)

Amazingly, none of these things, even in toto, outweigh the good stuff. My hair is thick, my skin is good, I can wear elastic-waist pants every day if I want, strangers are nice to me, I have an excuse to indulge cravings, and I get to feel Miss Jackson move inside me all day long. Even the heartburn isn't that bad because it makes me think about what she'll look like -- the old wives' tale is that the heartburn means she'll have a lot of hair.

Miss Jackson Went to Childbirth Class

2008-07-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Jake and I just returned from the first day of our two-day, "weekend express" childbirth class at the hospital, and it turned out to be quite an adventure. We had rescheduled it from about a month ago because a month ago, Jake had to work, and I sort of feared that this weekend, at 36 weeks, we would be the most pregnant people there. But no! There was one couple due two weeks before us and at least three couples due within a week after us, so apparently we were right on time.

The class was pretty good. I don't know that I really learned anything brand new, but it was a nice overview of what is going to happen (soon!) and absolutely worth it for the peace of mind. And Jake was really cute this morning when he said to Miss Jackson through my belly, "Today we're going to learn how to get you out of there!" I don't know why that amused me so much, but it did.

The highlight, though, and the inspiration for this post, was one particular couple who attended the class with us. They were (1) an hour late, (2) distracting, (3) gross, and (4) crazy, but all of that put together made them very interesting and we are sort of excited to see what stunts they pull during the conclusion of the class tomorrow morning. Today, they:

--giggled when the instructor said "cervix." More than once.

-- whispered so loudly and so much that I had to ask them (politely) if they could be quiet.

-- talked and laughed through the breathing and relaxation exercises, to the point where the instructor had to diplomatically discourage husbands from joking during your laboring wife's calm, cleansing breaths.

-- nuzzled, fondled, stroked, and caressed each other, and generally engaged in foreplay throughout the class, to the point where all the rest of us were looking at each other in disgust/amazement. There were moments during the class when I thought they might mount each other. I won't tell you what they looked like because then you would have the same upsetting visual that I still have.

But! That's not all! It was mainly the male half of the couple who was the rudest and the grossest and the most distracting -- he was the one who laughed the most when the instructor said "cervix" (I mean, seriously? It's a childbirth class, and this guy was at least 35), he was the one who was nuzzling his wife's ears and rubbing her thighs (so.gross.), and he was the one who was talking through the lecture and audibly mocking the relaxation techniques -- so OF COURSE he's the one who, at the very end of class, decides to start a fight about epidurals with our very nice, very competent instructor. We weren't even discussing epidurals yet, but he raised his hand and said, "There's basically no real reason for a woman to ever have an epidural, right?" Our teacher suggested that the intense pain of childbirth was a valid reason. Our winner disagreed and continued to argue -- "But that's the only benefit, right? Just pain relief? There's no other reason, and there are so many risks, so really, no one should have one, right?" His poor wife just sat there looking miserable. I'm all for natural childbirth if you can have it (and I'm going to try to go as long as I can without an epidural myself), but I am also all for routine medical advancements that make women more comfortable. You could see all the other men in the class shifting uncomfortably, glancing apologetically at their pregnant partners as if to communicate, "Thanks for having this baby for me -- the epidural's up to you."

Then -- when our sweet teacher tried to explain that you had to discuss all these options with your doctor, that it was really different for each woman, that it really should be up to the woman or at least a joint decision by the couple together, that again this is something to be discussed with your doctor, etc. -- our winner interrupted and said, "Well, can I bring my own doctor to the hospital to deliver her? My brother?" Uh, no, genius. Our sweet teacher kindly explained that no, it's not Bring Your Own Doc, that Mr. Winner's brother could come as a coach or a friend just to watch, but that he should not come as an adversary to the attending doctor, and that if you didn't trust your current doctor, you should switch caretakers to someone with whom you felt more comfortable. Mr. Winner didn't like that at all. He said, "Well, my brother went to medical school over here in America." Well, then. No clue whether Mr. Winner's brother had hospital privileges at GW or was even an obstetrician (I'm guessing no to both).

Y'all, people are crazy.

UPDATE: Mr. and Mrs. Winner, Day Two.

1. They showed up half an hour late. This is an improvement over yesterday.

2. She sat ON HIS LAP for almost all of the class. There were plenty of seats to go around. Lap-sitting was not required.

3. While on his lap, they held hands.

4. With their free hands, they caressed each other's faces and looked into each other's eyes. The rest of the class just sat in their own seats and listened to the teacher.

5. Mr. Winner decided to make jokes. Our teacher was explaining how it can be difficult for many women ro realize that even after giving birth, their bodies may not be the same for a long time, and how important it is for their husbands to be complimentary and supportive. Mr. Winner piped up, "But you can have a girlfriend on the side during this time, right?" I think Mr. Winner was only half-joking. His touchy-feely wife did not laugh.

6. During the hospital tour, Mrs. Winner draped herself over Mr. Winner's back and caressed his chest and kissed his neck.

7. Jake and I will not be joining a playgroup with the Winners.

Miss Jackson is Still Huge, May Be Giantess

2008-07-10T15:05:00.001-07:00

At my doctor's appointment this morning the obstetrician demonstrated to a medical student how to palpate the baby and estimate size and weight. After cupping the baby's head and bottom and showing how she was positioned, the OB said breezily to me, "So I would say your baby is no more than seven pounds or so now... which is good since you are only 35 weeks." Seven pounds?! I kind of half-laughed, half-choked as I said, "Isn't that big?"

I'm actually not worried because (1) I know even ultrasound size estimates are far from accurate, much less an OB's estimate just based on feeling my stomach, and (2) not to get super crunchy but I also believe that my body probably will not grow a baby it can't deliver... it's just funny to think about how she might be huge. It's funny for now, I should say. Probably won't be if she actually is gigantic, but we'll worry about that when it's time for her to arrive. Jake is inexplicably proud that I am growing a "large Polish baby."

Nora also reminded me that some people say large babies are good sleepers, which is a nice comforting thought, although right now she doesn't seem very sleepy at all. She seems more like a freakishly large insomniac gymnast at this point. Always moving, this one, and large movements to boot. It's not a stretch to think that she might wind up being a tad dramatic. The thing is, we just don't know! We don't know what she'll be like. This is the most exciting part of pregnancy... wondering about her personality. We are, needless to say, ready to meet her (although I do want her to wait to come out until (1) her lungs are fully developed and (2) I have a chance to see The Dark Knight in the movie theater).

Jake's been giving me a hard time about not doing a great job of keeping her name a secret -- I made the mistake of running down a list of people who already knew her name and I had to admit that her name hasn't been as closely guarded as the "Miss Jackson" pseudonym would suggest -- but we were out with friends on Saturday night and Jake slipped and referred to her by her real name TWICE. I felt vindicated.

Miss Jackson Has a New Ride

2008-06-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

MJ's stroller and car seat arrived today, and I am just about beside myself with excitement. I was worried that the car seat was a different color than I wanted but thankfully that was not the case. It's just as adorable as I remembered and is, in fact, the right color. (What color, you ask? Well, her stroller and its bassinet attachment are orange with red piping, and there is a car seat that matches that is also orange and red... but when I was in Charleston, I found one that was not only orange and red but had patterned flowers on it. So cute. Sold! Then when it came today, the box made it look hot pink and lo, I was worried... but no. It has some pink in it, but it definitely has the orange and red that match the stroller and bassinet. And with that description, I realize it sounds hideous, but I promise it's not. At least not to me.) (Edit: Okay -- here is a picture of it, because I re-read my description and indeed, it sounded gross. It's cuter in person, too.)

The stroller was the one piece of baby gear that Jake got really involved in selecting, so while he is probably not as worked up about its arrival as I am, he's pretty stoked too. We walk and metro enough places and will be trekking over rough Capitol Hill sidewalks enough that we needed a stroller that was both sturdy and light, and of course I wanted one that was cute, too. And orange or green. For some reason, I really wanted one that was orange or green. (Hey -- it's arbitrary but I'm not that embarrassed. Safety and quality first, but aesthetics matter too.)

With the delivery of her car seat, I think most of the big things are done and we could safely and happily bring her home tomorrow! She has a place to sleep (actually several -- we're not sure what we're doing about that yet. Crib right away? Moses basket in our room? The stroller's bassinet attachment? Unclear... but surely one of those will work, right?), a way to get home from the hospital, and some diapers. That's pretty much all babies need, right?

Miss Jackson Had An Ultrasound

2008-06-27T09:51:00.001-07:00

Tuesday we had what was probably Miss Jackson's last ultrasound (knock on wood, assuming everything is fine from here on out). I was 33 weeks and a few days, and it was ostensibly to check on her growth. I felt abundantly certain, based on the size of my stomach and MJ's ability to kick far, far into my ribs, that her growth was fine, and indeed it was. She is a big one. She measured at just over 35 weeks -- so two weeks ahead of my actual dates -- and the ultrasound tech estimated her current weight at 5 lbs., 6 oz. She's huge! I know those weight estimates can be way, way off, so I'm not too terribly freaked out at the prospect of having a huge baby, but it's just funny. It was a regular 2D ultrasound so we couldn't get a perfect picture of her, but we did all notice and comment on (starting with the ultrasound tech) her pudgy, chubby cheeks. The tech must have said three times, "She really does have chubby cheeks." We're happy about that -- who doesn't love a fat little baby?

She's also definitely a girl. Obviously we knew that already, but it was nice to have it confirmed again. I had a tiny little smidgen of worry that we'd show up on Tuesday and the ultrasound tech would say, "And there's his penis..." and I would have a heart attack thinking of all the girly baby things that would have to be returned. But no. Miss Jackson is a miss, alright, thank goodness. (Not that we wouldn't want a boy, of course -- it's just at this point, that would be a lot of pink baby clothes we'd have to sell on Craigslist.)

As of this weekend, I'm 34 weeks, and I simultaneously can't believe that we are this far along already and that we still have six weeks to go. We are almost ready for her. As soon as her car seat arrives (it, along with her stroller, has been ordered and should be on its way), almost all of the big pre-delivery necessities will be taken care of. We have decided to use cloth diapers, and while I was completely and totally overwhelmed at all the different cloth options, thanks to my friend Gwen, I got a great tutorial and was able to overcome the steep learning curve and take the plunge. Her diapers arrived last week and, let me tell you, I realize that "cute" is not an adequate reason to choose cloth over disposables, but holy cow are these cloth diapers cute. They are teeny and fluffy and pastel and so soft that even Jake had to admit that they are basically adorable. This also goes to show how excited we are about this whole new baby thing -- even the arrival of her diapers was thrilling. Dorks. I know.

Miss Jackson is Going to Confuse Our Dog

2008-06-19T08:04:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday I had lunch with one of my oldest friends and her gorgeous almost six-week-old baby. After lunch, we came back to our house to visit, which provided our standard poodle Fiona with her first EVER glimpse of a human baby. It didn't even occur to me until we walked in that Fiona really had never seen a baby before. She's been around toddlers, but not infants. We walked in, Fiona careened down the stairs and toward the front door as she always does, but instead of jumping up on me like the crazy dog she usually is, as soon as she saw my friend and baby E., she stopped suddenly and sat down in the middle of the floor. She could not stop staring at him and was visibly confused. Every now and then she would look at him and then look at me, like, "Do YOU know what this is?"

Usually when someone comes over to visit, Fiona tries to make friends immediately. She has no idea how large she is and doesn't have a lot of respect for personal space, but with H. and baby E., she was extremely sweet and cautious. They sat on the sofa but instead of jumping up there with them, which she would usually at least try to do, she stayed on the floor and just approached slowly and sniffed carefully, from an appropriate distance (well, almost appropriate. Relatively speaking, appropriate). Then she walked around to the other side and did the same thing. Every time baby E. made a noise, her ears perked up and she looked back at me, like, "Is he okay?!" She was confused, a little bit scared, and totally transfixed.

We can't wait to see her meet Miss Jackson. Yesterday's encounter made me even more excited about that, because although she was perplexed, she was very sweet and interested. We expect that she might experience some jealousy, but mostly we think she will be very protective.

Sammy, of course, did not acknowledge our guests in any way. We expect he will similarly ignore M.J.

Miss Jackson Gets Attention From Strangers

2008-06-12T16:15:00.001-07:00

Today while I was getting a pedicure, my pedicurist asked me (1) whether the baby is a boy or a girl, (2) whether she is our first, and (3) how much weight I've gained. The first two questions are fairly expected. I have to say the third one surprised me. I told her, though -- about 30 pounds, okay, I am nothing if not forthcoming -- and she grinned and nodded enthusiastically and said, "Good, good, good," like that was exactly the right answer. I guess if you are going to ask someone how much weight they have gained, it's nice to act like they have gained exactly the right amount. She gave me maybe the best pedicure I have ever had so I would have been willing to discuss all manner of intimate details had she pressed on, but she didn't.

It wasn't the first sweet but awkward conversation I've had with a stranger lately. When I was in New York last weekend, I had an interesting conversation with a lady selling art on the street in Soho. I was buying a Chinese zodiac painting of a mouse for M.J.'s nursery because she is going to be born in the year of the rat -- it's really cute -- and the Chinese woman selling it was really excited that I knew what it symbolized. We had a little bit of a language barrier, but I am pretty sure she was predicting that M.J. is going to be a lucky and wonderful genius. She pointed at my stomach and said that year of the rat babies were "VERY smart, very, VERY smart." She then said, "Girl, right?" (I totally look like I'm carrying a girl -- very high and wide). I said yes and she clapped and beamed and said again, "VERY smart." Then she said, "First baby, right?" I said yes again and she looked extra delighted. She said, "First girl best. Then boy, okay, but girl first, yes, yes!" Um, okay? I just smiled and nodded. At least she didn't inquire about or announce how much weight I've gained.

I keep putting off posting on the blog because I have lots of pictures to post (girls weekend, M.J. at 30 weeks, the nursery!) but we have a new camera, much fancier than what I am used to, and I am a little scared of it. I'll wait and let Jacob handle that when he gets back in town (he's in L.A. on business, where he is tooling around in a convertible, dining at places I read about in US Weekly, and generally making me a little bit jealous). Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures during Miss Jackson's last pre-birth trip to NYC, but I promise we had fun. She got to see her Aunt Caroline, who both witnessed and felt her move, and we also got the chance to visit with my brother-in-law (who just moved to Connecticut), another pregnant friend (who looked incredible despite being about five seconds away from delivering), and one of my cousins (who lives in the most incredible West Village apartment and regaled us with tales of some incredible recent celebrity sightings. Ryan Gosling! Twice!). It was a wonderful trip and I kind of can't believe that the next time I go visit Caroline, M.J. will be with me, as we say, on the outside.

Miss Jackson Says Hi!

2008-05-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

For awhile there I was really doing better with keeping up with this blog, but alas, I guess that had to change. I'll try to get back to posting more often. I was waiting until I had lots of time so that I could tell you all about Miss Jackson's girls weekend, which was two weeks ago already. (Where did those two weeks go?!) It was, to put it mildly, A BLAST.

Two weeks ago, Manisha (pregnant Manisha!), Stephanie, Julye, and Caroline came to D.C. so we could hang out and play for a weekend before MJ's arrival. (Have pictures; will add.) On Friday we visited at our house and then had dinner at my favorite neighborhood restaurant, Sonoma. On Saturday we had a huge brunch, followed by shopping in Georgetown and, perhaps most importantly, cupcakes. Saturday night we went out with lots of D.C. friends for Mexican food -- and including our other friends, including the men, made girls' weekend even more fun -- and then on Sunday we had lunch at Montmartre and walked around Eastern Market. Basically, your all-around perfect weekend with your best girls (could only have been made more perfect if everyone had gotten to come!).

I had assured them that I did not need any presents and that I just wanted to see them, but they totally ignored me and came bearing a baby shower's worth of big gifts anyway (from sweet Blakely too!) -- baby monitor, Baby Bjorn, Gymini, LeapFrog Learning Table, oh, AND an exceedingly generous spa gift certificate for me -- oh my. I thought Miss Jackson was spoiled before, but now? Without question. Jake and I were thrilled and appreciative, especially because while I had heard words like "Gymini" and "Leap Frog" before, I would not have known what to actually purchase. And that's not all! Manisha also brought us a book, especially from Nikhil, one I read to him the last time I was visiting them. Stephanie made MJ her very first super awesome mix CD. And Caroline made Miss Jackson -- wait for it -- a onesie and a bib, each featuring the likeness of the original Miss Jackson -- that's right -- Janet. The onesie features Janet circa the Control album; the bib (my personal favorite) features young Janet as Penny in "What's Happening." Don't worry -- I will definitely post pictures of those too.

So yes. It was a great weekend, more because of the company than the presents, although we were pretty grateful and overwhelmed by all the stuff, too. One of my most fervent hopes for MJ is that she grows up to have good friends like I do. As an adult, it is kind of a miracle to love and be loved by the same people who knew you when you were a ridiculous teenager.

Last weekend, then, was our first weekend in a long time with no plans, so we began preparing the nursery in earnest. I am pleased to report that we got quite a lot done. We got rid of our guest bed, an old desk, and an old sofa table via Craigslist. (Note: if you have any of the ubiquitous Target Dolce collection furniture that you would like to get rid of, people on Craigslist will flock to you to take it off your hands. Seriously. People went nuts when I listed that console table.) Jake made two trips to Goodwill, during which he disposed of approximately six boxes and an additional six garbage bags full of (my) old clothes. Yes, I was ashamed by the amount. I cleaned out my closet, our linen closet, and our laundry room/basement, and Jake cleaned and rearranged our shed.

Most importantly, with the guest bed gone now, MJ's room is starting to look like more like a nursery. Her crib arrives this coming week, her dresser/changing table is ready, and we are buying her (already selected) chair and ottoman tomorrow. I have grand visions of having the nursery ready in about three weeks. This weekend's project is whittling our book collection, which is a task I have been putting off even though we have no more bookshelf space as it is and I want to clear a bookcase and the built-ins in the nursery to make room for MJ's belongings. For the first time in a decade, I'll be actually getting rid of books. I HATE getting rid of books. It pains me. I plan to give away only the books that I have read and didn't like (and wouldn't recommend), and store many others until we have space for them again.

What else noteworthy? Oh, I went to my first neighborhood moms get-together -- it was the women from my prenatal yoga class, some of whom are still pregnant like me, and some of whom have given birth since our class ended several weeks ago. It was lots of fun and there is talk of it becoming a monthly gathering. Since I will be staying home after MJ gets here, I am all about meeting other mothers with babies who live close by, so we will definitely continue to participate. (Even if this doesn't last, though, our neighborhood is absolutely full of playgroups and baby classes and playgrounds and lots of opportunity for interaction. I'm not worried about getting enough social stimulation, for me or for baby girl.)

The only bad development of the last week or so is that I have started to experience some lower back pain. It comes and goes, but sometimes it is bad enough that I walk with a distinct limp and can't get around very well. When I asked my doctor about it at last week's appointment, he just beamed and said, "That's because of your hormones! Your hormones are loosening your ligaments so that your bones can shift during delivery!" He actually seemed pretty excited about it. As for me, while I am sufficiently in awe of the body's capability to grow and birth this baby, I'd like to do it without feeling like I have to drag my left leg behind me as I lurch down the sidewalk. On the bright side, I think a prenatal massage will be not just a luxury but maybe a medical necessity in the near future.

And now, I have to write some thank-you notes. I am so behind, and my mother is ashamed.

Miss Jackson Has More Pictures for You

2008-05-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

MJ, her daddy, and me (27 weeks).

MJ's daddy, me (26 weeks), MJ, and my cousin Ben. My college friends might remember that we used to refer to him as "Baby Ben," because when I went away to college, I always had lots of pictures of him. He was almost five then. Yeah, he's seventeen now. Two other things to note about this picture: look how wide I am! Also, and I don't want to embarrass any men who might read this site, but I now appear to have breasts. Those are new. I never had those before.

Margaret, me, Susan, and Susan's Caroline.

Me, Betsy, Susan, and Susan's daughter Caroline.

Me, Mama, and Margaret's daughter Hannah.

Miss Jackson is Spoiled Already

2008-05-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was Miss Jackson's first baby shower, and it was absolutely perfect. We tried to keep it small -- just family (my grandmother, my mother, my mother-in-law, five aunts, four cousins, and two of my cousins' precious babies) -- and it turned out that it was a good thing because Miss Jackson got so many presents that even one more might not have fit into the car for the drive back to D.C. Lovely company, lovely food, lovely gifts, and lots of fun. It was a great celebration, particularly over Mother's Day weekend! You can see from the pictures:

It really made MJ's arrival seem more imminent, and the shower fun keeps going. When Mama, Mrs. Sommer, and I got home from the shower, we re-opened all of the gifts so that we could show Jake, Mr. Sommer, and my dad all the pretty things she got. This morning my task is to finish putting them all away as best I can before some of my very best friends get in town for a girls' weekend, and I can't wait to look at all of the presents one more time. Our guest room is steadily becoming more and more of a nursery, even though we don't have her crib yet. The one new piece of furniture that we do have already is her dresser/changing table, which is a good thing because we need a place to put all of her stuff. It is a little bit sick how excited I get to fold all of her little outfits and put everything away. Sometimes I go open up the dresser drawers just to look at her stuff -- not that I'm that excited about the actual stuff, per se, it's just a vivid reminder that soon a little person will be here to actually wear and use all of it (as if the tummy gymnastics and swollen ankles were not reminder enough).

You might wonder what Jacob and his father did to entertain themselves while Mama, Mrs. Sommer and I were at the shower. They ate hot dogs and then Jacob bought himself a Wii. Yep. I was pretty happy for him because he has been looking for one for over a year, but it was still a little bit funny -- when he told me what he bought (and he was ecstatic!), I just said, "Well, then, happy mother's day to you!"

Miss Jackson Went to Charleston.

2008-05-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

We're all still in South Carolina and having a big time. Last weekend Jake flew down and met us at my parents' house, where on Saturday my mom and dad hosted some of my mom's family for a luncheon -- to the tune of, I think, 25+ adults and nine children aged four and under. It was super fun and the children were so cute -- they got me even more excited to think that the next time we do something similar, Miss Jackson will be on the outside to play among all her cousins.

I think I also mentioned in my last post that I suspected Miss Jackson might come into some borrowed hand-me-downs while I was home -- indeed she did. We are now the proud temporary caretakers of a beautiful Moses basket that my aunt fixed with precious pink and white pillows and ribbons, and a box of blankets and day gowns, including some with special stories. One was made by one of my great-aunts for my cousin Susan (who is six years older than I am) to wear home from the hospital, and that will be Miss Jackson's going-home outfit as well. We will take good care of all of them while they are in our custody.

After the family festivities last Saturday, Jake and I left on Sunday morning to go to Charleston for our last pre-baby vacation. We left Miss Fiona at "camp" and took Mr. Sammy with us because he's just too fragile to board, and I think I speak for both Jacob and Little Sammy when I say that we had a great time. We ate, walked, shopped, ate, read, lounged, ate, shopped, and ate. I managed to visit with two old friends, read two books, and find some treasures for MJ too. It was perfect weather, too -- at least, it would have been perfect if I weren't pregnant, but these days, I feel like I am carrying a toaster inside my stomach all the time. I wore maternity dresses every day which was a good solution, as they were cool and comfortable as cotton nightgowns (and one long maxi-dress that I just got makes me feel like I have the same pregnancy style as Angelina Jolie or Gwen Stefani, at least until I look in the mirror or remember that I got my dress at Target).

Some moments from when we were in Charleston:

1. I bought two adorable bibs for MJ at a baby store in Mt. Pleasant, one of which had her first initial embroidered on it. The saleslady asked me what her name was as she was wrapping up my purchases. Yes, we're keeping the name a secret, but this woman was a stranger so I went ahead and told her that we're naming her _______ __________ but we will call her ________. The clerk absolutely hollered -- "That is the cutest name ever! I love it! I don't know anyone with that name! She just has to be cute with that name. Has to be." I was delighted and told her that we completely agreed. I mean, probably she is just a good salesperson, but I beamed nonetheless.

2. I'm now definitely to the point where I am enormously pregnant enough to warrant special treatment. A woman in a public restroom even offered to let me go ahead of her in the bathroom line! So nice. Mainly, though, I just got a lot of stares and smiles and some trying-really-hard-to-be-polite-and-appropriate waitstaff. For instance -- we went to dinner on Thursday night and arrived about fifteen minutes before our reservation. The hostess brightly asked, "Do you want to just wait at the bar while--" when she gazed at my stomach and her face fell. She quickly said, "I mean -- or maybe you don't -- uh." Luckily, Charleston has gone totally smoke-free so waiting at the bar wasn't a problem; I assured her I could get some club soda. Then, when I hoisted myself up on the bar stool, the bartender did the same thing -- started to offer us something, stared at my belly, and then looked sort of uncomfortable until I smiled and said, "I'll just have a club soda with cranberry juice." He looked visibly relieved -- I guess maybe he worried that I could have ordered a shot of tequila and he would have been faced with the dilemma of to serve or not to serve? Finally, after we had been seated and taken our drinks with us to the table, our waitress offered to get us refills -- and she too looked nervous as she stared at my nearly empty drink and asked, "Can I bring you another, uh, what is that, cranberry and... uh, tonic?" So funny.

3. MJ is still as active as ever (knock on wood -- I am totally paranoid that she will stop moving at some point; every single kick or punch is welcome and cherished), but in the last week or ten days I have noticed a new pattern. Instead of just being really active after I've eaten something, she is also a kicking and punching machine when I am hungry. She absolutely pummels me when I am hungry. We think this means she is (a) bossy and (b) crabby before she eats... just like me! Needless to say, Jake is somewhat disturbed by this new development. When we realized that her movements were really strong before meals, he sighed and lamented, "Just what I need... another one." Managing my own low blood sugar and hunger-induced crabbiness is hard enough on him already. Bless his heart.

Tomorrow is my first baby shower (hooray!) and then next weekend four of my best and favorite girls are coming to D.C. for a pre-MJ girls' weekend (hooray hooray!), so we have a lot to look forward to. Miss Jackson will be here in thirteen short weeks. We know her due date is getting closer because we have started seeing countdown-to-the-Olympics commercials. She is due pretty much exactly when the Olympics start, so whenever you hear "92 days until Beijing" or whatever, you can go ahead and substitute "Miss Jackson" for "Beijing." (I am deliberately ignoring the fact that most first babies are late, just as I am trying to forget how much I hate the Olympics. They disrupt the television schedule.)

Miss Jackson is in South Carolina

2008-04-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

I drove from D.C. to S.C. yesterday, a ten hour trip with two dogs that was surprisingly relaxing. (It could have been extra relaxing because I used my pregnancy as an excuse to get a snack every time I had to stop to go to the bathroom -- I had a strawberry milkshake from Chick-Fil-A that was particularly delicious.) Jake is flying down to meet us here on Friday, but in the meantime the dogs and I are at my parents' house and very much enjoying being home. There are several perks to coming home in addition to the obvious, which is just getting to visit with my family.

To start, my mom is as delighted with my pregnancy and my baby belly as I am (and when it comes to the belly, she offers more positive reinforcement than Jake, because she does not think it looks weird, she actually does think it looks beautiful). My dad reacts more like Jake does -- very proud and definitely interested, but maybe a tiny bit intimidated and a LOT protective. My parents' miniature poodle Betsy was very excited to see me and climbed all over me as soon as I sat down last night, and as soon as she stepped onto my lap, my dad cried out, "Don't let her climb on the baby!" He looked horrified, even though she is a small cuddly poodle and there is no chance of her, I don't know, crushing the baby or whatever he was worried about. This is the same reaction Jake has whenever I poke my stomach or suck in for even a moment -- "Stop! You'll smush her!" It's very sweet, if slightly paranoid and not really biologically sound. (It's especially sweet because in almost all other situations, my dad treats Betsy like a sacred and infallible human princess.)

So, I'm getting lots of attention and also lots of food. All I had to do was mention that I was a little bit hungry today and my father was out the door to go fetch me my favorite Abbeville lunch (two Rough House hot dogs, all the way and a bag of chips). This is not really any different from before I was pregnant, but at least now I do not need to feel the slightest bit guilty about the two hot dogs. (MJ kicked appreciatively so I think she likes them too.)

And, finally, I just talked to my cousin and I think I can look forward to borrowing some really pretty hand-me-downs from her daughter for our MJ. This will go a long way in rectifying the woeful D.C. smocking drought. Thank goodness.

Miss Jackson is Making Me Senile

2008-04-27T14:33:00.001-07:00

I guess before I got pregnant that I had heard of "pregnancy brain," where you forget things a lot, but I hadn't experienced it in full force until recently. Yesterday I can confidently say that I had quite a severe case.

So, yesterday I had a baby shower/luncheon to attend (not a shower for me). The shower was at 1, and I was bringing bread and a green salad. By 12:30, I was dressed, lipsticked, and heading out the door with my food and my shower gift. I happened to check my cell phone voicemail right before I walked outside and had a message from the hostess. It was from two hours earlier; she was just checking that I was in fact still bringing the bread and salad and telling me the rest of the menu. As I hung up the phone, I said out loud to Jake, "That was Emily; I guess she left me the message yesterday but for some reason I didn't get it until this morning." The reason I thought she left it the day before was because she had said in her message, "See you tomorrow." I proceeded out the door, accompanied by sweet Jake who was carrying my salad to the car for me (pregnancy has made me clumsier than before, which is to say, really really clumsy). I was halfway down the block before I paused and thought, you know, I definitely checked my voicemail last night, and Emily definitely said "tomorrow." I couldn't have the date wrong, could I?

I stopped on the sidewalk and considered. I was POSITIVE that the shower was Saturday the 26th. I had just hung the invitation on the refrigerator that very morning. Just to be safe, though, Jake suggested we run back inside so I could check the invitation one more time.

Of course, you see where this is going. Of course the shower was today, Sunday the 27th, and not yesterday, Saturday the 26th. I almost showed up 24 hours early to a luncheon. If Emily had not happened to call and I was not parked a block further away than usual, I would have knocked on Emily's door at 1 sharp and expected a party. (Luckily I am friends with both the hostess and the guest of honor -- the last two baby showers that I have attended were at virtual stranger's houses and that would have been even more traumatic.)

Pregnancy brain -- in full effect. Embarrassing party foul -- narrowly averted.

Miss Jackson's Daddy is Funny

2008-04-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Jacob has come up with some real gems this week.

Jacob, staring at me in a nightgown that displays my prominent baby bump: "Wow. You're all the way pregnant."

Me: "Some people think pregnant women look beautiful."

Jacob: "Yeah, it's beautiful. In a National Geographic sort of way."

_________________________________________________

Jacob, staring/wincing at Miss Jackson, who was visibly squirming through my stomach: "Sick! ... I mean, beautiful."

_________________________________________________

Jacob, staring at me while we were walking home from dinner tonight: "I believe your gait has changed."

Thanks, honey.

UPDATE: One more from tonight. Scene: we're sitting on the sofa staring at my stomach, watching Miss Jackson move. After a particularly violent kick on my left side, Jake leans down and says, "Hey, [Miss Jackson's Real Name]. Stay put for now, but for future reference, that's not the way out. The way out is DOWN."

Also, if we can spend this much time watching, feeling, and discussing her move while she's in utero, what in the world are we going to do when she is on the outside? I guess we will have to take time out from talking about how cute the dogs in order to stare at MJ.

Miss Jackson is Demanding

2008-04-21T16:44:00.001-07:00

I had first-trimester-like cravings tonight, and now if I don't get two glazed donuts in the next 10 minutes, something bad is going to happen. I am even willing to go out in the rain to procure said donuts (although I am willing to go to the obviously lesser Dunkin' Donuts three blocks away instead of driving to the Krispy Kreme -- I do have some restraint).

Miss Jackson Looks Like An Alien

2008-04-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

We have officially reached the stage in pregnancy where we can actually see her moving from the outside. The other night she was poking out of my right side, then my left side, then moving back and forth. I knew this day was coming but it's still strange to see it. This morning I had waffles for breakfast and afterward I can only assume that she was practicing the "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" dance -- at least, that's what it looked like.

Miss Jackson Feels Enormous, and Warm.

2008-04-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

So, several weeks ago, I was so ready to be visibly pregnant, with an obvious baby bump, and not just feel large and in charge. When my belly popped out, I was delighted. (It felt like it happened suddenly over the course of like three hours, which was surprising but wonderful.) And I still love feeling and looking pregnant, but Nora and I were just emailing yesterday about how on earth are we going to get four months larger? I am still comfortable now -- I'm not having trouble sleeping or getting up off the sofa or getting in the car or anything, but I also can't really imagine getting progressively bigger and bigger and BIGGER over the next sixteen weeks. I told Nora I supposed I would just wear pajama pants all the time and slip on a muumuu when I was forced to leave the house. I'm not complaining, I promise -- just sort of wondering, I guess, what it's going to be like.

Actually, the muumuu will probably be necessary not just for fit but for coolness. Today is the first day it has actually been truly warm and springlike, and I was already absolutely burning up (unusual for me) even though I only had on jeans, flats, and short sleeves. Is Miss Jackson part furnace? Being hugely pregnant in July should be interesting. Thank goodness for flip-flops.

Miss Jackson Went to New York

2008-04-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

As you might have gathered from my last post, I was in NYC this past weekend visiting with my friend Caroline, who lives there, and meeting up with my friend Elizabeth, who was in town for the weekend to catch some Broadway shows. Here we are on a random street in front of a random sign advertising for a psychic. No, we did not visit the psychic. No need for that.

You can tell Miss Jackson and I (23 weeks along) are now considerably larger than we were in the 20 week portrait when I started this blog.

Elizabeth also commented that apparently I now talk in my sleep -- a LOT, and loudly, and distinctly, and cracked myself up to boot. This is, as far as I can tell, a pregnancy symptom, as Jake has also informed me recently that I have started waking him up at night, talking spiritedly. I have occasionally talked in my sleep before (I had a funny conversation with my mother in high school when I was asleep once), but I guess now it's a full-blown thing? So weird. And poor Jake -- like I don't talk enough when I am awake!

Miss Jackson's Cartwheels

2008-04-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

If fetal activity is any indication, Miss Jackson is going to be a live wire once she's on the outside. I started feeling her kick early -- before sixteen weeks. For the past couple of weeks, I have been feeling her on a regular and consistent basis, and can distinguish between kicks, punches, and general squirminess. I believe that I have even felt a head butt a time or two.

It's only been in the last few days (right before I left for New York) that Jake has been able to feel her kicking, though. He is simultaneously thrilled and somewhat icked out. It is hilarious when he has his hand on my stomach and feels a particularly strong one -- his eyes light up and he smiles a huge smile and then his face drops and he snatches his hand away. Like lots of things related to pregnancy and childbirth, it is both awesome and not just a little bit weird/gross. (I mean, personally, I love it, but when you stop to think about it -- that there is a creature in your stomach moving around, rearranging your insides, poking and prodding and elbowing you -- that's a little alien-like, right?)

One thing I don't know, however, is whether her squirms and kicks means she likes or dislikes something. So far I have been assuming that it means she likes it, but obviously the opposite could be the case. Maybe when I was eating gummy candy while watching a play on Saturday night and she was going crazy, maybe that wasn't because she was so excited for a snack of Haribo Fruit Salad. Maybe she's a health nut and she was pummeling me because she hated it. Surely not, though, right? I mean, she is my child.

Incidentally, the play was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I am sorry to say that it was NOT GOOD. Miss Jackson's first Broadway experience was quite disappointing. Even Terrence Howard couldn't save it (in fact, he was one of the weak links). And while Anika Noni Rose (from Dreamgirls) was a passable Maggie the Cat, I think the role could have been performed equally well by Brenda, Kelly, or even Laura Who Almost Falsely Accused Steve Sanders of Date Rape.

Baby Friends

2008-04-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

I just found out that one of my very best friends and very favorite people is expecting this fall, and I am so excited I almost can't handle it. There might just be a pregnancy epidemic out there, what with how many people I now know who are pregnant, and I could not be more thrilled. Two of the most fun things about this pregnancy have been going through it with pregnant friends of mine and hearing invaluable advice from my friends and family who already have children. The women I know who are also expecting range from way old friends to fairly new neighbors, and it's very exciting.

One of the craziest things so far has been that one of my oldest and dearest friends is pregnant with her first, too, and is due six days before we are. Although, that's not THAT crazy for us, considering that we have lived weirdly parallel lives ever since we were fourteen, and actually got married only a week apart too -- and were each other's maid/matron of honor. I had to be the "matron" because I got married the week prior. "Maid" sounds so much better. Anyway, she's having a boy and I'm having a girl, and it has been so fun to have someone who is exactly the same amount of pregnant to discuss things with -- not to mention the fact that her son will likely be Miss Jackson's first peer and friend. In fact, she and I are having dinner tonight with another pregnant friend -- another of my oldest friends -- a friend that I met when she and I had just finished the eighth grade and roomed together at summer camp. The fact that the three of us now live in D.C., that I am still close to both of them, and that we are now having actual CHILDREN, is enough to make me cry. It's probably mostly the pregnancy hormones, but not entirely.

Anyway, all that is just a tangent to what I really wanted to say, which is a big congratulations to my latest friend who just told me the news. (Incidentally, I think she's having a girl. I feel like she and Miss Jackson are going to get in a lot of trouble together over the years.)

P.S. I have a lot of beloved friends who AREN'T pregnant, too, thank goodness. I talk about babies right now enough as it is.

Baby Names

2008-04-08T16:05:00.001-07:00

Probably my favorite baby-related things to talk about before I got pregnant were baby names. I could then, and can still, talk about baby names for ages. We had a girl baby name picked out for, well, years, before recently deciding against it in part because of the aforementioned "northerners might not go for a double name" thing. (Totally fine, because I like our new baby name even better anyway.)

But, while I love talking about baby names, we've decided to keep Miss Jackon's name a secret until she gets here. (We're calling her Miss Jackson in the meantime because I didn't like referring to her as a bean or a bell pepper or the fetus or any of those things, and really, is there a funnier name for an unknown, in utero baby than "Miss Jackson"? I don't think so, considering our last name isn't Jackson. Our male equivalent was "Sheriff Taylor," and I liked that one enough that I still refer to her as Miss Sheriff Taylor a lot too. I know. We are total, total dorks.) We figure that because we already know she is a girl, it will be just a tad more exciting for everyone else to have at least one mystery upon delivery, other than her weight, which is really not that interesting to third parties unless the baby is exceptionally large (please don't be exceptionally large, Miss Jackson!).

The only problem with the "name is a secret" thing is that, well, I'm not so good at keeping secrets, at least not my own. I can keep other people's secrets just fine -- I promise! I am so trustworthy! -- but when it comes to stuff about me, I'm an open book. Plus, I love, love, love her name so much that I want to go telling everyone about it already. I'm going to try to resist, though. And don't try to guess what it is, either, because I am really bad at that game and Jake gets mad at me because I give too many hints.

Our First Two Babies

2008-04-08T15:39:00.001-07:00

I couldn't very well start a baby blog without posting pictures of our two poodles. This beauty is our four-year-old standard poodle Fiona. She went to a new groomer last week who told me that Fiona is "quite the little lady." Indeed. Fiona's current favorite things are: cookies, cheese, being complimented by strangers on the street, keeping watch from our living room window, and her stuffed toy Larry the Lobster.

This is our toy poodle, Little Sammy. We've had him for five years and we estimate that he is probably at least eleven. He has a lot of health problems and some personality issues, but we think he is the greatest. Sammy enjoys: his bed, his other bed, our bed, his red sweater (after it is put on him and before it's taken off), and hotel rooms.

We have been trying to warn them that soon there will be another human in our 1000-square-feet* of cozy home, but we don't think they get it yet.

*We love, love, love our house, but D.C. housing was definitely another culture shock. Our old (modest) house in Columbia had room to spare, whereas here we only have two (small) bedrooms and one (tiny) bathroom. The great thing about a small space, though, is that we love every inch of it and it's inspiring us to be more organized and stream-lined every day. (And our two bedrooms and one bath are so cute!) Our baby girl won't grow up playing in this yard very much or riding bikes in the middle of the street, but she will have a park three blocks away and a view of the Capitol building. Trade-offs!

Well, Hi There.

2008-04-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

The above picture is when Jake and I were young, childless, and much, much thinner (at least, I was).

The below picture is me two weeks ago, totally pregnant. I'm even bigger now. I'll have to post an updated shot so you can enjoy the expanding tummy as well.

I have so enjoyed reading my friends' baby blogs (and the blogs of their friends as well) that I decided to abandon my pop culture blog in favor of a baby blog. Well, "abandon" is probably too strong a word -- there is no way I can write about any subject for any period of time without working in a few opinions about what is going in the world of television, movies, and celebrity -- but maybe it's time for a slight change of focus.

When the baby is born -- when she is born, I should say, because we know she is a girl -- I will probably move this to a password-protected site and maybe something a little more sophisticated than Blogger. I don't mind putting myself out there, but I am well aware that there are a lot of different kinds of people on the internet and while most of them are harmless, some of them are crazy, and some of them are just plain mean. I don't want those people to see pictures of our sweet girl (she'll be sweet, right?) or, frankly, even know her name. So. If you start reading this and think maybe you will want to continue reading, at some point drop me a comment or an email so I will know to include you on the private site after her birth. I don't care if I know you or not, if you just tell me how you got here (chances are if you have a baby blog and know one of my friends, I already stalk -- I mean, read -- your blog anyway)... but we have 18 weeks until that time comes anyway, so I am really getting ahead of myself.

Oh! And the blog title. Well, it's a little misleading. We're not exactly expatriates. We're Americans, and, in fact, we live in our own nation's capital. But, even though we have been here almost three years now and even though we absolutely love it (we really, really do), I'm a South Carolinian and it's a little bittersweet for me to realize that I am having a baby who probably won't grow up in South Carolina, or even in the south. I am eminently grateful for all the opportunities this city will afford the baby girl (and me as a stay-at-home mom, which I will be), but there will be some differences. We eschewed a double-name because we didn't think D.C. folks would call a baby by two names; we have to start worrying about applying to pre-schools at a distressingly early age; we almost assuredly will not be able to send our child to public middle or high school if we want her to feel safe and get educated, at least not unless things drastically change in the next ten years; and there is a woeful lack of smocking in D.C. baby clothes.