Sittin' on top of the world

What's in a Name?

(That's us - very very hot - at Mike & Rachel's wedding this past weekend. Did I mention it was very very hot?)

Anyhow, a few weeks back I saw this article (http://www.slate.com/id/2116449/) about names. It was a sort of interesting article (basically, according to these guys, names don't really have much of an impact on lifetime achievement). But quite notable was their list of the "whitest" and "blackest" names (http://www.slate.com/id/2116449/sidebar/2116453/) ... yup, we've got a white girl on our hands.

babyswim

Molly went into the pool for the first time this weekend. She was initially somewhat skeptical of the whole situation.

But after getting used to it she had a good time.

Milestones, Smiles tons

Last week things were a tad busy, but I do remember that I was going to write about how she'd made a big change in her awareness of things. One day I came home and she was demanding things: she wannnnts to put that plate in her mouth, she waaants to put that toy in her mouth, she waants that cell phone in her mouth. It's a subtle change, but a big change for new parents: before that she had merely accepted what we gave her and enjoyed it. She often saw things but it didn't seem to phase her that she couldn't hold and chew them. But that day when I came home it was clear that she was seeing things and, goshdurnit, she wanted to chew on that thing!

This week I decided that Molly must have been reading the baby books and seen that she was supposed to learn how to roll over sometime in this last month. On Tuesday evening she did her first back-to-front roll! Without any prompting. And I was fortunate enough to be there for that experience. As usual I was thrilled and she thought it was not big deal. She just wanted the toy. And according to Mr. Mom, she's been rolling all over the place ever since: front-to-back, back-to-front, back-to-front-to-back, etc. And now the fun begins: look away for a second and she's in a different place when you look back.

Even more exciting, though, is what Molly did after she rolled over: she slept for 9 hours! In a row! No, I didn't sleep for 9 hours, but heck, I'm just thrilled that I slept for probably about 6 of those hours. Zach and I woke up around 5am wondering if everything was okay. Of course I had to go and peek. And of course everything was just fine. It's exhausting being a baby. As Zach says: when was the last time you tripled in size?

And triple she (almost) has! It must have been a monster of a growth spurt. Suddenly it all made sense: the huge increase in appetite (we almost ran out of milk! she drank right through our frozen reserves!) the new skills, and then the sleep marathons. Not a bad deal all around. Except we really should put her in the "big girl" car seat now ... her little toesies are almost hanging over the edge of her infant seat!

Oh, and she just giggles and laughs and smiles allll the time now. It's so much fun. Zach and her have really hit a good stride hanging out together.

Go Fly a Kite

We had a good time at the kite festival this weekend.
And I even saw Molly roll over today!

Guest Post from Nona

Nona was visiting this last week and got to spend a lot of good quality time with Molly, who gave her some insight into how things are going out here:

Sofi let my Nona brush my hair and she tried to make a 1940's top knot, but my little curls just went all over the place. hehe. (I enjoyed the process, though, particularly since I got to lick my brush.)

Nona also brought me a hand-knitted yummy sweater-hat-booties set done by ESOL Loan's mother - thank you, I love it!

I had a good time looking at the trees this weekend in our backyard with my parents in the hammock. There's lots of stuff going on up there in those trees. Like leaves. And sky. And branches. And leaves. And clouds. And sometimes squirrels. And hummingbirds. And leaves. I think.

I like to hang out with my mommy. She makes me feel so good. And she dresses me in my favorite tie-dye onesies. Oooo. Life is soo good. (now, where's that boob?)



I like to hang on to my daddy. He gives me such a good perspective on the world. It's easy to hold onto his ears, and he can be very funny, too!


I like it when my Nona takes pictures of me. She's really funny. We went to the park and they let me sit in the grass and look at the sky. But mostly I thought it was funny to look at my Nona with the camera. I just tried to smile my whole face off for her! (She loved it).

Piddy & the Monkey

I was in the midst of writing a post this week about our little monkey - grabbing her feet and sucking on her very own toes - when my dear cat Pidd-o was diagnosed with cancer. It takes me a long time to write posts these days, what with all the other stuff to keep me busy (like work, and Molly), and now I'm a bit distracted again.

For those of you who don't know, Piddy (aka, Pidd-o, P-Diddy, Piddster, Piddaroni, etc.) came to me 9 years ago when I was in college in Florida. He was dropped off at my house with a bag of cat food and a bag of kitty litter by a friend of my housemates. I adopted him when his person didn't return at the end of the semester. I've dragged him to no less than seven new homes in 3 different states over the last 9 years and he's always had more friends than I have (he likes to get to know his neighbors). He's celebrated two graduations with me (see left), a marriage, many new jobs, and now a kid (although I'm not sure he would use the word "celebrate" for that last one).

Needless to say, I'm a wee bit attached to him. But also realistic (hopefully). I've fortunately been spared the decision about what lengths I would go to keep him alive (his cancer is considered untreatable). But the prognosis is still fuzzy; it's not clear if we're looking at weeks, months, or years with him. Any way about it, he gets all the wet food he wants.

As for the little monkey, she has been a very active young lady. And Zach has been doing wonderfully with her at home. It's such an amazing thing to see how good he is with her, how excited he gets about all the funny things she does, and how much she responds to him. He faced a rough first week, with her getting a cold and having to go to the doctor, but he dove right in and did splendidly. Yes, there were some rough periods, but he figured out what she needs to keep rolling along.

And roll they did. According to reports, Miss Molly rolled from her front to her back several times last week. Of course, I've only seen it once. That's been the hardest part about leaving her: not experiencing her milestones. One day last week I came home and put her on the changing table to change her diaper (one of her favorite places to be). She immediately started putting her feet in her mouth and I excitedly called Zach in to watch, only to have him casually tell me that she'd been doing that for the last two days. (!). I felt so distant. But it's great that he's getting to experience all these things with her. And see what a challenge it is to take care of such a young baby all day.