a different kind of milestone

I'm taking a quick break from all the baby babble to mark the second anniversary of my marriage to my best friend.

We're sometimes too sleepy these days to clearly recall how we got into this boat in the first place. In the midst of all the diapers, doctors' appointments, and three a.m. wakeups, it might come as no surprise that I almost forgot about our anniversary altogether.

I want my man to know this, though: I might not remember when we got married, but I always remember why.

visitors

We're lucky to have lots of friends and family nearby, but some of our favorite people live very, very far away. Poor Miss M had to wait a whole month to meet anyone from her mama's side of the family.

Her patience finally paid off last week when Grandma and Grandpa Ohio came to visit.

Needless to say, everyone got along just fine.

As the photos will attest, M logged plenty of face time with her extra special guests. There were long walks, lots of laughing and crying, a (grand)Father's Day brunch, and countless rounds of Pass the Baby.

Watching my parents grow into grandparents was a wonderful thing. Having extra hands to help with cooking, cleaning, and baby-entertaining was also pretty great. My man and I were more than ready to hand over our kitchen for a few days. Handing over the baby to duck out for a quick dinner for two turned out to be surprisingly easy, too.

For her part, M had absolutely no problem being the center of attention for two additional grown-ups.  She is, as her grandfather says, rather advanced for her age...

one month

We are celebrating this week. Somehow, it has already been an entire month since M first moved in with us. Maybe it's the general lack of sleep at our house, but it seems like the days have been flying by. On the other hand, it also feels as though Miss M has always been a permanent fixture in our lives.

Of course, she's much smarter than she was a month ago. She's also gotten better at posing for photos. This bodes well for my plan to pimp her out as a Baby Gap model in order to pay for her college tuition.  Oh, and maybe to fund a few trips to the grocery, too...

She has an amazing kissy face, which cracks me up every time I see it, even though she tends to use the face to announce her pressing desire to eat something. I still like to pretend that it means she loves us immensely. Which she does. She just hasn't realized it yet.

She's eating like a proverbial horse, or at least a foal, which has been incredibly challenging and incredibly gratifying at the same time. She's finally starting to gain some serious weight, and of course, we're convinced that it's all brain mass.

We are celebrating with cupcakes, reveling in a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Ohio, and taking the time to appreciate all the ways this little one has already grown.

what babies do

I was warned about crying and howling. I was prepared for sleepless nights and endless conversations about poop. Everyone promised me that I would be exhausted beyond belief and that my brain cells would dwindle to a number that could be counted on one hand. Nobody, though, told me this:

Babies are boring.

Seriously. They sleep all the time. They sleep when you're trying to feed them. They sleep when you're taking them on exciting adventures, like to a birthday party for a favorite auntie.*

While they will absolutely refuse to sleep on any surface specifically designed for the purpose, like, say, a crib, there is a slim chance that they might sleep on the living room couch for ten to twenty minute stretches.

Above all other options, they prefer to sleep on top of mamas and daddies, which is how this particular mama has managed to consume an entire season of Grey's Anatomy and a season and a half of True Blood, just in the past week. **

An unfortunate downside to this arrangement is that one, if not both, of my arms is being monopolized by a small person, preventing me from performing any task that requires six or more fingers.***

And of course, I know I'm supposed to "sleep when the baby sleeps." I'm starting to regard this as a funny cliche that people share with new parents, rather than something that anyone actually does. As far as pithy advice goes, I prefer "fantasize about doing the dishes while the baby sleeps."  Or maybe "wish you were taking a shower while the baby sleeps."

It's pretty obvious, though, if you're looking at this post, that my favorite thing to do while this particular baby sleeps is watch her sleep. In spite of her ability to decimate brain cells, dominate our tiny apartment, and literally immobilize me, she fascinates me by doing something as simple as breathing.

*Before the cat fights begin, you are all her favorites. Clearly.
**Season six and seasons three and four, respectively.
***Total number of fingers used to type this post: four.

two weeks

And now, somehow, it's been two weeks. Our days have been blurring together in one long loop of eating, sleeping, contending with dirty diapers, and hosting friendly visitors.

We've made it out of the house a few times.  M has visited my favorite bookstore and our neighborhood library.  She's also logged several hours as a Metro bus passenger and attended her first Memorial Day pancake breakfast at the neighbors' house.  Granted, she's managed to sleep through all of these milestones, but still.

Now that my man is easing his way back into a regular work schedule, M and I are spending a lot of time on our own. As a result, I've had to change a few of my habits.  For instance, I've given up almost every activity that requires the use of two hands. Unfortunately, typing falls into this category, which might help explain my extended absences from the blogosphere.  

I'm also spending an incredible amount of my day sitting on our couch.  While none of this should be surprising to anyone, I'm still having a hard time being so--inert.  It is not my natural state, and I spend significant portions of my day waiting for my partner in crime to get home, so that someone else can sit on the couch and hold a baby.

Having said all that, though, I can't help feeling that being stuck on a couch holding this baby for hours on end may be one of the best things that ever happens to me...

one week

Yes, it's true.  There is a baby at our house.  She arrived quickly and gracefully on a sunshiny morning, the day after Mothers Day.

In spite of her high-pitched wail and general failure to accept responsibility for her own actions, we have decided to keep her.  She makes us smile and laugh and cry.  She makes our world so much bigger and so much smaller at the same time.  Also, we cannot stop looking at her.

And she is already seven days old.  She has a whole week of living under her belt.  It's hard to believe.  She has habits and hiccups and a beautiful name that we hope she'll grow into someday--although for our purposes here, we'll just call her M.

I was going to bake something to celebrate her first week.  Like cupcakes.  But then I remembered that babies can't have cupcakes, which means that I would have to eat her cupcake for her.  That just seemed like too slippery a slope to descend this early in the game.

So we'll probably do something else to mark the occasion.  Like maybe give her a bath.  Or trim her incredibly long fingernails.  Or just sit around on the couch staring at her some more.  Because we've gotten very good at doing that.

Of course, I have lots more to say.  I want to tell you about the day she was born and all of our exciting firsts and what it's like to be at home alone right now with a tiny baby that allegedly belongs to me.  I'll save all of that for another time, though.

Today we're too busy doing nothing.

hooray for babies

I know, I know.  It's been pretty quiet on the blog front for the past few weeks.  Would you believe me if I said I've been kind of busy?  I'm starting to get this unshakable feeling that time is getting away from me.  There's still a long list of things I'd planned to get accomplished before baby makes a break for it.  Sewing projects, cleaning projects, list-making...

In the midst of all this, though, we've been taking time to celebrate.  Because they might be a lot of work, but gosh darn it, babies are exciting.

The lovely ladies on my man's side of the family gathered a few weeks ago to revel in all things baby.  My dear mother- and sister-in-law put together a sweet, sweet shower with tasty snacks, adorable handmade details, and plenty of laughter and advice.  Oh, and cupcakes.  This sort of thing requires cupcakes, I think.

And lots of good company.

Last week, we invited another, tinier handful of people over for a different kind of party.  For one thing, there were--gasp!--men.  And beer. There was also less advice and more good-natured teasing.  The event was billed as "what might be our last scheduled social event for the foreseeable future."  It remains to be seen whether or not that will prove to be true, but if it is, I wouldn't want to go out any other way.

There were more cupcakes, of course.  Not handmade this time, sadly, but still pretty dang good.  We snacked and screened one of my favorite documentaries ever.  My intrepid friend Sarah K organized an amazing onesie-decorating project that resulted in some one-of-a-kind fashion statements that our little one will soon be rocking.

They were two very different celebrations, but both of these little shandies left me with the same warm, looked-after feeling.  I love knowing that our tiny new person will be coming into a world of people that will cherish, celebrate, and support.  And, yes, it feels good knowing that those same folks are there to take care of us, too.

For anyone keeping track, the majority of you voting in the last poll advised us that the most important pre-baby activity for us to indulge in while there's still time is Sleeping In.  I'll admit, it's not something that I'm especially good at, but rest assured, my partner-in-crime is taking full advantage of these last opportunities...