Speaking of Children...

So recently I've been thinking back to a lazy Saturday years ago when my best friend David and I spent the day discussing a wonderful book I’d never heard of before called “The Prophet”. It was written by Kahlil Gibran, a poet, philosopher and artist originally from Lebanon and I loved it.

For some reason today I was compelled to look up again what Gibran wrote through his character the Prophet about his insights on children. I guess really had no recollection at all as to what he would have written, but as I suspected, I was once again delighted. Maybe you will be too?

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

"Speak to us of Children." And he said:

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.”

Tuesday

What better way to say thank you to a group of co-workers who send a box of gifts than to take a picture of your baby surrounded by them? Then send them all an e-mail with the pic attached? I thought it was clever.

Here our little Danny waves thanks to Meg and Dagne and Lois and Janet and Doris. Thanks everybody! The book "Tuesday" is like nothing I'd ever seen before. It hasn't got one word in it. Apparently you have to use your imagination to describe what is going on. Frogs are flying everywhere! What will they think of next?

So you may be wondering how my first (and now my second) day back to work is going? Okay I guess. Apparently Danny was awake the entire morning on Monday. He wasn't crying or anything. Just cooing and looking around. I deduced that it must bore him to have me home ;-)

Susanne is keeping busy but seemed very happy to see me when I got home last night. Come to think of it, we all seemed very happy to see each other when I got home last night! Only 1.5 more hours and I'll get to do it again! CIAO! -Monica

So Blessed...

This past few weeks we've been so amazed by the generosity of our family and friends in terms of the gifts we've gotten for little Danny. With so many people contributing a thing or two we've pretty much got everything we could possibly need (or gift cards to get what we haven't thought of yet.) We feel very blessed.

This whole lovely experience has got me thinking about the power of collectivism. After I finished my Peace Corps service I studied intercultural relations in graduate school and learned a great deal about how different value systems really shape how we see the world and live together in the world.

Once a U.S, college student told me a story about going on a trip to Ireland where she visited pubs with her new Irish friends. She was very impressed by how whenever one friend would smoke the friend would offer everyone there a cigarette. (This was back before smoking was outlawed in public places in Ireland.) Anyway, she'd happily accepted this gift and yet when she wanted to smoke she'd sort of sneak one out of her own pack without offering. She figured if people wanted to share that was their choice. She remembered thinking she'd go broke and have no cigarettes at all if she shared her meager supply so her behavior was logical to her then.

She soon found out that her new friends were miffed with her and thought she was quite selfish. She didn't understand that in a lot of culture, when people all share what they have then everybody gets something each and every time. But when one person plays by different "rules" it messes everything up. She valued individualism and then valued collectivism. It was an interesting story and lesson she shared.

I do see a beauty is collectivism. Some say the story of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes was really not a miracle of creating something from nothing, rather it was the miracle of inspiring everyone to open their coats which concealed their hidden treasures in order to share with everybody. I like that interpretation.

Perhaps this is why the idea of socialized medicine and universal health care appeal to me so much. We have so much wealth in our nation but so many have no access to any of it.

When I was a kid I rember going to Burger King and being shocked to notice that the same little container of milk like we got every day in our classroom for 2 cents cost 50 cents at Burger King. I was outraged! "Dad, look at this! What a rip off! Why are they charging so much money?" Dad explained to me that the 2 cents we paid at school every day was actually made available through subsidies. Burger King was charging what it really cost them (with I'm sure some profit) but without government subsidies, many children in our public schools could not have afforded their morning milk. This resonated with me.

I also remember my mom telling us that even people who didn't have kids paid for the school buses through their taxes. That was a new idea to me. I thought at the time that you'd only pay for the stuff that would benefit you personally. I think both of my parents helped me learn important lessons and I thank them both for that.

Susanne and I look forward to sharing things like this with our son too. A friend we know who is a Lutheran Pastor once told me that it's far better to see a sermon than to listen to one. Amen to that I say. -Monica

Awww...back to work I go soon...

Danny and Susanne and I have really had fun these past 3 weeks but now it's almost time for me to head back to work. I'm hoping to change my schedule to what we call and Alternate Work Schedule in the federal government so that every other week I'll get to have a day off. Of course this means working 9 hours instead of 8 most of the other days, but we think that having a 3 day weekend together every two weeks will be great.

Since my job in downtown DC is only about a 20 minute ride on the metro from our house (or a 15 minute drive) we have a great idea to have lunch all together downtown once a week. Hey...what about Monday? ;-)

Danny and I read "On the Day You Were Born" together for the first time yesterday. Although he looks completely immersed in my storytelling in this picture, we suspect that he was just trying to figure out a way to get the whole book into his mouth. ;-)

Alrighty then. Time to give my undivided attention to my little guy and my wonderful partner for a few more days. Have a great weekend everybody! -Monica

Oh the places we'll go!

Lest anyone think that the only thing we blog about any more is our little 2 week old son, rest assured that is not the case. As a matter of fact, today I will blog about some of the wonderful places that we will one day take Danny.

Hey Danny, your mama took this picture a year ago when we took a trip to Peru. It was taken in a beautiful convent in Arequipa called Santa Catalina. When you get a bit older you can even climb tall mountains and stuff. Yes, I think you'll like Peru!

And when your mama and I went to Europe in 2004 with our moms (AKA your grandmothers) we visited all the family in Germany of course, but also had great fun visiting Ireland. Maybe we'll go there again too. Wait til you see the Cliffs of Mohr! You think it's windy here in DC? Just you wait little guy!

Of course there are tons of places we haven't even been to yet. I guess we'll have to wait until the day comes that you can talk to us and you'll let us know where you want to go. And no Danny, the Good Humor Ice Cream Truck is not a country. ;-)

For Wendy

So yesterday Su and I took the baby to Su's workplace to meet her very excited co-workers. Always funny Wendy was at the front of the line to get to hold him and excitedly blurted out that "your blog is really interesting now that Daniel has come along!"

I proudly agreed that of course it was, and then found myself wondering how boring it really had been before ;-) She was sufficiently mortified by how her comment came out, so today's blog entry is dedicated to Wendy. Here's what it's all about. Adorable baby pictures! Heeeerrrreeeessssss....DANNY!!!!!


P.S. Special bonus pic of Grandpa and grandson sizing each other up.

Outstanding!

Top 5 things I'm grateful for today...

5. Danny is back to his birth weight and we don't have to wake him up in the night to make sure he's getting enough to stay hydrated. Apparently he is doing just fine in that regard.

4. Susanne has been making a remarkable recovery from her C-section. She's not even taking her pain medication any more can do just about everything (except lift heavy things and drive our clutch.) She's also losing her weight really rapidly as you can see in this photo--in fact she now weighs less than me. Again. (You go honey!)

3. SO FAR...we've not had any long crying jags to deal with. We know that this is a distinct possibility, but these first few weeks of adjustment have been really calm.

2. I'm grateful that the midwives at the DC Birth Center are awesome. Yes--I'll be eternally grateful for that.

1. Drumroll please... I'm beyond grateful for the fact that my beautiful wife Susanne and our son are both amazing, wonderful, lovely and healthy. Yes, I am grateful and blessed. -Monica

What a beautiful day!

It's about 9:00 in the morning here in DC and the weather is gorgeous. After enduring a stifling hot Friday and Saturday, things have cooled off considerably and it's now about 70 degrees and breezy. Ahhh... Danny is downstairs having a bite to eat with mama (ummm...perhaps I shouldn't use the word "bite" to describe the ingestion of nutrition by a 2 week old breast fed baby?)

Susanne and I are really enjoying this time we have home together with Danny. It's fun to sort of amble through our days slowly. Our flow of visitors has continued and this weekend friends Wilfredo and Paul who LOVE babies came and held Danny for about two hours and yesterday Su's best friend Rachel who she met in junior high stopped by after getting over her cold last week. She was lucky to catch him at his most alert and playful. What a baby! I keep thinking of the book Charlotte's Web. Some Baby! Terrific! We continue to be delighted by his funny faces and I've decided that when he looks at us, it's as though he is an "old soul" and has wisdom beyond his years (er...days).

On Sunday we took Danny on a little "Rainbow Tour" down the block and visited some neighbors. One couple who are both octogenarians regaled us with stories of taking care of babies (the husband was one of 16!) and overall it was a very fun outing. Our other neighbors have an almost two year old who is enthralled by Danny and our cat Harley. She just goes from one to the other alternately petting each and smiling!

Today we'll return to Danny's pediatrician's office to have a weigh in, and also follow up on his jaundice. Since he's been eating really well and, shall we say, expelling his body fluids quite regularly, we're pretty optimistic that his bilirubin count will be excellent.

So...until next time, I'm off to enjoy this marvelous day with my two favorite people! -Monica

Moonlight seranade

Little Danny didn' t even know yet that his uncle Paul is an amazing guitar player. Here Danny is treated to "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" which made him just relax into grandma's arms. Awwwww....

Family Fun

Little Danny is doing great and is currently being adored by grandma (Monica's side this time) and uncle Paul. They traveled in from MN yesterday for a brief stay. Grandpa (Su's side) will be in town today too. Yes, the adoration doesn't seem to end which is very nice.

Danny continues to delight us. Seems that from around 9 am - 11 am he's most awake and cracks us up with his explorations of the world around him (at least with his eyes). Yesterday we took him to a baby massage class which was very fun. Since Su is breastfeeding him we thought it might be fun for me to have my own special ritual with him and he seemed to love it. We focused on legs, feet and mostly tummies yesterday. The funniest part though was when the instructor had the parents all just undo the sides of their babies' diapers to do a gentle massage of their bums at the end and I got to thinking that the "oil" on my hand seemed really warm and runny. Oopps. It was also not oil if you get my drift ;-)

You've gotta love babies. We sure do! Su and I are SO blessed!!! -Monica

CJ makes a break for freedom...

So yesterday while I was hanging out on the couch with our little guy reading the paper I heard a "sort of loud" sound coming from the next room. I figured one of our cats had done something and as it turns out I was right. Seems the little birds on the first floor deck right outside the window were taunting CJ. We'd noticed the screen there was starting to tear just a little bit and would need repair at some point, but I never imagined our cat would burst though. I imagine she looked like a high school football player bursting on to the field running through a big banner.

As Danny and I pondered what the loud noise might have been I was soon distracted by his loveliness and it took another 5 minutes or so to wander into the next room with the baby. EGADS! I quickly called Su to hold the baby, corralled our big boy cat Harley to make sure he didn't also try to run out and soon got out the door onto the deck. CJ with her 5 minute long opportunity at freedom was just hanging out. I think she seemed glad to see me.

Whew... I told Danny he could expect plenty of antics from those two. Our little guy is now 9 days old and we've settled into a nice routine. Yesterday he even had his first trip to Target as we returned some duplicate gifts we'd gotten. He seemed awfully darn content. We even have a few photos to share now of Danny's First Week. Enjoy! The other thing we did in his first week was to take 5 seconds of video of him on the couch next to one of Su's old stuffed animals--a cute little bear. We'll repeat the 5 second clip every month (on the same tape obviously) and in about a year it will be fun to watch our "Watch Danny Grow" video. He is definitely dwarfed now by the bear. I wonder at what age he'll pass it up?

Anyway, I'm enjoying the 3 weeks that I've taken off work very much. Especially since Su is breastfeeding and gave birth to him, she has a bond with him that is unique and special (and a joy to watch). So I think this intensive amount of time he's been getting to know me in these first few weeks is important too. He definitely responds to my voice, ESPECIALLY my silly songs ;-) Have I mentioned how much we love our little boy? Have a great day everyone. -Monica

Our Little Blue Light Special

Little Danny seems to be quite a draw. Su’s mom is in town until tomorrow and then later in the week my mom and brother plan to fly in for a short visit. Oh… and you may be wondering how our cats are handling his arrival? CJ the little girl cat couldn’t be more aloof. She hasn’t gone anywhere near him. And Harley came over for a little sniff the first day we came home, but when Danny yawned Harley jumped back and raced out of the room. Now he likes to sit wherever Su is feeding Danny and sort of keep guard I guess. It’s all very cute!

Our Danny ended up having what a lot of babies have—jaundice. The word comes from the French word for yellow I believe, and basically it refers to the yellow color of the skin and the whites of the eyes caused by bilirubin in the blood.

Although it’s fairly common, it can be a concern if the bilirubin level gets too high so in addition to very regular feeding to increase hydration and help pass it from the body, often babies are treated with phototherapy - treatment with a special light (usually blue) that helps rid the body of the bilirubin by altering it or making it easier for the liver to get rid of it. We first noticed when Danny was 2 days old that he seemed to be getting a bit yellow and blood tests confirmed it. So…here is our little guy in his space-aged “bili bed” which the hospital had us use for the first 24 hours or so of treatment. (Cute pic huh? Think maybe he'll become an astronaut one day? His grandma thinks so ;-)

He later ended up in the nursery under even stronger lights except for when we had him out for his feedings. He handled being under the big lights without too much fuss and on Friday he got the green light to come home—yeah! Today we visited his pediatrician for the first time and according to her he’s looking great. He gained some weight which is great too! I’m in our living room on my laptop with Daniel right next to me swaddled tight and making faces like he’s blowing bubbles. Happy Day! -Monica

Crowding one week old already!

It’s hard to imagine one that a week ago today we were just having a regular old Sunday. We read the paper, went to church and for some reason decided that it would be great to go to a “greasy spoon” sort of restaurant to eat. We found a place on U street that totally fit the bill and ate a really great breakfast of eggs, hash browns, toast, bacon etc… Then all we had left for the day was a long-planned baby shower being thrown by our neighbor at 3:00.

Little did we know that Su’s bag of waters had already broken and that Danny would be with us before too long. Fortunately at 38 weeks a baby is considered full term so we were very excited to learn we'd meet our little guy sooner rather than later. Of course we had no idea that we’d have a son. We purposely did not find out the baby’s gender when we had our ultrasounds, but it just seemed that every old wives tale including the “ring on a chain dangled over the mama’s pregnant belly” pointed to us having a girl. So were we surprised? Yes. Were we disappointed? No way. It’s fantastic!

I’m not sure when Su will post the longer saga of Danny’s birth so I’ll let her do the honors, but I will let you all know that our natural birth plan at our local birth center went perfectly until the very last stage of labor. It’s a long story but we were transported to Washington Hospital Center where our baby was delivered via C-section. As Su mentioned earlier, it wasn’t the birth we imagined but the final outcome was more than we could ever have dreamed of! I think we are both still processing everything and have both been moved to tears at different times this week. They are tears of joy and gratefulness. We both feel SO blessed!

Danny has so far proven to be a sweet little guy. Maybe all parents believe that their babies are how shall I say?—perfect?—but really he’s amazing. I guess all newborns are intoxicating. All of our senses are so aware of every part of Danny. I really “get” that gazing at your baby for hours thing now. I love watching him watching us watching him. Sometimes for fun he'll open just one eye which makes us call him our little pirate "aaarrrggg!" He seems to love hearing us chatter and sing to him (when we are not cooing at him like love sick little morning doves!) He even smiles at times which is ADORABLE although I've been told this is just a wee bit of gas. No matter, he's freaking ADORABLE! He seems to disdain getting his diaper changed though. Like he thinks we're going to let that go if he complains enough? Funny little fellow eh?

As I write, Su and Danny are sleeping upstairs. We’ve been up every couple of hours with him and as much as I wish I could help Su with the feeding part, right now that’s not something I can do. (Not that it’s stopped our boy from trying to latch onto lots of parts of me! ;-) There will be plenty of time to help with feeding him expressed milk later. The breast feeding has been going great. The hardest part I think has been for Susanne to get moved into either a good sitting or lying position at times. Having the C-Section was major abdominal surgery and although she is healing well, it still really hurts to move in certain ways. This too will pass of course, but I’m just trying to do everything I can to help her get up or shifted properly. Gosh, one thing about hospital beds—they can really do that work for you!

Alrighty then I hear the family stirring upstairs. Time to go. I'm excellent at changing diapers and swaddling now. I wonder if I can put that on my resume? Have a great day everybody! –Monica

P.S. There really are more photos on the way, including some that feature his lovely dark hair!

If you're happy and you know it...

Su is going to publish a detailed account of the story of "birthing Danny", but for now we are happy to share a moment that makes us both smile. It's our family finally getting to go home from the hospital yesterday. That feels nice to say, "our family". Danny is the littlest one lest there is any confusion! ;-) -Monica

We're Home!!!

Finally! After a long week we were finally able to bring Danny home from the hospital on Friday afternoon and have now spent about 24 hours getting settled in. As we're sure you've noted from the picture, Danny is absolutely perfect, and we are SOOO happy to have him here with us. As you'll be guessing from the mention of "hospital" and the fact that it has taken us five days to write our next post, Danny's arrival and first few days weren't quite what we imagined they would be. I did start writing up the birth story and will try to post it shortly to fill you in on all of the details. For the moment though, let me just say again how grateful we are for Danny's healthy and happy arrival, for all of the fantastic well-wishes we've gotten from all our family and friends, and in particular how grateful I am for Monica and all of her love and support, her hard work and her great blog posts over the past week and over the past nine months! Thank you, honey! --Susanne

A picture's worth...well you know...

Daniel's vital statistics are: 6 lbs. 13 oz. -- 19.5 inches -- 100% adorable!

More to come later. -Monica

It's a Daniel!

Susanne and are delighted to announce the birth of our son Daniel who was born at 8:53 am EDT on May 28th! Our son is 6 lbs.13 oz and 19.5 inches tall and unbelievably gorgeous!!!

Pics and birth story to follow (whan we have time:-)
-Monica (and Susanne and Daniel)

Harley's two cents...

Hello there everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Harley--the handsome and rather large cat to the right in this photo. And I guess I should introduce our other cat CJ. She's the one hogging the camera lens here. We have the good fortune to live with Monica and Susanne and if they can remember to give us food and water and periodically clean our litter boxes, we are pretty happy cats. (What is up with Monica always cleaning out the litter box lately? This has been going on for months. And let's just say she's not as good at is as my wonderful Susanne is.)

Anyway, I'm writing today because I have this sense that something is "going on". I'm not sure what exactly, but I think Monica and Susanne will soon be bringing home some new kitten or something. They keep calling it a baby, but that's what they called CJ when she first came too.

Now, I have no problem with a little more company--I guess. Although… hmm….Monica has been home all day today (something about taking the day off) and I have to tell you it's been a bit annoying. Let's face it. Daytime is when I sleep, so today was nuts. Susanne came home for lunch too which is unusual (but since I LOVE her it was fine.) Then Monica spent the whole afternoon working on some mixed CDs. How can I say this? She stole my peace. I think she's going to bring them to the Birthing Center? (whatever that is.) And get this--she was getting all choked up making the CDs--it was really rather ridiculous. Again, I'm just a cat trying to catch a few zzzzz's here.

Truth be told, the only really positive thing I've experienced lately is that CJ and I now have bunk beds. Mo and Su call it a bassinet but hey, it’s got a top compartment and a bottom basket so as far as I’m concerned it’s just another great place to stretch out and sleep whenever I feel like it.

I wonder what this new kitten will be like? Oh…what am I worried about? How could they possibly love any other living being more than me??????? ;-) Have a really nice Memorial Day everyone. Say…any advice? My beloved Susi seems to have put on a few pounds (right around her middle like me) and I’m wondering if I should say something. Then again, look at me. Who am I to talk? Hasta luego! –Harley

Precious

For some reason lately when I get on the train I find myself looking at people’s faces trying to imagine what they would have looked like as a baby. Conversely I find myself wondering what our baby will look like when he/she is an adult. It’s sort of silly maybe because I don’t even know what our baby looks like yet, but I do find myself really looking at people in a different way.

I also think about how each person was once someone’s precious one. Am I too much of a Pollyanna? Do I believe that every baby born was treasured and wanted and loved by someone? I guess I do. At least I deeply hope so. -Monica

Multiply "Mom" by the power of two!

This is a picture of a card we got from our friend Stacey last week. We feel so...so...exponential! -Monica and Susanne!

Aber ich spreche nicht Deutsches!

We often joke that Susanne likes to create things and I like to maintain the things she creates. For example, our blog. Susanne figured everything out and designed what you see here today (and our archived Verizon site). She also added the "ticker" and the counter--things which would never have occurred to me. But when it comes to actually using the blog—that would be me.

You see after she’s had her creative fun she’s not so interested--she's off to new challenges. In addition to not posting on our blog very often, she’s also not as into reading other people’s blogs as I am. Truth be told she often doesn’t even read what I write figuring I’ll just tell her about it anyway (which I always do ;-)

So I was surprised last night when she started talking about a cool blog she’s been enjoying called Journey of a Co-Parent. It’s written by a couple in Germany who have an adorable little boy named Nicolas. One woman is Canadian and her partner is German. We periodically get “comments” from them on stuff we’ve written and I think that piqued Susanne’s interest.

So last night Susanne was asking me if I’d read Sarah and Bebe’s blog (which I had) where there was a great post with interesting comments on kids learning more than one language. We’ve been talking about the same issue for our baby who we hope can absorb German, English and Spanish so it was a timely topic. Forgetting for a moment that I don’t really understand German, Susanne began talking about some of the stuff on Bebe’s German language site, asking me if I’d read that too. It was really funny! Keep in mind now that I don’t speak much German at all, so it really cracked me up.

So…since we are both now such avid readers, at Su’s suggestion we’ve added their blog to our side bar. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Oh, and I just have to add that even though Susanne has biologically played a key role in creating the little life growing inside her, we’re going to “maintain” the baby together. Right honey? ;-) -Monica

Thank you...

First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to all who came to our baby shower yesterday. Our friend Emily hosted a WONDERFUL party, and we are thrilled with all of the delightful gifts which will ensure that our little son or daughter is well equipped to begin life outside of the amazing place he or she now calls home.

Sometimes I am in awe of how great our baby’s life already is. “En utero” must be such a warm, snug, comforting place. Do we all on some level yearn for that place? Seek it?

One of my favorite poets, Ibrahim Hafiz, explains my thoughts on this far better than I ever could.

We are
Like lutes
Once held by God.
Being away from his warm body
Fully explains
This
Constant
Yearning.

Baby, your life will be different once you’re out here with us--it's no womb out here in the world. Even so, we hope we can help you come to know that no matter where you are, you are still held by God--just like you are now. There is no warmer, snugger or more comforting place than that.

Love, your Moms

Anticipation...

When I was a kid one of my favorite times of year was Christmas. The day itself, but also the anticipation of what was to come. You see, in early December every year, a Sears and Roebuck catalog would arrive in the mail. It was very big and thick—hundreds of pages as I recall—and I can remember going through it page by page with my brothers and sisters.

There were guitars and drum sets and wagons and catcher’s mitts. Sears Toughskins jeans and bicycles and Candyland. A cornucopia of epicurean delights.

I would sort of glaze over and just imagine what life would be like with all of these treasures. (I sometimes have this same feeling when I look through the SkyMall magazine on airplanes).

I don’t think I became a conspicuous consumer. (Case in point, I’ve never actually bought anything from a SkyMall magazine.) We only got one or two things each anyway since there were so many of us and that was fine. And as I got older I began to really understand the “reason for the season”.

But I still love anticipation--like what we are experiencing now. Boy? Girl? Who knows? As far as I’m concerned our baby is a gift that will be like Christmas in June (or possibly May.)

Oh, and I loved Christmas Day as much as I loved dreaming about it. No matter what I got. Happy Friday everybody! -Monica

Happiness...

Happiness is—all the winter clothes already packed away until next year!

If I ever doubted the concept of “nesting” before, I’m a true believer now. I came home from a meeting last night to find my darling Susanne tuckered out, and completely surrounded by storage bins neatly packed with every sweater we own. Did I mention we usually get around to putting our winter stuff away in say, July?

Wow…this nesting thing may actually mean that our house will soon reach the very APEX of neatness and organization!

And, if my calculations are correct, we won’t see this neatness and organization again until approximately 2025. Bring it on little baby, bring it on! -Your loving mother, Monica

April flowers...;-)

Well, apparently April flowers bring May showers. At least when you have a baby on the way. Yesterday Susanne's wonderful friends at Bread for the City threw us a shower and I think they managed to buy us everything on our Target registry. Well...almost everything. Thanks you guys. For the presents, and Susanne's favorite peanut butter chocolate treat. Mmmmmm...we'll be treating ourselves to little snacks for days to come!

We have 3 more showers coming up in the next few weeks. Believe me. It sure seems more and more real that a little baby will soon be with us.

Today I'm in a class all day (and typing this while on a break.) Guess I'll write more later. Have a great day! -Monica

Just the way it is

For those of you not familiar with the concept of lesbian families giving birth to babies, I'd like to point out an interesting fact. Those of us who are the non-biological moms have to adopt our children. Now I suppose I should just be grateful that the District of Columbia allows for second parent adoption (not all states do.) But jeez!

We have to get letters of support from friends to "sing my praises" and try and articulate why I should be allowed to legally adopt my child. Then we'll have to submit to a homestudy before a judge will rule on my worthiness to adopt this child whom I've loved since before it was conceived. It seem almost ironic that if Su were raising the baby alone or with a man the baby would live in the exact same house. But since I'm in the picture we have to be scrutinized. To me this makes no sense at all.

And...if a straight woman is married to a man and gets pregnant, the baby is his in the eyes of the law. It's not about who the "father" is (could be the milkman right?) The child is the son or daughter of the spouse. So since I can't be a legally married spouse, I have to be scrutinzed for my worthiness to parent my son or daughter. (Did I mention that adoption cost a boatload of money too???)

I bet there are plenty of homes in this country where there are "legal" moms and dads who would not look very impressive were social workers to come and check things out. Who wouldn't look like they could be very good providers if a judge reviewed their finances. Heck who don't even really want to be parents but they are.

When, God willing, our child can be legally connected to me, he or she will benefit there is no doubt. We can travel without my having to carry papers to prove it. All legal questions of order of precedence etc...will be unquestioned. I can use benefits from my job that will be better than the ones Su has available to her. It's all good for our baby.

Until that time, I guess in the eyes of our society I'm just that woman who lives with Susanne who is going to help out a lot with the baby. Yes, something is not quite right with this picture. Think about that the next time you get to vote on legalizing gay marriage. Go figure. -Monica

Top 5 for May 2007

Top 5 things I think about when I'm having trouble sleeping lately. I've actually been sleeping pretty well, but once in a while...


5. That either Su or the baby would not be okay. I’m sure I’m in good company with this fear, as I can’t imagine any partner not having some trepidation about this. No sense wasting energy on this. Whatever happens, happens. We've controlled for everything we can, so in the off, off chance there is a problem, we’ll learn all we can and move forward from there.

4. That life will now always required lugging more stuff. Hey…I’m the one who went to Peace Corps for two years with two small duffel bags and a backpack. Every thing I owned once fit in my old Ford Escort when I moved from St. Paul to Boston to start grad school. Su and I have traveled to Europe and South America with one bag each. I think having the baby with us will require perpetual lugging for a long time to come. Just something I think about.

3. That the daily routines I so love will no longer be. A calm hour of coffee and the Washington Post before I have to even think about getting ready for work. Weekend drives with just me and Su doing errands, chatting about nothing, making impromptu decisions to change our plans and do something else. Might be a little harder with the baby.

2. That I will be so in love with my son or daughter that I’m going to HATE ever going back to work. That 3 weeks I'll take off will fly I'm sure.

1. That Su and I are going to be a great team! We both have different strengths and personalities and together I think we will be pretty darn good at making sure our baby has a beautiful life. Now if we can only make sure that Harley and CJ are good team players too ;-)

-Monica

Taking Care of Business

Susanne and I had a lovely visit last night with Mikki and Kelly and their beautiful little girl Bailey. We learned that the trick to having a calm and sweet infant, is to invite people over. The whole time we were there (and a few other friends also came by) Bailey slept, well, like a baby. She was awake when we first arrived and perked up as we were leaving, but she didn't really cry a peep (just slept and cooed and smiled) for the whole 2 hours of our visit. As you will learn on Mikki and Kelly's blog, apparently one week old Bailey reserves her real crying for the middle of the night. ;-) Congrats again ladies. She's precious!

So...I thought I'd share something that I find fascinating. My fabulous wife is probably the most adaptable person I've ever known. She's almost 36 weeks pregnant (and glowing by the way) and when she can't bend down to pick up a small item up, she simply uses her toes like one would use a trash picker upper and nimbly puts the items wherever she wants. Case in point--this morning we were getting our dirty clothes all together to be washed and several stray socks were retrieved in the manner described above. Su's really not had any balance problems thus far either so it's actually sort of amazing to see her "take care of business" with such ease.

That's my Susi. Ever resourceful AND agile. Gotta love her! -Monica

Time Clocks... (are there any other kind?)

Can it really be May 9th already? It seems like every day lately is filled with fun things to do--errands to run and appointments to make. Everyone says that Su and I should just savor these last few weeks while awaiting the arrival of our baby, and I guess I can honestly say we are. Tonight we'll meet Kelly and Mikki's daughter and later this week friend's Lara and Rob's new son Toby. Later this week we've got a ball game and dinner with a former boss of mine who we adore. Oh heck. There's more stuff too, but the point is we are having fun!

It's funny. I was just thinking this morning about the fact that I never remember thinking I had a "biological time clock" ticking inside of me. I spent most of my adult life figuring that I just must not be meant to get married and have children. I couldn't imagine that life. Of course it took me until my really late 30s to figure out that the reason I couldn’t imagine that kind of life was that I wasn't really attracted to guys. So the white picket fences and the Bluebirds of Happiness flying around seemed like someone else's story.

My story was being alone, flying off to distant lands to work (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba). Don't get me wrong. I've always loved children and I figured if it was God's will, then someday I would raise children. I just didn’t know what that would look like.

Then I met Susanne and my whole world changed. As we said in our wedding vows “you have filled my world with meaning—you have made me so happy, and I treasure the magic that is you.” I thank God EVERY DAY for my precious wife. How did I get so lucky?

So about that picket fence. Well, we don't have a white picket fence but we’ve got something better. We live in a lovely house surrounded by bamboo and flowers and sweet dear neighbors.

As an example, Mrs. P, an elderly neighbor originally from the Caribbean lives a few houses down, who when the weather is nice, we see all the time tending to her lovely garden. Mrs. P. always wishes us a blessed day and when she sees one of us without the other she ALWAYS asks “where’s your lady today sweetheart?” It’s so dear. And she’s just one of so many neighbors on our little cul-de-sac that make us feel part of a family. A diverse, energetic, supportive and loving family. I guess this is the my proverbial white picket fence I never knew I could have. A "fence" of people who make us feel safe and protected but also add such beauty to our existence. Yes, we love this white picket fence of humanity we're surrounded by.

And as for Bluebirds of Happiness? They are right outside our window. Along with the cardinals and other birdies. Just ask our cats. They love to “chat/chatter” with them all day long. ;-)

So, I guess officially now my biological time clock IS ticking. It's like a whole new "us" is going to be born soon too. A lot will be different, but a lot will probably still be the same. I’m sure, for example, that our lives will still be filled with lots of cheese. Come what may. So come on little baby...when you’re ready we can’t wait to meet you!!!! (There’s cheese out here!) I predict our child will love Wallace and Gromit!!!! -Monica

Danny's First Year

Danny's 12th Month
Danny's 11th Month
Danny's 10th Month
Danny's 9th Month
Danny's 8th Month
Danny's 7th Month
Danny's 6th Month
Danny's 5th Month
Danny's 4th Month
Danny's Baptism Day
Danny's 3rd Month
Danny's 2nd Month
Danny's 1st Month
Danny's 1st Week

Another milestone

We found out about a year ago that our friends Em and Zach were going to get married on “Cinco de Mayo” '07. They’d decided on Kansas for a location (where they's met at KU) and when we found out we were due in June, we let them know that we’d be there. Unless we couldn't. It just seemed very far off in the future back then.

So this weekend we had a wonderful time in Lawrence, KS. The wedding was beautiful and tons of fun and Susanne traveled with no problem at almost 35 weeks (the direct flight from DC to KS was about 2 hours). So anyway, when we arrived home last night I suddenly realized that this trip was the last big milestone before the baby will arrive. From here on out we'll be traveling for at least 3!

And since babies can arrive at week 37 and be considered full term, it is possible that in just a short two weeks we could be moms!!! We think it would be better for the baby to stay in a bit longer (well maybe I should speak for myself—I’m not the one gestating our little one!) But we guess it would be a good idea to get prepared just in case the baby makes an early appearance. We are not worried about being prepared to welcome the baby, more we are thinking about being prepared to transition our work over to others. I'm only going to be out for 3 weeks while Su will take off 6 months. She's been working a long time to get her team ready to carry on without her but is anyone really ever ready? I guess we both just realized that we should clean or desks up a bit and start getting things in better order.

We spent some time at thrift shops and bookstores this weekend while in KS and picked up a book that was highly recommended to us by our Birthworks instructor. It’s called “The Happiest Baby on the Block” by Dr. Harvey Karp.

It was really neat and the author believes that babies in their first three months really need what he calls a 4th trimester. It’s an easy to read book where he talks about the value of swaddling, jiggling and making shushing noises (among other things) to help calm a baby down. Apparently there is a calming reflex that can be activated with the right tricks. The idea is to replicate some womb experiences to help kids feel soothed. We really liked it and I fully intend to practice swaddling with an old cabbage patch doll of Su’s (umm…I wasn’t really into Cabbage Patch dolls myself as a kid). Apparently neither of our cats seem like they’d be into my experimenting, so I’ll just try it out on the doll ;-)

Alrighty then. Back to my “to do” list that has 20 tasks on it still. And I really think I’m ready to be off work for several weeks in the near future????? -Monica

Welcome Bailey!

Congratulations to our friends Mikki and Kelly who became the proud mothers of Bailey yesterday (check out Our Little Honey) We are both very excited for our friends whom we met when we all took a class called Maybe Baby, to learn all about options for lesbian women to become moms. Again, congratulations you two. Can't wait to meet our baby's little friend ;-)

Susanne is now heading toward week 35 and we are starting to think we should get a bag packed or something. At 37 weeks one is considered full term and some people have babies even before 37 weeks so we are getting more excited about the impending arrival of our little sugar pie. The baby is still kicking away and on Tuesday had a heart beat of 14o which is quite in the normal range. Susanne has continued to see that chiropractor and is sleeping better at night.

Work has been really busy for both of us and tomorrow we leaving on a jet plane to go to a friend's wedding. Su can still fly without needing any special doctor's permission up until 36 weeks so we'll be okay. Alrighty then--Onward and upward. -Monica

On the road...

Greetings from beautiful Williamsburg, VA. I am attending a conference for work, and although it's been for the most part a bit ho hum, I did get really excited about a presentation I saw from one of the top IT folks at Adobe. He talked about a next generation of internet where the we'll be able to do tasks with wizards (like we can do now) but the interface will look a lot more like our desktops with draggable folders etc... So for example if you were on a website trying to find out if you were elegible for certain benefits, the more questions you answered, the platform would narrow down the programs you could apply for and display folders. With one click you'd be applying and scheduling meetings with case managers. (It really is the stuff of science fiction in that regard ;-) But I love stuff like that. Coming up with ideas that really help people accomplish their tasks online. It's just that creative part of me I guess.

Of course being away for a few days on a trip like this has its fun side, but in all honesty I HATE being away from my sweetie. I've been glued to my cell phone for the last two days on the off, off chance that Susanne might need me to come back right away (I think all expectant parents go through this.) We are 7 short weeks away from our due date, and although the chances are slim that a problem could arise, I am ready to jump in the car and be back to DC in less than 3 hours.

I just got off the phone with my lovely wife however and all is fine. Tomorrow I will be back in town and all will be right with the world again. Also our friends Mikki and Kelly are at the hospital now and will welcome their daughter Bailey into the world soon. We have the honor of "guest" posting their happy news when we hear from them.

So...here's a whole lot of positive energy to Our Little Honey!!!! -Monica and Susanne

abc@defghi.jkl

Remember in the old days (like 10 years ago) when companies would start out small and give employees e-mail addresses like sue@coolcompany.org? Then they’d hire another Sue. Then there would be Sue1 and Sue2 and then Sue3…hmmm…soon there were problems. So they’d have to totally revamp the e-mail system to add last names which meant you had to tell all your business contacts your new info. There weren’t even aliases so the “bad” old address would get forwarded to your new address. Fun!

So the new protocol was “first initial.lastname@...” This also presented problems when the organization got too big. Because even though they'd make you start being 1, 2 and 3 etc...again, no one rememberd that and they'd just type in the persons first initial and last name and send, send, send. When I worked for an international organization there was a country director working half way around the world who had my same first initial and last name, and let me tell you, I got some e-mails that were really meant for that guy’s eyes only. Confidential stuff that his volunteers really thought they were sending to him. I’d of course forward them on to him, but it was really not cool at all.

Also then if someone was named Cindy Hill she’d end up with an address like chill@xyz.com. Sam Tinker would be stinker@xyz.com, or true story, my friend whose first name started with a “B” with last name Allgood became Ballgood@xyz.com. Needless to say she REALLY, REALLY didn’t like that. Anybody else have any funny ones?

I wonder if one day we’ll just look in a camera and think of the person we want to send an e-mail to, and it will magically get to them.? Or, what the heck, skip the writing the e-mail part. Yeah, I’m looking forward to the future. ;-) -Monica

New traditions waiting to be born...

I was thinking this morning about all of the fun ways that family traditions from both my family and Susanne’s family will come together for our baby. I guess that’s the way it usually is with families but since I’ve never been a parent before I’d never really thought much about it until today.

When Su was a child, on her birthday she always had a present waiting for her on the breakfast table on that special day. There was cake and other stuff later too, but that was her fondest memory. What a neat idea—I can’t think of a better way to start a birthday!

For me, my favorite birthday memory was that the birthday kid (there were 7 of us) would get to go to Snyder’s Drug store with our dad on our birthdays, after he got home from work. I think there was some sort of price limit ($5.00?) or something, but we could pick out whatever we wanted from the toy aisle within that limit. Being one of so many, it really was a treat to get to ride with JUST dad (ie…no other kids) all the way to the next town over and then experience the rapture of picking out whatever we wanted. That trip to Snyder’s will always be a wonderful memory for me.

Since there were 9 total people with mom and dad, square Pepperidge Farm cakes which very easily cut into 9 equal pieces, were also a part of our tradition. The birthday kid got to pick the flavor. Chocolate with chocolate frosting. Some things never change ;-)

So, I think our baby is going to luck out. A breakfast surprise AND the special trip to the store. And just because our baby will have two moms rather than a mom and a dad? Doesn’t seem to be a deal breaker as far as I can tell. We’ll ask the baby in a few years okay? Have a great day everybody. -Monica

Brought to you by the letter "e"

Greetings friends and family. Hope it’s a nice day wherever you are. Here in DC it’s a gorgeous day. 70 degrees and sunny. Today Susanne and I went to the Birthing Center for a checkup and she is officially 33 weeks pregnant! Everything was fine at this morning’s visit and it won’t be too much longer before we become parents. We can’t wait!

Su is finally getting some relief from the hip pain she’s been experiencing at night. She’s gone to a chiropractor several times now who is specially trained to work with pregnant women. The doc also has 5 children of her own so that give her a bit of credibility right there too ;-) The first recommendation was to get a wedge pillow to support Su's belly while laying on her side. That has helped a lot, as have some of the other stretches and manipulations.

The best trick Su has discovered through, is laying on her side and letting her top leg drop off the side of the bed a little bit. She really can’t roll off, but this position stretches her hip right where she needs it. Here’s to sleeping through the night! (Well almost through the night. Nature does call you know—and not just for the pregnant one ;-)

Let’s see? What else is new? Um…the letter “e” on my keyboard is fading away. I find this interesting as all the other letters look fine. Do I use the “e” so much more than the other letters? Do I strike it particularly savagely? Hmmm…?

Did you know that the keyboard that we all know and love today could be much more efficiently laid out? Instead of typing 70 wpm we could all type 150. But will we learn the new system? No way. We like the way we do it now. Do you know why the letters are located where they are on keyboards? You see, back in the old days when you’d type, a metal rod with the letter embossed on it would rise up and strike the paper. (There was messy ribbon involved too.) Anyway, often these rods would get jammed up and you’d have to stop and “unstick” them to continue typing. So someone figured out the most commonly used letters and placed them strategically so that they’d be coming from the ends of the typewriter rather then the center which caused fewer letter collisions. This was like 100 years ago (I’m guessing on that number).

Again, if we would be open to learning a new way to type, we could be much more efficient. Of course if we in the U.S. were really open to being efficient, we’d use the metric system too. Just another example of doing things the way we always have.

On the bright side, even if my letter “e” fades away to nothing, my brain still knows exactly where it is ;-) -Monica

Baby Shower Fun

Well this weekend Susanne and I were delighted be treated to a baby shower by our friends Bob and Nancy. They invited a circle of friends whom I'd met about 6 years ago when I participated in a group called Always Our Children at a local Catholic Church. Most of the people in the group were parents of gay children and came every month to talk about their experiences and feelings and to talk about ways to deal with the Church's attitude toward homosexuality. Although most were parents of gay children a few of us were gay adults and it was a wonderful forum to talk and process what we were all going through.

I came to treasure these wonderful people--they loved their children so tremendously and yet really needed to reconcile what they'd always learned about homosexuality with what was going on in their children's lives. They say that when a parent finds out their child is gay, they often go through stages of grief. They have suffered the death of the dreams they had always had for their kids and are terrified for their well-being, safety, and sometimes for their immortal souls. So these folks had some difficult things to deal with and I consider their kids exceptionally lucky that their parents worked through their feelings and have always embraced their kids even when it was hard to do so.

I got involved in the group because a gay friend who worked with me attended the group, and encouraged me to go too. I'd realized I was gay, but was really frustrated by my church who wanted me to be who God created me to be, but couldn't accept that that could mean being gay. I was angry at my church's discounting of who I was, and being able to share with these wonderful people helped me tremendously. (I've since left the Catholic Church and Su and I are members of a very affirming Lutheran Church now.

When I met Susanne my Always Our Children friends were thrilled. And yesterday to be surrounded by such genuine love while holding the hand of my beautiful, pregnant wife I felt so peaceful. We heard what was going on with all of their children--both their gay and straight children. They got us wonderful gifts of toys and clothes for our child and I guess I found myself wishing that all gay people could experience what we did yesterday. We'll see them all again at our baby's baptism and I know that the light they shared with us yesterday will be with us again then.

On a different note, I'd meant to blog about a funny thing from last week. We were on our flight to Minnesota and two 12 or 13 year old girls were in the seats across the aisle from us. They had a laptop computer and a word document open with a pretty large font. They SILENTLY had conversation the entire trip. One would type then turn the computer to the other and she would reply--in writing. They were both really fast and accurate typists by the way and we could easily see what they were writing. Stuff like

"Who do you think Rachel should go out with? Tom or Teddy? I see her more with Teddy because he likes to go out and do stuff and Tom is just too lazy I think. Do you want to get ice cream when we land? I luv the rocky road stuff."

It was hysterical. They even wrote LOL for Laughing out Loud which you'd think might make them actually laugh out loud, but it didn't. Yes, we are definitely looking forward to those 'tween years. Oh my gosh, I just LOLed. Out Loud. Really! ;-) -Monica

Experiments are good

Hmm...can you put a chart into blogger? I'm thinking of setting up a site to keep all my Peace Corps buddies appraised as to who is coming to our reunion this summer and thought a chart would be perfect. Let's see....


This chart is a test

If I can copy and paste


I want to see





Into Blogger

Ummm....obviously my experiment was sort of a failure. Onward and upward. I'll make lists instead! -Monica

And we're back...

We had a good time in Minnesota. Fun with family, wonderful music (my sister’s Sweet Adeline quartet AND the fabulous Celtic Woman) and a chance to meet little Johanna who is my niece’s 3 week old daughter. She’s a cutie pie and seeing and holding her makes me even more excited to soon become a mom!

Su handled the flying very well though we are glad we planned a direct flight rather than one of our typical budget-shopping multiple-leg flights. We’ll fly once more to our friend Emily’s wedding in Kansas in early May and after that we’ll be traveling for three! (If we think we have to pack a lot of stuff now...well...)

We were home with my mom the day that the horrific murders happened at Virginia Tech, glued to the TV. What a nightmare. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be there. I have lots of other thoughts on the media "armchair quarterbacks" and our health care system particularly in regard to mental health, and gun laws, but I think I'll keep them to myself right now.

I pray for peace for the victims of these senseless murders and for the family of the murderer who I'm guessing could never have imagined this. Who in his right mind could? -Monica

Pretty as a Picture...

Well I just had to post this picture. You may have noticed that we don't put many pictures of ourselves up, but I figured this one would serve the dual purpose of showing off how beautiful my wife is, AND showing the adoration of Harley the wondercat.

So even though some might say the bright glow about his eyes comes from the reflection of his name tag as the sun strikes it just so, I disagree. I swear so Harley reminds me more of a dog than a cat in the way that he adores her. There is no "aloof" in this cat when she is in the room.

I think Susanne looks beautiful in this picture. A couple of weeks have gone by since I took it, so our baby is dominating the spotlight even more now. It's truly a beautiful thing to witness.

Let's see? What else? Oh right. We were watching the Nationals game last night on TV (they actually won!) and at one point the announcer mentioned that some guy was on the DL.

Now I've followed baseball for a long time, so I know all about the Disabled List, but I've got to say, for a split second I thought that the announcer was saying that this guy was on the Down Low. And I swear I don't watch very much Oprah or Dr. Phil!

Have a great weekend everyone. -Monica

Celtic Women

Our dear mother turned 75 this month and my two sisters have done a marvelous job of making sure that it's a birthday to remember. Months ago Alice had the idea of getting tickets to go see Celtic Women performing live. Mom LOVES them and has only seen them on TV.

This plan soon morphed into me and Susanne traveling to join the fun, so next week basically a whole bunch of Celtic Women will go see the Celtic Women. My sister Mary and her eldest daughter have seen to all of the dinner plans before the show and it sounds like it's going to be a fabulous night.

For those of you who don't know about the Celtic Women, here is what Wikipedia says:

Celtic Woman is a musical ensemble comprised of five Irish and one New Zealand female. The group's repertoire ranges from traditional Celtic tunes to modern songs. To date, the group has released three albums, Celtic Woman, Celtic Woman: A Christmas Celebration and Celtic Woman: A New Journey, and have undertaken a number of world tours. The foundation for Celtic music's popularity outside of Ireland and Europe was previously set by artists Enya and Clannad, along with stage shows Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. To this end, Celtic Woman has been referred to as "Riverdance for the voice".

Get ready to dance ma--with your voice that is ;-) Happy Birthday Mom. See you soon! -M

P.S. And we get to see two week old little Jojo!

Ode to Harley

Take special note of the the fear of vacuum cleaners. And the barf gland. And the adoration of just one spot on the bed. And...

Hallo!

When I went to Guatemala in 1987 as a Peace Corps Volunteer I couldn’t really speak any Spanish. It was pretty painful, but after three months of intensive language training I headed out to the little town of Quezaltepeque and was able to ask things like “where is the bathroom?” and “how much does that food cost?” You know, the basics. It definitely got better over the two years I was there, but I remember how hard it was to learn.

So now flash ahead to 2007. My wonderful partner Susanne is gifted at foreign languages. In addition to speaking fluent Spanish (when we went to Guate a few years ago she was mistaken as being Guatemalan once—I am comforted by the fact that it must have been her dark hair that fooled them while my red hair was a dead give-away that I was not really Guatemalan. Oh and her Spanish is excellent while mine is now sort of good.)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Susanne is also a native German speaker. When she was three her family moved to the U.S., so in reality she’s a native speaker of English too, but when she talks with her family it’s pretty much in German. In fact when we are in Germany, it’s assumed she is a local based on how fluent she is. But I’m not jealous of her adeptness at language. Definitely not. ;-)

So since we met, I’ve been immersed—sort of—in German. I hear her end of the phone conversation and can usually tell the story she is telling because I caught one word of it. And I can say endearing things like “good morning my little sleepy hat!” (yes they say “hat” not “head”. So cute.) But I’m always asking how to say things and Susanne is forever patiently explaining AGAIN, how to say what I asked her about last week AGAIN. I think my brain may be full.

So…our thought is that our baby will learn Spanish and German and English. And if that’s the case I’m going to have to get better at German. So I’m trying out a few new phrases. But Susanne’s not cooperating in teaching me how to say them. For instance… “your turn honey” or “the baby’s crying honey”, or that old standby, “what? I can’t hear you honey!”

Maybe our child will teach me in a few years! Guten Tag jeder. ( I love Babel Fish!)

Springtime is in the air...

Well, we survived the super cold temperatures at the baseball game on Friday night, but our poor Nationals are abysmal this year. It's still fun to go to the games though.

Today we had an orientation to the new birthing center where we'll be giving birth, and one thing they do which is kind of neat is group the families who are all expecing at the same time into sort of communal meetings. Each pregnant woman has her regular visit a Certified Nurse Midwife, but then everyone gets together to discuss what's going on. We both really like this concept and it's neat to form connections with others who are in the same time frame that you're in. Today was a general orientation so the people we met today are all due at different times (it was a first visit for all), but from now on we'll be with other June moms. Fun.

Spring is really trying to spring here in DC. the leaves are green, the flowers are in bloom. It's just really, really cold. Hopefully this will get better very soon. Alrighty then. Back to whatever it was I was doing. Onward and upward!

P.S. Happy Birthday Grandma!

To Do...

1. Find a new birthing center. Check.
2. Post something to our blog. Check.
3. Have a nice Easter weekend with my family (Susanne and baby.) Will do.

So I heard someone this morning say they had a 2 month old. Does that mean I can start saying I have a – 2 month old? (Or does that just sound like I have a 2 month old who is sort of negative? ;-) Maybe it sounds better if I say it aloud? "I have a minus 2 month old!" No. Not gonna work. Grrrr...

We toured a local birthing center yesterday and are pleased with what we saw and learned. Looks like that loose end is tied up which is quite a relief.

In a few hours we’ll be heading to the Washington Nationals baseball game. Weather predictions are for rain and snow showers this evening. Cold. Low 28F. Winds N 5-10 mph. Chance of precipitation 80%. It might be fun. We might be the only ones there! Happy Easter everyone! -M

P.S. What are the odds that a St. Bernard will come through the stadium with hot chocolate?

Skoal!

I was reading an article in the Washington Post about a local 97 year old who decided that it was time to get the high school class ring she’d always wanted. Yes, you read that right. She's 97 and graduated in 1937. It’s a really sweet article, and I was thinking about when I graduated from high school I didn’t really care about getting a class ring, but what I really loved was my kelly green letter jacket.

Gosh, I loved that coat. It had all kinds of emblems and stuff on it and as the years went by I could add new things like additional letters for sports and stuff like “choir” (yes we could add our choir patches.)

This all made me think of how funny it would be if federal agencies were like high schools. Employees could get letter jackets and affix stuff to like their credentials or performance appraisals scores. Can you imagine? Hey there? I see you are CISCO certified. Dude!

Of course each agency would have to have a mascot too. I think NASA could be the Astros and the USDA the Packers. NOAA would be the Hurricanes and the FAA would of course be the Flyers. Hmmm...the DOT Racers? The U.S. Fire Administration Flames? Should I really go on? Have a nice day y’all! -M

The sociology of a bit of cloth

Dinner with friends M&K last night was delightful as always (although a bit stressful for my sweetie trying to get through DC traffic on "peak Cherry Blossom day". ) But once we were all together we engaged in nonstop laughing. Then this morning I got to sleep in a bit. I had to report for jury duty you see and was very excited to be excused very early on without having to even go before the judge for selection like last time. What a relief!

If you're wondering why I've posted the picture I have here, it's because when I was on the train today I found myself staring at and thinking about the ties men wear. I wrote yesterday about dressing little boys up in suits and so today I got to thinking about the utility (or lack thereof) of ties today.

I've decided that since men tend to be stuck in a uniform (at least if they work in offices in places like DC) their tie is sort of the last resort for adding creativity and style. But I also think that ties for men are kind of like the breast feathers on male birds. They broadcast something--men actually seem to preen at times as they adjust their ties before speaking.

I worked with two men in my agency who were fairly senior level. One, whom I'll call Jim, spent a ton of money on his clothes and wore things like braces (never ever call them suspenders.) His buddy George on the other hand bought his clothes at a department store off the rack (apparently this was unfathomable to Jim). Anyway, someone once commented that Jim spent more on his ties than George spent on his suits. The funny thing was that they were both offended but for different reasons. Too funny.

There was a commercial for the Washington Post "personals" a few years ago where a man and a woman end up at her door after what appeared to be a successful first date. She seductively grabs his tie to pull him closer for a kiss. But alas...it was a clip on and it snapped off in her hands. You should have seen the look of horror as she turned and fled. Again, I guess there must be something in men's ties that broadcast something.

I actually learned how to tie a man's tie when I was a kid. I rememeber watching my dad put his on every day and it seemed pretty easy so I asked him to show me. I practiced it a few times and I realized it was easy. I've never worn a tie--I apparently avoided Madonna and Cyndi Lauper for that week in the 1980s although I think that there is photographic evidence that I did have an ascot in 4th grade.

But on the day of my dad's funeral nearly 5 years ago, my youngest brother admitted to me that he didn't know how to tie a tie. He's always worked with his hands and just somehow avoided having to ever wear one. I took the tie he'd borrowed and put it around my neck to get it started, then put it over his to make it fit right. Neil looked so grown up and handsome. It was quite touching for me I could almost picture my dad watching this whole scene. Of course that might have been just the tears that we were both crying.

So in review. I don't really understand why men have to wear ties. I do think they can look really nice, though but I'm sure that I'd sure hate to wear one every day. And lastly, "preen" is a really funny word. -Monica

Our little…

Susanne and I were talking this morning about how little boys and little girls are socialized so differently in our society. Think about how little boy outfits are all about sports or trucks while little girls outfits are more along the lines of Strawberry Shortcake and Barbie.

“Snips and snails and puppy dog tails” are what little boys are made of while little girls are made of "sugar and spice and everything nice." Or so they say...

I was thinking about the phrase “my little man”. You hear this often enough especially when someone has dressed a little boy in a miniature coat and tie or other such "adult" clothes. It sounds so cute to make him into our little man. With girls? When dressed up we may call her “my little lady” (which sort of seems so prim and Victorian) but never “my little woman.” Is it because if a little girl dresses like an adult she is sexualized, but if a boy dresses like an adult he is not?

Hmmm….I’ll have to think more about this. I'd like to think that we’ll raise either a son or a daughter in the same way, but I’m not sure that is possible. And what is a snip? I should definitely find out if we end up with a boy right ;-) -M

Wahoo!

Today is April 2, 2007 and I have at least 5 reasons to be grateful.

5. Friend Jill sent us the CUTEST little colorful ladybug mobile for the baby's crib. It's perfect in the nursery!
4. It's opening day for the Nationals (and 75 degrees and sunshine!) We'll be there.
3. After the game a bunch of us are barbequing!
2. The baby was making us both laugh last night as he or she seemed to demand to find out what was so funny on America's Funniest Home Videos. The question came in form of little kicks!
1. My sweet Susanne is feeling much better--seems like her cold is just about over. Wahoo!!!

P.S. The pic above is of RFK stadium and our seats are right about here on the third base line. Play ball!