Danny's 2 Months Old! Oh, Happy Day!

Congratulations Neighbors!!!!!

Welcome to the world little Calla! We are so excited for our dear neighbors who gave birth yesteday to a gorgeous little girl. Calla weighed in a bit over 9 pounds so it was fun to see her next to 2-month old Danny. They look about the same size, but oh how precious the sights, sounds and touch of a newborn! Susanne and I both marveled at how soft and sweet she was. Awwwww.... (don't worry Danny, you're still precious too ;-)

Calla's older sister Josie who is almost 2 now, was born 3 weeks early, while Calla came a week late. What a difference a month makes. Dad remarked that it took Josie 3 months to weigh what her sister did at birth. Whew!

Josie is going to love having a baby sister--once she gets used to it. Congrats again neighbors. Ya done good!!!!! -Monica and Susanne and Danny

Vanity of Vanities

So we all have veins, but are we all vein about our veins? Good question. As a redhead with rather fair skin, I’ve managed to stay pretty pasty white throughout the years, and about 10 years ago, I noticed some insidious blue spider-like veins on both my legs. So whenever I’d sit down in shorts, in my “oh so ladylike” crossed-legged position, I was constantly reminded that I have insidious blue spider-like veins.

Ten years ago I decided that this just wouldn’t do, and I met with a dermatologist who specialized in laser and sclera therapies. He zapped those little capillaries with a laser and true to his word, the ones he zapped never came back. But he did mention that new ones might someday make an appearance. Apparently these veins and capillaries aren’t really functional anymore anyway, and by treating them you destroy them and your body gleefully swooshes them away over time.

Fast forward to now. Yes, for a while now I’ve been aware that my new “little buddies” have made themselves at home in pretty much the same places as my spider veins of old. So, cleverly remembering my doctor’s name, I contacted his office and went for a consultation today.

He recommended the sclera therapy (saline injections) this time for a few reasons (more veins than capillaries involved this time around) and I got to watch him put the solution in. This was very different than having a laser trace the vessels to sort of “burn” the underlying tissues. It was AMAZING. The network of dark purple blood vessels magically disappeared before my eyes, as the injected solution traveled much like water spreading through the roots of a tree.

They haven’t disappeared permanently yet though. My body will have to heal and flush out the now destroyed vessels, so in a month or so I should see real improvement. Right now it just looks like a whole network of bruises. But for those magical moments the purple lines were filled with clear solution--it was SO cathartic. It’s not cheap however and most definitely my insurance doesn’t cover it. But Susanne and I decided that if this bit of cosmetic surgery would make me feel better, than once every 10 years of so we can go for it.

I don’t think I’m too vein really (you should see my wardrobe and my messy hair most days.) But in this case I think that I liked that I could do something about an issue that bothered me. I can’t make my darn knees stop their creaking when I bend them, but I can make those spider veins go away. I can’t control that I’m always going to be a lot older than my wife, but I can make those spider veins go away. I can’t always control that once in a while people might assume that I’m Danny’s grandmother, but I can make those spider veins go away.

Anyway, I wrote this blog entry just to prove I can write without mentioning Danny. Oh, I did already? Whoops. Well, now that I’ve already done so, you should have seen how cute it was this morning when Harley the 15 pound cat put his head under Danny’s tiny outstretched hand and proceeded to move his head up and down in such a way as to make himself be petted. And I thought I had control issues. Priceless! -Monica

It's a zoo out there!

It IS a zoo out there. But if you're our little guy you'd never know it. When cousin Janna was in town recently, we all took the metro to the National Zoo (5 min walk to train plus 20 minute ride), saw all of the animals (about 1.5 - 2 hours of roaming) then made our way back home on the train again. Danny slept the ENTIRE time.

Here he is on the Metro. Oh well, looking at the bright side, at least he can look at the pictures on the brochure later right? I'm just sorry he didn't get to see the stork that looked just like the one that visited us a few short weeks ago ;-) -Monica

They are SO CUTE!

Danny and Mama are thrilled by the National's 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. (Aren't they adorable?) By the way, Danny's "thrilled look" is a bit tempered by the fact that when thousands of people all cheer at once, it's a BIT loud.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a ball game and Danny really seemed to have fun (at least he didn't cry or anything.) And the National's did not disappoint. In fact, then won again on Sunday which was also very sweet.

At our Saturday game, an adorable 5 year old sitting in front of us was mesmerized by Danny and couldn't stop saying "HE'S SO CUTE!" She had fun asking us lots of questions as the game wore on.

At one point she she asked me "are you his mom?" I figured she'd asked me since I'd bottle fed him some expressed milk right after we arrived. Susanne answered "we are both his moms."

She thought about it for a second and then asked, "so you both raise him?"

I thought that was a pretty good use of the verb "to raise" for a 5 years old.

"Yup, we both raise him."

"HE'S SO CUTE!"

Her parents were of course listening to the whole conversation and smiled as she babbled away. Score one for teaching tolerance!

Our next game will be in two weeks and we can't wait. Have a great day everybody!

P.S. You know you've lived in DC too long when someone asks you what the CR on the players' hats stands for, and when you explain "Colorado Rockies" they say "oh" and confide that they thought it might be for Continuing Resolution. (True story.)

Baseball Fever!

If you were a two month old going to your first major league game this weekend would you be afraid of the National's mascot Screech? Or would you be more afraid of how the Nationals might play? Hmmm...that's a tough one. We'll let you know what Danny thought about the game next time we post! Have a great weekend y'all! -Monica, Susanne and Daniel

What time is it?

So last night we were all pretty sleepy and Susanne made a rather interesting observation. Danny can make us yawn, but we can’t make him yawn.

Now we all know that yawns are “contagious”, but at what age does that begin to happen? Whenever he stretches out and gives us a big yawn we are both unable to stop ourselves from yawning too. For fun we kept looking at him and yawning to see if we could get him to do so, and nothing. Of course then neither Su nor I could stop yawning—what a vicious cycle we started.

And Danny’s thoughts on this? It’s hard to tell, but I’m guessing he thought his moms were crazy. Is it me or are my eyelids feeling droopy? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ -Monica

Baby love...

Our friend Lucy came to visit last week and snapped some photos of Danny including this one of us just hanging out. (Thanks Lucy!) Sometimes I just can't believe how lucky and blessed Susanne and I are have to have such a wonderful little boy.

Someone asked me recently to come up with some adjectives to describe our little guy, and I think that there might not be enough adjectives in the world to do so. But I'll try ;-) How about sweet, inquisitive, beautiful, funny, delightful, clever, adorable, observant and dear? Hmmm...those are the same words I use to describe his mama. Yes, my dear wife and our son have a lot in common. How completely FABULOUS is that!!!

Having a baby just opens up all your senses I think. I especially love how it feels to hold Danny. I think there is something special about how your own baby just "fits" right. Whether I've hoisted him up on my shoulder (which he loves) or have him on my lap playing together he just feels so perfect there. He sort of melts right in sometimes-how sweet it is.

Oh I was going to follow up a bit on the saga of Harley and his stress over having so many visitors this month. Su ended up taking him to the vet yesterday and he doesn't have an infection which is the good news. We got some recommendations for stuff to get for him at Petco and hopefully this peeing outside the litterbox will completely come to an end. That would be good. That would be REALLY good. Have a great day everybody! -Monica

Harley's Summer Vacation

We’ve had visitors staying with us for something like 15 out of the last 18 days and as fun as it’s been, I think our cat Harley is up to here with it. What gives us that idea? Well, if you were an irate cat, what could you possibly do to express your displeasure? Ah yes…ignore your litter box. What the heck, make the whole house your litter box!

Poor Harley was just getting used to the fact that little Danny is here to stay, when suddenly his days were filled with Dominic, Daniella, grandma, Carrie, Paul, Camille, Isabelle, Christina, Alvina, Liz, Alice and Janna (not all at the same time mind you). Some of these people are even small children who love to shower Harley with affection much to his chagrin. What a stressful couple of weeks it's been for our feline boy.

We have hope now though as the last of our wonderful visitors goes home tomorrow that Harley will get back to being his old self. His wonderfully potty trained cat self. Interestingly he’s decided to make his “deposits” at our front door 3 different times now (you guessed it--all different kinds of deposits). We don’t know if he’s signaling that HE wants to leave, or if he just wants the others to go. He does this at night, so we are treated to an oh so pleasant morning whiff when we come downstairs. PeeeEwwww!

Since he didn’t pull this trick last night, (much to our relief) we are going to hold off one more day on taking him to the vet for a checkup since he seems otherwise healthy. Hopefully we can avoid the vet all together. Poor Harley.

Other than that, the weekend was great. I’ll post tomorrow with a picture or two of Danny’s first trip to the zoo this weekend. Cousin Janna took great care of Danny and she is a real natural around babies. It was very sweet to see. Alrighty then. Until next time. -Monica

Here comes hurricane Janna!

In my mind, my niece Janna will always be about this old. Wasn't she the cutest little baby ever? (Well, almost the cutest... ahem, you remember Danny right?) Anyway, when she was 11 months old my mom and I accompanied my sister Alice to China when she adopted her. What a wonderful, powerful experience!

I'll never forget how I felt holding this beautiful little girl who had been abandoned and left to live in an orphanage, and silently promising her that her life was going to be one filled with love and light. And thanks to my sister it has been.

Janna is no longer that little toddler. She's practically all grown up now that she's almost 10 years old! Tomorrow she and her mom will fly to DC from the Twin Cities so she can meet her new little cousin Danny and she is very excited I gathered from the phone call I got last night. Janna is an amazing ball of energy and Danny has no idea what's in store for him these next few days ;-)

When Alice brought Janna home we'd never had an adopted baby in our family before. I think on some level we were all curious about the nature/nurture thing and how life would be with this new little one. Let me tell you. That little Janna completely STOLE everybody's heart, particularly my parents' hearts. They were Janna's daycare providers for several years before Janna started school. I think because of this experience, it's been pretty easy for my family to really see Danny as my son--not just as the child Susanne gave birth to. So I feel pretty grateful to my sister and niece for that. Thanks guys!

"Oh Danny"... there will be no sleeping! Didn't I tell you your famous cousin Hurricane Janna is almost here? -Mommy

Thought for the day...

What you resist persists. -Carl Jung

Deep thoughts at six weeks...

So I have a question. Do I have to raise my hand when I have a question? No? Okay.

So...does this delicious breastmilk I get from mama every day come in different flavors? Chocolate or mango perhaps ?

And most importantly...since I weigh over 8 lbs now, how many quarter pounders am I equal to? Just wondering...

WHOA. STOP THE PRESSES! Susanne just called from her post natal appt. with our midwife and they thought it would be fun to weigh Danny while they were there. NINE POUNDS! He's soon going to be the size of a butterball turkey. NINE POUNDS. No wonder I'm getting triceps of steel! -Mommy Monica

Well our big Peace Corps reunion over this past 4 days was a rousing success. About a dozen or so of us who were volunteers in Guatemala from 1987-1989 all gathered in DC to rehash old stories, eat tons of food and see how much we had all NOT changed a bit. It was GREAT FUN! Our poor spouses however had to hear the same stories over and over and over and over...you get the picture. They did take us for better or for worse in our defense.

Here Danny and Su and I hang out at Uncle David's house, where all the fun began on Wednesday.

Danny was the youngest participant and for that reason we decided to pass on the trip down to the Mall for the 4th of July fireworks (I will always be grateful that we didn't go too.) Apparently although it wasn't blistering hot (like it is today) there was that severe weather warning that cleared the mall in the afternoon, and tons of walking (which was fine for the adults but not so much fun for all the 5 year olds in attendance.)

We hosted friends Carrie and Paul and their two daughters (Camille 5 and Isabelle 1) and our friend Liz. Carrie, Liz and I were all health workers and even though the big parties with the larger group were great fun, it was also wonderful to have quieter and deeper conversations throughout our time together when we were back at our house. Another of our health worker friends, Alvina, came by for a shorter time and it was great to see her. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends.


As you can see by the pic here, the threat of a tornado didn't phase the group at all. Yup, 20 years later and still crazy. Can't wait for the next gathering. But I think I'll refrain from eating refried beans at every meal if you know what I'm saying ;-) Ciao! -Monica

Swing time!

With lots of Peace Corps buddies in town for our reunion, Susanne and Danny and I spent some time this morning with 5 year old Camille and her family at our nearby park. Danny's the one inside of the Baby Bjorn. (We think he liked it!)

As I write this, Su and I are home with Danny while rain pours outside. We decided it was going to be a little too hot and crowded for a 5 week old to head down to the Washington Mall where the rest of our motley crew headed a few hours ago. Turns out they've been evacuated along with everyone else because of severe weather threats. It remains to be seen whether the fireworks will go on. But one way or another I'm sure everyone will have fun! Happy 4th of July everybody. -Monica (Su and Danny)

Sing along now everyone...

" One of these things is not like the other--one of these things just doesn't belong--can you guess which thing is not like the other--by the time I finish my song?"

I hope you're all humming away now. Susanne and I were working on an arts and crafts project that will eventually include a picture of our adorable son and this was one idea.

We had a wonderful weekend--the temperatures here in DC have been phenomonally cool. It was downright cold yesterday morning. Have you ever heard of a 55 degree July day in Washington? We love it, and Danny sleeps like a baby in the cools temps. Yes, pun intended ;-)

We had a great time hanging out with our visitors this weekend and yesterday visited 2 week old Oscar. What a beautiful little guy he is. We know Oscar's parents from our Birth Works class and as of yesterday 6 out of the 7 babies due had arrived (congrats to Diana and Richard on their beautiful son born Saturday!) That makes it 5 boys and 1 girl so far. What are the odds of that?

This week promises even more fun. It's been 20 years I joined the Peace Corps (I served 2 years in Guatemala) and really bonded with a bunch of wonderful friends who started their service at the same time. Those of us who live in the area thought the time was ripe to hold a reunion here and we've got tons of people flying in for 4 days of "fiesta!!" Yeah!

This means I have a short work week, lots of time to spend with my wife and son and the chance to catch up with dear friends. Sounds like a winner of a week to me. Hasta la vista y'all! -Monica

P.S. Our little guy was 8 lbs. 2 oz. yesterday which officially makes him bigger than our cat CJ. (But still smaller than our cat Harley's leg. ;-)

Happy Day!

Ha, ha! Both of my moms are home today! What a great day. And they made a new slide show of pictures of my first month which is on the side bar.

Do you think they'll do this every month? I mean it's going to be really embarrassing when I'm in 7th grade don't you think?

Have a great day everybody. I sure am!!!!! -D

Ahem!

Eh, eh, eh, eh. EH, EH, EH, EH! Danny has the funniest way of crying. He does these short staccato bursts which sound sort of like “hey” without the “h”.

Each series is about a half step higher than the last one, and his volume generally increases incrementally as well. We can usually tell when he’s going to “serenade” us by watching his little face begin to scrunch up. As I mentioned before he’s pretty mellow except for when he’s hungry or needs a new diaper. Lately we think he’s going through a bit of a growth spurt as he seems to be able to eat a ton and then before too long we hear the little “eh, eh, eh, eh” begin again. Since we are usually pretty quick to attend to his needs this doesn’t go on for too long.

He’s definitely putting on weight which is wonderful and now, to even better serve his every need, Su’s been able to pump her breast milk so I get to feed him too in the evening when I come home from work. It kind of cracks me up because he gets this look of wonder on his face that something SO delicious could be coming from a bottle. And as he stares lovingly into my eyes, I think he suspects that I am sort of a Goddess ;-)

But then we both sort of glance over at Susanne and we both know who the real Goddess is!

Yippie Skippy!

Only 3 minutes, 32 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny. Only 3 minutes 21 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny (hmmm…I wonder if I can improve my time by copying and pasting?)

Only 3 minutes, 17 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny. Only 3 minutes, 15 seconds until I get to go home and see Susanne and Danny. Yup.

Time to gather up my things and skip on home! –Monica

P.S. And yes I know I look ridiculous skipping down the streets of Washington, DC.

It's almost like swimming!

Although he is trying to deny it in this picture, Danny really does like bathtime. Our neighbor Taj give us the cutest little baby bathtub she used with her boys when they were little, and Danny can sort of swing in a hammock, partially immersed in water while we merrily clean him up.

We do the bathtub/baby massage routine every few days. But if you think about it, how dirty can a 3 week old baby get?

And we have a new tradition. My dad used to love an Irish Folk singer named Mary O'Hara and I ended up with his CD of her music after he passed away in 2002. We've been using that music for bathtime and are happy to have started a great (and meaningful) tradition for our little guy. She even sings the Gartan Mother's Lullaby which is one of my all time favorites! As my dad would have said, by the time he's finished with his bath, we have the "cleanest baby in the whole wide world!" ;-)

This weekend we have the best plans of all--no plans! Hope everyone else has a great weekend. I'm looking forward to the best two days ever! -Monica

For the love of...

So my moms keep going on and on about what a quiet baby I am. You know, how "so far" I only really make a lot of noise when I need a diaper change or when I'm hungry. Okay, I admit it. I'm a pretty mellow guy. "SO FAR!"

But if the truth were to be told, it's not that I'm really so quiet, it's that I'm finding it hard to get a word in edgewise. Have you met my mommy? Now my mama is more like me--sort of on the quiet side, but mommy (the one with the red hair) whewww...can she talk!

What's a guy gotta do to get a little rest around here??? -Love, Danny (my "first" blog post!)

P.S. Oh, what I meant to say is that I adore the sounds of both my moms' voices.

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