Two weeks after we brought Eliza home from the hospital, we finally got around to giving the poor girl a bath. With two weeks worth of kisses plastered on her head, she was dirtier than a Port Authority bathroom. Eliza appeared content at first with her sponge bath and then changed her mind - a few times.
GranJanne bought Eliza her very own Dwell Studio
Welcome Princess!
Eliza Wren
Born Saturday, 9/12/2009
4:35 am
8 lbs. 8 oz.
19.5 inches
With love,
Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister Adelaide
Here's a little of what we did this weekend instead of spending it in the hospital popping out a baby as I had envisioned. I didn't take photos either so this will have to do of Addie on Sunday entertaining us in the backyard. You'll have to imagine the entertaining part since this is just a picture of her elbow. Apparently, even clicking a small black button on my camera is proving to be to much for me as I enter Week 40. Cap has been a complete saint though - cooking, washing dishes so much that he even has a blister on his thumb (really), and watching Addie so I can just sit down. I love to sit.
Our laborless labor day weekend:
ate pancakes
went swimming
tried to nap
didn't go into labor
ate pancakes
went swimming (Addie put her head under the water for the first time!)
tried to nap
had a BBQ at our place with Papa Mit and Grandma Vede
didn't go into labor
didn't eat pancakes
went swimming
road the trolley at The Grove
ate gummy alphabet letters
ate ice cream
tried to nap
didn't go into labor
and now to just sit for a little bit longer. Ahhh.
No baby yet and no signs of a baby other than the existence of my enormous belly. My doctor said that with the second baby there may not be any indication that labor is imminent. It will just happen. Actually that was how it was with Addie. No false contractions, no dropping, no dilation, no water breaking, no nuthin' until I was in labor and then BAM out she pops (okay she was actually sucked out with a vacuum) 6 days past her due date and 17 hours of labor.
My due date is this Sunday, but I'm actually fine not having the baby early now (or so I tell myself). I've been a whirlwind errand runner and movie goer this week having seen a movie in the theater every day. Just me, a large Mugs root beer and a pack of red vines. Plus Cap has fallen victim to a cold so we absolutely can't and won't have the baby until he's better. As if I have a choice in the matter.
I'm just going nuts for Addie's drawings lately. She spent Friday night doing full size faces on her easel, this one is of me. Her noses are my favorite - big exclamation points right in the middle. Here are a few other selections from the past month.
fuzzy face
a dancing princess
a bevy of centipedes
a shell
a duck. she's learning to color things in now too.
and a spider. This one I want to put in a frame.
The weather has been a little weird lately. Cloudy cold, then humid. We bagged going to the pool on Saturday and risked the potential heat in Pasadena to revisit the KidSpace Museum. It's really more of a discovery center than a museum and Addie got to explore all sorts of rocks, shells and yes, even a fine pelt. I like this photo because she looks like a sales lady at the fur counter at Bergdorfs. I keep thinking of fun places to go when my Mom is in town in a few weeks and then I remember that having a baby is less of a vacation and more like house arrest.
Sunday I was treated to an amazing baby shower hosted by Jamie and Jeannine with decadent food, a little champagne for the pregnant lady, sweet gifts and most importantly lots of time to gab with my lady friends. I loved every minute of it. This is my last week at work until January which means there must be a baby coming soon! Addie is ready as she's dragged the bassinet into her room as well as the infant car seat. Baby Doll sleeps face down and shrouded with a wash cloth while Elmo keeps the car seat warm. I gently told Addie that her baby sister can only sleep on her back and she can't have any blankets in her bed, especially not covering her face. Addie promptly told me that her doll was a toy and it was perfectly fine for her to sleep any way she wanted. Well then!
Me, at my third birthday
Cap, I'm guessing, is three here. GranJanne?
I am becoming more and more curious and excited to find out who Addie's little sister is going to look like. If she pops out an Inuit, then we know she'll transform into a blond-haired princess like her big sister. As for Addie herself, I think she's a mix of both Cap and I. What do you think?
I've been a little in the denial mindset. The baby isn't due until Fall - that's ages away. There isn't really anything we need to do to get ready for the new baby - just the car seat and the bassinet, right? But once I started to bust out with a list, it grew longer and longer. Sure, we don't need to buy a lot of stuff, but we still need to locate it from the bowels of the garage. We spent a little of last weekend soaking breastmilk-stained onesies, bibs and burp clothes in Oxy Clean overnight. This weekend we managed to uncover a few items including the car seat and the bassinet as well as other key items that were safely stored in a box called Infant Gear. Everything is washed and put away, car seat is by the door, bassinet by my bedside. While unpacking, I came across one teeny weeny newborn sized diaper that I had saved from Addie and was confounded by how small it is and the recollection that even this micro-diaper will seem gigantic on a newborn. Remind me I need to add diapers to my To Do list!
I'm officially full term now with 3 weeks to go until my due date. I hold on to everyone's story about how their baby came early, but I know from my own experience that I need to mentally prepare for late when every day after is an eternity. Are you kidding me? I'm still pregnant?! This time, I won't be working past my due date. What was I thinking? I remember being in the elevator on May 18, 2006 at The Standard Hotel downtown for a work event when a stranger asked me when I was due and I said, "today."
I have two more weeks left of work and then one week off (maybe, the baby will come early?!?). I'm thinking I should take myself to the movies every day that week, get pedicures and lounge around Urth Cafe in West Hollywood sipping iced hibiscus tea and reading mystery novels. Perhaps if I make elaborate plans with my freedom, it will be Murphy's Law and the baby will arrive a little bit early. Not too early, just a little bit.
Mommy: "Do you want to go the beach today?"
Addie: "No, I want to go a museum."
Sunday morning was sunny, warm, clear skies and gorgeous. The perfect day to go to the beach. Only Addie didn't want to. She said it would be too windy. After much convincing, we got in our swim gear (as if we go in the water but we pretend), made pb&j sandwiches, packed our beach bag and gathered the sand toys. Off we went until we hit the west side, a bank of dense, low cloud cover and a temperature that read 68 degrees. Um, what happened to sunny skies? Darn it if it Addie wasn't right! So we turned around on PCH and headed back to sunny mid-city and to Addie's original plan. Luckily she hasn't figured out the phrase, I told you so.
We hadn't been to see the new Renzo Piano designed Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum yet where, incidentally, my firm did all the engineering. LACMA has a cool (and free!) kids membership called NextGen which gets her and a parent into the museum at no charge until she's 18. Awesome.
Addie ran though the 99 cent store installation . . .
. . . ran through the lamp post installation . . .
. . . and ran after the pigeons.
She thankfully didn't run while inside the museum. We already were reprimanded for having her on Cap's shoulders and for not holding her hand while in 25 feet of the Jeff Koon's giant blue balloon dog should she make a mad dash for it and defile it's shiny surface with peanut butter fingers.
I'm really glad we ended up at BCAM, and next time we'll listen when she has an idea for a weekend adventure!
Check out a few more pics from our museum outing.
Isn't that a nice note from Addie's teacher? Addie seems happy and when Cap drops her off she says "Bye Dada" and hurries into her classroom. When I pick her up she's in the playground catching caterpillars with a small group of bug lovers or drawing with chalk. She is starting to talk about her new friends which is great to hear. I can't tell you how different pre-school is from our daycare. I feel a little like Addie is in college or something. She has "work" and, as she often tells me, you can't be loud in the classroom. There wasn't even a real "inside" at her daycare. Even the term teacher is brand new. She told me that big girls learn things.
I am hopeful that since this note was written, we have overcome the accident problem. You have to be potty trained to start in the 3-4 year old classroom, and we sent her into her new school knowing that she was almost but not quite there. We haven't used a diaper or washed poopy undies in a week. Fingers crossed that we are in the clear! This will make us a diaper free household for about a month until the new lil pooper arrives in September.
Another thing I love about her new school is that she's an Adelaide. On her first day at daycare 3 years ago, Andi asked me how to spell Adelaide and she seems so flustered, I just said, "Oh well, we call her Addie." And there it was. She was always and only Addie there. Now, however I have the chance to use her real name and let her nickname catch on organically. I ordered labels with Adelaide, her cubby is labeled the same and her art projects are sent home with her real name spelled out. If someone asks her name, she'll even say Adelaide. We still call her Addie, but it's nice to know that she's an Adelaide too.
Tomorrow she has her first field trip to a lagoon in Redondo Beach. I considered chaperoning, but I'd pretty much be useless since I can barely bend down and certainly can't run around.
We returned to San Diego last weekend to celebrate Cousin Esme's wedding and dance the night away with family. Esme looked gorgeous and it was so great to see so much family! Addie I think had the most fun of anyone there. She partied for 5 hours and we had to lure her off the dance floor after the last song with a beach ball that a groomsman kindly offered her.
After a yummy brunch with family on Saturday morning, we explored the science center and hung out with my friend Karen, her husband and her super duper cute almost one year old daughter Sofia. Addie is gaga for babies. She loved meeting her 9 month old second cousin Octavia at the wedding and (s)mothered Sofia - washing her hair, bringing her toys, feeding her baby food and brushing her hair. Addie is getting pretty excited for her little sister. I'm hoping I can just lounge around on the sofa watching Weeds while Addie takes care of the new baby.
Sunday we said goodbye to baby Sofia and headed out to Sea World. It was fine. There were shows. I got drenched by a dolphin, ate ice cream and generally felt that one time was enough for me. I have also renewed my love of the Long Beach aquarium which beats Sea World hands down in that department. If you go to Sea World, skip the aquarium stuff and stick with the animal shows. Or just go to Disneyland.
Check out more pictures from our weekend in San Diego here.
I thought I was getting good at deciphering the ultrasound images, but I admit I was stumped this time. I didn't have an ultrasound so far along when I was pregnant with Addie. I was used to seeing the whole baby in the grainy image but this time we could only see parts. I recognized the spine and her girl parts, which the technician referred to as Ms. Pac Man. Yes, that is what he said.
When it came to seeing her face though I just couldn't tell what I was looking at. The technician could tell. Cap could tell. I was trying not to panic. Finally somehow all the white and black blobs reassembled enough that I could finally decipher her cute rosebud lips peaking out from behind her arms which she had covering the rest of her face. Maybe this will help in case you need a little assistance too.
All is good in utero. Baby is 5 1/2 pounds, head down (facing the exit as the ultrasound technician said) and the placenta is in the right place. My due date is 9-6, labor day weekend, but when I asked my doctor if he could estimate when he thought the baby would be born he said that, if he was a gambling man, he'd put his money on September 11. Oh great. 9-11. The one day I was hoping to avoid. What about 09-09-09? or heck, early?
Cap was at Comic-Con in San Diego for 3 nights to partake in the festivities. Addie and I drove down Saturday to join him - and to take advantage of the hotel pool. I somehow got lost on the way and drove 30 miles out of my way but we made it in time to dine pool-side at our hotel. We splashed poolside Saturday and Sunday, walked the seaport, got a balloon Ariel, ate ice cream, rode a carousel and were pedaled to the Gaslamp district via one of those bike rickshaws for dinner. I even got to see fireworks from our window on the 31st floor. I love fireworks and we missed them this July 4th.
Cap scored a child's pass to Comic-Con and the two of them went off Sunday morning together wearing their badges in search of Spongebob and Tinkerbell (instead finding My Little Pony and Bumblebee from Transformers) while I snagged some more pool time to re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. One advantage of all 3 of us sharing a hotel room is that we crashed out at the same time and got almost 11 hours of sleep. We think we should never have to work again, but then who would pay for our luxury hotel?
We'll be back in San Diego next weekend for Cousin Esme's wedding and a trip to Sea World. Check out a few more photos from our 2 days/1 night in San Diego.
Warning! This video may cause nausea.
Dr. Parks asked me on Wednesday, "Do you have good fetal movement?"
I should say so.
I remember Addie pushing and stretching in my belly, but this little one seems to be performing an entire Olympic floor routine on a daily basis.
And yes, I have noticed that my tummy resembles a raw, plucked, 22 pound turkey.
Daddy's home and it's time to make cookies!
Addie is kinda picky with her sweets. Candy - oh my yes. Cake, not thanks but I'll be happy to eat the frosting off (Mama is always waiting patiently behind me so she can finish off her cake and then mine). Ice cream - yes please especially if it's a pretty color like pink, blue or rainbow. Pie - I'll pass. Cookies - not so much until chocolate chocolate chip was discovered.
So that is what we made on Sunday when Cap came back from NY.
This was the first time we've made cookies. There is no particular reason why we haven't made them in the past. I guess I probably felt like the last thing I needed to have in the house was the temptation of homemade cookies by the dozen sitting around. I am seriously still amazed by how much sugary crap I eat at work so having desserts at home is to be avoided. Thankfully, I'm not a big fan of chocolate chocolate chip so the excess are going to Cap's office. This weekend Addie also had two other dessert firsts - pudding and jello. Again, I haven't deliberately withheld such gooey, gelatinous sweets. It never really occurred to me to buy them before. She was tepid on the pudding but the jello she wolfed down. I still don't think I need to have them around the house, but if we should find ourselves dining in a cafeteria, I know she'll find something to eat.
Before we hit this weekend, half of which I'm spending as a single mom without a camera as Cap is NYC for work, I'll conjure up last weekends adventures.
I had spent hours during the weeks and days before the long weekend, desperately in search of an affordable hotel somewhere within a 2 hour drive that had a great pool. I failed. Palm Springs was perfect except it was 110 degrees. Santa Barbara was perfect except hotels were $300+/night. Big Bear, well, seemed shoddy and there is no way I was going to be swimming in a lake any colder than 82 degrees. So we all slept in our own beds, and I managed to get over my I'm wasting a perfectly good 3 day weekend by staying in town.
We didn't really stay in town all weekend though as we escaped Friday morning to Santa Barbara for the day. We went to the zoo, ate Mexican food and rented one of those covered bicycled contraptions and biked along the beach. Perfect. Saturday we watched a cute little parade with Jake and Chloe, played in the kiddy pool and set up our beach tent in our yard before going to a friend's BBQ late that afternoon. Sunday, we swam at the Santa Monica College pool, ate more Mexican food and went to a 2 year old's birthday party. Busy! By the next holiday weekend I'll be on maternity leave either with a new little one or wishing she'd hurry up and come out! 
Riding the tiny wooden carousel at the zoo.
Wide load coming through
Addie and Pinkie Pie Pony
I dug a giant hole for belly in the sand.
Our backyard tent.
Here are a few more photos of our weekend.
Okay so maybe I cried a little.
When we got to her classroom, we dropped off her lunch box and her stuff in her cubby (I love that she has a cubby!). She ran in, grabbed a book and plunked down on the carpet with the other kids. Wow that was easy. Only we hadn't really said goodbye, and I didn't want to sneak out which would have felt like some sort of betrayal. When she realized that Cap and I weren't going to hang out, she cried. Then I cried. And then Cap had to take us both outside where I stayed, and they went back in to say one last farewell.
When I went to pick her up at 5:15, she was happily playing near the swings with another little girl who she claimed couldn't talk. Her main teacher doesn't stay until this late so I didn't get a chance to ask how thing went, but Addie wanted to stay and hang out. I had to beg her to come home with me. Guess she likes it!
Addie graduated from daycare on Thursday and will be starting at her new Montessori pre-school tomorrow. I can't believe it really. We have loved Andi's House and have become close friends with the families of Addie's compatriots. Today, we went to the fourth daycare pal birthday party in the past 3 weeks and it's amazing to think these kids have known each other their entire lives. All three years. I cried on Addie's last day at Andi's House when I came to pick her up. I couldn't help it. I'm just so proud of her. She's growing into such an amazing and wondrous little girl.
Addie's really excited about starting her new school. She told me she's going to make new friends and learn so many things especially about kangaroos. I'm sad that none of her friends from daycare will be joining her but I know she'll make new friends quickly and we will see her old Andi's House pals all the time on weekends.
I hope I don't cry when I drop her off tomorrow. . . or at least I hope she doesn't see me.
