Things I Can Do - Roll Over

I am not sure where the past week has gone, but I've been remiss in updating the blog. I'll start with a simple video of little girl rolling from tummy to back. While we think she is advanced in all areas, she does still need a bit of help getting set up to roll. When placed on her tummy, her hands must be placed bent at her side in order for her to accomplish this feat. She hasn't quite figured out what to do with them if they are down straight at her side.

Equal Time for Rutgers

I let Chad choose her outfit today, and he chose this:

Let the lobbying begin...

I am 12 weeks old today

Photos of big girl Ripley in her overalls (thanks Aunt Jenny!). Her new favorite thing to do is to pretend she is standing.

Visit to Friends (bar #???)

We finally made it to Friends this past week (maybe Thursday?). I was in the mood for nachos, and Friends has the best ones in the entire city, in my humble opinion. They have mounds of good stuff (lettuce, salsa, cheese, black beans - sour cream and pepper on the when I order them) without making the chips soggy. And you run out of chips before you run out of good stuff - which is amazing. If you are reading this and are in Baltimore, you really need to check them out.

Enough about the nachos, check out the picture of Ripley in her car seat in the bar.

New Sling

I bought a new sling for Ripley. We still use the old one, but this Sleepy Wrap is more versatile than the Hot Sling I have. Here's a picture of her facing out in it - she has more and more head control every day, so this new one is going to be fun.

The old one is still great for getting her to fall asleep, but this new one will allow us to wander through the world with her getting a full on view of what is going on around her.

Carleton Class of 2029

I just finished reading the most recent copy of my alumni magazine - The Voice - and I know it sounds as cheesy as it gets, but I want my daughter to be part of a place like Carleton. Calling it a place doesn't quite capture it because a huge part of it was about the people. Such amazing people. I spent an hour or so last night finding Carleton people on Facebook. Not best friends, but cool people who I like knowing are out there in the world.

While I said it is not completely about the place, I have to mention the peace that I feel when I am back in Northfield. It is hard to describe other than to say it just feels so right to be there - even all these years later. I do go to reunion to see people, but it is also about being on campus and in town.

I know there are a lot colleges that might provide the same environment, but there is a part of me that believes Carleton is unique. I suppose the best example of this is Dacie Moses house. I can't think of any of my friends who went to different colleges who had a place like this. A place to go bake cookies any time you want. This was probably more important to me as one who loves to bake, but for those who don't like to back, it was still a place to go eat cookies and play cribbage and have beer muffins for brunch. All surrounded by amazing people.

So the indoctrination will begin in earnest with Ripley's Carleton baby gear and will continue in 2012 (20th - 4 yrs old), 2017 (25th - 9 yrs old) and 2022 (30th - 14 yrs old) - our three chances to go to reunion and help her fall in love with the place too. Of course, I want her to have choices and will do my best not to cross the line into overbearing pushy mother. I have a feeling papa might lobby for Rutgers, but while he feels an affinity to the State University of New Jersey, I am not quite sure it is the same as my feelings about Carleton.

We are Having a Baby: Part I - Blue Moon Breakfast

Blue Moon Cafe in Fells Point is one of our favorite places to eat breakfast. It is the go-to spot on the mornings in the dead of winter when school is canceled for a snow day. If you aren't there before 8:15 on a weekend, be prepared to wait at least an hour. Blue Moon is all the more special because it was where I told Chad about Ripley for the first time.

I took the home test on a Friday - Chad was out at a work happy hour, so I was alone. I don't remember buying the test in detail or why I thought I should take one precisely, but I do remember thinking that I didn't need the brand name and that the store brand would be just fine...especially since it had two tests for the price of one. I was expecting a plus or a minus or one line versus two versus no lines, but the CVS kit could be considered a "pregnancy test for dummies". You pee on the stick and voila, the word PREGNANT appears. Yes, the full word.

So even though the whole word appeared, I wasn't convinced. I mean, it was a generic test, so it could be wrong, right? I called Kaiser to see if I could go in for a real test. The advice nurse was so nice on the phone. I told her I had taken a home test, but wanted a real test, and she said "Sweetie, those tests are pretty accurate. We can go ahead and just schedule your first visit in 6 weeks with your OB." I insisted on the real test and she repeated, "I can put in the lab request for tomorrow, but sweetie, a home test is very accurate."

I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to tell Chad, so when he got home later that night, and we started planning out the weekend, I told him we had some errands to do up in Towson (where the Kaiser lab was) on Saturday morning. I didn't tell him what exactly. We woke up particularly early the next morning, so we decided to go to Blue Moon. Right after we ordered, we started reviewing the specific errands, and I told him one of them was to stop by the Kaiser lab to confirm my pregnancy test. His face lit up and I remember the biggest smile. All in Blue Moon.

So we went today with Ripley for the first time. Does it surprise anyone that she fell asleep in the sling? Not before we got a couple of pictures though.

We are Having a Baby: Part II - El Salto Lunch (a story for later)

Adventures in Drive Ins

Last night Chad and I saw our first new release movies since baby was born: The Dark Knight and Wall-E. It was an impossible to pass up a double-feature of two of the highest ranked movies on the tomatometer (94% and 97% respectively) at Bengie's Drive-In which has a lot of rules.

I think we were both a bit distracted during Wall-E because we were getting settled, and I'd probably want to see it again on DVD since I feel like I missed out on the nuances of some of the artwork. By the time Dark Knight rolled around, Ripley was snoozing so we did get to focus. And like the reviews say, it was an incredibly serious movie, but we both did like it.

I think we'd go back again, if the double-feature was right.

This was the best I could do for a picture of her - right before it got dark. You can see the screen in the background and of course all of the cars!

Cool Things about Ripley

(1) She is finally big enough for her g diapers (thanks sweet Shannon). I haven't changed her yet, so I'll let everyone know how it goes.

(2) She wears fun onesies made for her by her Aunt Carolyn.

Things I Can Do - Hold My Head up (aka Ripley non-Bobble Head)

Yesterday (8/3/2008) was the first time we noticed little girl holding up her head! She and Daddy were hanging out in bed and with no prompting, she started craning her neck...




Today (8/4/2008), during morning tummy time, she lifted her head and kicked at the same time, which landed her on her side. She stayed there for a bit, and while I was tempted to push her over, I let her struggle with it, and she eventually let herself drop onto her back. I think this qualifies as her first stomach to back flip. No video unfortunately, as attempts to recreate have resulted in a mad mad little girl.

Daycare Update

I was talking to my mom over the weekend and realized that I had not given an update on the daycare situation. Ripley will be starting a week from today at a place called the Vera Shank Child Care Center, which is only 2 blocks from our house. It was recommend by one of the board members at Chad's school, so we visited and really like it. It is a much smaller center than the Tide Point center - they just started an infant room earlier this summer and will only have 6 infants at a time with 2 caregivers.

We are going to start with half-days and see how it goes. I am hoping to work in the office 3 days a week and from home the other days, but I would have the option of taking her if I really need directed time to focus on a project. I have to be flexible with my hours since a lot of the e-mailing I do with students happens at night anyway.