Three Months Old!

Dear Carolyn,

You’re already another month older?!? How’d that happen so fast? You’ve changed so much in the past three months – it’s hard to see the changes every day, but looking back to those first few days it’s very clear.

For one thing, you outgrew your first batch of clothes. I’ll admit I was a little sad to put them away, but maybe someday you’ll have a little sister who can wear them. I’d guess you’re about 12 pounds now, and probably at least two feet tall. We don’t go back to your doctor until next month, so I won’t know until then.

You’ve really figured out how to hold your head up. Actually, you’ve been right on track or even early with everything you should be able to do, except roll from front to back. That’s my fault, since I don’t give you tummy time every single day. Sorry about that – I’ll try to do better this month!

We tell stories every day. I start the story: “Once upon a time, there was a sweet little girl named Carolyn, and everybody agreed she was the cutest baby ever, in all the land.” You go on to tell me about baby princess Carolyn’s latest adventures. Most of them involve a lot of giggling and (ah-)goo, but they’re different every time. For some reason your best story-telling position is standing or sitting on my tummy.

One of your favorite toys at the moment is Snuggle Puppy, who lives in your carseat and has her very own song – not to be confused with the actual Snuggle Puppy song we sing to you. You also have a turtle with a mirror in its tummy that you really like. For that matter, any mirror is a favorite, because you love to play and flirt with the baby in the mirror. The baby in the computer (pictures of you) is good for a smile or two, but isn’t nearly as interactive. Oh, and I think your absolute favorite toys right now are your hands. They are apparently endlessly fascinating and extremely tasty!

You are such a good-natured baby. You smile and giggle all the time. When you are upset, you’re at least very cute about it – your little bottom lip sticks out before you really get going, so I can usually distract you from being unhappy before you actually get there. Actually, you’ve managed to completely master pouting already, because you’re just that smart.

I can’t wait to see what the next weeks and months bring – you’re becoming such a fun person to spend each day with! Being a mom is like becoming a child again…I get to see all the wonderful things this world holds through your eyes now. Things as simple as the room suddenly getting dark because I turned off the lights, or the way the light streams through your curtains in the morning become magical because you see them that way. Thanks for picking me to be your mom.

Love, Mommy

Doggie Knitting

Here’s a calendar with knitted dog sweaters for every month. Some of them are cute, although there are a couple of rather strange ones.

What do you think, should I make Molly a bikini for the summer swimming season? Because, you know, she’s not neurotic enough yet…

Winter Wonderland

(Perhaps I should really be wondering why we spend winters here…)


This was the view of our deck this morning. Note that the gate on the right hand side there is 3 feet tall. The lowest horizontal thing you can see? Yeah, that’s a bench running along the side of the deck, not the floor. I’ll grant that there was some drifting that went on overnight, but there’s an obscene amount of snow out there.


Molly was staring longingly out the window. She likes snow, but not the bitter cold – I think it makes her hips ache. Denis had to shovel out part of the yard for her earlier. Poor pup. But she does look awfully cuddly, doesn’t she? Makes you want to curl up with her with a good book and an afghan. And a cup of cocoa.

More Snow Than You Can Shake A Stick At

What does that expression really mean, anyway?

I think hell might have frozen over. There’s a vaguely car-shaped thing in the driveway, but it’s buried under several inches of snow. And it’s very, very cold – I think it might just have crept over the 0° mark – that’s 0° Fahrenheit, not Celsius – but that’s not counting wind chill.

Plus, I seem to have caught the same bug that Carrie has, so we’re currently a pair of snowed-in, snuffling, sneezing fools. Poor Denis – I hope he doesn’t catch it. And the DVD player which has been skipping and freezing a lot lately is now unusable, so we can’t even drown our sorrows in Baby Einstein or Lord of the Rings.

Send hot cocoa, please!

New Knitting!

Since things weren’t getting done on any of my current projects, I figured it was time to start something new! I’m making this scarf out of Manos. (Yes, I posted about buying blue Manos, but it clashed with my new coat so I exchanged it for a heavenly purpley-blue colorway that looks like the last edges of a sunset just before night falls completely.) I’ve never done a herringbone stitch before, and it hurt my brain to think about the instructions. I just started knitting it though, and if you follow the directions exactly as written and don’t think about it (that’s the important part) it’s actually really easy.

In other news, poor Carolyn is quite sniffly. I guess after going to Chuck E. Cheese’s and being with the whole family the next day for her baptism she was bound to be exposed to something. Poor baby. She seems to be taking it all in stride, being her usual smiley self unless we’re trying to use the evil bulb suctioning thingy, which she hates.

Drum Roll, Please

Oh. My. God.

I went to the first band rehearsal last night. I haven’t played since the June concert. (And when I say I haven’t played, I mean all of the valves on my horn were stuck from disuse!) Despite this, the other horn players threw the first horn parts on my stand. Guess what we’re playing? No, really, guess!

John Williams – Saving Private Ryan and a medley including the Star Wars theme. Michael Kamen – Band of Brothers theme. The first movement of The Planets.

I have been waiting all of my horn-playing life to play the first horn part of the Star Wars theme. And all of the music has fantastic horn parts. Better than any I’ve ever played.

But.

(You knew there was a “but”, right?)

The concert is the same night as the (mandatory) orchestra sound probe rehearsal for the musical. Ack. I have to see if I can get out of that, because I have been waiting my whole entire life to play John Williams’ music in a concert! Maybe they really won’t need the piano at that rehearsal? Or for the whole rehearsal? Wish me luck…

Birthday Wishes

Today is Denis’ 30th birthday! (I can’t gloat too much, because I only have 11 more months before I turn 30…)

We’re going out for hibachi at the Japanese restaurant tonight. Hopefully Carolyn will enjoy it and not be scared by all the fire and stuff. And then we’ll go to my parents’ house and for the third time in four days we’ll have cake. I never thought I’d say this, but…I’m kind of getting tired of cake…

Oh, well.

Happy Birthday, Denis!

I Baptize You…

Dear Carolyn,

Today you were baptized. You looked like a little angel in your dress – which was my dress when I was a baby. My godmother made the dress for me, and I had it cleaned and altered it a little to fit you. Your godparents are Kathy and Everett.

You didn’t cry at all during the ceremony. Well, you fussed a little in the beginning of mass because you were hungry, but after hitting the bottle you slept through the rest of it – the water didn’t wake you up, and neither did the handful of chrism the deacon smeared on your head. (You do smell nice, but he put a lot on!) You finally woke up when the choir started singing the last hymn, though…

Afterwards, we had a nice little party with all of our family, and you were passed around and held by just about everyone. All of your little cousins were running around the parish center, having lots of fun. Just think, the next time we all get together you’ll be mobile too! I’ll have to get your dress cleaned again before I put it away – you managed to spit up all over it right before the end of the party. All in all, I think it was a good way to spend your 12-week birthday.

Love, Mommy.

Chuck E. Cheese

Where a 30-year-old can be a kid! Since Denis’ family is up for Carrie’s baptism tomorrow, we had a surprise birthday party for him at Chuck E. Cheese’s tonight. Where else could 10 adults go with 9 kids and not be thought of as disruptive? It was a blast, despite the fact that we scheduled it before we knew the Jets were going to play that evening. The manager was kind enough to keep our table updated about the game at regular intervals, though.

Our party hostess managed to find and light 30 candles for the cake, and Denis was a really good sport about having to give Chuck E. Cheese a big birthday hug – which I got on video! Carrie even managed well, despite it being very loud and crazy.

The only bad thing was that we ended up leaving with lots of tokens, because it was so crowded we didn’t get to play too many games. Oh, well, it just means we’ll have to go back on a weeknight or something and play Skee-ball until we can’t stand it anymore.

And Now, Your Moment Of Zen…

As sad as it is, we generally only watch the news via The Daily Show. Don’t get me wrong, we do actually read the actual news on the internet, too, we just don’t watch news programs on TV. Anyway, I’ve taken to calling Carolyn’s binky “and now, your moment of zen” when I give it to her.

Does that make me a total geek? Is Carolyn doomed because she has such a goofy mom? She’s probably going to pretend she doesn’t know who I am when I wave to her in front of all her cool friends…