Sagittarius Baby

Our little girl is five months old today! She’s celebrating by sleeping the day away. (long nap in progress as I write this)

One odd thing happened this morning…

I was playing with Louisa and taking photos, but I was having a hard time getting her attention. No matter how I turned her, she kept focusing her attention to one particular part of the room. It was like she was watching something. I’m sure she was just intrigued by something on the wall or on the floor, but when I downloaded the photo I took during all of this, I had a passing thought that it could have been something else.

Notice anything in the above photo? There’s a small pink-ish blurb right in front of her head. It’s hard to see, but in the large version that I downloaded I could definitely see it. It’s not anything that I can make out with clarity, but I don’t have any explanation for its presence. Maybe it was a Guardian Angel. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting!

Happy 5 months to my baby girl!

My favorite Mother’s Day weekend gift to us both — Louisa’s birth certificate finally came! It’s a long story, but the short version is that our lawyer mailed them to our old address. The postal service is supposed to forward our mail, but you know how that goes, and this is one of a few items that slipped between the cracks. We happened to be in the area of our old neighborhood, so we stopped to pick up any missed mail from the new owner. As I suspected, Louisa’s certificate was in the stack — thank heavens! It sure beats the alternative of having them lost for good and us trying to replace them.

The bad new is that Vital Records made several mistakes on the certificate — county, city, and zip code. Now I have to mail the certificates back to our lawyer so that she can submit them for corrections. And then we have to wait for her to get the corrected ones back so she can mail them to us, again. Oh, well, at least we have some clue what it looks like! I’ll probably make a nice copy of the incorrect one just for keeps.

We had a wonderful first Mother’s Day! Abuelita treated us to brunch at our local organic restaurant, Farm 255.

On the gift front, Rachel and Louisa gave me a beautiful wind chime (kind of funny because I gave my mom the very same thing!) and it has the sweetest sound. I cannot wait to hang it on the porch! Be sure to listen to the chimes if you have a moment.

Louisa and I gave Rachel a small gift — the new Jack Johnson cd and the new Julie Andrews book, which will be our next read-aloud book. You see, we have a tradition of picking a book we’re both interested in and then we take turns reading it aloud to each other. Usually this occurs while we’re in the car, but no matter where, it gives us the chance to spend more time together doing something that, to us, is valuable. I can’t think of a better thing for Mother’s Day than that!

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Yesterday I went shopping and couldn’t resist buying the materials to cast Louisa’s hands and feet. I couldn’t wait to do it right away, so as soon as Louisa fell asleep and was still enough, I got busy! First, I mixed the molding gel and had to get her foot in it right away. It sets quickly, in just 10 seconds or so. As soon as the gel firmed up, I pulled out her foot and she never even woke up. The next step was to assemble the sculpting mix and pour it into the mold. I set to work on the second round to cast her hand, but it didn’t work at all. This time, the gel set too fast and I couldn’t get her hand in, so I had to throw it out. At any rate, I got a pretty good cast of her foot. Now, if I can figure out how to mount it or display it…

For comparison:

Julianna’s cousin, Brandon, and his wife, Katie, just welcomed their second son, William “Cooper” Thomson, into the world today! How appropriate that he was born on Cinco de Mayo, as Katie loves Mexican food more than anyone I know. Cooper’s a big boy, just like his brother, Brice — who, by the way, isn’t quite sure what to think of the new baby. We’re all so excited about this new addition to the family and we can’t wait to meet him in person!

L to R: Brandon holding Brice and Katie holding Cooper

Rachel and I love to browse craigslist.com for bargains for Louisa. And this week we feel like we struck gold! We bought two boxes full of clothes (some useable, some not), a travel bed, a Bumbo chair, and some toys for practically nothing! As it turns out, the seller is a friend of a friend, and she’s moving far away. That’s why she was purging so much stuff. At any rate, what makes this purchase so special is that many of the clothes come from Pakistan, the seller’s native home. Many of the outfits are handmade and just beautiful. The fabrics are so soft and breathable, not thick and hot like what we buy in stores. Check it out:

My favorite Athens event of the year, the Twilight Criterium (a popular bicycle race), was this weekend! Each year, the crowds are maddening, but the rain we had on Saturday afternoon deterred a lot of spectators from attending. We took advantage and headed downtown, arriving just in time to watch my favorite bicycle race — the handcycle race! We ran into some folks we know and had a good time chatting it up with our friends. Of course, we ate up the “pretty baby” comments, which seemed to come from every direction as we walked around with Louisa.

Yesterday, Rachel’s dad and his wife (”MawMaw” & “PawPaw”) came to visit for the afternoon!

A visit from MawMaw and PawPaw is rare, so we dressed Louisa in a very special dress, given to her by her “awesome” aunt, Cindy! To make her attire even more spectacular, Louisa wore the Dior shoes that Abuelita and Larry brought back from their trip to Paris, as well as the pearl bracelet I bought for her before she was even born (every girl needs a little bling). What a beauty!

Guess who’s eating big girl food now?! Louisa’s only tasted a couple of things now and her favorite, so far, is pears!

We first fed her on Friday night and as soon as she saw the spoon coming toward her face, she grabbed Rachel’s hand with hers and shoved it in! I have a feeling that Louisa’s going to be a good eater.

Louisa went to the doctor yesterday for her well-check appointment and to get a second round of vaccinations. She now weighs 15.2 pounds (in the 90th percentile) and is 25 inches long (in the 50th percentile). Dr. M said we can start feeding her rice cereal and stage 1 baby food. I know Louisa is looking forward to that! On the vaccine front, we decided to hold off for just a little while. The reason:

You might be familiar with the well-known Hannah Autism Case. Hannah is a little girl whose parents won a case against the vaccine companies because they were able to prove that Hannah’s vaccines sparked her autism. The underlying cause: a rare cellular disorder, specifically a mitochondrial DNA defect, which is also what Rachel’s mother has. We don’t yet know for sure what the inheritance pattern is — in other words, if it is recessive, maternally inherited, sporatic, etc. We’re waiting on an appointment with a geneticist who can guide us about what actions to take in regard to Louisa’s general health and on this particular issue, when/if to vaccine. We’re definitely not opposed to vaccines. In fact, we’re strong believers in vaccinating children, but we certainly don’t want to damage our child, so we’re waiting just a little while until we know what to do.

The March of Dimes champions the needs of moms and babies in our community and across the nation. The money raised for the March of Dimes’ “March for Babies” supports lifesaving research, services, education and advocacy that help babies get a healthy start.

I’m asking you to donate to the March of Dimes in honor of our friends, Jessica and Kyle Kirk, who just lost their infant son, Zach, after a six month battle, which began when Zach was born prematurely at just 24 weeks. The Zach Nation Team is $2,110 short of meeting their $5,000 goal to help the March of Dimes fund the fight to ensure the health of babies. So, please donate now!!! It’s easy, safe and secure – just click on the link below to make your donation. (the link will open in a new window)

http://www.marchforbabies.org/zachnation.