How to Prepare for Superbowl XLII:

"It's not a real game unless it's played on ICE."*

*Except for Apples to Apples.

Very Important

Nora giggles in her sleep.

She's been doing it for about two weeks now. I want to eat her every time. It would be sweeter than dessert.

I've got a whole list of first accomplishments soon-to-be-posted, but that giggle thing just couldn't be postponed any longer. It's the first glimmer into a world that is just her own, a world we'll never really be a part of but about which we are delighted to orbit.

It's just that galactic, a complete giggle galaxy.

The Incident- a photo essay

So, we're just hanging out together, me and Nora, right?


Basically kickin' it and getting rowdy. When suddenly...


POW! Right in the kisser!
What's up with that, kid?? I thought we wuz pals!!


Then everything got fuzzy and we both felt awkward.


But it all turned out okay. We can't stay mad at each other.

Plus, my face is twice the size of her upper body. So it's cool.

The Secret is Layering

This outfit made possible by Nixon & Jen, Wier & Barbara & Stella, Uncle Nate & Tonia...and Gillian's sense of Someday I Will Not Get to Choose What She Wears.

So Much More than Four Weeks

Nyah, I'm one month old!

Let's get this straight: one month is so much older than four weeks. Four weeks, though an important milestone, is plumb nuttin' once the magic of ONE MONTH is reached. Magical!

How magical? How about another list of accomplishments? With maybe some more pictures tossed in for ultimate distraction? Okay! Here goes:


One-month-olds have access to sweet rides in the sunshine with a woman who can only be described as the ultimate chaffeur (valid license plus ready supply of food, right on, ride on!) With such mobility, where does one go?

Places Nora Has Been in Her One Month of Life:
A Chronological List
(repeat visits not included)

• Puget Sound Birthcenter
• Home, Sweet Home
• Dr. Christina's Office
• Whole Foods
• Birth & Beyond
• Costco
• Swedish Hospital Emergency Room
  (Mom needed some special attention; she's fine now)
• 22 Doors
• St. Clouds
• Galerias
• Acorn Street Yarn Shop
• University Village
• Fred Meyer
• DubTrain Records
• Target
• Nona Jean's Temporary Seattle Residence
• Señor Moose Cafe
• Ballard Market
• Dr. McDermott's Office
• Great Harvest
• Me & Mom's

Was Nora's first ride with her mother driving the same day it snowed after sleeting? Why, yes! Did that first ride also include an hour wait for AAA due to a little snafu with the locking of all of the doors of the car? Why, yes! Did we all survive? Why, yes...even though Dad was a bit worried but pretended to be totally cool with it ("we all" included Nona Jean, Auntie Erin and Uncle Ian). Are we done posting in third person? Who can say? Perhaps it will come to us in a dream:





Did all of the sweetness make you forget the question? Me too!

Movie Tuesday!

I warn you, this video is pretty boring and you probably shouldn't watch it unless you like cute babies or have more important things to do first.

Want to see more boring videos of the baby? Well, it's your broadband, I suppose.

But trust me, they're pretty boring.
We're talking tie score in the 4th quarter of the Hum-Drum Nod-offs: Naptime in overtime.

Yup, nothing but a cute baby and silly commentary by me and uncle Ian (thanks to his trusty cameraphone, in certain cases).

Welcome to Yawntown. Population: Baby.

Boh.
Ring.

Four Weeks: 10lbs, 2oz

That's right, the Noraling has bulked up! She's added two pounds to her birthweight (actually two pounds and four ounces if you factor in the four ounces lost in her initial days). She's a champion chomper!

In honor of this momentous occasion, we bring you another wonder: Gillian returning to the blog. Yep, she's typing this in third person. But for how long? This long...

It's so strange to me that four weeks have already passed since this kiddo was born, but that's to be expected as most of our days were spent like this:


...or at least in an attempt to do the above. Many many naps were prevented (well, for me anyway; Nora is also a champion sleeper) by the continued roof work going on directly above our heads. SO LOUD.

[You'll be pleased to know that you were just spared my standard roofing rant. No one needs to hear that. It's almost as loud as the roof work itself.]

And now, a photo essay illustrating what Nora has learned during her four weeks of life:

It is important to match your outfits to your reading material.

It is perfectly acceptable to sleep during your first official outing.

It is satisfying to lunch whilst serenaded with a sing-a-long of The Muppet Movie.

An additional inch in length really changes a girl...

...but your mother will always remember you when you were small.

Three weeks!

And here's some more shots!

The new kid

We would have posted more, but our world right now is mainly centered around burp cloths, dirty diapers and trying to stay fed and rested. And trust me, there are no good photos of those things.

Though we did venture out to dinner this evening with Uncle Nate, Tonia, Uncle Ian (in from NYC), Auntie Erin and Nona Jean (visiting all the way from France!).
If you're wondering whether there was a huge and loud surprise birthday party at the normally very sedate restaurant, oh well, you'd be right. While the rest of us were yelling across the table to one another, though, Nora slept through the whole thing, snug in her ultra-facionable Hotsling baby carrier, making everyone envious of her already icy-smooth social demeanor. She'll be entertaining politicians and socialites before we know it. 

Gosh, I just hope we have enough folding chairs in our apartment.

Happy three weeks, Nora!

A list of lists

Nora's most common facial expressions:

• Joe Pesci/Winston Churchill (alternating)
  
• Indignant Appaled
  
• Embarrassed Surprised
• The Diaper Filler (aka "Smiley")
  
• Almost Asleep
• Really Into the Lamp
  
• Drama Mask - Tragedy
• Asleep
• Fish-mouth - Hungry
• Fish-mouth - Spit-up
• Munch's "The Scream"

DVD viewing for New Parents, recommended:

• Slings and Arrows
• 30 Rock
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy (viewed consecutively)
  
• Weeds
• The Larry Sanders Show
• The Muppet Movie
  
• News Radio
• DVD player standby screen
  

Number of diapers required per week:

• 70+

Number of diapers delivered last week by diaper service:

• 49

Interim diaper substitutes considered:

• grocery bags
• newspaper
• Basil's old t-shirts
• the floor
• neighbor's cat
  
• disposable diapers

Interim diaper substitutes used:

• disposables
• the floor

Current vocabulary used by Nora:

• "Oh"
• "Nah"
• "Uh"
• "Hmm"
• "Eh"

Current vocabulary used by sleep deprived mom and dad :

• "Guh"
• "Huh"
• "Oh"
• "Mmm"
• "Shhhh"
• "!@#&^%$"
• "Er"

Baby's first word

In my dream the other night, 9-day-old Nora uttered her first word:

"Blog"

We don't really know who woke whom up screaming, but that sure was a scary dream...

And now, a cute photo of Nora to take your mind off it: