We have been visiting with my mom, Nana. It's been so warm here (the house is still 76 degrees!) and lovely in general. Gees, she helps us with chores and loves on Bea all day long. I really hope she's resting and vacationing too, in between dirty diapers and washing dishes. It seems she is. I see her listening to music and writing and smiling a lot. It almost brings tears to my eyes to see her this way. I love seeing her happy and relaxed. Tomorrow she gets her first massage ever! Oh gosh and from the ol' sister in law . What an interesting thing it must be to see your child with a child herself. She must be thinking about so much.

First knit since January

It feels pretty great. The first project, since the birth, is complete.

Bea is two months old today. She is smiling regularly, especially at those bird pillows. She tells those birds secrets, laughs at their jokes, and simply can't stop making eyes with them. One day we counted 100 of them together. What am I going to do when I have to go back to work? Lauren couldn't have known that those x-mas pillows would fill our days with complete joy and still I thank her everyday. You really don't need toys at the beginning.

What else does Bea do? She kicks her legs and wriggles all of the time. She wants to get up already and go. But wait ten minutes and she becomes a sucker for nursing (ha!) and cuddling all day. I always knew I'd like this job.
Last night she had her first enjoyable experience in the tub. She was floating and using her little and strong swimmy legs all with a very curious, concerned look on her face. Important for a good bath: dad must be in bath with baby, parents must take their time in introducing baby to the new environment of warm, wondrous water, and there has to be one smile by the end.

Wait, knitting! The Tiny Pants pattern is free and really good. I have plans to make a similar pattern, maybe with a different ribbing. There is no elastic in the waist; that has been great because Bea doesn't even roll over yet! Oh the cute bump on a log. The next pair will be made of cotton (it's spring here which means it's almost summertime) and I'll include an elastic waist because she'll probably be crawling or something. Yes, soon!

Happy Spring

Nana's visiting soon!

Pretty darn excited for my mom to visit next week. This is her first grandchild after all!

Hi

Continued

Two days and many hours have gone by. There is no way to meet deadlines right now, even self made ones. II'll probably keep trying though. It's kind of fun and spontaneous, really!

Got to the curtain but it's not quite right. Still no knitted baby pants.

Infant massage was wonderful, as expected and will continue to be for four more weeks, surely. Wow, what a sweet therapist for teaching us all, bringing cookies, and providing a place for new parents to spend time together. I can tell this massage will soothe Bea. Maybe it will become a tradition right before bath time?

The Bartells, our family away from family, had us over for a warm evening of food, SODA, baby cooing and cute kid visiting. Jill made a killer dessert, oatmeal chocolate chip bars. The soup was a smashing hit, vegetable dumpling! A shout out to Kenny for making another delicious batch of broth. Saving all of those veggie parts really pays off. That was two days ago and boy, it's been steady here at home with lots to do. One quick thing before a slew of pictures: Today was our last postpartum visit at Alma. I love our midwives so! Bea weighs 9 lbs and 10 oz!

xo

This is a -to be continued- post right from the start. I thought it'd be interesting and boring to see what my daily goals are and what actually gets done. Certainly unexpected things will happen. Maybe I should take some time to predict them? I'll start with the goals:

*make it to our first baby massage class (it's totally free!)
*go grocery shopping
*make vegetable dumpling soup for our friend dinner tonight
*finish Bea's knitted pants (this will really take an hour at the most)
*sew up that long curtain in the bedroom (a five minute job)

Some notes: It's sunny and clear out, baby is sleeping in swing, a great time to get dressed. Still no coffee. She slept amazingly last night! I actually woke her up to make sure she was still okay. Mom's are crazy! We got a new rocking chair yesterday from Natural Furniture on Broadway. My sweet mother in law gifted it to us and already it's a staple to our day. I don't think I need to add that to the list of things to do. It's a given, like brushing your teeth. Actually, better run!

It's 9:28am;

go!

Aunties

So, the sisters, ahem Aunties, have been visiting. What a sweet time we've been having. Sister one tried kombucha for the first time and liked it until sister two announced that there was something floating in it. We've visited all of Portland's neighborhoods, smelled Spring's daphne, and have had many lattes. Sisters one and two have impressed me much this week. They have:

changed Bea's diaper,

made minestrone soup from scratch,

tried kombucha, as mentioned above, nutritional yeast, an amaranth bar, coconut milk in their coffees and teas, and vegan fluffy pancakes,

pushed our car, that stalled and died in the middle of Broadway, across a busy intersection,

walked four miles and found their way home from the mall because we didn't have a car, without a tour guide,

and there is probably more.

I love them. Their real names are Deanna and Brittney.

I miss them already!

Bea and I leave the bedroom somewhere between six and seven every morning. She squirms a lot right around then and is very grunty. She likes to stretch out and smile and see the living room in all of it's chilly glory. This morning was sunny. I mean, it felt like the first real spring morning. I never thought I'd say or even think this but, thank you Bea for getting me up early enough to see the morning light wake up our sleepy house.

  

Today is special because two of my beautiful sisters are flying in from Maine, the Aunties! Until then, hang time with my two favorites.

Ciao!