well ... usually *i* start with my left leg

on my voice mail last night:

"hey devon, it's about 9:30 and i am sure that you guys are settling into your nighttime routine ... umm ... but i just want to know, in all of your years of shaving, if you  have ever shaved your right leg and started to move over to your left leg to only cut, and i say CUT, your right nipple --NIPPLE!--with your razor blade?

just wondering because i don't know if it's coincidental that now i'm breastfeeding and this actually happened for the first time or if i'm just really lucky to have avoided this my entire life?

yah so i'm totally at a loss as to what to do with that. it was bleeding everywhere but i stopped the bleeding. it's totally sensitive and the thought of my baby or a pump sucking from that area right now sends chills down my spine and i don't really know how to handle it. plus isn't there a ton of bacteria in razor blades and crap? i don't know, am i supposed to talk to a doctor about this?"

good thing she called someone who could transcribe the entire message for safekeeping!
mommy friends have to be good for something, right?

in all seriousness, she is ok, and is going to the doc today.
and in parental scorekeeping fashion:
razor - 1
mama - 0

september brunch club

after august brunch club melted to pieces (summers are so busy!), we came together for september brunching at natalie's house in elmhurst, a darling neighboring suburb.  five of us piled in a car, babies and all, and for the first time brunch club went to the burbs. i thought it would take FOREVER to get there.  but i'd say about 20mins after getting on the expressway we were pulling into her driveway. guess the suburbs aren't that far afterall! (btw, isn't it fun how it's called 'the expressway' here?  what do you guys all call those big roads, with 4 or 5 lanes, and no stoplights?).

 braeden looks apprehensive about this suburb business while piper is clueless. 

i was relegated to the backseat, kind of like the kids table at thanksgiving!! ami sat up front with braeden's mom, colleen. since colleen already had an extra carseat base from her hubby's car, all we had to do when she picked us up was snap piper in!

 ami charmed the kiddos with her 'charlie' voice (charlie is her pup).

 our host natalie introduces eloise to braeden.

braeden got to play in eloise's bouncy chair thing!

sweet eloise showed us how brunch is done!

natalie made a delicious veggie packed fritatta, with treats from the garden her cute-as-a-button husband planted.  she also made apple muffins with the fruit their family just picked in michigan. colleen brought apple inspired treats from m henry (a popular brunch spot in her neighborhood) and i made a zucchini bread from a recipe i clipped out of  a pregnancy magazine and never made while i was pregnant:

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread with Pumpkin Seeds and Dried Cherries
Makes 1 9x5 inch loaf

• 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup raw zucchini, grated (about 1-1/2 small zucchini)
• 1 cup raw garnet yam, peeled and grated (about 1/2 of 1 large garnet yam)
• 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 cup dried cherries

Crumble Topping

• 1/4 cup unbleached flour
• 3 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 Tbs pumpkin seeds
• 2 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl sift together 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potatoes. Add the flour mixture, pumpkin seeds, and dried cherries; stir well.
4. Transfer the batter to prepared loaf pan.
5. Make the crumble topping: Mix together 1/4 cup flour, sugar, and 1 Tbs pumpkin seeds. Mix in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
6. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.
7. Bake the zucchini bread for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean. bullhonky, 90 minutes!!!!  this sucker was overdone at 40 minutes!!  booo!
8. Let the zucchini bread cool before removing it from the pan.
Anna Getty, is the eco-editor of Pregnancy Magazine and a mother of two, green-living educator, Kundalini yoga teacher, and author.  

on the road again!

the kiddies are happy with themselves after a nice brunch in the burbs

p.s. my zucchini bread was overdone.  BUT i used the extra grated ingredients to make "zucchini hash browns" (i just mixed the potato and zucchini) and they were awesome.  i highly recommend!

july brunch club

july brunch club was held july 18th, one day after my due date, at colleen's house in the andersonville neighborhood. i was there! sadly, our august brunch fell through altogether. but that means that out of like 15 months, brunch was held 13 times. not bad! and our july get together at colleen's was lovely!  we all contributed something.  i brought watermelon and mint salad.  it was not that good.  i got a bunk watermelon. i want my money back.

yep, i thought it looked like courtney upon quick glance

a skinny blond wearing black, with sunglasses and a scarf? plus the mommy of a little boy? are you kidding? courtney's long lost twin sister of course!

(courtney, don't worry, she was totally pretty when she held the door for me. she still didn't really look like you, she just kinda stole your whole courtney thang.)

let's play a game: chicago doppelganger

there was a request for more posts on play.  so let's play a game!  i spied with my little eye, someone's chicago doppleganger.  can you guess which blogging friend i thought this looked like, at least from afar? 

i think her legs are too long for her bike

and then as i was stumbling out of the market with my baby and my stroller, she ran over to hold the door for me. as i thanked her she said, "don't worry i've been there a thousand times."  she was so nice to me, and i was surreptitiously taking photos of her to play a game on my blog.  ahhh.

tagged

here are my responses to the questions lauren tagged me with:

1. What is your guilty pleasure television show?
unlike lauren, if i see an episode of bachelor/bachelorette, i'm hooked for the season.  i've definitely completely missed lots of seasons, so it's just a matter of chance on whether i'll get stuck handing over hours of my life to trashy tv for 10 weeks or not. i should mention that i have never seen the hills.  i have also never seen the jersey shore show.  what's it called?  just jersey shore?

2. If you could be invited to any celebrity's wedding, which one would you want to go to (past or future)?
first i have to respond to how lauren said she feels like if she and jennifer aniston met, they would genuinely be friends.  i feel the same way!!  i have no idea why or when i started thinking that!  but if lo feels the same way, then i'm sure we would all be great friends. stangely, i feel the same way about britney spears.  like if she were just in my circle of friends, things would not be so out of whack for here. but i certainly do not feel the same way about lindsay lohan.  however, of these three, the wedding i'd want to go to most would be jen's.  i'm pretty sure lo and i have a shot at being bridesmaids.

3. So far in your life, what have you done that you are the most proud of yourself for?
i'd say either a marathon, or breastfeeding. 

4. What do you think the greatest invention of your lifetime is, and why?
the internet - it's helped me keep in touch with all of you!

piper: 6 and 7 weeks old

piper,

you're all smiles! in about two weeks' time, you've progressed from the slight upturn of your pout to huge, gummy grins!  now we know you're not miserable and gassy all the time!

mini smile - 6 weeks

big grin ... 7 weeks

(those are legwarmers on her little baby legs)

in baby hysterics.  what's so funny?  no idea!



and you have turned from a fussy bunny to a complete cuddle bunny!  ok, you're still fussy, but you are a big time cuddler these days. i love it! 

cuddle me, mama!

mornings with you are the best.  you 'talk' to us, we practice taking turns in conversation, you get super excited, and then go crazy with your kicks.  but you tire yourself out after about half an hour of that.  we get some more smiles from you throughout the day, but you're most active after breakfast. you've become so much more expressive, that the days are flying by watching you make faces:

you've become so much more alert, and you love to look around. you like to look at lights and the tv.  i know, great, we're such good parents that our babe was addicted to the tube before she was even two months old. also the ceiling has been particularly intriguing to you, and you will twist around just to look at it.

your sleeping has been awesome!! even though it doesn't happen every single night, you can sleep for 8 hours now!  i know these things change, but it has completely rejuvenated me!  thank you little baby!

miss mc droolerson, i wonder if you are going to be one of those crazy early teethers!? let:s hope it's just an active salivary gland. you create bubbles at the mouth like no other, and we tell you you have rabies. we hope it's not really rabies.

for the past few weeks you have preferred being carried to being in the stroller. so we take the baby bjorn, the moby wrap from aunt amanda, or the purple wrap from lo, and you'll often find me pushing an empty stroller while carrying you so you'll be quiet. but you're kind of diggin' being back in the stroller again now that you're looking around more,with those big blue eyes of yours. unfortunately you don't care much for any carrier besides my arms while we are in the house. how do you know that's when i like to use my arms for other things?
 
over the past two weeks ...

• we went for salvadoran pupusas (like a corn masa quesadilla from el salvador) with uncle ryan and wendy then played all afternoon in the park
• we met baby mason and hung out with elizabeth and katherine for an afternoon at letizia's cafe
• baby braeden and his mom colleen came over to meet you
• we accidentally fell into the bucktown babies mom's group and you did your tummy time in the middle of a dozen older, sitting and crawling, babies at the park
• we saw the moms and babies again at filter coffee shop
• you met baby atticus and his mom brooke when we joined mason and elizabeth for coffee and late lunch
• you hung out with your dad while your mom went to bunco night, a german festival, and a running club party ... i love that you two spend daddy/daughter time!

 

and finally, you've grown so much already that i say things to you like, 'remember when you were a baby?' but you're still little, and you have been so much fun these past two weeks!

back in my hands

i must take after my father, or maybe no one else wanted to be a cynic in their comments, but i admitmy first reaction to that email was skeptical ... who is this Roy; who reports a camera to Nikon but not to the police department; is he trying to sell it back to me; where did Roy even obtain it; is it at a pawn shop; what condition is it in?

that is why i didn't post that email from nikon until after i got the camera back in my hands, charged up the battery, and checked that it was still working.  and it's ALL GOOD! yippeekicks!

---

after i got that email from nikon, i called roy and left a message and he called me back the next day. he said that he found it on a bench ... exactly the spot i lost it. and then he even offered to bring the camera to me since i didn't have the carseat in my car. he said he'd come by after class.  this did not leave me much time to figure out what to give him as a thank you. and i had to assume that he did not jack up the camera in the meantime. 

he mentioned being in class and having class the next day. so i took the stroller out and ran to the bank and the local pizza joint, and i threw together a "thank you study pack" -- which was just a pack of pencils (the leftover green pencils from the california baby shower!) with cash, pizza gift certificate, and thank you note stuffed inside and decorated with an explanatory label.  i just hope it was enough for him to understand how thankful we were!

i met him in our lobby.  as i expected he was youngish, but i couldn't tell if he was a grad student or still in college.  he was also very cute (sorry patrick!)!  i gave him the thank you, and said "it's not much and i know you could have got lots more if you tried to sell it or something," and he said thank you and that it was plenty. actually, first he said, "pencils?"

we talked a moment and he said he just really didn't know what to do with the camera - i think he was alluding to an internal dilemma. i resisted, however, giving him a hug, but i should have just done it anyway.  i was still in such shock that i didn't ask him things like: you didn't even check the craigslist lost&found board; how did you think of reporting it to nikon; how long ago did you report it; so you're from maine; what are you studying, where do you go to school, how old are you, are you single, and [pending previous answers] can i set you up with katherine? but i must have thanked him 742 times.

in other good, and now unneccessary, news: our insurance claim was approved!! the replacement check arrived over a week ago!  but the baby keeps us so busy we didn't have a chance to order a new camera yet anyway!  so we'll just call state farm insurance, tell them the surprising turn of events, see if they can take the claim off our record and then return/tear up the check.

i've been tagged

i've been tagged by lauren, and i don't usually follow up on these things, but answers to come!

omg! am i dreaming? no, good people are out there!

09/14/2010 09:34 PM

Hi Devon,
A person named Roy called in stating that he found a D90 camera I ran the serial # on the system and your info came up,

you may contact him at 207-xxx-xxxx,

Kind Regards,

Nikon
Thanks for using Nikon products!
Nikon Inc. (USA) Support / Service

piper: 4 and 5 weeks old

dear piper/fuzzy buns,

i lost our camera, like a loser, so primarily have mobile photos for your 4 and 5 weeks old period. i dug up our old digital, but didn't have a memory card, plus couldn't find the proprietary USB cable ... we were all out of sorts. but finally we got up-and-running with more photos.  

four and five weeks old

you love to hang out with your daddy.  this lets me go do things like have brunch with the girls or walk around the neighborhood.  and your dad is great with you.  you love you some bathtime in your baby bucket and daddy loves to bathe you.  plus he takes over night-duty on the weekends. i brag about him almost as much as i brag about you!  almost. 

sunday morning with daddy while four weeks old
he can get you to hang on to a pacifier, but you won't take it from me!

elaine, lena, christine and amy doting on you.

you love the attention.

bathtime wuth dad. who doesn't love a baby in a bucket? 

even the baby loves a baby in the bucket.

you finally got to meet cousin kiira's parents, "auntie-gram" judy and uncle jeff.  judy is grandma kathleen's sister, hence the new term your auntie-gram coined.  she rocked you and soothed you and you were so good for her.  you also met your very own uncle tommy, who played and played with you.  you even had a screaming match with him and definitely won. 

it seems like since birth you have had good head strength, but now you're gaining more control and everyone comments on how strong you must be.

showing off for auntiegram ... five weeks old

thankfully, you have been giving us some good nights of sleep ... now giving us stretches of 5 and 6 hours of sleep at a time.  that is like a real night's sleep!!  even if you don't do that every night, i'll take it when i can!

you are still gassy.  and you still have bouts of grunting while you push out some rumblers like an old man.  i hate watching you writhe around - even if the faces you make cause me laugh aloud sometimes - but i know your system will mature and this won't last forever. there are times you just can't seem to get comfortable. so for now, you are still a fussy little bunny.
at five weeks old, you are trying to smile aside from when you have gas bubbles.  your smiles are little pulls at the cheek and a twinkle in the eye.  your are so close to real grin! plus you are really cooing now. your little voice is so delicate and pretty even if you're just saying 'ahhah.'

trying to smile at five weeks

i started reading shel silverstein to you in the morning and you seem to like it.  although i can read the ingredients from my luna bar (soy protein isolate, organic rice flour ...) and you seem to like that just as much. 

your baby acne is getting better and now your hairline is receding!  and while it's getting darker, it has a reddish glow to it on the lighter parts when in the sun. i guess that's the irish in you?  it reminds me of how your dad's beard gets a little reddish when he lets it get really scruffy.

and even though you're staying awake and alert for longer bouts of time,

you're still cute as can be when asleep.

at your one month appointment:
- 8 lbs, 12oz (25th-50th percentile)
- 21 inches (50th percentile)

xoxo,

mama

savor the moment

there are so many things about having an infant that are hard, that i need to make sure that i appreciate those little moments that make it so worth it. i think that i'm finally returning from the crazy place that sleepless nights, whacked out hormones, worrying about the baby, having a fussy/gassy baby and producing food (out of my boobs, no less!) for another living being can take a lady! but now i'm constantly thinking about and stressing over going back to work (which is still a few weeks away) and balancing my job with having a little baby. so, i am taking a moment to focus on the good. on the calm. on the warm little baby passed out on my lap:

little miss piper, you can sleep on me all day! even if i get nothing done!

(bonus: but at least she was letting me type!)

how 'bout that crib?

we picked up piper's crib back when my dad was in town (thanks grandpa!) but i never posted this picture of it! 

piper is still sleeping in her pack-n-play in our room, but here she is taking the crib for a test drive ...

don't worry: she is not sleeping on her tummy!

she's just approving the new mattress.

goodbye summer

the un-official last day of summer is behind us and starbucks is already serving pumpkin spice lattes. tomorrow piper will be 7 weeks old.  i'm not quite ready to say goodbye to the summertime, i thought it would feel longer!  i thought i'd spend day after day of leisure, sipping lemonade on the balcony and rocking my baby in the soft summer warmth. turns out having a newborn is not quite like that, and it was hot as heck this summer.

piper doesn't want the summer to be over.

yet this is the first time i've actually welcomed the start of cooler days.

hope everyone had a nice, long holiday weekend (though i hear tuck business school started on labor day?)!

piper's birth story: the delivery!

finally!! it only took me 6 1/2 weeks to get piper's long birth story all jotted down. apologies for it's length!! here's the link - just scroll down and pick up reading where you left off ...

piper's birth story