Hair today, gone tomorrow

If only these hair bands had existed when I was a baby -- no more taping bows onto my fuzzy head. Although I am a teeny bit suspicious that there are no photos in the gallery (am I missing something), and the how-to instructions are illustrated with photos of a doll. I can't imagine Paige sitting still for the styling, and definitely not the hair spray!

Maybe we'll just wait for her to acquire hair the old-fashioned way...

Happy 1/3 Birthday Paige!

Yep, 4 months have gone by, amazing. Even more amazing when I compare pictures from those first weeks with today.

I think my favourite thing about her getting older is every day discovering new things she's learned... in the past few weeks, she's started grabbing for toys (which go straight into her mouth, assuming a pacifier's not there already), and she's able to hold her head a bit more when on her stomach for tummy time. She's also begun to blow bubbles and make raspberry sounds -- supposedly on the way to talking (and if she's anything like her mom, once she starts, that's it for us all!)

Even more fun is finding out the little things that make her laugh... like for some reason, she goes crazy with giggles if you make snorting noises at her. And today I discovered that if I have her on my knees while I do sit ups, she laughs almost every time I pull myself up to look at her -- but only if I count the sit up at the same time. Now there's an incentive to exercise!

So happy 4 months Paige, here's looking forward to the many changes that will happen over the next 4!!

If I won the lottery...

... sure I'd get the house, travel, etc... but THIS would be my frivolous purchase. I can't explain why, but I love, Love, LOVE this bag.

Have passport, will travel!

Paige's passport came today, complete with bruiser convict photo... I cannot believe THIS is what she'll be travelling with for the next 5 years. Of course, we still need to get her a US one -- maybe that will look a tiny bit more like her!

Happy Mum's Day! (UK style)

To my wonderful mother -- I heard this story about later-in-life Bat Mitzvahs on NPR, and thought of you. I'm still so proud of your efforts (at much younger than 91!), and so happy I was able to be there to support you Mom!

Sitcom Map

Saw this the other day, thanks DanMeth.com... clearly there's a gap in the market for a sitcom based in the Montana/Wyoming/Idaho area. Possibly an adopted-at-birth, raised-on-the-upper-West-Side man is disowned by his parents, and comes to live with his newly-discovered neo-Nazi militia brother, and hilarious wacky odd-couple-esque adventures ensue...

Happy 1/4 Birthday Paige

Wow -- we've made it to 3 months. And amazingly enough, things are actually getting into a little more of a routine, just as everyone says. What changes have we racked up over the past 3 months?

• Nearly doubling in size -- at last weigh in, over a week ago, Paige tipped the scales at 11 1/2 pounds... she must be hitting near 12 by now
• Much more focusing of the eyes -- especially when she looks at her parents, which of course melts their hearts
• Smiling, smiling and more smiling -- which results in more heart melting -- though we do have a difficult time capturing this on camera (the smiling, not the heart melting)
• Cooing, gurgling, and other adorable baby noises -- I'll miss them once they turn into real words like 'I WANT' or 'NO!'
• And the most recent accomplishment? More sleep -- yay! It's only been a few days, but we're getting 5 - 7 hour stretches each night, which should only get more frequent (I hope).

So not bad, and only more exciting advances to come over the next 3 -- can't wait!

Say cheese!

Yesterday's grand adventure? Getting Paige her passport photos -- this little girl is definitely going to be an international jetsetter, so need to get her a passport ASAP.

According to British Passport Service rules, for a baby, the eyes don't have to be open, but it does need to be face forward, and with both ears showing. And Mom cannot be in the picture -- not even a few fingers propping Baby in place. Hmm... how to achieve this with a not-quite-3-month-old who can't even hold her head up?

Luckily, our friendly neighbourhood Snappy-Snaps is all prepared for baby shots, and it turned out to be much easier than expected. They have a little white pillow head rest -- you just lay the baby's head on the pillow and get out of the shot, holding up the rest of the body underneath. They then take the photo from overhead.

And as you can see from the photo, it worked a treat. And like all passport photos, it doesn't look anything like her. And it will look even less like her as she uses it over time -- as I understand, this passport will be good until her 5th birthday... I'm thinking her appearance may have changed a bit by then!

Incredible growing baby

OK, it may not be incredible that a baby is growing. I guess really that's what said baby is supposed to be doing, what with all that feeding and sleeping. But still -- it seems pretty amazing that just on milk Paige can nearly double in size in 10 weeks. As of today, she's 5.05 kg (or 11 lb 2 oz for you imperialists)

To see what almost doubling in size looks like -- the picture on the left is at about 2 weeks; on the right is today...

Same great taste??

Starbucks selling instant coffee?? What the??? If it's as good as Starbucks, then why buy the real stuff. And if it's not, how can it possible help the company to sell an inferior product?

Howie, Howie, Howie... how can this be restoring Starbucks to its original glory?

Reading list

I finally got around to reading the December 2005 (eek - I'm a little behind) issue of the Swarthmore Bulletin, and found an article about the 'Essential Reading' for every Swarthmore student... Looks like I need to go back -- 4 years at Swat and I only managed 3 from the list. (Pride & Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, and Stephen Jay Gould's Burgess Shale, in case anyone's wondering...)

Pinksplosion

When did it become impossible to buy baby girl clothes in anything but pink?? I don't remember what I wore as a baby (er, what I was dressed in) but I've certainly seen pictures of little-girl me, in all shades of orange, yellow, greens (well - it was the 70's, after all). I even remember a red plaid pant suit. But no pink.

But today - that's all there is... As you can see in this photo of all the clothes we've bought/received for Paige so far... aside from a little beige and white -- it's pink, pink and more pink.

A few recent articles have been highlighting this, thanks to PR efforts around the book Toxic Childhood. I especially like the nugget from the BBC that pink used to be for boys because it is 'a more decided and stronger colour'. Is pink inherently bad? No, of course not. And if you truly like pink, hey, great, go for it. But how boring is a world where 50% of the population is marked out by one and only one colour? What happened to variety?

And of course, as a non- girly-girl myself... why does it have to be pink?

Books into art

If I could afford real, proper, grown-up art, this is the sort of thing I'd buy. Su Blackwell turns books into intricately cut paper sculptures -- unlike anything I've seen. A few of her pieces were displayed at the V&A recently as part of their Blood on Paper exhibit. V&A? Books? Books as modern art?? My kind of trifecta!

Public transport travails

Finally took Paige on public transport yesterday -- tube and bus -- and must say, it takes military planning. Not only are you faced with the normal baby-related stuff (pack enough nappies, possible change of clothes, when/where will you be able to feed, etc...) but you also need to consider which stations (if any) are stroller-accessible.

You'd think in this age of disability-awareness, all would be (if a station is wheelchair accessible, then it's buggy-friendly as well) but no such luck. So to get to the hospital for her appointment, I needed to change lines just to make sure that when I got to Earl's Court station, I was on the line that has the lift (Piccadilly), not the one with the stairs (District.).

And according to this news release, only about a sixth of the tube stations are accessible - and they're on track to have 1/4 accessible by 2010. That's ridiculous! And looking at the map, most of the accessible stops are suburban -- making any central London visits a challenge at best.

Hmm... I wonder what other big-city subway accessibility is like... And in the meantime, buses are definitely the way to go.

Merry Christmas!!

O'bama

Caught this song on tv this morning -- a little late, but made me laugh!

First outing

It took us 8 days, but we've finally made it out of the house. (to be fair, the first few days we were in the hospital, so that doesn't count).

Yep, it was time to leave the cozy home nest, and venture into the big bad world. Or perhaps not so bad -- fittingly enough for a baby with at least a little Seattle in her blood, where else could we make our first stroll but to Starbucks. Double tall skinny wet latte please. Er, and one for mom as well.

No, no, no -- but in time, it will be babycinos all around!

*ps -- the pram is actually red, but this picture was taken with my not-so-great camera phone

Statistics gone mad...

Amusing Frank Deford piece on stupidest statistics on NPR. Well, I guess they need to find something to put on the Jumbotron...

Baby classes

We had our first NCT class this Saturday. 5 sessions with other local first-time parents, trying to give us a better idea of what to expect for the birth... and beyond, for when you take this strange little creature home and have to look after it. Eek.

Five weeks to go, though (if all goes according to schedule) and we're slowly getting organised. We've got the car seat - thanks Cat! - and a crib - thanks Jon & Julie! - and even a rocking chair. And I think the baby monitor is powerful enough to stretch to the pub next door (thanks Margot!) And thanks to the fabulous shower 2 weeks ago, complete with suprise appearance (thanks Mom!) we've got books, toys, clothes, and an heirloom-to-be handmade blanket (thanks thanks thanks Stephanie!). Just a few more practicalities and we'll be set. Then it's just sit back and wait time. And wait. And wait!

Stitchery Show

After an incredibly busy couple of weeks, it was great to be able to take off Friday and make my semi-annual pilgrimage to the Twisted Thread Knitting and Stitching Show. And to shake things up a bit, I decided to go all the way to Harrogate for this autumn's show (well, because I missed the recent London one, thanks to our lovely trip to Portugal).

While I'm not sure I'd make the 8+ hour round trip again just for the show, I will say it was a pretty good one. It seemed to have a much broader spread of needle crafts than the London shows -- though still had my favourite, Michael Powell and others I like, including Nutmeg (those 3d kits are tricky, but look fantastic).

To give my feet a rest, I also took in a workshop -- and now have a slightly better idea of how to do a patchwork quilt, however 1 hour was not *quite* enough to finish a project, even the small one the teacher started us off with. I must must must complete it at home soon - or risk a) forgetting how and b) adding yet another item to my unfinished projects file!

The most impressive part of the show -- like every year -- was the textile art exhibition -- so so so inspirational. Where do they get their ideas?!

My favourites this year? Roy and Barbara Hirst retrospective -- who do absolutely amazing stump work (also called, I learned, raised embroidery). Unfortunately I didn't have my cameras, so no photos. So meticulous.

I also enjoyed a more modern artist, Claire Moynihan, and her witty 'Moth Balls'. I don't know why, but they just grabbed my attention. Clever, beautiful, intricate -- just the sort of thing I'd love to come up with one day... when of course I begin my new career as an international textile artist. Hmm...