My first Bath!

First I cried when the water wasn't warm enough. Once they got the water right, I liked it. Can't wait for my next bath!

Super Dad

Can hold a baby AND a cat!

Grandmas Rock

Especially when you have a rocking chair! They love little babies, have lots of tricks to entertain and calm them, and give mom and dad time to catch up on a few things, and appreciate the baby as much as you do. We've been lucky enough to have both Joel's mom, Roberta, and my mom, "Miss Bubbles," help us out. This last week my mom returned for a week after visiting Doug's baby Jackson. It is soooooooo wonderful to have my mom here. We just look at Ila and laugh, cos she is so darn cute. In the pictures, you can see we also dressed her up in a vintage baby gown. Adorable, no?

Ila went to the doctor yesterday, and she is a healthy 8 lb 5 oz. Getting bigger and stronger every day!

who, what, where?

Who? Other babies! Today Joel and I took Ila to meet some new buddies at a local group for new parents. It was great, as we learned alternate treatments for thrush (yeast infection in baby's mouth), how to take a baby to a movie, that other babies cry like they are being tortured when they are in their carseats, and ways and times to transition babies out of the parents beds. We even shared a few tips with the other babies: take your parents to a drive in movie, and tell them to turn the hair dryer on when you get your diaper changed to make a white noise delight out of diaper time.

What? Weird products:

Touch Rubik's Cube: Do a rubic's cube blindfolded or give it as a gift to a sightless friend.

Bouncing Digital Camera: Ila might like this one in a few years.


Brief Safe: A nice place to stash you cash. A fake pair of soiled underpants.


RSStroom Reader: Personal News Delivery system. Get the latest news printed on your toilet paper. I guess it makes sense if you take a long time in the bathroom...

Where? Ila is getting used to being carried in the Baby Bjorn, and now she and I have been taking a long walk every day? What joy to get out in the nice weather! Where will we go today?

do you smile in your head when you're with me?

yes we do, ila.

documented life -- watchin movies

It has been so rainy and cold here, that I've been essentially trapped inside the house with Ila. That means I've had a chance to watch a lot of documentaries, and Ila's had my undivided attention as she tries to get some comfort for her farty tummy. Not only do we enjoy the service of Netflix with DVDs delivered to our home, but we also frequent our very good local video store, 49er Video. When I've been doing my favorite new hobby (breastfeeding, of course) I've been watching lots of films, shielding Ila's little eyes from the seductive flicker of the television.

In no particular order, I've watched The Devil's Playground, about a tradition in Amish communities where young folks (once they hit the age of 16) enjoy "Rumspringa" a period call of total freedom to explore the "English" (non Amish) world. Since most of them already have jobs by this age, they also have money to explore cars, concerts, beer and hard drugs. In Amish belief, only an adult can choose to be baptised, so at some point, after their Rumspringa period, the young person must choose whether he/she wants to join the Amish church and be baptised, or leave the church and be part of the English world. The documentary is great, surprising. And most surprising to me is that 90%, that's right 90%, of young people choose to return to their communites join the Amish church.

Also saw The Nomi Song -- a documentary about the late 70s pop phenomenon, Klaus Nomi. Klaus Nomi fused his love of opera with a fantastical embrace of outer space, and tragically was one of the first public figures to die of AIDS. I remember hearing about Klaus Nomi when I was a youngster on TV, and he's always been a figure I've been interested in. I remembered the operatic voice. I didn't remember the music, and I was surprised how before its time it was. The film is great.

Also saw these films: Yogis of Tibet, which includes history of Yogis and some pretty amazing Yogic meditation techniques (like nothing I've ever seen, way beyond breathing or yoga). Dig! the movie about the love/hate relationship between the leaders of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. I can't believe I never saw or even listened to Brian Jonestown Massacre as they played in SF a lot. They were a band to appreciate musically from the sounds in the DVD, but not one to idolize for their antics. No way. This film chronicles the downward spiral into drugs and idiotry for BJM, and the moderate success of the Dandy Warhols.

One other movie I'm looking forward to watching is Baby Fart Aerobics. How could I have been surprised that babies have lots of problems with gas and pooping? Ila looks like she is tortured when she has to poo or fart. Baby Fart Aerobics is a dvd that I ordered to help you help the baby with massage and movement.

A few firsts

Not only did Ila go to her first drive in Movie on Monday night (Slither), but she also has had a few other "firsts". She swang in her new swing. She loves it when she's in the "quiet alert" stage. Just look at her eyes. Also, we put her in her first dress, as she is going to a party this afternoon.

Joel and I went down to the garden a few days ago, lots of the seeds I planted before Ila was born are coming up -- at least the peas and beets are. The carrots and lettuce have not yet sprouted. I fear earwigs may be to blame, so I'm going to go down and trap them. Good trap for earwigs is a milk container with water and some fragrant oil (peanut or olive). The earwigs like the smell of the oil, but once they get in the oil and water mixture they can't get out. Hopefully I can trap a lot. But that will have to wait til tomorrow. So many diapers, so little time...

Letter from Ila

I was very surprised to receive a letter from Ila on my birthday. How adorable is this??

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Dad help me set up this account while you were taking your shower. He's doing the typing, but the words are all mine.

I wanted to start by debriefing you on the birthing event. First off, good work!! Everyone was excellent and I really couldn't have asked for a better birthing event. Your choice of the hospital, doula, midwife and, of course, dad shows excellent discrimination on your part. I hope you can give me the low down on you skillz after I'm more conversant, in another couple of years.

As for the residential experience: lovin' it. The food is excellent, can't get enough. The beds are comfy as is the decor. Saucey the cat is sweet. I look forward to tormenting her over the coming years. The service around here is excellent too, I call, and someone is there almost immediately.

Points where improvement can be made are singular: my hiney hurts. Make sure you and Pa get that fixed up soon.

Dad asked me to give you a word for your birthday. After some reflection, on the changing table, I've decided to give you "intrepid." It is defined as "Resolutely courageous; fearless." I don't have a coherent rationale for choosing that word; like my father, some of my thought processes are more intuitive in nature, derived from a latent internal aesthetic. In other words: it just feels right.

Dad also thought it would be nice if I typed a message for you myself. Please forgive the spelling and punctuation, I am, after all, only two weeks old.

i wuv
u
momnmmi yu r guud mommmi
hppi burth day
i wuv u
u r mi mommni

ila

Ouch!

Looks like Ila has thrush! Her little mouth is has little white spots all over the inside and her little booty is bright red! Waaah. I called the advice nurse and she gave a prescription over the phone!

Found a few neat craft links. The first is etsy.com. It's a buyers and sellers market for crafts. Runs a tad slow when you use their special features, but otherwise there are tons of categories of crafts from people around the world.

The other site is for something called "The Sampler." A woman in Sacramento takes subscriptions (very hard to get) for samples of indie businesses of all kinds -- crafters, zinesters, artists, musicians, record labels.

Strolling and Fugazi

Last night was the first night that Ila slept through the night. We finally brought her into bed with us, and it worked! Previously, she was up for hours and hours each night. Even if it's a one night event, it brought us some much needed rest and renewed vigor to interpret our little girl's needs.

We celebrated Ila's 10th day with her first stoller ride today, taking advantage of a wonderul break in the storm to tool around the area for about 15 minutes. It felt GREAT to get outside!

While working on breastfeeding skills we watched the Fugazi documentary Instrument by director Jem Cohen. Although the dvd was released 5 years ago, I had never seen it. Fugazi is a band from Washington DC, containing members of early punk and hardcore bands. This is not any old band, but a community of 4 intense, dedicated musicians who have strong anti-commercial beliefs.

Although I haven't seen Fugazi for a number of years, the film really captures a stunningly dedicated group of intelligent artists who seem to live and create music and art on the edge of their own comfort zones. And the cinematography! It's gorgeous, live footage mixed with "on the road" imagery of everything from hotel scenes to apple blossoms. The combination is lovely and powerful.

The dvd is available from netflix.

What's in a Name? Ila Violet Cecily

ILA - Her first name rhymes with "Lila" -- meanings are "earth" in Hindi, "from the islands" in old French, "tree" in Hebrew, and "light" in Greek. Can you imagine so many meanings? And the best part, we thought Joel made it up, didn't even realize it was a proper name when we selected it. The day we had her, Joel said to me, "This is just an idea, but what do you think of the name 'Ila,' like 'I love'?" It just made my heart melt to have our little girl named after love, so I said "yeah, that sounds great." And now she's got a whole host of nature oriented meanings.. how nice for her!

Violet - I have always loved flower names for girls. Some friends have babies with the lovely names of Lily and Rose and something similarly old fashioned sounding and delicate appealed to me. We love the sound of "ILA Violet."

Cecily - It's a Jewish tradition to honor someone who has died by naming a child after them -- even by using a name with the first initial. Cecily honors two of her great great grandmothers -- Celia on Joel's side, and Christina on my side.