The World of Mackay

All hail the baby gate. Mackay is on the move. I wouldn't call it crawling, exactly. She looks sort of like an inchworm. She gets on her hands and knees, and then stretches her hands out in front until she's flat on the ground again. Then she pulls her knees in again (she'd be great at Pilates) and gets ready to move another 3 inches. She's not going to set any land-speed records, but she is getting where she wants to go. She also stood up on her own for the first time. With a death grip on the edge of her pack and play, and a lot of grunting, she was able to haul herself up to standing. Despite swaying like a drunken sailor, she looked pretty pleased with herself. I'm open for any good tips on babyproofing. :-)

As I was wiping banana off my clothes and my daughter's face this morning (she has discovered the art of blowing raspberries, and is determined to practice it while she is eating,) I was struck by how 'normal' everything seems. And I was reminded of how amazing the journey was to get her here. Mackay was a twin. While I was standing in the kitchen one morning last July, my water broke. I was about 18 1/2 weeks along. I'd like to say that I handled this crisis with some sort of control and dignity, but I was an absolute blubbering wreck. A dear friend drove me to the hospital, picking up my husband, who had just stepped onto a BART train, on the way. The perinatal doctor on call determined that my water had only broken for one twin (our son), but that the other baby's amniotic sac was still intact. They gave us 0% chance of survival for the boy, and less than 5% for the girl. In fact, one doctor told us that our best chance of a successful delivery was to terminate a

Fathers' Day took on new meaning for us this year, and we celebrated with a party! We had 19 people, including 7 dads, for a barbecue. The dust continues to settle in the new house, but everything actually came together pretty well. Now if we could just get some barstools...

Drum roll please. Mackay sat up today. By herself! For several minutes. She even picked up a couple toys without falling over. It's very exciting. My, has my definition of excitement changed since I had a baby.