The World of Mackay

I guess the media is not the only group fascinated with anniversaries. July 26th was the anniversary of my 'induction' into the hospital bedrest hall of fame. This year, instead of fearing for the safety of our unborn baby, we were able to celebrate -- and we did it in a huge way. We hosted 'JennyBillooza' - oh-so-cleverly named for the joint birthdays of my husband Bill, and our good friend and adopted family, Jenny. The stars aligned to give us great weather (75 degrees and sunny, when the days before and after were cold and foggy), great friends (over 150 of them), and no major damage to our new house. As our friend from Spain said of the party, "What a great way to break your house." We think he might have meant 'break in' your house, but either meaning is appropriate. We had a keg; we had glow sticks, we had a Cuban band; we had a taco truck; and most of all, we had a great time celebrating all those who have been, are, or will someday be 40. Than

Hi all - here's a perspective from my husband Bill on the joys of parenting. "I sure hope I'm not doing permanent damage to little Mackay. We all have heard the jokes about being dropped on our heads when we were babies. It turns out that in many cases, this probably isn't a joke - and it is definitely not funny when you see it happen. Given that Michele is mostly a stay-at-home Mom for the moment, my "mister mom" days have been limited to just a few. The first time I cared for Mackay on my own everything went fine - at least from her perspective. From my perspective, that large backside blowout she had was quite frightening. So much so, that I was compelled to take a picture to document it. As Michele is the keeper of this blog, I presume that picture will not show up to the right. The second time I got to care for Mackay on my own was when Michele went to Las Vegas for a Bachelorette Party. This left me in control for over 2 full days. Well, at least I

Mackay can crawl. But now it's all about standing. She'll pull herself up on anything -- my leg, a chair, her crib, a box in the garage... (I don't think it's child abuse, but she fits perfectly in these large plastic storage containers from Costco -- she can stand up, but not fall out, and walk herself around the edges, giving us a few minutes to try to eke some sort of organization in our garage.) Anyway - she bonks her head about 4 times a day as she tries to scale every object in our house. We just returned from a visit to my grandparents in Minnesota (both in their 90's), where she spent most of the week trying to climb a chair in their living room. I'm hoping her little fuzzy head will survive this phase. Her determination is impressive, though. I would not have thought it would be visible so early. On the positive side - she was an angel on the plane. Though I discovered a new reaction to the other inconsolable children seated nearby... "Oh - poor b

My father recently noticed a strong resemblance between me at 6 months old (middle picture. I swear I had no control of my outfit) and my daughter (far right). My husband, looking at the two photos, made the dubious connection that we both resembled the frog in that Warner Brothers cartoon (you know the one, with the frog in the top hat singing 'hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal...'). Despite the somewhat less than ideal photographs, I'll leave it to you to decide.

Ok - so Mackay's dad, who finds an inordinate number of opportunities to quote Jack Nicholson in 'A Few Good Men,' insisted on the title of this post. But it's official. Mackay has two tiny teeth. She chews on everything... fingers, toys, her toes. When I was in the kitchen the other day, I heard this odd scraping noise. I peeked over the counter, and discovered the baby gnawing on the metal leg of a barstool. It's kind of like having a pet piranha.

I have been fascinated to discover that there is a secret society that comes with motherhood. Because I spent most of my visibly pregnant time in the hospital, I didn't get to (or have to, depending on your perspective) deal with strangers touching my stomach, or telling me that their uncle's mother's daughter's child was going to share the same birthday as my baby. But I have to say that I truly enjoy the little smiles and friendly nods that are shared when I come across another mom with a child of roughly the same age. It's a kinship to which I was oblivious before I had a baby - but I'm pleased to be a part of it now. On a completely unrelated topic - Mackay cut her first tooth. It seems the drool has a purpose. I'd like to record for posterity the lyrics to her father's favorite lullaby. You are drooly, truly drooly You are drooly, yes you are You are drooly, truly drooly We should put it in a jar. You are drooly, truly drooly You are drooly, yes y