More Carmen

Some quick updates:

My mom went home Saturday. It was wonderful having her here - fun to just be around her, and great to have her help with the girls. Olivia especially loved spending time with Grandma and making her sing songs over and over again. It's Thursday, and she still talks about Grandma.


Three generations picture. Olivia and I are tied for worst hair here.

So, I'll admit that when Carmen was first born, I wondered if she was going to be as pretty as Olivia. As some of you may remember, Olivia was just a beautiful, beautiful newborn - as she's gotten older, she's remained beautiful. Plus, she's so fun and smart and sweet that she's become my Platonic idea of a child. I worried about that, because I don't want Carmen to feel inferior just because she's not exactly like her.

But, I don't think we have anything to worry about.




L'amour est enfant de boheme - look at that olive skin.

She's also quite the sweetie. She's a good sleeper, an even better eater, and a good cuddler to boot. We're all in love.



And, in the tradition of Olivia, she sleeps with her head on sideways.

I'm sure life could be better right now. But I don't know how.

And the winner is...

me! Actually, all of us.

Everyone, please say hello to Carmen Anne.



I won because I got the best birthday gift ever: a quick, healthy labor and a sweet, healthy baby girl.
Kendra wins the guessing game pretty handily - she was only an ounce off of Carmen's birth weight of 7 lbs 3 oz. Douglas also got the date right, so I guess he gets second.

Sunday morning we went in to the hospital at 7:15, and she was born at 12:18 pm. I got massively drugged up (this was by accident) and slept through the whole labor, but it apparently went well.

At 19 inches, Carmen's birth length is the same as Olivia's, but she weighs a half pound more - that half pound sure makes her look chubbier. So far she's a great sleeper (6 1/2 hours straight last night!) and loves to eat and snuggle. She is very floppy and funny.

Why Carmen?

• We both like it
• Easy to recognize, spell, and pronounce; gender obvious
• We like Bizet's opera
• Like Olivia, it's Spanish - I was a missionary in Spain
• Like Olivia, it has international flair: it comes from both Latin and Hebrew. Latin meaning: song. Hebrew meaning: garden
• Also like Olivia, it has religious significance: it is derived from Mt. Carmel, where Elijah challenged the priests of Baal

Why Anne?

• My step-grandmother, Anne Christenson. Anyone who knows her would understand why we would want our daughter to be like her.
• We also have a couple of wonderful friends named Anne - oddly enough, they both married men named Simon (my grandma never did)

Sounds like my baby-free time is up. See Steven's blog for more pictures - now that I'm home (as of this afternoon) I also hope to put up some more soon.

I know this is disjointed. So many feelings. But all of them happy. We love Carmen, and we're so glad she's here.

My couple crush

I am not really a sappy romantic person, so it kind of surprises me when I have sappy romantic moments - particularly because I have them most often concerning other people. I probably don't strike many people as a matchmaker, but I often think about friends who are unattached and muse about people I could or would set them up with. Don't let this frighten you - it's just because I like you and I care, and if at any time you'd like me to take a more active participation in my quest for your marital bliss, please feel free to let me know.

So, I'm not sure why I'm writing about this, but I guess it just makes me inordinately happy: My friend Douglas, who I've known for almost 10 years now, got married last year to the most wonderful person I could possibly have imagined for him. They look great together. They act great together. They make each other better and happier. After I met her for the first time, I spent the whole car ride home talking about how great she was, because it made me so happy that such a fantastic guy had found such a fantastic girl. Somehow, it seemed a confirmation of all that is good in the world. It still makes me shiver with joy just to think about it. And I hope this doesn't creep them (or anyone else) out.

Baby Pending - Place Your Bets

Yesterday at church I was talking with a friend when all of a sudden she said "Whoa! Was that the baby?" My belly is now so crowded that kicks are visible out of the corner of someone's eye through two shirts and a sweater. We spent the next several minutes amusing ourselves by watching and feeling the undulations of my belly. The fun part is that when the baby moves, you can see and feel it everywhere - like, when she digs her toes into my right ribs, you can also see her knee or arm or whatever poking out of the bottom left of my belly. Not the most comfortable thing ever, but fun. I'll try to get a video.

Which reminds me - I'm now at 38 weeks, and at my last checkup on Thursday, I had started dilating. So, I guess this is the time for any and all who are interested to place predictions on when Baby Sister will make her grand (ha!) entry.

Just FYI:

Estimated due date: Feb 15
Weight I've gained: around 35 lbs.
Olivia was 1 week early, 6 lbs. 11 oz., 19 inches, born at 8:45 am. I also gained about 35 lbs. with her
My birth weight was 8 lbs. 1 oz.
Steven's was 9 lbs. 6 oz.

I don't know that I expect everyone to get super excited about trying to guess date and size, but if you're interested you're certainly welcome, and if your guess is close I'll send you something special as a prize. Mainly, though, I guess I just want to say that the baby's coming soon, and you're all invited to be excited with me.

Relationshipi

Last Sunday at church the speaker mentioned our living in a complex world. Steven leaned over to me and said, "So, would that be worldi?"

I spent the next few minutes wondering what negative world squared would be like.

And that is why we're married.

Ace is the Place

...at least if you value customer service. I have never had a good customer service experience at Lowe's - quite the contrary. Every time I go - every single time - I end up frustrated because:

1) I can never find anyone to help me
2) When I am actually able to find someone, they are decidedly unhelpful: usually rude, unknowledgeable, indifferent, and lazy
3) It takes contacting at least 4 of these people to actually get someone who has any idea what I'm talking about. And I have to find all of them myself - they certainly will not put forth any effort to find each other.

I do like Lowe's Valspar paint. That's about all I like about their store.

In contrast, every time I've gone to Ace, the people have been friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. I am willing to pay a few dollars' price difference, if that, to get someone who is willing and able to help me.

A return to nice

When did people decide that it was okay to be jerks to each other?

I remember when, as a teenager, I brilliantly deduced that I could and should act however I felt inclined because it would be "dishonest" not to. Meaning that, if I woke up and felt like a grump, I was perfectly justified in behaving like a grump, because to try to disguise it would be a lie. If someone asked me a question and I didn't feel like answering, I would just ignore them. If I didn't feel like smiling (and most of the time, I didn't), I wouldn't. Logically, it worked out. Kind of.

The problem is that, when you get down to it, logic and rightness - and even honesty - aren't what life's about at all. They're things to think about and occupy yourself with, but they don't make up the meat of what living actually is. I was very grateful to grow up and rediscover that all the importance in life comes from our relationships and happiness, in feeling happy and making others feel happy too. It seems ridiculous that I could have lost sight of this, since I've always liked feeling happy and appreciated others who treated me with kindness. I guess I'm using a lot of words to try to describe a simple concept: Me like happy. You too?

So, it really bothers me when I hear or read things that are meant to make someone else feel bad. Political mudslinging or slams; digs on online forums; nasty comments made under the cloak of online anonymity; hateful, self-serving protests - there's a whole accepted culture of meanness. It makes me assume that these individuals haven't grown out of the same kind of adolescent funk I was in, and feel impatient for them to do so. Why can't we all be honestly, intentionally nice to each other?