Wow, That's...Kinda Grownup!

[in progress]

A house!
A baby!
Life insurance!

Yummy rice, chicken and spinach

Bridget ate the entire bowl of olive tapenade.

Baby N in Chicago

Love her

Cousin E is born!

Cousin E was born this afternoon, weighing 6 lbs/3 ounces and measuring 18 inches. So cute!

Baby Shower Pentathlon

[in progress]

My godchild was no more than 1 month old in the womb when I started planning it's shower. I was actually done planning maybe 3 or 4 months ago. See how well it's doing! H has a month and a half to go and she looks amazing.

I took the day off to clean, move the furniture around, make the diaper cake, games and prizes. We were going to make a round diaper cake but this square one was so much easier to make and left the diapers intact.

The Baby Shower Pentathlon

1) Write down guesses for gender, weight and due date as well as a wish for the baby to be included in the baby book (shutterfly, of course)

2) Diaper in the Dark: I got cheap diapers, bandanas and a premie Cabbage Patch doll from the attic. People seemed to do a good job doing things blindfolded...hmmm

3) How Big is She? Take a piece of string and cut what you think her waist size is. R was less than an an inch off! Z was, well, he said he added a few inches in order to be able to tie a bow.

4) What's in the Diaper? I melted a snickers for diaper 1 and an almond joy for diaper 2 (nice and chunky with a big gross almond). Doris reached back into her pediatric memory and suggested: mustard with peppercorns and wasabi with mayonnaise.

5) What's in the Baby Food? I stayed away from the meat ones because they were just really disgusting and there were vegetarians at the party. I picked mango as the easy one to get people's confidence up. Then apple blueberry was a complex mix and this great brownish purple color. Then pear and pineapple was nearly impossible. Z and his mom both guessed the same thing for each of the flavors. Amazing.

Baby Q

My friend E just told me he and his wife are expecting in April! I'm so thrilled!

Mama's Club

As you know, there are quite a few buns in quite a few ovens. I started to link up friends who are pregnant with other preggo friends and two met last night. I think they will be incredible resources and souces of support for each other.

Fairy Godmother, Literally

I just found this photo of Cinderella's fairy godmother - she kind of looks like a lesbian, she dressed Cinderella! That is so me! All I need is a godchild...

Oh, wait, I have one! H gave me one of the best gifts of my life - she told me I was her and Z's baby's godmother. I burst into tears. We're having a baby! That explains why my belly has been getting bigger...

And there it is! Well, in H's belly. The bean is doing very well - it likes yoga and eating. The bean also has such incredible parents. H has read and researched everything there is to know - she can tell you everything about vaccines. She has also been nesting and this child will have everything it could ever need. Really cool, eco-friendly, super awesome things. Z has been reading a birthing partner book and now that he has beat Resident Evil, he is ready to be a kick-ass dad.

I broke it to Petunia (H's godchild) that she was getting a sibling. She snorted and wagged her tail. I think it went really well. See a picture from a few years ago of H with the children, Silva and Petunia.

It was really great to meet her for dinner tonight in my old Christopher Street 'hood. Wow it has changed. We ate at The New French, a critic's choice in NYMag's Cheap Eats (I'm all about Cheap Eats). While I'm not sure we got the actual experience, they were so sweet to alter the recipes to take out the dairy. I had the scallops and normally it is on a cauliflower puree but the chef just sauteed the cauliflower in olive oil instead. Look at the purple! It was yummy.

Baby S

Oh, sweetie! You are getting so big! Love the smile and I picked out a perfect shirt for you to match with mommie!

Preggers

I have many pregnant friends so at the request of one, this entry is for you.

My best friend's shopping and researching skills are second to none. She is due New Year's day and bought this coat in like June. It is the most amazing and brilliantly designed coat I have ever seen. It's the Mamacoat from Japanese Weekend. When you're not showing too much, it is a nice winter coat that zips up the front, water and wind resistant, lightly insulated so you can layer. As you get bigger, there's a panel that is a little wider at the belly part that you can zip in. Then, after the baby arrives, there's a panel that's wider at the top so that baby's head can peek out. And last but not least, there's an adorable matching baby hat with ear flaps!

I love this Gucci baby carrier. But, the thing with the Gucci and Louis Vuitton baby stuff is that they are made out of fabric. Baby is going to vomit, poo, pee and just make a mess out of it. Not to mention sleep deprived mommy and daddy. So, that is why I love the Prada diaper bag. Made out of the low maintenance nylon, it is fabulous and functional. And comes with special Prada bonus items like a Prada changing pad and Prada baby blankie. www.modaqueen.com


H's baby registry on http://www.myregistry.com/ (so she can order from a bunch of websites) is a plethora of well-researched goodies. Her diaper bag is made out of recycled bottles and can be worn on the shoulder, across the body and across the stroller handles (Fleurville - Re-Run Diaper Bag). She has super natural disposable diapers and request for toys and other baby stuff like bottles that are BPA, PVC, vinyl, & lead free. Books that are high contrast for infants to start being as smart as it's parents.

As the baby shower planner, I used http://www.pingg.com/ and it's been really terrific. I also got her 2 great shirts from http://www.etsy.com/. Etsy is a really great website for handmade goods. I got her 2 maternity tees: (1) pasta sauce jar on the side that says "Preggo" and (2) design on front that says, "I'm so crafty, I make people!"

The Boomlet

I just found out yesterday that another one of my friends is pregnant. And M, in a drunken state did a double take at the wedding at an old friend who is very petite and about 10 days away from giving birth. M exclaimed with arms outstretched, "Whoa...WHOA!" at the size of her belly. Although I've tried to believe what people were telling me, that this was just because my friends have reached child bearing age, I think there's more to it. My department has had over 20 births in the past 2 years with more to come. I feel like I see pregnant women all the time. I have been meaning to do some research to see if there was truth in my observations and...

We are experiencing a boomlet (it is a boomlet because it is only a single digit increase instead of a double digit increase). According to a July story in USA Today, "A record number of babies were born in the USA in 2007, according to early federal data...The last time the number was this high was in 1957, in the middle of the baby boom years; about 78 million Americans were born from 1946 to 1964. Demographers have been monitoring gradual increases in recent years; data for 2006, which won't be made final until September, show a 3% increase over 2005. That's the largest single-year increase since 1989. The same report also showed births becoming more common in nearly every age and racial or ethnic group. Birth rates increased for women in their 20s, 30s and early 40s, not just teens. They rose for whites, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Alaska Natives. The rate for Asian women stayed about the same."

In my quick research, the rise in births has resulted in a growth in industries that provide products and services to children and their parents. We've seen that in all the cool new gadgets and doodads and maternity wear and gear. But, it triggers the Economics part of my brain and I wonder about scarcity and the increased competition for resources. Is there a way to time one's pregnancy such that their child is born in a "lull", where there is a better child to teacher ratio and my kid can easily be class president? "The boomlet will likely continue because the population of women in their childbearing years - between 15 and 44 - is expected to increase by 1 percent annually through 2040, Spar said." Those numbers could be affected by all kinds of things, the economy, immigration, laws, etc.

So, there's no way to "time" it, at least not before 2040. And there is something to be said about the country as a whole perhaps focusing for the first time in a long time on its children just because there are so many. The young vote has people focused on what young people think. This is just another reminder of what is at stake and how we need to create a better world for our children and raise them in such a way that they continue to make the world better for their children.

Baby Pyoo-mah!

I just found out my beloved Australian co-worker is expecting in March!