the sun'll come out, erm, last week. . . .? finally, halloween pics!

annie with real, 4-legged sandy the mutt is pretty cute, but i prefer brother as dog:

next time i have a spare second (HA HA) i'll finish the pickle birthday story!!

pickle's arrival, part 1: this labor stuff is easy peasy good fun!

today is the little man's first birthday and i've been spending most of the day hugging him and remembering his amazing birth:

at around 2:30 a.m., i woke up to the exciting sensation of REAL contractions, very different from the teasers i had been feeling for weeks. i had begun to worry that i wouldn't know what labor really felt like, because i had been induced with clara. but i knew this was it. somehow, i actually managed to go back to sleep for an hour. i woke up rodney at about 3:30 to let him know that THIS WAS IT. of course, i had said that so many times over the previous weeks that he just rolled over and went back to sleep. miraculously, i fell asleep again, too. but by a little after 4, i was too excited to continue the wake-contraction-nap cycle, so i got up, ate a snack and began pacing around the house. i wanted rodney to keep sleeping so he could be a well-rested coach. but by 4:30, the contractions were so regular and close that i made rodney get up and call patty, one of my midwives. patty arrived at about 5 and began setting up her stuff.

meanwhile, i continued my pacing and took it to the back yard. immediately, i realized that the heat had broken--it was actually COOL outside. i had suffered through third trimester during austin's hottest summer on record and my baby had waited until the first real day of autum to come out?! HA! i knew right there that he was going to be a funny little dude who would do things on his own terms.

at 5:30, i called philippa and as planned, she drove over to pick up clara. i thought clara would be excited to go to her best buddy's house so early in the morning, but she was NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. she left the house in tears and later i would find out that she spent the morning vomiting because she was so nervous. i'm very glad i didn't know that, because as soon as she left the house, my body must have relaxed a few notches and labor began to progress more quickly.

rodney dutifully set up the texas-style birthing tub (a galvanized feeding trough from a feed store) and filled it with hot water straight from the hot water heater via a garden hose. i luxuriated under the stars in my hot tub for about an hour, chatting with rodney and patty, who were so chilly they had to wear sweaters. i was up to my neck in hot water and it was so comforting that i passed through the entire first stage of labor without event.

(to be continued. . . . part 2: transition)

on the eve of his first birthday

one year ago today, i woke up 9 days past my due date, SO fed up with being pregnant that i fell into complete denial. after dropping clara off for school and taking a brisk walk, i returned home and went on a manic cleaning spree. i scrubbed every square inch of my house, including floorboards, in record time. to reward myself in the form of lunch, i tossed aside my midwife's instructions to stay away from sugar and high fat foods. SO WHAT if the creature in my belly was measuring extra huge. obviously, he was NEVER COMING OUT! so i called rodney at work and barked, "BRING ME AN AMY'S DARK CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE. PRONTO." rodney dutifully dropped everything to deliver my lunch, returned to work, and i chugged most of the rich, frozen butterfat in a matter of minutes (and put the rest in the freezer.) a few minutes after that, i fell into a deep, dark chocolate sleep. i woke up feeling wretched, obviously from my choice of lunch. so what did i do? what any over-due pregnant woman in denial would do: i ate the rest of the milkshake. then, according to my email archive, i sent rodney the following missive: "thanks for the milkshake. i just polished the other half and i feel absolutely grotesque."

i don't recall many other details from the rest of the day, but i vividly remember going to bed in my gnome p.j. bottoms and my favorite, super soft, holey white tshirt. i knew something was happening and it wasn't just the continuing digestion of the milkshake. i knew that labor was beginning. so i sent rodney to the movies.

1st day of 1st grade

clara digs surrealism at the menil collection

later, i asked if she liked hotel t.v. or the art museum better. without even pondering the possibilities, she answered, "the art museum."

family portrait

houston's butterfly zoo

thank you, mr. rob

we had an incredible time and can't begin to tell you how appreciative we are. happy birthday!

(don't forget to treat yourself to the sad little unwanted cupcake!)

nothing says cute like cousins in matching jammies!

more florida pics

family portrait in florida

giddyup!

baby teeth

clara didn't get her first tooth until she was 1. the night before her birthday and her one-year baby well-check, i thoroughly checked her gums and felt nothing. as a frantic first-time parent, i worried that the doctor would express concern for her lack of teeth. the next day, the doctor ran her finger over the boo's gums and exclaimed, "there's a tooth!" it had sprouted on her birthday.

pickle is doing things his own way. he popped EIGHT TEETH in the course of one month, several months ago. his sister is the one who reminds me that his teeth need brushing:

mosquito summer

poor pickle. his first summer is full of mosquitoes.

this time last year, he was in my belly, bouncing around, oblivious to the fact that his poor mama was suffering through the hottest summer on record. then, not only did pickle wait past his due date for the official beginning of fall, he decided to make his appearance on the morning the heat broke into a cool, crisp perfect day. thanks, guy.

now he is witnessing record amounts of rain, the coolest july ever and the attack of the mean mosquitoes that come with the dampness. the mosquitoes don't bother the rest of us for some reason, but they love the tasty baby man.

clara's cabinet of curiosities

for about a year, clara has been collecting things that she finds on her walks to and from school. a few weeks ago, she chose her favorite items from the collection and arranged them in a shadow box. instant wunderkammer. the best feature is the phonetically spelled labels for "butterfly, robin egg, cicada, seed pod, leaf, acorn, flowers, pomegranate, seed pod."

tree house

that's our house, barely peeking out of the pecan trees. sadly, this will probably be the last summer our house will look this way. the lots next door, which have been in a family estate since the 1930s, are for sale and will surely be developed very soon.

6th birthday party: mommy's favorite moment

daddy's pre-film powerpoint presentation.

for 5- and 6-year-olds.

***giggles***

6th birthday party: celebrate!!!

as costumed guests arrived, they went to work decorating their hollywood stars with glitter, spangles, pom poms, googly eyes, feathers and origami papers. then they lined up at the concession stand for popcorn and lemonade and were ushered into clara's movie palace for a screening of the general, featuring buster keaton. it was a huge hit with the 5-6 crowd, even though it required full-time question answering, courtesy of rodney. after the movie it was snacktime, followed by the present-opening frenzy. it was a great success of a party and fun was had by all.

6th birthday party: anticipation

time goes by very slowly when you're six, it's your birthday, your parents have turned one room into a movie theater, another room into a bakery filled with pink cupcakes and sugar cookies, there are craft projects covering the floor, and YOUR FRIENDS WILL ARRIVE ANY SECOND TO BEGIN THE FESTIVITIES.

summer crafts

teaching clara crafts from my childhood is the easy part of mommy's summer craft camp. keeping pickle from eating the supplies is the big challenge.

mac geek baby monitor

don't worry, this only happened one time, when atticus fell asleep in the middle of the bed and i needed to be in the kitchen.

pretty geeky, eh?

Happy Fourth

IMG_5368.JPG, originally uploaded by gibbsie.

We had a splendid Fourth of July, culminating with sparklers in the backyard, which Clara loved. The best thing about the Fourth for her is it's her birthday eve. That's right: tomorrow Clara will turn six! I can't believe it, and neither can she. All week she's moped, saying, "I'm not ready to be six. It feels like I just turned five yesterday." You're telling me?!

Little Klaus Nomi

Little Klaus Nomi, originally uploaded by gibbsie.

Sometimes (heck, most of the time) Pickle lets loose. In addition to his killer Klaus Nomi hair-do, the little man gives a glimpse into his true self. Rock on, Atticus!