Just A Taste

A few morsels...

• Our childcare situation is still a bit of a patchwork until mid-October, so I took the day off today. I got to have just the littlest sample of what it would be like to be a SAHM. Lots of housework, but also a glorious walk in the sunshine during which we stumbled upon an outdoor performance by the Banjo Man. We sat in the shade of a great tree with sunshine filtering through the leaves and sang and clapped along with a smattering of moms, nannies, toddlers and babies. Then we went home and played on the floor, blowing raspberries and playing a slow, tummy-scooting version of tag. If I could just have one day at home per week....
• Somehow, I've never gotten around to mentioning that I gave up the smack Coca-cola cold turkey the day after we returned from Michigan this summer. I can't do moderation. It's all or nothing for me, sadly. It hasn't been too bad except for the days when I have to wrangle with the IRS.
• Speaking of which, it looks like I'm going to have to go to Tax Court. A very NON-cheerful raspberry to that.
• Natalie's been so fascinated with food that we've done a lot of reading (and a lot of bugging Moxie) about when/why/how and the pros and cons of introducing food. We decided to follow a less-conventional approach -- baby-led feeding -- and to go ahead and start letting her try out some food. So far she's had worn bananas and broccoli.

• We've been sitting in the grass outside a lot lately, and I guess we weren't as vigilant as we thought we were. It appears (according to her diaper today) that the first solid she actually ingested was grass.

New Tricks

We're tired over here, folks. This working thing, while necessary, is exhausting. Natalie is doing well with Jen's mom now, but is not sleeping as well at night because she'd like to nurse and be close all night long. Hence, we are not sleeping as well. So that is why there has been not so much posting.


In the absence of words, I give you Natalie's latest tricks.

(Note that she slithers in the opposite direction of my attempts to gain her attention. Slightly independent, she is.)

Solid Water

Natalie is so interested in food these days. She watches us eat with fascination, and has made multiple attempts to grab some of whatever it is that we're eating for herself. As there is a history of both diabetes and food sensitivities in Jen's family, we're trying really hard to make it to six months before starting her on solids. Today, a friend mentioned that she gave her son ice in a mesh feeder before she started solids with him. Since we had a mesh feeder already, we gave it a try tonight.



What we didn't catch on film was the excited way she grinned and wiggled for 45 minutes afterwards. As far as she was concerned, she had started solids, and it was goooood.

Overheard

Natalie: Dadadadadada....
Cait: No, honey, 'Donor. Do-nor.'

We Pause for a Brief Station Snark

A plea to all parents and parents-of-the-future:

If you give your child one name but call her/him something else (e.g. her given name is Hortense Edwina, but you call her Eddie) PLEASE teach the child his/her full name. Otherwise, Eddie may have meltdowns of epic proportion upon entering school and being called, over and over again, "Hortense".

"But that's NOT MY NAME!" I hear again and again, in tones of such outrage that you would think I had called the child something obscene. Drives me batty.

End of rant.

Mmmmm

Mmmmm
Originally uploaded by jrustdc.

Potatoes are the food of the gods, I am convinced. They're my desert island food. (You know, if you could only have one food, blah blah. Never mind that potatoes wouldn't grow very well on a desert island.) Sure, that's a cheat, because to make them wondeful you need other ingredients, but OH, the things you can do with potatoes. And these, which we had for dinner last night were pretty much just plain potatoes. They were organic yellow fingerlings from the Farmer's Market, and we roasted them with olive oil and salt. Heaven.

What's your desert island food?

Two-good Tuesday

Jen and I are both home today, making for an unusually blissful Tuesday. Jen has the day off because of election day. I am normally off on Mondays and Tuesdays, though this is my first week on that schedule, so it still feels like a guilty treat, rather than a normal schedule. Natalie played with our faces and babbled happily for about half an hour after waking up this morning, grinning at the TWO MOMS in bed with her who weren't trying to rush out the door. Together, we walked over to the polls, and introduced Natalie to the voting process. She was outraged to find out that her vote didn't really count, but was pleasant enough to the election workers while we were there (read: grinned like mad at anyone who looked at her). After running some errands, during which she napped in her stroller, we returned home for lunch and playtime.

I tried yesterday to get a picture of Natalie's tooth. Highly unsuccessful. With two of us on the job, we were finally able to get one, though it took some doing:



Apparently, with both of her moms home, Natalie felt like showing off. She really, truly laughed (as in, more than a single "ha") while jumping in my lap. Then she sat unsupported for the longest she ever has.

Holy cow. She really is growing up.

PS - The last time we both had the day off from school with Natalie, Jen fell and broke her arm. This time, Cait cracked her head on the nursing stool while playing on the floor with Natalie and gave herself a mild concussion. Days off are dangerous!
PPS - Mild, folks. Really, really mild. She's ok, just taking it easy.

Breakthrough!

A tooth! Yesterday. Natalie thinks this makes her grown up enough to eat solids. Her moms are still hanging on for six months (one month, one week to go...).

UUUUUUUGH!

First of all, if you haven't already, go give some virtual hugs to Bri and Wes. They are writing about it more eloquently than I ever could, but no matter how you say it, miscarriages. just. suck. Our hearts are with you.

***************************

Closer to home, we had the first of our post-placement visits today. Yes, post-placement. New requirement. Another $1000. Yippee. It was fine. We got to brag about how wonderful Natalie is and how much fun we're having with her. The crap came at the end, when the social worker said that the three visits have to be two months apart each. Natalie will be 6 months old in October, at which point we thought our waiting period would be over. Apparently it just got extended by 4 months. To make things even better, the judge continues to change things almost daily. Several people we know who have done homestudies with private agencies have had to entirely redo them with DC Social Services because this judge has declared it necessary. (Of course this all happened after we had paid for our private agency) Our lawyer is now starting to think that maybe the judge *is* homophobic. And yes, this judge is the only option. So far she's granted the adoptions in the end, but I (of course) worry that the day will come when she won't. And that that day will just happen to be the one on which we schedule our hearing.

Oh, and that little thing with the IRS? Jen got another letter from them saying that she's OK with the first time homebuyers tax credit but that she owes quite a bit because she claimed the interest on the house and (duh) there are two names on the mortgage. Basically it boils down to our taxes for the past several years being done incorrectly because we can't file jointly and because our accountant fucked up. She's a lesbian. And an accountant. We. pay. her. so. it. comes. out. right. We could easily fuck it up on our own for free. Oh, and she hasn't returned Jen's calls or responded to her fax. Nice.

To all the people out there who don't understand why gays and lesbians want to be able to marry (um, probably none of whom read this blog, but this is my rant, dammit, and I don't care), I say this: It is so we can lead normal lives. It is so that we can own a house together and not worry that if one of us dies the other will be homeless or have to pay inordinate sums to stay in the house. So that we can file our taxes like normal people and not have to do this stupid calculus of who "owns" what or "paid" for what when it really all came out of the joint finances of the household. So that the IRS doesn't come after us for things we can't defend or prove and wouldn't have to if we were straight. So that we can have children together without being investigated. So that we can just face the normal financial challenges of having a child, rather than the extra thousands of dollars of debt from legal fees. So that when our child or our partner is sick or injured, we don't have to fear being kept in the waiting room because we're legally of no relation. So that we can just be normal people with families and not have to always fight so damn hard for it. And the even crappier thing is, Jen and I are lucky. We're lucky that we get to fight and struggle for it. I recognize that. But it still sucks.