Hack Parents

I love me some ParentHacks, and ever since I read about the "cell phone as baby monitor" hack I have wanted to try it. I even tried to get Shelli and Narda to use it when they were visiting (I can't remember - did I succeed?). But I never got to try it myself. Trouble was, you need two cells that can be speakerphones, and my archaic but much loved Samsung i500 did not have that capacity. Well, the ole i500 died this week, and I was dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era and now have a phone we call the Phazr (it's a Razr knockoff, which I didn't realize when buying it over the web). The Phazr has a speakerphone, so at the first possible opportunity, Cait and I (ok, *I*, with Cait's phone and her eye-rolling agreement) tried the phone monitor.

Natalie fell asleep in the car after refusing a morning nap, and she REALLY needed the sleep. We were supposed to go out to lunch with a friend, but changed our plans to a carside picnic in Rock Creek Park so Natalie could keep sleeping. The phones were set up with much excitement and we settled ourselves at a picnic table a short distance from the car. Our chatting and laughter were cut short after only a couple of minutes when Natalie woke up. As Cait went to get her out of the carseat, she realized we'd missed one critical step of the hack:

MUTE the phone on the parent end.

The Tally - Updated

3 new bug bites (one giant welt on the calf, one ordinary bump front and center on the forehead)
7 new scratches on hands and wrists from the neighbors' cat
2 scraped knees
1 nearly healed scrape under right eyebrow
and
5 scratches from sharp toddler fingernails (on Mama's face)

Can you tell we have a portrait appointment today at 2:00 pm?

Update: And one hella lump over the right eyebrow from a fall after dinner in which head met furniture with a loud crack. I am a horrible mother, because my first thought after seeing that she was not gravely wounded was "Thank God this happened AFTER the photos!"

In Which I Try to Make Up For Our Slackerdom By Posting Cute Pictures

We're almost free of school. Technically I'm done, but have had some details (such as a terrible mess of a classroom that needs to be organized and prepared for summer school groups) to take care of. Jen's last day is (technically) tomorrow. I take a class next week. Then, finally, we will all be home (or at least off) for the summer. Or at least until the week that Jen takes a class. Anyway...

Point being, we've been busy. And so, we've been lousy about posting. Jen's been working on a post, but it hasn't made it to completion yet. I've thought of things to post, but none of them even made it to the starting gate. So to satisfy the throngs of adoring fans begging to hear what we've really been up to, I present to you this small photo-essay of sorts.

In the last month:

• Natalie had her first real encounter with the pavement.
• We had a visit from Hannah!
• We explored (and LOVED) a local fountain.
• We did some gardening.
• We went to Pride and marched in the parade (please note that her shirt is not meant to be a slam against one-mom families. It was a gift, and Pride seemed to be the place to wear it.)
  
• Natalie learned about the joys of fresh strawberries.
• Natalie is also learning all kinds of new words and signs and is entertaining us and challenging us in all kinds of new ways. That, however, is a post for a different day.
  

I wonder...

...how many hours of my life have been wasted wandering around looking for my glasses? Not because I misplaced them per se, but because I set them down someplace and cannot SEE them. Argh.

Blogging for LGBT Families

It's the end of the school year. Life is beyond hectic. We are beyond exhausted. We have approximately 30 minutes left in Blogging for LGBT Families Day.

Since last year's post, we've come a long way. Our second parent adoption was finalized in December. A few months ago, we received an amended birth certificate listing both of us as Natalie's parents. It is wonderful to have the legal hurdles behind us for now, to focus our energy on life together as a family.

"Mama" is a favorite word in our house these days. Natalie uses it to refer to both of us, clearly knowing while speaking it exactly which one of us she means. We can usually tell too. Like many of her words and signs, sometimes it becomes a game. She'll say mama, I'll say Natalie, she'll say mama, I'll say Natalie...you get the idea.

Lately, when the three of us are together, Natalie will point at one of us and say cheerfully, "Mama!" Then she'll point to the other, announcing, "Mama!" Then she'll grin proudly. Folks, my thirteen-month-old gets it. Why is it so hard for our lawmakers?