lunch with the ladies

Last Wednesday, I went to my mom's work again so we could talk with her supervisor about plans for the future. I really do NOT want my mom to go back to work. Do you know how hard it is to train someone to know when I want to read stories or play elephants or just sit and chat? UGH! You will see in this photo that I dressed up in my fancy outfit hoping to make a good impression so that they wouldn't take my mom away from me and force her to return to work. We recently peeked in the window of a daycare center (not that I would ever go somewhere like that) and I was horrified to see that the room was filled with little wooden cribs . . . like prison cells for infants. After the meeting at work, I had lunch with Ellen, Molly, and cute Lisa at the Texas Capitol (my second trip there). The ladies sure like me. I like it that Lisa always wears pink in our photos. By the way, my cuteness made a good impression: we got word early this morning that my mom's leave will be extended and, after that, she will work from home. YAY!

happy (belated) birthday to my great-grandfather

On August 13, my great-grandfather Bobby celebrated his 85th birthday. I also celebrated my 9-week birthday that day. Happy birthday to us! Sadly, my grandfather celebrated his birthday in the hospital. I celebrated my birthday by attending a hearing about our water rates. More about the water later. Let's talk about my grandfather! Here is a photo of him and my mom last September in Dallas. He came to Austin and they made a trip to Dealey Plaza (where Kennedy died). Bobby spent a good amount of time chatting with a fellow who, as a young boy, witnessed what happened there. Like most people, Bobby left the plaza and the museum convinced that there is no possible way Oswald could have committed the crime. I hope to meet Bobby soon so he can tell me interesting stories about places he has been (Alaska, South Pacific, South America etc). Maybe he will come here, or I will go to Washington or Florida to see him. He probably would have come here in his motorhome to see me this summer if he hadn't been sick. He is going to think I am the cutest baby in the world. When I am older, he and I can eat waffles and strawberries together - and cookies for dessert! No matter where he goes to eat for breakfast, he always compares his waffles to the ones at the Cornerhouse. He has been eating at the Cornerhouse since he started working as a lineman for the City forever ago. Back to the Kennedys . . . most people probably don't know that my name was going to be Kennedy Anne had I been a girl. My parents didn't finalize names until they were en route to the hospital to have me; it became apparent on Fitzhugh Road that there wasn't much time left to mess around with names! Happy birthday, Bobby. I will see you soon. Feel better!

happy birthday to me / lucky number 13

On August 11, I celebrated my two month birthday. I woke up in the morning thinking that I would get to do something really special to celebrate my birthday. My dad was home from work on a weekday so that could only mean good things, right? You'd think that my parents would take me to the zoo or somewhere like that . . . or at least to the bakery to gaze at cupcakes I will someday eat. I guess they "forgot" to tell me that a two month birthday means a doctor's visit with shots. Oh dear. We got to the doctor's office and I had to undress immediately to get weighed and measured. I am now 13lb and 13 oz. I am 23 1/4 inches tall. Still a big and very heavy baby. While I was naked on the scale, I took the opportunity to squirt pee into the air. This time, I didn't have my usual cuddly nurse who tickles my armpits to get my temperature, but my pee squirt brought her running to help me. The doctor tells me I am so perfectly healthy. And then I got my shots. Ouch ouch did that ever hurt. But I am brave. I was a bit fussy in the afternoon and evening. I slept so well last night though because the doctor told my parents that it is obvious that I should be sleeping in bed with them. I sleep for 30 minutes independently in my bassinet or for several hours with them. Knowing that I wouldn't be kicked out of their bed last night due to doctor's orders, I slept from 11:00pm until 5:30am. We had many visitors last night, including my dear friend Luka. We are getting ready for a hearing about our water rates (water, again??!!!???) so neighbors had to come over and give my mom letters so she can represent them. I met a new friend named Bear and another boy named Jagger. Cute. Here is a photo of me and Luka and another of my dad holding me.

new friends

I have made some new friends in the past several weeks and visited with old friends. Since this google blog is somewhat awkward to format, I will put in my photos, and tell my stories, and readers can figure out which goes with which . . . kind of like a fun puzzle!

I had lunch with baby Jensen. We went to Walton's Fancy and Staple. Jensen is four months old (born on my dad's birthday after 19 hours of labor OUCH). He is such a cheerful and handsome fellow and I really liked his sweater vest. His mom is also named Stephanie (how confusing is that?) and they used to work together until she had Jensen and then quit her job to stay home with him. I am thinking that is what my mom should do too. It makes no sense to pay someone else to play with me all day while my mom goes to work just to pay the nanny. Dumb. And we have our things we like to do each day (our routina, as my dad would say in his Spanish talk).

My mom also took me to visit her work on August 5. I was very popular there and everyone knew where my name comes from. Lots of people held me. Here is a photo of me with Eric. This Eric is not to be confused with the evil lazy Eric though. This is the nice Eric. He used to be somewhat of a vain beefcake until he had a baby girl in January. I don't know many boys so I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't like it if he held me but I smiled and smiled and made some boy talk. He even used sanitizer before he picked me up! I also let Glenn hold me (he also used hand sanitizer) but he thought my name was Calpurnia.

And then there is cute Lisa. She came to my house on Sunday August 9. I was so happy to see her after I spent the morning in yet another boring meeting about water. It seems like people around here are obsessed with water and not having water or having 6,000 gallons of it splashing through the house and busting out walls. All I know is that I like to have a bath. I smiled at Lisa a lot because she told me how cute I am. She says I am "entirely too cute." True. If I ever agree to eat from a bottle, Lisa will babysit me. I think that will be fun. She used to be a teacher and she has an MA in psychology so we can have some meaningful conversations. I suppose I should include a photo of me not really interested in my bottle. It doesn't make any sense to take milk out and put it in a bottle. Silly. We will try again soonish though so my dad can feed me sometimes.

12lb 6oz

This morning, my mom called the doctor because my diaper rash is not letting up. It all started with a glass of lemonade to celebrate my sister's birthday. Sadly, I was not able to see my beloved dr and I was forced to see the frosty doctor with leathery hands. The nurse was able to confirm that I am a big baby! 12lb 6oz. The highlight of my doctor's visit was when the doctor asked about my pee and I was able to make the biggest one ever to show her. It was like when you hold a garden hose up in the air and it arcs and sprays everywhere. I got three of the walls, all of the chairs etc. It was my grandest pee ever!

six week birthday

On Thursday, my six week birthday, we woke up to yet another water outage. Happy birthday to me. Stupid Sam. It is very hard to keep an infant clean without water. We got annoyed so we decided to set out. We met my dad for lunch at Hyde Park and then visited the baby store. I did NOT sleep through lunch, if you could believe it! Here is me at lunch. I am hollering about the water. I knew that this water outage would mean that I would have to miss my beloved bedtime bath. Speaking of bedtime, I have had two milestones in my sleeping career this week. 1) My mom set me down on Friday so I could chat with my baby friend in the mirror and I put myself to sleep - quite by accident. 2) On Saturday, I slept from midnight until just before 5:00am. The baby books consider that to be sleeping through the night. I don't know if I qualify as sleeping through the night though since I spent the entire night sleeping on my mom. We have had some bad nights this week since I am way gassy. I don't know what my mom is eating to make me so gassy but she keeps cutting different foods from her diet and there aint much left.

weeks 5 and 6

I have had a pretty busy week (as usual).

Here is a photo with me visiting with my sister. I have been lucky enough to visit with her several times this week. On Friday, she came over and helped me get my clothes organized . . . even though I would prefer NOT to wear clothes. I have outgrown all of my newborn clothes and some of my 0-3 months clothes so we have started on the 3-6 months size now. I don't know how I got so big. Some people worried that I would be a runt since my mom was vegetarian during her pregnancy and some people also seem misinformed that breastfed babies are frail. I am HUGE but a healthy kind of huge.