woooosh!

Has it only been a couple of weeks? Because everything's been crazy busy around here, it feels like months. Turn around and they are grown; turn around and they are old bots with young bots of their own, dontchaknow. :)

First, we're moving to a new apartment. Farther south and not horribly far from our current place, but there's seven years' accumulation of stuff to contend with. Grandpa Charley is helping us out with childcare/packing/lifting/driving/etc. right now, and he's already gotten to the point of saying "can't you just throw this out?" We aren't even half-way through yet. I suspect a lot of clothes are going to go into the donation boxes in the area soon. Anyway, expect another mass email soon from Mark once we've got all the contact information nailed down.

Second, Gaz is moving. As in crawling. Usually after the cat, but also after spoons, her hairbrush, etc. She doesn't get too far before she loses focus and coordination, but she's figured out how to get to something she wants. This morning she figured out how to crawl on top of the cat in order to get to something she wanted (packing tape, for some odd reason). On the top of the list of things to buy for the move is some baby corral fencing of some sort. The apartment we're moving into has only the barest hint of wall separating the living room from the dining room, which looks nice but spells child containment issues.

We're up to five teeth now: two up top and three on the bottom. The last one that came in on the bottom went so easily that I didn't even know she had more teeth coming in! Just ::poof:: and there it was. She's getting a lovely toothy grin, even if it is a little lopsided sometimes. The next two uppers are working their ways down, but just as with the first two uppers they're taking their sweet time. She's fussy, we're fussy, everyone's fussy. I just wish she could have gotten a break at least for the move. The strangeness of our belongings disappearing to the new apartment is only making the sore gums more disconcerting.

We shall prevail, in any event, and I'm sure Gaz will love her new surroundings once they get to look less like a cardboard wasteland.

the headshot

The Headshot
Originally uploaded by georgiegrrrrl.

I'm in a lousy mood today, so here's something cute and happy like.

My sort-of kid

About five years ago, my husband Stormy and I decided it was time to have children of our own. It didn't take long for me to get pregnant, but our happy plans were spectacularly dashed, and eventually we learned that it was very unlikely that I would ever be able to carry our children to term.

That was devastating.

When George was pregnant with Gaz, we joked a lot about me becoming Auntie Lisa, and when it was time for George to go back to work, my own freelance work schedule made it very easy to slip into that role. I had no idea how profoundly my life would change.

Gaz isn't my niece, really, and she isn't my daughter either, but she is my sort-of kid. Three days a week, on average, I get the enormous privilege of being one of her parents. We have our own rhythms and routines, our own jokes, our own games. When she naps next to me, she reaches out to me in her sleep. When I walk in the door, she bounces and giggles excitedly until I get my coat off and pick her up for a hug.

I thought this relationship with Gaz would be a little sad for me, because she's not my daughter and I don't know if I'll ever get to meet the daughter in my heart, but that's not the case at all. Gaz isn't a stand-in for the child I don't have. She's her own person and a very special member of my family. I will always be her Auntie Lisa, and we will always have each other, no matter what.

Thanks Gaz, for being my sort-of kid. And thanks George and Mitch, for adopting me into your family.

I love you guys! ::grin::

our baby is famous!

Peep these photos of Gaz on the Flickr accounts of various friends.

state of the union. . . well, our union

We have tooth #3! The left front tooth, just as I expected. She's still working on #4, which will hopefully not take another month to come in. It's not sticking out enough yet to be easily visible when she smiles, but soon we'll have no more exclusively gummy smiles.

"Cat" looks like it may be Gaz's first word. I keep saying it to her as often as I can (along with "Mama" and "Daddy") and I have caught her twice mimicking me in a sort of absent minded fashion while she's playing with a toy or twisting around in her doorway jumper. I'm sure Proton will be pleased. He's been a paragon of patience and tolerance with her, despite much fur pulling and tail mangling. I'm still trying to teach her to pet the cat nicely, but you know babies. They don't understand English so well in the beginning.

At the doctor, current Gaz stats are as follows: height is 28" and weight is officially 21 lbs. and 6 oz. She feels a lot heavier, but that may just be the tired arms talking. She's hale and hearty, developing perfectly and all that. She had three shots and by the time we left, she was smiling at all the ladies in the office so much that they were sure that she'd not had any shots at all.

In non-Gaz news, I'm trying to become a milk donor. Our freezer is packed like you wouldn't believe, and there are so many sick babies who need breastmilk. I hope that I meet all the requirements. I'm a bit worried that my asthma medication might exclude me. Also, for anyone who hasn't already heard, we are having to find a new place to live. Our apartment building, which has been home to us for seven lovely years, is being turned into condos. We don't know yet where in Chicago we'll end up, but we're looking forward to being settled again.

Oh, and we just got Skype installed here, so if you'd like to see the Gaz (webcam!) and you'd like to call us for free via the computer, drop me a line and we'll coordinate.