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::
Monday, February 6, 2006
Sunday, February 5, 2006
Friday, February 3, 2006
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.
"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.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Update
Look to the right and you'll see that there's another Flickr account to peek at. I'm trying to keep overlap with Mark's Flickr down. I think I'm eventually going to move all the Photobucket pictures to Flickr because Flickr just looks nicer.
Gaz is snoozing in the living room. She crashed pretty hard around 11:00. Yesterday was a long day for her, with some sight-seeing downtown, catching up with the B-Festers up in Evanston, and more time than she'd like spent in the car. We had a pretty big meltdown yesterday afternoon. Now it seems that she's catching up on nap, and she's also got some unhappy intestines. Nothing a long afternoon nap and lots of breastmilk won't cure, though.
New thing for Gaz to laugh at: the word "cat." Any time I say it, she laughs.
Gaz is snoozing in the living room. She crashed pretty hard around 11:00. Yesterday was a long day for her, with some sight-seeing downtown, catching up with the B-Festers up in Evanston, and more time than she'd like spent in the car. We had a pretty big meltdown yesterday afternoon. Now it seems that she's catching up on nap, and she's also got some unhappy intestines. Nothing a long afternoon nap and lots of breastmilk won't cure, though.
New thing for Gaz to laugh at: the word "cat." Any time I say it, she laughs.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
stroller crisis resolved!
I've been agonizing over what stroller to upgrade to. Gaz has long since outgrown the carseat/Snap 'n Go stroller, and the umbrella stroller we were gifted with has certainly come in handy in these between stroller days, but it's almost too short for me and it's way too short for Mark. Excellent for Babysitter Lisa, though, and probably Grandma Cel too.
My exhaustive research led me to the Maclaren brand, which seems to be one of the very few that has generally tallish handles and the more complex varieties have adjustable handles that go up to practically Wilt Chamberlain level. The issue is that Maclaren isn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but with few options we held a special meeting of the finance committee and decided to transfer some money from savings to checking. (Insert gratitude over the aggressive saving plan we got started last spring.)
It took three stops (first Target and Babies 'r Us), but I finally ended up at The Right Start's January sale. I generally don't go there: it's yuppie momma land, where everything is fancy and expensive. They do have tons of really good things (breast pumps and food mills and interesting developmental toys/DVDs) but it's clearly the place for people who don't have budgets. So I stroll in in my well-worn vintage French Army coat, looking a bit like a homeless person, but with more money. I see a Quest in the window for 20% off and I heave a sigh of relief. There would be at least one item in our price range. When I actually tried them all out, though, it seemed that the Techno XT (a full $100 more than the Quest) would be the only one that would work. The others have tallish handles, but the Techno's got the adjustable handles and I really wasn't sure that the others were tall enough for Mark. At least one of us shouldn't have back trouble.
While I dithered over Maclarens, pushing each around the aisles and knocking things over with the aforementioned giant winter coat, the salesgal brought over something else I might be interested in: the Inglesina Trip. It's a brand new model apparently, and therefore not on sale. Fortunately, it was cheaper than the Quest already and had almost the same features as the Techno, minus the adjustable handles and enormous wheels. The biggest benefit is that the handles are taller than the Techno at it's base height. It also weights almost 10 lbs. less than the Techno, which is important for those odd times you end up having to use an El station that doesn't have an elevator. So long story short: I got the Trip in gray and left the store horribly late for work, but happy with the purchase. Plus, it's Italian, so we'll look like natives if we ever get to take the Gaz to Europe while she's stroller size.
Can't wait to get it home and let the Gaz try it out!
(P. S. - Hello everyone! Glad so many folks have made it here to keep up with our adventures!)
My exhaustive research led me to the Maclaren brand, which seems to be one of the very few that has generally tallish handles and the more complex varieties have adjustable handles that go up to practically Wilt Chamberlain level. The issue is that Maclaren isn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but with few options we held a special meeting of the finance committee and decided to transfer some money from savings to checking. (Insert gratitude over the aggressive saving plan we got started last spring.)
It took three stops (first Target and Babies 'r Us), but I finally ended up at The Right Start's January sale. I generally don't go there: it's yuppie momma land, where everything is fancy and expensive. They do have tons of really good things (breast pumps and food mills and interesting developmental toys/DVDs) but it's clearly the place for people who don't have budgets. So I stroll in in my well-worn vintage French Army coat, looking a bit like a homeless person, but with more money. I see a Quest in the window for 20% off and I heave a sigh of relief. There would be at least one item in our price range. When I actually tried them all out, though, it seemed that the Techno XT (a full $100 more than the Quest) would be the only one that would work. The others have tallish handles, but the Techno's got the adjustable handles and I really wasn't sure that the others were tall enough for Mark. At least one of us shouldn't have back trouble.
While I dithered over Maclarens, pushing each around the aisles and knocking things over with the aforementioned giant winter coat, the salesgal brought over something else I might be interested in: the Inglesina Trip. It's a brand new model apparently, and therefore not on sale. Fortunately, it was cheaper than the Quest already and had almost the same features as the Techno, minus the adjustable handles and enormous wheels. The biggest benefit is that the handles are taller than the Techno at it's base height. It also weights almost 10 lbs. less than the Techno, which is important for those odd times you end up having to use an El station that doesn't have an elevator. So long story short: I got the Trip in gray and left the store horribly late for work, but happy with the purchase. Plus, it's Italian, so we'll look like natives if we ever get to take the Gaz to Europe while she's stroller size.
Can't wait to get it home and let the Gaz try it out!
(P. S. - Hello everyone! Glad so many folks have made it here to keep up with our adventures!)
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