Changing table report: Diesel Cafe, Davis Square - NO

Diesel, at 257 Elm St, Somerville, is another great coffee shop to hang out in with good coffee and yummy sandwiches. I met two other moms with babies there this afternoon and we sipped iced coffee while chatting for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, they don't have changing tables or any suitable surface in either of their two large, one-person, unisex bathrooms. There is certainly room for them, so the best I can figure is that they haven't thought of them or want to discourage parents from bringing infants. That meant that the two times Xan needed changing this afternoon it happened on one of the couches in the back.

Changing table report - Carberry's, Central Square: close enough

Inspired by Daddy Types, I will occasionally be reporting on the existance, or lack thereof, and condition of changing tables in places I frequent.

First up: Carberry's, an excellent coffeeshop and bakery at 74 Prospect St in Cambridge. (I'll be putting up a food post about their pastries on What I'm Eating shortly.) They do not have a specifically-purposed changing table, but their large, one-person women's room has a convenient piece of furniture that is at hip height and approximately the right size. It usually has some spare toilet paper and magazines on it, which are easily moved aside. Bill reports a similar chest in the men's room. The bathrooms are generally clean.

Of course, as soon as I had changed him, picked him up, and packed up the diaper bag, he pooped again. Annoying, but better than spraying poop mid-change, I guess.

Streeeeeetch

Change of heart

I was grumpy this morning when Bill woke me from a deep sleep at 8:30am, after getting up four times since going to bed last night, but that dissolved once I found out what he had made for breakfast.

Slacker Existentialist Nihilism Cutiepie Yeah

Maybe there is more to life than being really, really, really, really ridiculously good looking. But I think not. Drooling is meaningless.

Drooly Xan

Yesterday he started looking at his feet while sitting on someone's stomach and today he started blowing bubbles around his tongue, both of which you can kind of see in this video.

Sad

I actually volunteered to do the grocery shopping to get out of the
house by myself.

Ugh

I am a sweaty, stinky, milky, sticky, drool-y mess. *

*This was submitted before the walking fool post, but didn't go up for
some reason. I've since had a shower and feel much better.

Walking fool

I passed 10,000 steps today. Right now I'm at 13,399 and still have
four and a half hours left in the day. My goal is to walk 10,000 steps
every day, but hahahahaha.

Today's steps were accomplished by walking to the park and back, then to
a moms' group, to Harvard, to yoga, to another park, then back home.
Now I'm hanging in Davis Square while Bill fetches a burrito, then we're
walking up to yet another park to see Dr. Strangelove.

Happenings

Tonight the kid and I are heading over to Gina's for a double dose of Project Runway!

Other recent highlights:

Xan was a big hit at his first party. A local yoga instructor I know through several mutual friends was celebrating her one year anniversary as a full-time instructor. She threw a fabulous, all-vegetarian catered bash. We stayed until midnight and Xan was an angel. We got a lot of "Does that baby have a mohawk? Cool!" To answer some of your questions, yes, we hear that a lot. And surprisingly, about a third of the people who ask follow it with "Does it naturally grow like that?"

I got some wooden animal dominoes for Xan at the clothing exchange. The set is missing the ladybug/duck tile, but who cares.


More community building - I went to a moms' group Monday morning, and scored a ride to the moms' movie that afternoon in Arlington. Lauren was very gracious about me presumptuously inviting myself along in her car. The movie itself (Click) was eh, but it was fun to go to a movie, especially with about 100 other moms and babies. Amazingly, there were only a couple who were upset. I ran into Lauren again on Mass Ave the next day as I was walking to yoga. She apparently has a blog for her own cutie, Seth, but I didn't immediately find it with two minutes of Google stalking, and I thought any longer search would be weird. If I ever do see it and she's cool with a link, I'll put one up.

Quel horror!

Magalie and Francois came over for blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs and mimosas on Sunday, followed by Sixteen Candles (80s summer movie series) and a game of Killer Bunnies. The mimosas threw them off: You can't put orange juice in champagne! Champagne is for special occasions, not for breakfast, and especially not with orange juice in it. You can't mix things with champagne, that's sacralege. Maybe a liqueur, like creme de cassis to make a Kir Royale, but not juice! Somehow they managed to enjoy themselves anyway.

I don't remember what triggered it, but later they were trying to come up with an insult that wasn't the same in English. Stupid? Nope. Idiot? Try again. Cretin? Imbecile? They had to settle for small penis.

Xan loves his new toy

Little Yawn

Secret Admirer

Thanks to whoever sent Xan the goodies from Drugstore.com. There was no note, so I couldn't tell who you are.

Nerd ABC's

I just saw a cute set of geeky ABC flashcards. Check out the little blurb on the page:

Is your baby a nerd? Of course not, there's no such thing as a nerd baby and everyone knows that labeling children is bad and wrong. But if you're a nerd or a geek or heaven forbid a chemical engineer, there's a good chance that your baby will grow up to be at least a little bit nerdy. I mean, the genetics are there.. so why fight it?

Oh my god, did they just make fun of chemical engineers? With two of them as parents, Xan is doomed.

Press

The article on natural childbirth and doulas came out today in the Cambridge Chronicle. There's only one picture in the online version, but the hard copy has several more, including ones of Bill and Xan. I got 10 copies, about half of which are claimed, so if you want one, let me know and I might have one for you. Now that it's been published, the photographer can send me a disc of the more than 1000 (!) pictures she took. I'll post some that didn't make it into the paper once I get it.

A picture of Xan is also in the latest issue of Special Delivery, the quarterly magazine ALACE puts out. I only have one copy; I have to remeber to pick up some more the next time I swing by the office. It's very likely he'll be on the cover of the next one, and possible that one of the unused shots from the newspaper article will be a cover of an issue further in the future.

Lab Rat

Yep, Xan has watches on both wrists and both ankles. Actually, they just look like watches; they're really motion detectors. When I was pregnant, I joined a study of fetal movement and its relation to babies' movement and development. I counted Xan's kicks before he was born, and yesterday the researcher came over to give him some tests and outfit him with the "watches". He's going to wear them until tomorrow morning when she comes back to collect him. Since his movement makes the second had tick forward, she'll be able to tell how many times he kicked and waved his arms by how much "time" has elapsed. Oh, and she also weighed him: 16 lbs, 7.5 oz - freaking HUGE.

I met Gina for dinner last night, then she and Matt watched Xan while Bill and I went out to a movie. She took Xan for a walk, and several people giggled, "Do you have the time?"

Rock 'n' Roll

Not everyone's into cute babies, I guess.

I just saw a craigslist ad for "AFFORDABLE HOMELY BABY SITTING".

Recent Developments

• He started smiling at people three or four weeks ago, and he is smiling and cooing for longer periods now. He used to smile for just about anyone, and while he stills smiles at a lot od people, he smiles much more reliably for us, which is very cool. Last night I called Bill while he worked late and held the phone up to Xan's ear. He smiled and turned towards Bill's voice. I switched ears and he did it again. Adorable.
• I haven't woken up in a puddle of milk since sometime last month, although I did soak a couple of shirts in California. Hopefully my leaking days will soon be behind me.
• More and more, he smiles with his eyes and not just with his mouth. They crinkle up and it is the cutest thing ever.
• His fingernails are getting harder. They used to just peel of when the white part was beginning to show, but now they are staying and getting scratchy. I'm going to have to cut them regularly.
• We used the last size 1 diaper in the house, so now he's on to size 2, which have more room for poo.
• He's way better at sucking his fist and can keep it in his mouth for minutes on end, rather than helplessly watching it drift away from him.
• I wouldn't have thought it possible, but he's getting cuter. That little-old-man look is starting to fade.
  

Mohawk!

Hot and Busy

It's in the 90s and crazy humid here, so I've been looking for ways to
escape the heat with the kiddo. Nursing while sweaty, leaking milk
adding to the stickiness? Not so fun. All the actvities have made the
last couple of days pretty packed.

Yesterday morning, the reporter from the Cambridge Chronicle called with
a few follow up questions for the story about my pegnancy and birth,
which should be coming out either this Thursday or the next. (If you
want a hard copy, let me know. There will be an online version as well,
but it might have fewer pictures.) Later that morning, we headed to an
(air-conditioned) moms' group and after lunch we visited the
(air-conditioned) ALACE office. Magalie and Francois came over last
night for the Breakfast Club and Chinese food, in a continuation of our
80s summer movie series. It was only the second time they had had
delivery food, the first being the pizza we ordered last time. We had a
good time, but it was so sweltering, we had to make a Toscanini's run
when it was over. Between the ice cream and the air conditioning, it
was a popular place. Once I made it through the long line, the clerk
asked if he could help me, looking at my chest and chuckling to
himself. Seeing my confused look, he said, "Sorry, that's a great
shirt. It's awesome." I had forgotten I was wearing the maternity
shirt Grace got me. (Bill Rist..etc knocked me up and all I got was
this lousy shirt)

This morning we met some friends in a nearby park to play in the water
jets and enjoy the shade. Then my neighbor offered to hang out in her
air-conditioned apartment - MUCH appreciated. She said to come by
tomorrow, too, and I'm all over that. She even served up snacks and
sparkling lime raspberry water. What a sweetie. Factoring in how easy
she is to hang out with and the fact that she has an adorable daughter
one year and three days older than Xan and who could resist? We also
hit the library for a bit of reading on the beanbag chairs while Xan
napped on my chest. When he finally started fussing, we got moving
again, swinging by McDonald's for a free iced coffee with one of the
coupons I picked up at the River festival. On the way home I dropped
off a few disposable cameras that are god knows how old. I have no idea
what's on them or if the film's even still good. It should be
interesting getting those pictures back. And that brings me to here,
sitting on the couch in front of the fan set on high, with Xan nursing
in my lap, tapping this entry on my phone with my thumbnails, while the
ice in my coffe is melting, out of reach across the room, where I
stupidly left it before trapping myself on the couch under Xan. (I
don't know why entries I write this way have these truncated lines of
text, but it's very annoying.)

Where do moms get off being so judgmental of other moms?

"You should be more careful! You have a baby!" This while I'm crossing the street, in a crosswalk, with the light. Really?? I have a baby? I hadn't noticed. What's this strapped to my chest? Oh! It's a baby! Who put that there?

And how, exactly, am I supposed to be more careful? Maybe I should stop dragging him along behind me on a string. Here's an idea: Maybe YOU should be more nosy. Oh, too late. Jeez, people get pissy when they're trying to run you over. As she drove away glaring I didn't get the chance to tell her that I was keeping him a lot safer walking around with him, rather than driving everywhere.

Xan Goes to California

See my Tabblo>

Good Sleeper

A couple of weeks of 6-6.5 hours, followed by 2-3 hours, and now 8.5 hours two nights in a row!

At least one bus driver on the 83 line is a complete tool

So I'm not in the best mood, having just had my perimeum burned with nitric acid (yes, really) and I get on the bus to go home, since walking isn't the funnest with a vagina full of acid. What a great moment for the bus driver to chew me out: "I SAID 'all set'. I wouldn't have said 'all set' if you weren't all set." Ok, fine, but what the hell does "all set" mean? I'm supposed to know that it means you are denying my request for a transfer because you are out of them? Even though you are muttering your precious "all set" almost inaudibly in no particular direction? Even though I can see a transfer next to your hand that from this distance I couldn't tell was for the wrong line? What a moron I am for not understanding the cryptic message you were whispering to yourself. In retrospect, you probably also meant that I didn't have to pay for the bus ride, since you were out of transfers and were all set-ing well before I even stepped on the bus. Wow, there's a lot of meaning packed into those two little words; too bad I'm not better at reading your mind to figure out all the ways in which you think I'm set. Jackass.

There were a lot more fucking fuckity fucks in my head when I was first thinking this story over on my way home, but I've calmed down a bit now.

I know this isn't the return after vacation hiatus (is that redundant? I don't care enought to figure it out right now) that most of you were expecting. Yes there are a lot of cute Xan pics form CA that will get on here eventually. That's just not where I'm at right now. Not with the whole cauterized cooter thing going on.

Car Seat Hood

Xan Flies Away to California!