The "LD" Trophy

I remember in high school, I had this Spanish teacher who was constantly either pregnant or on maternity leave. She was super nice, but it always kind of annoyed me that she was constantly drinking out of this gigantic Northside Hospital cup. It had a teddy bear on it, and was clearly a prize she got during one of her trips to the maternity ward. The trend continued through my adult life, as I have met countless moms who covet their big gray plastic mug with the bendy straw. Some moms use it daily, while others keep it in a top cabinet. Either way, I have yet to meet a mom who doesn't still have her mug.

When I went to the hospital with Roxanne, it wasn't quite what I had always pictured. There was no late night call to my doctor, no long hours of laboring at home, just a leisurely drive to the hospital on the morning of my scheduled induction. However, the exit from the hospital was probably the same as most other new moms. Fear, anxiety, relief, exhaustion, and shameless thievery. My sister, who has two toddlers, was urging me to get as much of everything as I could. The way she explained it, all of the supplies that were in my recovery room were dedicated to me and Roxanne. And if we didn't use them, they would just get thrown out. This made complete sense to me. And I pulled out all the stops. I pretty much packed everything that wasn't chained down into the free diaper bag I got from one of those sneaky formula companies. I actually still have some of that stuff. But I'm not ashamed to admit that my most prized possession is my big gray plastic mug. It has a purple rose on it. And I somehow lost the tip of the straw that seals it off. I haven't used it in months, but I will never never get rid of it. If I have another baby, I will keep that mug, too. It brings me back to those first days when we were in the hospital, and both terrified and elated. I drank cranberry juice on ice from that great big mug. Even if it stays on top of my fridge next to the semi-broken blender, it's mine for life.

Catching Up

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I'm not sure how many people actually read this blog, but I hate when I let things lapse.

We've been really busy lately. I'm getting used to being with Roxanne full time, and our whole family is much happier these days. Last weekend we went to the zoo, and now I am totally convinced that I want to have Roxanne's first birthday party there. Unfortunately, her birthday is in December. I think it will be too cold. I realize that it's only August, but the first birthday party... lots of pressure! In a perfect world, I'd like to have a birthday party at home, but our apartment is just too small. Waaaaay too small. I've also looked at Fernbank. It just seems like it's too much for her first birthday, especially since she'll be too little to remember it anyways. But she has a lot of older cousins, so I know they would love to go to the zoo. I'm going to try and figure out if they have some kind of special options for winter birthday parties. The zoo was really fun, even though it was crazy crowded since it was free to Atlanta residents. I want to look into getting a membership for our family. Roxanne bonded with one of the goats at the petting zoo named Willow. He was a very sweet and patient goat, and Roxanne even got a couple of kisses from him. However, more than anything, I think she just likes looking at the other kids. They are pretty entertaining, even to me and Justin. Apparently if you get a membership, you get a special deal on birthday parties... It's all about the birthday parties. Sigh.

The Baby Dance

Roxanne has become an official baby dancer. Any time she hears music, she bops up and down to the beat, and usually claps her hands, too. She does it most when she is sitting up like a big kid. Sometimes she dances so strongly that she teeters forward and into a sort of half tummy time position. She's not a big fan of tummy time, so she usually fusses right about then. Although sometimes she just keeps dancing. She seems to have good rhythm. We hope she will be musical. She definitely loves it when her daddy plays her guitar. Hopefully she'll be a good dancer, too. If she is, she won't get it from me. I can half-convincingly sway for a few minutes before pretending that I have to pee in order to leave a dance floor. Justin and I swayed like middle schoolers during our wedding dance. But we are both pretty musical, Justin more than me. A family band would be pretty fun.