Crummy weather, growing babies, and another visit

Today's newspaper had the following headline: "Colder than Siberia"

Turns out it's warmer in Siberia, Alaska, and Norway than it is in Seattle right now. We've had rain every day for two weeks now. I haven't been able to wear any of my new warm-weather clothing.

Seattle sucks, man.

Jorge is feeling bamboozled because I assured him that summers in Seattle are lovely, and would be much more comfortable than New Orleans. Instead we got an unseasonably cold spring, with snow in March, and now it looks like we are heading into an unseasonably cold summer as well. Sheesh.

Milo had a big day yesterday - he is 8 weeks old, and he got first round of shots! He's getting all of them, by the way - I do not buy into the whole vaccine-autism myth. There is not a single empirical study or any credible evidence to show that vaccines cause autism, people. As a child survival specialist, though, I know how many children die each year because they (or the people around them) aren't vaccinated - about 1.5 million in 2000, according to UNICEF. He was also weighed and measured. His stats are:

Length: 23 inches
Weight: 11 lb 8 oz

Our pediatrician told us he's a "perfect little boy" (just as I have always suspected, naturally) because all his measurements are at the 50th percentile, meaning right on average. Which makes me want to say "suck it!" to the two people last week who asked "how many days old" my son was. Fine, I know there are a lot of big babies these days (Milo is now just 14 ounces heavier than I was on the day I was born) but I was starting to get a complex about my son being a midget when it turns out he's perfectly normal. And my in-laws better stop calling him skinny now!

In other news, last week Jorge's brother Ed came out to visit. We had a very nice time, and even got one day of sun, when we went to Mt. Rainier (or simply "the mountain," as it's usually called here). Here are some pictures from his visit:

Still plenty of snow up at the mountain for this time of year. Look at Milo in the baby carrier - he makes me think of the kid in "A Christmas Story" after being so heavily clothed for the winter that he can hardly move his legs.

Ed enjoyed walking in the snow only 24 hours after leaving the sweltering heat of Louisiana.On a day that the weather forecasters predicted would be in the 70s and sunny, we went to the new Seattle sculpture park and froze our little bupkusses off. And this is Milo checking out the seafood at Pike Place Market.

Milo with his Uncle Ed.

We got passed by a rally downtown. Milo joined right in. I'm so proud of my little war-protesting baby!

Next up in our lives - we leave on Moday for two weeks of exploring Big Sky country!

The whole fat lady thing...

...is really a disservice. Most opera singers are actually quite height-weight proportionate.

I tell you this because I am so very excited about what I just did: bought tickets to see Aida in August.

Perhaps this is a bit weird for a gen X/Y kid, but I love the opera. I love everything about going to the opera - the audience, obviously happy to be wearing their best fancy clothes, the excitement of hearing those first few notes as the orchestra begins to tune its instruments, the costumes, the tragic storylines, milling about in the intermission, the plush red carpet, and the audience yelling bravo at the end with emotion and candor - everything is so full of drama and glamour.

Oh, and of course, the music will send shivers down your spine.

Unfortunately, I have been prevented from going to the opera for many years now, either through pennilessness or lack of a local opera. The last time I went was in Budapest in 1998. The ticket was two dollars, and I sat so far back that I had a much better view of the chandelier than the stage. I loved it.

I was raised on opera. My mother sang in the chorus of the Seattle Opera, and I still remember those early pangs of separation anxiety as I waited for her to come home from her evening singing practices. My father got season tickets each year and us girls would take our turns being his date. At intermission we were allowed to go backstage to see mom and meet the leading lady, her face caked in scary pink rouge so that even the people in the cheap seats (that is, us) could see her. I loved the big towering wigs and trains and bustles of the costumes, and wished I could dress like an 18th century lady myself. These are cherished childhood memories, and I can't wait for that old thrill again. August is so far away!

Cousins

Just a quick picture post today. I am tired and ready to go to sleep.

Milo got to meet his two cousins, Gareth and Trevor, for the first time last week. They all seemed to get along well. Hard to tell, though, since only one of them is verbal yet. But here are some pictures of the boys together:

Gareth wanted to show Milo his truck. Milo lacked enthusiasm, unfortunately.

Trevor found a tasty treat - Milo's arm!

Gareth and his two little protege (no idea how to get the accent on that e, sorry). He only dropped Trevor twice, not too bad.

And my sister Miriam with her three nephews. Finally, all of us. It was so nice for us all to be back together at the home we grew up in, in the backyard where we got into so many scrapes.

Heat wave!

Seattle is in the midst of a two-day heat wave. We got all the way up into the balmy 80s today. I hope no old people die.

Life is full, in a wonderful way. My oldest sister and her family are visiting, and my aunt arrived on Wednesday. Jorge has started a rowing class out on the lake, which taxes his coordation-challenged body, but he is enjoying it. While he rows, I go walking around the lake. Today everyone in the park was cheerful and quick with a friendly greeting, backing up my theory that the miserable aloofness we suffer at the hands of Seattlites is due to the crummy weather.

I also reconnected with two old friends from high school over the last week, one of whom is pregnant. It was kind of fun to play the role of wise maternal advisor, and not have to feel guilty about having not much to talk about apart from pregnancy and motherhood.

This weekend promises to bring even more fun - the Seattle Cheese Festival is on (I have been anxiously awaiting this event for months,) and tomorrow we are taking my nephew out to ride a train in the mountains. He is crazy about just about anything with wheels, so it will be fun to see his reaction.

As for Milo, we are figuring things out. He is getting a bit more fun and interesting every day, and we're getting better at understanding his needs. He likes to be held most of the time, but slowly he's getting able to entertain himself for short periods. He likes the usual baby things: eating, bathtime, and spraying people with bodily fluids. He's also a big fan of sucking. Turns out his father's nose is the perfect size and shape to be a pacifier:

Milo's first Mariners game!

My sister Joy arrived yesterday, husband and two sons in tow, to visit. The house is a zoo, with babies everywhere, burp cloths strewn around the living room, small toys dangerously littering the floor, just waiting to be stepped on...it's a big, fun mess.

Today, Mother's Day, we celebrated with a trip to the baseball game. In my family we are all Mariners fans, regardless of how abysmal they may be playing in any given year. There are few things I enjoy more than camping out in the cheap seats in outfield with a group of friends, chatting over beer and hot dogs.

Today they were giving away free baseball hats for the kids, and very generously gave Milo one too, even though he didn't buy a seat for the game! Since it doesn't fit his puny head, of course, I kept it as his first Mother's Day gift to me. My husband's gift was watching the baby this morning while I slept an extra two hours! (He does that pretty often, though).

Oh, and the best thing? The M's actually won for a change!

Here's the gang - three sisters, two husbands, and three munchkins, along with some more pictures from the day:

No longer a helper

This is a little story about my friend Amy. Amy is my sister's best friend, and has known me since I was a bump in my mom's belly.

A couple years ago, my sister and Amy cooked a nice big holiday meal for friends and family. My father wrote an e-mail to his family in England, describing the lovely meal that Miriam made, and all the effort she had gone to. When Amy pointed out that her contribution had gone unacknowledged, dad sent a follow-up e-mail, that simply said: "And Amy helped."

Since then, Amy's been jokingly called "the helper" in our family.

Well, she finally graduated. Last week Amy called and invited me to a chili cookoff that her husband's workplace was having. Much to our surprise, Amy's "Drunken Chipotle Chili" won the top honors (and a $200 prize!) So now we have all been forced to admit that Amy is not just a helper anymore, she's a top chef.

Milo's first visitor

Jorge's mom came to visit last week. It was nice to have some good home-cooked Colombian food!

Life with baby is going pretty well. We are lucky, in that Milo seems to have been born knowing the difference between night and day. During the day he naps on and off, but at night he pretty much just wakes up to eat, then starts his day around 6:30 AM. We haven't really experienced the severe sleep deprivation that people warned us about.

He has his fussy times, usually around 8 each night. Despite my mother-in-law's best efforts to apply some sort of reason to these night-time meltdowns, as far as I can tell, it seems to just have something to do with him being a baby, and tired, and that being what tired babies do. It never lasts more than an hour or so, and then he crashes and goes to sleep for the night.

While Dora was here we took a couple trips downtown to see the sights, and spent one day in the Skagit Valley for the annual Tulip Festival.