Tickle Tickle!

Jackie has gotten big into tickling lately. This was taken on our camera, not the new HD video cam. Doesn't stop it from being 'Koot', as Jackie would say (we need to stop calling her cute right to her face).

Two! Two Two Two!!!!

she likes to count now, but is basically fond of only the number that follows one.

Who's my little Terrorist?

This weekend was an outdoor weekend - now that the weather's nice, we try to spend as much time outside as possible. Yesterday morning was spent prepping an area of the yard for a new vegetable garden - Jackie enjoyed holding (and nearly crushing) her first rolly-polly bug (it was my first time holding one, too), helping us put the removed grass into the compost bin, and throwing Nathan's toys around for him to grab. Lunchtime was spent at the playscape near Barton Springs w/ some of my co-workers and their kids, and then back home for naptime and more outdoor work. It was great to spend time outside and get some exercise!

Today was similar - woke up to a hugely grinning and babbling Jackie (such cute babbling that tho Cindy was planning on sleeping a bit more, she felt the need to get out of bed and come play). Spent the morning out in the yard, getting the walls to the garden all set, and pushing the Jackster in her swing. She rewarded us with a new trick while swinging - a fist bump. High-fives are too passe' for this little one. She also says 'kerl' for squirrel, and can tell you what sound a bee makes. It blows my mind how quickly she picks things up - and how much she understands, so it's definitely time to watch what we say...

What does a Chicklet say?

Jackie woke up this morning w/ a crusty nose and a fever of 101. It hasn't affected her mood, though, and she showed us some new tricks during breakfast. In keeping w/ her recent predilection for imitating animals, she can now buck like a chicken and meow like a cat in addition to her famous Monkey Face.

Monkey Face

Jackie has recently taken to pouting out her lips to such a degree that they increase the depth of her face by half. It makes us laugh, which causes her to do it more. She likes to exaggerate the entire thing by throwing her head up as though howling, which is really the icing on the cake. We obviously find it to be hysterical, which only reinforces the monkey face (to our delight). It has gotten to the point where we can now, on command, ask for 'monkey face'. To top it off, we tap her on her 'monkey' lips, which sends her into fits of laughter. ahhhh...

on kicking, camping, and general baby stuff

so it's been a fairly nutsy time since i graduated the other week - flying up to boston, moving my sister back to ny, house hunting, stroller shopping, car shopping, web design work, and finally packing for my camping trip w/ my dad. as Cindy mentioned in an earlier post, i get great kicks out of talking to Chicklet on a nightly basis. it's kind of like blogging - summarize the day while making fun of everything that happened. i never bring politics and Bush-bashing into it though. Chicklet will learn very quickly the politics in our house. :) in tonight's belly broadcast, i discussed with Chicklet that i'll be leaving tomorrow and won't be back until tuesday, as i'm going camping w/ Grandpa (my dad). i then explained to Chicklet that, as he/she will soon discover, Grandpa has bad eyes. he's legally blind in one eye, i believe. i hope that he'll be able to see the park! i then explained that Grandpa also has bad feet, so he gets uncomfortable when he walks for too long. hopefully we'll make it past the parking lot and into the park! Grandpa's never been camping, never slept in a tent. while i love Dad/Grandpa, and have been looking forward to this trip for a long time, hopefully Chicklet will one day be able to see the humor in this.

also, Cindy's mentioned that Chicklet's been more and more active. just as Chicklet decided to say hello for the first time at my graduation, he/she must realize that i'm going away for a few days (probably b/c i've been telling him through the Belly Intercom, aka Cindy's belly button) b/c i was able to feel him move! it was really light, and kind of hard to decipher, but Cindy verified that what i felt was indeed Chicklet! a very nice send-off indeed.

Chicklet decided to say Hi!

all day Saturday as i was in the midst of my numerous graduation ceremonies, Chicklet decided that this momentous occassion was important enough to say hello. while Cindy started feeling Chicklet move this past week, Saturday was pretty intense. he/she kept popping around: 'Dad! Dad! Congratulations on graduation! Dad! i hope he can hear me...'

Notes From the Underbelly

Notes From the Underbelly premiered last night on abc (check it out here and read a CNN review here). i was looking forward to it, as it looked funny from the previews - i mean it actually looked funny, not the typically vacuous new sitcom. plus, it's about pregnancy. sounds like a good match right now. let me start off this review, and end it, by telling you that this show is spot on. aside from the fact that we're not rolling in $ in La Jolla, CA, it seemed that this show was mirroring our own pregnancy experience. the writers must have recently been pregnant, b/c they remember everything - from the actual 'stress' of conception, to the assortment of symptoms such as enlarged boobs, mood swings, the nesting instincts, and the need to upgrade your car - and they fit all of it in a storyline that was riotous. cindy and i were laughing out loud for nearly the entire episode - it was as if it was written for us.

the show premiered last night, but is moving to wednesdays 8:30 EST. if you don't find it funny, then wait until you get pregnant and watch it again.

twins?! ain't no twins here...

i can thank cindy for my fear of twins. before that first ultrasound, she kept egging me w/ the possibility of our having twins. they run in her family, and (from what she says) genetically tend to occur every other generation. i haven't bothered to fact check, b/c just the mention of a possibility of twins got me freaked out. she had dreams about twins. she talked about twins. mostly to get me worked up, but there was still the possibility of truth. until we had the ultrasound which set things straight. thank god. but i'm apparently not over my fear of twins yet - i just remembered a dream i had last night that our second ultrasound showed two babies, not one, in cindy's belly. i woke up in a cold sweat, my clothes drenched, to the sound of thunder and rain pattering on the roof...

3..2..1 - All Systems Go!

this blog is now officially open to the world, and the state secret of Chicklet's existence has been leaked to the press. Cindy and I flew up to NY this weekend, had a wonderful time, and got to tell my parents and sister the great news. here's a brief rundown:

Friday: fly to NY, sit through inevitable 2 hr delay b/c JFK blows. i keep saying it'll be great when they finish that multi-billion$ multi-year renovation, but until then... get to NY, hang out a little, and go to bed.

Saturday: today's the big day! everyone is running around doing their own thing for a while. i've made sure that everyone can sit down to our traditional Passover lunch. have a talk w/ my Dad about finances and future planning (b/c we usually have that talk whenever i'm up in NY). i had to bite my cheeks to stop the grin from busting out when he started talking about 'when you start having kids'.

ultimately everyone sits down to lunch, and we're all being silly and having a great time. somehow my Mom comes out w/ this claim that she can tell what's going to happen before it happens, that she can tell when something big is on the horizon. man, what a setup! we have fun joking w/ that for a while, and then i say to her: 'well, did you know that we got you guys a present?'

we then make my parents sit next to each other so that they can open the box together (same as how we told cindy's parents - baby clothes in a tiffany's box), and tell them that it's a thank you for all the hard work they put into the wedding, and not to be fooled by the box b/c it's not actually tiffany's. so they open it, and my mom picks up the layette and starts laughing - but not in a 'oh my god you're pregnant' kind of laugh, rather a 'this is weird and cute and i obviously don't get it' kind of laugh. but cindy and i just stand there together smiling, and so she looks down into the box again. it wasn't a slow realization. it wasn't a slow look up w/ a stunned deer in headlights look and i'm so flabbergasted and excited that i can barely talk (like cindy's mom wonderful reaction) kind of look. it was an all at once bursting moment of realization. her eyes literally jumped out of her head and her jaw dropped. cindy and i were grinning ear to ear. and then it came - 'oh my god! i'm gonna be a grandma?!' and then the whoopings and excitement by everyone commenced. my dad was stunned - i can't remember any reaction from him until the hugs started. i think he's still stunned and having a hard time believing it. he's obviously thrilled, and he said he expected us to start soon, but i don't think he expected it to be SO soon. lauren knew that we were having a baby b/c an IM conversation we had about buying a house w/in 9 months and schools and hospitals near the house had gotten her suspicious. i convinced her that schools and hospitals were generally important things to look at when buying a house, and that they're good for resale value. she didn't buy into that (truthful) argument, but kept quiet about her suspicions. Chicklet drew her a card (to Aunt Lauren) that talked about how much fun they'll have together and how Lauren won't have to ask the 4 questions at Passover Seder anymore. Chicklet also drew a cute picture of the 2 of them standing together (it looked suspiciously like a drawing i made when i was in kindergarten).

the rest of the weekend involved us going to see 'Blades of Glory', which is definitely worth waiting for the rental. i would have rather seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but hey, we compromised. we also went down into the basement to check out my old baby crib and toys - i found my old Voltron (the one that actually disassembled into individual lions)! it's so kick-ass. my dad's bringing it down to austin when he comes down for graduation. it was a short, but very sweet weekend. can't wait to see everyone again when cindy's belly is a bit more prominent... :)

Pregnancy might make you dumb

apparently. this past week, cindy's legal assistant remarked that she was getting dumb, and that it was a typical side-effect of pregnancy. something about her forgetting this or that. today, i wasn't intending to prove this hypothesis correct, but in the span of a very short period of time it was quite easy to see that, indeed, pregnancy somehow really does make you dumb. let's all hope it's a temporary setback.

cindy was making some salmon for dinner tonight - a delicious recipe, caramelized in sugar. a wonderful side dish of zucchini, garlic, and onion (sounds horrendous, but is quite good, and anyway we have toothpaste and mouthwash). i noticed that cindy was cooking the whole 5 lb. salmon steak, roughly 10" long, in one piece.

"perhaps that would have been easier had you cut it into smaller pieces." i remarked.
"yeah, i thought about that after i already dropped it into the pan."

then cindy proceeded to fire up another burner to saute the vegetables, and then placed a small pan on the burner. we had a huge amount of vegetables to cook.

"you know, maybe it would be easier to use a larger pan for that." i remarked.
"yeah, you're probably right." so i got out a larger pan for her.

and then cindy noticed that the light in the range hood burned out.
"i know, i told you about that 2 hrs. ago, cindy." i said.

then i walked back towards the bedroom, and noticed that the sliding glass door to the deck was open. "cindy! i asked you to close the door behind the dog 15 minutes ago!"
"oh yeah! i forgot."
"cindy, carol was totally right."
"about what?..."

:)

But Possibly a Can of Soup

Cashier: Wow, you're pregnant!
Customer: Yep, that's what they tell me.
Cashier: Well, it looks like you're having a boy... or a girl. Definitely a boy or a girl.
Customer: Uh...

care of overheard in the office.