Shalom, Y'all

My kid is gonna be so confused. He's gonna pull for UNC basketball and Yankees baseball. He's going to hear proper English spoken in his home, Brooklyn English spoken by his Bubbe, Pops and Uncle Stewie and god only knows what kind of Southern accent he'll pick up in the Durham public school system. He'll go to church with his ZieZie and temple with his parents. He'll pray before meals to Jesus with his Emmy and PopPop and have a Bar Mitzvah when he's 13. Multicultural? Definitely.

Gaining Weight

Josiah is 11 pounds, 6.4 ounces this morning! That puts him in the 20th percentile for weight. Just a couple of weeks ago he was in the 6th percentile. I knew this was a big growth spurt!

My Sleepy, Fussy, Hungry Baby

I have decided that Josiah is most definitely hitting a growth spurt. For the past couple days he's been very fussy, which for him is unusual, for most other babies might not even be considered fussy. He's also been sleeping a lot and eating like a little piggy (12 ounces before 9am this morning).

We did have some happy times yesterday, though. I apologize if you saw this on Facebook, but I just had to share it with everyone for posterity. I was singing "Snuggle Puppy" to him and he was just smiling so big, and then he put his hand in my mouth. I thought it was very sweet, and my eyes were welling up with tears, until I realized he was probably laughing at me and telling me to shut up...

Julie Whitaker Photography

I just want to give a shout-out to Josiah's baby photographer, Julie Whitaker. If you see a pic of Josiah that looks extremely professional, chances are she took it. She'll be taking his 3-month, 6-month, 9-month and 1-year photos and we're very excited about it!

Boomer and I highly recommend her for all of your special memories! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie-Whitaker-Photography/138966066153174

Sleepy, Growing Baby

Josiah must be hitting a growth spurt. So far today he's had 13 ounces! The average for him by this time in the morning is about 8-9 ounces.

Babies Bring Smiles and Goodwill

This morning I was driving down the street one over from ours and I saw a bunch of cars in front of a house, a couple of which looked like they belonged to doulas and midwives (due to their license plates and/or window stickers). There's a new baby coming into the world just a couple hundred feet from me and it makes me happy.

Today is filled with love and hope. And I know that's maudlin, but with the exception of a few people, everyone loves babies.

I had to drop a book off at the library a little while ago and instead of taking the car seat in, I just stuck Josiah in the Maya wrap. Without fail, everyone who noticed him smiled. Most people commented. Folks who just seconds before they noticed Josiah had very dour looks on their faces simply lit up when they realized what I was carrying on my chest. See? Everyone loves babies. Even I love babies and I'm honestly not all that keen on children in general. When my son smiles at me my insides turn to mush and I just start babbling utter uselessness.

So of course I've got to wonder WHY everyone, including me, loves babies (and pregnant women). It's not like they are scarce. Babies are everywhere. So are pregnant women. I have 3 fairly close friends who are pregnant right now. I know lots of people with new babies, including me AND my little sister. So what is it? I think it's about hope and renewal. The same reasons people just feel happy on sunny, fresh spring days. It's new life and a new chance and new beginnings. And who doesn't want or need those?