test

test post

1st haircut etc.

T'giving pics

test 2

I was so excited to dress Penelope up in her beautiful Easter dress (Thank you Susan and Virginia!) and prepare her first little Easter basket... Well, here's what she thought about all that:

However, she then went on to have a highly successful Easter day, full of lots of hugs and smiles:

test 1

I am shedding a few tears right now...

I just watched Bianca's new owner drive her away down the street.

I bought Bianca (aka "The B") back in January of 2000, just a month before I met Eric. She's been my partner in crime for nearly all of my adult, child-free life. She was the vehicle for so many road trips. She's been my getaway car on two occasions: once Eric and I gunned it out of a San Diego motel with the manager hot on our heels for losing the room key, and once, inexplicably, some friends and I were chased by a man in his underwear somewhere south of Market in SF (he actually grabbed the car and hung on for a while until I turned the wrong way down a one way street to lose him! It was terrifying at the time, but hilarious 5 minutes after we were safe).  She's driven me to my field site over and over and over again, braving extremely bumpy terrain and 3" deep mud that we slid sideways in. She was my mobile field station, and for years, every time you opened her doors, stray index cards and dixie cups would flutter out (index cards and dixie cups were key components of the research methodology, trust me). (She still has a thick coating of field site dust on many of her hidden surfaces.) She was literally my home during the entire summer I spent near Yosemite, and she has served as my refuge for the night so many other times. She took the bumper off another Volvo in the Sunset District; luckily our friends the lesbian cops from the Mucky Duck pub took my side and I was found not at fault. She was the vehicle Eric and I drove to the beach on that night when we decided to become a couple, sitting under a blanket by the surf. She's hauled all of my belongings up and down California more times than I can count. All good, wonderful, beautiful times. But over the years, we've let things slip with her upkeep. We didn't drive her as much anymore, so we didn't stay on top of minor repairs. A little scuff here, a little broken latch there, and suddenly she was due for a lot of care. She has no A/C, and the rear seat doesn't really stay locked in place. Then there was also that one time when the brakes inexplicably failed, but no investigation revealed any problem with the system. She just didn't have the safety and comfort that we needed for Penelope. But I hope her new owner spiffs her up the way she deserves, and loves her the way that I did.

It's the end of an era, and it's sad.

(pics temporarily removed for troubleshooting.)

 With my brother's mattress, laughingly referring to ourselves as 'the Joads'.

 Moving out of our old home.

My dad helped me wash her in preparation for sale, the week before P was born.

test 2

At 10 weeks, Penelope's eyelashes are already longer than mine. Her belly smells like a peach, and her hair smells like honey. On walks, she avidly takes in the sky and the trees, her eyes alternately darting around to a million things, or training intently on some object of fascination. She's round-eyed with disbelief in strange rooms, and on elevator rides. She can't wait to get going-- constantly kicking and testing her weight on her legs, pulling insistently at her garments and my hair, and straining to sit up. Her emotions are so complete, yet so capricious-- she transitions instantaneously from smiling and braying her heart out with joy and hard-wired charm, to whimpering and scrunching her face with frustration and fatigue. She is entering a period of awareness and rapid learning about her surroundings, and with it comes both the joy of discovery and the frustrating sense of her own helplessness. I can't wait for her to grow and learn and see and do. But I also desperately want to preserve these moments of her babyhood, 10 weeks of them already gone forever.

test 1

So we made the commitment to bedsharing. Yesterday, we bought a Cal-king mattress. Today I furnished it with sheets and a lightweight coverlet. And just as I returned from the linen store, I saw a package waiting on my doorstep... a personalized pillow (!) from my dear friend Caitlin. This enormous bed is Penelope's bed, and she has the pillow to prove it. I can't wait for my first night of spacious, co-sleeping bliss!