Oh, Hello!

So obviously I've been off for a while. And there is so much I need to record on this blog for my own benefit and my children's including Louisa's febrile seizure, the birth of my second girl, Elizabeth's hospitalization, and most importantly, the new gym I joined. But motivating myself is difficult given that my baby is still so unpredictable. And I have set of work deadlines that I need to meet (including this Friday!!!). But I also decided today, as Elizabeth slept next to Sissy, that I need to get back in the habit of this blog.

I have a new baby girl and she is wonderful, full of smiles, chatty and fascinated with her sister. Her sister has managed to avoid any jealous feelings and spends most of her time trying to cuddle Elizabeth, cooing at her, and, much to our alarm, trying to pick her up.

While on maternity leave I have discovered HGTV and watched a diverse number of Netflix shows most of which are British making me slightly homesick and hungry for a fry up. I highly recommend Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, Bloodline (with Coach Taylor) and, of course, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. FYI, the lead actress's name is Elizabeth Claire. So maybe this means Elizabeth will be an accomplished feminist comedienne.

We have had a number of visitors since the end of March. My sister came for five days and we tried to walk the monuments without LJ's stroller. The walks consisted of about a quarter of a mile and a lot of crawling. But we enjoyed the WWII memorial where Louisa followed a family of ducks around the basin for 45 minutes. Mom overlapped with Sam briefly then stayed through Easter. This, of course, was perfect timing given everything that had happened with Lilo. As usual, I went five days without thinking of dinner, laundry, dishes or kitty litter. It is always a significant loss when Mom leaves and for so many reasons, but having to reacquaint myself with the dishwasher is the most tragic.

Four cousins came Saturday night from San Diego and stayed with us until Tuesday. Louisa LOVES my cousins, particularly Charlie, the youngest of the Tuttle family. And he is so enjoyable, patient and enthusiastic with Louisa. You know, when I was pregnant I was afraid of having a boy. Amos comes from a very male-centric world as sports worlds are and a high value is given to boy children and men which of course leads to entitlement and also a tendency to question and minimize women and girls. I was afraid to bring a boy into this world and perhaps have to fight an uphill battle to prove LJ's worth in comparison to an unnamed boy. But when I'm around Charlie and my other male cousins, I see that it is possible to have and raise boys who are gentle, smart, kind and not preoccupied with proving the dominance of male-ness. They have never uttered "boys will be boys" or "don't throw like a girl" nor has their behavior ever been excused because of their gender. Perhaps it is simply raising a child as confident and humble, but whatever my aunt has done, she has done it right.

Louisa and Amos accompanied my cousins to the White House for the Easter Egg Roll which was the chance of a lifetime. It was perfect weather and Louisa wore a perfect prairie girl dress with her adidas sneakers. Amos has a number of photos I will post. Many of them involve Louisa running to or running with Charlie.

Now our house is quiet, I have deadlines and household action plans. It is unseasonably cold today which means no massive uphill walk for Elizabeth and me but this is okay for the day. My new gym only had an opening at 5am this morning which led to me waking at 4am. Or actually 3am as I was afraid to miss my alarm. I'm tired and there is way too much junk food in this house.

My baby is awake and we have an episode of Mad Men to watch!