Less trash, less chemicals, less fussing

We started doing elimination communication! I'd been thinking about doing it since Lucy was born, but it was just too much to handle. Now that life with a baby is getting more manageable, I figured it was a good time to try it out. So I got a baby potty, put Lucy on it, and she peed! While giggling and laughing!

Tim likes EC too, because he doesn't trust the chemicals in disposable diapers. Plus he just thinks poop is funny.

Now that we're going through less diapers, I decided to take the plunge and transition towards cloth diapering. I was scared before, since we don't have laundry in the building, but hand washing really hasn't been that bad. And the diapers were super cheap--I just cut up some old sheets and some thrift store nightgowns, and we tie them on her. Easy! And aaaaaaaah! So cute! I think plaids and stripes are much more "her" than the pastel Disney characters on the disposable diapers.

Don't worry, I've gotten much better at tying them on since that one.

See?


Somebody stop me, I can't stop uploading pictures of my baby's butt in rainbow plaids! Ok one more.

Another thing we've been trying to do is give Lucy more air baths. It's supposed to be great for babies. And Lucy loves naked time! Well, usually...

Naked time
+ Learning to roll over
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Giraffes in uncomfortable places

26/27

26.

27.

26.

27.

I'm 27! My birthday was perfect...Tim stayed home from work and brought me bagels for breakfast. I napped with my sweet baby in the afternoon. In the evening, we tried to go swing dancing at Midsummer Night Swing, but it was dangerously slippery from the rain. So we listened to a few songs in the drizzle, I breastfed Lucy at Lincoln Center, and we came home for late night birthday cake. I made a chocolate amaretto mousse cake (a family tradition!) for the first time. It was low-key and so sweet...my first birthday as a mama.

Swimming!

Lucy went swimming for the first time last week! Here's a picture of us all ready for the pool. We couldn't actually take any pictures in the pool, because this pool is on lock down. More on that later!

We went to the pool with two of my mama friends, one of Lucy's baby friends, and our tiny fetus friend. I wasn't sure what Lucy would think of the water...it was pretty cold! When we waded in and Lucy's feet touched the water, she gave me a look of "I don't know about this, lady." And she looked SO surprised when we went in up to her shoulders! We warmed up quickly, though, and soon she was smiling and splashing. I wish we had pictures!

Well, here's a picture of the pool when it opened it 1936. It looks the same now, except it's in color.


Yesterday we went to the pool again, and this time we took Tim. Since it was a weekend, the pool was much more crowded. There must have been hundreds of people there. Tim mentioned that it felt exactly like going to the pool in prison. Here's how it went down.

When we got to the park, there was a line to get into the pool. A parks employee walked up and down the line, yelling at the people waiting, and telling the group of teenage boys in front of us that she had her eyes on them. Before we could go into the locker rooms, they checked our bags and made us show them our swimsuits. I took Lucy into the ladies room, where mean-looking women monitored us at every turn, saying things like, "Ladies, don't throw your sanitary towels into the toilets!" Tim said that in the men's locker room, they make the guys shake out their towels to ensure that they're not bringing in weapons!

We got into the water and had a wonderful time. Lucy had so much fun splish splashing and kicking her feet like the most adorable baby duck ever. It was super crowded, and at one point Tim yelled at some teenagers who rough-housed too close to Lucy.

Right after we got out of the pool, the life guards started blowing their whistles and making everyone leave the pool. The cops even came out of their on-site police station to do crowd control as the hundreds of people all returned to the locker rooms at once. I wondered why a pool needed an on-site police station, until I read about the "Astoria Pool Melee of 2006" when I was looking for that snazzy photo above. Apparently, a small riot broke out in line for the pool when the parks employees didn't tell the people waiting for hours on line that the pool was closed. Someone threw a bottle that hit a little girl, the parks employees used some racial slurs, and the swimsuit vendor's stand was ransacked. Wow!

So back to our trip to the pool...it turned out that someone had pooped in the pool, and that's why everyone was evacuated. Gross!

While I was getting me and Lucy changed and ready to leave, a group of girls was watching us. The youngest girl, who was about 8 years old, pointed to me and asked what was on my body. I told her stretch marks and spider veins. Her sisters were terribly embarassed, and literally covered her mouth as she tried to ask more questions about my bizarro post-partum skin. Sigh. I have the kind of body that makes 8 year old girls ask questions! Also, my hair is falling out and making what Tim calls "seaweed" in the tub. When he took a bath with Lucy to rinse off the cholorine (and the feces of an anonymous Queens resident), a whole forest of my hairs wafted gently up from the non-slip bath mat. It really did look like a bed of seaweed. Depressing, but magical!

A year ago today

This is me, with a tiny you inside me. We were at an Indian restaurant with Aunt Karima, celebrating finding out that we were having a baby you!

And here you are today, a year later, bringing joy to your Daddy's life.

Dear Lucy,

A year ago today, we found out that we were pregnant with you. It was so exciting that you came to us so soon...we had just started trying! It was like we wished for you, and there you were. In my favorite story, when the women get pregnant they know right away, that very second. I always hoped that it would be like that for me. I didn't feel you right that second, but even before we took the pregnancy test, I could feel you with me.

It was so hard to wait until the day that I could finally take the test. That night, I stopped by the flower stand to buy a bouquet of flowers for Daddy. I already knew that we would find out for sure that we were having you. Daddy was asleep when I got home, but I just couldn't wait until morning. I woke him up, took the test, and then went into the bedroom to snuggle with him and read a bit of my favorite story while we waited. I went back into the bathroom, and the test said PREGNANT! Oh, I was so happy. I think it was the happiest I had ever been. I told Daddy, and he just giggled. He laughed all night!

And here we are, a year later. I grew you inside me, I birthed you, and now you've been out in the world for 3 months. You're just starting to grab onto your toys and put them in your mouth. You wake us up every morning by screeching gleefully as loud as you can. You love going for walks in the sling, and you still fall asleep against my chest almost every time we're walking. You always laugh when your Daddy tickles your fat, roly-poly thighs. You're starting to get teeth, and it makes you a sad baby. You smile at me as soon as you hear me start to sing your favorite songs. Oh Lucy, we love having you here with us! Being your mama is such a delight.

I love you,
Mama