The Rory Report- Month Four

Statistics: This is just a guess since her appointment isn't until next month but I would say she tips the scales at at least 15 1/2 pounds. I'll have to wait for the official length measurement but she is definitely long and securely wearing 3-6 month clothes.

New Tricks: Rory can roll in both directions and does so from time to time. She is carefully practicing her paci-placing skills and can occasionally get it back in her mouth after she has taken it out.

Her favorites: She loves colors of any kind, especially the kind that emanate from the (ahem) tv. She loves her toy cow that moos loudly and her rainforest playmat with a black and white striped tiger that sings.

Our favorites: Her angelic laugh that rings just like tiny bells, the rapt attention she gives her sister, her coos and squeals and quiet noises, and her amazing sleeping habits (12 hours last night, prompting me to ask Jeff, "Did we bring home the right baby?")

The strange but amazing: Fingernails that need cutting every day, the stinkiest poo ever, the deepest blue eyes we have ever seen

I laughed so hard I cried

Twice. In one weekend. We trekked to see Space Chimps with the girls Saturday afternoon. Jeff and I have always been movie lovers and we have entered the golden age of toddlerdom with Jilli where she enjoys an afternoon animated overpriced popcorn extravaganza just as much as we do. Rory, being Rory, is happy to do anything and (for now at least) nurses and naps and watches a bit of the screen through our movie selections.

Back to Space Chimps, very funny, very tell-an-adult-joke-that-sails-over-kids'-heads-while-entertaining-them-as-well (what is it with the hypehenated sentences lately?) But the crying part? That came as the credits began to roll. The music choice- Postcards from Chimpanzees by Barenaked Ladies (ok, I don't know if thats really the title, but you know what I am talking about if you like BNL.) The song struck something in Jilli and she boogied down in the aisle with her own robot-esque dance style (lots of knee bending with weird arm angle contorting, very 1980's meets the Wiggles). For at least three minutes. I laughed so hard I could not speak. She is the awesome.

Mom and I went to the same theatre Sunday and saw Mama Mia. As stated above, I love movies, but musicals? I want to live in a musical. This particular one would serve just fine: Greece, my best friend Meryl Streep, an inn on the coast, Abba songs. I'm sure Jeff and I and the girls would be very happy. Of course, I'm not sure I'd want Pierce Brosnan to do any major singing in our life-musical. Everyone else is free to participate. I've been singing Dancing Queen in my head (and out loud when I have an acceptable under-three audience) for the past three days.

To recap: awesome movies, awesome dancing Jilli, want to live in Greece and sing with Meryl Streep-- a good weekend all around.

Whispered Words

The past two days were my two at home in my crazy work-full-time-in-the-office-in-only-three-days schedule. When Rory was brand new I was nervous about how these would go, would Jilli need me every time I sat down to feed her sister? Would I make it through the day without a major meltdown (either from the 2 year old or the 30 year old?) Now, we have settled into a beautiful, easy pattern. Some days we head out for a big adventure. Yesterday we ventured to the museum. Others we stick close to home. We crafted a tent in Jilli's room this morning and read books while hiding from monsters. I am so grateful for these days, made all the more precious by their limited numbers. But Thursday nights have their own magical glow. I nursed and rocked Rory whispering how much I love her. I laid down with Jilli and she touched my face and rubbed my back and whispered, "I love you Mommy." Those words from the one I rocked and whispered to just a short time ago.... there is nothing sweeter in the world.

(in between)

Why in between the parenthesis? Because it is the way I write, including a funny tidbit, or clarifying a comment. But more because it is the way I mark time and the passage of events. Big events are outside the parenthesis; the birth of my beautiful girls, a long awaited vacation, holiday plans. But in between those are the everyday moments that clarify and calm and amuse; a picnic at the park, Jilli's cackling laughter after a tickle fest, Rory's sweet smile. I have long debated starting a blog. Who would it be for? Would I forward it to family and friends to share our everyday life? Would I horde it privately to be my own private diary? Would I espouse my beliefs? In weighing all of these I have concluded only that I want a record of my days. Right now I don't know where the record will ultimately take me, but I know it is time to begin. I don't want to forget the simple (and sometime crazed) reality of our lives as they are right now. I know too well that it will all be different in such a short time.