Cooperstown, NY and the Baseball Hall of Fame

For Ben's Father's Day trip, we went to Cooperstown, NY and saw the baseball Hall of Fame. I put a sampling of pictures here, but Ben posted more on Facebook. The first night we had a WONDERFUL time strolling down main street in Cooperstown. Cecilia loved the shop displays, and we ate at the Doubleday Cafe (good name, not quite good food).

The Cardinals were in 1st place in the standings. Yeah!

On the theme of loving to sit in things, Celia loved this Dino ride. We didn't have any quarters, so she just sat in it. She didn't care, though.

After dinner, we had some awesome ice cream sitting on a bench outside. It was one of those moments that was so perfect you just revel in it.

The next day we went right to the baseball Hall of Fame. We arrived around 10 am and walked through the whole thing, although we didn't spend as much time with the exhibits as we would have sans 1 year old. It was so enjoyable, though, and Celia couldn't get enough of the exhibits.

Ben teaching Celia to flip like the wizard!

She spent so much time walking, running, and being stimulated by things that she actually fell asleep in the archives. Sorry Stan the Man - she missed it.

Once again - Celia loves to sit in things. This chair was a big hit! We may have to get one.

She didn't quite get the concept of the head in the hole picture.

Celia on the car ride home - what a day!

Midwife and Maternity Leave

We chose a midwife in New York, Michelle Doyle, and all systems seem to be go for a homebirth for baby #2! We're pretty excited! The link to her website is http://www.localcaremidwifery.com/. We both get along with her really well, and her philosophy is in line with ours. One good thing about New York is that insurance pays for homebirth - YEAH!

On that same line of thought, I found out that my maternity leave will be covered! I'll get 2 weeks before the due date and 6 weeks after the birth (8 if some complication leads to C-section). Then, I'll take a week of vacation, and still have one week vacation left! Things for this baby are working out so much better than we had hoped. We have no idea what we'll name it if it's a boy, but the baby is healthy, growing, and active!

This pregnancy has been much different than my pregnancy with Cecilia. For one, I'm carrying this baby higher, so I frequently have a foot in my diaphragm or stomach - sometimes for days! I don't have as much pain in my pelvis because the baby is higher, but now that I'm getting big I'm having much more frequent heartburn and some nausea when the baby compresses my stomach. At least the feet are up, which means the baby is head down. Yeah! I'm also now understanding the exhaustion many women experience with pregnancy. With Celia, I could adjust my work schedule, nap, or go to bed early. Not with this baby! Now, our schedule is fixed and my rest is subject to Cecila's sleeping - or not sleeping - times.

The coolest part about this pregnancy is that Celia knows something is going on with Mommy. In the last few weeks, she's become very curious about my belly. She'll point to mine, then try to look at hers. We've told her there's a baby in there and she'll give my belly kisses, too. I really wonder sometimes if she understands because she's not at all incredulous about there being a baby in Mommy's tummy. The concept of the baby coming out is certainly not there, but maybe she does know there's one on the way.

It's all exciting! We do need boy name suggestions, though. Any good ideas?

First Bubble Bath

We gave Cecilia her first bubble bath! She got really excited when she saw the bubbles, then didn't quite know what to do when she got in. We edited out the very beginning of these clips to avoid nudity, but it's still cute to see her in the tub! The second video really just gets her eating bubbles off her arm. Cute!

Swimming in a Big Pool!

We've been taking advantage of the pool at the hotel. Cecilia is gradually beginning to enjoy it more and more! She'll kick and splash in the water, and every time we go in she warms up to it faster. We're working on kicking on her stomach, but she hasn't grasped the concept of blowing bubbles yet. All-in-all she's taking to it like a fish! Plus, momma got a "cool" hat at Target that she gets to wear. It can't even get wet - the water just rolls off of it. No sunburns for this crew!

Brushing Her Teeth!

Today we got Celia a new toothbrush and baby=friendly flouride free toothpaste and started brushing Cecilia's teeth. We also sort of got the first brushing on video. She really enjoys it and loves brushing while Mommy brushes her teeth. Sometimes, she likes to help Mommy brush while Daddy brushes her teeth. We're trying to teach her to spit in the sink, but mostly she just leans over and swallows. At least the toothpaste is newbie friendly, she's enjoying it, and this bodes well for her oral hygiene.

New Jobs and a Nanny

We started our new jobs on June 1. Our schedule is crazy now - who would think that I would ever get up at 4:30 am willingly everyday? We start at 6:30 so that we are working for ~2.5 hours before Cecilia wakes up. Then, we go to bed with her about 9. We haven't quite got things down so that we'll get 8 hours of sleep a night, but we're working on it. She's adjusting to a new place and us being gone, so hiccups, especially at night, are expected. Hopefully, it will get better and she'll sleep more soundly soon. We're trying to minimize the amount of time we're away from her, but it's rough on us. Right now, our target schedule is below:

4:30 am Mommy and Daddy wake up
6:00 am Mommy and Daddy leave for work
9:00 am Cecilia wakes up
1:00 pm Cecilia has a nap
3:00 pm Cecilia wakes up from her nap
4:30 pm Mommy and Daddy come home
8:00 pm Bath time
8:30 pm Story and bottle / bedtime
9-10 pm Hopefully she'll be asleep

So the reality is that Celia is awake for about 5.5 hours of the day without us, and about 5 hours with us. So, half the day with us and half the day without us. It's not bad, for a kid with two working parents. We wanted to start at 6 am, but we can't deal with the sleep deprivation. Plus, we decided to work 9/80s, which means we work 9 hours a day Monday - Thursday and we get every other Friday off. On the Fridays we work, we work 8 hours. We decided that it was better for Celia to have us one whole day every other week then for an extra hour everyday. The extra hour seems to be a wash in the scheme of life, but the whole day also gives us the opportunity to take short trips and do things on our long weekends. This is great, since we get 2 weeks vacation in 3 months and that's it. Plus, we want to save vacation for the new baby's arrival.

While we're at work, Allison is our nanny. Since we're in temporary living, Allison is with us all day everyday (instead of her own living space), but she is Celia's companion while we're at work. They seem to be getting along really well, and having Allison at the house has made the transition very smooth for Cecilia. We've done all we can to keep her life normal and the same. She runs to us smiling like she really missed us as soon as we get home, but she doesn't seem too upset while we're gone. I'm constantly worrying that we're scaring her or traumatizing her in some way, but she seems just as content as ever. So far, so good.

All-in-all we're settling into living in New York. For better or worse, we're here for a while. *Deep breath, sigh*