Getting back into this blogging thing...

I want to start writing more. Right now I'm not really writing at all. I already have this blog, so I may as well use it, eh?

Elinor, or Nori as we like to call her, is now 4 months old. I know people say that this baby thing goes by so fast, but seriously...it's going by SO fast. So I'd like to take this opportunity to commemorate her recent milestones.

Things she's doing at this moment include rolling over inconsistently, blowing raspberries incessantly, screaming like a hoarse sorority girl on the last day of Spring Break 2009 (wooooooooooooooo!!!!!), giggling, and standing while being held up, of course. She enjoys holding toys and putting them in her mouth now, and she's just started to reach for things that are within her grasp.

A few recent photos to showcase Nori's mad skillz. I don't have a lot of smiling pictures of her because she's been sick lately, but I swear, the kid can smile.
Ready for takeoff in her new spaceship:

Showing the bunneh who's boss:

So, duh, the baby's here...

A whole bunch more pregnancy happened since the last time I posted, and now, duh, the baby's here. Elinor Vivian arrived at 1:18 p.m. on Saturday, October 4 after 41 hours of labor. Fun! But of course it was all worth it. I'd post some pictures, but SOMEONE is a little fussy right now and won't let me. *Pout*

Pictures to come, and soon. I swear.

Y'all Ready for This?

Our first attempt at finding out Chauncey's gender resulted in a FAIL of epic proportions. Baby simply would not cooperate. So we got to go back last Thursday for another chance (they didn't get good measurements of the heart, either). Chauncey was still marginally uncooperative, but finally turned to where the tech could say more definitively that it's a...GIRL!

And now for some scans of what I consider cuteness, and what I realize others may just see as giant blobs:


And here she is, kissing the placenta (I'm pretty sure that's something that I don't entirely want my unborn daughter to participate in, but I can't very well stop her):


I was honestly shocked; I thought for certain we were having a boy. Either way, we're both absolutely thrilled! Let the naming begin!

Move On

Pinchloaf and I moved last weekend, from a third floor walk-up (essentially) to a townhouse across the street in Fairlington. We hired movers, and after six grueling hours, they got everything out of the old place and crammed into the new. And now we're in the process of digging out.

The cats have officially come out of hiding now, but they're still reluctant to explore the entire house on their own. I know Dena's been down to the basement a couple of times, but I'm not sure if Archie's aware of the existance of a third floor. He will be eventually, when we move the litter box from the would-be nursery on the top floor down to its proper home in the basement, but for now, he's content with dealing with just two stories. The basement is pretty much a disaster scene anyway, so it's not like there's much to see down there.

The oddest thing about the move is that all three of our old neighbors came out of the woodworks in our last days there and were the friendliest they've been in the entire 2.5 years we lived there. The ones who lived directly across the hall are selling us a gorgeous GORGEOUS china cabinet for super-cheap. We're thrilled, as it will solve a lot of our kitchen storage problems in the new house (as in, we have no kitchen storage), but it's a little odd that everyone's so nice now. Are they just secretly relieved that we're leaving? Were we horrible neighbors and just didn't realize it? I guess anything possible!

Our appointment to find out if Chauncey (what we've been calling the fetus, in jest) is a boy or a girl is on Friday afternoon. I'm trying not to think about it ALL the time, so I just think about it about 75% of the time. I'm DYING to know. Simply dying. So yeah...no surprises for us, unless he/she decides not to cooperate, which is a distinct possibility, I know. Pinchloaf and I are both pretty stubborn, although neither of us is particularly shy. Fingers crossed that we're shown the goods!

What I've been up to lately

Well, I was on the jury for a civil case in Alexandria that just finished up yesterday after 7 days in court. It was a difficult case and I'm not 100% pleased with the outcome, but there wasn't really any other solution. I'm being cryptic not because I can't talk about it (because at this point I can), but more because I'm just tired of thinking about it. It was much more emotionally draining than I expected.

Pinchloaf and I found a new place to live, about a half-mile away from our current place, but going from Alexandria to Arlington. You know what this means...jury duty! I bet I'll be called to serve in Arlington now, harumph. We're really excited though, and I guess I shouldn't write about it yet, because we're not signing the lease until Saturday, but it's a done deal as far as we're concerned.

Another thing that I've been working on is cooking up a Pinchmuffin. In the words of LOL Cats, "i iz knocked up." It feels weird to be announcing this in my blog, especially since my friends who don't yet know deserve the courtesy of a phone call, but I can't contain it any longer! The Pinchmuffin is due October 2, which still seems so far away, but I know it will be here soon enough. We don't yet know the gender, but the ultrasound to find out (oh yeah, and check on anatomy, blah blah) is scheduled for May 6, which isn't that far away, really.

So we're thrilled, happy, excitied, nauseous, all of the things that come with a life-changing event. And that's what I've been up to lately.

For the Birds

On Friday, as I was walking home from the bus, I noticed a tremendous number of robins in my neighborhood. They must have just gotten back from wintering elsewhere, and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of them. They were in the trees, on the ground, flying in crazy coordinated groups up to the rooftops...if I were afraid of birds, it would've been unsettling. As it was, I just thought it was kind of cool.

Speaking of cool, check out this scary fish:


That was at the National Aquarium, which Pinchloaf and I visited with our friend Andy two weekends ago. If you've never been, don't freaking bother. It was seriously horrible. The newly renovated Portrait Gallery, on the other hand, was really nice, and made up for the fact that we blew $5 at the joke of an aquarium.

And now, to bring you back from the frightening place that fish took you, some happy pictures Pinchloaf took of the cardinal outside our balcony door:





There, all better? Good.

The People Under the Stairs

Sometime about two weeks ago I noticed a shopping cart under the stairs that lead up to our apartment. It was a little perplexing, especially since it looked like it was filled with a homeless person's possessions, but I just thought, "Hey, someone's got too many Christmas presents for his apartment!" and left it at that. We do have a severe lack of storage space in our building. Also, there was no evidence of an actual homeless person living under the stairs.

I brought it up to Pinchloaf a couple of days later, "What's the deal with the shopping cart under the stairs?" He shrugged, "Beats me, but it kinda looks like a homeless person's shopping cart." So I wasn't alone in thinking that.

I had to admit that I was feeling a leeeeeettle creeped out by it. Everytime I came down the stairs in the morning, I half-expected to see someone sleeping under there next to the cart. Or in the evening, I was afraid I would surprise the person to whom the cart belonged, and a frightened screaming match would ensue. But apparently the cart's owner was merely storing the cart under our stairs and wasn't actually sleeping there.

The other night, Pinchloaf went downstairs pretty late to take out some trash for the following morning's pick up, and lo and behold, the cart's owner was there. A couple of minutes later, he heard someone talking to the owner in question, and now the cart has disappeared. Weird.

Sorry for the infrequent posts lately. This is literally the most exciting thing that's happened in the last two months. Envy me. Merry Christmas, everyone!