She's My Best Friend and More

The highlight of La Luz's day was when Kelsea babysat for her this afternoon. She had the time of her life, as usual. Unfortunately she would not cooperte for a picture. Other than an afternoon of fun with Kelsea and a raging case of diaper rash, there is not much to report with respect to her day.

However, in other exciting news, La Luz's Aunt Molly sent a link to the web site for Hell House, the show that she is working on, and it looks incredible. I have to say, just checking out the web site scared me so I am not sure I would even be able to handle it live and in person. It is hard to conceptualize how the show works but from what I gather it is quite a production. Take a look for yourself by clicking on the link to the left, unless you scare easily...

The show is a pretty big deal and there is a nice review in the Observer but I can't get the link to come through. Maybe Molls can put a link to it in a comment so that those who are interested can check it out. I am very proud of her and so happy that she is enjoying life in NYC. I think it is impressive and, although I love to visit, I don't think I could ever live in NYC. Here's a pic that mom took of the two of us when we were there visiting last September to check out Air Guitar. Incidentally, the show was very good and the only thing scary about it was the guy that played the singer in the heavy metal band and I am pretty sure that was unintentional.


La Luz and I miss Molls way too much and we are always counting down the time until we will see her again. If she lived here in New Orleans I would probably insist that she live with us because I wouldn't want a day to go by without seeing her. Sure, she's La Luz's aunt and godmother, but she is also my best friend.

Here's a pic of Molls with La Luz in pretty much the same position they were both in for the first two weeks of La Luz's life:



So, La Luz sends a shout out to you Aunt Molls but also asks that you please come visit sometime soon. Here she is reading the literature and playing with the box that her new shoes came in:

More of the Games that Make Me Wince

Tonight La Luz discovered the paper thin, fragile, rickety, old, never used, glass doors that separate the kitchen from the den. I knew it was inevitable. Her new favorite game is to open them and go in the kitchen announcing to nobody in paticular that she is home and then close them and reopen them only to enter the den and greet us as if she hasn't seen us in days. Every time she pushes on the doors I picture her hand or even her entre body bursting through the glass and it makes me cringe. I guess this is only the begining of all of the things I will worry about in her life and probably one of the least troublesome ones.

Here are some pics of La Luz enjoying the new game:








I am ready for a very exciting hour of tv as tonight is the season premier of Lost. Christian and I started watching Lost when we lived in Thibodaux after the hurricane and didn't have tv. He borrowed the entire first season from one of his students and we watched it every night before bed on the tiny laptop and loved every minute of it. We were instantly hooked. I have been waiting for a long time for the start of the new season so I hope it was worth it.

So Hard to Say Goodbye

We spent most of the morning and a big chunk of the night playing with toys that La Luz outgrew months ago. Sure, it is our fault for keeping them around, but I really didn't think she would be enitced by the old swing and jumpy-play chair/activity station thingy. Boy was I wrong.

This morning La Luz kept insisting that I put her inside the activity station. Once I finally wrangled her rubbery legs into the too-small holes she immediately begged to be removed. The exercise of getting in and out over and over again lasted for about forty-fve minutes. It was ridiculous.



Tonight La Luz insisted on getting in the ocean aquarium swing to drink her bottle and do whatever else one does in that thing. She also instructed me to turn the lights and music on. My thinking is that if you are old enough to ask someone to cue the lights and music and you are heavy enough to stop the automatic swing from moving, it is time to put the toy away. But, I am a softie...and look how happy she was:



I feel like it would break her heart if we packed these things up. I think I will leave them out for a few more weeks even if it means I have to cross my fingers, close my eyes, and pray every time she moves in the direction of either one.

More Music, Don't Stop the Dance

It is no secret that La Luz is a fan of music. I don't really know the origin of her love but there is no doubt that it is in her blood. She started dancing in the womb and has not stopped. I have an inkling that it has something to do with the fact that she is and has been forced to listen to music, and lots of it, for her entire life. Before I even knew I was pregnant she went to a Decembrists show and that concert was followed by Pretty Girls Make Graves, Arcade Fire, Blonde Redhead, Interpol, Mark Kozelak, and probably a few others in between and that's just while in utero. Since her birth she has seen Bob Dylan, Irvin Mayfield, Paul Simon, Yerba Buena, the Klezmers, and Lionel Richie.

Is La Luz troubled by a thumping loud base? No indeed. Does she grimace at the sound of guitar-driven rock? Never. Ever see her shirk at overpowering horns? Forget about it. This baby loves music of any kind and the crazy movements she invents to go with it. Fortunately for La Luz, along with her love of music she developed a love of dance. She can find the beat in just about anything - cell phone ring tones, incessant hammering on the roof, dicing veggies, you name it. It is tough to say how the moves will translate later in her life but I think she inherited them from the Johnson side so I can breathe a little sigh of relief and know she won't run in fear when there is a stampede to the dance floor for the electric slide. Rest assured, she will be leading the pack.

So, was I worried when she was the only one really shaking it for the Mardi Gras Indians at the farmer's market on saturday? Hell no, I told her to get in there and look for the Big Chief! Does it bother me when her moves encourage Christian to keep playing the guitar, nope. I just sit back and watch and thank God she didn't inherit her rhythm from me.

Payback Time

Christian had another volleyball tournament this past weekend so, once again, La Luz and I were left to our own devices. The highlight of my Friday night was a trip to Whole Foods. With the exception of spending Sunday afternoon with her friend Camille, the higlight of La Luz's Friday night and entire weekend was playing with, in, on, and around her carseat which happened to be inside. Who would have thought...



On Saturday we played with the carseat, again, walked up and down the block about 100 times (really it was like 3 but it felt like a hundred), and voted. She is getting good at this...





After voting we went to mom-mom's for lunch with Katie and her friends who were in town for the day and then to Audubon Park for a few spins around. While we were at the park we got caught up in the pandamonium surrounding a baby alligator that somehow made it into the lagoon. On Saturday night Uncle Richmond came over for dinner and to watch the awful Georgia game. La Luz had a nightmare at around 12 (it may or may not have been related to the alligator in the park incident) and I took advantage of her fear and used it as an opportunity to get her to sleep in the bed with us - a stupid idea actually. It was so much fun at first, the whole family all snuggling together in the big bed. The bliss was short-lived though. La Luz woke up around 5 and thought it was time to play. I learned my lesson.

After the night that we had Sunday started out as a very lazy day. Christian made blueberry pancakes, something he has been promising to do since my birthday. They were delicious but seem to have permanently stained La Luz. Later in the day La Luz's friend Camille came over to play while her mom and dad visited baby Betsy. La Luz enjoyed hanging out with Camille and was happy to return a favor or two. During the terrible, horrible, I hate to even bring it up, evacuation, La Luz was lucky enough to land in the lap of luxury in a nursery that was ready for the arrival of baby Camille. Here's a pic of La Luz in Camille's baby bed a few weeks after the hurricane hit and a few months before Camille's big debut:



It was nice for La Luz to have a chance to share with Camille for a change. She even let her sit in the rocking chair at one point:





Sometimes I wonder what we would have done without the overwhelming kindness from our friends and family. I don't think we have properly thanked everyone for what they have done and, frankly, doubt we will ever be able to fully show our appreciation. But, at least for today, La Luz understood that it was pay back time.

Oh yeah, we watched the parts of the Saints game that didn't interfere with nap time. It was a decent game even though they lost. Better luck next week. La Luz will be looking forward to putting on the Bush jersey again.

Swinging and Climbing

La Luz had another fun filled day. After spending the morning at Ash-Fin and lunch and a nap at mom-moms, she hung out with Aunt Julie. They ran some errands and walked up and down the block multiple times. AJ fixed her dinner and even indulged La Luz a little with a popsicle while she waited on the porch to welcome Uncle Edward home from work.

By the time I got to her she was just about ready for bed. It makes me ache when I only get to spend a few hours with La Luz. The weeks are incredibly busy with work and our time together is so limited. I hope it is true that it is the quality of the time and not the quantity, becuase boy do we have some quality time. For example, tonight we swung on the front porch and stared at the moon for about thirty minutes and then went inside and climbed the staircase.





How's that for quality time?

Business as Usual

It was business as usual around the Vaicius household today. We started with a bit of cabinet reorganization this morning - apparently La Luz does not like the way I have arranged the tupperware -



and ended with a series of diaper changes for every baby doll and animal in her room.



The highlight of the day was when we drove home with all of the car windows down and didn't break a sweat. Another extraordinarily exciting day, which is fine by me considering the chaos at work.

Still High From the Night Before

We were blessed with another beautiful day in New Orleans. The kind that make you want to scrap work and goof-off. Needless to say, it took a bit longer than usual to get it together and get out of the house this morning. La Luz and Christian were still euphoric from the Saints' big win last night.



I purposefully dressed La Luz in her fancy dress from Mami and El Jefe in Argentina today. I am still recovering from seeing her in the Bush jersey all day yesterday.

La Luz and I spent the evening with mom-mom at our Turkish friends' house celebrating the start of Ramadan. The start of Ramadan also means the return of the moon, thankfully. La Luz has been looking for it and asking about it non-stop for about three days now. She was ecstatic when she saw it, or rather, the tiniest bit of it, hanging up in the sky tonight.

Our Team, Our Home, Our Spirit

I could not have asked for or anticipated a more perfect and memorable day on the occasion of my thirty-third birthday. It was perfect for a variety of reasons, many of which were beyond my control, most notably : the weather, the office closing at three, and little Betsy opening her eyes while I held her. It was also perfect because mom made my favorite dinner, Richmond came in town (let's face it, not just for my birthday), and I was the recipient of many wonderful presents from friends and family. It was memorable because tonight the Saints played their first home game in the Superdome.

I heard Douglas Brinkley on the radio again on my way home from work. He opined that the Saints might be more than a regional team, they might be America's team. I disagree but only because I don't think the city of New Orleans wants to share them. We have very little that is good that we can still hold on to so please don't make us share the Saints. So, I admit, I was wrong about the Saints, just like Christian said way back when. I started waffling a bit about this two weeks ago but the reality of the impact of the game really hit me while I was standing in line for forty-five minutes at the Black and Gold shop on Vets with every other New Orleanian waiting to buy a Reggie Bush jersey for La Luz. My first present of the day was seeing La Luz dressed and ready for an 8 a.m. pep rally at Sacred Heart.



I was excited and emotional and filled with joy all day. On my drive to work I saw a dad and son on a bicycle built for two, both clad in Saints jerseys - one was Horn, the other, McAllister. I saw moms wearing fleur-de-lis everything and businessmen revealing their spirit with the added touch of yellow tie paired with a black suit. Begining at 8:00 a.m. the streets in the Central Business District were filled with people and they were all wearing black and gold and they were all really happy. People walking around looking happy is not something we see often around here anymore.

My second gift of the day was my 8 a.m. phone call from mom. Every year on my birthday she calls me at around 8 a.m. because that is precisely when I came into the world. My third and entirely unexpected gift was when the office closed early. On the way to mom and pop's I stopped off for a quick visit with the most adorable, tiniest little baby around. She was perfect and peaceful and I felt lucky just to hold her.



I spent the remainder of the evening at mom and pop's enjoying the beautiful weather outside with La Luz. She enjoyed dive-bombing the perfectly manicured lawn and chasing down the neighborhood dogs.



Mom made my favorite dinner and my special request for lemon squares instead of cake. It was delicious and my favorite way to celebrate my birthday. After dinner we watched the game until La Luz couldn't stand it any longer and needed to get home, bathed, and in bed.

The biggest present of the day might be that, at least for now, I have a little bit of that feeling of hope I had a year ago on this date. I have the Saints to thank for that, along with a husband who was right all along and a little girl with alot of spirit.

Julie Through the Glass

If any event can come and go without much hooplah, I hope it is my birthday. Once I turned thirty I became much less interested in September 25th. However, I can't let the day pass without at least noting that it was on this day thirty-three years ago that I came into the world at precisely 8:00 a.m. I used to think that I was prompt, that it was my birthright to always be on time, but these days I am always late, for everything. So, here I am, or rather, there I was on the same day in 1973:

And Now for Something Totally Unexpected

It is a very exciting night. La Luz's sure to be best friend, Betsy, made a very early debut entering the world at 7:56 p.m. after a roller-coaster of a day. Jen was sent home from the hospital earlier in the day and told that she was essentially experiencing a false alarm. Not true. By the time Jen got to the hospital after spending a long afternoon in pain, the anesthesiologist told her it was too late for an epidural. Eighteen painful, unmedicated minutes later Betsy arrived and she is perfect:


If you are interested in the stats (I for one never really kept track of La Luz's) here they are:
5lbs 14 oz
18 and 3/4 inches

What's interesting about this is that Betsy wasn't supposed to get here until October 18th. Fortunately, her mom is one of the most organized people I know. With the exception of the painting on the exterior of the house, everything is prepared for Betsy's arrival and has been for a few weeks. Here, take a look:

www.betsybourgeois.blogspot.com

It is late and I don't have time to explain just how incredible it is that Betsy arrived in this manner. The short story is that her mom is a micro-manager, a list-maker, a do-er, a planner, etc...and over the past year she has been robbed of the opportunity to do much of those things. She has had no choice but to react and let her instincts take over and the culmination of all of it was having a completely unmedicated labor this evening four weeks ahead of schedule. And she was a champ. I guess the lesson is that people do adapt and maybe, in the end, they are even better for it.

For those of you who need a fix before the weekend, here's La Luz looking fetching in her fancy-girl togs.


You can check out more about her day at:

www.banosfamilia.blogspot.com

When All Seems Right With the World

When I stepped outside at 6:20 a.m. suddenly everything felt lighter. I should have known what was in store when the alarm clock first went off at 6:00 and Loki was in my face - looking, breathing, whining, begging. It was more intense than usual. How do dogs know that it feels incredible outside and that they are missing out? The second we got outside Loki started jumping, yapping, twirling, twisting, and pulling. He wanted to go somewhere far away and he wanted to get there fast. It is amazing what a difference 10 degrees make. I think we would all be happier if it didn't get so hot around here. I know for a second there I didn't care about my M.I.A. mayor, the crime right around the corner, the work sitting on my desk, the monthly bills, the future of social security; none of that seemed to matter.

Loki worked up quite an appetite after our run this morning. La Luz was there to supervise and make sure he ate every bite of his food. I realize we are not supposed to let them near each other during mealtimes. I pulled her away right after I took the picture.


We took advantage of the nice night and bbq'd. La Luz supervised from the beach chair that Nana gave her. We set it up on the deck so she could simultaneously watch Loki act like a fool in the yard and Christian operate the grill. It was perfect.

Loveliest Girl I Know

Christian and I were supposed to go to the Sufjan show tonight but becuase I was up at 3:30 a.m. with La Luz (diaper rash and serious congestion) and then again at 5:30 for pilates and I just didn't think I would get enough out of the show to justify spending almost $100.00 (tickets for two, parking, babysitter, drinks), we didn't go. I know I might regret it tomorrow. I usually do when I pass on shows I know I want to see. It happened with Jeff Buckley and now I will never see him.

I don't know though. Maybe it isn't about the diaper rash and the congestion or my long day. Maybe it is that I don't want to give up any of the limited number of nights in my life when I will be able to rock La Luz to sleep and read Tumble Bumble and kiss her chubby hands. Maybe even 50 years from now I wouldn't trade the Sufjan show for a few hours with La Luz:


Would you?


My love for her has a crippling effect and I hope that never changes.

A Little More Novacaine for the Week Ahead

I am feeling tired and since I have to be up at 5:30 for pilates tomorrow morning I decided that my post would be some pictures from yesterday. Christian installed La Luz's swing (sort of - we realize it is too high but it has to be that way until we get some chains or something) and she was in heaven:


Loki, as usual, could take it or leave it, but he enjoyed the opportunity to lounge around in the grass:

French Fries and Fetid Farm Animals

La Luz, Loki, and I survived the weekend without Christian. Somehow we managed to keep it together. Rest assured, I had plenty of help. On Friday night Mom-mom and Pop treated La Luz to her first Frankie and Johnny's experience (in all fairness, it was at my urging). Fries and chicken fingers, and Christian was nowhere in sight, it just didn't seem fair. As can be expected, she loved it...


On Saturday we met Kelli and the kids at the zoo and had a great time checking out all the animals. It was hot though, really hot. I took La Luz into the petting zoo and she was sort of grossed-out by the goats (at least I think that's what they were) and I guess it was more the smell than the animals themselves. She must get that from her grandmother.


On Saturday night Catherine and Gerrish came over and basically hung out and witnessed our exciting nightly routine - dinner, play (a little), bottle (kind of), bath, and bed. We also grilled turkey burgers, drank some wine, and ate some crazy, incredible, wasabi chocolate. Really.


Christian returned at around 5:30 a.m. after a long bus ride. La Luz must have sensed his presence because she woke up shortly thereafter at 6:00 a.m. to play. Guess who had the honor of joining her?

If she looks weird to you in that picture, well, that is kinda' what she looks like when she wakes up at the crack of dawn. Good thing there was nobody around to take a picture of me.

Since it was Sunday, there was plenty of cleaning to tackle but, first, there was plenty of football to watch. Christian and La Luz watched the Saints win while I went shopping with Jen (probably the last time Jen and I will have an afternoon of shopping before the baby arrives). While we were shopping I bought La Luz her Halloween costume. I even took a picture of her in it because when I tried it on her she looked so adorable I couldn't resist. I won't post it though because I would hate to ruin the surprise for you. While we were out I broke down and picked up an Elmo toilet seat for La Luz. I am not quite sure how to go about the whole potty training thing. I sort of hoped that maybe if I bought the seat and installed it she would just climb up there and start using it. Needless to say, it didn't happen that way. I will let you know how it goes.

Thursday Night Lineup

La Luz had an eventful night starting with swinging on the porch with Mom-Mom, opening her package and playing with the new Dora doll Aunt Julie got her last time she was visiting Edward.


The excitement continued with an excellent birthday dinner for Jonathan at Aunt Margot's where she spent the first 30 minutes trying to get Chloe to come to the back door and the last 30 minutes taking all of the wrapping paper from Jonathan's presents to the kitchen to put in the garbage.



She also rocked in Jordan's chair:


and helped Jonathan open his presents:


She even took her first bite of doberge cake and talked to Jordan on the phone but I didn't get pictures of either of those things.

It was so nice to get to visit with everyone and to celebrate Jonathan's birthday and to not have to worry about preparing dinner. By far the coolest moment of the night was when Jonathan opened his gift from Catherine who happened to paint one of the most awesome looking paintings I have seen in a long time. I hate to sound cliche but I guess there is no way around the fact that it is bold and edgy and just a bunch of fun to look at. I should have taken a picture so those of you who weren't there could see it.

La Luz, Loki and I are bracing for long weekend without Christian. I suppose we will muddle through it somehow. I have a feeling I am going to be hearing a lot of this, "where's dadda...I don't know", over the next few days. Wish us luck.

Something Like Normal

I was sort of dismayed by Nagin, again, when I read some of the coverage of his "100 Days and Counting" speech. If you are going to bother setting a 100 day goal of sorts, and you are going to make a speech (something you have done only rarely over the past year), you should make sure you have something more concrete and inspiring to offer your public than, "an essential city service [trash collecting] has returned to something like normal." Okay, well, in all fairness he didn't say it, Couhig (his adviser in charge of 'quality of life' issues) did. It came from his 'team' though, and it isn't true. Our trash gets picked up once a week, usually. But I digress...I guess I was just hoping for something bigger. Now I feel kind of like I have been feeling for the past few months - that nothing really good is happening and that it is going to take some sort of miracle for things to get to where they need to be around here. I really want things to be better but I feel like it is an insurmountable task.

Now onto the really important news. When I dropped La Luz at daycare, Ms. Sherrill asked me if I knew that she could talk. I must have looked stunned because they all started nodding and saying, "oh yeah, momma, she can talk". No kidding she can talk. She talks all the time and has been for months. She repeats pretty much anything you want her to, knows most animal names and sounds, household objects, family members, and can even sing portions of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "ABC", and "Ring Around the Rosie". I was mystified and kinda' sad that it took her this long to say something. They were particularly impressed becuase she knew the word "zebra".

Tonight was peaceful around the Vaicius house. The first thing Lucy wanted to do when she got to her room was dig through her new purse.

Here are some pics:

Brown Paper Packages

I started to feel generally ill this afternoon at work. It was an effort just to get up from my desk, get into my car, and drive to mom and pop's to pick up La Luz - and I usually love leaving work. Before you start to worry, you should know that I am paranoid about catching La Luz's random illnesses so I guess it might be psychosomatic; nevertheless, my head hurts and my body aches. Incidentally, I took my temperature and it was 98.2. Maybe it didn't work right since it was the baby ear thermometer?

My life was made much easier by mom who made La Luz's supper and packed it away for me in tupperware and even easier still when La Luz and I arrived to find this:


Chris' cousin Stacey sent Lucy a birthday gift. Stacey gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last week - her fourth child, third girl. Stacey is my hero. She was born to be a mom and she does it so perfectly. She works, goes to school, and happens to have four of the most adorable kids around and still remembers things like birthdays. The beautiful part about the gift was not that it allowed me to do what I wanted most tonight - nothing, it was that she selected something that incorporates two of La Luz's favorite things: purses and Elmo. Why didn't I think of that? I wish I had 4 hands because I wasn't able to capture the awe on La Luz's face when we opened the package, she saw what was inside, and realized it was hers. What follows is the aftermath, not quite as good, but still very entertaining.