What I would have said to Diane

Last week Marcos and I were listening to NPR's Diane Rehm show in the car, and all of a sudden I felt passionately enough about the topic to call in. Call in! This is National Public Radio we're talking about!

Apparently, the entire nation was equally as moved. After inviting people to call in and advertising the telephone number only once, Diane stopped repeating the number because the lines were already so busy. After Marcos and I attempted to remake the number in our heads, and I tried calling random toll free numbers with similar digits, finally I got a hold of Miss Jeanne of some motel in Alabama, and I stopped dialing and gave up.

Diane Rehm, of one of the best radio shows ever.

Just to get you up to speed, the show was actually an interview with William Powers about his new book called "Hamlet's BlackBerry", about the advantages and pitfalls of living in a world of constantly changing technology. He had a few really interesting things to say, and both Marcos and I were intrigued. Together as a couple, we often agree that our evening life would be much different and - *gasp* - better if the internet were disconnected at a certain early-ish time, however, we have never quite been able to pull it off. But William Powers said that in his family they observe the "internet Sabbath": each Friday evening the modem is disconnected FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. He said that at first it was difficult, but he had come to realize that the availability of internet access had allowed everyone in the family to disappear to their own computer stations and that it was affecting their family unity in a negative way. He was not anti-technology at all - in fact, he gave many examples of how modern technology enhances our lives - but his point was simply that we should be careful consumers.

So now you get to hear what I wanted to say.

What I wanted to say to William Powers and Diane, and what I've been thinking about for a long time, is how amazing it is that we "young" people in society have such a lack of healthy skepticism when it comes to technology. When we weigh the decision of whether or not to purchase a technological gadget, our cost/benefit analysis is often missing a crucial element. Under the "benefits" lists are always detailed descriptions of how this thing is going to revolutionize our life in endless ways, but the "costs" list usually ever includes only one thing: money. Sometimes we get lost in the analysis of how the cost of the attractive sexy machine plus the monthly cost of making it work will put a hole in our pockets, when I think that the ultimate question is, "In the bigger scheme of things, is this gadget going to enhance or distract from the truly essential things in my life?". Forget about the money. What about our families? Does what we want to buy increase quality time, or does it distract from real interpersonal connection and our responsibilities? It seems like once a gadget has passed those questions favorably, only then is it time to start looking at the monetary cost...

Steve Jobs, of the iWorld

Gigi rolls

We caught it on video! Gigi makes rolling look cool.

5 months

Gigi just made her five month mark as a resident of planet earth, and we're enjoying her more than ever before. She laughs more now, she smiles at anyone willing to chat and smile at her, and she's even starting to move. She rolls from back to front and front to back, and she can almost sit up without support. She is wide awake at absolutely all social events (although she did fall asleep to some very loud Cuban music and flailing dancers at my zumba class on Saturday - go figure), and she is happy to be held by strangers about 90% of the time.

Gigi makes bathrobes look good!

She is wearing clothes in the 6-12 month range (besides dresses, which she never seems to outgrow because her truly large parts are her torso and thunder thighs and dresses aren't much affected by those parts), and we're thinking of starting off with some basic "solid" foods soon because she is beginning to show signs of readiness. She continues to sleep about 7 hours through the night, and she is taking the bottle like a champ when she is home with daddy on the days that I work.

Reading in bed with Daddy

Her hair is getting so long on top (she has a thin patch around the back like most babies who sleep on their back), and when I bathe her in the bathtub with my new technique of laying her on her back in an inch or two of water, all of her long curly hair waves around her head in the water like a little crown.

We definitely hit the jackpot with this one.

Marcos Creates

The person you probably hear about most on this blog is Gigi. Then comes me. And then yes, I'm still married to Marcos and he still is the love of my life.

Along with Marcos' job and being a stay-at-home dad, and his online classes and his new calling in the Young Men's Presidency and as the Assistant Scout Master, he dabbles in the world of creating websites. Recently he created two websites from scratch, which totally amazes me, because I can barely bake from scratch, and most of the things I bake I burn.


The first website Marcos made was for Condie Construction Corporation, a local construction team of completely recommendation-worthy builders (and good friends of ours). The tricky part of this website was creating the function on his "projects" page so that the images of Condie's past work come up, cycle through a slideshow, and allow the viewer to get a glimpse of his gorgeous handiwork. I have learned through watching Marcos create websites that often, the simple things we use on people's websites represent hours and hours of programming before they function without a glitch.

The second website Marcos made was for Jo Garrett, our doula (birth coach) at Gigi's birth. She just started her company called Jo For Joyful Birth, and Marcos and I worked together to design her website. She said that she wanted her website to be very simple, with organic shapes and forms, and with the color scheme of dark brown, a teal, and a pumpkin orange. After letting my imagination run loose for a few minutes, I sketched on a piece of paper what I thought her website should look like, and Marcos started working from my sketch. We debated, we fixed things, and tried new things, and ultimately came up with a website we were all really happy with. It was fun to be involved in a creative project with Marcos, especially one in which we each brought something to the table: Marcos can create everything with programming and he is so talented with the technological aspect of things, and I have a highly untrained but slightly more natural eye for design.


Our current project is creating a website for Prieto Designs, which is ours! If you've ever browsed highly ranked websites, you might have noticed that the absolute most interesting and creative websites on the internet belong to website designers (for obvious reasons - who would want to do business with a company whose own website is horrible?). So, we are working on our own website very slowly but surely. With all of the other things going on, it is not at the top of the priority list, but sometimes we flirt with the idea of making this company a bigger part of our lives.

Who knows? Someday when we're living in Bermuda and need a break from sipping smoothies on the beach it may be just the right amount of getaway from our getaway from our getaway...

Hanging Rock

If I could change one rather superficial thing about myself, I would make myself more outdoorsy. I mean Heavens, what is the use of living somewhere pretty if you choose to spend your spare time indoors?


On Monday, we made a Labor Day effort, and per suggestion from our outdoorsy friends, we drove out to Hanging Rock state park for a few hikes. Just us, as a family.

It was great.


When my alarm went off at 7am for me to wake up and put together a picnic, I came very close to rolling over and going back to bed. Who wants to wake up early on a holiday? Luckily, by repeating the mantra "Memories for my family. I am helping to create memories for my family", I was able to wake up and prepare food for our two-hour journey towards the mountains.


One of the honest to goodness reasons we are not more outdoorsy is because we lack the proper equipment. At Hanging Rock state park there were oodles of hikes, some easy and some not so easy, and all we own for Gigi is a Baby Bjorn that our kind friends gave us. It sure beat the situation of the poor woman who we saw hauling her sleeping dead-weight 3 year old-ish looking child up the mountain, but the Bjorn was not created for hikes. If we want to continue being outdoorsy people, it would definitely be worth considering a frame pack for our chunker!


Hiking is a lot of work. Giovanna fell asleep for a good leg of the hike up to Hanging Rock.


Finally we made it to the top! It was really a beautiful view, looking out over endless trees and shades of green and blue.


We sat under this tree to eat our picnic. The land was nearly perfectly untouched as far as the eye could see. We had an apple in our bag, and we gave a piece to Gigi, who gnawed on it ravenously and licked it all over. It looks like she is almost ready for real food!


And so, with a simple day trip out to Hanging Rock State park we proved to ourselves that we can do outdoorsy things. I'm not sure if we are ready for a committed relationship with the outdoors - for example, camping and such - but we've definitely made it to first base, and we're interested to see where this relationship will take us.

Revamping the track towards awesomeness

Babies change a lot of things.

One of the things that Gigi's arrival did for us was remind us to put our finances in order. At the beginning of the summer we started meeting with a Financial Advisor who helped us to get our life insurance rolling, and who instructed us about the smart ways we can interact with the financial world. (We are still working to have some money so that we can do smart things with it).


Suddenly, as we started learning about finances, we had concrete financial goals, and we started to write them down. And the financial goals reminded us about our home and then we had cleaning goals, and organizing goals, and doing goals, and creating goals, and moving goals, and then there were the long-time goals, the partnership goals, the individual goals and the weekly goals, and we filled an entire white board with lists of how we were going to become awesome.

And then I started working, and the road to awesomeness became a burden and not a joy. When I was home with Gigi full-time, I used the goal board to help me direct my free time, but when I started working, the board was a little too ambitious. It was time to reassess.

So last week we mapped out a more reasonable version of our track towards awesomeness. It still looks daunting on the white board because it takes up a lot of space, but this is baby steps compared to our summer ambitions (and frankly, half of it is little pictures)! With both of us busy with work and the baby, and a million other things, we have found a system that will match our current needs.

Awesome.

Gigi takes a swim

Guess who went in the pool for the first time this week? Yep, little Miss Gigi. The water was a little brisk at first, but once we got used to it, we were as happy as clams.


Happy clams!


Has my blog become a barrage of photos of my baby, or what?! Well, I tell myself if she weren't so stinkin' cute, I'd post about other things too... we are so totally smitten.

Axel

Last Friday evening found me in one of my favorite places: the labor and delivery floor at the UNC Women's hospital. Our friends Josh and Emily are new to the area, and I was tickled when they eagerly took me up on my offer to be present for the labor and delivery of their third little boy. It was the third birth that I have attended as a helper, and each time I have this experience, that doula certification seems more and more tantalizing...


Emily was outstanding to the umpteenth degree. After having the midwife break her waters so that things would start to speed up, her contractions grew increasingly intense, but she was extremely calm and relaxed. I coached her using the Bradley technique through an hour or two (doesn't time seem to warp during labor?) of hard contractions, before she felt that her limits were being severely pushed and she requested an epidural. It was her third birth, and she knew her body so well. Each time she was examined she knew how many centimeters dilated she was before the midwife even announced it. She knew that this little man was coming soon, and after the epidural had taken and she was more comfortable, she was chatty and hilarious, and was able to get the entire team excited for his arrival!


They named him Axel, and I think that he is basically perfect. His birth was a true miracle: after hearing that Emily had torn fairly badly with her previous two boys, the midwife coached her to resist the urge to push with her final contractions (which is VERY hard to do), and instead, to get through the contractions with small grunts. By allowing Axel's big noggin to emerge in tiny spurts, Emily needed exactly zero stitches at the end. Axel's arrival was a celebration for everyone: not only did we have a new healthy boy in our hands, but the team of midwives and nurses had done an excellent job in delivering this baby!


When we lifted Emily's blanket to make an adjustment, we found a sweet surprise: Axel had resumed the fetal position on his mommy's belly, and what a fine, fat tush for a newborn!


Axel was 8 lbs. and 10 oz. when he was born. When Emily was in labor and the midwife asked if she wanted him to go straight up to her chest for some skin to skin time, Emily asked her what she suggested, and the midwife's answer was, "Well, this is a research hospital, and the research says that skin to skin time is really important, so let's do it!" I don't know if the skin to skin time was to credit or if it was simply his temperament, but Axel was the most incredible eater from the first time he tried. He ate for a solid half hour soon after he was born, and latched on like a pro. Not even chubby Gigi was that good right from the start!


The hospital team from left to right: the nurse, Meg Barrett the midwife, and Sam the midwife student. A lot of the attending care was actually done by Sam, who also gets the credit for the perfectly tear-less delivery. But the real winner was Emily: what a champion!