I'm Back

Ha ha! After not quite one month I am here again to entertain and delight. I just got so sick of watching John getting to blog that I determined to find the time. At the moment I have a milk-drunk child sitting on my lap. I figure I can get a few keystrokes in while she poops out what I just fed her, before it's time for diaper change and more entertaining her. We have grandparents in town but they're busy...still, they watched her and we went OUT, like fully out, and that was really quite amazing. I'm still stunned at how long I got to stay away (with a bottle at home, she can go like 5 hours without me - whoa). We saw The Dark Knight and even ate afterwards. It was like a date or something.

I really loved that movie, btw. Also Wall E, which we just took the baby to (figure other kids will make noise so it's OK - again, grandma took her out when she got fussy). Maggie did end up watching parts of Wall E (I try to limit her watching tv or movies, but sometimes, I just give in) and she was fascinated. I mean, if she's going to see anything, Pixar's pretty solid stuff.

But to watch Dark Knight without having a baby on my breast - wow! It was the first movie I've done that since she was born (I've seen 4 in the theater and she ate during all the others, which isn't ideally comfortable, plus distracting). Maybe I enjoyed it so much because I could really watch it. Well, that, and Heath Ledger - WOW.

So I have to give a quick update on school. I'm feeling really good about it. I had lunch with my "buddy" (GTU assigns the newbies an advanced student in our pgm so we have a guide), and she insisted I only take 2 classes, and even told me exactly what to take so I could be busy but not overwhelmed. I love this woman. I owe her my sanity. Now I will only be away 3 hours two days a week. It will hardly affect our feeding sked at all. Plus I really still miss my girl when I'm gone, so it won't be too hard. What a relief.

School starts in 2 weeks then. Since I'm not taking anything at Cal this semester I don't have to start until Sept 2. Nice. I'm so enjoying my time right now. I do have orientation - three brutal, almost 12-hour days, starting Friday! But we're working out a feeding schedule and the school is being so awesome about accomodating us.

I'll write more about starting the program when I've actually done that. So far, all I know is that my books are going to cost a fortune. But at least they're all books I really want, so I can't complain too much.

So on to the Maggie update. She has really come a long way. She still has the loudest squall of any newborn you'd meet, but she reserves it for more special occasions these days. Some days we only get the screaming for a few minutes, which is awesome. Others, she has a harder time. The worst part for me is not knowing if she's just mad or actually in some kind of pain. We have found some hints as to her troubles - we can usually tell if she's tired, or sometimes if she's hungry or wet (she'll even tone down the crying for those - more fussing than screaming - unless we've let it go really too long). Still, she's such a mystery.

She does seem to bore easily. We tell ourselves she's just very intelligent and therefore cannot abide any activity for very long. She's always wanting to see something new. She loves sitting at the table with us while we eat, and loves going outside (cranes her neck up to look at the patterns the trees make against the sky). It's really fun to see her personality developing, even though she is a drama queen like her mother (and father, in all fairness).

We got our living room painted and some furniture (somebody's giving us a crib and high chair - what a blessing!), and it all is pretty cool. If you want to visit my house (I have a HOUSE, man!), come! I'm so proud of it. I love my washer/dryer (and using cloth diapers!), love my clothesline out back, love my grill (yay craigslist grill), love walking around my neighborhood. All in all, this was a great place to choose. I do hope to plant veggies or herbs, but in the meantime, we've found a glut of CSAs to choose from, so that's good. And we hit at least one farmer's market a week (there are three that are easy to get to for us).

Berkeley is definitely the foodie town. What a perfect place to do my work! And I'm going to visit Michael Pollan's office hours when school starts. The only bad thing about eating here is that it tends to be expensive. We always said LA was the best town in the world for good food that doesn't break your bank. It's totally true - up here, the great food is available, but so expensive. And most places we've gone that we can afford are NOT all that. So it's sad. In LA you can always find a tiny family-run place with cheap, delicious food. Here, you get what you pay for. Pity.

Anyway I have to run. This post has been a luxury but the day has to start. It's nice to write again. I hope to write more soon. Peace!