pupz in da hood

it's cold here in chicago, so we put eve in a hoodie. she loved it. she kicks and screams with a hat on, but apparently does not feel the same for the hood. she left it on the whole time, slept through our entire restaurant experience. she then proceeded to continue sleeping in her stroller once we got back to the room, giving e-$ some precious 2-handed computer time. i would wear a hoodie with these exact same colors, if anyone ever sees one.

she's the kind of a girl that makes the news of the world

here are a few random photos from the holidays. be warned for we have many more to share. this kid is well-documented, particularly since she began rocking the faux-hawk.

baby please come home

before phil spector was in the habit allowing women to "kiss handguns,"he produced a darn fine christmas album. on this album, darlene love sings "christmas (baby please come home)." if you don't know this song, you should buy the album right now. it's probably on itunes if you refuse to hit the shops at the eleventh hour. i urge you to do this because neither ted nor i can adequately describe ms. love's fantastic voice. it's earthiness makes the song divine. it's the kind of voice that stays in your bones long after the song lyrics and melody fade from memory. or perhaps i'm overly sentimental about it. you decide.

ANYWAY. eve's been indoctrinated into her mama's love for christmas carols, with an emphasis on spector, this week. we've listened to quite a few during and after her milk binges. she tends to be wide awake and so adorable that she's edible after her morning nursing session. we listened to the best secular christmas song ever one morning this week, and i videoed eve's reaction to it. darlene love's nectar and ambrosia voice sent this baba pups into a pensive mood. i think her little movements perfectly capture the sweet yearning threaded throughout this song. safe travels to everyone who's hitting the road soon, and happy christmas to all, wherever you arrive or remain.

and your eyes of blue

we're soon headed to the midwest but wanted to show you this 33-day old kid. we went to wal-mart today (unwillingly) and the kid hated it, which is good. we were all miserable. but now we're all ok, with a frozen pizza, some bronsons, some dog-sitters to educate, and a week to pack for. we'll keep posting but we wanted to wish you all a merry christmas, particularly from the E.L.F.

baby got back

well. we all know that eve's getting bigger and more alert all the time, as evidenced by the belly shots, milk-drunkeness, and eyes-open photos. we now have medical confirmation of this. at her one-month visit to the pediatrician, this little pups weighed in at ten pounds, two ounces, gaining a full two pounds since her last visit. her very kind doctor did some rapid calculations and told me that she gained about an ounce and a half each day, and over the month, she grew an inch. good girl! she also has a clogged tear duct, which maximizes her pitiableness when in meltdown mode.

these are two random photos of recent evesie pups moments. the first shows her in the fab outfit that christine sent. even though it's a three month size, i think she'll fill it out soon. the second photo was taken last night. it's amazing that i was able to read my dissertation at all with these two little lumps resting on me.

you are my little pal

as you can see, she is wide-eyed and interested. this kid soaks up the world. her favorite position is over the shoulder, so she can look at the lights and shadows. she is learning at an exponential rate! next thing you know, she'll be talking in complete sentences (for real, not the ones we currently substitute for her).

belly shots

so we've all seen the milk-drunk smile. what may have been unclear thus far is that these smiles are the direct result of a milk binge. this kid hammers the milks, and now we have evidence of direct growth (i'm pretty sure that evesie-pups was not a part of the human growth hormone investigation). the last shot shows this britney clone baring her midriff. the other two are from her bath last night, for which she was perfectly zen-like. her eerie calm grows even odder, because i almost killed her right before her bath. i was disgarbing the baba when her shirt become nearly irrevocably stuck on her head. only then did i realize that said shirt had buttons (and erin was quick to point out that these buttons are large, silver, and right down the front of the shirt). she survived, and i was left to wonder how i ever got the onesie up past her belly. one would swear that is where it should have lodged.

my three droogs

eve's been partying lately, at the milk bar and among friends. here are some recent photos bearing the evidence. this ridiculously cute purple and denim number is courtesy of my grandparents. eve's girly look was a big hit at monica's holiday swap, as you can see by xan's delighted face when he got to hold her. and finally, a picture from this morning. after eve nurses, she gets pretty happy. i captured one of those milk drunk smiles for you.

i'm checkin it out

the title of this post is from a talking heads song called 'cities.' the pictures preceding this post will not be commented on in it. i think they speak for themselves. let the record show that eve did not drink from this bottle. she just acted like she really wanted to.

for the longest time, 'cities' was zoe's theme song, especially the lines, 'i'm checkin' it out, i'm checkin' it out, i got it figured out.' eve has appropriated the majority of our attention, interest, and time, and with those she has even taken over zoe's song. while it still applies to that first, and species-speaking, real pups, it can also now be sung with and for our newest little pups.

eve has been figuring things out from the moment she left the womb (and probably earlier than that, if we're going to be picky about it). as many of you know, a baby is tested in five areas one minute and five minutes after she is born. each area (skin color, muscle tone, heart rate, respiration and 'reflex irritability) is allotted two possible points, for a perfect score of ten. this is the apgar test. you can read about it on wikipedia.

eve got 9 and 9 on her apgars, which is pretty damn great and shows me that she is a good studier without being prodded. the nurses told us that it's really rare to get a 10 because most all babies lose a point in the skin color section, due to the bluish or purplish tint to their tiny fingers and toes. given my deathly cold hands and feet, this little eve didn't have a chance of being pink to the tips of her fingers and toes.

so when they told us her scores, i was happy and quiet, and ted immediately said, 'what's the best score? why didn't she get that?' don't worry, he's not going to become some grade-grubbing terror of a parent. he just thought she was absolutely perfect and was not pleased to find disagreement within the first few minutes of eve's life. after hearing the reasoning behind her scores, he decided that 9 wasn't so bad and proceeded to tell everyone he met how great were her scores.

i tell you this because i was recently reminded of ted's capacity to harbor and express pride and wonderment in his daughter and at the same time maintain a critical observational distance to her actions. this amazes and amuses me. last night, at the end of a cruel cycle of vomiting and nursing, ted was changing eve's diaper for what seemed like the billionth time that day, and i was applying packing tape to the kitchen faucet to prevent it from leaking any more (not to worry; we've got a plumber on the way to solve the problem in a more professional manner). he walked into the kitchen, carrying a naked, pink, and screaming eve. as i turn around and take in this sight that will inevitably end in messiness, ted tells me that eve reminded him at this moment of when she was first born, between the two apgar tests--tiny, pink, and full of piss and vinegar. as it turns out last night, she was full of some other things instead, which she promptly emptied onto her papa. good old ted didn't even flinch--he just laughed and realized that he was asking to be pooped on. quite right.

eventually, all of us were in clean clothes, the faucet was quiet for the night, and everyone slept until 3. and then again until 6. it's really not such a bad life, even when eve regresses to her new, new, newborn behaviors.

fashion! turn to the left!

every now and then, we put eve in pants and see what happens. generally, when we have her in an 'outfit,' she chooses those moments to have a meltdown, or a diaper leak, or a vomiting fit. the pink outfit from nan and pop precipitated a long meltdown. the red outfit from my mom led to a hat trick--evesie pups managed to leak out of both ends and have a meltdown, all in the same evening. the pictures were taken before the storm. please note the magic hands in one picture, and the argyle socks in the full body shot. although her bodysuit states that she's an elf in training, i'm fairly certain that she's naturally elfin and therefore needs no official schooling.

chutes and ladders

this purple outfit is a new favorite for all involved. my parents bought this for her, and we all agreed that purple is definitely her color. please notice the eyes on the feet. i first asked why it was necessary to have eyes on the feet (this is not a new baby-feet utility question -- other outfits have included rubber traction marks. i have no idea why a 0-3 month old would need any sort of foot traction). i quickly realized that this question was ludicrous. now i want eyes on the feet of everything i wear, and i also want a full-body sleeper with purple owls on it. a follow-up question -- why would babski clothing need a pocket? eve once again made fools of us all -- TO PUT MY HAND IN. she is very patient with me.

watch me now

this isn't just any old hiccup video; this one comes with upgrades. not only is it a little bit better lit, but the babski also chose the moment to show off all of her little tricks. observe closely the hiccups you all know and love, but wait there's more! check out the hand waving reminiscent of captain jack sparrow from that fine jerry bruckheimer/disney franchise, 'pirates of the caribbean.' you'll also hear evesie's raptor sounds that she picked up from our repeated viewings of 'jurassic park.' i knew from her in utero cavorting that she loved dinos, but she apparently also wants to sound like one. and last but certainly not least, she does the elvis presley lip curl. our talented little baba.

don't cry (put your head on my shoulder)

howdy all:

here are 3 photos of eve -- she likes this angle and is surprisingly strong for a 2-week old. you see the back of my head, my mother's head, and my father's head. but i know you're all looking at eve anyway.

baba loves the milks

we've done this enough times to discern a post-prandial behavior pattern in eve, at least during the daytime feedings when we're all a little more alert. after glutting herself on milk, eve goes through a limp-body phase in which she is milk-drunk, her lips stained white, her cheeks covered in drying drink. see the above photo for evidence of this.

after she (quickly) sleeps off her milk drunkenness, she moves into the hiccup/gas/vomit phase. this afternoon, this involved throwing up on ted while he was changing a disgusting diaper and then battling a bout of hiccups (punctuated by another little throw-up on ted). sadly, no vomit made it into this video of hiccups. you may wonder why we're posting another hiccuping video so shortly after the first one. in this one, evesie's eyes are open the whole time! apologies for the darkness of the video; we'll get better at lighting these moments.

that's my daughter in the water

little babski eve is approaching her two-week birthday, and upon reflection, i realize it's been one heck of a second week of life outside the womb for this kid. a visit to the doctor on monday confirmed our suspicions that she's a good eater. she gained a whopping twelve ounces in five days.

ted's parents visited her on tuesday and wednesday and quickly fell in love with her. they came bearing adorable girly clothing gifts, which seems to have set off a chain reaction, as pink and purple outfits that threaten me with cuteness overload have recently arrived in the mail from nan and pop and christine, as well as the very appropriate 'elf in training' bodysuit, with matching red pants from mom. if we ever stop dressing this little girl in green gowns, she's going to be quite the fashion plate.

before she can start dressing for success, we realized that she needed to smell better. her cord dropped off (i found it under the couch--no idea how it got there, but i imagine fledge had something to do with it, and i don't want to contemplate that) and her adorable belly button got dry enough that we finally gave this kid a full-on bath last night. predictably, she hated most of it but didn't seem to mind the strangle-hold rinse-off session or getting wrapped in a warm towel that looked like a bear. we have the photo evidence, above, to prove it.

among our big plans to celebrate her two-week oldness is watching the duke game on saturday afternoon. for those of you who have tried watching duke men's bb with ted, you know that you must develop a deaf ear as he waxes into more and more ridiculous 'sports talk' as the game progresses. eve seems to be born with an innate ability to do this. she just sleeps on him. when he tries to rouse her with his attempts to outdo dick vitale in blue devil enthusiasm, she sleepily says, 'boring, papa, boring.' that's my girl!

be my baby

here are a few more fotos. we've had lots of folks over to see this babski so this site has been slightly neglected, but that shall be remedied soon. in the meantime, please enjoy these shots of eve.

her majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to say

i'm back! eve and i have started to figure out eating and sleeping cycles, which helps me feel like i can do a few things in addition to feeding her, sleeping with her, and staring at her while she sleeps. currently, she's in her new favorite position, sleeping on her stomach on me. at just the right reclining angle, this felicitously frees up both of my hands/arms for typing. typing with all ten fingers is ten times easier than typing with one.

eve has had visitors since she was about six hours old, and she receives them with great calm. she is sneakily addictive. once you hold her, you'll never go back. i've attached two photos of eve casting her spell on her 'em' (erin's mom) and her memommy (ted's grandmother). the other photo was taken yesterday, in her favorite sleeping position then. we don't really know what she's doing with her legs or arms, but she looks mighty comfortable.

awww

i think this might be my new favorite foto. also, e-$ is now active and will be posting some shots later today (so she has promised me).

the hiccup wars

this little babski can sustain quite the bout of hiccups when she's up for it. check out this video that we made of her last night--a fine performance indeed.

obviously 5 believers

happy black friday to everyone. i've already made my trip to best buy to stock up on my necessities. this little pups is now 6 days old and i thought i'd pull the camera back just a little bit and let you all see her tired, drawn, blissed out new parents. but first...our leading photo shows 3 generations of beautiful girl hands, so we know where these beautiful digits come from. eve loves to sleep with her hands like that. the second photo shows one hot mama lounging on the couch with eve in her favorite position -- on erin. the third shows this guy scoping out his new fave-y, unaware that he is quite the fashion icon with the rock n roll stubble and jimi hendrix t-shirt. i know you're all looking at her, so i thought i'd at least describe myself to you.

the right profile

it's becoming clearer every day that this is our child, a fascinating meld of our selves. she's changing and growing and we just keep staring at her, trying to spot each other's features in her beautiful countenance. these 2 show her precious little face and full head of blonde wavy hair, putting all paternity questions to rest forever.

lay across my big brass bed

so, our bed is magical. in fact, this magical bed contributed to the mess we're in today. evesy-pups has made clear her preference for said magical bed. she loves to sleep in the middle, and loves curling on her side and facing erin. they're sleep buddies, slumber pals. it's pretty adorable and makes this guy just melt.