Life with Margo

Sometimes it’s circumstances that make a movie great, and so it is that “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” will go down as one of our favorite movies. Well, favorite movie-going experiences could be more accurate. (I mean, it’s no “Fletch” or “Fargo.”) You see, Margo, Maia and Jake went to the Baby Brigade last night with Shauna, Wes and Oren. For those without kids or not from the Bay Area, Baby Brigade is the once-a-week movie event at the Cerrito Theater where parents with babies under 1 year old are welcome. And, they have pizza, other food, beer and wine with the movie! Oh, what a thrill to be at the movies, and Margo was a star. She cried a little bit, but most of the time she was a happy baby while Jake wore her in the Ergo Baby carrier.

Besides last night’s thrilling trip to the movies, Margo had a couple of rough nights of sleep, but she found her groove again last night. Perhaps it has to do with the white noise machine that we bought. It’s this product that produces various white noise sounds that babies supposedly like. Two nights ago, we had it on the rain setting and it seemed to make no difference to Margo. But, last night, we had it on the setting that is supposed to simulate the sounds of the womb, and sure enough, she woke up only once between 10:30 p.m. and 4:30ish a.m. Umm, the downside is that neither of parents could sleep with the sound of a heartbeat. So, we have some fine tuning to do of that solution.

Thinking back to the weekend, it’s such a help to have our great friends bringing us dinners. Dan and Tamara brought a great frittata and carrot salad, which were great. It’s just such a relief to not have to worry about cooking right now, and we get to have great food, and we get to introduce Margo to our friends.

Looking ahead to next week, we have the big trip to the Macalester reunion starting on Friday, June 6. We’ll get to see Matt, Shayla, Merideth, Matt/Merideth’s parents, Rachel, Seth, Maren, et. al. And, we’ll see how Margo likes flying. Should be interesting to see whether we can all navigate the airport.

Maia and I took Margo to Dr. Landman’s office yesterday for Margo’s 1-month check-up. And, we have exciting things to report:

Weight: 8 lbs., 10 ozs., which means she’s gaining more than one ounce per day since her last appointment! She’s also about 30% heavier than her lowest recorded weight, which was 6 lbs., 4 ozs. Can you imagine gaining 30% of your weight in about 3 weeks? That would make Jake about 220 pounds by mid-June. Scary thought.

Height: 22 inches, which is in the 95th percentile! Maia and Jake have a tall child! Maia and Jake have a tall child!

Head circumference: 50th percentile, which means her head is perfectly sized!

Together, this means that Margo is adorable. But, then, you knew that already.

Aunt Nora, aka Auntie No-No, has left for New York and then Spain. Margo will miss her. Uncle Eric arrives next week. Margo’s Great Uncle Danny visited earlier this week.

And, in a moment of baby-induced sleep deprivation, Maia and Jake decided to take Margo to Maia’s college reunion in St. Paul. We’re arriving on June 6 and we return to Oakland on June 9. We’re going to stay with Matt and Shayla at their new house, which should be exciting. Margo will already have visited two states by the time she’s 2-months old. We need to start practicing the process of taking Margo, the stroller, and all of our stuff through the airport security checkpoint; should be interesting.

Today is the new dad’s first day back at work and the new mom’s first day taking care of Margo by herself. A big day.

The past week has been pretty exciting for a number of reasons. Margo has started to take an interest in visual and audible stimuli. On the changing table, she seems very focused on a black and white toy that Rosie and Peter gave her. As the video shows, she has started to use her exercise gym, and she has also spent some time in her crib listening to music. Jake has tried reading some books to Margo, and she focuses on some of the images, which is pretty exciting to observe.

Another exciting development is that Margo slept for 4.5 consecutive hours two nights ago, an all-time high. Since then, she has gone back to shorter intervals, but it’s exciting to know what’s possible!

Margo also survived her first heat wave with flying colors. We went to the beach in Alameda, Stonestown Mall in San Francisco, and several restaurants with air conditioning in order to keep her happy and cool, and she was – for the most part – a trooper. Being out and about with Margo resulted in several daring maneuvers by her parents, such as nursing her at a restaurant and changing her diaper “in the field.”

Coming next week: Margo’s uncle Eric visits!

This is Part 2 of the video. Margo’s face is a little more visible as she plays in the exercise gym, which is a gift from Alix.

Margo checks out her exercise gym. See the video on YouTube.

Margo celebrated her first Mother’s Day one day early today with brunch at her grandparents’ house in San Francisco. All four of her grandparents were in attendance, and her Great-Grandfather, Buddy, was also with us. Margo’s mother demonstrated impressive nursing skill by using her hooter-hider at the brunch table while eating a bagel with cream cheese and lox.

We are pleased to say that Margo returned successfully to her basinette last night, which means her parents both slept for 3-hour stretches last night. This was the time in several nights that Margo decided to fall asleep (and stay asleep) without being held by one of her parents. Not that her parents mind holding her; it’s not like there’s anything else going on at 2 or 3 in the morning.

Pooping and peeing continues at an impressive rate. Margo seems to have a healthy appetite.

Big achievements in the past week include Margo’s first lunch and dinner at restaurants (Cactus Taqueria and Uzen, respectively) and riding in a sling for the first time.