What's Dis?

Huh? Where am I? What's dis Interweb thing?

Why iz it so hard type wif dese mittens on? What does dis say, I cannot read.

Oh, hai. My name is Rebecca Marquis and I was born yesterday at 7:25 pm. I do not like to miss Jeopardy!, so I came out just in time.

I weigh 6 lbs and 10 ounces. I really like eating. My mommy and daddy are pretty cool people, but I'm not sure they know what hey are doing.

Ok, I'm bored and tired now. I go bak to seepin. Kiss me I'm cute. Luhzu all, bye bye!

The To-Do List Grows

T-minus five days and holycrapwhyhaventweevenpackedthehospital-
bagyetshecouldgointolaborATANYMINUTE...

Somewhere between "prepare nursery" and "do not drop on floor" there's a whole laundry list of items that need addressing. It's weird to think of the paperwork and administrative items that come along with having a baby, but often, that's the most important part. This technological age doesn't make things any easier, either. It just makes the list longer. Here's my list of things I need to address on behalf of my baby:

• Birth Certificate (triple-check spelling of name, don't want this to happen)
• Get a Social Security Number, Card. Memorize number, eat card as identity protection measure
• Do that ink-footprint thing - it's important, and cute
• Set up baby's first e-mail address (note: need name first or check on stinkycrier@gmail.com)
• Register URL of baby name in case of future famousness
• Put her up on Facebook (what do you mean I'm already three months behind?)
• Draft baby's first fantasy football team (and watch her beat daddy and mommy to win the division)
• Set up 529 to relatives and friends can contribute electronically in lieu of gifts for the next 18 years
• Pre-register for toddler day care, pre-school, elementary school, dance lessons, summer camp, and after-school counseling program, just to be safe
• But baby's name on season ticket list for Maryland basketball tickets

I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but this is a start.

Aw...hic...that's so...hic...cute

One of the things that annoys many people when a friend or acquaintance has a new baby (particularly for the first time) is that everything said baby does, no matter how trivial, mundane, or disgusting, becomes the cutest thing in the world. I had one friend, at the time a father for all of three days, extol the virtues of new baby poop, and how he reveled in its yellow-ness. I found this to be both hilarious and horrible.

Well guess what world, I am about to become one of "them." You see, I'm not here to tell you that my baby is the smartest, bestest in the world (yet), but she - in utero, mind you - has already done the cutest thing. She has the hiccups.

Prenatal hiccups are not uncommon, and when reading a Daddy Book a few months back chuckled at the thought of it. My Lovely Wife gets the hiccups from time to time. And not the small, high-pitched kind. These are full-out Barney Gumbel diaphragm explosions. So I guess it's only natural (or genetic) that Lefty would come down with them, too.

I haven't had the chance to feel or hear her hiccuping yet, only living vicariously through my wife's excited phone calls. But let me tell you, my baby, drinking her amniotic fluid a little too quickly (aww, just like daddy at a bar!), to the point of having little baby hiccups?

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

But First...

It's snowing here!

Winter's been pretty disappointing here in the nation's capital. Granted, we're only good for a really substantial snowfall every few years, but we usually get at least one storm of some accumulation. This year was pretty weak. About ten days ago we got hit with an icestorm which is more scary than pretty. But today? A fore casted "wintry mix" turned into a few inches (and growing!) of white fluffy snow!

Why is that exciting? Because I want to go sledding -- and next winter, I'll have a child to use as an excuse to go sledding and not look creepy or out of place.

I know that we measure milestones by capturing things like "baby's first tooth," and "baby's first haircut," but the things that I'm looking most forward too are slightly different. In no particular order:

• Baby's first snowstorm/sled ride
  
• Baby's first baseball game
• Baby's first poop (I'll celebrate the first one, you better believe)
• Baby's first curse word (it's always so cute when they have no idea what they mean)
• Baby's first taste of foot (there ain't much cuter than a baby discovering its own feet)
• Baby's first spit-up on one of my single guy-friends (just for the fun of it)

I'd stay and list more, but I have to go make a snowman.