Clever, clever kid

Last Friday, I bought Molly a glittery pen as a "prize" for running so well in her school Fun Run (32 laps!). Yesterday, we were at the store in the check-out line, the same store where the pen was purchased. Molly told me she'd lost the glittery pen, "and I see some more of them over there. Can I get another one?" "No," I told her, "you already had your chance with that pen." A few moments passed in silence. Then Molly said, "Mommy, remember when we learned that word MERCY?" I started to laugh a little. "It means giving people second chances," she reminded me.

Pictures to Start Week 3 & GO SOX!

From top--the three sisters, up-close-and-personal with Amelia, and Nana, who came last week from Florida! More pictures on the Website. I dropped the camera on Saturday morning. Broke it. Had to get a new one on Sunday and haven't tried to upload from the new camera to the computer, so pictures taken since Sunday are not ready yet. All is well here. Weather is rainy and chilly--we definitely need both to jumpstart us into Fall. Can't have apple cider and carve pumpkins when it's 85 degrees!

Our Boston Red Sox are playing in the World Series! Last night's game was, well, great for us, and kind of sad for the Rockies. Final score was 13 to 1. Some blamed the long break that the Rockies had (8 days) from the NLCS to last night, saying they weren't in the groove of playing ball daily or nearly daily. Certainly, though, one must give the LUV to Josh Beckett, Sox pitcher extraordinaire, who pitched 7 innings and allowed only 1 run. I really don't enjoy a sweep like that--makes the game kind of ho-hum for the viewer, even when the outcome (a win) is what we want. Not to take away anything from the Fenway Boys--they are HOT!

The View from Here

Little Kickers '07

Molly has been playing soccer. It's a church league for 5- and 6-year-olds. The idea is to introduce the kids to the game--no score is kept and there's no tournament or anything. She has enjoyed her season and even scored a goal last Saturday! She particularly likes to throw the ball back into play after it has gone out-of-bounds. We have two more games, then the long-awaited pizza party and trophy presentation!

Rantings from the Mom of a Newborn

Very exciting and important things are happening in the world, I am sure of this. However, I do not know about most of them, because I am busy sleeping at weird hours of the day and night (mostly day), making myself available for frequent feedings, going through enormous amounts of environmentally-unfriendly diapers (not for me, but for Amelia), going to parent-teacher conferences, carpooling to Daisy Girl Scouts, examining a 3-year-old's bruised butt from a tumble over the chair, and eating whatever and whenever it's feasible. Don't misunderstand me--I LOVE this stuff, it's just amazing how out of touch one becomes in a short period of time.

Amelia is 2 weeks old today. Her umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday and she slept for nearly 4 hours at a stretch last night! We have had lots of help this week from Nana, who is visiting from Florida. With one baby, people need help with the baby. With all subsequent kids, people need help with the older kids! Somehow Nana (and Granna, Papa and Aunt Mer before that) manages to help with ALL the kids. You guys are truly lifesavers!

Our beloved Red Sox are now behind in the series, with the Indians leading 2 games to 1. We watch faithfully, even through crying and nursing and bruised butts. So I guess we're not totally out of the loop. After all, baseball is more important than anything else, right? Right.

Amelia Marsh, SuperStar

Here are some more pictures of Amelia's arrival. These are courtesy of proud Papa, photographer extraordinaire. Some of my own pictures are also on the family Website (see link on the right side of this page), chronicling the first 9 days of Amelia's life with us! Enjoy!

Take Time to Stop and Smell the...Milk

Like many of you, I have a tendency to overextend myself--and by default, my entire family. We are not slow movers. We like to have plans and go places and take pictures of us going places and keep up the pace. (I am, quite possibly, speaking out of turn--I like all that, but they sometimes don't!) Relaxation is not something I do well, even with effort.

One thing a new baby will do is slow you down. Things take longer, require more fore-thought (is that a word?), and flexibility is key to maintaining any level of sanity. So far, our Amelia is a laid back, sweet kind of kid. But when she is hungry, the world stops on its axis. And my world does, too. Frankly, I kinda like this aspect of parenting this time around. When Amelia squeals (and this is an apt word to describe her insistence), I slow down. I sit down and nurse her with pleasure and relaxation. The dishes will wait. The kids can hang on one more second for me to find that marker. The phone will ring. For those 20-30 minutes, Amelia and I can stare at each other and touch fingers. I can stroke her hair and tickle her toes. It's really quite wonderful--somehow I missed how great this is with the first two. I found myself nursing with the baby cradled in one arm while walking around picking up toys and laundry with the other arm. Not this time. I am taking the time to enjoy the smell of Amelia's hair and the sounds of her tiny hiccups. Because, as we all know too well, they just grow up too darn fast.

Welcome Amelia Reed Marsh!

A very short time after my last blogging post, my water broke! Our beautiful daughter Amelia Reed Marsh was born at 7:45 p.m. on October 2! A full three weeks ahead of schedule, she debuted at 7 lbs, 10 oz, with a head full of red hair and lovely blue eyes. Her sisters, Molly & Rebecca, are thrilled with her, and she already has many adoring fans. We thank you ALL for kind words and emails (my dad sent out an email earlier in the week, but we just got home today, so our electronic messaging is just hitting the 'net waves), calls and visits. Amelia completes our family perfectly. I am putting the Birth Story (not graphic) on the Website, so check that out, as well as LOTS of photos to come. Here are a few teaser pictures. Welcome to the world, Amelia!

Make a Difference TODAY

As you know, the military junta in Burma has begun its crackdown on the peaceful protesters, most of whom are Buddhist monks. Dozens have been killed or injured and hundreds have been arrested. The eyes of the world are on Burma, yet the violence continues. They have tried to block accurate information from escaping the country, so we outsiders won't see what's really happening. But surreptitious bloggers using cell phone cameras, email, Google and the like are making sure information is leaking out. Meredith has regular information coming into her email from friends and friends-of-friends, folks with whom she had contact before the violence began, that is helping paint a picture of the atrocities that are going on.

All this to say--I have another small way you can help. Other than fervent prayer, which is, of course, vital, please consider signing this online petition. One way we can make a dent is to remove all economic support from the organized "government" in Burma. President Bush has taken a step in this direction by strengthening US sanctions against them and speaking out at the UN assembly. China is starting to be more forceful in their condemnations. But one US-based company remains active in Burma. So let's encourage them to get out, too. Go to www.petitiononline.com/urgeChev/petition.html to read the petition against Chevron. It's easy to sign, you choose whether to make your email public or private and you don't even have to get on the mailing list for the organization that is circulating it (which has offices in Chaing Mai, Thailand, and is operated by a friend of Meredith's). So there are no strings attached, just your name and city, and a feeling that maybe you're helping even in a tiny way, to bring an end to this conflict.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead