Brightwood Lights

Well, I figure since I am five months old now, I should write my own post.  Life has been pretty good to me lately, as I have had many recent adventures.  Some highlights have included a road trip to New York, where I saw Niagara Falls and visited my Tante KK at her sorority house at Cornell; my first Halloween; visits from my Opa and my Oma; and my first tastes of solid foods!

I also attended my first ultimate tournament, where I watched my Dad make some great plays.  He had a layout D in the endzone to save the team from losing their third game of the day, and later on scored the game-winning point.  The team went on to go undefeated for the day.  (Mom played some, too, but not like Dad!)  Unfortunately the finals got rained out and have been rescheduled for next weekend, when we’ll be on the road to Iowa.  I hope they can win without Dad, and without me on the sidelines cheering them on.

That’s right- I’m off to Iowa for Thanksgiving.  We’re driving there, so that we can stop in Ohio on the way back for my Auntie Lindsay’s wedding.  I hope I can handle Mama and Papa in the car for that long- should be quite the adventure.

I’ll have to keep you updated!

-Simona

The exciting moment all of you (grandparents) have been waiting for: we have updated the pictures!

And for the concerned and curious, camping went very well- Simona is just about ready to through-hike the Appalachian Trail. 

Simona is getting huge, the weather is getting (mercifully!) cooler, and we are getting busier day by day!  Grad school has kept me hopping, as I have a slew of papers, projects, and readings to keep me busy.  Finding uninterrupted time to study can be a challenge.  As part of a three-way babycare exchange, I also now babysit a little boy one day a week.  It’s fun, and it’s good for Simona to have a slightly older “peer” to imitate.

Simona’s highlights this month include learning to hold her hed up when lying on her stomach, becoming much more vocal, **almost** learning to roll over (we’re practicing!), and being able to grab her feet.  She’s becoming much more interested in toys and can also now reach out and touch objects I hold in front of her.  We also took a trip to the Maryland / Pennsylvania border, and this weekend we will be camping with her!  We’re going on the church retreat, which offers camping or dorms as lodging options, so we have a backup in case it doesn’t go well.  We’ll post more pictures soon- in all that free time that we have! 

Lest you think I am getting a big head, let me start out by saying that this post is (mostly) not about Simona or parenting.  Though I have a lifetime of learning ahead of me, I already have come far enough to know that I will never “master” the art of parenting.

No, the “Master” I refer to is the degree I will begin pursuing this fall: the Master of Social Work (MSW).  I had applied to graduate school in January but decided to delay a final decision on whether or not to attend until after Simona’s birth.  And now, after much deliberation and prayer, I (with Caleb’s full support) will be attending Catholic University here in Washington, D.C. part time, beginning August 28.  The prospect of having more responsibility than just taking care of Simona is daunting but also exciting.  Wish us luck!

 And for those more interested in her than in me, little Simona Lucille is doing well.  We had her six-week doctor’s appointment today, and the doctor confirmed that she is “tall.”  Her official measurements are 23 inches and 10 pounds, 3 ounces.  Don’t call the WNBA scouts just yet, though– the doctor told us that we won’t know her genetic tendencies for body build until she is about eighteen months old.

Time sure flies!  Simona is already four weeks old.  Only when we look at some of her earlier pictures can we tell how much bigger she is already getting.

On that note, many friends have commented on how “long” she is.  How do they know?  I’m just wondering, because I have no idea how to tell if a baby is “long” or not.  And I haven’t measured her, since all we have is Caleb’s “handy man” tape measure that is quite the deadly weapon when it retracts.  So I guess I’ll just go with the prevailing opinion and nod proudly when told how long Simona is.  You can be your own judge.

(Look for further evidence on the “Photos” page later this week.)