Elliot Spuhler McCabe

Elliot Spuhler McCabe was born Saturday, August 26 at approximately 1:30pm weighing 6lbs 10oz and measuring almost 21 inches. Mom, Dad and baby are doing great. I can't wait to meet him.

Movin' on up

Rich and I are moving to a two bedroom apartment next week. Well, I should say, Rich, "Chester" and I are moving since the little one is the reason we got the new place anyway. Give credit where credit is due and all. So now we have the great fun of packing all over again. Fortunately, we are only moving two floors up and the amazing people that work with Rich have all volunteered their services to help us out since I can't really do much. My job has been to coordinate all the details of the move including arranging the lease signing appointment, calling all of our service providers to get lights, cable, etc. changed and I am also Box Hunter. Boxes are practically currency in this city. I looked on Craig's List to see if anyone was getting rid of boxes and most people were actually selling them. Entrepreneureal yes, perhaps, but $100 for a bunch of used boxes? I think not. Fortunately, we live in a big building and someone has just moved in so today I spied a bunch of moving boxes out by the dumpster and one of the maintainance guys helped me load a bunch into the service elevator and up to our apartment. So, between those and the ones Rich is bringing home from the office, we should be good. Since we're moving such a short distance we pretty much just need boxes for CDs, books, dishes and a few miscellaneous items - the rest can just be carried up as is.

Anyway, I am very excited to get a bigger place and to get the baby's room ready. I have a ton of baby laundry to do and put away and I'm eager to just feel a bit more organized before the little guy gets here (which, for those of you not keeping track, is approximately 8 weeks away).

Still feeling pretty decent. Heartburn has been acting up again and my feet have finally begun to swell. I was beginning to feel a bit haughty that I didn't have any feet or ankle swelling as so many other pregnant women do. I kind of love that the humbling process of parenthood has already begun. People really pump you up when you're pregnant - "you look great", "congratulations", "you're glowing", etc. Then you get the swollen feet, the gas and other more personal grossness and you are quickly brought back down to earth.

New belly pictures

I have received a couple of requests for some updated belly photos but I am afraid I don't have too many to offer. I can offer you this one of Rich and me from Emily and Yasser's wedding:



You can't really see my belly very well - black really is slimming!

Otherwise, I can direct you to our friend Mark's photo album. He and his wife co-hosted our surprise baby shower and he took some great photos. The other pregnant person in the photos is Janet, my friend who gave birth three days later. She got a 3-hour pass to leave the hospital so she could be at the shower, which she had actually planned before being put on bed rest. One may note the scary fact that I look bigger and she gave birth 3 days later. Of course, it was scary for them until they had their healthy baby so now it is just scary to me because I think I am cooking a real bruiser.

Back east

We are back from a terrific trip to Seattle. We saw tons of friends, had a surprise baby shower, enjoyed the 75 degree weather while New York City baked in triple digits, ate lots of great food and almost got to be present for the birth of our friends' baby. My friend Janet was put on bed rest in the hospital two days before I got to town so I visited her every day I was there. We left this past Monday afternoon, she went into labor that night and delivered their baby girl yesterday at 3:19pm. When I left they were possibly going to induce on Thursday (tomorrow) so we had no idea it was quite so imminent. I'm sad I can't be there and I won't get to meet little Anya until she is several months old, but I am so happy everyone is healthy and happy. It is making me anxious to meet our own baby.

We are also gearing up to move to a bigger apartment. We agreed to take one that is in our same building but two floors up. The rent increase will take a bite, especially with the increase costs associated with the baby, but it is so much larger and it feels like a space that we can really make into a home and are far less likely to outgrow than the other, less expensive 2BR we were shown. With baby presents galore slowly creeping across our current living room floor I am eager to get into the new place and start getting settled in and nested.