Arrival of the Sister!

At 6 PM today, Ida's little sister Miki Frances Rock arrived on the scene! Miki's name was not really in consideration until this morning, when Ida persistently insisted that the baby inside Ella was named Miki. (It is pronounced like Mickey and is somehow Japanese.) Anyway, this is what Miki looked like, only moments after emerging:



Ella was a champion. She is now a firm believer in the epidural. "I can see having a third child," she said.



Miki even let me hold her!



But then she became very angry.



Fortunately, Aunt Maggie swung on by to calm Miki down.



8 lbs. 3 oz, just shy of twenty inches long; the nurses were wowed by her head of hair, but we had to admit that it's not as serious as Ida's was. It's also lighter in color? Tomorrow we'll bring the sisters together, and will document that for you, gentle readers.

It's true, Ida's sister's arrival is now several days overdue!



What can be done except take off one's pants and try to climb into the watering can?



Don't worry, tests show the baby and the mama to be in very fine shape! How uncomfortable is Ella? How is she passing her time?



One word: Power Tools. Okay, two words.



Oh Geez!



Maybe her water's broken?

Ida vs. Renn Fayre

The camera has been packed away in the g0-to-hospital bag for a while, so we're dependent on Tumbleweeds and also, sometimes, on unidentified third parties. These images were forwarded on to us here at Akiko headquarters. Ida and I went over to Reed College on Sunday to see how much damage the students and psychonauts had done to the campus--if you don't know about this mad celebration, so much the better. Naked blue people, big tents, people on stilts, lots of mud, fallen down trees, men with third eyes painted on their foreheads--she loved it all.



Especially getting licked by various (goat-like) dogs and dancing to Old Time music played by hipsters while dancing with young ladies in hippie attire.



Who doesn't like that?



Bye bye. More on the baby front very soon...

Further Further Wisdoms + Babies!

Ida would like you to know that a panda is "kinda like a goat" and that her white vest from Holladay is "soft like a goat." Most animals, in fact, are extremely goat-like, if carefully considered...



Over at Tumbleweeds, Ida has taken to spending a little time over on the "baby side" of things, in preparation of becoming a big sister.



She really likes to help these guys a lot.



There is so much they can't do.




Though Ida may appear small to some, she is like unto a giant to these babies (actually, Theo is bigger than Ida, but she can't stand up) and they worship her for her mad skills!

Further wisdoms

Ida reports that a chopstick is "kinda like a stick."

Ida vs. UNCLE ARTHUR'S nose!

Sometimes Ella wonders whether Ida has an "Unhealthy Uncle Fixation (UUF)," and it's true that Ida has a habit of picking up the TV remote and hold it to her ear, saying she's calling Uncle Arthur. That said, others believe that Ida has simply never met anyone with a nose as big as Uncle Arthur's:

Top Secret Video

This is not quite as exciting as the video on the Hawkins/Leigh blog, but it does demonstrate how close and excited we are about welcoming the new baby:



If you listen closely, you might guess the name of the forthcoming baby!

(Note: Ella has allowed this to be aired only with the following disclaimer: IDA NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO "SEE" THE BABY AND TO TALK TO IT, AND CANNOT DO THIS THROUGH CLOTHING, SO DEMANDS THAT SHE HAVE MORE DIRECT ACCESS. Which is to say that Ella does not "hang around" with her shirt pulled up and her belly exposed.)

Ida vs. Birthday Party

Elsie hosted a birthday party for Ida!



Many people came...



Many brats and hot dogs were to be had:



Cupcakes!






Cupcakes!



What did Elsie think of all this?



Maeran called this "the couch of fertility"; I didn't really understand, but thought I'd pass it along.

II x 2=Ida vs. Mossimo

Ida spent large parts of her birthday mauling Mossimo, Dan Betenbender's dog.



She concentrated on using her "touch gently on his back" goat-touching strategy, early on,



and he is a very friendly dog.



Here's a short film about their friendship:

2!

Ida is two today! Happened pretty quickly. Unfortunately, she's been shut-down by Tumbleweeds for having a fever yesterday, so the two of us have been spending a lot of time together (while Ella works her last two days before Maternity Leave). Right now Ida is sleeping, at last, while contractor Dan Betenbender ("Bet-en-benda," Ida says, "made a mess. Cleaned it up!") keeps banging things around. I'll try to manage some documentation a little later. Meanwhile, here's a picture of Ida's new bike seat. I stole this picture from Elsie and Theo's blog, where there's more Easter action. Ida loves to ride on this seat. When I ride with her, I always keep my eyes closed and she tells me which way to steer.

Goats!

Posting Frenzy

We are just crazy waiting for Ida's new sibling to arrive; experts say sooner than later. Ella would like a little more time... Meanwhile, here's some photos stolen from Tumbleweeds:



Allegedly, it's rare that Ida will keep her pants on.



She also has developed a real affinity for worms, one of which she is holding here.



Here's Baby Theo, who's real nice.

Ella's Secret Project vs. Ida's Baby Matthew: Hair Questions

Some people in Haddonfield believe that Ella is insufficiently big. She respectfully disagrees. Here she is, in full incubation mode, in our driveway; she thinks that even this picture does not do justice to her belly.



She also reports overwhelming heartburn, more so even than when carrying Ida. Old wives claim that heartburn precedes a hairy baby. We'll see. Remember when Ida looked like this?



Some thought she looked like this:



But now things are A-OK. Hair is kind of half-tamed, with food in it. And Ida assures you that Baby Matthew is in her belly...and he's eating sweet potatoes in there.

Heatwave vs. clothes-hating

It's been a lot warmer here than in Connecticut.



The written report from Tumbleweeds yesterday said, "Has been taking her clothes off all day: sun porch, sandbox, etc." and Ida carried that over into her time at home.



Bye-bye.



Ella thinks this is an unflattering picture.

Haven't Elsie and Theo been up to any adventures, or what?

Return / Attack

I've been out on the road pushing my product; I came back to face this assault: