If there is anyone we can label as a ‘regular reader’ of the blog, you may have noticed a conspicuous absence of posts recently. This was due to our move, which required (and continues to require) an enormous amount of time, energy, and money. And money. 

We didn’t move far, which was kind of a blessing and a curse. Only one of the three digits in our street address changed, meaning that we stayed within the same condo complex. The new place is great and everything is brand new: the carpets, the floors, the appliances, the paint, the shutters – you name it. We love it so far, though we’ll be living out of boxes for the foreseeable future. 

Cats can often be a bellwether of how your life is going. If that’s true, then it’s important to note that he barfed on the carpet, hides under the bed a lot, bats around the twist ties that are lying around, and slips and slides around all over the bamboo floor. I’m not sure how to metaphor-ize that into some sort of commentary on our lives. The bottom line is that he’s settling in, and so are we. 

The sum of the parts is greater than the whole. That means don’t eat it in one bite.

But perhaps the most important update with respect to the Spicy Peanut is that I felt her kick a week and a half ago! It was an amazing – if subtle – sensation, almost like Anne had a small muscle spasm under my hand. I felt a connection with my daughter.

I felt the baby just after Anne’s first baby shower, where she had had a decent amount of sugar. Her mom made her a delightful carrot cake, and her friend Monica made her sushi rolls made of rice crisps, swedish fish, and wrapped with a strip of fruit roll-up. Brilliant.

We got a lot of great gifts from the baby showers, and many folks will be receiving well-deserved thank you cards. Among many other things, Be a got us the snotsucker. (Yes, there is a tube in between your mouth and the baby’s nose.) This is one of those great gifts to claim on the registry. Like the rectal thermometer. Note: this too has already been claimed. And tested. (Just wanted to make sure it worked.) (It does.)

A list on the inside of the bag reminds you not to forget baby.

One of the few items I’ve put on our registry myself is the Diaper Dude – a hip-looking messenger/diaper bag. I will be so cool with this thing. People will see me and my look will be all, “Yeah, I’m carrying feces in my bag, what about it? I’m just too hip to care. How do you know? Because of black diaper man-purse, motherfucker. It’s got orange as the accent color.” Then they will swoon, regardless of gender.

(We are registered at Amazon.com and Giggle. You can search for us on their sites and find us. Embrace capitalism. It’s for the Peanut, until she grows up to be a Marxist. With a shiv.)

And it’s time to mark your calendars, people, for the (2nd annual) Spicy Peanut Baby Shower. It will be on 

JULY 4 2011