A Birth Day

Today after dinner we walked to the beach and flew a kite. We had bought a "travel kite" when we were in Washington State, it's very small, has no plastic support pieces, and fits in a little bag so you can pack it in your suitcase. We had never flown it before, so it was a day for firsts. I was happy we went today instead of yesterday as originally planned, because today it felt like it was a celebration for Madeline.

I have my first niece! Madeline Anne Ruhland was born today, 6 lbs 9 oz.


So we stood in the sand and sent up a small piece of fabric into the ever-present Chicago wind, to honor her first day in Georgia.

When I was a baby, my aunt called me "Baby Ceppy." As a kid, I thought it was just a funny story. But in college we all started using full names for everyone, and I became cep again. So initials started to mean more to me than they had before. Even though I like the name, I couldn't name a kid Madeline Elizabeth Sibbald, because then she'd be MES. But now we get to have MAR in the family, and we're planning to call her MARch, at least as long as she'll let us. She's been "Doodlebug" the whole time she's been in the womb, so maybe she'll see it as a step up, who knows. We've got a while before we'll start hearing any concrete feedback. And I think Doodlebug's going to be a name that sticks with her, we all have a great deal of affection for it.

The problem with a baby is you start to plan their whole life, and they're just figuring out things like temperature, and eating, and how to poop. It'll be a long time before they even figure out how to poop without making faces, much less what their favorite color is, what books they like, what they want to be when they grow up, and who they're going to vote for in November. So here I am, excited to meet and know her. She couldn't even make her eyes focus on my face, even if she wanted to. But I get to be around for at least most of the rest of her life, being the best aunt I can be. I guess I can wait for her to get to know me too.