Grandpa Mike's visit

Sleeping


Her t-shirt reads "The flamingo goes for a swim." And her booties read "lovable".

Awake!

More photos

Encountering technical difficulties uploading to blogger so these will have to suffice for now.



Mushroom-cap bonnet.

"Tim-BER!"

"Mommy's sweetie"...Baby's first

First Week of School Woes

Transportation.
Or, more accurately, Lack Thereof.

Sigh.

Tim - Tuesday involved mass confusion about whether he had a PM bus home from his rec program. Due to said confusion, no one awake (I was napping, unwittingly) took him to the program. I thus had to cancel the very PM bus that I'd raged against the storm to have in place earlier that day. Wednesday we received a call that no bus had come for him. Thursday and Friday took major Crab Queen advocacy to ensure afternoon bus service. Friday, in fact, was looking quite questionable until Tim bee-bopped off the bus today at 2:35 p.m.

Meanwhile, Tim couldn't start his mainstreaming at middle school because transportation was not able to be arranged. Hopefully, next week he can begin Band and PE.

Jack - Miraculously, no significant problems -- other than Jack not arriving home Thursday (the one day he had an afterschool activity scheduled) until 4:45 p.m.

Jamie - Transportation = his own legs; thus, and no less miraculously, zero problems.

Charlie - What a nightmare. Tuesday AM - Bus due at 8:12 a.m. to our house and to the school by 8:40 a.m. arrived AT OUR HOUSE at 8:44 a.m. Inspiring confidence. (Luckily, we'd arranged for Aunt Erin to take him and fetch him for his first day of "no-kindergarten").
Wednesday AM - AM Bus picked him up quite LATE. PM bus (sneakily pulled up in front of the school office) whilst Charlie, his aide, his backpack, and his carseat were waiting on a side street (where the AM bus dropped him off). After 10-minutes, bus departed. Charlie, his aide, his backpack and his carseat returned to the office to investigate after waiting in the noon sun for 20-minutes. (Charlie is the only student on this bus route). Transportation allegedly promised to send a bus back for him but one hour later the school called (after 2 calls with me) to change the story to no bus is available-can you come fetch him please. Argh! Thursday PM was a variation on the theme of not delivering transportation services. This time, the PM driver refused to transport Charlie in the carseat I'd provided. (Note that the AM driver had no problem doing so). Soooo, transportation said they'd send a different bus with the necessary equipment (a D-ring) to transport him. Then the story was that it was illegal to transport him in the KIND of carseat I'd provided. Then the story morphed that it was illegal to transport him without a carseat since a carseat (but not the kind I'd sent him on the BUS that morning) was required in the bus manifest. But they'd get him home, not to worry. The back-and-forth was encouraging me to write a manifesto! After about 30 minutes, we (and I mean APC) ran and fetched him and, no there was no bus yet. Please be aware that special autism folks were waiting for him both Wednesday and Thursday for home program...upping the "argh!" frustration factor.

AM driver let it slip to Aunt Patty Cake that Charlie will stop crying by the time she turns onto Garnet, indicating that APC has turned a deaf ear to his sobbing in the AM. (Poor wittle Charlie-boy).


Start of School Snafu.

Tim - His NPS traditionally opens the day AFTER SD Unified schools. Apparently, this changed over the summer with official word promulgated on Friday, Aug. 22 (2 days pre-Lucy). Needless to say, when his bus arrived on TUESDAY with a SCHOOLMATE aboard was the first I'd realized. Naturally, he cannot turn on a dime so missed the day.

Special materials.
$5 for a notebook for Jack's math. This super-special notebook turns out to be a Mead "5-star" single-subject. Huh?!

Incorrect placement.
Jack is in Algebra 1. This is after a suffering year of 6th grade cluster (i.e., advanced). He technically qualified for Alg 1 based on test scores in 6th grade, but barely. I mean BARELY. But then, allegedly, he kicked ass on the California Math Standards exam, which would be standardized with multiple-guess and no-showing-work required. So there he sits. Painful and grotesque.

Tattle-tales from Middle School.
Received an e-mail from Jack's speech therapist in which she ratted Jack (a known and proud member of the family Rodentia) for not bringing his assistive technology portable word processor and NOT WEARING HIS GLASSES IN CLASS. BUSTED! Jack tried to argue that spying on students was prohibited. I pointedly pointed out that my knowledge of said forgetfulness and vanity was evidence that I know everything and what I don't know, someone will tell me. For a gifted child, he is sometimes a tad dense around the edges.

"No-Kindergarten"
Apparently, Charlie is doing very well in "no-kindergarten" (as Charlie terms it). All 4's and 5's (top scores) for Being a Good Friend, Following Directions, et cetera.

God Save the Corn Nuts!
The quest for Jack to purchase a nutritious lunch continues into seventh grade. So far, the genius has had Hot Cheetos, Hot Cheetos and Thursday, to mix it up (and due to unavailability of Funyuns), Corn Nuts. With chocolate milk.

The Health Report
Jamie's school called this morning, a whopping hour after Jamie's arrival. "He is white as a sheet!" Thinking the wheeze discovered during yesterday's EYE appointment was related, APC was dispatched to retrieve him. The story: The class was looking at the health textbook about the eye, which upset Jamie -- reminding him about the unpleasant eyeball staining procedure endured yesterday. This caused nausea and the definitive symptom of "white as a sheet". So far, he's missed most of 1 day for illness and most of another day for doctor's appointment out of 4 days in session. Woo-woo.

Tuesday Sept. 2nd (The Most Wonderful Day of the Year)

Jack, 7th-grader.


Jamie, 4th-grader.


Charlie, not so sure about this new place called "kindergarten"...



APC, college grad and chairperson of Awesomeness, with Charlie, kindergartner with improved attitude.


(Tim, lurking in the background, started school the next day...sans paparazzi).

Baptism re-scheduled...but rave reviews on naming pour in!

Rescheduled to October 12th...while on phone with Sister from St. B's, we reviewed LLGA's given name as well as godparent assignments. Our young Ratbag (not his real name and certainly not the name provided to Sr. H!) was received with delight, especially when I mentioned that he'd attended St. B's and graduated from Univ. of Notre Dame. Explained that both APC and Ratbag were not available on Sept. 28th, and it was so.

But the VERY BEST PART:
Sr., who has a most wonderful Irish brogue, wanted to review spelling of the name for which she had pitch-perfect pronunciation and when I supplied a corrected spelling of "Ay-lish" (aka, Eilis), Sister murmured, "Ooohhh, that's REALLY Gaelic."

Yes, friends, that is a seal of approval from a higher and Irish source!

Would you expect less from Moy-rah?!

Drum Roll, Please....

I am dreadfully tardy in acknowledging/proclaiming the winner in the "uber-competitive" baby birthday contest:

Not only did Patty Grace rock the date (8-24-08) based on her superior numerology instincts BUT

She also predicted a head of black hair AND

She repeatedly suggested "Blythe" as a name for consideration based on "Sunday's Child".

She wins the "Soothsayer" award...that rightfully should be a crystal bowl with lid (posing as a crystal ball!). Alas, she just wins the adoration and envy of a group of not-so-gifted predictors.

When reached for comment, reportedly Patty Grace exclaimed, "Is it possible for a woman -- nay, AN ORACLE -- to die of smugness ?!"

Naming LLGA: The Inside Stories

Disclaimer: Author, speaking generously of the blog queen, has slept in 2-hour max increments for more than a week now. If the truth be told, this sleep regimen went into effect weeks before LLGA's birth.


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So, after several hours of labor and just after the epidural started to make my right leg heavy, warm, and then wholly immobile (with a wandering tendency to make its way to the edge of the bed, causing me to ask -- nay, BEG -- GMK to move it back before it leapt like a lemming to the floor), I arrived upon a simply GENIUS idea. Sadly, the timing was less than ideal.

Here it was: Open the LLGA's naming rights up to Corporate (or Private with the proper background vetting) Sponsorship!

BRILLIANT! thought I.

With my relatively underutilized business school Marketing coursework bubbling up to the surface under the influence of whatever-the-heck that handsome anesthesiologist pumped into my intra-vertebral space, I rattled off (to GMK and the nurse) the following yield management scheme:

* For the present value of one year of 2026 tuition at a private, liberal-arts school in the North Suburbs of Chicago = middle name!

* For the present value of two years of 2026 tuition at a private, liberal-arts school (likewise situated) = first name!

* For the present value of four years (with an option on a fifth!) of 2026 tuition at a private, liberal arts blah-blah = as many names as you like to produce a fully-named baby!!

Sand Crab, when I mentioned my too-late idea, nevertheless thought it AWESOME and complimented me on my unbelievable AWESOMENESS. (He also asked me to quick, call Petco..."Petco Allbritton's not so bad...we've got to consider deep pockets.")

Aunt Patty Cake, when she arrived and learned of my epidural-induced idea, noticeably paled. I think she asked me not to repeat it, but (see below) that was soooo not a reasonable request.

(In the end, as we're on the hook for that college tuition, we named her our ownselves).

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This testimonial just in!!!

"And Mary-Eilis Lucija is a wonderful name."
-Peggy J., San Marcos, CA



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Out of worry that merely posting this clarification wouldn't be noticed among the fabulously witty "gloss":

LLGA is pronounced as follows:

L...L...G...A (like an acronym).

Folks left to their own devices may be tempted to pronounce it "uhl-gah" but that would be like a hefty Viking woman who beats her husband around the head and neck. While that image may indeed befit LLGA's mother, LLGA is but a wee lass and we have hopes of a bit more dainty and lady-like behavior from her.

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Factoid: Birth Certificate Guy's Reaction to Birth Certificate Paperwork Submission By the Crab Queen.

The trolless who used to badger new moms about completing birth certificate paperwork (and indeed, refused to start Jamie's birth certificate process until we'd figured out a middle name midway on day 3 of his life) has been replaced by a fairly amiable fellow.

For the record, he did not bat an eyelash at the hyphenated first name of LLGA.

For the record, however, he had a borderline panic attack about the job title of "surface warfare officer" for Ben. Mind you, this is a legitimate Navy description with a coded designator "1110" of an unrestricted line officer.

He came back and played "Let's come up with a different job title"...I said, "Staff officer?" Nope. "How's about "Strategist?" Nope. "What about "Joint Staff Lackey?" He chose to ignore that offering and countered, "XO? CO??" I said, "Been there, already have the t-shirt, and moved on to "Sand-Box Macho Navy Guy". While not the trollette, this type of banter exceeded his job classification.

We left it that he'd give "Surface Warfare Officer" (my first suggestion) a try and will call me (what a threat) if it doesn't fly past his boss. (Whom, I presume, is the former birth certificate lady promoted beyond her stunningly scary competency).

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Okay, so let's head back into the labor/delivery suite:

Fast-forwarding through the tremendously exciting part, we arrive at LLGA hitting the scale.

Lo and behold: 7 pounds, 11 (point-oh!) ounces.

This amazingly cool weight led me to repeat (for the benefit of the handsome, yet sticky-out-ears doctor and his medical student sidekick) my brilliant college saving (er, funding) program idea.

Ending with, "Wouldn't 'Convenience Store' be a great option?"
To which someone (maybe cute doc, maybe APC -- the details are a bit fuzzy) hollered out "Her name can be SLURPIE"!

(Hullo, people, we can name her one thing and CALL her something completely different...can't you generalize? That's the best part: Convenience Store Allbritton (weight 7/11) could go by Slurpie...or still "Lucy"!)

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Seriously...

Mary-Eilis Lucija

Correct pronunciations in question:
Ay-lish
Lou-see-yah

She is the 5th generation Mary.
Eilis is Gaelic for Elizabeth, which is Ben's Grandma Ruth's middle name and Erin's middle name, too.
Lucija is Slovenian.

We like the name Lucy. Maybe because it was our first parish as newlyweds in Middletown, RI. Maybe because it was the parish (same one) in which Ben completed RCIA years later. Maybe because we think "Lucy Allbritton" is a darn cute name.
And one that keeps our streak of "/ee/"-ending names for our progeny.

"Lucy Mary" just didn't cut it, especially after pret-near 15 years between my first pregnancy and seventh. (Although Zita and Wanda really were tempting, Patty Grace).

Cognizant of the many varied opinions on the topic, I do hope that you'll all give her name a chance to grow on you ... and Lucy a chance to grow into her name.