Happenings...

1) Joe crossed the 2 year anniversary mark of working at Gould & Ratner.

2) In other impressive news, Georgia rolled over again. : ) Oh, and she also managed to turn the mobile on in her crib with her feet the other day. Now, I've heard of babies doing that before, but I still found this a little remarkable, seeing as how:
a) she started out at the other end of the crib, so getting over to the mobile involved some long distance scooching; and
b) she was swaddled up in the miracle blanket (i.e., baby straight jacket, see below) the whole time, which must've added a degree of difficulty to the maneuver.

(No, that's not Georgia in the picture. BTW, anyone having a baby should buy 2 of these blankets if you like sleeping. That way you'll never be without when one is in the wash.)

3) I think our cord blood was accepted? We got a phone call with a couple of follow up questions about our travel to Costa Rica and Namibia, which concluded with a big thank-you. So, I got the impression that our blood passed inspection. So here's our PSA for anyone who's not in the know: When you have a baby, you can donate the umbilical cord blood for free. It just takes a few extra steps of sending off for the collection kit, filling out some paperwork, and remembering to bring the kit with you when you go into labor (um, yeah, pack it ahead of time, because it won't be on your mind). Then you just call the donation center in the event that you or your baby come down with SARS or bird flu after delivery. Okay, I jest, but seriously, most people's cord blood ends up in the trash simply because there's not much public awareness about the need for (and ease of) donation. Here's a little blurb and a useful link for anyone who's still reading at this point:

A cord blood unit is the term used for the blood collected from the umbilical cord and placenta after a baby is born. Cord blood is rich in blood-forming cells that can be used in transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and many other life-threatening diseases. Cord blood is one of three sources of cells used in transplant; the other two are bone marrow and peripheral (circulating) blood (also called peripheral blood stem cell or PBSC transplants). [excerpted from www.marrow.org's FAQ page regarding cord blood.]

For more info on donating in Illinois, go to: http://www.givcord.org/