A DC Pea?

Hi, LP. You're seven weeks, two days old tonight. Since you came into existence my weekends have been very lazy-- I fall asleep on the couch at least once (and sometimes twice) every day. Daddy and I hope you're doing OK in there.

Tonight I've been fretting about where our family should live when you're born in December. I grew up in Beaumont, Texas, and I think I had a really good childhood. Mom, Dad, Will and I had a really nice house in a really pretty neighborhood. I had all kinds of friends around all the time and got to ride my bike all over the place and roam around and explore. We had pool parties and cookouts in our back yard. I lived down the street from both sets of grandparents and got to see them and my ten cousins pretty much every week. I got to spend summers and weekends at a beach house near Galveston, and it was so much fun. Daddy thinks the Texas beaches are pretty lame because he grew up by the pristine Florida beaches, but to me it was paradise. I went to summer camp at Laity Lodge in the Texas Hill Country (maybe you can go there someday!), and it was so awesome. I went to All Saints Episcopal School and I loved my teachers and my friends and my classes. I can't say I have many complaints about how I grew up-- it was pretty much perfect until my parents split up when I was thirteen (that's a story for another day).

Even though I liked growing up in Texas, I fell in love with Washington pretty from the start. I first came here when I was seventeen and I was part of a program for high school kids who were interested in politics. I'll never forget coming up out of the Dupont Circle Metro (such a huge escalator!) for the first time. First of all, it was snowing (a rare occurrence in Beaumont). But also, it was so beautiful and exciting! There were people everywhere, and there were so many cafes and restaurants and shops around. The houses were these amzing old brownstones-- I'd only seen those on the Cosby Show. I went to Georgetown and was shocked-- I'd never seen a real college campus before, with gothic architcture and ivy-covered walls and ancient buidings. I was hooked. I wanted to come up here and work in the government-- it felt like the center of everything. I was lucky, because all those dreams I had in high school pretty much came true-- I work on the floor of the U.S. House now!

I think DC would be a great place for you to grow up, LP. There are dozens of museums on every subject under the sun. You'd learn so much about this country and its history, since all the monuments and government buildings would be in your backyard! The area is really beautiful, and there are people from all over the world and from all walks of lfe here. We could visit New York City and Charlottesville (the town where I went to college-- one of my favorite places ever) and Shenandoah National Park and Jamestown, PA where Daddy's family comes from. You'd know both Republicans and Democrats (where I grew up there were only Republicans) and you'd have the chance to go to some great schools. The only thing is, though, we wouldn't be close to any family. You wouldn't know your grandparents like I knew mine. You might not have as nice a house as I had. since everything is so much more expensive up here. Daddy and I might not get to spend as much time with you as our parents did, since we'd both be working and would be spending a lot of time commuting back and forth on the highways. I just don't know if all those things make me change my mind. Should we go back to Texas?

I'm sure Daddy and I will figure it out-- enough fretting about it for one night. Keep growing in there, LP!

Hello, little pea!

You changed my life forever at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10, 2007. Your Dad and I had just taken a weekend trip to New York City, because we were thinking about moving there. We had a great time, little pea. We ate pizza in SoHo and cupcakes in Greenwich Village, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with snowflakes swirling around us (here's a picture), wandered through Times Square at midnight, and sat in the audience of a really funny TV show called The Daily Show... and all the time I had the feeling that something was different. I had the feeling that you were here with us. When we were making our way to Penn Station for our train ride home, we passed Madison Square Garden. A circus happened to be letting out at the moment that we were walking by, and there were happy kids jumping around everywhere. I thought, "I can't wait to have a kiddo to take to the circus!" I was thinking about you...

When we got home to our apartment in Alexandria, I dropped my luggage in the hallway and ran to get a pregnancy test. I didn't even have to wait 15 seconds-- I got two pink lines right away! I don't think I'll ever be able to describe how it felt to watch that line slowly materialize... my heart skipped a beat and my hands started to shake. I've never been so excited about anything, ever. I was pretty thrilled on the day I married your Dad, but this was a whole new kind of joy. I ran into the office to tell your Dad (he was working on the computer), and he couldn't believe it. I think it took some time for it to sink in, that you were really here. Then he wrapped me up in his arms and kissed me. We paced around the living room for a while, thinking about how much you were going to change our lives. We were walking on air and a little bit scared, too... we wanted to be good parents to you! We couldn't concentrate on anything else, so we went to the store and got four books on pregnancy. As silly as it sounds, those books really did make us feel more prepared for the next 40 weeks.

It's been two and a half weeks since then, and you've been on my mind every second of every day. I've gone to work (at the Capitol in Washington), shopped at the grocery store, seen movies with my friends (your first movie was called Year of the Dog), gone to Baltimore to watch the Orioles (your first baseball game!), and the whole time I've felt like I have the most wonderful secret. I've got a person growing inside of me!

I thought that nothing could top the first day that I found out about you, but I had an ever more amazing experience this Tuesday morning. My doctor wanted to find our how old you are, so she sent me to get an ultrasound. The doctor told me to look at the screen, and there you were! Inside my uterus! She told me that you were 2.2 milimeters long... such a tiny little pea! Then, to my shock, the doctor pointed our a little flicker on the screen. It was your heart beat! You weren't even three weeks old, and your heart was beating clear and strong on the screen! It was an absolute miracle... there's no other word for it. I called your Dad to tell him that I had seen you for the first time, and then I called my brother (your Uncle Will) from the car on the way to work. I felt like I was bursting with joy...I wanted to tell everyone. I couldn't stop looking at the pictures the doctor gave me.... I sat in the parking garage before I went into the office and stared at them for about 10 minutes. Your Grandma Judy was visiting from Florida that night, so she got to see them, too. You already have so many people who love you, in Texas and Florida and Istanbul, Turkey.

You're still really tiny, which is why I'm calling you little pea. You must really be growing, though, because for the last few days I've been starving all the time! I feel like I can never get full...my stomach is a bottomless pit. Last night I worked late and didn't have time to eat much dinner, and when I got home I sat on the couch and ate an entire box of macaroni and cheese. Tonight I ate a spinach calzone the size of my head (Dad and I were watching the Democratic presidential debates and Grey's Anatomy on TV) and I'm already hungry again! I take it as a good sign... I'll try not to feed you too much junk. =)

Your Dad and I love you, LP. Hang in there...