In the swing of things

Well sportsfans, not only is it almost the Superbowl/Aunt Courtney's birthday, February, and leap year, but we are trucking along with the semester and managing to be pretty good parents while trying to be pretty good scholars. Abdicating any aspirations to excellence is healthy at this point as everything is new, not least the balance of Montana and career. For example: Day 1 of Christy's work: Explain to professor and fellow teaching assistants that 15 minutes or so are needed between lecture and meeting in order to pump breastmilk in the basement of the Dept of Religious Studies (sitting on a metal folding chair in the restroom. Don't tell me that I don't know how to create ambiance). Decide whether or not to bring Montana to class as a 'prop' in high-energy section discussions on abortion. (Just kidding.) Write grant proposal for dissertation research in my head while burping Montana. It's a good life, but sometimes the ping-pong ball feeling of bouncing between enchanting Montana-smiles and abstract ethical concepts can give me a headache. Other times it's invigorating. Either way, by the end of the day I am TIRED. The only solution is to drink a lot of tea, have a robust sense of humor, and take one hour at a time, because I don't want to trade in any of it. Coming to terms with the textures of life is a good thing even if sometimes it feels like a weird version of those 'create your own adventure' books!
Montana's new favorite game is: She makes a noise. I make a noise. She makes a noise. I make a noise... You get the idea. Otherwise known as "infant conversation." It has replaced "follow the snail" as her favorite interactive pastime and is just about as fascinating for a third party to watch, but it's delightful. She also adores her playgym from Grandma Linda (Z). And we've recently discovered two new mom-and-baby friends in the neighborhood, which is fantastic. One of the moms is responsible for catalyzing the sequence of events that led to the establishment of the first legal workers' union in Sri Lanka. (She was a fair labor expert hired by Nike in SE Asia.) Um, wow.
And Montana had her first round of vaccinations last week, so she is now a bit more immunologically durable. She weighs just over 12 pounds -- which explains my impressive biceps! -- and is sleeping pretty well at night, for which we are enormously grateful.