We are proud to report that our family has recorded a 50% increase in population. After nearly nine years of wedded bliss, everything was in place: job, house, wife, husband – and all in the same state. It was September of last year when Mariah surprised Brian with those wonderful words, “You’re wrong. I’m pregnant.” After nine months of anticipation and heartburn, our daughter Marjorie Grace Birgen was born on May 24th at 5:05pm weighing 7 lb 9 oz. Jeri, as we call her, has taken us on a magical trip filled with smiles and more dirty diapers than we care to acknowledge.
Mariah managed to struggle through the school year at Wartburg College. The first trimester left her exhausted constantly. The second and third trimesters found her walking to school through the cold and snow. We suspect the entire town of Waverly watched her grow rounder and rounder wondering when she would have the sense to stop waddling down Bremer Avenue. Her students starting making bets as to whether or not she would last until the end of May term before giving birth. In fact, Mariah’s water broke two days after graduation. A midnight drive to the hospital, 13 hours of drug-free labor, an epidural, a Pitocin drip, and Jeri was born.
School was not the only thing we were hoping to finish before Jeri arrived. The latest round of home renovation was underway in the spring. In addition to a new roof, we put in a third bathroom (and first shower) updated the electrical wiring and a gas fireplace (hey, if you’re going to be knocking holes in the walls, you might as well make good use of it). While we (well, Mariah mostly) were busy in labor, a number of very dear friends were moving furniture in our house (very, very dear friends) so the floors could be sanded down (which had been scheduled for the day after delivery). The floors had to be finished and the walls painted after we got back, but we almost made our deadline.
After Jeri arrived home she had a visit from Grandma Judy, who spent two weeks helping to cuddle her favorite (and only) granddaughter. As soon as one Grandma left, the other one showed up. Grandma Birgen showed off her well-practiced skills, and quickly declared Jeri to be the best baby ever. Since she has said this for each of her previous ten grandchildren, she must know what she is talking about. Jeri got to see more (over a hundred) relatives as we traveled to South Dakota for a family reunion with the Birgens and then to Ohio for the Kill family reunion. We also stopped by to see the new Uncle Torrey who was spending the summer working in Dayton.
When September came around Mariah went back to work at Wartburg and Brian stayed home with Jeri. In February when it became apparent Brian was not going to be hired tenure-track at the University of Northern Iowa this year, we sat down and did a little figuring. We determined that daycare cost more than what Brian was being paid as an adjunct lecturer teaching at Northern Iowa, so it made more sense for him to quit and stay home with Jeri. He takes care of her in the mornings, and brings her into campus to visit Mariah for lunch. Brian does teach one class at Wartburg in the afternoon, after Mariah is done for the day, just to keep in practice.
In November, we made a trip out to California to attend the wedding of Mariah’s sister, Willow to a nice fellow named Brian Stadtmiller. (Just what the Radcliffe family needs: a tall and skinny guy named Brian.) We had great fun showing off the new addition to her great grandmother, great grandfather, aunt, uncle, great-aunts, great-uncles, great-great aunts, and great-great uncles (and basically anyone else who would sit still long enough for us to brag). Jeri behaved well on the airplane; she slept through most of the exciting parts.
As new parents, we have the right to gush about how wonderful our daughter is and how great our life is with her. She is a very happy baby who loves to be spoken to. She has not yet developed a fear of strangers, so she is very popular wherever we go. She is not yet crawling, but we fear it is only a matter of weeks (if not days). So far, she has her two lower teeth, and sometimes we expect more are imminent. She has very strong legs and loves to stand; she will be walking before we are ready. She wakes up in the morning with a grin (although when she wakes up at midnight, she usually not smiling). She is a tremendous constraint on our freedom, cash flow and time, but we can think of nothing we would rather be encumbered with.
We hope that the end of the millenium finds all of you happy and healthy and with the ones you love.