Welcome Phoebe Ann Mathews

She’s here! Paul and I welcomed our daughter Phoebe to the world this morning at10 am. She’s beautiful, if I do say so myself. Happy, healthy and we are thrilled. More details plus photos to come. For now, family is resting comfortably at the birth clinic, heading home tomorrow. Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and well wishes.

It’s here, the official due date

As I type, no baby has yet arrived. In the meantime, I pass along a note from Paul’s mom this week.

Paul Gerard Mathews was LATE for his due date by well over a week, and would have been later if the Dr. hadn’t  induced me. He was  expected in June not July. [By the time he was born] a couple of weeks later, the Smith family visited and we celebrated the 1st man on the moon–he slept thru it!

So, it seems that Paul’s “early” thing developed later in life. Fine, fine, but I’d really like to meet Baby soon–and also enjoy a day Italy as a non-pregnant person–so here’s to hoping that she does as he says, not as he does. Ah, the first lesson of great parenting.

Sorry for my sandals, Italy

Am now reduced to wearing Tevas.

And not just for hiking.

Chalk it up to puffy feet, suddenly hot weather and my 30-pound pack up front.

The Italians are horrified.

Combining work with pleasure

For my new life outside the boardroom, Paul helped me start a business called CC Mathews, LLC. It’s a media consultancy specializing in editorial web strategies. Translation: I help big (and sometimes small) media companies figure out what to put on their websites. This is what I did at Martha Stewart Omnimedia, HGTV and iVillage only now I don’t have to trot into the office every day. I get to clickity click my ideas and advice from the comfort of our home office.

As a new consultant, two of my favorite sites to work on have been A Way to Garden and The Sister Project, both founded and run by my former boss at Martha. And when not dispensing advice, I also write articles as a journalist. My newest piece was for BabyZone.com and just came out today: 10+ Surprising Pregnancy and Baby Care Customs from Around the World.

There’s more where that came from but since Baby is due this weekend I’m winding down for the summer. Starting in September, we’ll be back in business! At that point I’ll also be developing a series of small websites, blogs and (hopefully) books on my own. Stay tuned.

From aunt Trisha and uncle John

How to park

Castello

Last weekend Paul and I took our first day trip in the new car. Up to Lake Bracciano, about an hour outside of Rome. It’s a lovely old village with a castle, actually the one where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married. Naturally, I wanted to take a tour (because I like castles, not TomKat). So in my best Italian, I walked up to inquire about rates, time and language. After being told that the next tour would start a mezzo giorno, noon, tickets were sette Euros, seven, and that it would be en inglese, in English, we were sold. Money was exchanged. A few minutes were passed on a bench. But as we walked through the iron gates of the castle, we realized that only two of the above statements were correct…

For the next hour and a half, Paul and I wandered through the enormous castle listening to–but not understanding more than a word of–the tour in Italian. Here, it’s important to note that Italians are not known for keeping things brief. Each and every room, nook and cranny was fully described in more detail that I can possibly imagine it’s original residents might have been aware of.

So, by next summer, we need to be able to understand the language. At least enough to know when someone’s telling us the tour is in English…or not.

A celebration (or two) to remember

Last year at about this time Paul took me to a special birthday dinner at One If By Land, Two If By Sea. Often voted one of New York’s “Most Romantic” restaurants, we indulged in the tasting menu with wine parings. By August 30, Aaron Burr’s former carriage house in the West Village became the location for our wedding reception.

Chopped

I always wondered why pregnant ladies and new moms got all their hair cut off. To make life easier, simpler? Don’t worry about styling your hair, just have fun with the new baby!

In this case it was because my Italian hairdresser decided to go for it. No discussion, beyond the part where I said “just a trim”. Perhaps my wishes were lost in translation. Either way, I now have the ultimate mommy hairstyle…

Perfect.

A feat of physics at 39 weeks

Seriously.