These are pictures I used to make a handmade paper Valentine for Nick. I tucked into his lunch for a little Valentine's Day surprise.
Arlo will be 14 months old this week. Can you believe that? I can think of nothing sweeter. :)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day!
These are pictures I used to make a handmade paper Valentine for Nick. I tucked into his lunch for a little Valentine's Day surprise.
Arlo will be 14 months old this week. Can you believe that? I can think of nothing sweeter. :)
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Arlo Meets a Big Fish
As winter trudges on, keeping us indoors, I am continuously on the prowl for indoor (and preferably free) activities around town to engage Arlo and his ever-burgeoning store of energy. I took him to the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center on a whim this rainy Friday afternoon, and it was delightful. Arlo is a big fan of the animal kingdom right now, and he had a brilliant time observing birds, exploring displays about swamps, petting taxidermied animals, and meeting some really big fish.
My small fry greets a very big fry:
My small fry greets a very big fry:
Thursday, February 9, 2012
An Evolution of Eating
Recently I found a bunch of old videos of Arlo, some of them from the early days of my maternity leave, when Arlo was just a wee babe. He has changed so much over the course of this last year. Like, he looks like a completely different child altogether. I watched several of the videos with Arlo this morning, and he was rivited by the baby on the laptop screen. I was, too. It is so hard to believe that he was ever that tiny. And, um, so stationary. I can hardly remember what that feels like, the small weight of newborn Arlo folded against my chest. I am so glad we have these videos to help us reminisce. I hope that as technology evolves, so too will ways for us to continue watching these for decades to come. I imagine myself as an 80 year old woman tearfully watching these videos and then squeezing my eyes tightly and trying to summon the sensation of my swaddled, sweet boy in my new mama arms.
Sigh.
ANYWAY.
Speaking of differences over time, here's a cute contrast of Arlo's eating. This first video is of Arlo's first ever solid food--mashed banana. He wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it, and he ultimately never was very interested in purees. This prompted us to explore baby-led weaning for solid introduction, and it has been a pretty awesome experience. I wholeheartedly think baby-led weaning has made Arlo a more adventurous eater, and I think it has made our mealtimes what they should be: fun. (Can I get a holla for those deliciously chunky baby thighs?)
And this is what happens when Daddy works evenings. Mama teaches you how to blow raspberries with food in your mouth. (This video is from December 2011.)
Sigh.
ANYWAY.
Speaking of differences over time, here's a cute contrast of Arlo's eating. This first video is of Arlo's first ever solid food--mashed banana. He wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it, and he ultimately never was very interested in purees. This prompted us to explore baby-led weaning for solid introduction, and it has been a pretty awesome experience. I wholeheartedly think baby-led weaning has made Arlo a more adventurous eater, and I think it has made our mealtimes what they should be: fun. (Can I get a holla for those deliciously chunky baby thighs?)
And this is what happens when Daddy works evenings. Mama teaches you how to blow raspberries with food in your mouth. (This video is from December 2011.)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Long Time, No See
Boy, have I been slacking over here. What can I say? Life with a buzzing toddler provides very few moments of stillness, and in those moments of stillness I prefer to spend them completing precious tasks such as, oh, I don't know, peeing in solitude.
Arlo and I flew to Richmond week before last to attend my sister's baby shower. We had a great 5 days in Virginia, and we were also able to catch up with Grandma Dee and Grandpa James, Nana and Poppa Mathias, my childhood bestie Jenn, and the awesome Pryor-Kolster fam during our stay. The weather was AAHmazing while we were there, and I took Arlo for long walks in the sunshine several times.What a tonic for the soul, y'all. I have missed our long walks. After his afternoon nap one day, I took Arlo out for some frozen yogurt, and we shared spoonfuls of tart yogurt and fresh fruit under a warm sun. And afterwards we took another walk, and with his sticky hand in my sticky hand, the afternoon felt pretty darn perfect.
And it was that sharing of spoons that landed us in some sad, sad shape in the days to follow. Airports and airplanes are some funky, germy places, and Arlo slurped up a mean virus during our travel to Virginia, I'm guessing. A few days later he began to show symptoms in earnest, but it was too late. He'd already gifted that virus to me, that sweetheart. We were highly-productive snot-factories, the two of us, coughing and aching the whole way home. It was a miserable trip home, and it even included a cancelled flight. Boo! Traveling solo with a toddler is a demanding exercise, and it's made even more rigorous and cumbersome when you're running at about 50%. If you ever wanted to know what supermom looks like, she is the one with a coughing toddler in the Ergo, carrying a Britax Boulevard in one hand, two pieces of hulking luggage in the other, and no free hands with which to wipe the copious strands of snot dangling from her nose at the airport. Oh, and also the one who momentarily zonks out on the plane while her baby is nursing, and when she wakes up said baby is no longer nursing and her breast is just hanging out for all the folks in row 15 to see. I was more embarrassed about the snot than the brief Girls Gone Wild moment, if I may say so.
Once we were settled at home I took Arlo to the pediatrician, and she prescribed him a nebulizer. He had breathing treatments for the rest of the week, tolerating it decently. I would queue up a few Sesame Street clips on the laptop, and he'd sit in my lap and we'd watch them together while the neb did its thing. I forgot how badass Sesame Street was. (And it'd be even more badass if they began including nursing images like they did in days of yore.) We're both feeling much better, thank goodness. It was not a fun time. I repeat: Not. A. Fun. Time.
Also, Arlo has sprouted his seventh tooth while we were away, his third on the bottom. I feel like it changes his whole smile, ramping up the adorableness exponentially.
And, now, what you really clicked over here to see, pictures of that rambunctious, cool kid of ours, taken a couple of weeks ago at one of the playgrounds here in Cape:
Arlo and I flew to Richmond week before last to attend my sister's baby shower. We had a great 5 days in Virginia, and we were also able to catch up with Grandma Dee and Grandpa James, Nana and Poppa Mathias, my childhood bestie Jenn, and the awesome Pryor-Kolster fam during our stay. The weather was AAHmazing while we were there, and I took Arlo for long walks in the sunshine several times.What a tonic for the soul, y'all. I have missed our long walks. After his afternoon nap one day, I took Arlo out for some frozen yogurt, and we shared spoonfuls of tart yogurt and fresh fruit under a warm sun. And afterwards we took another walk, and with his sticky hand in my sticky hand, the afternoon felt pretty darn perfect.
And it was that sharing of spoons that landed us in some sad, sad shape in the days to follow. Airports and airplanes are some funky, germy places, and Arlo slurped up a mean virus during our travel to Virginia, I'm guessing. A few days later he began to show symptoms in earnest, but it was too late. He'd already gifted that virus to me, that sweetheart. We were highly-productive snot-factories, the two of us, coughing and aching the whole way home. It was a miserable trip home, and it even included a cancelled flight. Boo! Traveling solo with a toddler is a demanding exercise, and it's made even more rigorous and cumbersome when you're running at about 50%. If you ever wanted to know what supermom looks like, she is the one with a coughing toddler in the Ergo, carrying a Britax Boulevard in one hand, two pieces of hulking luggage in the other, and no free hands with which to wipe the copious strands of snot dangling from her nose at the airport. Oh, and also the one who momentarily zonks out on the plane while her baby is nursing, and when she wakes up said baby is no longer nursing and her breast is just hanging out for all the folks in row 15 to see. I was more embarrassed about the snot than the brief Girls Gone Wild moment, if I may say so.
Once we were settled at home I took Arlo to the pediatrician, and she prescribed him a nebulizer. He had breathing treatments for the rest of the week, tolerating it decently. I would queue up a few Sesame Street clips on the laptop, and he'd sit in my lap and we'd watch them together while the neb did its thing. I forgot how badass Sesame Street was. (And it'd be even more badass if they began including nursing images like they did in days of yore.) We're both feeling much better, thank goodness. It was not a fun time. I repeat: Not. A. Fun. Time.
Also, Arlo has sprouted his seventh tooth while we were away, his third on the bottom. I feel like it changes his whole smile, ramping up the adorableness exponentially.
And, now, what you really clicked over here to see, pictures of that rambunctious, cool kid of ours, taken a couple of weeks ago at one of the playgrounds here in Cape:
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Scenes from Christmas
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| Get this green paint off of me! (Decorating salt dough ornaments, and not enjoying it AT ALL.) |
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| Arlo's first homemade Christmas ornament! |
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| Helping Daddy unfurl the Christmas tree |
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| I look maaahvelous, daahling. |
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| Oooooh, what does this do? |
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| This is clearly my most favorite new toy ever, so I know you couldn't have possibly just told me to put it down. |
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| Heading out to deliver Christmas cards and homemade pumpkin pie granola to our new neighbors on Christmas Eve |
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| Celebrating Christmas Eve by wearing my new Christmas jams and throwing toys in the dishwasher, of course. |
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| The first gift Arlo opened from Mommy and Daddy on Christmas morning, a Blabla doll. He is a raccoon, and we've named him Kit. Instant BFF's, y'all. |
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| I have an insatiable appetite for books. I love to read them AND eat them. |
We had a lovely Christmas morning with Arlo! We decided early on that we wanted to be very intentional with Arlo's Christmas gifts, so we opted to take a Want/Need/Wear/Read approach. Want = Blabla doll; Need = new Kleen Kanteen Sippy Cup; Wear = Christmas pajamas (he actually picked these out himself, clearly enamored of the sheepdog on the front of the shirt); and Read = 4 new books. I was really inspired by the idea of putting such serious thought into these four categories, and it made shopping enjoyable, too. We had such a great time with this that we're thinking we'll take the same approach next year.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A New Year
2011 was intense in myriad respects: love and gratitude, friendship and loneliness, rejuvenation and exhaustion, anxiety and peace. There are years of my life that I simply do not remember with any great detail. 2011 will not, most assuredly, be one of those fade-away years.
There was so much change–substantial change–in my life in 2011. I am wondering: Did 2011 change me? Like, fundamentally change who I am as an individual? Or did 2011 simply punch up the former subtleties in my life, in the way a pinch of salt brings out the richness of chocolate?
The trifecta of big change this year: parenting, quitting my job, moving our whole life to a new state. I don’t know that you can experience any of these things in isolation and not feel changed, on some level, by them. In concert? It’s like Extreme Makeover, Life Edition. For realsies. There were days where it seemed I just barely coped, and days where I maybe even, dare I say it, thrived a little in searching for a new foothold in all the upturned pieces of my life this year.
Something that was burnished to clarity this year for me was this: I am longing for less. Less stress, less distraction, less clutter, less material, less waste, less ambivalence, less drama. What I deeply crave, I now realize, is simplicity and presence. This isn’t a resolution for 2012, but rather a bubbling undercurrent I feel. For once in my life I am content to just be. It has been a difficult year, and as the turbulent waters of 2011 recede, all I feel is gratitude, dewy on my skin, for all of it. What is that about? I don’t quite understand it, but I’m just going to go with it.
I wonder about our 2012, what it will bring us. I wonder when Arlo will say his first sentence; I wonder if we’ll be able to grow a garden; I wonder if we’ll move again; I wonder if I’ll feel a drive (or the financial necessity) to return to work. But, ultimately, I am content to just be here. In this day. In the seemingly small moments–like nursing Arlo through a nap, having a cup of coffee while I read blogs, bundling Arlo in the stroller to walk the dog, or cuddling down with Nick at the end of the day while watching a movie–that make me feel sweepingly big things. I’m not saying that it’s all perfect, ’cause it’s not. But it is close enough.
If 2012 is filled with moments like these, well, then, surely it, too, will be a good romp:
There was so much change–substantial change–in my life in 2011. I am wondering: Did 2011 change me? Like, fundamentally change who I am as an individual? Or did 2011 simply punch up the former subtleties in my life, in the way a pinch of salt brings out the richness of chocolate?
The trifecta of big change this year: parenting, quitting my job, moving our whole life to a new state. I don’t know that you can experience any of these things in isolation and not feel changed, on some level, by them. In concert? It’s like Extreme Makeover, Life Edition. For realsies. There were days where it seemed I just barely coped, and days where I maybe even, dare I say it, thrived a little in searching for a new foothold in all the upturned pieces of my life this year.
Something that was burnished to clarity this year for me was this: I am longing for less. Less stress, less distraction, less clutter, less material, less waste, less ambivalence, less drama. What I deeply crave, I now realize, is simplicity and presence. This isn’t a resolution for 2012, but rather a bubbling undercurrent I feel. For once in my life I am content to just be. It has been a difficult year, and as the turbulent waters of 2011 recede, all I feel is gratitude, dewy on my skin, for all of it. What is that about? I don’t quite understand it, but I’m just going to go with it.
I wonder about our 2012, what it will bring us. I wonder when Arlo will say his first sentence; I wonder if we’ll be able to grow a garden; I wonder if we’ll move again; I wonder if I’ll feel a drive (or the financial necessity) to return to work. But, ultimately, I am content to just be here. In this day. In the seemingly small moments–like nursing Arlo through a nap, having a cup of coffee while I read blogs, bundling Arlo in the stroller to walk the dog, or cuddling down with Nick at the end of the day while watching a movie–that make me feel sweepingly big things. I’m not saying that it’s all perfect, ’cause it’s not. But it is close enough.
If 2012 is filled with moments like these, well, then, surely it, too, will be a good romp:
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| Scoping out the menagerie at the playground |
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| Thoroughly engrossed by passing skateboarders |
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| We all live in a yellow submarine. |
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| Helllloo up there, Arlo! |
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| Oh, the cuteness. |
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Advent Chain Highlights
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| Decorating the mailbox! |
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| Taking our Christmas card picture! |
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| Soaking in the festivities of the Jackson Christmas parade! |
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| At the Jackson Christmas parade, rocking a reindeer hat made by Mommy's friend, Christina |
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| Making a holiday care package for soldiers serving in Afghanistan (via www.anysoldier.com, we found a group of 10 soldiers from MO and sent them stockings and some toiletries) |
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| Investigating shipping options for the care package. |
I consider the advent chain a success, though we didn't quite tackle every activity. I'll concede that it was a bit ambitious to commit to an activity every day in December, especially when we're at the mercy of the weather and a baby's nap needs and mood shifts. For example, we ended up taking our Christmas card picture much later than we had scheduled because of a long string of super rainy days (and we reallllly wanted a picture by the Mississippi River), which put us behind ordering our cards, which put us behind mailing our cards, which is why yours will probably arrive in your mailbox tomorrow. And, well, we were supposed to visit the microbrewery here for a seasonal pint, but the one free weekend afternoon we had to do this was the afternoon Arlo decided to take a monster nap. (We'd much prefer a thoroughly-napped bebe to a beer buzz any ol' day anyway.) So, though we left a few activities undone, the advent chain definitely stirred the holiday spirit 'round these parts and was totally worth the effort and $5 we spent to make it.
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