Archive | family

life lately

February 28, 2013 at 10:07 am

Wow, I took quite the blogging break here! Our internet went down on Friday morning and — after a million phone calls and several no-shows from the Telecom technician — I learned it was because a neighborhood fire took out the line. The whole neighborhood has been without internet for almost a week. Welcome to Sicily… or just welcome to life?! I’m sitting in the library on base now enjoying a sleeping baby as I type.

To catch us all up on life, here are some photos I took with Instagram since Gil came home. You can find me on Instagram for regular updates around our home. Thanks to my iPhone, I still have some internet access over 3G even when our wireless is kaput!

Gil in his car seat on the way home from the hospital
& Lena sees Gil at home for the first time. Snuggling with my baby after we brought him home
& family story time begins… for the rest of their childhoods! Elliott got called into work for several hours when Gil was 3 days old and I was on my own with two kids. Yikes! We survived… with a few tears and a bloody lip.
& reading a story to her brother. “Hi, Geeel,” Lena says excitedly every morning
& those tiny, precious little hands! Greeting him after she woke up from a nap
& “Hold it?” she asks and puts out her arms to cradle him. Dance party in the kitchen to Fun’s “We Are Young”
& giving Gil his pacifier while I change his diaper. Father and son
& wide awake at 3am! New family normal: holding a baby, playing games with a toddler, and folding laundry
& Gil’s first ride in the swing (ie. the lifesaver). Kiss!
& I enjoyed reading Wild by Cheryl Strayedwhile nursing Gil that first week.

——–

I’ve missed you all! What have you been up to this past week?

8 :: in family, Gil, Instagram, life lately

our 10 favorite board books

February 18, 2013 at 5:41 pm

In a world of smart phones and flat screens, it often seems impossible that a child will really learn to love books more than the latest Apple product. As frequent users of screens ourselves (and with two blogs to maintain between us), Elliott and I feel the pull between paper and iPad very keenly.

Here at home we combat it by reading books to Lena and reading our own books in front of her, and then when she is awake our phones are generally out of sight and our laptops are closed. Therefore, in Lena’s almost-two years of life, we have read a lot of books to her. We read several stories to her before both her naps and another several stories before bedtime; we keep books mixed in with all her toys; her great-grandmother gave her some bath books; and we keep books in our bag for her to read on the go (car seat, stroller, during church, etc.). Books books books… !

Today I polled Elliott and we came up with a list of our 10 favorite board books. These are the ones that Lena asked for over and over again, and these are also the books that we didn’t mind reading over and over ourselves. There are a few classics and a few obscure ones. Here’s our list:

Peek-A Who?— A gift from my friend Heather, this is a great first book for a baby. It’s small enough for little hands and only has about 10 pages. There’s a cute, rhyming story and lots of bright colors and animals. See Lena enjoying it at the end of this post.

Where’s Spot?— Lena has loved any lift-the-flap book since she was about 12 months old and could manipulate the flaps with her little fingers. Spot is a special favorite, but I also recommend Karen Katz’s booksand Dear Zoo.

Goodnight Moon— The lulling rhythm of this children’s classic puts Lena and her parents to sleep!

Rocky Mountain Babies!— Lena’s Aunt Eden bought this for her in Rocky Mountain National Park when we were vacationing there with Elliott’s family in July 2011 (right before I started this blog!). We’ve read this book to her hundreds of times by now and love the photos of baby animals from the American West.

The Big Red Barn— An unlikely classic, I thought, when I first read the book and looked at the pictures. It isn’t as instantly aesthetically appealing as many children’s books. Yet over time this book has become our family’s very favorite. Perhaps it’s because there is so much to see and discuss on each page. Perhaps it’s because of all the animal sounds we can make together. Perhaps it’s because the musical rhythm helps us all nod off by the end of the book. We love it.

Note: We received it as a boxed setwith Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, and I highly recommend this set as a gift.

Freight Train— Lena got this Caldecott Medal-winning board book as a party favor because the hostess knew we didn’t want Lena to have candy. Umm… best party favor ever, I think?! This conceptual classic, with its bright colors and simple story, quickly became Lena’s new favorite book.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?— We love anything by Eric Carlein this house, but Lena seems to prefer this one most of all. We love roaring like a lion and yelping like a peacock as we read the rollicking story aloud.

Hop on Pop— I find myself quoting this silly book all the time and somehow never tire of reading it. “Three fish in a tree? How can that be?” I also recommend another short board book by Dr. Seuss called Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, and in fact Lena has loved any book we own in the Bright and Early Board Books series.

A Swim Through the Sea— This beautiful book was given to us by our friends in California, who first fell in love with it when they discovered it at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Written and gorgeously illustrated by a 16-year-old, it’s a little-known classic and an unusually beautiful ABC book.

Blue Hat, Green Hat — Lena literally laughs out loud when we read this book to her. Somehow Sandra Boynton nabs toddler humor with her upbeat rhymes and hilarious animal illustrations. You can’t go wrong with anything by Boynton, but this one is by far our favorite.

And now it’s your turn! Did you see any of your favorites on this list? And which books do remember most fondly from your childhood? We’re always looking for good suggestions for our home library!

9 :: in book reviews, family, good reads, Lena

Valentine’s Day cookies with Lena

February 15, 2013 at 2:54 pm

Elliott was the first one to remember it was Valentine’s Day. He gave me a kiss — “… and happy Valentine’s Day, my valentine!” — as he headed out the door early in the morning, leaving behind a still-sleepy wife and two sleeping babies. I will admit I didn’t give Valentine’s Day another thought until that afternoon, when Elliott’s return was growing imminent and I had absolutely no plans to commemorate the day.

Since my friend Shelley was generously providing dinner for us, I didn’t have to come up with a meal. But maybe I could handle a dessert?

Correction: Lena and I could definitely handle a dessert!

I found this sugar cookie recipe and halved it. I also added in the grated peel of a whole orange, which made the cookies 10xs more delicious, in my opinion! We mixed up pink frosting from this recipe. Gil woke up in his swing while we were finishing up the frosting. When I turned back around, Lena had the frosting all over her clothes! Time for a wardrobe change.

Unfortunately I didn’t realize until the dough was mixed and chilled, the frosting prepared and set aside, and the dough rolled out for cutting that I do not own a heart-shaped cookie cutter. What?! In the end I improvised by cutting the dough out around a construction paper heart (which, ironically, was a note I had written to Elliott at a Valentine’s Day dinner last year).

We made 3 heart-shaped cookies and the rest were butterflies or flowers. And yes, I did attempt to frost one while also nursing my baby. #fail

At last Daddy came home… bearing bouquets of flowers for both of his girls! Lena wanted to show hers to her little brother. “Wanna smell my rose, Gil?” *smash*

We ate a delicious meal from our friend and topped it off with the heart-shaped cookies for dessert. Later Lena blew out the dinner candles with Elliott. We eat by candlelight most nights, and no, it is not my idea! Elliott’s parents almost always have candles burning at the dinner table (something they picked up from Edith Shaeffer’s The Hidden Art of Homemaking, a wonderful book that is not nearly as stuffy as it sounds). Elliott brought that tradition into our home, and now Lena’s new tradition is to count the candles (“waaan… twoo… treee… fur!”) and blow them out with her daddy every evening.

While Elliott gave Lena a bath, I admired my own beautiful flowers: romantic roses mixed in with my favorites (daisies… or at least the closest we can get to daisies from our local flower shop). Then I tried out the ring sling with Gil for the first time (he liked it!) while washing the dinner dishes.

I’d like to say we stayed up late watching a romantic movie with glasses of red wine, but actually we went to sleep around 10pm. Oh the life of parents of a newborn! We’re both looking forward to an evening out at our favorite sushi restaurant and this amazing chocolate cafe once life takes on a little more of a routine. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy our candlelit dinners and handmade sugar cookies at home!

What did you do or make for Valentine’s Day?

9 :: in eat this, family, holidays, Instagram, Lena

ten o’clock an all’s well!

February 11, 2013 at 10:31 am

Good morning! Well, here I am… flying solo. Elliott is back at work and this is the first day of my first week as a mama alone at home with two babies.

Friday was actually my first solo day, and I would not call it successful. Lena threw the temper tantrum of the decade, Gil fussed a lot of the day, we spent a good 5 minutes all bawling together at some point in there, and I might have sent a “mayday!” message to Elliott sometime around… oh… 2pm.

So far today has already been better. We’ve missed Elliott this morning, but we have survived. Breakfast, playtime, and nap time have happened without drama. I even managed to wash the dishes after breakfast (which, as you know, I have given up doing with two babies unless all the stars align). We have some friends coming later for a play date, my friend Jen is dropping off dinner, and all in all… we have a lot to be thankful for on this first day of our first solo week.

Well, okay, Lena is currently calling “Mama… Mama…” instead of actually napping, Gil is due to wake up any moment, there are toys all over the living room, and I’ve misplaced my cup of coffee somewhere in the chaos but… you know. Perspective! Attitude!

I will admit that this day is a welcome relief from the whole weekend, which was not so pleasant. I’ve had a bad cold and so have been foggily stumbling through the weekend with a dripping nose and dull headache. We didn’t sleep much at all on Friday night until around 3:30am Elliott asked me to go sleep on the daybed in Lena’s room in order to at least sleep for a few hours. I don’t like the idea of sleeping in different rooms, or of sleeping away from our baby, though. We both agree that we want this to be as temporary a solution as possible.

What did you do in order to sleep when you — or your friends or family — had a newborn? Any tips you can pass along?

14 :: in Baby Numero Due, Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom Series, family, Gil, motherhood

my last day as a mother of one {Part 2 of 2}

February 8, 2013 at 3:53 pm

Exactly two weeks ago today I gave birth to our precious little baby Gil, an adorable bundle of love. Of course, that bundle of love has currently had me dancing for the last two hours to keep him happy and get him to go back to sleep. (Welcome to my new life!) While I would never go back to live without this precious baby, I must admit that this day I am in the process of chronicling — my last day as a mother of one — is looking very restful right now!

I know this last day with just Lena and myself was an unusually good one; we had no errands or activities on our plate and spent the entire day enjoying each other, mother and daughter, and peacefully playing, eating, walking, and talking together. I also know that these days will come again, perhaps in six months or so, once Lena and I and Gil all have a routine. But until then, this day with just Lena and myself is very much a thing of the past, even though it still seems close enough to relive in the blink of an eye.

Anyway, back to the agenda at hand. We’re picking up again at lunch, where I had leftovers (veggie enchiladas and blood orange salad) and Lena had Ramen (so easy…), blueberries, and yogurt. We shared an apple.

Lena: “My?” (Meaning “more” noddles.)

Me: Drink your soup, Lena, and then you can have more.

Lena: *gulp gulp gulp*

After lunch I got to wash the lunch dishes, something which I knew then would be impossible with two little children. (I was right. So far it is impossible.) Lena occupied herself for a few minutes while I did this… apparently by climbing back up into her high chair and shaking her water cup upside down.

I try to make my household tasks into a game and include Lena as much as I can. Helps me get more done! In this case I had to get the stubs of candle out of the top of the candlesticks. She enjoyed playing with the bowl of warm water while I dug out the soft wax. Then we set up the candlesticks with fresh candles to be ready for dinner that night.

Time to do something that she wants to do. We spent the next hour or so playing on the living room rug. One part of playtime was all 150 blocks through the shape sorter. Whew!

Siena, our Maine Coon kitten and ever-present companion.

Bathroom break. Lena’s playing with a jar of chocolate chips, one of which will be her “teet” (treat) when she is finished. We’ve since moved to giving her a goldfish after each successful trip to the toilet, which works extremely well if you only dole out goldfish as a reward! She loves them and always wants the parent who is with her to enjoy a goldfish as well.

Good girl… cleaning up after herself.

And back to playing, this time with the kitty and also the punch and drop toy we got her for Christmas.

Naptime again! These very yellow photos are due to the mellow, sleep-inducing (we hope) lamplight in her room. Siena snuggles down in her new favorite spot until I nudge her out so I can snuggle there with Lena for storytime.

Two naps in one day… I know I’m blessed! I use the 1.5 hours to clean the bathroom…

… put a few more things in my bag for the hospital…

… and do some dinner prep. On tonight’s menu: Sausage, Potato, and Fennel Chowder with fresh sausage from a butcher in town.

She’s up again! Someone’s happy to see her.

She helps me finish up a little dusting, which for her means using a paper towel for about 3 seconds before announcing that it is “tash” (trash) and running off with it to find a garbage can.

Back to the kitchen to finish up dinner before Elliott gets home from work. Lena tries a sip of my “doose” (juice), Pom and sparkling water. She’s not a huge fan.

We’re in the bathroom again when Daddy walks in! Lena runs to him for a hug, telling him excitedly that she just earned another “teet,” which earns an extra enthusiastic hug and kiss from him.

I stopped taking pictures at this point. I think I thought the routine would be the same with two babies as with one once Elliott got home. But I forgot that newborns don’t go to sleep at 7:30pm and wake up at 7am like Lena does. I forgot that they like to be held, especially while you’re eating dinner. I forgot what it’s like to put your baby in the Moby wrap and rock from one foot to the other while you wash the dinner dishes. I forgot that I might be nursing a newborn in the evenings while Elliott and I are watching Downton Abbey or dong Bible study together or attempting to blog. Basically… I think I conveniently didn’t realize how much a newborn would transform our whole lives, not just the 9-5 weekdays that Lena and I spent together.

So yes, the newborn is here. Gil is here, all adorable 8.5 lbs of him, with his beautiful thick hair and sleepy blue eyes. He has completely transformed our lives in every way, and it is taking an enormous amount of sacrifice so far. We’ve sacrificed having free hands. We’ve sacrificed our free evenings. We’ve sacrificed sleep… oh, so much sleep. We’ve sacrificed snuggles with our daughter (and turned them into double snuggles, which aren’t always easy to do!).

But we’ve gained so much. Welcome, little Gil. How will our days look with you in our pictures?