Diahretic Expostulation

Our winter

2012-02-06T21:05:00.000-05:00

Welcome to winter. Although it's been a mild winter, weather-wise, I'm so tired of winter and wish spring would come. So I'm going to rant.

House is completely torn up. We had to clear out the pantry and porch. Everything went into the living room and foyer. It is very cozy (read: cluttered) in our house.
They might turn the water or electricity off any time.
The city had to dig a four foot hole in our tree lawn today to try to get to the box to shut off the water so that our plumber can change a pipe, and, after showing up 90 minutes after they said they would, they couldn't get to the box. Then they took off without telling our plumber when exactly they were coming back. They claim that they're coming again tomorrow to "try again." Water will probably shut off just in time for me to make dinner and try to mix and warm up a bottle for Ian.
The kids have had various colds, congestion and coughs since the beginning of November.
Jim just got the mother of all colds.
The neighbor cat, Donovan, has claimed our front porch, which is now completely open, awaiting delivery of windows and door. So our cats, especially Zeus, have a fit every evening when he makes his appearance on our porch, sounding a little like a screaming baby.
The only time Jim can get an appointment with the building inspector for phase 2 of our home project is on a Thursday from 2-4. Because, apparently, people doing home projects can't have normal jobs to pay the bills; they have to spend all their time with the home inspector or waiting for Home Depot to make deliveries. Our door delivery from Home Depot arrived at 6:45 this morning, as I was chasing Annie around, trying to get her dressed. Really. Also, the city randomly sent us a letter today and said that we have to have our water meter changed, appointment required, our responsibility to contact them.
After all is said and done with this home project, there will still be 1000 things that need to be done to our house and I'm very tired.
Our car needs a muffler.
I need to find a matching hub cap for my car. It's bothering me because I think my car looks like junk. But I don't have time to go to a scrapyard to find one, and don't want to spend the $50 it would cost to get a new one from the dealership. It's the front passenger side wheel, and now that I look around, it appears that everyone is missing this particular hubcap. I don't exactly know why.
I have to unload baby stuff and I'm sad about it.
I wish I wasn't a pack rat. Jim wishes I wasn't a pack rat too.
Did I mention that our house is a cluttered mess?
I need a vacation that involves swimming outside.

Home

2011-03-15T08:34:00.000-04:00

It's been 10 days and we have arrived in Ft. Lauderdale. It was hard to blog when Internet cost $.55 a minute. So I kept a written journal instead. I have trips in there dating from 2004 and it's a nice tradition to keep logging trips in there. Back to reality soon. We have to report to disembark in 30 minutes, and then it's on to the airport and to Buffalo.

Airport

2011-03-05T05:01:00.001-05:00

It's about 5 am and here we are at the airport, waiting for our flight to board. There are a remarkable number of people here for it being so darn early in the morning! I guess that's why they call it the city that never sleeps? No, wait we're in Buffalo. ;) To Atlanta, then Acapulco. First time using the new passport, even though it was issued in 2007. It would all be very exciting if I didn't miss Annie so much. She was sleeping peacefully when we left. I'm trying not to think about how it will go when she wakes up and realizes Mom and Dad are gone.

Packing

2011-03-03T07:46:00.000-05:00

We are almost packed and getting ready to leave for Buffalo. There seems like so much stuff we have to bring. I always worry that I'm going to forget something important. But, in the end, most stuff can be picked up on the way. As long as we have our documents, Annie, and her snuggy, we are all set.

The challenge this morning appears to be keeping everything packed. Annie loves pulling things out of our bags, carrying them around, and then discarding them somewhere else. Also, she insisted on wearing this pair of pants this morning that are too long on her. She keeps coming by and saying, "pants, please," so I'll pull them up for her.

It's been a long time since we've done a big trip like this! Nervous, excited.

Coming soon ... vacation!

2011-02-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog Readers,
It's been a few months and we will soon be going on vacation! The original purpose of this blog (sort of) was to share our travels, so I'm going to do that again. I'm not sure how much Internet access we will have, and this will be an easy way to update everyone on our whereabouts.

So, first, an introduction.
What? A cruise through the Panama Canal, starting in Acapulco and ending in Fort Lauderdale.
When? Coming soon in March
Why? Um, it's a vacation. Do you really need a why? :) Seriously, though, this is a baby-moon, and the first international vacation we've taken in over 5 years. Back in the day, we loved a good trip and have traveled all over Europe, a little bit of South America, Egypt, and have seen quite a bit of the U.S., including the cross-country drive and trip to the Southwest that we blogged about on here. These days, most of our traveling involves going to Buffalo.

See you back here soon with our travel log!

A note

2010-10-22T09:36:00.000-04:00

Dear Blog Readers,
You'll notice that I haven't written a blog in a while. The truth of the matter is that between this and Facebook, I'm getting awfully tired of monologues. I much prefer dialogs. Is the current "social networking" technology such that we don't talk to each other anymore? We just all post things about ourselves in separate spheres, and then "cyber stalk" all our friends? At this point, I'm done with that.

I hope that I will come up with another use for this blog in the future. I feel that blogs are successful if they inform the world about something greater than ourselves. A cooking blog. A blog about economics. Etc. But, if you want to know how I'm doing or what I'm up to, please call or e-mail. I would love to hear from you.

Dad

2010-10-07T15:54:00.000-04:00

I would like everyone to take a moment today and remember my wonderful Dad, who died three years ago today. I will always remember the twinkle in his eyes when he smiled, his wonderful sense of humor, and his guiding wisdom. People don't truly die until they are forgotten, so remember him today.

Clumpy travel

2010-09-20T21:42:00.000-04:00

Why is it that traveling happens in clumps? It feels like we either have a month packed with travel, or nothing at all. Maybe the "nothing at all" periods are the times we need to rest up for the month that is packed with travel. Sometimes it really does take weeks to get caught up, it feels.

This month, we had my mom visiting, and my sister had her big flight back from Europe. She made it in safely very late last night, and made it back to her actual home a couple of hours ago. Amazing to be able to call her up and talk to her on the phone! With one exception, we'd had no phone calls since May!

Tomorrow, Jim goes on a business trip to Florida for a couple of days. Leaves at the crack of dawn, as usual. Hopefully Miss Annika will stay asleep.

And next week, Annika and I are off to Buffalo for a short trip, and our third joint airplane ride!

Then, finally, a week later, we have our annual family trip to the Adirondacks - and everyone is traveling for that. Laurie is coming here. Mom may meet us there or may fly to Boston - still figuring that part out. We'll be spending the weekend in Keane Valley ... hopefully lots of fall colors, perhaps some hiking, puzzles, reading, and lots of relaxing. So it's good that this last trip is at the end of everything else. It will be our time to get caught up again.

And, for strictly gratuitous purposes, here's a cute photo of Annika with her daddy:

And a bon voyage to all.

Babyese to English

2010-09-18T07:35:00.005-04:00

We have returned from our sooper sikrit tour of Quincy Point to analyze an old species, termed "The Baby," in her natural habitat. We discovered that she has her own language, which we will call Babyese. Here are the first words we have discovered.

Mama = Mama.
Dada= Daddy
Yaya = Annika
Mou = more or "I'm thirsy" or milk or "all done."
Up = up or down
Hi or hi ta = hi or hi there
Buh-bye or bye ta = Bye
No, or nononononono = No
Yesh! = Yes
Ish = Shoe or cat
Meow = cat or the sound a cat makes
Moooooo! = the sound a cow makes
Woo...Woo = dog or the sound a dog makes
Moo = Moon
Row, row = usually sung, the first two words of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
Eyes = eyes or ears
Ouk = Work (as in Daddy is at work)
Boa = Boat
Ace = sheep
Ba = Ball or belly button or balloon
Ca = Car
Vroom! = the sound a car makes
Da = an all purpose word, loosely translated to mean "that." Sometimes used to mean "I want that," or "Look at that!"

We will continue to study this intriguing new language and report back on new understandings that we reach.

Date night

2010-09-11T22:13:00.000-04:00

Tonight was date night. And it was a special date night because it was the first one in which we were completely independent - no relying on family for babysitting. But even that aside, we hadn't had a date night in a long time, and since we finally found a babysitter, we decided to go out tonight.

We drove to Cambridge on Jim's motorcycle. I hadn't been on the bike in at least 2 years. It was fun. It's one of those things that you just can't do with a baby in tow. Then we had dinner at Legal Seafoods, drove around Boston and Cambridge on the bike to see the sights, and then bowled three rounds at Olindy's. It was really nice to be out. We were gone about 3 1/2 hours.

Annika had a remarkably easy time with the whole situation. When the babysitter first arrived, she did her normal "Mama! Mama!" routine, and I was getting nervous. Additionally, about 30 seconds before the sitter arrived, she had fallen and bumped her head on the table in our porch - so she had the start of a goose-egg/black and blue mark above her eye and was obviously upset. (Why is it that Annie seems to be the only toddler I see with bruises on her head? Is she the only one who falls? Or do other parents use cover-up makeup on their children?) So I was really worried that we were in for it. But then I kissed her good-bye and sat her down with her crayons and our sitter, and she suddenly seemed OK with everything. She said, "Buh-bye! Buh-bye!" over and over again, and waved to us from the window when we drove off on the bike. Totally unexpected. The babysitter said that she was very happy the whole time, and went to sleep at bedtime right away, without a fuss. Wow.

And, in a sign of how cool our neighborhood is, our neighbor George saw us drive off on the bike as he was walking Buddy the dog. As we drove past him, he yelled, "Where is she?" (meaning Annika, of course). He loves Annika. So he actually stopped by the house shortly after to check in and make sure she was OK. We have really nice neighbors, and they all love Annika.

Tomorrow we are going to a birthday party for the little boy across the street who turned 1 last week. Should be a lot of fun for everyone.

Day care

2010-09-09T21:20:00.000-04:00

Today was Annika's last day at her current day care. On Monday, she is starting at a new place. It was a remarkably sad day for me. I have grown to really like her current day care, and although I really like the new place too, it will be a change in the routine and it's quite a different type of day care. While up til now, Annie has been at a fairly large day care center, we are switching to a family day care - more affordable, and it's also the day care where our next door neighbors go. I was sad to say good-bye to all the women who have cared for Annie over the last year, particularly those in the infant room. It felt very safe there. I also learned that they have been keeping a little "journal" for Annie since she started, writing a note to her every week or every 2 weeks since she started last September. It made me sad to read it and realize the time that has passed and the love we're leaving behind. A year ago, Annie wasn't even sitting up by herself yet. She was still exclusively on bottles. Now she's walking and talking!

But I felt better about our decision to switch after we stopped over at the new day care tonight to start getting Annie acclimated. It's a very welcoming place, and the teacher is really, really nice - very nuturing and loving. I have no doubt that next week is going to be pretty hard. Annie is extremely clingy anyway, and usually made a scene at "drop off time" at the old day care. I'm not sure how much worse it can get, but I worry that somehow it will be. Jim is coming with me next Monday for the first drop off, since I'm going to have a rough time. But I hear that it gets easier eventually.

We also are trying out a new babysitter this weekend. Imagine this - we go out on a date! Seriously! But I'm not sure how Annie is going to do with that either. She is in such a "mommy" phase right now, where she wants to follow me around and be with me all the time. In a way, it's sort of flattering, and makes me feel like maybe I'm doing something right, but in another way, it's not good at all. She needs to be comfortable with her surroundings and the people in them, even if they're not Mommy.

Last year at this time, we were going through the big transition from maternity leave into day care. This year, it feels like we've started all over again in some ways.

This weekend in a few words

2010-09-07T19:39:00.000-04:00

Lots of boating
No storm
Hingham Harbor, Boston Harbor, Quincy Harbor, Fore River
Frozen Freddie's ice cream cake
Slides and swings
Looking for rocks
Hand-painted giraffes
Zucchini
Zucchini
Zucchini
Oh, and tomatoes, cantaloupe, and cucumbers too
Lovely visit from the mama mama

Dubious warnings

2010-09-04T11:05:00.000-04:00

We slept through the hurricane. I wondered, when I woke up, if we would look out our window and realize that the whole neighborhood had been leveled, except for our house, which wasn't touched. But it turned out that nothing was touched. The sunflowers continue to stand. Our boat is still there - we even took it out for a ride this morning. No one else was boating. It was windy but beautiful. Most of the big boats at our marina had been pulled out of the water prior to the storm, which seemed kind of funny. I guess those people have a whole lot more of an investment to lose if the hurricane had actually passed through. I wonder if they will be put back in, or if people will just call it quits for the season.

If that's a hurricane, then I'll take one any day over a blizzard! :) But I think the hurricane actually just passed us at sea.

Hurricanes and sunflowers and airplanes

2010-09-03T10:50:00.000-04:00

It is finally the weekend again, and here I am, waiting for my mom to arrive from Buffalo and waiting for Annika to wake up from her nap.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you'll know that Hurricane Earl is heading to New England for a Labor Day weekend visit. Notwithstanding the requisite doomsday predictions, it looks like the Cape and islands are going to get a Category 1 hurricane (the Cape is about 50 miles from our house), and we are going to have a tropical storm up here, and it'll probably all be gone by Saturday morning. My only concern about our house and yard is that my sunflowers are going to blow down. I have a variety of sunflowers, some of which were volunteers from last year and have been blooming since July. But I'm growing a new variety called "Honey Bear" that has taken a long time to open. One has opened and the rest are almost in bloom. They are cheerful and cute and unusual and I love them. I hope they survive the storm.

Here's a photo of them so far.

...and, OK, here are some photos of the other ones. I love my sunflowers.

Anyway, my mom was supposed to fly in tonight, at 8pm. Which, of course, is when the hurricane was predicted to arrive. Last night, I went on the U.S. Airways website and learned that because there was now a weather advisory, Mom could change her plane ticket with no penalty. So she moved up her flight to this morning and should be arriving soon. I was pretty sure all week that she wasn't going to make it in, but she really is going to get here. It's cool. She'll be here til Monday.

Why am I writing this blog instead of driving to the airport? Because Annika woke up with a stomach bug this morning. She is down for a nap right now and I don't want to disturb her. She's been pretty listless this morning. Jim is going to pick up my mom from the airport. One of my favorite things to do is meeting people at the airport, but at this point, Annika needs to rest. Hopefully she'll feel a lot better after her nap and she'll enjoy seeing Grandma! :)

The Harvest

2010-09-02T07:22:00.000-04:00

All harvested this morning (before the storm):

(Cantaloupe, kousa zucchini, cucumbers, and several varieties of tomatoes). The cantaloupe actually harvested itself - it was lying in the grass this morning when I woke up. I'm assuming that means it's ready?

Rendezvous in Albany

2010-08-24T20:52:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, we met our aunt and her best friend for a little visit in Albany. We've done this before. It shouldn't have been so complicated, right?

Albany is about 3 hours (or sometimes less) from our house, so it's quite a trip just for lunch. But when you compare it to driving to Buffalo, it really isn't so bad. Aunt D. takes the train in from Buffalo, and that takes much longer. Plus, when your family lives far away, you have to be creative with the ways you get to see them.

But this time around, we had been leaving messages for Aunt D. and had not gotten to speak with her. This was a little worrying, but nothing too out of the ordinary. On Sunday morning, we were 5 minutes away from getting in the car when we got a call from Jim's sister. She said that D. had told her that P. was getting in late the night before, and that they were planning on taking a boat tour of the grain elevators in Buffalo on Sunday. This did not sound promising, particularly since D. had e-mailed a couple of weeks before, saying that she had tried to schedule the train ride for Saturday, but couldn't get good seats so settled on Sunday. If P. wasn't getting into Buffalo until Saturday night, why was D. looking at train tickets then? We began to worry that the dates had been mixed up. But we couldn't reach D. at home and couldn't verify that she was still in Buffalo, so off we left for Albany. We were pretty sure that D. and P. were not going to be on the train, but we figured it would be an adventure.

We got lunch in Albany, since we got there at noon and D. and P. weren't scheduled to arrive until 1:45. We kept waiting for the call from D., saying that she was still in Buffalo but not on the train. But the call never came, and at 1:45, we found ourselves at the train station, feeling hopeful. Actually, we got there at about 1:15 and tried to supervise Annika as she ran around the train station for about 30 minutes, using her "outdoor voice" in a very boisterous manner. :) I'm sure all the people waiting to get on the train were praying that we wouldn't be in their car!

The train pulls in a little before 1:45, and low and behold, we watch D. and then P. get off the train! They're here! Yippy! It was quite amazing. We waved from the window of the station. It turns out that they did nearly miss the trip. They got home from the airport late the night before, and P. noticed that D. had messages on her answering machine. Thankfully, Jim had left a message about seeing them at the train station, D. checked her tickets, and realized that the train ride was the next day.

We went back to the same restaurant where we had eaten lunch, and got to visit for a couple of hours before D. and P. had to get back on the train and go home. It was a short visit, but it was a lot of fun. P. had never met Annika before. Annika made sure that P. got to see her belly button. That's important, you know.

Our trip home took 5 hours. Over an hour of this time was spent at the beginning of the Mass. Pike, in completely stopped traffic. About half a mile ahead of us, 3-4 trees had fallen into the highway due to a sudden storm, with rain and high winds. It took a long time to clear them out of the road. Then we hit a ton of traffic in the usual places, as well as a lot of rain and fog.

What an exhausting weekend - it felt like on both days, we spent a good chunk of the day in the car. And Jim keeps the travel up this week, with a one-day round trip to D.C. tomorrow. I'll be here at home tomorrow, trying to figure out how to entertain an energetic toddler while it continues to pour rain outside (rare summer Nor'easter since Sunday).

Weekend plans

2010-08-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

I'm spoiled, but I'm starting to think of Thursday night as the start of the weekend. We have quite a weekend planned. Tomorrow evening, we're meeting friends for dinner at Stone Hearth Pizza Company in Needham. Last time I was there, I had my pizza with fresh arugula tossed on top. It was amazing.

Saturday we are going to Kimball Farm for Jim's company's summer picnic. That place apparently has legendary ice cream (with legendary serving sizes). But I guess they have other attractions too - I've heard about hot air balloon rides, and I guess there's mini-golf too. It's supposed to be very kid-friendly. I'm not sure what we're going to do about Annika's nap, but I guess we'll work it out.

Unfortunately, we're missing the birthday party for the little boy next door who is turning 3. His parents have rented a huge, inflatable "fun house" type thing, which takes up most of their front lawn. They had it inflated when I got home from work. Looks like it'll be a lot of fun (for the kids anyway).

Then Sunday, we are meeting our aunt and her best friend in Albany for lunch - they're taking the train, and we're driving, and we're going to meet there, visit for a couple of hours, and then we all go home. We try to do this once in a while - it's the only way we all can meet for lunch without having to stay over night.

So it should be a great weekend! Plus, my garden is in full harvest mode - tomatoes, peppers, cukes, zucchini. I even have 3 huge cantaloupes, one of which seems like it should be ready to pick soon. We also made pesto last weekend with basil, parsley and garlic from the garden. I froze most of it so that we could enjoy the garden in January perhaps.

Weekend highlights

2010-08-15T18:19:00.000-04:00

Just the highlights:
1) Jim made it home safely from Seattle. He met up with an old friend while he was out there, who he hadn't seen in many years. They just randomly got connected while Jim was out there and then met for dinner. Kind of amazing how coincidences work out like that.

2) Annika officially has a brand new pair of ish (shoes)! And she didn't even throw a tantrum at the shoe store. These are real shoes, with hard soles. She is very proud of them.

By the way, did you know that little girls don't wear brown shoes? Those are for boys. This is what the salesman told us, when I asked for Annie to try on a pair of brown shoes with green details. He brought out a bunch of different pink and purple shoes, which looked ridiculous. Luckily, a female salesperson took over and we ended up with the shoes that Annie has on in the photo.

3) And I know you're wondering what happened to her nose (because absolutely everyone, even complete strangers have been asking): Annie did a face-plant at day care on Thursday and has another big scrape on her nose, just like when we were in Buffalo last time.

4) I trimmed the front of Annie's hair this morning. She won't wear anything in her hair - I have tried to put barrettes in there, and she immediately removes them, and then puts them up to her head. I think she likes them better when they're just near her hair, but not actually in her hair. As a result, her bangs were constantly in her eyes and making her look like the Shaggy Dog. It's just a little trim. The rest of her hair is really too thin to start cutting yet.

Why is it already Sunday evening, anyway? And where is my summer going?

A wild mouse chase

2010-08-11T20:18:00.000-04:00

Jim is in Seattle this week for some business meetings. He left the house this morning at some God-awful hour, and in a random act of true localism, our neighbor Dennis happened to be the taxi cab driver. Somehow, Dennis seemed to think that Jim was a sibling of our next-door neighbor, who is also named Jim, and couldn't seem to understand that he was not! The great part is that Jim got Dennis' business card, so if we need a taxi pickup at the airport sometime, we can call him. This will work especially well when my sister flies into Boston at 1am and needs a ride back to Quincy. Most cabbies have no idea how to get to or around Quincy, but Dennis will be perfect.

The drama of the day happened this evening when our cat Solomon brought a mouse into our house. One of the windows in our front porch was open and he was able to squeeze in there with the mouse in his mouth. The mouse was still very much alive. Solomon likes to play with the mouse before he kills it. Luckily, I was able to get there in time to close the front door so the mouse didn't get loose in our house. But there I was, with our neighbor Scott, trying to get the mouse out of the front porch. Annika was next door with Lisa and the boys, yelling "Mama! Mama! Mama!" She is currently going through a stage where she's obsessed with Mommy.

The mouse finally ran out, but it took some gymnastics. There are a lot of places on our front porch where a small mouse can hide. I felt like I was in a sit-com. As I walked back outside afterwards, I noticed that this was the second mouse that Solomon had caught today. The first was lying dead next to the hydrangea, with flies all over it. Yuck. We think Solomon is getting the mice from our next-door neighbor's back steps or garage. He is always hanging out there. You'd think that mice wouldn't want to come near our neighborhood, between Solomon and our neighbor George's 6 cats! Let's just say that, knock on wood, I've never had a problem with rabbits or squirrels in my garden!

Tonight I'm going to enjoy a bowl of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (my treat while Jim's away) and probably curl up with a book.

11 years

2010-08-06T17:26:00.000-04:00

11 years ago today (right about now), Jim and I were married. Here's our annual anniversary shot:

It's been a good day - boating in the morning, followed by lunch at Byblos, my #1 favorite restaurant. Then there was nap time, and a bit of gardening, and some errands. Tonight we're having a light dinner and then afterward, Annika will probably go out and play with the neighbors, and then maybe we'll go see the cows at the Weir River Farm. Annika loves to blow kisses at the cows.

Scenes from the week

2010-07-31T13:13:00.001-04:00

Blowing bubbles with Daddy:

A sudden interest in our chair/step stool:

(And I remember Annie's Aunt Laurie sitting in this exact same stool in the exact same way, 30 years ago).

My gorgeous garden:

From left to right, you're seeing tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe (climbing up a makeshift trellis), beets (mostly hidden), and zucchini/cousa.

And even a baby cantaloupe:

The weather is amazing today, and after Annie wakes up from her nap, I think we're going to go into Boston for a picnic. I love summer!

Elka Delos

2010-07-25T19:43:00.002-04:00

My dad would've been psyched.

We went boating this morning, and around the time that we turned around and were heading up the Town River towards our dock, Jim saw that a big ocean liner was creeping slowly into the Town River, to dock on the other side of the Fore River Bridge.

When boating with my dad, he always kept a look-out for ships, freighters and other large boats coming in. You didn't see them that often ... at least, not around Buffalo. There were lots in the St. Lawrence River when we vacationed there one summer. But when we did see one, Dad motored the boat right there so we could watch it come in. I always was interested in finding out where the ship was coming from. We saw many diverse ships when we were in the St. Lawrence - that's not surprising. I remember Dad driving around one particular ship, I think it may have been from Russia, and we were waving at the crew.

So today, we watched the Elka Delos get pulled into the Town River.

It took a pretty long time, and there were several police boats all around it. At the same time that the boat was coming in, there was also some sort of random regatta heading the other way on the Town River - a bunch of random, large boats all in single file. So it was a bit chaotic on the river and we were listening to the Weymouth Harbormaster on our radio, who was trying to deal with the regatta and make sure they didn't disrupt the ocean liner's path.

Ultimately, they had to raise the Fore River Bridge, and it was pulled into the River by two large tug boats.

The Elka Delos was flying a Greek flag and was from Piraeus, Greece.

I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean that the boat is actually coming from Greece - I know now that this is just where the boat is registered. But I like to think that it has made the big trip from Greece, just to come here, to little old Quincy, MA. :)

Ice cream and marital harmony

2010-07-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

Our ice cream maker broke. We discovered this as we were about to pour in the batter for strawberry ice cream. It wouldn't turn on, and the frozen canister wouldn't fit in the machine. I vaguely recall that the last time I made ice cream, the batter overflowed everywhere and I had to hose off the machine. Jim told me at the time that I had probably killed the machine, since you're not supposed to get it wet. That doesn't explain why the canister doesn't fit, but it does explain the electrical problems. It is 11 years old - a gift from Jim's aunt at our wedding shower. With it, she enclosed a little article about a couple who, whenever they had an argument, would make ice cream as a way to make peace. I kept the little card she enclosed with the ice cream maker - it says "best wishes for a 'sweet, smooth' marriage!"

Is this a bad omen that it broke?? :) No, just a sign that it's time to get another one. I wrapped up the batter, put it in the fridge, and am going to Crate and Barrel this afternoon to get a new one. They're having a sale on Cuisinart ice cream makers.

I don't make ice cream very often, but I always find it fun when I do. It used to be my routine that when I was off from law school, I would make batches of ice cream as a way to keep busy. But I haven't made any ice cream in probably year - probably about this time last year when strawberries were cheap. I really should be more creative. Our friend has a cookbook with recipes for lavender-flavored ice cream, and other flavors that you can never get at the store. I need to figure those out. When growing my garden, I always strive to plant varieties of veggies that you'll never find at the store, because it makes it very interesting. The same should be true for ice cream.

Random stuff

2010-07-23T12:05:00.000-04:00

1) Annika transitioned into the "toddlers" room at day care this week. And the director of the day care was able to get her to wear the flip flops I got her last month. So I guess she's just picky about who puts strange shoes on her feet!

2) While we were out playing with the neighbors yesterday evening, Annika gave one of the neighbor kids a big kiss on the mouth. This is the little boy from across the street who is the same age as her. I guess we start them early here in Quincy. Of course, she also kissed the dinosaur toy in the waiting room at the doctor's office this morning, and she especially likes kissing her stuffed animals.

3) Annika got 2 more shots this morning, but it was much less troubling to her than our trip to the shoe store last weekend. She's getting to be a big girl! 31 inches tall (a growth of 2 inches in 3 months!) and she weighs 23 pounds, 13 ounces. Of course that was after a big pre-doctor breakfast at the Early American in which Annika couldn't get enough of Daddy's corned beef hash. But still. She is now down for a big nap. Doctor's visits will do that to you.

4) Solomon smells like a skunk, again. It's not nearly as strong as the last time he got sprayed. I'm debating if he needs to be sprayed with the bleach/baking soda solution. Last time, it bleached his fur in splotches, and the splotches only just recently grew out. Then again, he took a nap with Zeus this morning and now she sort of smells like a skunk too. So I don't know. He has taken to spending every night outside, which I don't like at all but can't convince him to come inside before we go to bed.

5) I've started to harvest my zucchinis, cucumbers, and 1 pepper. I think the pepper plants are getting eaten by that stupid caterpillar again. It looks like I'm going to have tomatoes soon too - I noticed at least one that is starting to ripen. I also harvested my garlic this week - two of them had new, baby garlic cloves about half-way up their stalks! Pretty cool. I'm going to try to make pesto this weekend with my newly - harvested garlic and the basil I have growing. I've heard you can freeze pesto too. I might try that. How cool would it be to eat pesto in December from my garden? I've also made my first batch of zucchini bread.

6) The turnip pickles I made a few weeks ago came out pretty good. They don't taste much like the ones you get at Byblos, but they're quite tasty, and are definitely that same deep red as the ones at Byblos. Jim won't touch them, but that just means more for me! :)

Shoes (aka: Ish)

2010-07-18T21:31:00.001-04:00

Annika loves her shoes, or as she calls them, her "ish." She loves them so much that even before she is out of bed in the morning, she stands up in her crib and points to them, calling "ish ... ish!" She will bring them to me to put on her, wherever they are in the house. She will also helpfully point on my ish's and Jim's ish's, and will sometimes bring at least one of them to me.

Annie loves her ish's so much that she doesn't want to try on any new ish's. Nope, Annie has found the ish's that she is going to wear in her life. No other ish's are allowed on her feet.

Today, we decided to go shoe shopping, since her current ish's are pretty beat up and I thought it would be a good idea to switch her from her current soft-soled shoes to something with a sturdier sole. Soft-soled shoes are fine in the summer but won't be as comfortable when the cold weather arrives. Also, soft-soled shoes aren't great in puddles. But Annie would not even let us put her foot in the little measuring tool, let alone put new ish's on her feet. She screamed and hollered like someone was torturing her. She cried harder than when she gets her vaccinations (which, I'm sorry to say, she also has coming up on Friday).

We can't figure out why. She had the same reaction when I tried to get her to wear a pair of flip flops a couple of weeks ago, and also when I tried to get her to wear a pair of sandals. Jim thought that maybe she was afraid that we would take her old ish's away when we got the new ones. I wonder if her feet are very sensitive, like her daddy's, and she doesn't like people fussing with them.

So we are scrapping the idea of purchasing shoes that are any different from her current pair. We'll try again in the fall. Tonight I went on-line and picked out a pair of Robeez that are as similar to her current shoes as possible. Hopefully she'll go along with those.

Just a weekend in the summer

2010-07-17T20:41:00.001-04:00

I would like to remember this weekend next January, in the middle of winter. Don't get me wrong, I'm tired. And it sure is hot. But I can take the heat better than the cold.

Yesterday, my cousin and her husband came to visit, on their way further north for a family vacation in Maine. We walked around Boston, and I even gave them a car "tour" of the Kenmore Square/Back Bay area of Boston (when I got lost trying to find Fenway Park). We had pizza and watched a movie that was surprisingly good, particularly considering that Sandra Bullock was in it.

Today, my uncle and aunt joined us and we went boating! We rode into the harbor, saw the U.S.S. Constitution and the Boston skyline. Then we came back and cooked out on the grill. Later, we went to a party at our friends' house. They just sold their house and are moving out next week. This was the good-bye party for their house. We sat out in the backyard and ate summer food. They had a really nice, comfortable house in the Adams Shore area of Quincy, just a few houses from the Quincy Bay. I miss the house, but I'll mostly miss them once they leave Massachusetts for parts south next year.

Tomorrow we plan on meeting friends at Houghton's Pond for an early lunch, and we may go swimming there and/or in the pool at our friends' new apartment.

I'm very tired! It's been hot (well over 90 each day) and the heat can be draining. And forget about getting chores done. But it's nice to enjoy the summer. It goes so fast.

1461 miles

2010-07-12T21:46:00.001-04:00

Here's the trip we took:

View Larger Map

According to Google maps, that's 1461 miles. And that doesn't even include all the little trips we took around Buffalo. I'm tired. Note that the trip was so long that it doesn't fit on the map without clicking and dragging the map around. :) Ha.

But we are now back home and readjusting to normal life. The house looked abandoned when we got back, mostly because our lawn died in the heat. Jim is trying to solve that problem with a irrigation system of sorts. There are lots of hoses, a timer and "zones" involved. Jim also replaced 3 stairs on our back porch last night, after driving for 7 hours. Superman!!

Awake early

2010-07-04T07:15:00.000-04:00

I'm ashamed to say that I am now the reason that Jim is waking up early, and not Annika. I now usually wake up at about 5:30 and can't fall back asleep. Annie, on the other hand, has taken to sleeping until after 7. This morning, I finally got out of bed at 6:30 and decided I would take a leisurely shower, and have a little quiet time before we start Day 3 of our "vacation."

Annika will add 2 more states to her repertoire after this trip - Pennsylvania and Ohio. I think that means that she'll have been to 9 states as of tomorrow. Pretty cool. I believe I was 7 before I had traveled outside of NY, OH and PA (aside from Ontario).

More importantly, Annie gets to see her great-grandparents tomorrow!

Summer day

2010-06-30T21:21:00.000-04:00

Today, Annika had her first popsicle. She was a natural at it. She also went to her first "splash park" (basically, a playground with sprinklers that go on and off). She cautiously stood by the sidelines with a wary eye on the sprinklers, but I think she still had fun. She got a little wet, although that was mostly by accident.

I bought Annie a pair of flip-flops. They are a little too big, and she cries whenever I try to put them on her. She's put off by the thingy that goes between her toes. So she went barefoot, and had no problem with that.

We are getting ready for a big trip west, to Buffalo and Cleveland, for over a week. I always say I'm going to pack up in the days before we leave, but never really get to it until the morning that we leave. But it's always worked out OK. May the travel gods and the nap gods be with us for our trip ...

Sox

2010-06-27T20:58:00.000-04:00

And now a word from the baby ...

Go Red Sox!

Walmart and Target

2010-06-26T21:08:00.000-04:00

Today I did something I vowed I'd never do again - I went shopping at the Walmart in Quincy. I haven't been there in at least 7-8 years, but I just didn't feel like driving to Dorchester to Target when Walmart is literally about a 5-minute drive from our house, no highways or traffic involved. But, despite its convenience, it was a mistake to go there.

I've occasionally pondered why I prefer Target to Walmart. They both are based on the same idea - rock bottom prices, big warehouse atmosphere, a little bit of everything you could possibly need in your life. Jim used to joke that one of the reasons that shopping at Walmart was crazy was the checkout lines - because inevitably, you'd get behind the person who was purchasing a sofa and a bag of potato chips.

Anyway, I have reaffirmed my dislike of Walmart (at least the one in Quincy) and understand why I prefer Target over Walmart. At Walmart, you walk in, and half the merchandise is on the floor. None of it is organized, and you can't find anything. For example, I was looking at baby clothes. The size listed on the hanger was almost always not the size of the article of clothing. The hanger would say "4T" but the onesie was actually a size 3/6 months. There was no rhyme or reason to the way the clothes were displayed - random clothes were hung up on random racks, all mixed in together, all different prices despite the price sign at the top of each rack.

Additionally, although Walmart has a little of everything, that doesn't mean that it has a good selection of the things you want. For example, I was looking for a board game suitable for a 5-year-old today. They had two appropriate choices, both games she already has. And these two choices were in different aisles, so I had to hunt through about 5 aisles of toys in order to find these two games.

I should say that these aren't problems that I only encountered today. I recall that the last time Jim and I were in Walmart was to shop for school supplies when I started law school (OK, so that gives you an idea about how long it's been since we've been there!). It looked like a tornado had hit the store. In fact, I recall leaving the cart in mid-aisle and running out of the store with Jim. We just couldn't take it any more.

At Target, everything is relatively clean and always on the shelf. I've never had a problem where clothing was mis-sized or otherwise mis-marked. Target has a remarkable selection. For example, there is a whole wall in the back of the store with board games, organized according to the appropriate age for the game. There is a section for board games, and a section for card games. Plus, I sort of think that things might be slightly cheaper at Target, although maybe I was just dreaming.

I don't get it. You could make the argument that you get what you pay for, and that Walmart's lack of organization, sloppiness, and general chaos is the price you pay in return for a cut on the price of the product. Except that Target's prices are just as low (I think), and the whole shopping experience is so much better.

I'm writing this all down now, so that I don't forget next time. Hopefully my memory will be fresh, at least for another 10 years or so! :)

Down on the Farm

2010-06-19T14:27:00.000-04:00

On our quest to entertain Annika with animals, today we visited the Weir River Farm in Hingham - about a 20-minute drive from our house. It's a beautiful, sunny day and we brought a picnic lunch. The farm was really beautiful. It's a working farm that is owned by a preservation group that buys at-risk properties all around Massachusetts, fixes them up, and opens them to the public. They grow crops and have livestock. I bought some turnips that had been grown on the farm - I'm going to try to make Lebanese turnip pickles. (Taste much better than they sound, although sort of an acquired taste).

Annie got to see several horses, chickens, goats, an Icelandic ram, two sleeping pigs, and four cows. Here she is, making friends with the four cows, who didn't know what to make of her.

They all lined up and just stared at her. But Annie loved it. She loves all animals. She also got kisses from a horse!

Hope everyone has a happy Father's Day! We'll hopefully be out on the boat tomorrow.

Playgrounds and other people's kids and movies

2010-06-16T16:07:00.000-04:00

Today Annie and I went to the mall, because I needed to pick up a couple of things for the weekend. The mall has a pretty nifty play area. Annie was enthralled. I think she mostly liked watching the bigger kids. Here she is, playing with one of the toys there:

But then this sort of shocking thing happened. Annie was standing up and holding onto one of the benches. Most of the older kids would either ignore her or try to talk to her a little, or sort of quietly play near her. But out of the blue, this little boy, not all that much bigger than Annie but much steadier on his feet, walks up to her, grabs her face, and then pushes her over. She was very startled and started crying. The other child had absolutely no reaction! And when I came over and told him that it wasn't nice to push over little babies, he just stared at me with an empty expression. His parent was no where to be found.

This is at least the third time that this has happened over the last 6 months or so (the other two times were at a playgroup a few months ago). The other child's parents invariably either don't care or think it's cute. I'm pretty shocked. I would be totally angry and embarrassed if Annie ever did that to another kid. It seems to me that it's never too early to teach your child to be gentle with others.

In other news, I saw Sex and the City 2 last night at this new cinema in Dedham. It was the first movie I'd seen in the theaters since Annie was born. The movie was disappointing. Really, they should've just stuck to the TV series instead of these painful movies that just emphasize how old all the actors are getting and how there's nothing left of a plot in their story. It was pretty sad. However, the cinematography was quite nice, there were at least 100 different costume changes during the movie, and there were some interesting cameo appearances, such as Liza Minelli.

The theater was an interesting concept - it has large seats, little tables that pull out from the seats, and a dinner menu. They serve the food during the movie. It had some pitfalls - like how they take your order while the movie is going on, and sort of block your view. And the service wasn't stellar. But it's kind of a nice concept. It's a brand new building, replacing the old Dedham Showcase Cinemas, which, from what I heard, was pretty ghetto.

I saw a preview for "Eat, Pray, Love," the movie. I read the book a couple of years ago, and just finished reading the author's second book. Both books were OK - the first was better than the second. It's funny that Julia Roberts is going to play the main character (who is also the author - the book was a true story, memoir type thing), and Javier Bardem is playing the love interest. Not a bad choice in actors.

Time to try being productive and getting things done before Annie wakes up from the nap!

No green thumbs this year

2010-06-13T11:34:00.000-04:00

So far, gardening has been a mixed bag this year. I planted everything relatively late for me. While I could have put my cold-weather vegetables in at the end of March, I didn't actually get them in until early April. Similarly, I probably could have put the tomatoes and peppers and seeds in earlier than I did. Part of this was difficulties finding the time to do it. Part of this was the knowledge that planting things too early does not necessarily mean that you'll get to harvest early. A lot of times the plants get stunted if the soil is too cold or you get cold weather after planting. In past years, I've just been so eager to get out there and garden that I planted things very early. Although I was happy to get outside, the eagerness to start the garden just wasn't there, at least until I really started working the soil and getting things ready.

Cucumbers, which I've always had an easy time growing, have not been cooperating. Although I planted 12 seeds, only 2 germinated. When I went to put in a second planting, I noticed that many of the seeds did germinate, but the tops of the plants had been eaten. I don't know by whom. Two years ago, I engaged in a losing war with cucumber beetles, but I thought they attacked later, once the plants were more established. I suppose it could be an animal, except Solomon and the other cats on the street chase those animals within an inch of their life. Plus, the leaves are so small that I don't think most animals would be bothered with them. So I doubt it's an animal. The second planting went in about a week ago, and I think I spotted two plantlets, just breaking out above the surface. So we'll see how they do.

The zucchinis have not had stunning growth either, although they all have finally germinated. Zucchinis usually grow like crazy for me. I wonder how it'll be this year.

I'm trying cantaloupe again this year, although this time I bought plantlets instead of trying it from seed. They are still alive but don't seem to be getting any bigger. I've heard they have a long growing season so I hope they start growing! I don't think I've ever had fresh-picked cantaloupe.

Most of my lettuce failed to germinate, aside from some arugula, which has been delicious but has now completely gone to seed, with these pretty white flowers. I'm still waiting for the beets and carrots to come up. I seem to think they take a while to germinate.

The tomatoes and peppers seem to be well-established. There are even some flowers on the pepper plants. The parsley plant is not doing great and the basil seems a little shocked by its new surroundings. I think they'll do better once we get more warm weather.

I just started harvesting peas today. I really should have staked them or trained them on something. They are just all over the place, and it's hard to find the peas when you have to wade through all the stems. I opened up one of my tomato cages and put it next to the peas, so hopefully they'll start growing up that.

I haven't had to water nearly at all. I probably should have watered the lettuce more - I have a feeling that this is why it never came up. But I've been pretty good about watering since I put the rest of the garden in. It's just that I really haven't had to do much since it has rained a lot.

In flower land, all my sunflowers have germinated - I planted four varieties this year, all along the drive way. One of the varieties, Mammoth, supposedly reaches 12 feet in height. I don't know if I believe that, but wouldn't that be cool? I planted a bed of pansies around the new hydrangea that we planted for Annika. They're doing quite well, as is the tiny hydrangea, which is blooming in purple this year. In between the pansies, I planted more sunflowers (the mammoth variety). I also re-potted my Chinese elm bonsai tree and it is looking much healthier. My lemon tree has a few flowers on it and lots of new growth. It's amazing how well it does once it's outside. It lost a big branch this winter, probably due to spider mites. But it's definitely making a come-back now.

I think it'll be an interesting gardening year, with hopefully some nice surprises and no cucumber beetles!

Boating

2010-06-12T15:22:00.000-04:00

We all seem to be getting the hang of boating again. Last Saturday, the boat went in the water after well over a year of being on dry ground. We pulled the boat out of the water in October 2008, and did not put it in last summer because we weren't going to use it with Annie being so little. This year, we were somewhat apprehensive that there were going to be major mechanical issues with the boat that would require very costly repairs. There were some repairs needed, but nothing too bad. We can't forget that this boat is 22 years old, and while my parents took very, very good care of it, it's still very old and the salt water is much harder on it than the fresh water ever was.

So this spring I went through the usual bureaucratic hoop-jumping to get the boat registered - it's pretty amazing how many government agencies need to be involved in that. The boat and trailer are registered with separate agencies, then we have to pay excise tax to the city of Quincy, then we have to get a mooring permit from the Quincy Harbormaster, etc. etc. ... It was harder last time, when I had to get everything registered for the first time, but it's still quite remarkable. In addition, we had to pick out a life jacket for Annie, which wasn't as hard as I was expecting. On-line shopping is pretty cool. Finally, everything was ready.

Last Saturday we did the traditional "shakedown" ride in the boat. There was a tornado watch, but the weather seemed OK and was supposed to get worse as the weekend wore on, so we took it on Saturday morning. We just drove around in the Town River a bit. It is docked in the Town River, literally at the end of our street (we just have to cross Southern Artery to get there). We were happy to see that everything was running well.

Annika was not so happy in her new, yellow life jacket. It is quite bulky, and for safety reasons, covers a good part of her body, including a large strap that fits between her legs and a handle behind her head that would allow us to grab her if she fell in the water.

But she was a trooper and we didn't stay out so long that day.

On Wednesday, Jim decided to go into work late because he had worked late on Monday and Tuesday. The weather was beautiful, so we took our second boat trip. Not long after we pushed off from the dock, Annie was already asleep and slept the entire boat ride, no matter how many waves we hit or how much I had to move her around. No one else was out on Wednesday and the water was incredibly smooth. We rode out to the Boston Light, which marks the beginning of the harbor.

This morning, we made our third trip, and rode into Boston Harbor and the cruise ship terminal. Annie slept for a good 45 minutes and then was awake and actually pretty happy. She was looking all around, managed to walk around a little even in her life jacket, and got to see a couple of huge ocean liners, a helicopter, several planes taking off from Logan Airport, ducks, and a large group of Canadian geese (including several baby geese). After we came in and were putting the cover on the boat, I felt a few raindrops - we got in just in time. It's been raining off-and-on since then.

So, all in all, a good start to the boating season.

Firsts

2010-06-05T20:10:00.000-04:00

This has been a weekend of "firsts" for Annie!

First:
Swim at the beach (We went to Houghton's Pond yesterday)
Molar
Boat ride (Boat is out of storage and runs great!)
First time wearing a life jacket - she's not a fan.
First time standing up without pulling up
... and a few unassisted steps! (albeit somewhat accidental and resembling tripping more than walking really)

And tomorrow is the anniversary of the day that she got her first cousin.

Sunny Friday

2010-05-28T20:25:00.000-04:00

What a day. Wow. The weather was sunny, moderately warm (low 80's), and the sky was clear and blue. Annie and I started the day by going for a walk at Wollaston Beach, which is about a mile or mile and a half from our house. At one point, we stopped so she could get out of her stroller and practice pulling up a bit. Here you can see not only little Annie, but also the Boston Harbor and skyline.

On our way back from our walk, I stopped at the garden store and picked up my veggie plants! It's finally time to plant. We got back, and after Annie definitively showed me that she would not nap by standing up in her crib and calling out to me, we went outside and I planted some of the plants, as well as some of seeds.

After lunch, Annie finally did go down for her nap. Here she is, fighting her nap by kicking her legs around and smiling, with her ever-present pink blanket ("snuggy"), of course.

She did finally fall asleep. Just one nap today, but it was nearly 3 hours long. That gave me a chance to put in the rest of the garden, water, and even weed a little. Here's what I'm growing this year: tomatoes, peppers, parsley, basil, peas, garlic, cucumbers, cantelope, arugula, beets, carrots, and Lebanese-variety zucchini. I've already harvested my radishes - including one that was as long as a carrot! My other lettuces didn't germinate. I don't know why. I have had bad luck with cantelope, so I'm hoping it'll work out this year. I haven't grown beets or carrots in quite a few years. I've been really getting into beet salad, particularly mixed with some goat cheese and arugula, so hopefully the beets will come out OK.

After Annie woke up, I rushed over to the bank because I needed to get into our safe deposit box and the bank closes at 4. Of course, when I went into the safe with the bank teller, I realized that my driver's license was missing. Like, I was completely caught surprised by the fact that it wasn't in my wallet where it always is. So I did not get into the box. On the way home, I went over my life for the last months to try to figure out where the hell I would've put my license. I really did not want to have to go to the RMV on one of my days off with Annika in tow. Seriously, doesn't that sound like some form of purgatory? I finally figured out that the last time I took my license out of my wallet was when I went to the Bristol County jail to do a "know your rights" presentation with some other lawyers. This was probably 6 weeks ago or so. Anyway, long story short, I went through all my pockets at home and it was in my raincoat pocket, which I had last worn on my trip to Bristol. So there you go. I'd been going about town and taking trips without any identification on me at all. For 6 weeks. Fantastic.

For dinner, we had shells with spaghetti sauce. Fabulous Annika loved it:

And now I'm relaxing a little before our trip up to Vermont tomorrow. Aside from the license episode, it was really a fantastic day, and a great start to the weekend.

Wedding weekend

2010-05-25T20:13:00.000-04:00

I generally try to get on here at least once a week, but I'm a little behind this week. It's been a very busy 10 days or so. The highlights include a work conference in Worcester, followed by the monthly meeting of my professional organization in which I ran for secretary and won! Then the next day we drove to Buffalo for Jim's cousin's wedding. We were in Buffalo from Friday evening until yesterday morning when we drove back to Boston. Now we're settling back into life.

Here is Annie with her cousin Maddie, Uncle Rob, and Grandma in the pew at the church. Annie insisted on standing in pew the whole time.

And here are the three of us at the church after the wedding:

Annie did OK on the trip. She tires very easily during these trips, but no surprise there. There's so much to absorb. But she seems to have bounced back pretty quickly. Tonight, for the first time, she is sleeping under a quilt that her grandma made for her; it's her first night without the sleep sack. Let's hope it goes well. Tomorrow is swimming and grocery shopping and a play date.

Recap of a near-summer weekend.

2010-05-16T21:23:00.000-04:00

1. Jim worked on Annika's door.

He fit it to the frame, did the mortise work so that the door handle and skeleton key fit, and installed the hinges. It is now ready to be sanded and stained! Not sure if we're going to go with polyurethane or if we're going to do a stain so that it matches the floor

2. Saturday: we went to a birthday party for the boy across the street, who turned 8. Annie hung out with the little boy down the street who is the same age as her, and enjoyed a balloon (string tied to her outfit).

She also won the limbo contest.

She also enjoyed the cake. Very much. She wanted more. The cake was in the shape of a soccer field, and had soccer figurines on top. It was made by our next-door neighbor - she is an expert cake decorator.

3. After we went home and Annie took a nap to rest up from that party, we went to a BBQ at the neighbors' house behind us. We had a ton of fun. Annie got to play with their toys, including a very cool walker thingy that turns into a big wheel toy.

4. Sunday: I did some gardening. That's a fancy word for weeding and preparing the soil with manure and compost so that it'll be in good shape for when I plant in a week or two. There were a lot of tiny maple trees in the garden. Plus, except for the arugula, none of my lettuce has germinated. So it was time to rake up the soil so I can plant something else there. No room to spare in this garden.

5. For lunch, we did a picnic and a little walk at Houghton's Pond. Annie is working on standing up by herself and she was starting to get brave this afternoon.

After lunch, she went on the swings (her all-time favorite activity)!

6. Then we came home and cleaned up the house and got ready for the week. A great weekend!!

13 months

2010-05-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

Miss Annika is 13 months old today!

We had a fun evening outside with the neighbors. Annie has a new lion "walker" that she is just learning how to walk behind. It is much more fun to play with it outside, since there's not a whole lot of open space in our house for walkers. The neighbor kids enjoyed playing with the lion too. We also got to see Draco, who is a big dog (I think he's a rottweiler mix) who lives 2 doors down and is owned by our neighbor George. Annie loves Draco! He is a nice, gentle doggy and sometimes he gives Annie kisses.

Tomorrow we are going to another birthday party - the boy across the street is turning 8. We've been to a lot of birthday parties over the last month. I'm just glad that it's the weekend; time to get our lives in order before 2 weekends of travel - next weekend to Buffalo for a wedding, and the following weekend to Vermont to visit friends and a brand new baby.

May 11

2010-05-11T20:40:00.000-04:00

Fifteen years ago tonight, Jim and I had our first date. We went to the Acropolis, and no, it wasn't the one in Greece. But it was the restaurant on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. I was 18. Fifteen years from today, I will be 48 and Annie will be in high school. If we lay out life in fifteen-year increments, it suddenly goes by very quickly. I shouldn't do that.

Tonight we had a very quick dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, La Paloma, in Wollaston. It was a quick dinner because Annika was tired. Daycare thinks she's ready to only take one nap a day. I think she's ready too, but when she does take that one nap, it needs to be for more than 45 minutes. (I think there's too much activity at the daycare for her to be able to sleep longer than that, unless she's really super tired). Daycare doesn't seem to understand this, so by the time she comes home, she's exhausted. It's frustrating to not entirely be in control. I guess I need to get used to it.

Tomorrow is a day of swim lessons and grocery shopping and hopefully a nice walk with the stroller to a park with swings.

Mother's Day weekend

2010-05-09T17:38:00.000-04:00

Happy mother's day to all the moms out there. Hope you had a wonderful day.

Aside from the obvious gifts in my life (my beautiful Annika and my handsome Jim), I got an unexpected present today too. I got to sleep in until almost 8am this morning. Why is this? Because Annika decided to sleep that long! I don't think this has ever happened before. She must've known that today was a special day! Jim is grilling kabobs for dinner tonight - for anyone who hasn't tried grilled pineapple, you need to do it as soon as possible. It is so good.

It's been a really nice weekend. Now that Jim is done with his class, we are starting on some of the home projects that have been building up over the last year. The first project is to put a door on Annika's room. Several years ago, we decided to get rid of the door to her room. It had been damaged when we refinished the floor in that room, and honestly, it was just garbage. Really, all the outer doors on the second floor are garbage. The closet doors are beautiful, original, paneled doors. But for some reason, one of the prior owners decided to get rid of the matching outer doors, and replaced them with the cheapest hollow doors they could find. The closet doors continue to be beautiful, despite the fact that they are 90 years old. The outer doors, perhaps half the age of the closet doors, have just gone downhill.

So yesterday, Jim bought a solid, paneled pine door from our favorite home improvement store, and is now working on hanging it - not as easy as it sounds. He has to fit it to the door frame, attach hinges, install hardware (such as a door knob), coat it with polyurethane or a stain, and then hang it. He has done the first two things on the list and will continue working on this over the week. Good thing for all those wood tools. :) It should be beautiful when it's done.

Other projects? Replace part of the ceiling in the porch, strip and refinish our rocking chair, replace some wood in the garage and paint it, plus the usual gardening, and possibly replace the attic windows. I think it'll keep us busy!

Quincy

2010-05-06T21:22:00.000-04:00

Saw this in the Boston Globe today. Some nice (if somewhat non-descript) photos of Quincy, with a little commentary.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/quincy/gallery/WhydoyouloveQuincy/

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-05T21:48:00.000-04:00

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I spent this evening at a book launch/reading for a friend from the immigration law community. It is her debut novel - Try to Remember. I got my copy signed, of course. The party was at the Old State House, which is this old brick building, built in 1713, which was the seat of the colonial government and later the seat of the state government, and even later, the seat of the local Boston government. The Boston Massacre occurred right outside the Old State House. According to Wikipedia, it is the oldest public building in Boston. I used to walk by it almost everyday on my way to and from the Immigration Court, but I had never been inside. It is very beautiful inside, with ornate fireplaces and wide floor boards and a spiral staircase with sturdy wooden railings. It had exhibits with a lot of artifacts from the Revolutionary War era. I need to go back and look at all the exhibits some time, maybe with Annie.

Walking through Boston tonight, down the streets that I used to walk down everyday, I felt happy to live in such an interesting, old, vibrant place. I also felt sad that I no longer work in downtown Boston. I really, really miss it. Whenever I go there, I feel at home. I hope that someday I'll be able to work in downtown again.

Today, I found a playground with swings for Annie! About a mile from our house is the public elementary school, Clifford Marshall. It's a nice walk - you can go the main way, which goes along Washington St. and Southern Artery, both major streets. Or you can go through the residential streets, which I prefer. It was nice to see everyone's azaleas in bloom. But I digress. At the Clifford Marshall school, there is quite a nice playground out front, and there was one baby swing. Annie got to swing for a few minutes, which made her quite happy. The elementary school kids were out playing, and several wanted to push Annie in the swing. It was cute. They were generally pretty gentle with her. There are also slides and other jungle-gym like things, but Annie isn't a big fan of the slide at this point, so we just stuck with the swing.

All in all, a diverse day. Annie's swim lesson in the morning, followed by the usual grocery shopping, our walk in the afternoon, and finally, my adventure in downtown. Time to turn in for the night!

Crazy Saturday

2010-05-01T21:38:00.000-04:00

1) Annie got her first pair of shoes (that actually fit), and wore them around for a good part of today.

2) Annie used sunscreen for the very first time, when we went to a birthday party for our neighbor, who turned 1 today.

3) We have to boil all water coming out the tap until further notice. Yikes. There was a rupture in a major pipe that brings water from the Quabbin Reservoir to Boston, and the governor made an announcement that our tap water is not suitable for drinking, washing dishes, or even brushing teeth. Click here for an article about it. Good thing we've been feeding Annika cow's milk! They're advising people to only use pre-mixed formula for babies. I would imagine there's been a run on that at the store, along with bottled water.

Tomorrow we're off to Jim's grad school luncheon. He was told that he's getting an award, but we don't know why! Details to follow.

Playgrounds

2010-04-30T20:47:00.000-04:00

It's another Friday, and another day of amazingly gorgeous weather. There's no better time to hang out at the playground!

We had a playdate/lunch date in Somerville today with a friend and her 3-year-old. And although I believe Annika has been on the swings at daycare, this is the first time that I've seen her on the them. She was in heaven!!

Why is this the first time I've taken her to a playground? I need to find one near our house. But notice the socks? I guess it's time to find Annie a pair of shoes. Socks don't work so well at the playground. :)

Birthday season

2010-04-25T20:05:00.000-04:00

I hereby declare birthday season to be over. And now for the recap...

First, we had a party at Dedham Health and Athletic for the babies in my "Next Step" moms' group (the group that I still keep in touch with fairly regularly).

On Annie's actual birthday, both Jim and I had the day off and we had our own little celebration - cake, ice cream, and a cookout on the grill. Here's Annie with her yummy chocolate cupcake from Fratelli's!

Last weekend was Annie's official birthday party. We had about 35 people (including 12 kids) over for pizza, cake and ice cream. All the neighbors came, and Annie's grandmas and great-aunt came to visit from Buffalo. In the below photo, Annie has her "Sabres Fan" bib on, and the neighbor boys are "helping" her open her presents. Our neighbor, George, is pictured too:

Finally, we just got home from the last birthday party. This one was for my Great Beginnings new moms' group. It was the first group I joined, and Annika was 5 weeks old at the beginning of it. All the babies in the group were born within a month of each other, and I hadn't seen any of them (with one exception) since last July. Pretty interesting to see all the babies as 1-year-olds, and to see their moms and dads operating on a whole lot more sleep than last summer!

It's been a fun few weeks. And just when we think we're actually seasoned experts at parenting, it's time for the next round of changes - no more bottle, no more formula, and we're nearing the end of the sleep sack. Whoosh! A year later, and we're back at the bottom of the learning curve! :)

Weekend

2010-04-25T19:48:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend! Our weekends seem to be jam-packed these days, and this weekend was no different.

On Saturday morning, we decided to drive up to Freeport, Maine to go to the L.L. Bean store and the outlets up there. We didn't actually buy anything at LLBean this time around, but I did end up at the Oshkosh store. We don't have one near our house, so this was my first time inside. Really adorable stuff, and quite reasonably priced. I got a couple of pairs of summer overalls for Annie, of course. :) I need to go back in the fall, once I know what size she'll be then. I'm sort of a sucker for babies in overalls. :)

Last night, after getting back from Maine, Jim cooked out burgers on the grill, and then we went next door for dessert. They had everyone over, and Annie got to hang with all the neighbor kids.

This morning, we met up with friends for a morning walk in the Arboretum, one of my favorite places in Boston, or really, in the whole world. I love it there. An added bonus was that all the lilacs were in bloom!! Everything is early here this year. Usually, the lilacs don't bloom until around Mother's Day. After a nice walk, we went home and tried to convince Annie to a) eat lunch and b) take a nap. Not much luck on either front, although she finally went down for a nap about 45 minutes before we had to leave for the final birthday party (which I'll talk about in my next post, above). But she actually did fine at the party. She got cake and ice cream and fresh fruit.

Now she's in bed and Jim's writing his paper and I'm going to go read - I just got the new Liz Gilbert book, Committed, and it's quite engaging so far. A nice end to the weekend. Wish they came more often. :)

Just for comparison...

2010-04-23T15:53:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? Here was Annie exactly one year ago today:

She was still in the hospital, and had a feeding tube in her nose, because we couldn't get her to take 30mL (1 ounce) of milk every 3 hours.

And here she is today:

If we've made that much progress in 1 year, what will she be like one year from today??

Will photos always be immortal?

2010-04-22T20:17:00.001-04:00

Last night, I finally sent Annie's "first year" picture book to the printers. From the computer screen, it looks beautiful. I hope it'll be as nice when I receive the actual thing.

I wonder how digital photography will withstand the test of time. It's such a different medium than anything we've had before. The big difference is that people aren't printing their photos very much anymore. Jim and I have a goal of printing out a "yearbook" every year - a bound book with all our photos from the year. It should be a much more efficient way to print out our photos. But I wonder how that will be later. What if we want to pull out one photo from an album to show someone? What if there's one photo that I take a liking to later, and want to print out a copy, or even an enlargement to frame? I guess I'm in luck if I can still find the digital file. But will we still keep all our digital files for years and years?

Think about it. How many old photo negatives do you have? (I actually have quite a few, including some from about 100 years ago, but that's another story). I worry that it will be burdensome to save all the files over time, because it's a technology, not a photograph that you can hold in your hand. Technology gets old. Will these files stand the test of time, or will we have to keep transferring them into the next technology, sort of like those old films and videos from our childhood? I keep meaning to get our wedding video transferred onto DVD, but it's such a hassle. Will that be the same for our digital photos?

I have photos from 130 years ago. They have lasted this long. Some of them are printed on tin and are thus pretty scratched. Most are faded, and I don't know who everyone is in all of them. But they made it. Sure, I've scanned in all those photos so they'll "survive" in the new medium too. It's much easier to share them that way too. But I wonder if in the end, those hard copy photos will outlast digital too. They've outlasted slides and video and every other technology.

I guess the answer is to be sure to print out those photos, even if it's just in book form. Embrace the new technology, but be a little wary of it too. And I'll probably keep a little photo album of a few hard-copy photos too, just my favorite ones, so that maybe someone else will be looking at them in 130 years.

Highlights of the party

2010-04-17T22:03:00.000-04:00

1) There was a lot of pizza and cake. We still have a lot of pizza and cake leftover. Annie likes pizza and cake. And whole milk - lots of it.

2) One of the neighborhood kids, who I didn't know before today, crashed our party. It was kind of funny. He just played with the other kids. Including him, I believe we had 12 kids total.

3) I'm glad we waited to buy Annie toys and clothes for the spring until after the party. :)

4) We live in this awesome neighborhood where everyone looks after everyone else. Our whole neighborhood was here today. They are just wonderful. Click here for a very short video from when we were opening gifts.

5) I didn't take a lot of photos. Too much going on, and I was holding Annie for a large part of the party. But other people took photos, and they'll share with me soon.

6) Annie is a whole year older! She has made so much progress, especially over the last month! I can't wait to see what's next.

Party To-Do List

2010-04-17T07:41:00.000-04:00

April showers bring May flowers, so based on our weather today, we should have some pretty nice May flowers! Yes, it is party day and it is raining. And there will be 12 kids and their parents at our house this afternoon. And the kids can't go outside to play. Ack. Actually, this is almost the same as our Halloween party, and it went great.

On our "to-do" list is to take inventory of our paper products. Several years ago, we got about a zillion paper plates as a wedding anniversary present, because that was the anniversary in which you're supposed to receive "paper." We never used up all the plates, and now here we are, probably 7 or 8 years later, with the same plates in our pantry. So, if they're not already used up, I think we'll use them today.

We also need to pick up the cake from Fratelli's. We got a half-and-half cake, half chocolate, half vanilla, with chocolate frosting. We could order a cake that served 20-25 people, or that served 40-50 people. We got the larger cake, but we'll probably have a lot of leftovers. But, in the past, leftover cake has frozen well.

We also (finally) need to buy a baby gate for the stairs. On Thursday, I put Annika in her room to play while I showered. When I finished showering, I opened the bathroom door, and she was sitting right outside the door. About a foot from the stairs too. It looks like there are about a hundred different types of gates you can get. I just want one that I don't have to keep putting up and taking down all the time. I've seen ones that stay in place, and then there's a little door that you use to enter and exit the room. We need some of those.

As I write, Annika is scooting around on the floor, carrying around a wine bottle cork that she found in the recycling bag. It's very counter-intuitive what will keep her interested and happy!

And to end, I'll leave you with a photo from her birthday:

We can tell that she already likes the "cake" part of having a birthday!

1 year birthday

2010-04-14T08:27:00.000-04:00

Today, Annika is one year old!!! It's a bright, sunny, spring day.

A year ago, I was still being monitored. I had talked the nurses into allowing me to eat something, and around 7am, I had a veggie and hummous sandwich - really, I didn't care at that point. I just wanted to eat anything. We were told that we would be discharged at noon so we were waiting, waiting, waiting ... I had to go to Immigration the next day for an interview, and called my office to say that I would be in the next day, and asked someone to prep the client for me. I called my mom and said that we'd be leaving the hospital soon.

But we were getting mixed signals from the hospital. The nurses seemed to think we were leaving at noon. However, whenever a doctor would come in to check on me, he/she seemed concerned about the pattern in which Annie's heart rate would drop whenever I had a contraction. I wasn't sure what this meant. Would I have to sit and be monitored forever? What about my hungry stomach?

At 10:30, all doubts about my staying at the hospital were dispelled. I was sitting in bed, talking to Jim, when Annie's heart rate number literally dropped in half. I wasn't sure I was understanding the number correctly, so I put on my call light and asked the nurse to come in. The next thing I knew, the room was filled with doctors and nurses. There was a anesthesiologist looking down my throat to see if he could put a tube in. They put me on my side and put an oxygen mask over my mouth. Annie's heart rate came back up, but I knew that I would not be leaving the hospital any time soon.

Over the next hour, the doctors tried to figure out what to do with me. For a while, they considered making me stay long-term for monitoring. They spoke with a senior doctor who said that, given that I was at 35 weeks and the baby would probably be a good size and would survive, it was time to deliver the baby, and the delivery would have to be by C section because Annie was not tolerating the contractions. The risk of leaving her inside, without knowing why her heart rate was dropping, and without knowing the status of the placenta, was too much. They told us their decision, and we agreed, pretty shell-shocked. We spoke with the NICU to find out how difficult this was going to be for Annie. It sounded like there could be complications, but she would probably be OK.

They gave Jim scrubs, prepared me for surgery, and wheeled me into the operating room about 20 minutes after they told us that they had to deliver the baby. That's how fast it was. Annie was born at 1:26pm:

Annie spent the next 2 weeks at the hospital, but she recovered relatively quickly. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Here's the birthday girl (and her daddy) today:

Happy birthday to our big girl!

Birthday prep

2010-04-13T09:01:00.001-04:00

For Annie's birthday, I asked all the relatives to bring a photo of themselves when they were 1 year old (or so). The hope is that I can then scan all the photos and put them in Annie's "first year" photo book. I also want to add copies of them to this poster, while we'll use as a decoration at the party on Saturday:

I'm lucky enough to already have a lot of photos from my side of the family. Of course, a couple of the older photos are not necessarily of 1-year-olds .... I believe my grandma and Aunt Betty were probably 2 or 3 in those photos, and my dad and Grandma Betty were slightly younger than 1 year in their photos (I think they were both 10 months). But close enough. You do with what you can get.

I'm not a very creative person and the birthday party will probably not get Martha Stewart's approval, either for decorations, fun little games, or food. But this piece will be a little different than most first birthday parties, I think, so who cares what Martha Stewart thinks! :)

One year ago...

2010-04-13T08:13:00.000-04:00

One year ago, at lunchtime, began Annika's birth story. It's amazing how much can happen in 1 year. So let's see, a year ago this morning, Jim and I went to look at a day care in Marina Bay. Then Jim dropped me off at work. I was supposed to have a hearing at 3:30, the end of a very long, contentious asylum case. This hearing was the last one I accepted before my maternity leave - I had decided that April 15 would be the cut-off day. I would request a continuance for any hearing beyond that date.

I worked through the morning, and then stepped out to pick up a sandwich at my favorite sandwich shop, Cosi. They have one sandwich there that literally got me through my first trimester - it was one of the only things I could stomach. I was supposed to meet with my boss after lunch to discuss my maternity leave. Since I had announced my pregnancy, my boss had been telling me that they didn't know if they would be able to take me back after my maternity leave, but would try to keep me around until I had the baby. So this would've been an interesting discussion. I was not expecting Annie for another 5 weeks. My baby shower had been 1 week before, and gifts were strewn all over the room that would become Annie's room. Jim was putting the finishing touches on the cradle.

Coming back from lunch, I was crossing the street and a car was coming. The car stopped to let me pass, and as I stepped off the curb, somehow I lost my balance and fell into the street, right on my stomach. I stood up, brushed myself off, and realized that pregnant women aren't supposed to fall like that. In fact, I had been terrified of falling all winter, and had bought special clamps to attach to my winter boots, so I wouldn't slip on the ice. The gravity of the situation sort of came to me in slow-motion. I walked back to my office and called Jim, and then I called the doctor and they told me to come in right away for monitoring. I asked my boss to cover my hearing, and then I took the T to the hospital - it was two stops from where I worked. I still had my lunch in hand. I figured I could eat it at the hospital. I was wrong about that.

The monitoring that was supposed to only last 4 hours extended to 8 hours, then 12 hours. I was having contractions (although I couldn't feel them). Each time I was nearing the end of the monitoring period, Annie's heart rate would drop dramatically. The doctors also began to notice a pattern in which Annie's heart rate would drop during a contraction. They didn't know what was going on. They decided to admit me and have me spend the night. Here's a photo of Jim I took at the hospital, as I was being monitored:

It's so obvious from this photo that we had no idea that we would become parents the next day!

And that is what happened a year ago today. Tune in tomorrow for Part 2 of the story!

Coming back to the present, I've been sick this week, fighting a throat infection that has had a variety of uncomfortable symptoms. I started the antibiotics yesterday. I hope I'll be feeling somewhat like myself again by tomorrow, so that I can celebrate Annika's birthday. I'm really tired of lying on the couch, but there's not much else I can do. I'm glad we decided to keep a couch in our porch - it's so nice out there in the afternoon, with the sun and the sounds of the neighborhood all around. It's the perfect place for a cat nap, especially if a cat joins me for the nap! Let's hope for good weather and good health this week.

Freyda Siegel's tips for living a long life well.

2010-04-12T13:21:00.000-04:00

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/needham/2009/08/freydas_18_tips_for_living_a_l.html

It's not as easy as it sounds.

Fly Me Away

2010-04-11T15:03:00.001-04:00

Lately, Jim and I have been addicted to this song:

It's "Fly Me Away" by Annie Little, and currently is the music for the commercial for the Kindle. We also like the commercial, but the song is very catchy.

It's party time

2010-04-09T21:48:00.000-04:00

Let the celebrations begin.

The magnolias and daffodils are in bloom and there are tiny leaves on the trees. It must be almost time for Annika's birthday! (I remember coming home from the hospital and feeling like spring had suddenly arrived while I had been in! Everything was suddenly in bloom and it was amazing). We have 1 birthday party per weekend for the next 3 weekends. How cool is that? Tomorrow, we are going to Dedham for a birthday celebration for all the babies in the second new moms' group that I joined (and the one in which I'm still in touch with all the moms and babies). Imagine a birthday party for 10 babies, all turning 1! That will be tomorrow.

Next Saturday is Annika's actual birthday party. We invited some family, all the neighbors, and some other friends. I believe there will be 11 kids coming to the party, not counting Annika. Should be interesting. :) Hopefully the weather will be nice.

And lastly, we will have a party the following weekend for all the babies in the first new moms' group that I joined - back when Annie was only 5 weeks old! I haven't seen most of these people since last summer, so it'll be interesting to see how everyone turned out. It seemed like in that class, all the babies were a lot bigger and more advanced than Annie.

Birthday season is going to be exhausting, I think. We'll want to do this:

But mostly, it'll be fun.

Weekend

2010-04-04T20:18:00.000-04:00

What an amazing weekend. The weather was out of this world. Sunny, blue skies and 80 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. It is amazing how more hopeful about life and the world I am when the weather is nice. Yesterday, we got a ton of things accomplished. The house is actually somewhat organized. All of my cold weather seeds are in the ground (radishes, peas, and 4 kinds of lettuce). I have gained control of the laundry situation again.

Today we relaxed. Annie took a monster 3-hour nap this afternoon - I kept checking on her to make sure she was still breathing. I took a nice nap too. :) We also prepared what turned out to be a pretty nice, if unconventional, Easter meal. We had shish kabobs - Jim cooked lamb for himself, and I marinated portabello mushrooms for me and our friends, who call themselves "flexi-tarians" (but generally do not eat meat). We also had tossed salad, grilled flatbread with hummous, and our friends brought a grapefruit tort type thing, that was quite yummy. We ate in our backyard. No kidding. On Easter!

The weather is supposed to be warm all week. I'm sad that the weekend is over, but glad that it's spring and we have lots more to look forward to.

Easter

2010-04-04T12:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!

Love,
Annika and her mommy and daddy.

Ikea to the rescue??

2010-04-03T20:06:00.002-04:00

Today, as I watched Annika pull things off our TV stand, I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and do some child proofing. Up until this point, we've been able to manage just by placing things out of Annie's reach. But as she gets more mobile, it's getting to be more difficult to do that.

Along comes Ikea. Neither Jim nor I have been big Ikea fans. We felt that it was a good option when you're in college, have no money, and don't care about the quality of what you're buying because you'll just throw it out in a couple of years anyway. But once you're beyond that, and if you're like me and find it hard to throw away anything, it doesn't work. Plus, the lay-out of the store always stressed me out, particularly when there were 2 zillion people there. Most people disagreed with our assessment of Ikea. Back before there was one in the Boston area, a good friend of mine used to travel back to New Jersey, where she was from, just to do an "Ikea run" (and visit her parents). But I also remember using an Ikea water glass at her house and having the thing crack in my hand.

And yet we found ourselves today at Ikea. The truth is that we don't have a budget for new furniture, and our TV stand needed to be replaced. Badly. Like, it should've been replaced a looooong time ago. And it's completely un-childproof-able. It's completely open and Annika could reach in and toss our DVD player on the floor anytime she felt the urge.

The store is about 30 minutes from our house, off of Rt. 3, so it's not like it was a huge investment of time to go there. We were very pleasantly surprised. We picked out the TV stand we wanted right away. It comes with doors that lock - perfect for child proofing. And the price was remarkably low. Then we got lunch at their cafeteria, and sat at this table next to a window with the sun pouring in. Annika even enjoyed a meatball and some mac and cheese. Here she is in the cafeteria, in her ultra-modern, Ikea high chair, playing with my empty bottle of "sparkling pear juice":

I was amazed at how child-friendly the whole place was. They have special "family friendly" parking, and they actually sell jarred baby food in their cafeteria. They also have a pretty nice-looking play area (for kids a little older and more mobile than Annika).

In addition to the TV stand, we picked up a Puong chair for my office at work (I need a more comfortable chair for reading cases and such), and a little wooden toy for Annie, as an Easter gift (since the whole Easter basket doesn't work so well when you can't eat candy or chocolate yet). I was amazed at Ikea's wooden toys for kids. They have whole train sets, like Jim had as a kid, and they are amazingly affordable. Solid wood too.

Jim assembled the TV stand this afternoon. It looks great, and everything is so organized inside. We should've done this a long time ago. I'm just amazed at how easy it was. Usually it takes us months to purchase furniture, and it's a painful, hassle-ridden process (ie: read my prior posts about our crib purchase). I guess, in the end, it's all about motivation, and then sometimes you just get lucky.

Easter traditions

2010-04-02T07:19:00.000-04:00

It's Good Friday, and today we were supposed to be in Buffalo and heading to Cleveland to celebrate Easter with my grandparents. Because we had to go into Buffalo last month suddenly, we couldn't make the Easter trip. It was certainly the right decision to go into Buffalo last month, but I'm sad that we're spending Easter by ourselves and not with my grandparents and mom. Growing up, we often went to Cleveland for Easter and I have nice memories. It's a good opportunity to visit family.

So this weekend is about finding our own "traditions," a common theme during our time here in Boston. The question, of course, is whether we should try to duplicate what we ourselves did while we were growing up, or whether we should just go with the flow and create traditions out of whatever happens. In some ways, I think it is impossible to duplicate old family traditions, because it's impossible to repeat things that have already happened with people who are far away or gone all together. But I suppose there are some things we can duplicate - the Easter basket, dressing up in nice clothes, a nice dinner, perhaps going to a church service of some sort.

In a way, our "tradition" for Easter when we spend it in Boston has been pretty low-key. I'd have never believed it when I was a little kid, but when you're an adult, the Easter Bunny doesn't have the same allure! And going out and buying a frilly dress to wear to Easter mass and brunch just doesn't happen. But now we have Annie, so perhaps some of those traditions will come out of hiding. It's as if there's a clean slate at the moment, since we haven't ever done anything special for Easter when it's just been us in Boston. It's imposing. At the moment, we spend just about every holiday there is in Buffalo, so we don't have a great track record of creating our own traditions. That's going to have to change as Annie gets older, so I guess Easter is a good start. I don't want the only tradition she knows to be getting in a car and going somewhere else.

We are having friends over for dinner, and this is the second year that we've had dinner with them on Easter. Last year, Easter dinner was my last real meal before I had Annika. I went into the hospital the next day. I remember coming home from the hospital the following Saturday and still seeing the cooling racks on the counter from when I had made cupcakes for Easter dinner. It was a bizarre experience, because it seemed so long ago. This year, I think we're going to cook out shish kabobs on the grill.

Today the weather is going to be beautiful. I'm hoping to get outside with Annika, and I'm also hoping to put together a little Easter basket for her.

Weekend thoughts

2010-03-28T21:39:00.000-04:00

Some thoughts about the weekend:

1) Ferris Bueller's Day Off is still funny, even though it's now 25 years old. We were pretty sure it was going to be one of those movies that was really funny back in the day, but has now aged considerably and is just stupid. But no. It's actually still a really good movie. I'm glad we watched it.

2) Annie has a really funny book called "Yummy, Yucky," by Leslie Patricelli. It has pictures of things that are yummy and yucky. (ie: Soup is yummy. Soap is yucky). However, I think Annie should write her own book. Here's how it would go: Newspaper is Yummy! Squash is yucky. Random crumbs that I find on the floor are Yummy! Sweet potatoes are yucky.

3) Last weekend felt like summer. This weekend felt like winter. We went out to lunch today with a friend, and had to put Annie back in her full bear fleece winter suit for the walk in the stroller. But at least it was sunny. Tomorrow we're supposed to get up to 5 inches of rain. There are parts of Quincy that are going to be under water, I think. The flooding is really bad. And April, with its showers, hasn't even started yet.

4) For some reason, I've always loved photo booths. I remember taking photo-booth photos at Crystal Beach when I was in middle school with Laurie and some long-forgotten friends. Photo booths feel very old-fashioned, and always seem to capture a moment in a way that regular photos do not. Well, I found a photo booth at a mall on Friday.

So much fun.

5) This week, we are going to a play date in a pool! A Hilton in Dedham lets people use their pool for a small fee. So, instead of the Y this weekend, Annie and I are going there to go swimming with Annie's baby friends and my mom friends.

Good night!

A picture says 1000 words

2010-03-20T10:32:00.000-04:00

Nothing else to say!

Disclosure - The government tries to do some good

2010-03-17T20:58:00.001-04:00

In the face of all this health care nonsense it was nice to see a US Senate bill that tries to do the right thing brought up in Congress. Recently the Washington Post reported on a Senate addendum to the bill that funds the FAA. The addendum would require Airlines and Travel agents to list and disclose all possible Fees when selling airline tickets [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022505196.html ].

This is an excellent example of good government in action: requirements for transparency and regulatory truth in advertising with the government reacting to a recent trend in consumer behavior.

First, why do airlines all of a sudden have so many fees? The answer is simple: Expedia. Most people over the last few years have switched away from travel agencies (or calling airlines directly) to purchasing travel tickets on-line. Even corporate travel has moved this way, what used to be a call to your corporate travel agent is now some typing on your computer "www.travelocity.com" (etc.). The internet has built the bazaar for the travel industry. Previously by calling airlines or travel agents you were privy to only the prices for the airline, or the airlines (only a few) the travel agent dealt with. With limited information you could only make irrational choices. For example, 10 years ago when trying to get a cheap ticket to Madrid I was told the cheapest ticket AAA could offer was 1500 USD, but after calling about 10 airlines I got down to 500 USD. Crazy eh? Today, I can be reasonably sure I get the best deal by going on one of several web pages.

However, with the convenience of the web comes the sad fact that people really don't fly their favorite airline, they fly the airline which comes up on the first row under "cheapest." As a result, each airline squeezes their prices to the bare minimum by stripping out bits of the old ticket and charging extra. Squeezing a few pennies out of the fare can mean the difference between being #1 on the list, and being #200. The only reason they don't charge more for the seat is you can't opt to fly without one.

All of this is progress, and prices have come way down. However, for those of us who travel with luggage most of the time or who want to switch flights at the last minute (etc), we get nailed for some fee that we never saw coming after we have already booked the flight and are standing up at the airport. The Senate bill to require airlines to list possible costs is an action which levels the playing ground and puts more information in the hands of the consumers so they can make rational choices when purchasing tickets. This effort is similar to efforts by governments to require restaurants to post the contents and caloric value of their food. You can still enjoy the 1K calorie big Mac, but you know what you are getting before you eat it. Rational decision making in an open environment, with airlines it means passengers on a tight budget can get the dirt cheap tickets with no frills, or people with a bit more money to spare can buy the ticket that they want too... but still know what they are getting into upfront.

From an economic perspective this makes sense, the Government isn't putting their finger on a scale and hindering an open market. They are just making sure the market is really open; If you want to smoke in your own home that's fine, just note you are probably shortening your life. That's OK with me, it's your life.

Government regulation which puts a big fat Government finger on the scale.... that's not always a good idea.

St. Pat's

2010-03-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

We had a busy St. Patty's day. And yes, Annika did wear green. However, I couldn't find my "Erin Go Braugh" t-shirt that my dad picked up for me years ago at the Salvation Army. I think I might've given it away! Always thought it was a little useless, since it was short-sleeved, and who ever wears short sleeves on March 17. Well, I did today. It was in the 60's here. Perhaps the best weather for March 17 that I ever remember.

We started out at our new "Water Babies" swim class. The timing of it, 9:30, is not ideal since it's nap time. But we threw caution to the wind today in the nap department. (Let's see if we pay for it tonight). We had a very nice swim class, learned some new songs, and started teaching Annika a little about water safety. When she jumps into the water (with help from Mommy), I am supposed to make sure that she turns around and grabs the wall. The swim instructor said that most kids who drown do so near the wall of the pool, after falling in. She said that the hope was that if the child knows to grab the wall, she's less likely to drown. I'm not sure I totally buy it, but I'm OK teaching Annika that.

After the swim class, we went to a play date in W. Roxbury. Luckily, Annie did not get pushed over again, like at the last play date! (The little girl who did that, twice, was not there today). Annie got to visit with her baby friends and we talked about the birthday party that we're putting together for all the kids, which is going to take place in a few weeks at a health club in Dedham.

After that, we rushed home because I was hoping I could get Annie to go down for a little nap so I could eat lunch, take a shower (was feeling icky after being in the chlorinated pool), and have a little down time. Annie did most of her sleeping in her car seat, as luck would have it. I did get about 30 minutes out of her in the crib.

This afternoon, I cooked mushroom stroganoff, and we hung out with the neighbors for a while. It was so warm out! Felt like the end of spring, rather than the beginning! All my crocuses are in bloom! I love them.

When Jim got home from work, we drove over to Houghs Neck to meet with a new day care provider. And after that, we went to DQ for some ice cream! :) (yes, even before we ate dinner). It was definitely a DQ day.

I'm now off to read a good-night story to Annika, and plan on filing the taxes tonight. An absolutely loaded day.

The Problem with Health Care: a Response

2010-03-14T20:46:00.002-04:00

My previous article didn't discuss the problem with the US Health Care System, it only stated there was a problem and moved on. However, reading the comments posted by AFuss I thought it would be good to ask the question: "What is wrong with the US Health Care System?"

I think it can be taken as a truism that the US Health Care System (as a whole) is somewhat broken. It appears people from both sides of the political spectrum agree on that. Exactly how it's broken is somewhat up for debate, and how to fix it is up for even more debate. This post will not address how to fix it, rather discuss the problem itself.

When looking at what is broken, there are several aspects to consider (among others which I will not address):

1) what is the goal of the health care system -- For example, is the goal of the system to provide coverage for the rich only? Or is the system's goal to provide coverage for everyone? and to what level? Should the system provide free plastic surgery for everyone? etc...

2) does the nation have the material (including human and physical capitol) required to fix it. IE, do we have the goods required to implement the needs of #1?

First off, I would argue two central points:

A) question #1 (above) is subjective and there exists not even close agreement among the national body. Even when there is broad agreement there is a devil in the details. For example, I believe that it should be our goal to provide a basic level of health care for everyone in America. I think many people agree with this. However, I would speculate that there is broad disagreement about what "Basic" is.... does it include face lifts? (okay, probably there s broad disagreement that it doesn't), but what about providing (at government expense) for a triple bypass for a patent that is 104 years old and already a vegetable? What about one who isn't a vegetable, or one who is 96? Should the country foot the bill? What if the cost is 1 Million dollars and the chance of survival is 0.0005? What if the chance of survival is 0.3?

B) I believe #2 is true, for basically any definition of question #1. By this I mean that any definition you arrive at for #1, the US has the resources to provide it at *some* (unspecified cost). This is different than, lets say Cuba, where the doctors are perhaps very good but there is very little cutting edge technology. Or Nigeria, or perhaps most of Europe. Obviously this is arguable but please note that people from broad chunks of the world come to the United States to get treatment when things are dire. They pay through the teeth, but the Saudi Royal family still comes to MGH in Boston. Europe is much closer, but to Boston and NY they go.

Alright, groundwork aside, I am going to hypothosize that "US Health Care is broken, not because the quality of care offered is substandard, but because many people in the US can't get the high quality of care available in the US because they can't afford it." Read this another way: "The care available to those with money in the US is second to none, but that care is not broadly available to the lower middle class."

A few side notes about the above:

1) There is very good care available to the extremely poor through medicaid (Government health care).
2) There is a gap between the middle (or perhaps upper middle) class, and lower middle class in terms of health care. For those in the country who have health care coverage, life is pretty good. A huge chunk of the country gets health care coverage from their employers and the coverage they get is typically pretty good.

Let me add another part to the overall problem. Not only is there a chunk of the population without coverage, but there is also a chunk of the population who has coverage, but pays quite a bit for it. So the problem is two fold, some people don't have good coverage, and some who do (those believe that 15k a year isn't pocket change) struggle to pay for it.

Are you with me? Do you agree? I think a huge chunk of Democrats do agree with my statements above. You don't actually need to agree on a strict answer to question #1 to agree with this.

Let me take it one step further and reword my argument: "Good health care is too expensive." Yes, my argument is 100% that health care is too expensive. If you could buy the same health care Donald Trump gets for himself for $1 a year, do you think anyone would complain? So its really the cost that's the problem. Cost is why lots of American's don't have health care. We can even take this further: If you don't have a good answer for #1, its still just a matter of money. If we had unlimited money, we could provide the top level care for everyone just as long as we agree that quality care is possible in the US (question #2).

Ok, that's the problem. That's also why I completely disagree with AFuss's comment

"I don't think that Democrats side step the issue -- it's just that they don't give the answer most people want to hear. The answer they do give is: the cost is less important to us than the well being of others."

If we take this statement to be true, then we are saying Democrats believe problem isn't price, but rather the Quality of care in the US. IE, even the rich get shitty care in the US. But, that argument is problematic because rich people come to the US for health care! So there must be really good health care here, at least for the people with money. It brings me back around to the problem being that many people can't afford the care the rich people get. And if you believe that then the *whole* problem is cost.

AFuss seems to agree with my premise that costs will go up. Additionally, costs will go up for everyone who currently has an insurance plan. Mind you, my argument was not that taxes will go up for everyone, it was that everyone who currently has private insurance will now pay more. Actually, anyone who has public insurance will also pay more, but lets not argue that now: thats a much bigger topic. That means people in the mid, to upper middle class will now have to pay more for insurance. That also means the cut off for the afford /can't afford decision will now go up and more people will be uninsured. And that makes the problem worse.

11 months

2010-03-14T20:44:00.000-04:00

Annika is 11 months old today. Wow! Here she is with her Aunt Laurie:

We spent much of today in the car, driving back to Boston. It is raining hard here, due to the Nor'easter. Tomorrow is supposed to be better. Hard to believe there's only a month left before Annie becomes a 1-year-old.

Twin Mistakes: The US Health Care Debate and the Euro

2010-03-13T19:52:00.013-05:00

I have been spending my spare time reading and following the European Debt debacle. Everyone saw it coming, they saw it coming before the Euro was created. Greece begged to be part of the Euro, it was very good for Greece in the beginning. Now they are stuck and there is no way out. Anyhow, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about how the Euro and the US Health Care debate are related. Both the Euro and US Health Care reform are parts of a good idea, but both will fail because in both cases there is no way to implement the whole idea; In both cases partial implementations lead to worse state than inaction and therefore neither should happen (or have happened).

First I will discuss the problem of the Euro. This topic has many books written on it, so I will be brief. In essence, Monetary Union strips individual European Governments of any monetary policy tools (such as managing inflation, or devaluing currency). In essence the European Central Bank is responsible for a central Monetary Policy which is applied to Europe as a whole and national banks are neutered. The problem is that good economic management require complimentary Monetary and Fiscal policy. Europe doesn't have a consistant Fiscal Policy; there is no central Fiscal Policy body while there is a central Monetary body (ECB). In short, Europe (parts of it) will continue to have major problems until there is a uniform and consistant Fiscal and Monetary policy for Europe. This is the case with the United States (also a Monetary Union): though Michigan is screwed because it can't devalue its currency, it does have Fiscal transfers from the federal government to prevent the starvation of its citizenry.

This European problem was well understood at the time of the forming of the Euro. The original advocates of the Euro also wanted a more powerful European Government, they wanted the central Fiscal Policy. However, that never happened. It was a pipe dream. There were many Europeans who dreamed of a United States of Europe with common Monetary/Fiscal and Foreign policy. Those leaders envisioned several steps to a grander union. In fact, I think they thought getting the Euro (the carrot) first would make it much harder for Europeans to reject the grander United States of Europe plan. That's the rub: integrated Fiscal Policy was always difficult, it involves pain and getting trans European consensus would always be hard. Getting a common Monetary policy was easier (it was hard to convince Germany) but peripheral nations would realize more benefits than detriments. With the exception of Germany, no European country really had a stable currency and all benefited with joining with Germany. However, people did reject it, and a tighter integration looks impossible now. But everyone is still stuck with the common Monetary Policy. And Greece is screwed, in fact they are all screwed.

How does this relate to the US Health Care Debate? Well, lets start with a few facts and take them as tautological.

1) US Health Care is broken --pretty much everyone agrees to this and I don't dispute it.
2) Any plan that imposes more requirements on any insurance plan will raise the price of the insurance plan as a whole.
3) All the plans proposed in congress (House and Senate) impose more requirements on insurance plans. The largest of which is the requirement that insurance plans can't drop someone once they sign up.

Items 2 and 3 mean prices are going up for those of us with insurance. I think everyone knows this. If you don't, spend some time thinking about it. The real question is not if prices will rise, it is "Is the extra cost worth it?" The republican's say no, and the democrats side step the issue and propose taking the extra money from rich people (or some group other than the people they are talking to at the moment). The truth is, if you are not getting your insurance from the government (like getting it from your employer) you are about to be screwed. Rates will skyrocket on the bill's passage. If you are getting it from the government (and even if you aren't) your taxes will go up, or the national debt will go up, or both. Chances are you will loose your insurance if you work for a small company, or have to pay more out of pocket if you work for a large company.

Please note, it doesn't matter if you think the requirements imposed on the insurance companies are good or bad. Either way, you are going to pay more. If you think the requirements are good, then that's good for you, maybe you think its OK to pay more. Either way, you pay more. Read it, believe it, this is well established economic fact.

Okay, how does this related to the European Economic Union? These changes to the US Health Care system will make things worse without OTHER required changes. Mostly the changes required are either to a single payer system with massive government transfers (mostly from the young to the old) or significant rationing, or a much higher percentage of American's without insurance. There are also other cost cutting measures like liability limites, or price caps. Both of these have problems of their own.

You say this is great if you are a supporter of a single payer system. I think some of these supporters realize passing these health care bills now will cause more pain, but that the pain will force people to embrace a government single payer system. Here is the rub, the fix will never make it through congress, its DOA. The current bills will just raise costs, with none of the required long term solutions; much like the Euro, this is half of a plan. And just like the Euro the political climate is changing and all that will be passed is the easy half of Health Care Reform. The effort to pass the first bill has sucked all the air out of Washington. There will be no way for anyone to change anything after this bill. Not for many years, not until the pain is even greater. You will feel it, and its going to hurt. There will be no medicine for many years.

Corning and points beyond

2010-03-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

After a short, last minute detour for two days in Buffalo, we have made it to Corning, NY at last. My sister is blowing glass at the Corning glass museum for 3 weeks to audition for a job as a glass blower on a cruise ship. Since this meant that she was on the East Coast for the first time since October, we decided to come see her.

Today was genealogy day. My father's family lived in this area for most of the 19th century, and so today we all piled into our car (my mom, sister, Jim, Annika and I) and went graveyard hopping and old house hunting. We found a graveyard that was built on land donated by my great-grandmother's great-grandfather, who was also a Revolutionary War soldier. We found his grave, along with many, many other relatives in the 3 graveyards we visited in Barton, Ellistown, and Elmira. We also found my grandfather's childhood home in Elmira on W. Clinton Street, near the corner with Davis Street. I can't believe we found it. I only have one photo of it, from approximately 1906, and we found it based on that photo and a mention in a wedding announcement of the name of the street where he and his family lived. We drove up and down W. Clinton Street (a major street near Elmira College), and suddenly a house caught my eye. I took a few photos, not sure if it was the right one. Then, when we got back to the hotel, I compared it with the photo I uploaded to Flickr, and it's very clearly the same house. At this point, the house is in pretty rough shape. We also learned that Elmira College tore down the house where my grandfather's parents lived, on Davis Street.

Other highlights: we drove by the "Bare Facts," a very classy "gentlemen's club" somewhere on Rt. 17 in between Barton and Waverly. It was in a not-so-glorified trailer, and was located just down the street from the dilapidated "Cat's Pajamas" bed-and-breakfast inn. Makes you wonder how business is these days. This area is very rural and quite depressed at this point. There are lots of farms, silos, open land, and old houses that are either abandoned or have not been cared for in a long time. In the cities, the architecture is mostly Victorian, and the houses, though often in bad shape, are beautiful examples of Victorian architecture. Of the cities, Corning seems to be in the best shape, probably because they still have an industry here that keeps people employed.

Yesterday, Annika went swimming for the first time, in the pool at the hotel where we're staying. She seemed to like it, although at first, she didn't know what to make of it and held on to me tightly. After our swim, we went to dinner at "the Gaffer" bar and grille (gaffer is another name for a glass blower). It was really nice, and Annika met a new friend, a little boy named Trent (nickname: Trotter), who was 18 months old. Annika spent all of dinner turned around in her high chair, starring at Trotter.

Tomorrow we hope to see the glass museum before we head back to Boston, and hopefully some normalcy after some pretty difficult weeks.

Respite

2010-03-08T21:28:00.000-05:00

What a bummer the last few weeks have been. First we found out one family member had a mild stroke (with no apparent side effects). Then I went into Buffalo for that memorial service for our family friend. Then Jim's grandmother had a very significant stroke and is in the hospital as I write this with unknown prognosis.

OK. So lots of sad things going on. Thus, we need a happy baby picture. This one is what happens when you mix a baby with blueberry pancakes and prunes.

You can't help but smile when you see that.

A long life?

2010-03-04T20:04:00.000-05:00

A long time ago, my dad told me that he would never want to live to be 90 years old. I think this was when my grandmother was 90 and was struggling with dementia. She was in a nursing home and was always confused and sad. Her quality of life had diminished greatly.

While I could understand why he said it, I always dismissed his statement, telling him that it would be great to live that long. Think about all the changes you get to see! Sometimes, you get to meet your great-grandchildren! You get to enjoy retirement! Go on lots of trips! Part of my excitement was that when you're 22, you can't imagine in any non-abstract way that someday your life is going to stop. There's just too much ahead and too much to look forward to.

I have revisited this issue many times. Dad's statement turned out to be prophetic, when he died at age 61. It was with grief that I thought about how Dad would never live to be 90, never get to meet his grandchild(ren?) (let alone great-grandchildren), never get to enjoy retirement. Then, our neighbor died recently at age 95. She did actually get to meet her great-grandchildren. But she also lived through the death of her husband, all of her friends and, truly, her generation. She was blind and going deaf. In some ways, she was still happy - she retained her quick wit and her sense of humor. She lived in her own home, near her daughter, and saw her nearly everyday. But I think she was still sad and lonely.

So I return to the question. I suppose it's somewhat insignificant to wonder about it, since in the end, you really can't choose how long you live. But is it better to be the last to go, and follow the lives of the younger generations? Is it good to be the one who tells the stories about all the people and places that are long gone? Is it possible to be happy, if that ends up being your lot?

Last minute trip to Buffalo

2010-03-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely visit to Buffalo this weekend. The purpose of the trip was to attend the memorial service for my parents' long-time neighbor and friend, who lived to age 95 and sadly died a week ago. Her daughter is my mom's best friend and someone whom I think of as family. There were lots of my parents' neighbors at the memorial service and it was interesting to see people that I hadn't seen since I moved away to college over 15 years ago.

Annika did quite well on the plane trip. I was pretty apprehensive because I was traveling by myself and while Annie is generally Miss Mellow Yellow, she will occasionally have melt-downs, particularly when she's thrown off her schedule. But she did really well. She was patient even though the flight was over an hour delayed. She practiced standing, and she played peek-a-boo with a lady that was sitting in the waiting area nearby. Then she slept through the whole flight.

But the changes in scenery eventually got to her - trying to sleep in three different cribs, seeing all kinds of people, etc. The second day, as usual, was the tough day, as that always seems to be the day when all the changes really sink in. But she did relatively well on the flight home (although I don't recommend using the airplane's bathroom changing table unless you absolutely have to - it is about 1 foot by 1 foot and has a weight limit of 25 lbs ... unfortunately, in our case, our usage of it was not optional). Annie fell asleep as the plane landed in Boston, and was so sound asleep that I was able to move her from on my chest to the plane seat (to put on my coat), to back on my chest, then I carried her off the plane, then transferred her onto a seat in the waiting area (to open up her stroller), then strapped her into the stroller and she didn't even stir. I think she was quite happy to finally get home and sleep in her own crib last night.

Annika got to visit lots with her grandmas and her cousin Maddie, who was so excited to see Annika! Maddie just wanted to give her hugs and kisses, but Annika was a little shell-shocked from the drastic changes in her schedule, routine, and the people she was seeing.

In the end, she had fun playing with Maddie, particularly once we visited Maddie at her apartment. It was a good weekend - we got a lot of visiting in, considering how short the trip was. Annie's next road trip is in two weeks, when we drive to Corning, NY to visit Laurie.

Vroom, vroom

2010-02-25T09:49:00.000-05:00

I never understood the allure of those ridiculous "stroller"-type things that you can rent in the mall when you forget your own stroller. The ones at the South Shore Plaza look like red racing cars. But seriously? Annie thought it was cool. She held onto the steering wheel the whole time, as if she was taking a Sunday drive.

It was probably the fact that it was something new, instead of that boring old stroller that Mommy and Daddy always put her in. The other thing I realized is that while previously I thought that no one in her right mind would actually rent these things, in truth, a lot of parents use them. I even saw one poor woman trying to push two of them around - one for each kid. I guess when you don't have kids and you're not paying attention, you don't realize just how many red cars are speeding around the mall!

And speaking of "something new," Annie will be taking her second ever plane trip this weekend ... we're in Buffalo for a whirlwind visit to attend a memorial service.

Albany for lunch

2010-02-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

Jim and I have a tradition with our Aunt D., who lives in Buffalo. A couple of times a year, we meet in Albany (D. takes the train and we drive) and we go out to lunch. Albany is not exactly half-way, but it sort of feels like it is, since it's right on the New York - Mass. border. We always go to the Albany Pump Station, a brewery and restaurant. It's a nice, open space with good food and service. We eat lunch, then we go back to the train station and visit. We've been known to play some cards, drink hot chocolate, or just sit and talk. Then D. gets on the next train back to Buffalo and we head back to Boston. It's the closest we get to dropping in on family for lunch, but still being able to go home at the end of the day.

Today we continued the tradition with Annika. We met D. in Albany around noon, went to lunch, then visited at the train station til she had to go home. Here are Jim, D., and Annie in front of the Pump Station after lunch:

It was a lot of fun. Annie really enjoyed seeing D., and D. was very excited to see Annie. The car ride was a new experience too. It was her first long car ride in the new car seat (I think we need to make a few adjustments). But more significantly, Annie is more and more aware of her surroundings. She initiated a game of peek-a-boo during the car ride home - the first time she's done that with me! But she was impatient to be in her car seat. She'd rather be bouncing on Mama's lap. Then she exerted her independence before bed by refusing to take her bottle!

Tomorrow we may go to the Rhode Island Flower Show, and we're having friends over for dinner in the evening. Why do weekends go so quickly??

Snow - for real

2010-02-17T16:08:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, we got the storm that we were supposed to get last week. It snowed all day long and we got probably about 4-5 inches of heavy, wet snow. We would've gotten a lot more accumulation if it had been colder outside. I think most of it melted as it hit the ground.

Was work cancelled? No! (Actually, they did let us out an hour early, which didn't mean much to me because I had gotten there early that morning so that I could leave early to pick up Annie from daycare). Was Jim's school cancelled? No! Was there a "snow emergency" in Boston? No! (And schools weren't cancelled because it's school vacation week here). In other words, Boston freaked out at the storm that never arrived, and ignored the storm that did arrive. Go figure.

The ground having a good coating of snow now, it was a perfect opportunity to take Annie out in the sled. So this morning, we bundled up and went to Houghton's Pond, where we had gone sledding one time earlier in the season.

(Notice that, in this photo, Annie has her very own baby snow ball in the sled with her, so she can defend herself).

Annie made a snow angel:

And was quite interested in the snow:

The drive to and from Houghton's Pond was pretty incredible - a canopy of trees over the road, all covered with snow.

All in all, a day of snow enjoyment before it turns dirty and slushy and is no longer fun for sledding. This is not to say that I don't want spring to come, but since it's February and we're definitely going to get snow, we might as well enjoy it. Hopefully Annie will have inherited her father's love of the cold and snow!

10 Months!

2010-02-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

Our big girl is 10 months today. We went for a walk in the Arboretum. It was brown and gray and dead, but spring felt like it was around the corner sometime.

Later, Annika tried a new finger food - oranges. In this case, in honor of Valentine's Day, it was a blood orange!

Messy, but yummy!

Penguins and valentines

2010-02-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

Today, Annika went to the New England Aquarium and saw penguins.

She is our favorite Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Snow storm?

2010-02-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Blizzard of 2010!

Um, except that it's only raining. Oops. It's about 35 degrees here, which is probably too warm for it to snow. But the whole city of Boston seems to be shutting down. My office closed at noon (not that it would matter, since I'm off on Wednesdays). So I'm assuming that they all know something that I don't know, and that we'll soon have a blizzard.

Why do I want it to snow? Well, I don't really. Except that we haven't gotten much this year, and I'd really like to give Annie more sled rides in her new sled. Plus, I would rather get the snow now than in April.

In good news, the doctor confirmed this morning that Annie's ear infection is finally gone, baby, gone. Also, while we were waiting, I put her on the scale (sans clothes and diaper), because I have to record her height and weight for the 10 month mark coming up on Sunday (for her baby book). Annie is now 20 lbs, 8 oz. She has definitely slowed down in the weight gain department, as she has gained less than a pound from last month. But no cause for concern - she is still her rolly-polly self. :)

We're looking forward to spending the long weekend with my mom, who is coming into Boston tomorrow night til Monday night. Oh, right. I guess that means it's time for me to clean the house!!

Normal-day randomness

2010-02-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

Random fact: Today is Norman Rockwell's 116th birthday. Jim and I have been to his museum and studio in Stockbridge, Mass. (in Western Mass., closer to Albany than Boston). I remember that we went there while I was in law school, and it was in the fall. I needed a break from the books, and this was an easy road trip. While we were there, we saw a special traveling exhibit of all his work that was quite amazing. The town of Stockbridge is also quite beautiful, and his studio overlooks rolling hills, which were especially beautiful while we were there, with the changing colors. I remember looking out over the hills and being amazed that this place was only a couple of hours from our house. I thought that we'd come again soon, but that was 8 or 9 years ago now.

Today Annie and I met a friend for lunch at the Channel Cafe in the Fort Point section of Boston. This is sort of an artsy area of Boston, with old warehouses that have been turned into art studios and condos. The cafe is owned by an artist and feels very trendy - it is well decorated and the architecture of the building is interesting. The food is great, and Annie got to try some of the tuna that was in my salad. It was mixed with lemon juice and capers and I'm not surprised that she liked it! I need to make tuna like that, especially since I have so many lemons on my tree that I'm not sure what to do with them all.

Later, Annie and I went grocery shopping and literally ran into all of our neighbors! Cathy, who used to live next to us and whose son and family now are our next-door neighbors, Larry, from directly across the street, and Sarah, who lives across the street and down a couple of houses (and who was on the phone with Cathy's daughter-in-law as we were all talking!). They were all at the store at the same time as me. Then I ran into this man that I used to walk by on my way to the T stop, back when I took the T to work and had time to walk to the T station. It felt very small-town.

Now Annie is in bed and we've had a pretty typical evening - we had leftovers, watched an episode of NCIS, and now Jim is working on his homework. Time for some reading and my warm flannel sheets!

Organizing

2010-01-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

In the interest of beginning-of-the-year organization, I have started a new quest to scan in all of my old photos. This is going to take a while. I have a lot of old photos. Today I focused one of my wedding albums. It was fun! I hadn't looked at them in a long time. It's funny how long ago that all feels now. The end goal is to get everything saved on a DVD disk and put it in the safe deposit box. Jim has even found a service that does this (the DVD part, not the safe deposit part!). Another idea, after we finish the DVD project, is to print out the photos into small books. Then we can put the photos in storage and save some space. This will take a long time though.

In other good news, we are getting our oil tank removed this afternoon at 4! We thought it was going to be quite costly because frankly, it's going to be a pain in the a$$ to get it out of our basement, particularly since it's still about half full of oil. But our plumber recommended a guy who does it quite cheaply. The sketchy part about it is that I don't know the guy's last name. I know his first name is Richie and I have his cell phone number. But this is the Quincy way. Everyone puts a "y" at the end of everyone else's name, even if you've never called yourself that version of your name, and everyone's pretty trustworthy.

Annika had a follow-up with the dr. today and sorry to say, that ear infection is still there. So she's back on antibiotics for another 10 days. Seriously. We've now been dealing with the stupid cold she got over Christmas and its remnants for a month now. Let's just say that we've gotten to be good friends with the pediatricians and their staff, and I'm able to tell the pharmacist which size syringe I need for the medicine, like a seasoned professional. (She tried to give me another small one that doesn't reach into the bottom of the bottle).

And to end this post on a happy note, I learned today that one of my asylum clients was recently granted asylum in Immigration Court. It's really satisfying when good things happen to really deserving people to whom good things have not historically happened.

Onward and upward!

Driving lessons in Newport

2010-01-24T20:49:00.000-05:00

C'mon for a ride with me, guys!

Watch out!

(I guess we'll have to wait til she can reach the pedals).

Becoming good friends with the plumber

2010-01-21T20:48:00.000-05:00

The bad news: our hot water heater, aged approximately 14, bit the dust this evening.

The good news: Jim was here when it happened. Thus, minimal flooding in the basement. And I'm off tomorrow so I can be here when the plumber comes to replace it.

The bad news: No hot water til tomorrow.

The good news: The plumber is supposed to arrive between 10 and 11, so not a big deal.

The bad news: Water in the basement.

The good news: The basement floor is really clean now!

Jim researched different hot water heating options, including the "on demand" system, where there's no hot water tank and the water is just immediately warmed up as you turn on the faucet. (This is apparently popular in Europe, probably because no one has any space for hot water tanks, and they're supposed to be more efficient). But it sounds like there are a lot of down-sides to that, and we really need something installed quickly (and relatively cheaply). So we're going with the standard hot water tank.

A day of firsts

2010-01-16T21:40:00.002-05:00

Today, Annika had many firsts: her first ride on the T, her first ride in her umbrella stroller, and her first visit to a museum! We went to the Museum of Fine Arts (or, as it's known in Boston, the MFA). Here we are in front of a sculpture of a baby's head:

Annie's much cuter than that baby ... you can also see her doing her new thing - pointing at everything.

The MFA had a special exhibit on the tomb of an Egyptian governor, circa 2000 B.C. Apparently, the MFA had discovered the tomb 100 years ago, in Deir el-Bersha, and investigated it then. Deir el-Bersha is in Middle Egypt, near the town of Minya. We did not go there when we were in Egypt. My understanding is that this area of Egypt has seen some instability in recent years. People used to be able to take a Nile cruise all the way from Abu Simbel or Aswan up to Cairo, but this is no longer a common thing because of unrest in the Minya area. Or at least that was the story in 2006 when we went to Egypt.

Anyway, the MFA had the actual sarcophagi from the governor and his wife, a mummy head, and then all the items that they were buried with. I guess it took the museum 100 years to put together an exhibit on it. It was pretty impressive, although we've seen the various exhibits at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and nothing can compare to those (or seeing the actual tombs of the pharaohs in Luxor!). But overall, it was an exhibit that was well planned, and interestingly, was partially on all the efforts they've made to preserve and restore the articles on exhibit.

After our trip to the museum, we took a walk from the MFA to Copley, and then took the T home. The weather was sunny, clear and in the 40's today. It felt so good to get outside and get some exercise. Tomorrow we're supposed to get some more crappy weather, so I think the plan is to stay in and watch football.

Bubble Gum

2010-01-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

The good news: Annika weighed in at 19 lbs, 11 oz, and is 28 inches long. So she remains in the 75th percentile and is doing great.

The bad news: She still has an ear infection in one ear.

Ugh.

The doctor did not want to give her another injection, because he said that the injections are sort of for emergencies, when the baby is throwing up or there are other reasons that you can't give the medicine orally. If you give the injection too often to the baby, she builds up a resistance to it, and then you can't use it when you really need it. OK, that makes sense. Is there any way to get an antibiotic that doesn't taste like crap?

Sadly, no. Apparently pharmaceutical companies continue to be under the mistaken presumption that all kids, including little babies, love the taste of bubble gum. Seriously, where did this come from? Why not make medicine taste like apples? Or spaghetti? Why bubble gum? I have heard that there are some medicines where, if you pay a little extra, you can get the pharmacy to mix them up in a different flavor. But the antibiotic that the doctor prescribed is not one of those. It comes pre-flavored. And, although the pharmacist assured me that it tasted like raspberry, it actually tastes like bubble gum.

So I brought the medicine home. We're supposed to administer it 2 times a day for 10 days. CVS gave me a bottle that is huge, and the medicine fills up about a quarter of it. Then they gave me a dropper that only fits half way into the bottle. So it takes some real gymnastics to try to get the dropper to the medicine. It'll be even more fun when the bottle is starting to run low.

But, I'm happy to say that Annika took it down without barfing. And then she drank a whole, 7 oz. bottle. So I'm praying that the nausea and vomiting from last time were caused at least partially from the cold she had, and that we won't see it again this time. She no longer has a cold. In fact, I think she's feeling pretty good. She had a good breakfast and actually had several spoonfuls of the Indian food that I ate for lunch. I had Palak Paneer, which is basically a spinach puree, and she gobbled it up, notwithstanding the fact that she won't eat any spinach when we feed it to her from the jar. Of course, this was all before we started the antibiotic, but things are looking positive so far.

And I guess we have a new excuse to eat at our favorite Indian restaurant - because it's the only way we can get Annie to eat her veggies! :)

9 months!

2010-01-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to Annika, who is 9 months old today!

According to her day care report sheet, Annika spent part of the morning being in a band with one of the other babies - she was shaking a rattle and herself all around. :) She had loads of food today - oatmeal and sweet potatoes in the morning, then yogurt and peaches at lunch, and oatmeal and applesauce at dinnertime, along with 4 big bottles! (I think she's catching up from last week). When we came home from day care, we saw that UPS had delivered her new car seat and stroller! So, sadly, her days in her bucket car seat are numbered. I'm sad about this - the bucket is cozy, and it's a really easy way to transport her around. Plus, we don't have to bundle her all up to go outside - we just wrap her in the "Cuddle Babe" that's already in the car seat. But oh well, she'll be safer in the bigger seat and we'll just have to come up with a new system for that.

We have her 9-month visit to the doctor tomorrow. I guess she doesn't get any shots this time. Usually Jim and I go out to ice cream after her doctors visits, but I don't think there are many ice cream places open this time of year! Hopefully we'll have better luck at the 12-month visit, and maybe Annika can share a little with us.

Odd things in the news

2010-01-11T20:31:00.000-05:00

1) Later this month is the special election for the open Senate seat in Massachusetts. We have a Senate candidate named Joseph Kennedy. He is running for Ted Kennedy's seat. Except, he's a libertarian. And he's completely unrelated to Ted Kennedy or anyone else in his family. What a convenient name. How many people are going to vote for him because they think he's related to Ted?

2) Sarah Palin is joining Fox News. Perhaps she will be their Russia correspondent. She can look out her window and tell all the Fox viewers what those Russians are doing. I guess Tina Fey will be making more appearances on SNL.

3) The Attorney General just swore in Massachusetts' first female U.S. Attorney. Seriously? Why has it taken so long for a woman to get this position?

Winter weekend

2010-01-10T14:59:00.000-05:00

Jim's mom is visiting this weekend. Yesterday, we took Annie sledding at Houghton's Pond. Click here for the video. You may have seen photos of Houghton's Pond on this blog a few months ago. It looks quite different in the winter!

We also went to Little Q, a "hot pot" restaurant on Hancock Street in Quincy Center that, sadly, is closing today. The city is demolishing its building, and it lost its lease, so it has to close. It was a nice restaurant - very different from other places around town. We had a nice dinner with the three of us, Mom, and our friends L. and M. The city is building a street that will go right through where the Little Q building is now. I'm sure the street will be nice, but I'll miss the restaurant.

Now we're watching the Patriots get creamed by the Baltimore Ravens, who got 2 touchdowns in the first five minutes of the game. In fact, the Ravens just intercepted the ball again for something like the tenth time. It's pretty embarrassing, actually. I guess the Super Bowl is not in our future this year.

It's cold, and we're staying in this weekend. I have dreams of warm weather, swimming, and the beach ...

Waking up

2010-01-07T07:17:00.001-05:00

So this is weird. Usually at this time in the morning, I'm rushing around, trying to get Annika and myself ready to leave the house for the day. But today, I'm waiting for Annika to wake up. See, she decided that 4:30 would be a good time to take her first bottle of the day. We really, really don't want to get into that routine. Jim started by changing her diaper and giving her a little drink of water. But that didn't help matters. Finally, he gave her half of a bottle (3 oz) and then pressed the "magic button" (the jungle sounds music thing on her crib that will calm Annika down, no matter how agitated she is). It worked - she fell asleep, we fell back asleep. It was all good ... until about 45 minutes later when Jim's alarm went off at 5:45.

These days, getting up feels like I just got hit by a bus.

So when I finally willed myself out of bed, showered, dressed, etc., Annika was still sound asleep! I had breakfast, filled up her bottles for the day ... still sound asleep. I just heard her now.

Wish I could sleep til 7:15. :(

All's clear

2010-01-05T09:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was more of the same. Annika was throwing up her medicine and her bottles and we were getting pretty concerned about dehydration. Jim was home with Annie and I went to work. In the afternoon, we finally decided to check in with her doctor again. They said that if we wanted a follow-up visit, we could bring her right in - Jim called around 4:00 and they said they could see her at 4:45. Awesome.

At the doctor's office, they confirmed that she was dehydrated but not seriously so. They told us to stop with the antibiotic, and they gave her an injection instead. Apparently, the injection has enough antibiotic in it that we don't have to give her anything else. They had her hang around for 20 minutes afterward, just to make sure she didn't have an allergic reaction. But it was fine and then Jim brought her home. She then took a couple of small bottles. The doctor sent Jim home with some Pedialyte, but Annie hates the taste (it's sort of an apple taste, but sweeter than apple juice). We've just been giving her watered-down formula and she is actually taking it without us forcing it on her.

Last night, Annie only woke up once during the night, which sure beats the waking every 2 hours that she was doing the night before. She has a lot more energy this morning, and has taken 2 small bottles (5 ounces and 4.5 ounces). She is taking a nap at the moment. I'm going to try to get her back to her regular schedule today, so that hopefully she'll sleep through the night tonight. I'm taking a sick day today to stay with Annie to make sure that she continues to progress.

What an ordeal. I really, really hope that this is not how it's going to be every time she has to take an antibiotic. I don't think the doctor's office can always just give her an injection like they did yesterday.

And to answer a question from a prior post, I figured out one of the reasons why the doctor prescribed amoxicillin first. It costs $13, total. This is because it's a pretty old medicine and is not under patent any more. Azithromycin is owned by Pfizer and costs $84.99. And I imagine the shot they gave her yesterday costs even more. I'm very lucky to have insurance, because it doesn't make a difference. We paid $10 for the amoxicillin and $10 for the azithromycin. I think amoxicillin is also supposed to be pretty easy on most people's systems ... it's not as strong as the azithromycin. So for a baby, it would make sense to try the amoxicillin first. I'm not sure what we'll do next time though.

Taking Charge ... or not.

2010-01-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

It's the new year. And it's a long weekend. We thought that this would be perfect to take control of our life again. We have so many piles of things that need to be put away, thrown out, or brought to Good Will. We have so many things on our list of things to do, but it feels like we haven't made a lot of progress over the last few months. So this was going to be the weekend to catch up.

Here's what we did: we installed the new car seat, and we organized some stuff in our former office (now Annika's bedroom), where our bookshelves are.

So much for taking charge. Annika has been fighting a cold all week. On Friday afternoon, (yea for New Year's Day) she came down with a low-grade fever. We brought her into the doctor on Saturday, who found that she has an ear infection. The antibiotic that the doctor prescribed, amoxicillin, made Annika sicker. It made her lose her appetite completely and it also made her throw up every time we tried to give her the medicine. This morning, after fighting with Annie to get her to drink a couple of ounces of formula, only to have her throw it up, we called the doctor again and got a different prescription - azithromycin. She only has to take this one for 4 days, instead of 10 days. And she only has to take it once a day, instead of twice of day for the amoxicillin. And it seems to be easier to go down too - it tastes like "cherry" instead of "bubble gum." So things are slowly improving. She is still taking next to no formula, only 2 ounces at a time, and even those 2 ounces are a fight. But we also got her to take some Baby Motrin, which made her feel like her normal self for a couple of hours.

Hopefully, we'll all sleep better tonight. Annika was up every 2 1/2 hours or so for the last couple of nights. We are absolutely exhausted. It's going to be pretty hard to function at work with no sleep. Hopefully Annie's appetite comes back soon. It is really, really difficult when Annie's not drinking anything and we are so worried about dehydration, and yet there is very little we can do to fix the situation. We can shove a bottle in her mouth, but that doesn't mean she's going to drink from it. We can squirt water into her mouth, but there's only so much of that you can do at a time without her choking on it.

So, here we are at the end of our "take charge" weekend, and instead, I feel further behind. Ugh. I also feel that Jim and I are at the bottom of yet another learning curve - the "taking care of a sick baby" learning curve. Parenting is full of these steep learning curves. Let's hope for good health soon, and a respite from these colds that seem to keep coming, one right after another.

New Year's Eve sledding

2009-12-31T15:56:00.000-05:00

Today, we got about 2 inches of snow in the course of a couple of hours. This meant that my office closed even earlier than it was supposed to (at 1 instead of 3). It also meant that traffic was especially crappy coming home. But I got to pick up Annika early from day care and then we went sledding!!

It's been a long time since I had so much fun in the snow! I think Annika had a good time until her hands got really cold ... we have mittens, but they're at day care. I need to bring them home.

Happy new year!!

Post-Christmas reflections

2009-12-30T07:55:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that, in the blink of an eye, Christmas is over. A week ago, we were a couple of hours away from getting in our car and driving in to Buffalo. Here I am a week later, and all that's left are some photographs and these paper bags with gifts all over the floor of the front hall. I sometimes think that the best part about Christmas is the anticipation of it all. Trying to pick out gifts that you think each person will like. Thinking about all the fun things that will happen when we're in Buffalo. Having a busy calendar where we get to see most of the people that we are close to in our lives.

It was certainly a full month. At the beginning of the month I co-moderated a two-day training on immigration basics. Annika got her first two teeth and we had our first "sick visit" to the pediatrician (where we learned that Annika was not sick, just teething). Annika saw her first snow. We picked out a Christmas tree and decorated it. We went to parties at my office, at several friends' houses, and a birthday party for our friends' two-year-old son. In between that, I did Christmas shopping. I finished my class at Isis. And then we had our big 4-day Christmas extravaganza in Buffalo.

As everyone predicted, Christmas is magical when you have a baby. It's also a juggling routine. We did our best to see everyone, but there seemed to be more that we could've done, if only we'd had more time. We missed a party at Jim's aunt's house because we had already left for Boston. We weren't able to bring Annika to some of the festivities because they were past her bedtime. It was hard to tell Jim's grandma that we might not see her again until the spring. I'd like to say that we'll be in Buffalo again this winter, but I just don't see when.

Back to reality, I worked Monday and Tuesday and tried to make some progress on the amicus brief that we're putting together for later this month. I have new lighting in my office (thanks to Jim!), but without windows, I feel like I'm working in a cave. I never know what the weather is like outside, or if the sun is shining. I guess I've been pretty spoiled up to this point - in my last two jobs, I had beautiful, large windows in my work area, looking out on urban Boston.

We have one more holiday party to look forward to. Our next-door neighbors are throwing a new year's eve party. It'll be great because they all have little kids too, and understand that little kids go to sleep early. Plus, they're right next door, so we'll be able to stay at the party longer before we have to bring Annika home for bed.

Happy new year, everyone!

Christmas

2009-12-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

We are keeping busy here in Buffalo over Christmas. I posted some Christmas photos to Flickr. Here's a taste:

Mommy and Annika cuddle up on Christmas Eve morning:

Annie and Maddie as Santa:

With GG Mac:

Both halves of JK Squared:

Merry Christmas to all!

Yea!

2009-12-22T14:43:00.002-05:00

I just got an early Christmas present from the First Circuit!

Yippy!

Ready?

2009-12-22T13:20:00.000-05:00

We are packing up and getting ready for another whirlwind holiday. All the presents are wrapped and stacked in bags. Annika's "lovie" blanket was washed and dried this morning (ready for tonight). Jim got the car washed yesterday, after the car had a run-in with a flock of birds. We decided not to install the new car seat. Annie still marginally fits in the infant seat, and it's better not to mess with a new seat during a long car trip. We'll deal with that when we get back to Boston.

Holidays are a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I always look forward to them. I enjoy seeing family and friends. I enjoy being in Buffalo. I enjoy the traditions that come with the holidays. On the other hand, holidays are tiring. It's a long drive, and once we're there, we often seem to rush around and don't get to actually take things in and digest them. This becomes even more challenging when you thrust a baby into the mix. To some degree, we are different people - we are out of our home context, living out of a suitcase. I have not figured out a way to avoid the big rush. The desire not to rush around conflicts with the desire to see everyone and do everything and cram all those things into the limited time that we are in town. I guess in the end, the desire to cram overcomes the desire to relax.

Snow!

2009-12-20T09:35:00.000-05:00

I was sure that as soon as Boston and the other towns started freaking out and calling snow emergencies and things that the storm was going to turn to rain and make everyone look silly. But no, there's a lot of snow. It started snowing after we went to bed last night, and continues to come down quite hard this morning. Jim is out snow blowing the neighborhood as I write this.

I was going to leave you with a photo, but it seems like I'm not able to upload photos this morning for some reason. Maybe later.

Early Wakings, Cookies, and The Storm

2009-12-19T20:30:00.003-05:00

Here I am, sitting on the couch, with Zeus curled up at my side. Annika has been asleep for about an hour and a half. We ate dinner and watched an NCIS episode. It's a pretty normal evening, but what a crazy day.

We woke up this morning at 4:45 when Annika woke up and was crying. It could have been a number of things - her cold, the dry air caused by the cold and the furnace, hunger, or the reason that you use when you don't have any other reasons: teething. My friend Jen had slept over from babysitting the night before, so she woke up too. We tried everything, and finally after a bottle and some Tylenol, Annie fell back asleep at around 5:30 for about 90 minutes. We sort of fell asleep too.

We got up around 7:30 after Annie woke up again. We fed her and then went out to breakfast at our favorite Quincy diner, the Early American. Then we took Jen back home, went to the grocery store, and then rushed home to make cookies for the cookie swap.

I made pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies. They came out better than expected. I was so paranoid about burning them, that I was worried they weren't going to be cooked all the way through, but they were fine.

We tried to put Annie down for a nap but she was not having it. She completely resisted all of her naps today. I suppose it's difficult for her to sleep with the stuffed up nose and cough, but you'd think she'd be so tired from waking up at 4:45 that she'd want to nap. I know Jim and I wanted to nap!

At 1:15 we left for the cookie swap at J. and N.'s house. It was really, really fun. There were about 10 people there besides us, and everyone brought unusual cookies. We ate a lot of cookies. And amazingly, Annie was great. (We were expecting a melt down). I held her in the Baby Bjorn, and she sampled all of the food - I let her gum some of the cookies and things. One of the women at the party was playing with her and she was laughing and having a good old time. It was a really nice holiday party, without it being an official Holiday Party. This was J. and N.'s first Christmas in the new house and they had a Christmas tree set up in a little bay-window type area in their living room that looked like it was built for a Christmas tree. It was a cozy afternoon and I'm glad we decided to go. I think Annie had fun too.

We got home, played with Annie, and tried to keep her awake until bedtime. Here she is with Jim:

And here she is with Anya the Bear, who is almost as big as she is!

(if you look closely, you can see Annie's two new bottom teeth in this photo!) You'd never guess it from the photos, but aside from a couple of short cat-naps in the car, she did not nap today. I don't know what happened. I hope she sleeps good and long tonight.

And tonight, we are waiting for the blizzard that is supposed to hit right around now. Washington and New York have gotten blanketed with snow, so it looks like we're going to get our share. Thankfully, it's a Saturday night, and we don't have to go anywhere tomorrow. We'll watch the Pats game and wrap presents and have a cozy winter day!

I love weekends

2009-12-17T21:03:00.000-05:00

My reasons for being happy that the weekend is here:

1) We went to a really nice Christmas party at my office tonight, and Jim and Annie got to meet all my new co-workers.

2) Tomorrow evening, Jim and I are going out on our first date since May. We are going out to dinner, followed by the Nutcracker. My friend Jen is staying with Miss Annika for the night. We are going to a different Nutcracker this year. Usually we go to the Boston Ballet performance in downtown. This year, we're going to a production put on by the Jose Matteo ballet company, which is being performed at a theater at Brandeis University in Waltham. My boss' daughter is dancing in the performance. It should be really nice.

3) Cookie swap party on Saturday!

4) Christmas wrapping with awesome ribbon

5) Only a week til Christmas! Only a little shopping left to do, and everything seems to be under control.

8 months!

2009-12-14T18:57:00.000-05:00

Annie turned eight months today.

She was at day care today, and apparently played with green finger paint, because she needed a bath tonight. :) She was so excited by her birthday that she decided to forgo her afternoon nap all together! And dinner too! Birthdays will do that to you. But I think (and hope) she'll sleep well tonight.