My Christmas Spoiler

Today we spent a lot of time wrapping gifts. With Annabelle's help, my mom wrapped a few presents for me while I was busy elsewhere. When I returned to the kitchen they were knee deep in ribbons, tape, and paper. My mom handed Annabelle a few presents to place under the tree... The gifts that weren't for me went to the tree. But when Annabelle was handed a present that she remembered held something for me, she handed it directly to me while telling me what it was for:

"Here momma, knitting."

"Here momma, digging."

"Here momma, shirt."

Oh, my little elf. You make me smile.

Lactating Gorillas at the San Diego Zoo

Today we took a day trip with our good friends to the San Diego Zoo. After Annabelle cuddled with me while we watched a gorilla nursing her young baby we came upon several bronze statues of the zoo's gorillas, and a couple of the females were lactating. Both (recently weaned) girls cuddled right up to the statue with the nursing gorilla baby. It was so sweet and entirely hilarious all at once.

PS Sorry about the light quality of the photos. I don't have access to Photoshop right now...

Pediatric ICU - a whirlwind 24 hour visit!

In the ER, an hour after painfully dislodging the last of three chunks of apple from her blocked trachea, Grampa arrived having just flown in from Mexico. A much needed and fun treat for our sweet girl...

Showing me her IV (big white bandage on right arm) and the red light on her left finger that was tracking oxygen levels... everything is still new and uncomfortable. We are waiting to be admitted to Pediatric ICU for overnight observation.

Getting her vitals checked for admission into ICU. A little scared and extremely tired. The nurse's watch says it's 10pm... She watched two Elmo videos (her first television!) and then passed out and slept all night until the nurse woke us both up at 545am to start her on clear liquids.

Playing with the dancing Christmas penguin in her ICU crib, waiting to be discharged. After three hours of successfully and happily drinking lots and lots of apple juice, she was allowed to try solids. A few hours after happily shoveling big spoonfuls of Grama's homemade chicken noodle soup into her mouth while loudly saying, "MORE NOODLES PLEASE!" between each bite, she took another two xrays to show that there weren't any errant food particles in her lungs that might lead to pneumonia. We were finally allowed to go home.

A word of advice: Get your CPR certification. The ICU doctor congratulated me on being able to save Annabelle from something much worse by successfully performing CPR on her. The Red Cross offers four hour training classes that are worth the small price they charge. Make time to learn this important information!!

Bath time

Our yard :: a fungal microcosm

Thanksgiving Weekend

Over the holiday weekend it reached 20F under a clear sky... Chilly, but beautiful!

Brag Book :: Halloween

At the Eugene Waldorf school last night, for their Halloween Festival. Annabelle's costume made quite the impression!

And some pictures from the night before: a dress rehearsal, just to make sure the costume was actually going to work! I love the one where she is bending over...

I guess this is what they mean by "seasons"

Preface: This blog post is about the weather. And given that there's no other point to this post, and I'm actually having an experience solely about weather and taking up your time to actually talk about it, you might need the reminder: I really am only 33 years old. With the exception of one person (who doesn't know who she is so I won't mention her name) I don't know anyone my age who talks about the weather. Weather seems to me to be a sort of generational topic of conversation. Or maybe it's simply because I'm on the beginning fringes of realizing that I've never really experienced weather. And now that I am, it's like super cool and important and blog worthy for me, when it's totally old news for everyone else. Like when I discovered that peanut butter and banana sandwiches are AMAZING in my late twenties and was raving about them to everyone only to meet the shoulder shrugging response, "You've never had one before?"


Annabelle had just gone to sleep for her afternoon nap, I had a glass of freshly made iced tea (knowing that it was autumn and wondering why isn't it warm outside?), a friendly little 63 page knitting advertisement magazine came in the mail and I was sitting in a chair in the living room perusing the goods they were peddling.

And then a bright flash of lightening lit up the living room followed one second later by the god-like boom of thunder that follows... loud enough that I couldn't tell if the house shook, or only my heart. A light drizzle turned into a downpour heavy enough to make me concerned about double checking the roof once it lets up- so I sat down here at the computer, realizing I hadn't checked the weather in a few weeks.

So I pull up our local weather report and sat, a little startled, at the ten day weather forecast listing Showers or Heavy Showers for next week and a half. Oh.

Okay, so it's no surprise, right? Not supposed to be anyway, I DO live in Oregon now, and if they are famous for anything, it's rain. But geeze! It's only September and we've been having to turn on the heat every night for three weeks already. Where is that Indian Summer?

Um, well, Allysun, that Indian Summer is in California.

And someone told me today that this winter "is going to be a cold one!" and I left her porch to walk home wondering exactly how cold she might mean, because already my two pairs of jeans, handful of sweatshirts and knitted hats are proving to be wholly inadequate. For my birthday I got closed-toe shoes, with the idea that I would need them for the winter. Even then, at the end of August, I wondered if I would actually wear them. My flip flops really seem to do so well most of the time. But, lo and behold, I wear those closed toe shoes every day now and lament over the fact that I only own two pairs of knee high socks. (Which has me on a diligent hunt for a beginning sock knitting pattern, mind you.)

So, back to our little thunder storm: I walked around the house and noticed outside the mudroom the water was literally pouring down the windows as if someone was holding a hose to it. So I dashed outside just long enough to get wet and cold and take note that someone didn't check the rain gutters and they are now clogged and water is just spilling over the side and running down the house.

And since *I* spent three hours cutting down low tree limbs with our new pole saw (Don't know what a pole saw is? Think of it as a long pole with a chainsaw balanced on the end.) I'll call that someone who needs to clean out the rain gutters Dave. Which I realize isn't completely fair, but the newness of homeownership has already proved to me that there are things I. Just. Can't. Do. Like crawling under the house, or catching a spider, or climbing on the roof. (There are lots of things I will do, like mastering the chainsaw, building bookshelves, sanding and painting the guestroom, and five or six loads of laundry every week.)

I've been talking a lot about all the blog posts I need to post, but since school started I can hardly keep up! So, I'll come around as much as I can, and catch up whenever possible.... any votes for the first catch up blog? Let me know, I do (occasionally!) take requests.

Oh WOW!!!

I think, I think... Annabelle has finally weaned herself! She hasn't nursed since Sunday!! And she has continued to take naps too!

Today was the first time she actually asked for it all week and, to be honest, I wasn't even sure how much milk would be there after not nursing her for four whole days. So when she asked for it today I told her that the milky was all gone and she cried for 5 or 6 seconds (more pouting than crying) and grabbed a book and said, "Read!" and then went to her bed while I told her another story till she fell asleep. She just gave in so easily at the very first suggestion! And it surprised me... I think she was ready. Sounds like she was ready, right?

I am elated! I did it!!

Maybe it's graphic, but I'm a mom and used to seeing it.

I have got a major back load of topics to blog about, but in between Dave working in Ireland for a week, my friend Lili (and her little boy) visiting in his absence, starting school, and the whole family catching a cold, one single thing took place that is very blog worthy and in need of acknowledgement.

Here, I'll let Annabelle point it out to you:

What makes this event so fantastic is that she shows no inclination to toilet train any time soon. Rarely does she communicate toilet needs or recent occurrences. She fights diaper changes. Though fascinated by toilet learning books, she seems to view them as something comical. We follow all the recommended tips, like going to the bathroom together, talking about it, and just plain waiting until she lets us know she's ready.

See? They say toileting together helps speed up the learning process:

But diaper rash problems have always been part of Annabelle's world and someone off-handedly commented that if Annabelle was toilet trained she wouldn't get diaper rash any more, so I've stepped up my efforts to move her in that direction. This "stepping up" doesn't really mean anything other than the fact that I talk about it a lot more and make her little potty more available.

Last night I walked into the bathroom and saw this:

Really. What would YOU do if you walked in and saw Groucho sitting there practicing using the BIG potty? She may be slow when it comes to toilet learning, but no one can deny she's got a great sense of humor!

Remembering :: Corona Del Mar

Luuuuuuuke.... Oooohhh, Luuuuuke! I'm over here behind the fence....

Where can he be?

Oh hi! Here, hold my hand! Go ahead, it's okay with my mom. Don't be shy.

Fine, don't hold my hand. Check out my belly instead. I can do amazing stuff with my belly button.

Kiss me quick, through the fence. Luuuuuuuukke! Kissy!

Come to mama...

Whoah. Wait a sec... is that SAND on your mouth?

I don't know mom. I can't explain it. She wanted me and then she didn't want me. I'm not even sure I really kissed her...

Home Improvement:: Building a bookshelf

After buying the materials and getting everything prepped, this project took me exactly two hours. I was so impressed with myself, particularly because I rarely work with wood and have never built anything before. Unless you count the tables I used to make as a child by tapping nails into the four corners of a square wood block and then flipping it over, the nails being the legs of the table.

I had a little help from this nice guy at the hardware store, but otherwise was completely on my own. It's so neat when a creative idea actually works out! I still need to prime and paint, but all nails are countersunk and caulked!

Guest Book: Aunt Sissy

So, last weekend my sister came to visit us. The weekend was filled with fun stuff like checking out Portland, meeting some friends, driving through the Willamette Valley, trying out a new cafe, walking downtown for the Farmer's Market, visiting our local playground, relaxing at the river, and taking pictures at the zoo. It was a very full weekend, but so much fun!

April is, I know now, my single biggest fan of this blog. I recently logged into my statistics to learn that she checks this page for updates about thirteen times a day. Every day. Aside from any other things you might think about that, nobody can deny that's commitment! And so, as a reward dear sister, I include here an outrageous number of pictures to celebrate your visit! Let's do it again soon!

The night before April had to leave, we packed up a little picnic and headed to the river. With a planned stop at Annabelle's favorite swing set on the way there... (Sorry about the partial removal of the white van in the background. I started to work on photoshopping it out, but working with all the shadows was really annoying so I gave up.)

Down the hill towards the river. Annabelle calls April "See Dee", which April prefers to think is "Siti" (grama in Arabic), but I know the truth: Annabelle came with me a few days before April arrived to buy a CD for her as a birthday present. It was right after that trip that she would hold the present and walk up to April's picture on the fridge and say, "CD!" Though it was really cute when she called her Aunt Sissy, "An Dee See Dee."

Half a dozen drumsticks to share... still hot from the frying pan and salty. Yummy.

We are confirmed carnivores in this family.

Lounging back, enjoying some deliciously fresh, locally grown organic Edamame (I am SO going to grow some of these next year!) and admiring my new stainless steel water canister. (It even has a steel top, so the water never contacts any plastic at all. For my anti-plastic friends: http://www.enviroproductsinc.com/)

It was so relaxing I actually fell asleep right there on the rocks, in the shade. I love this river!

Thanks so much for visiting us Aunt Sissy! Looking forward to seeing you again soon!