My Delight

Having two children is more work than double the work for one child. Yes, we know what to expect the "second time around," and we are not so nervous about every little cough or sneeze, but the factor by which our lives has changed is not a regular or predictable integer. This statement is not meant to be a complaint, but rather a line to serve as a balance to what absolutely delights me these days.

I drive the girls around in the minivan almost every day for one reason or another. I remember seeing a comic strip wherein a frazzled mom of many kids in bubbled thought said, "If I'm a stay-at-home Mom, why am I always driving?" Anyway, Leah faces forwards like the big girl she is, while Nad-O is still in the safe, yet vertigo-inducing backwards position. The upside of this is that they can see each other, like lovers on those old-fashioned two-way couches.

Natalie can be in a cranky mood when I squish her into her car seat, but as soon as we get rolling and she locks eyes with her sister, there's magic. Leah says a funny word or shakes her arms about and she sends Natalie into hysterics that neither Matthew nor I have been able to replicate. I glance back via the rear-view mirror to see Natalie's smile huge on her chubby-cheeked face as she watches Leah's antics.

My babies - making each other laugh. I love this.

Being the cautious driver I am, I cannot take a picture to capture this moment for you. Instead, I'm going to try to upload a video for the first time. This is of Natalie listening and reacting to hearing Leah on the phone. Leah was coming home from Minnesota with Matthew and wanted to make Natalie laugh over the phone. You can see for yourself how she did. Caveat Emptor: It's pretty stinkin' cute. Enjoy.

Holidays, Family, and Silence

Happy Easter, readers!

Annual events and holidays tend to make me nostalgic. I think back on what I had done, where I had been, and who was with me on this same day, years past. When I was young, we piled in the station wagon while it was still very dark to attend a 6-something church service. Back then, I think I presumed we went to such an early service so that there was more time for the candy hunt later that day. Now, I suspect we did it to avoid the crowds of church goers who regularly worship only on big church dates like Easter and Christmas.

One year, as Dad turned on the headlights, we watched a bunny lope across the street from our neighbor's house into the swamp.

"It's the Easter Bunny!" I squealed.

"Let's run over it!" said one of my blood-thirsty brothers.

Most years, perhaps all of them, our family enjoyed a big meal, and usually with a guest. Sometimes it was our near-penniless neighbor, sometimes Grandma and Grandpa made the trip up for it, and sometimes we entertained and were entertained by my parents' close friends. There's probably a yellowy picture of each one to chronicle the event.

We never got the huge baskets, wrapped in colored cellophane and overflowing with sugared goodies. And we never got big presents like clothes or a new bike. (It wasn't until high school, I think, that I learned that most of my friends enjoyed a virtual second Christmas on Easter as they showed off their new Walkmans, jewelry, and tennis shoes.) But we did get enough chocolate eggs to fill a cup that we found under sofa cushions, on top of picture frames and doorways, and inside tea cups. We did not complain. (At least I don't think so - Mom and Dad, feel free to set the record straight.)

Getting married and having kids complicated the gatherings, but the big feast, lots of people, and the inevitible egg hunt for the chilluns are pretty reliably present. This year, for me at least, has been significantly different.



I'm home with two dozy greyhounds (we're dogsitting one of them), my baby girl, and the silence that fills the house since Matthew and Leah are out of town. I enjoyed a very nice weekend with all three of my brothers, ending with a belt-loosening breakfast at a local family restaurant this morning. I will not eat ham today, but I did enjoy a peanut-butter and honey sandwich. I will not hunt for eggs or candy, but I did hunt to find matching socks before putting them in the washing machine. I will not entertain guests, but I do very much enjoy the solitude as the window-shaped box of sunlight stretches and migrates across the carpeted floor.

I do miss going for a walk with everyone to help dinner move through our system, and I miss catching up on extended family news. And of course I miss Matthew and Leah. But I'll take this day just as it is for what it is: peaceful, pretty, productive, and pleasant.

The Big Melt

I think you can only truly have a "big melt" when you've had all the snow we've had this winter. (And the weather reports say still MORE snow tonight and tomorrow!) With overnight lows still above freezing, the gi-normous mountains of back-breaking precip, are quickly dwindling into dirt covered mounds. More snow be damned, Spring is on its way. The cardinals are belting out their video-game songs at first light, the piles of dog doo in the back yard are resurfacing like b-movie zombies from their graves, and we can take a walk without a coat or mittens. Yes, by golly, winter has had its day.

Because of that and the fact that Trader Joe's always has super cheap flowers, my mommy bought a few springy buds to banish the winter doldrums. Here are two pics from "Day 1" of the bouquet. Don't they look purdy? I think I may have to replace my desktop picture with one. Help yourself!



(Yes, I know these photos are a little Mapplethorpe-ian or O'Keefe-ish. They are "two-lips!" O.K. get your minds out of the gutter, people!)

Snow Baby

Through Matthew's side of the family, I think there might be a smidgen of Swedish heritage. Perhaps that explains why Natalie enjoys being bundled up and toted around in the sled when the outside temps are barely double-digit. Did you know that Swedish families put their babies outside for their naps - year round? It's true! When my SIL's friend from Sweden was visiting over the holidays, she napped her youngest daughter outside. Rebecca, my sister-in-law, felt compelled to call the neighbors to assure them that A.) she was well aware that there was a baby in a stroller outside her front door, and that B.) she was o.k. with it.

While I'm not brave enough or whatever enough to nap Natalie and/or Leah outside, I'm quite fine letting her be a happy little babushka, sitting in the sled, her apple cheeks ripening in the sun, especially when she looks like this:



In that snowsuit, she reminds me of Maggie Simpson in her star-baby bunting.
Of course, we won't have nary a flake left with the balmy weather we've been having. And I am NOT complaining one bit. Nuh-uh.

Armloads of Babies

We shared a lovely weekend with my folks who, in return for giving them a lousy place to sleep, cooked and cleaned, built and repaired, and managed our darlings for us. Thanks again you two for sharing your time and energy with us. Here are a couple of pics to remember the weekend.

Nana with the Wisconsin Granddaughters -- all a blur at eight months!


And Grampa with Nad-O in a jacket pouch to keep her warm during our walk.


Along with longing for a guest bedroom, I also look forward to our next visit "Up Nort" when you can cook and clean for us in the comfort of your own home. tee hee

Natalie Claire at 8 months

Here's the little, toothy-grinned bear, posing so nicely for her 8-month photo.

"Aren't I cute? You can easily see my two bottom teeth. Can you see my top toofers too?"



"Not cute enough for you? How 'bout this one?"



"Still not enough? Tell me you can resist this look!"



As expected, we love this little stinker more and more every day and are constantly amazed and humored by her every change. She's working on getting up on all fours, so I fear it won't be long before I'll be chasing her puffy heinie around the house. Last night, Matthew and I shared a look when we heard Natalie guffawing in her crib after we'd put her and her big sister to bed for the night. We can only assume the giggles were in response to some silliness exuding from one Miss Leah Bear. It was one of the moments I think both of us knew we'd have someday as parents. And there it was, our two little miracles yukking it up when they should be sleeping. This rocks.

Green-Skinned Thumb Suckers

Our home has been invaded by a pair of what appear to be green-skinned thumb suckers. They made themselves comfortable on our futon and commenced their characteristic thumb sucking.



Once spotted, they quickly withdrew their thumbs so as not to be so easily identified. They also began their notorious act of looking cute in hopes of winning a more permanent place in our home.



But the thumb-sucking urge is strong, and they were unable to resist.



Soon, the urge, like a magnetic force, pulled the second hand towards their mouths for a rarely photographed double-handed behavior.



Finally, they wore us thin and we succumbed to their powers. The green-skinned thumb suckers were victorious.



Lock your doors and keep on eye out for these dangerous critters. Once you let them in, you will never be the same. ;)

Play Hard, Sleep Hard

About 4-5 times a week, I can get both girls down for a noonish nap. Soon after I put the second babe to bed, I raise my fisted hands above my head, close my eyes and hear the Rocky theme in my mind. There should be a merit badge for this.

As much as I relish a double-kid nap hour, I am often in awe of how much they sleep. Reading a bit about the nature of sleep, I get that it's a kid's time to recharge, review, and grow. It's as essential to their development as good food and rattles. Perhaps what I find more amazing is the broad range in dynamics. When I'm awake, there may be a time or two when I'm wacky, loud, and/or jumping up and down (usually after an Etsy sale), but most of the time, I'm fairly laid back. So when I sleep, it's only a slight easing down of my already mellow demeanor. The girls on the other hand go from monkey-like antics, shrill screams, and camera-blurring flailing to totally, can't wake 'em if you tried, zonked out.

As a teen, I was a babysitting superstar, sometimes working for three or four different families over a weekend, and stockpiling my wad of neatly folded checks. I learned early on that kid naps are essential for parents and caregivers as well. After the last kid was read to, tucked in, and scolded for trying to sneak out for the umpteenth time, a little magic occurred. Suddenly the slimy little fartheads I just spent all morning trying to tame seemed more like the cherubic sweethearts whose gleaming smiles and twinkly eyes lit up the hallway from behind gold frames. Wiped out in their little beds, hair askew, mouth open, eyes fluttering, they almost made me want to wake them up again so we could play the 232nd game of Chutes and Ladders, let them ride on my aching back some more, or do stunts on the living room furniture. I said, almost.

Ah, the power of sleep.

The mini Mississippi

Craftster's challenge this month was do make something crafty to represent your hometown. My first thought was to create a papercut of Paul and Babe as these statues are perhaps the hottest and kitchiest tourist stop in town. But outside of a few memories of staring at old gum on Babe's enormous blue underbelly and pictures taken with visiting relatives, the pair doesn't really "do" anything for me. What I like most about my hometown is its relationship with the Mississippi river.

Bemidji is known as "The First City on the Mississippi" because latitudinally and following the river's course from headwaters to mouth, it is the first city (of any size anyway) to surround and make use of the mighty river. The Mississippi runs north from a little lake in Itasca State Park, then east into Lake Bemidji before it turns forever southbound. The name "Bemidji" is actually an abbreviated form of an Ojibwe word roughly meaning "river runs through it." Perhaps the Ojibwes who named the lake had some idea of how massive this river became farther south.

Anyway, the headwaters of this river is a really pretty spot. Once in the state park, you follow a rustic yet well-worn dirt path through a pine forest to reach an unobtrusive swamp of a lake... with a leak. There's a tall stump carved out to declare the official site of the river's birth, and a line of rocks across the river that I think every Minnesotan is obligated to cross at some point. Some years ago, they put in a less treacherous version of a bridge a ways down to make the crossing more accessible. Like allowing motor boats in the BWCA, it took away much of the charm and challenge, but it made sense.

So I crafted a little papercut of the Mississippi headwaters for the challenge. Using a photo from the state park Web site and a map of the Midwest, I tried to capture the general shape of the river as it flows all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn't look quite how it looked in my head and of course it's not to scale, but I like it. There are way cooler and craftier entries for the challenge, so I don't have my hopes up to win, but it was fun to enter and really neat to receive comments from other people who KNOW Bemidji! "...there's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware, it's a small world after all..."

Oh, and don't worry. There will not be a test on this.

Ballerinas and Birdies

Leah participates in a pre-ballet course and has a few moves down already. Her favorite is the echappe as it involves jumping. She is not the class prima ballarina and she is the only one without a pink tutu (I kinda gagged at all the girly-ness on day one), but she does pretty well and has fun. We parents were allowed to watch rehearsal this week and I caught the stinker paying attention to me rather than her instructor. The recital is in April and they will be dancing in hula skirts and t-shirts to "Surfin' Safari." I know.

Last night, I sold this papercut piece (roughly 12 hours after I listed it)! It really made my day. What's more, it was my first repeat buyer. Yeah, baby! I was ready to logout and call it a night when I found out and suddenly I had this burst of excitement and energy, just enough to pack up the piece, print out a mailing label, and get everything ready to ship out the next morning. I do need to work on becoming more efficient with the entire listing and packing processes, but it will come with practice. As it is now, if I charged an hourly rate for the time I spend photographing, describing, categorizing, listing, packing, and shipping these babies, I doubt I'd see any returns. Who would want to buy a 500 dollar 4 x 6 papercut? :)

As always, the sale fuels me to create more and fill the void. I could get used to this.

Glow Worm Eclipse

My sweetheart has the camera with him this week so I can't post what surely would have have been a prize-worthy photo of last night's lunar eclipse. The closest I got was to capture the serene light show in Natalie's crib. This glow worm eclipse was accompanied by Brahm's Lullaby, and there is definitely a face on this "moon." sheeah, way cooler than the real thing.

Fuzzy Cuzzies

Here's an update on how cute these two little babes are getting. (Here's the previous photo of the dynamic duo.) While Ellie's always been an adorable fuzz ball, Natalie's getting some comb-able hair these days too. The five of us girls enjoyed a lovely morning last week at Sarah's, and the babies were actually awake at the same time!

Don't you just want to give 'em a little tickle?

DJ LB! Word!

Yo, yo, yo, yo! Whaddup, homes?!

We dug out the electric piano to give Leah a little musical stimulation this weekend and she loves it. (Truth be told, I was overwhelmed with the musical talent at a friend's coffee house, that I felt obliged to get Leah started early.) Her favorite today is starting the prefab rhythms and dancing around the room. This morning she wanted to play it while her sister was napping. I brought out the headphones but they were a bit big and kept slipping off her head. A winter hat not only fixed that problem but it also gave her a more authentic synth-master look. I couldn't resist catching her with her groove on.

Word to your mutha -- hey wait, I'm her mother. ;)

Benchmarks

Many of you dear readers will remember when our family used to send out monthly Leah updates with a photo of her and her turtle buddy, Terrance, posed so seemingly easily on the purple recliner. By the time Leah turned 2 and 1/2, it became an awe-inspiring feat trying to get a decent picture of the squirming goofball our adorable cherub grew into. As a result, the photo updates ended.

We had good intentions to capture Natalie in the same setting every month, but that too, has proved difficult. I could bore you with a handful of excuses, but instead, may I present these two photos. Take 'em while you can get 'em. ;)

Natalie was in a grand mood, showing off her signature mouth-open-wide grin, and loving those patent leather shoes. It was tough to pick a winner from those shots. Leah, on the other hand, was less cooperative and had to be bribed with the promise of a story before nap time to get this blurry, yet cute result.

No matter the end product, it IS good to mark a little time as indelible so we can look back on these benchmarks for comparison and nostalgia. That's "benchmarks," as opposed to "bench marks" referring to the unsightly red stripes on the backs of your bare thighs after sitting on a wooden bench for considerable time. Whoops.

Mentioning Mentions

This post is happily obligatory, if that's not too much of an oxymoron. In the blogging world, whenever someone blogs about something you've done, it's customary to mention their "mention" in your blog. It's all part of the great web network, and we are all polite little spiders doing our best to connect and be connected.

So, after reading about someone else doing this, I googled my shop name, Crafterall, and found that a couple of kind folks who blog about art and other crafty things liked some of my works enough to post pictures of them on their blogs. How cool! Returning a little love, I'm giving a shout out of thanks to Alex and Lisa LaPella at LaPella Art for posting my little birdie papercut, and to Tabitha Emma for her post including my "Too Cold to Swing" papercut. Thank you, Thank you!

Speaking of papercuts and good things, I created, listed, sold and shipped the little piece pictured here all within 36 hours. While waiting at the Apple store to see if either of our laptops still had a pulse, I went to show Matthew what the listing I had created looked like. To my delight, the piece was missing from the shop which meant it has sold! Ya-hoo! So I didn't get a chance to see if anyone "hearted" the piece, or the thrill of seeing someone including it in a treasury, but I'll take a sale over either of those things any day. Nothing like a sale to spur me on to more creative endeavors.

Fa-la-la-la-OUCH! in 2-part Harmony

Uffta!

Ja, vee got sum snoh, den. Southern Wisconsin was Whomp-cracked (just for you, hon) with snow yesterday. Matthew got his aerobic workout in the morning, picking up the 5-6 inches we received over night. I planned to do more of the chore during the day when it "let up." Yeah. It didn't let up until nearly seven o'clock. That's when Matthew gave it another shot before his back began singing him a siren song to crash on the couch. I took over and spent about an hour digging veritable trenches to civilization. The hardest part was finding a place to put it all. Although what we have is peanuts compared to what my uncle is "enjoying" down in Utah, or what they receive annually in Rhinelander, we have to pitch each shovelful onto an avalanche-prone mini-pyramid of snow and ice. By the end of the evening, my back was harmonizing with Matthew's.

Today, it's a brilliant scene with bright blue skies, temps in the high twenties, and so far no vehicles have been stuck in the intersection (there were at least four yesterday). Not teaching this year means that I "missed out" on a snow day, but what am I saying? Every day is a snow day for me and my little snow bears.

p.s. I updated the Picasa site, so check out the Our Pics link on the left.

She's Breakin' Outta Her Jammies!

After a couple of months of being a bit on the shrimpy side, Natalie has decided to kick things into high gear. Her appetite and recent growth spurt remind me of when my parents recalled that they could hear us kids growing in our sleep: creeeeeek.

This kid's in near- constant "feed me" mode, gormandizing rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, and peas so far, with more menu items to introduce soon. It's not all going to waste (pun intended); she's much more able-bodied as well. She figured out that she can roll onto her tummy and back again whenever she likes, and, with the right motivation, she can almost do an unassisted sit-up. Would it be freaky if our infant had six-pack abs? Oh, and check out her bottom gum line. She must have been humming "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" when we weren't around.

When she's not humming, making raspberries, or the cutest little "tha-tha-tha" song, I think her other favorite sound to make falls along the line of a roar. It's half grunt, half I don't know what, but it's silly.

We hope she keeps this growing thing up for a while. I try not to think about her not being a teeny-tiny, limp noodle in my arms and how precious those moments were. I better start swapping out her clothes in the dresser for ones that fit!

Yee-Haw!

Remember when I was jumping up and down like a three-year old about my shining moment on Craftster? Well break out the bubbly again! My star book tutorial was selected as one of the best of 2007! Perhaps the only thing cooler than this honor is the list itself -- what an inspiring compilation of projects. Surely there's something on the list that will get even the least crafty of you digging through your stacks of scraps. Anyway, I'm thrilled. Yippie!

We Survived! It's a Miracle!

We're Baaaaa-aaaack! Actually we've been back for a while, but I have maybe a whole hour to myself this afternoon to get some long-overdue blogging done. I'm updating the Picasa album simultaneously too, so you'll have to check that out while you're here.

We enjoyed our luxurious 9-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize. Overall, it was a lot of fun and a lot of work. It wasn't quite the raucous, carefree kind of fun you see in the commercials, but it was about as far as anyone could expect to get to that kind of fun while also managing a preschooler and an infant. We're pretty sure that Natalie was the youngest cruiser on board, if only by a month or so. Leah traveled extremely well: on the ship, on the planes, and on the tours. She soaked in everything she could about what we were doing, what we were seeing, and what we were going to do next.

There were a handful of things about the cruise we did not enjoy, but I'll keep this post positive because it was an unforgettable and ultimately fun experience. Here are some highlights:

1. Being WARM in January!
2. Being treated like royalty practically everywhere.
3. Watching people dressed to the nines having to steady themselves as gracefully as possible while the ship careened over massive swell waves.
4. Hearing all the accents (New York, Tennessee, French Canadian).
5. Sitting down together every night for a four-course dinner.
6. Folded towel creatures in our room every night with turn-down service.
7. Room stewards positioning Leah's little dolly on her pillow every night -- so cute!
8. All you can eat Ice Cream! ALL YOU CAN EAT, BABY!
9. Warm Chocolate Melting Cake -- Our dessert of choice night after night, and heretofore renamed: Dub-CMC. To die for (if not to die from)!
10. A little "healthy fear" at getting stuck on a one-and-a-half lane road in the middle of the Panamanian rain forest.
11. Watching Leah play in the pool with her Grandma, again, and again, and again.
12. Hot chocolate, lots of wind, and a dark, spooky ocean in front of you while standing as far fore as possible on the top of the ship.
13. Seeing Leah haul her wheeled suitcase around the airport like a pro.
14. Watching Matthew's brother Nathan perform as Sir Elton John in a themed talent show.
15. Wincing at really bad karaoke (not Nathan, he was GOOD!).
16. Cheering on Matthew and Nathan at the craps table.
17. Waking up in a new country.
18. Slipping down a muddy canal in a tour boat in Costa Rica.
19. Snorkeling the barrier reef off Belize.
20. Doing the whole thing with family.

I'd be up for another cruise... in a few years, either sans kids or when they're old enough to sit on a plane without a booster seat. For a brief slide show of the trip, go to the album on the left. If you want more of the dirt, call or write me. I think that, finally, we're on solid ground again.

Obligatory Kid-With-Icicle Shot

Ooooooo-eeee! We got some snow, ya! It was warm-ish yesterday. Just enough to melt some snow from the roof and form this gi-normous icicle (or ice stalagtite, if you prefer). Seeing as it was about as big as Leah, I snapped it from the gutter edge (silently praying the gutter stayed on) and brought it into the kitchen for the photo. I know my folks have pictures of us holding similar specimens back when we were scrawny little tykes. I seem to recall, though, that we weren't wearing mittens. Our mouths were less smiley than Leahs, and opened, instead in wide expressions of delighted pain. "Cool, a huge icicle! Man, it hurts! But it's so cool!"

As I type, we are getting blanketed yet again with another winter storm. O.K. we get it. Really.