De-evolution of the Family Portrait

Lone Field Flower

When I was a kid, we got to do a lot of exploring in the "wild" places in our neighborhood. Nothing fancy, these were just creek easements, runoff spillways, and semi-wooded or cleared yet undeveloped lots. None of it was truly natural, but you could still collect tadpoles, dig up worms, gather clay, build dams, and hunt for (but never actually find) native american artifacts, crack open rocks in search of geodes (again, never actually achieved), etc.

Sometimes you came across a random homeless person's camp, a stray shopping cart, or some drug paraphernalia. We didn't have cell phones or chaperons. However, I never felt that there was any danger in it. Our parents could easily drive the less than one-mile radius of area and find us if they needed to. We knew not to talk to strangers or play with dangerous trash. We knew to stay off the railroad tracks. Giving your kid this amount of freedom was okay back then--either because Austin was a smaller town or there was less hysteria about child safety in our community or perhaps there were fewer dangers known, I don't know.

Yet, I don't see myself letting Tillie and Django do this now. Is it because I live a lot closer to the highway, with its speeding cars, seedy strip clubs, and drunken panhandlers? Is it because the creek near our house is just plain disgusting compared to the one I used to explore as a child? (Then again, perhaps that one was just as gross, but my 9-year-old eyes didn't see it as such.) Or, is it because I am just a more nervous person than my parents and their friends were, whether due to our inherent natures or due to our contemporary socio-political climate?

I can't stand the idea that my kids wouldn't get that kind of self education. I either need to take a chill pill, or create some sort of safe alternative. I could rent a farm or send them off to camp in the summers. Perhaps I could sign up to be a scout leader or buy some camping equipment. Fortunately, Tillie has a while before she will grow out of our backyard. In the meantime, let me know if you want to organize some future nature walks with my kids (and yours if you got 'em).

An Ideal Movie Date

Django and I went to baby day at the local movie theater/bar. He was the perfect movie buddy:
1) Let me choose the movie
2) Paid for his own ticket (he was free)
3) Let me choose where we sat
4) Did not talk during the film
5) Did not eat all (or any, really) of my movie snacks
6) Snuggled on my chest while I ate pizza over his head
It was a dream date!

My Children

Pie-rfection

We were invited to a terrific pie party this weekend. There were probably 50 different pies, both savory and sweet. Such an event--a potluck challenge, where participants are inspired to create both the delicious and the unique--is pretty much my favorite type of social occasion. I just love any type of cook-off where the food isn't actually judged and everyone gets to taste the entries. I made a sour cream pear pie, shown below. It was so delicious and fun to make that I made three, one on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm taking a break today, but I'd love to start up again soon. Do you want one?

PS. A lovely thing happened with the first pie, though not the others--half of the pears were a fleshy pink color. It was quite pretty. I wish there were a reliable way of getting pink pears so that all future sour cream pear pies could be this cute.

Lil' Brisket

We like to take Django out for BBQ and savor it while staring at him lovingly--perhaps you've noticed this now-weekly trend on the blog. I wonder if this will affect him in any way developmentally. Positively? How could it not be positive?!

A good friend pointed out this awesome little joint that is only two blocks from our house. It is just a guy in a trailer. He serves the meat until it runs out. It is some of the best barbecue I've ever had. If you are in town, stop by my house and we'll walk over together. Supposedly on weekends, people bring a six pack and sit out on the lawn furniture in the lot in front of the trailer and eat meat and drink beer and watch the busy highway and passing panhandlers. Sounds like the perfect Sunday to me!

I'm Cute Too

Can't You See How Much Cuter I Am Than...

Look at Me Darnit!

Tillie's Baby

Tillie's Bubbe and her Auntie Emily both had the great idea to get her her own baby and fun accessories, such as crib and stroller, diaper and blankie, and baby bottle and food:

This lets her take care of "Tillie's baby" while I take care of "Mama's baby."

"Wait a Minute"

The baby bag also came with a cell phone. Tillie really enjoys putting people on hold. Where did she learn that?

This Season's Hottest Accessory

Everyone looks good with Mr. Handsome in arms!

Big Sis Helps Out

Little Dude, Big Name

Tillie met him this morning and said, “He’s cute.” I agree!

So, that is his name in its full glory. For the curious:
His first name comes from the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who, if you have never heard his stuff--go do it now, is a musical genius.
His first middle name is a family name and also just sounds good with Django.
His second middle name is the name he was born with, given to him by his birthmother.
His last name is the only semi-pronounceable name we could put together with the rest of the letters of the alphabet : )

I also like to call him D.J. or D.J.D.

One-Dayaversary

Going home outfit surprise:

Baby's first BBQ at Shep's in Palestine, TX (Delicious!):

Dinner with Dada:

He's Here!

We love him!
The data: 7 pounds 12 ounces and 21 inches and born at 6:14 pm on January 18, 2010

Spinning

This video might make you feel disoriented:

...which is how I feel right now. It is totally bizarre waiting for your baby to be born, but not having the baby inside of you. Is this how it feels to be an expectant father? I check my cell phone every 15 minutes. I get a little agitated when I have to be away from the land line. I wake up every morning and wonder if I missed the call while I was sleeping. I think I remember the expectant fathers that I used to work with were like this. Every time their phone rang they would snatch it up and like a hungry wolf and then kind of deflate when it turned out to be someone other than their wife. Of course, most expectant fathers don't worry whether they will get to be the parent of their child. Something happened this week, something just clicked, and I am now just a big ball of stress. It is actually not about being a parent, but whether or not I will get to be a parent. So far, however, even with all the stress ratcheting up as the big day approaches, being an adoptive parent in wait is still preferable to being 9 months pregnant...I think.

Resolution: Gather More Monsters

Celebrate

Cake ball on a stick is the best way to celebrate a friend's first birthday.

Ta Da!

I'm particularly proud of this year's christmas craft. I made a high-powered business conference of giraffes:

Tillie's Dog-Sitting Service

Here's a video of Tillie feeding my mother's dog Lucy while she is away. My favorite part is when she tells Lucy to "wait a minute" while she finishes rearranging the kibble in the dog bowl.

Christmas Fun

Organizing Aunt Violet's rubber ducky collection:

Blurry blueberry pancakes made by Dada:

Why Adopt?

So, I'm learning something new about adoption that I hadn't quite realized. Adoption lets you spend your money on good causes--even when you are adopting a healthy, wanted baby.

The adoption process has made me question my selfishness. At some point, an adopting parent is presented with hard options, such as: will you adopt a baby who is sick or disabled, will you adopt a baby who is older and has been neglected and abused, or will you adopt a baby who is more expensive but could be saved from a foreign and possibly abusive orphanage or foster-system? When I answer no to any of those questions, I feel a horrible sense of guilt. How committed am I to being in league with the forces of good? What if I'm not really helping anyone and instead I am just stealing away an infertile couple's chance of getting a healthy baby?

A lot of people have asked why we are adopting when we don't need to. Yes, it will be more expensive than having a biological child, but given our self-employment insurance situation, it is not by much. If you want to know, in the end this whole thing will cost us much, much less than a new car (I'm not talking a Lexus, I'm talking a Mazda)--and few would question why we might buy a new Mazda. (Okay, probably my parents who are notoriously prejudiced against buying new vehicles, hee, hee.)

Those of you who have paid for the birth of a baby know that it isn't really as cheap as it is rumored to be--even when it goes smoothly. And what do you get for that money? Hooray, you've just supported the insurance company and a dozen medical businesses--what is there to feel good about there? Certainly, it is all worth it when you really want that biological baby or when your insurance company will actually pay for most of the costs and make it affordable. But, neither of these things is true in our case. We love our biological baby, but we know we could love a baby who was not biologically connected to us too. Pregnancy sucked, but getting to experience firsthand how a life comes about is pretty cool. But I've already done that. I want to do something new.

By spending my money on adoption rather than on my own maternity and labor, I am helping an adoption agency who helps people in need. Let me tell you, this feels really good. I just got off the phone with our agent, and she does amazing things. She has helped place more than 700 babies in her career. That means that she has helped more than 700 pregnant women get through a really difficult moment in their lives. And, she has helped hundreds of couples who could not conceive experience the joys of parenthood. I have never felt better about about giving someone money. And, instead of a tote-bag or souvenir mug, I will be getting a precious little baby!

The Pink Eye that Ruined Christmakkuh

Poor Tillie got pink eye earlier this week. Plus an ear infection. Then, that spread and became pink eye in both eyes and an infection in both ears. She has missed three holiday parties with friends and family, and now we've had to cancel our trip to visit family in Pennsylvania. Plus, after the 2nd doctor's visit, she threw up twice. So now she will miss a week of day care and can't do anything fun. Thank goodness she is two and does not know how sad it is to miss out on holiday fun. Unfortunately, her mama knows. I've been boohooing about it all weekend. But, I'm going to rally and try to come up with plan B. It will involve lots of baking, since that is something that you can do when your family is riddled with contagion.

Let me tell you something about being a self-employed person. It is usually the coolest scam on Earth. You can work whenever you want, go see movies and take naps during the day, run errands, avoid long commutes, travel the world, and did I mention the naps? The price, however, becomes very apparent when you or your kid is sick. Clients do not give you family sick leave. Plus, self-employment insurance does not pay for crap. It is very stressful on top of the normal stress of having a little cutie pie who is puking and has bright red demon eyes that are covered in yellow crusty mucus.

[image from: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33160610]

Sneak Preview

Here's a sneak peek at some holiday crafting I'm doing for little tykes:

What will it be?

Babies!

Yes, my brain has a bad case of the babies. I can think of nothing else. And, we have some news to share on that front: We are adopting a baby! (Sorry if this comes as a surprise to you--I've tried to tip off as many people as possible, but there are just so many people to tell.) Today, we officially have all our paperwork submitted to the adoption agency, the FBI has agreed that we are not criminals, and thus, we are primed for adoption. Adoption is a funny (odd funny, not hilarious funny) way of getting babies in that the time frame is super nebulous. So, we could have a baby as soon as January 18th 2010 (yes, that is 4.5 weeks from now), or as late as some time in 2011 or maybe even 2012. Please prepare your minds and hearts for that earliest date, because it is looking more and more likely that that date will be the birthday of our newest kiddo--I'm so excited! And nervous! And excited! (wish us luck!)

Tillie Buh-Loon

So, here's a picture of Tillie with her ephemeral best friend Purple Balloon. This was her first helium balloon, and they had a brief but passionate friendship. (PB burst some time during the first night while Tillie slept.) So the next day, when we blew up a different balloon with just air and tied a string to it, she was very disappointed that it did not "work" right. Scott "fixed" it by getting it to stick to the ceiling with a little static electricity generated by rubbing it on Tillie's fluffy curls. She was satisfied. My scientific mind was a blown, however, as I noted it was empirically almost impossible to tell the difference between a helium balloon sticking to the ceiling through buoyant force and an air-filled balloon sticking to the ceiling through electric charge interactions. Sometimes a little too much knowledge is bad for you!

PS. She now runs around the house dragging the balloon by its string and collecting dog hair and dust with it--the perfect pet!

Crafty Sunday

This monster teeshirt was designed by Scott and crafted by yours truly. The project was inspired by the purchase of a new sewing machine from a crafty friend--a machine that can actually do applique. (I have finally arrived!) I now see why people buy a stiffener to support the underside of the stretch teeshirt fabric. It prevents the rippling of the edges of the applique. I will have to buy some for next weekend's project. I think Tillie should have one of these for at least every day of the week!

Mmm...Full!

I love stuffing--especially leftovers the next day!

Why does Tillie look like a little prairie woman in this picture? It is so tough being a pioneer!

Flower Fingers

Do you ever feel like you have plastic flowers on all of your fingers? Yes, that is a metaphor for something very profound. Discuss.

Quitter

Ooops...I think I have to quit NaNoWriMo. Here I thought that could set aside crazy amounts of time to participate in a fun novel-writing challenge, but the month is almost up and I have only 1/25 of a novel. I've gotten permission from my writing coach (who is also my triathlon coach) to start transitioning my work into NaNoWriYo (National Novel Writing Year). I must have caught her at a soft moment, because usually she is quite a hardass about this kind of thing : ) Shew!

Tillie also has occasional frustrations...

...which her lovely cousin Wyley helps her overcome!

Cousins

Tillie loves her cousins and aunts and uncles...