Help, I'm Unravelling!

Autumn

2008-10-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

First, some knitting. I managed to complete a baby sweater in time for the shower! I finished the sweater & still had yarn, so I knit the booties. I still had yarn, so I knit the hat. My invisible seams are improving, so finishing is less & less of a chore. This project marked a turning point in my seriousness as a knitter. I didn't like the neckline of the sweater, so I modified it and created my own. I didn't like how it turned out, so I ripped it out & redid it. This is the first time I ever unravelled a finished piece--usually I'm too lazy, but this time I wanted it to be perfect.

Autumn has been wonderful this year--lots of warm, sunny days, amazing foliage, and a wonderful new backyard to enjoy. Sylvia's birthday was mid-September, and a friend of mine brought his American Shetland pony Dixie for pony rides for the kids. Later we had some boffer weapon fighting and a campfire. I still can't believe that I have a backyard for things like this:

Last Saturday we decided to skip the chores & just have fun with apple picking and a short hike in the woods.

Two amazing daughters, a wonderful husband, and stream running through my backyard--I still can't believe how lucky I am.

Birthdays

2008-09-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

August has always been an important month for me, since it's my birthday month. Fourteen years ago, it became my wedding aniversary month. Now it is also Meredith's birthday too. We decided to have a big birthday/housewarming party, and we had a great time. It takes some time to figure out how to entertain in a new home, and we're still working it out. The cover to the hot tub made a great buffet out on the deck, but we definitely need more tables & chairs. The best part of the evening was the inaugural campfire in the back yard. A friend brought his guitar & the kids had fun singing & running around. We were so delighted so many of our friends came, and we hope everyone will be back soon.

Happy First Birthday Miss Meredith. I love you so much.

Blackberries

2008-07-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

The move is done. Yeech. I estimate I have moved eleven times in the past 17 years, not including in & out of college dorms, so I should be an expert at this. This, however, was the first time I've moved with kids, which complicates things by an order of magnitude. The closing for both the sale of our old house & the purchase of our new house happened as scheduled, miraculous considering our buyer was $50k short on closing day. Moving day dragged on forever, but it finally ended with all the stuff in our new house. Most of the boxes have been unpacked, and the rest can wait until I'm ready.

We're having fun discovering the house and the property. We live in a VERY old neighborhood--our street was built in 1683, and our house was built in 1820. I can hardly believe I ended up in an historic home, but it is in great shape with excellent additions & renovations. So many historic homes are peculiar tumbles of rooms with extremely low ceilings, but this one is exceptional. It has 3 chimneys, 2 are original & 1 in the most recent addition. It has a wonderful kitchen, & the new master bath is straight out of an interior design magazine.

The most fun, though, is discovering the yard. We have 1.25 acres, which is a LOT in this area. The rabbits visit during the day, & the bats visit at night. I go for nightly walks with Meredith around the yard. She gets to this time of day where she wants to be held, but just being held is too boring & she fusses. The best solution I have found is our regular evening constitutionals. She & I discovered a wild blackberry patch on the hill. After dinner she & I scramble through the vines & weeds to the blackberries, and we eat them right there. She LOVES them & so do I, so flavorful & sweet. We had no idea there was a berry patch until we moved in & started living here. Who knows what else is here? We have a lifetime to find out. We're home for good.

Cardboard Boxes

2008-06-09T02:35:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day is traditionally our summer kickoff, and we usually take a long weekend somewhere. This year we had 2 kids & too much to do, so we stayed home, but that meant it was the first year we were around for the town Memorial Day Parade. The kids had a lot of fun waving the little flags, and I always enjoy local color. It was Meredith's first parade, and it suited her party girl nature to have so much excitement around her. Sylvia loved the firefighters & police officers, and she loves anything that has to do with the "Grand Old Flag."

The bad news is that I have declared June a month of NO FUN. The good news is that June is no fun because we have to pack to move to our new home on July 1st! We found the perfect place just 2 miles up the the same road we live on now, our too-small home is sold & everything is proceeding as planned. Now we just have to put everything we own in boxes.

T. keeps saying it won't take long, we're almost done, this will be easy, we're in good shape . . . I did the bulk of the packing for our last 3 moves, and I don't think we've even made a dent yet. This is the first move in a long time that I haven't worked in a hospital, so I don't have an easy supply of boxes. Hospitals are the best places to get boxes--there is an endless quantity of every size and shape, and medical supplies come packed in really nice, sturdy boxes. There is always some place by the elevators or by the loading dock where the housekeeping staff piles up the boxes, so at the end of the day I would just swoop by, grab as many as I could carry, and come back for more the next day. This move, we'll have to buy boxes or rent plastic crates. I packed up some china yesterday (I'm not likely to need the gravy boat in the next 3 weeks) into a very nice dish box that must have been given to us by our next door neighbors in St. Louis 6 years ago. Haven't thought about them in a long time, & I wonder how they are doing. This is why we're buying our long awaited big house & settling down where we are--we've had enough of boxes and goodbyes.

Snacktime

2008-06-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

I was carrying the baby through the living room when I stepped on something that I had never stepped on before--smooth with ridges, crunchy. I looked down & there on the floor was an entire box of dried spaghetti. Turns out the horses needed some hay.

Our dance parties now include Snacktime by the Barenaked Ladies--fun album. I love having dance parties with the girls as much as they love it. Mostly I do my "stretch dance" for my tense neck & shoulder. Then Sylvia & I do our dance move where I toss her onto the couch (why should daddies have all the fun?). Meredith tries to get in the thick of it, and she pounces on my head when I lay down to stretch my back. The dishes are piling up & the laundry isn't folded, but I figured out that I can either have a clean house or I can enjoy my kids while they're little. Some day I'll miss the Cheerios on the floor.

Back from Beyond

2008-03-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Yikes! It has been too long, my friends. I am too discombobulated at this moment to write something funny & insightful (just got off the phone with a hysterical patient, sigh), so I'll just post some pictures of my kids & call it a post.

Here we are on a sleigh ride on our trip last month to Jackson, NH. The girl on the right is the 3yr old daughter of the friends we went with. New Hampshire has had record breaking snow this year--over 10ft when we were there in early March, more since then. I couldn't tell you what the town looked like because it was hidden behind enormous snow banks. Needless to say the skiing was great & we'll get back there as soon as we can.

Shout out to Jocele for her post on the terrors of parenting. Miss you, Dr. Jo.

Forming My Daemon

2008-01-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

As I am grappling with a nasty 24h bout of stomach flu, I'm reading The Golden Compass. Click the link to help my daemon settle.

Wintery Mix

2007-12-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

Eight inches of snow on Thursday, and now a nor'easter blowing through. We're in the middle of what is euphamistically called "Wintery Mix"--sounds like a pretty candle fragrance, but it's a sloggy combo of snow, sleet, rain & ice. Luckily this one hit on a Sunday with plenty of advance warning so we can tuck in & watch.

In knitting news, I'm stalled about halfway through a clapotis scarf. Does anyone else find themselves halfway through a big project & suddenly thinking "I HATE THIS YARN! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!" Or am I not buying nice enough yarn? I have 4 skeins of a pretty dusky pink cotton classic yarn, so I need to start a baby sweater before the baby gets much bigger & I don't have enough.

Yesterday we visited a friend who has 3 American Shetland ponies, & he took us for a little ride through the snowy woods. Jingling bells & hooves crunching through snow--very buccolic, and only 1/2 mile down the road. I'm so glad to be able to offer my girls some rural experiences.

Cousins

2007-11-28T06:24:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for cousins. I grew up with cousins, 4 who lived in my hometown, 3 who lived a 1-day drive away, and 4 who lived across the country. I remember how much fun we had as kids at holidays & birthdays, continuing the games we left off at the last meeting. Now that we're adults, I don't keep in touch often enough, but when we do meet, it's still just like picking up where we left off. Our lives are very different & we have changed, but because we have so much common history and forged a bond so young, it still feels like close family to me.

I'm thankful that my daughters will have the experience of growing up with cousins. I hope their friendships will endure, and they will someday get together as adults & talk about those crazy aunts, uncles & parents.

We spent Thanksgiving with the cousins and had a very nice time. My niece Katie alternated between working on college applications & showing off her iBook. Here are the photos we took with the iBook camera--featured are me, Meredith, Katie & Julia:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sunset

2007-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

"Meredith likes sunsets."

Huh?

I was angry at my husband for taking off with the baby, leaving me with Sylvia. I was exhausted from night after night of multiple child wakings, & I thought he was going to take care of both of the girls while I took a desperately needed nap. But it's hard to stay angry at a daddy who is so delighted to take his baby to watch the sunset.

Sometimes Bad Is Bad

2007-11-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

In psychiatry news, I have returned to work from maternity leave. Last week was The Big Transition. It makes a big difference having a job I love with mom-friendly hours--I wasn't glad to leave my baby but I was actually glad to get back to the office. Or at least for the 1st 2 days. Then all hell broke loose. sigh. I am unquestionably being punished by my patients for abandoning them for 10 weeks. I admit I was pretty rattled by the time I left work on Friday. After a weekend to recoup, I'm ready again, and I still think I have the greatest job in the world.

Pix

2007-11-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post some photos of my darling daughters.

Sylvia & my sister's cat, Patsy:

My little pumpkin:

Meredith & her baby quilt, made just for her by Regina, a family friend:

Mommy & her baby:

Pajama Party!

Feel free to post comments gushing about how darling they are!

In knitting news: Last year at this time I was knitting like crazy--my garden was done for the season & I needed something to keep me happily occupied. Now that I have a new baby, I don't have one of the things necessary for knitting: 2 free hands. Oh well.

Old Home Week

2007-10-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful trip to Missouri. It began with me getting on a plane BY MYSELF with my 4yr old & 8wk old daughters and traveling across country. Did I mention I took both the kids BY MYSELF? They were both perfect angels as always & the flights went as scheduled.

We spent 5 days relaxing at my parents' home. With Granny, GPop, Aunt B. & me there, we had a very sensible 4:2 adult to child ratio and there was always someone to hold the baby. I met my sister K.'s dog, Chaco & got to know her husband a little better too. The girls had some nice playdates with my cousin's 4yr old son Wyatt, who is the nicest boy you'll ever meet. Here they are eating lunch in the playhouse:

We set off on Friday for St. Louis for my medical school class reunion. I didn't go to any official reunion activities (lectures on orthopedic surgery research, anyone?), but the people I wanted to see the most (minus one--Christie, where are you?) were there & we planned our own reunion. Tim's flights to Springfield kept getting cancelled, so instead of flying into Springfield & driving with me & the girls to St. Louis, he ended up flying into St. Louis. I drove the girls BY MYSELF to St. Louis to meet everyone. Did I mention I drove 200 miles with my 4yr old & my 8wk old BY MYSELF? Actually, it was a pretty uneventful drive & everything went fine. Dinner Friday night with M. (neuroradiology fellow) in the Central West End at a new Asian restaurant, then dessert at a cupcake bakery (fun!). Then breakfast with M. & her husband L. at a crepe cafe, and then off to rediscover St. Louis. We visited the Gateway Arch museum (the wait was too long to go up the Arch), then went to the zoo & met up with D. (anesthesiologist now in Portland OR), J. (family practice in ID), J's husband & their 2 beautiful children. The zoo was the perfect activity: sunny & 80 degree day, plenty for kids & adults to look at, a little walking, and the best penguin exhibit imaginable. When the pre-naptime meltdown started, we regrouped, with the physicians beelining to a lovely LYS, Knitorious, while the men took care of the kids. Dinner at Olympia for Greek food (the flaming cheese was as fun & delicious as I remember it) and then to TED DREWES for dessert. The Great Pumpkin concrete was everything I imagined--a slice of pumpkin pie mixed into rich frozen custard, big chunks of pie crust . . . Maybe I did go to St. Louis to eat. We certainly did the next morning during our pilgrimage to Uncle Bill's Pancakes for breakfast the next morning before hitting the road back to Springfield.

My father's retirement party was that night, and it was the party of the year. 38 years as a pediatrician, all those dues now paid. Good food, good jazz band--my dad played his trombone for a short set--and good turnout of the people I remember growing up with. Somehow it didn't seem strange to be an equal adult with my parents friends & colleagues, and calling people by their first names instead of Mr./Mrs./Dr like I did as a child. I don't understand people who moan & groan about getting older. To me, it feels like I am progressing in life just as I should be.

It was so wonderful to see everyone & revisit the great places we used to visit. I was also choked up with nostalgia when we cruised our old neighborhood in St. Louis. I have said goodbye to so many wonderful people & nice places in my 38 years. Some of these of course are inevitable & even happy times, like graduations, and we can continue connections with people no matter where we are if we make the effort. But it made me realize that I don't want to move on any more. Southern New England is my home now, and we're staying.

I must have a scriptwriter

2007-10-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Some days I feel so overwhelmed with two needy children glommed onto me. I told my husband that I feel like one of those mother dogs with ten puppies clambering all over her. About 20 minutes after that conversation, I was nursing Meredith in bed & Sylvia came in to play with an armload of stuffed animals:

Woof.

In knitting news, I finished a baby sweater & actually got it to the intended baby before he outgrew it. Luckily it was in a nice stretchy garter stitch--he's a pretty big boy.

I call myself a novice knitter because I stick to pretty simple patterns. Maybe I'll attempt something more complicated this winter if the puppies give me a break.

Brand New

2007-09-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'll christen my new blog with a post about my new baby. Meredith Elizabeth arrived on 8/23/07, 1 week late but perfect in every way.

Here she is on Day One with her big sister Sylvia, who has just turned 4 years old.