asteroid B612

Fourth of July used to be my favorite holiday, back when we went to the parade, were tossed free candy, ate fun food, and went to fireworks. (Actually I think we only did all of the above once. The fireworks in Independence were pretty lame.) The free candy was especially appealing.

Now the Fourth is a hailed as a Day Off. It was nice to have Daddy home in the morning when he isn't usually. We went to the arboretum with our friend Judah. He and Ellis are Three Year Old Boys. They carry sticks, climb things, get very dirty, and pretend they are something else (anywhere from pirates to cats to monkeys). It was a soggy day threatening to downpour at any minute. We did seek shelter under a tree at one point, but mostly evaded a soaking.

In the evening we met up with Judah again and some other friends for a yummy dinner at my ILs. The kids played like crazy in the driveway, but by the time it got dark enough for sparklers, it was raining too hard. Poor kids!

I finally got to dress E and M in their fun matching shirts that Daddy picked out. E loved it. M? not so much.

So I made through my week, and we took off on Friday afternoon to visit my parents in Lancaster (about an hour and a half away). We stopped off to do a quick errand in Swedish Paradise, had a relaxing evening, and then walked downtown for music and fireworks! The local symphony was playing and finished off the event with a fireworks display. It was the first time E had seen them. A few went off during the last song, and E totally freaked out and lept into my dad's lap. I took his CI off so he could enjoy them a little more. He was totally zonkered out after that...waaaaay past his bedtime.

(when shoes were required, it turns out that Daddy's were the closest ones available)

I bought him a glowstick. I was so excited to be able to do that. I've been dreaming of getting my kid a glowstick for years. He LOVED it. Played with it for hours.

On Saturday we had homemade waffles and ice cream and fresh strawberries for breakfast. Chris and Dad did house projects. Ellis "helped". Mom and I walked to central market where I stocked up on goodies. My brother Nick came over for a little bit and took Ellis to his house for about an hour to play. E totally adores him and was SO EXCITED to drive off with Nick for a little bit. My parents' new neighborhood is mostly Hispanic, so we tried a local restaurant for dinner. It was too greasy/salty for me, but we enjoyed trying it. After his bath, Ellis curled up and fell asleep so fast. One tired boy! That's how we like 'em! We loaded the sleepies up and went home in the quiet and cool of the night.

I'm starting this new week feeling a little less defeatist than I did last week. We'll see how I actually feel when Monday morning officially clamors in .

My baby turned three last Sunday. He is such a big boy now.

I can't begin to describe the love and the joy I have for this boy. He made a mother. He's kept me awake for longer than I thought was humanly possible. He's brought me into worlds I never knew. (and yes, that is a lame rice krispie treat cake. at least it's in the shape of a car)

Happy Birthday, Ellis!

So between the time I broke my old blog and got started on this one there's stuff I've been meaning to blog.

Last weekend we celebrated our Anniversary. Seven years on June 8. We were pretty tired, so we kept things low-key. The whole family went to a coffee shop for crepes, then we browsed around a book store. Our anniversary is exactly one week before Ellis's bday and exactly two weeks after Marlowe's. Throw in Father's Day and Chris's bday at the end of the month, and it's a busy month of celebrating in our family.

Thanks for the nice birthday wishes. I love my birthday. And I'm happy turning 30. I had a great decade for my twenties. I did a lot. I went to college. I traveled a lot, including studying in Europe a couple of times. I got married. I lived in New Orleans. I went to grad school. I met tons of cool people. I had a kid. I did cool things and went cool places. I'm satisfied with my experiences. I think my thirties will be a little different, but great in their own way.

I had a fun birthday. My mom came for the day and went with me to my midwife appt. Heard the heartbeat. Everything is chugging away normally. I feel gargantuan, and if the four pounds I gained in two weeks has anything to do with the fact that my front feels more and more like a bowling ball, I'm hoping there's a baby fattening up quite nicely in there.

We went to the fabric store where I picked up some fabric for the spread I'm going to make for my bed. I'm going with a batik-y theme. The blues look so dreamy. Then we picked Ellis up from school and went to lunch at a coffee shop that makes yummy crepes. We got Ellis a brioche roll and jam, which he was happy with until he saw our crepes. (he wouldn't have liked the crepe and had lunch at school anyway, so wasn't that hungry. but I was so glad I had had the camera out when they set the crepes down on the table, b/c the look on his face had me rolling!)

Then we went to our local arboretum, where my mom got me a membership as a birthday gift (yay!). The bulbs and forsythia were blooming. The buds on the flowering trees were fat and ready to bloom soon. I always think of daffodils as my birthday flower, because my mom tells how when they brought me home from the hospital, she noticed all the daffodils blooming. I wish I had something as poetic to think of with Ellis, but I don't: all I remember was "it's so cold!" (it was unseasonably cool that day, and we had been used to New Orleans heat) and "I hope we don't get lost" (having just moved to the area two weeks before).

Well, folks, I've made it three decades. Today is the big day. The day I turn 30. Youth, or whatever was left of it, is officially over. Now I'm just Living Life--kinda makes me wonder what I thought I was doing when I turned 20, but I wasn't blogging back then, so I can't remember.

It's sunny today. Yay! A bit chilly, though, but that's okay. The forsythia are brilliant. Ellis slept all night. And there's fun things to do.

So celebrate with me! Everyone drink root beer floats!

We had a really busy weekend.

First, we got a new camera.

We helped my parents move out of the house they've lived for the past eleven years--the longest they've ever lived in one place. It may also be the most idyllic location they've ever lived in. We're going to miss the cozy fireplace and fun yard. They don't have a new place yet, so put their stuff in storage and will stay with friends while they house hunt in the area.

And we also did a some fun Eastery activities. I dyed eggs with Ellis for the first time. We enjoyed it so much, i felt kind of lame for only giving him 5 to do. But I didn't plan on eating them, since I didn't use natural dyes, so didn't want to waste too many eggs. Every egg got about 10 dips each.

I also made him a fun Easter basket, with homemade bean bags instead of grass (which he immediately thought were therapy bags that you stick in the microwave to heat up--haha! life with a poor aching pregnant mom) and jingle bell bracelets. He also got a little bit of chocolate and jellybeans, but I felt genius at tricking him with raisins packaged in appealing boxes with Cars characters. He wore his new suit to church, and really did well in the service (which we've been working on). And we had a nice ham dinner at my ILs in the afternoon.

(click on each photo for its respective set)

(Originally uploaded by hbomb1947)

Ellis didn't have school today, for President's Day. It also turned out to be a really nice day, and I was feeling pretty good, no doubt thanks to the wonderful nap I had yesterday. So I decided to take him to the Art Museum again. I wanted to go in the morning while he was still somewhat fresh, but we didn't get off until around 11. I didn't have high expectations, but I thought he might enjoy it a little. He enjoyed about 5 paintings, a sculpture of a duck, and a small pool and fountain in a room full of Cezanne, Van Gogh, and the south of France. But that's why I finally bought my membership today, so that we could enjoy the museum five paintings at a time. In the room with the small fountain, he sat on a bench for a long time looking the water.

Eventually, I put him on my back in the Beco and was free to linger over these beautiful tapestries in the modern art collection.

But a security guard came up to me and said that it's against museum policy to allow children in back carries. WHAT!? Even though I can understand a tiny bit (it's harder for parents to monitor wandering, tiny hands programmed to explore when little ones are on the back) I'm really annoyed. This will drastically alter how I pictured my museum experience for the next few months. Oh well. Five paintings at a time, five paintings at a time. Just have to really come to terms with that. Maybe I'll go back and look at the tapestries when he's in school.

The day was gorgeous, though, we really should have gone to the zoo. After I left in my Beco-rejected huff, we ate lunch outside on a park bench by the river next to some boat houses. The sun was warm and lots of bikers, joggers, and dogs passing by entertained Ellis much more than Cezanne did. We walked around the grounds, and he was elated by the waterfalls and ran around in the false spring euphoria with his arms outstretched like the seagulls.

I love Val Day. I think it's fun. I love the homemade valentines, cookies (because usually I never got around to decorating C'mas cookies, so it's my time to redeem myself), and a yummy dinner with hubby. We don't make a big, expensive holiday. But I like the opportunity to do something a little extra special. We actually ended up celebrating the day after this year, because it was more convenient.

We had some little kids over yesterday for a little Valentine's party.

I laid out crayons, paper, glue, and glitter glue, and they made valentines for their mommies. Some kids needed a little more help than others. But the craft went well, and made me really happy.

I cut out PB&J hearts for lunch for the kids. And after the moms ate (no hearts for us: with 3 pregnant and 1 nursing mom, we were just concerned about FOOD), they decorated a few cookies. for Ellis the cookie merely served as a platter from which to eat frosting.

In the evening for our Valentine's Dinner, I tried to recreate our favorite meal from our favorite Lebanese restaurant in New Orleans. It's simple and dippy. But I don't have a lot of experience with Mediterranean cooking, so I had to look around a bit and consult with a friend for what to do. It turned out pretty near perfect. Trader Joe's helped a lot, too. I got the hummus, baba ganoush, and tzatiki sauce from there, and a preseasoned, boneless leg of lamb. For the lamb, I didn't do a real kebab on a spit. I cut it up into cubes, pan-seared the chunks with red onion and then baked it for a little with tomatoes. And then stirred in a yogurt-tahini sauce. SO GOOD!!!! And so tender! We ate everything with pitas "al fresco" (in the living room). Pretty much perfect. Afterwards we watched Paris, Je t'aime. So everything went as planned and was a lot of fun. I love dippy meals. We're going to have to do this more often.

Today was a balmy 67 degrees. Unseasonal for early February in Pennsylvania. It felt like winter in Louisiana, where you're not sure whether to wear a jacket or a Tshirt.

Chris and I have been passing a weird mood back and forth all week. I think we miss NOLA. It was Mardi Gras yesterday. Today I wore the same maternity Tshirt I wore to the last Mardi Gras parade I went to, when I was pregnant with Ellis. I wore it today as I stood stirring a steaming vat of gumbo. I don't think it's possible to make gumbo in quantities smaller than Big Vat.