Author: althea

July 21: I can’t believe that we’ve already reached late July.  Oh, sweet summer.  Slow down, slow down!  The days fly by on fleet feet.  So far, our July has been remarkably unscheduled.  We had three weekends in a row with almost no pre-planned activities.  But now, all that changes.  Here’s a quick snapshot:

• Bryan’s mom is flying up here tomorrow and will be taking Andrew down to Texas for his first solo visit.  Bryan, Sylvia, and I are following this weekend and will be coming back up with him next week.
• Our annual weekend at Jack’s house is the first weekend in August this year.
• The second weekend in August, Sylvia and I are flying to Vermont for my friend Jennifer’s wedding. Jennifer and I went to graduate school together.  Grace and I will be meeting up there and rooming together.
• The third weekend in August I’m home and unscheduled.
• The forth weekend in August, I fly with the two kids to Washington DC to visit Grace, Tim & John; Heather, Michael, & Evelyn; and Kacy & Reuteger.  Kacy’s wedding is on August 30.  I’ll spend a week hanging out with folks in DC (my new stay-at-home role allows for such lollygagging!), and then Bryan is joining me for the wedding.  I’m really looking forward to it!

We may be heading to Ann Arbor for a visit in September too, so that’s our late summer travel excitement.  It all should be a lot of fun:)

July 18: Aren’t they both adorable?  Here are pictures of Andrew at Sylvia at a bit over five months.

July 17: Some people like to be prepared in case there is a natural disaster.  I like to be prepared for any kind of emergency baking situations.  My kitchen is stocked with almond paste, sweetened condensed milk, tapioca, many kinds of flour, dutch process coca, etc.  One never knows when a baking need will arise and one will need to whip out a dessert at a moment’s notice.  No running to the store for me!  When we moved from our house in Ann Arbor, I had about eight packages of butter in the fridge.  Running out of baking staples is, I believe, a subconscious fear of mine.
But today that preparedness paid off.  I strapped Sylvia to me in her ergo carrier, chopped up chocolate, and quickly made The Smitten Kitchen’s Chocolate Sorbet.  It’s currently cooling in the fridge.  Mmmm.  I love chocolate.  And ice cream.

July 16: It’s hot today.  Nearly 90 degrees.  I currently have the ice cream maker cranking away on a new batch of cake batter ice cream.  Yum.  I have some iced coffee concentrate brewing on the counter.  I am considering starting a batch of some amazing-looking chocolate sorbet that I saw today.
“How is this possible?” you may wonder, when I have two small, quite needy children right here.  The secret:

Andrew is napping.  It hasn’t happened in weeks.  But here he is, napping for over an hour.  And Sylvia isn’t napping, but she’s content.  And pretty hot.  And she DID NOT want me to read books to her.  And she DOES NOT want to lie down in her crib.  But she is pretty happy sitting in her seat next to me as I cook (and now as I post), so that’s a nice thing.

We spent the morning at Jessica’s house.  They are moving in a mere two weeks (just a mile or two from us), and so I went over with the idea of helping her pack or helping watch her kids while she packed.  Silly notions:)  She did get a closet and dresser packed, but four kids is a lot of kids.  And we left the house looking like it was pummeled by a fierce storm.  Oh well!  We all had fun.

Photos may be forthcoming. (11:45pm update:  Here they are!)

July 14: The other day, Andrew was curled up in my lap with his arms intertwined amongst mine. I was looking down at our hands and surprised myself by thinking for a moment that his hand was mine. Then I chucked (because really, his fingers are a lot smaller than mine), but it made me think.

When Andrew was little, my mom told me that when she was a new mom, one of the things she had to work at the most was understanding that she and her baby were independent people. She said that she always felt like she and her children were one, and that the whole of raising her kids was a constant peeling apart of our united selves.

So from the time they were born, and perhaps for the rest of our lives, Andrew and Sylvia will be learning to be their own, independent persons and Bryan and I will be learning how much to protect and how much to trust, how much to nurture and how much to encourage fledging.

Sylvie is still so new.

The other day, I left her with my brothers while I went to see Tom in the hospital. When I returned, Sylvie was so very, very sad. She saw me, and I could see relief in her tear-filled eyes. When I held her, she gently stroked my lips with her finger tips…reassuring herself that I was there.

To me, it seemed like our separation wasn’t so much about missing me as about feeling perhaps adrift without my presence. It made me think, “I don’t think she knows that we are two different people!” Having access to her mama is one of the constants in her world, and the few times that I’ve left her, I think she’s more upset by the gap I leave than anything.

So that’s some musings for the morning. Andrew’s been very patient and waited to swing on his swing until I finished. So now, I’m off!

July 12: Sylvia and I went to the hospital to visit Tom today. He was moved from the ICU to a normal hospital room, and he seemed to be doing really well. He’d taken a couple walks and he had a very steady stream of visitors. I was impressed at how strongly he could hold and move Sylvie. She was quite interested in grabbing at his tubes!
Tom’s voice is still pretty soft, so it’s a little hard to hear him in the video. A transcription of the video clip is below.

Tom: This is my friend Sylvia. And I’m doing very well. I love Sylvia and she loves me, right! That’s probably why I’m doing so well.
Ed: cough cough (in the background)
Tom: Oi oi oi oi oi. OK, now watch as Sylvia bites my finger off.
Ed: cough cough
Althea: Open up, honey! Tom’s looking good.

July 11: I am so happy staying at home with the kids!  Especially when I spend the day at the beach with my buddies!  I hope to make this a regular event:)  Pictures from our hours on the beach (much of which Andrew spent climbing trees!) are in the gallery.