Swimming

Here are a few shots from swimming this week. You can see Yogi wearing his new "warm belly" suit which he loves. It's cute and it keeps him a lot warmer! Yogi moved up a level so they are both in the same class again. And see Ember? She did that herself. She was holding and sucking on Beck's goggles while I was chatting with another mom and I looked down and she had tried to put the goggles on! I was so impressed. She observed the other kids wearing them, understood their orientation and then tried it herself. She just amazes me all the time.

Yesterday something very sad happened: we lost Piggy. It happened while we were at my parents' house in Edmonds. At one point the boys and my niece took a wagon walk around the block so maybe it fell out then, but both my niece and the boys swear it was in the wagon the whole time. And Beck says he remembers clearly bringing it back into the house. Well we've torn the house apart looking for it and it's just not there. We've also retraced their wagon walk path several times and didn't find it. Chris even drove out there after work last night and combed through the neighborhood with a flashlight looking for it. No luck. My parents have called the dog-walking neighbors. Still nothing. Chris made this flyer and I posted it on every mailbox this morning and talked with the mailman but so far we haven't heard anything.

Beck cried for several hours before finally falling asleep last night. It was his first night ever without Piggy. I laid down with him and he told me that he will stop crying some day, but he'll never stop being sad. And then he said he hoped that someone will find Piggy and take care of him and love him like he does. It just broke my heart. I cried too. I know Piggy was just fabric and stuffing, but he's been part of our family since Beck was born.

Papercraft

Yesterday I spent a good half hour creating this paper "cubeecraft" Storm Trooper. And now you can too! Be sure to have a good exacto knife and print your choice of figure on heavier paper. Check out the possibilities on Cubeecraft.com. It's fun!

Protection

This morning I was making Beck's bed which happens to be the upper bunk so it takes some effort to do. And as I was pulling all the stuffed animals off (there must have been about 10 up there) I said, "Beck, why all the stuffed animals? Why so many?"

He just looked at me, suddenly very serious and said, "For protection."

The Weekend

Ahh, the end of another weekend. Some cleaning, some shopping, a little dusting of snow, a puppet show for the boys, a childhood friend for dinner on Saturday, a date with Chris at the mall today. Good stuff.

Ember is almost walking. She's standing alone for several seconds now and even took a few lurching steps. In that way, she's very different from the boys. The boys didn't really try to take a step until they were totally confident in their success. By the time Beck took his first step, he never crawled again. Ember, on the other hand, is trying to walk before she can really even stay up for very long. She's lurching and swaying and laughing through it all. It's cute how much fun she's having with it.

Lego Craziness

In the last few months the boys have discovered legos - not the chunky duplos, but the teeny tiny choking hazard genuine legos and they have really stressed me out. Like I said, these are choking hazards and there seem to be literally hundreds of them on my floor at any given time. With Ember crawling and cruising and generally exploring everything now, it's been a big problem.

The other part that's making me crazy is the fact that legos are mainly sold in sets that build a specific item - a specific and complicated item (often related to a current movie) that is basically impossible to re-build without the directions. So, with my natural tendency to organize everything I tried to keep all of our sets separate in their own little labeled containers so that we would always have all the pieces together that are necessary for building that particular item. But the only way to make this work is to let the boys only have one set out at a time. You can imagine how long that lasted! It just didn't work. It was making me CRAZY. I can't even say it was making the boys crazy because they just ignored my whole system anyway.

So last night I took all of our sets and dumped them into one big container. The boys loved it and I felt a big wave of relief wash over me. My life just got a whole lot easier!

Days of Fog

We've been having days of fog lately - thick, heavy, and lingering through evening. It did burn off on Monday and we took the kids out for a little urban nature hike. Both boys walked the entire way which was maybe a first?! Yogi trying to convince us to carry him because his "legs were too tired" and Beck showing off a special pebble he found.

Baby Beluga

We just returned from a short trip to my parents' cabin and this time we took my 12 year old niece with us. We all brought our passports and decided to venture up into Vancouver for day trips. The cabin is just minutes from the Canadian border, but crossing can take hours if you're not careful with timing and have a little luck besides. We sailed right through each time!

For our first trip we decided to go to the WORLD CLASS Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. I've been to a lot of aquariums on the west coast and this was the most impressive. They have an outdoor dolphin pool and beluga tank with several daily shows each. And while we took in the show, bald eagles and sea planes cruised over our heads which just added to the experience.

While the dolphins were the most entertaining, the belugas were especially fun to see since a baby was born there last June. She looks like a little gray comma compared to the huge white lumpy looking mother beluga. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring along my camera, but here's the aquarium's video of the birth.

Sewing

I'm sew excited (sorry I couldn't help it!) to fool around with my sewing machine again. I bought the machine just before my first pregnancy, but then packed it away for the last 6 years because of moving and having babies and remodeling our house. Now I actually have a place to set it up and leave it out so that I can come and go as necessary and I've even managed to complete a few projects! It took me awhile to re-learn threading the bobbin and adjusting tension, but then I was ready to go. I'm using a wonderful book as my guide (as well as conversations with my mom):Home Decor Sewing 101 My first project was a set of napkins. I got inspired when I saw this fabric collection (Farmer's Market by RJR fabrics) at the store and instantly thought of napkins:
Each one is a separate fabric and there are many more in the collection!)
I also made a few pillowcases for Yogi since my mom had made some for Beck in the past. He fell in love with this Yogi Bear fabric and has used the pillowcase every night since I finished it - which, of course, makes the whole project so satisfying!

Beck Turns 5

Beck had his 5th birthday this weekend. He decided to forgo a big birthday party with his peers in favor of a smaller "just my cousins!" gathering at our house instead. Here are some photos:


The boys admiring the train cake that my mom made by special request for Beck.
The cake baker and the birthday boy. Opening presents. Putting together the new Lego Racer set. Party girls!

After the Bath

Ember spends most of her time trying to walk now. She pulls herself up constantly and cruises around the room from couch to table to chair to Beck and Yogi's heads and whatever else she can find to hang on to. She even hitched a ride on our canister vacuum today.

Name Game

Have you ever tried to name a blog? I'm thinking about starting another blog - mostly about unschooling - so I've been trying out name possibilities on blogger. The thing is, ALL THE COOL names are already taken. This wouldn't bother me so much if someone was actually using the blog and posting to it, but in every case except one (titled apple slices) the blog name ideas I thought of were taken. Taken as in title + blogspot.com. I don't want a blog title where I have to insert my name or use dashes to distinguish it from the other blogs with the same name. No, I want it neat: simply the title + blogspot.com. And what really, really drives me nuts is that some people don't even use the URL as their blog title. What's up with that?! Drives me nuts.

Here's my list of titles that are taken and that I wanted (and yes, I admit some of them are a little cute!)

inchworm
carrotsticks
cheese and crackers
sugar cubes
nudge
pencil shavings
peanutbutter and jelly
lunchbox

The funny thing is I got a little addicted to trying out names to check availability. I'm not a gambler, but each time I typed in a name and pressed the "check availability" button I felt a squeeze of excitement. And then blogger would always say "sorry, blah, blah, blah, how about susan-inchworm?" No thanks. The name I settled on is middle blue. More about the name and the new blog later!

Snow Shots 3: Here We Go Again!

These were taken about an hour ago...

Christmas 2008

Well, it's over. The snow is gone, the tree is gone, the Christmas boxes are packed up and back in the basement. Somewhere in there I did find myself feeling a little like we were "on vacation" - for a few isolated moments anyway. We watched a few movies - something we rarely do these days - and the whole family slept in until almost 8am a few mornings which is the first time in years - not kidding.

This year we got the Playmobile Nativity set which is wonderful! All the pieces are lovely and full of detail and the boys really enjoyed the storytelling around it. They also loved taking the figures and playing with them in all kinds of different scenarios. And because of it I found myself saying some funny things like this:

Me: Wait a minute! Where's baby Jesus? We better find him - he's a choking hazard.

or: Beck, Yogi? Do you know where the three kings are?

the boys: We're using them. They're pirates now.

or: Why is Mary in the landspeeder? (a StarWars toy)

Here are a few photos from Christmas:

The night before Christmas we put together a little plate for Santa and his helpers.


Yogi and his stocking.


Beck and his Playmobile chief.


The boys and presents.

Ember loved pulling things off the tree.


Christmas group shot - boys in motion!

Snow Shots 2

300th Post!

It's still snowing! We got easily another 2 inches (on top of the 12" we already had on the ground) and it's still coming down. Chris went to the store yesterday to pick up milk and they were out of our organic 2%. He had to get fat free instead! I'm not sure what we're going to do for Christmas dinner, but it looks like we'll have to head out to QFC with our toboggan.

'tis the season

So here's how it's going: for the past 2 days we've been snowed in, our modem broke a few days ago and Comcast can't come out to fix it until the 28th, our Christmas trip to Death Valley was canceled because of the weather (we were supposed to be on a plane right now!), and last night a pipe broke which flooded part of the basement. Today we haven't been able to use our water and now a bunch of our newly remodeled wall is cut out which leaves us with another big house project and a big mess to clean up. On the plus side the sledding is outstanding and our neighbors were kind enough to lend us one of their extra modems so at least we're connected to the world again.

Snow Shots

If anyone happens to find one of Ember's pink leather slipper shoes between here and the Greatful Bread, just drop it by! It must have slipped off on our walk.

Forcasting

Here's what I just read on the weather report: "Thundersnow is also possible." Huh?!@# Whatever that is, it doesn't sound good.

Snow Day!

The promised snow finally arrived! I had to laugh yesterday when most of the local school districts canceled school for what turned out to be a relatively mild overcast day. Of course, they're all out again today, but this time for good reason. After wrestling the boys into a hodge-podge of winter weather gear and stuffing Ember into the front pack with several layers of fleece on, I did manage to take the boys out for a little sledding on our toboggan. Now we're warming up with some hot cocoa and it's beginning to get that relaxing feel of a real snow day. Ahhhh, yes.

No Snow

Well, our arctic blast is here, but where's all the promised snow? Today I was actually looking forward to a real snow day - mostly so I could get a free pass on the stressful morning rush routine. But no snow. Maybe later?

Winter Day

Well, here we are at the end of another weekend and I'm exhausted. This Christmas season is really kicking my butt. And today after waking to a winter white snowy morning all I wanted to do was get comfortable and read my book in peace. Instead the boys went out and back in and out and in and needed constant changes of clothes and this and that and a new pair of socks and these mittens don't work and ... well, you get the picture. It was beautiful last night when the snow fell. Here's a shot that Chris took from our bedroom window.


And here's Yogi helping Ember stand up. He was really concentrating.

Finding our Tree

Social Security: Round #2

Good news: I went back to the social security office today and presented the situation again and this time the guy looked at the documents, did a few taps on the keyboard, and told me I could expect the card within 10 days! I did question him about the response I got from the lady last week and he told me that she was in training and hadn't encountered a foreign adoption before and he apologized for the inconvenience. So it all worked out. Victory at last!

Ember Stands

As soon as Ember learned to crawl she started pulling herself up to a standing position which she does constantly now. Her only problem is that I think she's afraid to let go and sit back down. She starts off super happy, squawking loudly and then eventually she sounds upset and finally starts to cry until someone helps her sit down. She's also learned that whenever anyone says "hi" or "bye-bye" she waves. And sometimes she just waves if she enters a room and she sees someone she likes. It is so adorable! I swear it sounds like she's trying to say "hi" herself. It sounds more like "AH!" and she does it in greeting with her wave or if someone says it to her.

Video Art

This video art production at the Frye Art museum captured Beck's imagination last weekend. It featured a woman very gently letting porcelain dishes fall off of tables and then crashing to the floor.

Mini Business Cards

Before I forget, my mini photo / business cards came back from Moo.com and I JUST LOVE THEM! I also bought the little key chain holder so I always have them on hand. The paper is sturdy and they have a nice matte finish. They really are sweet!

Ember

and Grampa T

Predictable, but Annoying

Yesterday I went to the social security office to apply for Ember's social security card. I had all of our paperwork there including her new birth certificate, our adoption decree, and her permanent resident card which we received shortly after we returned from Ethiopia. Everything was going fine until the lady looked at the permanent resident card and told me she couldn't process our application because the name on the permanent resident card doesn't match the name on the birth certificate.

Well, of course it doesn't! When we were in Ethiopia we were told what name to use for her: the Ethiopian given name + the adoptive father's full name which is not what we wanted to name her! Anyway, the social security office said that I'd have to go back to the immigration office and get her permanent resident card changed first.

I called them today and it's a long and complicated process involving forms and a written statement and 6 more months. What I don't understand is how confused everyone seems about it. Surely they've seen this before. Don't all families adopting from Ethiopia go through this? They must since the adoptive family really doesn't have a say in the immigration paperwork you fill out when you're there. Why didn't our agency tell us this would be an issue? For now I've written to our state immigration office and am waiting for a response.

Ember Update

We received Ember's new birth certificate in the mail yesterday so our next step is to get her social security number. And once we have that we can take those two documents plus our Decree of Adoption and then apply for her citizenship. That will feel like a big day!

Other news is that her first tooth is just breaking through her gums. This explains some very unusual behavior over Thanksgiving weekend. We actually took her to an urgent care clinic because she had several outbursts of screaming, wasn't sleeping well, and just not acting like her usual happy self. I thought she might have an ear infection, but the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her and suggested she might be teething. He was right!

She has also begun to pull herself up to a standing position so I can see that very soon we'll have a little cruiser on our hands.

I know it sounds corny to say it, but I feel like I love her more and more all the time. I keep asking myself, Did I feel like this with the boys? Did my attachment grow stronger over time? To be honest, I don't remember. And it's not that I didn't love Ember and want to care for her and protect her and cuddle her from the start, it's just that I feel even more of that now. And more of something that I really can't find the words for, something deep down and basic and wonderful. She's my baby girl!

Star Wars and Preschoolers

Overheard while the boys played with their Star Wars figures this morning:

Yogi (as Storm Trooper): Han Solo is coming over for a playdate...

Beck (as Darth Vader): Maybe he could have a sleep over!

Sometimes Cute, Always Charming

Today I spent an hour or so at the University Book Store browsing through art and office supplies as presents for the kids when I came upon this book:There are such darling projects in it! I really had to resist buying it. But when I got home I did a search of Zakka on the internet and found this fun blog with lots and lots of project ideas. Looks like so much fun. In case you were wondering, here's an explanation of what Zakka is. The term refers to everything and anything that improves your home, life and outlook. You can't beat that!

Thanksgiving

Well, we made it through Thanksgiving. I think I ate the last of the stuffing this afternoon and all of our guests left yesterday. I thought the food from Metropolitan Market was quite tasty and my only complaint was that it took over an hour to heat up the sides which were supposed to take only 20 minutes. I'm happy our families could be here to share the meal.

One of my favorite parts was taking a few walks. A cold wind was blowing so we bundled Ember up and she looked so cute!

School Zoo

The other day another mom was telling me how she had to laugh every time she drove by the local school during recess time. She said that the school has only dirt and pavement for the kids to play on and that she always sees the students walking the chain link boundary of the school grounds and pulling in leaves from the bushes on the other side - bushes growing outside the boundaries of the school. "The kids look just like animals in a zoo!" she said. She has one child in the school already and will send her other to the same school next year.

Beck and Ember

Here's Beck feeding Ember. I think his fondness for her is so sweet. He's always got his eye out for her, gently takes away inappropriate toys (or his toys!) and gives her a basket of baby toys instead. He asks to feed her, to push her stroller, to have her in his bed. I wonder what it is about this kind of sibling relationship where the oldest is especially close to the youngest. I had this kind of closeness with my oldest sister too.

Yogi and the Feast

This morning I reminded the boys that today was the "Thanksgiving Feast" celebration with their preschool. And then Yogi turned to me and said this:

Yogi: Good, do you have a big pot?
Me: A pot? No...?? Why do I need a pot? I made cookies to share.
Yogi: You need a big pot to hang over the fire.

I guess this tells us what he thinks of when he hears "feast"!

At the Park

Firsts and Lasts

First Christmas tree sighting during my evening walk.

Last leaf raking in the front yard from the magnolia tree.

Last use of our high chair. We retired it to streamline things. Ember is perfectly able to sit up to the table buckled into one out our Svan chairs without the tray. She seems to really enjoy being part of the group and getting bits of food from our dinner. For some reason she always giggles heartily when we say grace.

First time I've ever ordered Thanksgiving dinner - from Metropolitan Market. We'll have 14 people and one baby here and I just didn't think I could pull it off otherwise. And to be honest, I've never done a turkey on my own before so it seems a little daunting.

The last of the fall color is gone now. We're back to skeletal trees and the molasses brown colors of winter.

Playdate

Last night we had a monster play date here: 4 preschool aged boys, 1 toddler boy, 2 girl babies, 3 moms, 1 babysitter. I think it's interesting to observe how crazy they are at the start of the date and by the end they settle in together and seem to be more comfortable exploring toys individually or working together on a common theme. The last time they all got together they wound up with a "mining adventure" wearing hard hats and carrying flashlights in the dark space under a staircase. This time they all ended up on the top bunk playing fishing - and then scuba rescue. It was very cute.

Parenting

Thank you, sisters, for all the good advice. Yesterday I observed carefully what was going on between the boys and yes, I think they need training. I've also looked up the Siblings Without Rivalry book and there is a LONG wait list so I think I might buy a copy. (Obviously, a lot of parents out there are dealing with the same issues! :) And if there is one thing that makes me nervous about homeschooling, this is it. I think I will go crazy if we can't make some progress on the home fights. But we will, right?!

Fighting Boys

It's been tough around here lately. I'm not sure why, but the boys are fighting a lot these days. I just finished the Positive Discipline parenting class and I can tell you that I'm getting really tired of problem solving around these sibling fights. Now I'm trying the love and logic method of letting them fight and work it out for themselves AWAY FROM ME, but they're still coming to me, usually crying and blaming the other, to work it out. And so today I told them they had to go outside to fight. It's cold out so they "worked it out" pretty quickly. But overall I don't feel like I was very successful and I'm exhausted by it which isn't a good sign. Ok, enough whining.

Just for Fun!

I saw these sites listed in our weekly news magazine, The Week. The tests were quick and the results were fun. Start with Youjustgetme. You don't need to log in or join anything for this one and after just 40 questions it rates your personality in several categories.

Sanityscore was more serious, had more questions and you do have to set up an account, but I thought the assessment was right on.

Ember on the move

Ember is really moving now! She is very happy to putt around the house and investigate all the stuff she can get her hands on which is anything up to about 12" off the floor. For some reason her favorite spots are the cold air returns. She pulls them right off the walls. We have plaster walls and since our house is about 50 years old the screw holes are worn out. Behind the vents are always a few dust bunnies since I don't normally have access there with the vacuum and as soon as Ember spots those little balls of dust fluff, she grabs them and gobbles them up. I've seen her go after the fluff that sticks to the bottom of the broom too. Really, she puts anything and everything into her mouth that she finds, it's just that seeing her down the dust balls is a little gross. Now I keep the vacuum out all the time to try and stay ahead of her.

Mini Business Cards

Last week at the pool a woman, a children's photographer actually, handed me her business card. I wasn't interested in her photography services, but I LOVED her little card! It was tiny - only about 1" x 3" and had a photograph covering the front of the card and her contact info on the back. Well, I've been wanting to make a business card of my own since I was a kid, but I've just never really had a reason. But now as a mom there are surprisingly many times where it would've been handy to pass on a card with our information instead of scrambling to find a used napkin or handy-wipe wrapper. So I'm making one! A tiny one! After a search on the internet for "mini business cards" I found MOO.com. You can use your own photos and for a box of 100 cards you can use up to 100 different photos if you want! I can think of all different possibilities - a mini photodeck of our trip to Ethiopia, perhaps? A deck of cards with stuff on it for the kids? Little photo inserts for letters? This is going to be fun.

Season Table

So this was our little project for the day: a fall season display. I saw the idea on another blog that I stumbled upon when I was looking for something else and I noticed the sweet collection of objects they had assembled for fall. This morning the boys and I gathered a few things together and made our own. They've been adding to it throughout the day, but this is what it looked like this morning. We have more leaves in the press and as soon as they're ready we'll add them as well.

Getting Caught Up

I'm not sure where my motivation to work on my blog went, but it seems to have vanished for the past week or so. The problem is that now every time I look at the computer I feel guilty so I thought I should resume my efforts. Here goes.

Let's see. We have a new president! The whole election day I felt like this:

YES! YES! YES!

And what else... Ember is crawling. She's still a little herky jerky and sometimes she ends up going backwards until she's wedged under the furniture, but she's getting around. I can see that things will be busier around here now that she's mobile. She is into everything!

I set up my sewing machine after 5 years of having it packed away. It took me more than a week to wind the bobbin and get the tension right, but I think it's ready to go now. I'd like to sew a little curtain for the opening under the stairs. It's only visible when you're in the utility room, but since I spend a lot of time there - doing my daily meditation and laundry I think it would be nice to spruce the place up.

And I've also been doing a lot of reading about homeschooling. After I finished John Holt's book called Teach Your Own I was ready to commit to it. And then I read Hard Times in Paradise by David and Micki Colfax. They left their professional jobs and moved their family to an undeveloped piece of property in northern California. They started their own little homestead - built a house, raised animals, grew their food, and homeschooled their children who ended up going to Harvard for college. It was pretty inspiring!

Our bright blue fall days are gone. Now it's rain and raking leaves. We gathered up 12 bags this weekend!

Here are a few photos from Halloween. Beck went as Robin and Yogi was an explorer.