Thanksgiving is a great holiday. I don't think it's my favorite...Christmas takes that honor...but still, it's a close second. I love the idea of taking time out, as a nation, to say "We are thankful".
If you watch any politics at all, you'll get the idea that we Americans, are teetering on the brink of disaster. It's a culture of fear. "Get out and vote for Candidate X or you will be in a gulag this time next year for saying the Lord's Prayer!" "Get out and vote for Candidate Y or all 16 year olds and above will be forced into arranged marriages!" OK, it's not quite that bad, but it's getting there. And it's so ridiculous. It's not that politics is unimportant...far from it...but just that we, as a nation, are so blessed. If you take a look at the world today, things here in the US are truly not so bad. You can keep your Tea Parties and your Occupy movements and your righteous indignation on your side of the aisle, whatever that may be, and I'm going to keep thanking my lucky stars that I live right here, right now. That's my political party right there: Grateful. I'm a registered (G).
OK, random political rant over with, we're certainly feeling very blessed here at Casa Ewaldo. As another year wanes, our cups truly runneth over. We are brimful of delight at the thought of meeting this little person we've been wanting for a long time. And Addie is a constant joy. She seems to have eased out of her last "difficult" phase and we're enjoying our newly cooperative little punkin. I'm sure she'll re-enter a challenging phase at some point before she leaves for college, but for now, we're just loving her personality without all the discipline issues!
As far as Thanksgiving itself goes, we don't have huge plans. Tim is on call, which is a bummer, but someone has to do it. Addie and I will make our way up to the cities for an afternoon with family and friends. We had our pick of events...a veritable smorgasbord of feasts... but I decided that a whole day of running around with Ads, on my own, is a bit too much right now. Because at 36 weeks, folks, I am getting tired. My body is definitely getting to that point where I'm thinking "Sure, labor hurts, but let's do this!"So we're settling for an afternoon of fun and then back home to wait for Tim/Daddy and bring him pumpkin pie in bed.
And a small note of thankfulness: Tim got me a new lens for my camera for my birthday/Christmas! I'm so so so (insert a lot of so's) excited because I had become really uninspired with taking pictures. Addie is difficult to photograph at the best of times, and our first lens was pretty much only decent in great outdoor light or in its auto modes, usually employing a flash. Anyone who takes a decent amount of photos knows that flash ruins a lot of pictures. I wanted to shoot on manual, but my lens just sucked, to be frank. I had a choice between getting nice light but blurry Addie or focused Addie in bad lighting. Or being outside. Which is not always practical for half the year here in MN. But now, it's a whole new world! So I should be able to upload some good pictures soon.
And another small grace note: it's only snowed ONCE here so far! And that was very light. I'm sure the natives are getting restless, but the transplants are thankful. Or at least this transplant is thankful! I don't mind cold so much, but snow makes everything so much harder on the moms of the Roc. When the snow does make an appearance, I'm determined to be positive about it, but I think it's fine to be positive about its absence too!
And finally, I'm thankful for this space and anyone who cares enough to read my ramblings! :-) Enjoy the day!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Constant Changes
For the last few years on my birthday, I've tried to take some time to reflect on the past year of my life. But for whatever reason, this year I find myself thinking about the last ten years of my life. Maybe because I met Tim almost exactly 10 years ago, at my 21st birthday party. Or maybe because this is first year where it feels like the past decade was an entirely adult span of time.
Whatever the reason, here I am thinking about life at 21 as compared to life at 31. There are some constants. Good friends, loving family, copious amounts of cake, squeal-inducing presents. But perhaps not surprisingly, the differences are more striking. No alcohol, two different careers, a husband, a house, two dogs, an almost two year old and an almost ready to be born Ewald in utero. Those are the broad strokes, the obvious differences that actually comprise a whole world of changes unto themselves.
If I recall correctly (and I may not!) my 21st birthday party was a kegger at our college apt. So there's another similarity between 31 and 21. Ha! Just kidding. It's a funny thought though, trying to imagine our Rochester friends with our gajillions of kiddos all gathered around a keg. It would have to be a keg of Capri Sun. Something tells me those don't exist. (A quick Google search confirms my suspicions here though there are a surprising number of people who think this would be an excellent idea.)
We actually kept it very low key this year, but it was exactly what I wanted. Tim and I went to dinner in the Cities while Addie stayed the night with her Grandpa and Lita. That was on Saturday. Then on Monday (my actual birthday), I had a nice lunch with some friends, and lots of sweet phones calls, texts, and facebook messages from friends and family. Tim brought Greek food home for dinner and we enjoyed some family time, including watching the first episode of Mad Men after Miss Addie went to sleep. I've been wanting to watch that show for a while, but we have exactly ZERO time to watch television apart from sports and kid movies, so that was a treat in and of itself. I'm sure we'll watch episode 2 sometime next year. If then!
So here I am, 31 years of age. Not even on the cusp of my 30s anymore, but firmly in them. It's sort of strange because when I was younger (say 21, for instance) my 30s seemed so old. I assumed I'd probably be married and I'd have some kids, a job, a house, you know, all the trappings of adulthood.
But mostly I thought I would feel differently from myself at age 21. That I'd have different interests and different views and different tastes. The kind of transformation where the opening of a new Target would be more interesting than the opening of a new wine bar. And in some ways, that's true. The Roc doesn't need any more Targets (we have Target north AND south, thanks very much) but the opening of a Trader Joe's was kindofabigdeal here. As in, police directed traffic in and out for the first weekend it was open. And perhaps I was part of that madness. As to wine bars, I know where they are in Rochester. I just don't get to them very often. Certainly not every Thursday night, as might have been the case a decade ago!
My habits are certainly different, my day to day life is totally different, and yet somehow I don't feel like I'm that different in my heart and mind. When I really think about it, of course I've changed a lot. But I still feel like...myself.
And that's my big life lesson from the last ten years. Whatever you become, wherever you go, as long as you can recognize yourself, it probably means that you're happy. In fact, an unconventional definition of unhappiness might be that you look at your life and don't know how you ended up there. Sometimes that happens to folks for reasons beyond their control, and sometimes it's the result of bad decisions along your life's path. But I guess the biggest gift of all ...birthday or not...is looking at your life and feeling happy that you're in it and that you are the person that you've become.
I'm not trying to suggest that my last ten years were completely smooth sailing or that I've now become the best person I can possibly be. Like everyone, I've made mistakes and I'm sure I'll make more! But that's part of growing and I think that's OK. I'm happy to be a work in progress.
I hope that ten years from now, at 41, I'll look back at my life and think about how different things are and how much I've changed. But I hope I come to the same ultimate conclusion that I reached at 31. That the changes were mostly good, that my decisions were mostly sound, and that my blessings were abundant and most of all, that I will still feel like myself and be happy about that.
And if some things are very different, some things might be the same. Maybe on the morning after my 41st birthday, I will hear my children getting up and decide that a breakfast of milk and dark chocolate covered peppermint JoJos is OK once a year. :-) That's the kind of constant I can celebrate!
Whatever the reason, here I am thinking about life at 21 as compared to life at 31. There are some constants. Good friends, loving family, copious amounts of cake, squeal-inducing presents. But perhaps not surprisingly, the differences are more striking. No alcohol, two different careers, a husband, a house, two dogs, an almost two year old and an almost ready to be born Ewald in utero. Those are the broad strokes, the obvious differences that actually comprise a whole world of changes unto themselves.
If I recall correctly (and I may not!) my 21st birthday party was a kegger at our college apt. So there's another similarity between 31 and 21. Ha! Just kidding. It's a funny thought though, trying to imagine our Rochester friends with our gajillions of kiddos all gathered around a keg. It would have to be a keg of Capri Sun. Something tells me those don't exist. (A quick Google search confirms my suspicions here though there are a surprising number of people who think this would be an excellent idea.)
We actually kept it very low key this year, but it was exactly what I wanted. Tim and I went to dinner in the Cities while Addie stayed the night with her Grandpa and Lita. That was on Saturday. Then on Monday (my actual birthday), I had a nice lunch with some friends, and lots of sweet phones calls, texts, and facebook messages from friends and family. Tim brought Greek food home for dinner and we enjoyed some family time, including watching the first episode of Mad Men after Miss Addie went to sleep. I've been wanting to watch that show for a while, but we have exactly ZERO time to watch television apart from sports and kid movies, so that was a treat in and of itself. I'm sure we'll watch episode 2 sometime next year. If then!
So here I am, 31 years of age. Not even on the cusp of my 30s anymore, but firmly in them. It's sort of strange because when I was younger (say 21, for instance) my 30s seemed so old. I assumed I'd probably be married and I'd have some kids, a job, a house, you know, all the trappings of adulthood.
But mostly I thought I would feel differently from myself at age 21. That I'd have different interests and different views and different tastes. The kind of transformation where the opening of a new Target would be more interesting than the opening of a new wine bar. And in some ways, that's true. The Roc doesn't need any more Targets (we have Target north AND south, thanks very much) but the opening of a Trader Joe's was kindofabigdeal here. As in, police directed traffic in and out for the first weekend it was open. And perhaps I was part of that madness. As to wine bars, I know where they are in Rochester. I just don't get to them very often. Certainly not every Thursday night, as might have been the case a decade ago!
My habits are certainly different, my day to day life is totally different, and yet somehow I don't feel like I'm that different in my heart and mind. When I really think about it, of course I've changed a lot. But I still feel like...myself.
And that's my big life lesson from the last ten years. Whatever you become, wherever you go, as long as you can recognize yourself, it probably means that you're happy. In fact, an unconventional definition of unhappiness might be that you look at your life and don't know how you ended up there. Sometimes that happens to folks for reasons beyond their control, and sometimes it's the result of bad decisions along your life's path. But I guess the biggest gift of all ...birthday or not...is looking at your life and feeling happy that you're in it and that you are the person that you've become.
I'm not trying to suggest that my last ten years were completely smooth sailing or that I've now become the best person I can possibly be. Like everyone, I've made mistakes and I'm sure I'll make more! But that's part of growing and I think that's OK. I'm happy to be a work in progress.
I hope that ten years from now, at 41, I'll look back at my life and think about how different things are and how much I've changed. But I hope I come to the same ultimate conclusion that I reached at 31. That the changes were mostly good, that my decisions were mostly sound, and that my blessings were abundant and most of all, that I will still feel like myself and be happy about that.
And if some things are very different, some things might be the same. Maybe on the morning after my 41st birthday, I will hear my children getting up and decide that a breakfast of milk and dark chocolate covered peppermint JoJos is OK once a year. :-) That's the kind of constant I can celebrate!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Stream O' Randomness
Raising a child tends to change your relationship to the English language. Some of it is a difference in how you interpret words and phrases. You quickly learn that "expressing yourself" has more to do with lactation than communication, and "sleeping in" means that your child slept past 7 AM. Some of it is a difference in how you speak. You will, at some point, inevitably speak in very simplified English (aka baby talk) to someone totally adult who will look at you like you are a pure fool. And some of it is the addition of new vocabulary words to your lexicon. For instance, there are at least four different regional words for a pacifier ...paci, binky, ninny, and nuk spring to mind. And you'll start to hear about things like "milestones", which I doubt anyone else has used in daily conversation since there were actually stones marking out the miles.
There are good and bad milestones. The good ones are fairly obvious; rolling over, first steps, first words, first solid foods. The bad ones are just as important, but not as fun to blog about; first tantrum, first time-out, first time Mom closed herself into a room and counted to 100 before emerging (wait, that's not a commonly accepted milestone? :-) ) We had a bad one this past weekend. Poor Ads had her first "sick visit" to the doctor and her first ear infection. In some ways, it's great that she made it to almostbutnotquitetwo before we had to take her in to a doctor. And an ear infection is pretty small potatoes in the whole realm of illness and "things that can go wrong", so I'm grateful for that.
But it was a rough weekend. Addie couldn't sleep for long periods of time unless she was being held and rocked. She couldn't settle into her normal routine and she refused to eat anything but macaroni and cheese for five straight meals. Including breakfasts. Poor little muffin.
Fortunately, she is on the mend now and we didn't have to give her antibiotics. We can still save those big guns for something...well...big. And we have a new appreciation for her sassy and independent little self. While it was nice to be able to cuddle so much, I'd rather have her be her normal self, strong opinions and all, and than be so obviously unhappy.
And in other random happenings, my house was completely and totally surrounded by crows yesterday morning. It was 6 AM and this incredible din filled the air, waking both Ads and I from a sound and much needed sleep (Tim was on call, but he probably wouldn't have woken up anyway!). Even one crow is noisy, right? Well, imagine hundreds. It was incredible. The trees in our neighborhood were filled with huge black birds fighting and shrieking at each other and generally acting like extras in a Hitchcock movie. Nothing says "This is going to be a great day" like hundreds of omens of doom circling around your house at daybreak.
Pregnancy wise, I am 34 weeks today! I think. I keep screwing up the week count and saying I'm a week farther ahead or behind than I actually am. Either way, I guess we're getting there. It's funny because I could tell you with great precision what week and day I was on with Addie's pregnancy. "How far along am I? Oh, I'd say about 34 weeks and 3 days, give or take an hour." I'm feeling pretty good, though I'm getting to that point of "OK, let's do this" pretty rapidly. My heartburn continues to rage. I've got yet another prescription this week, so we'll see how this goes. I was already on the stuff they give to people with ulcers, so now I'm on the stuff that they give to people who swallow fire for a living. My heartburn was just as bad with Addie but I never went the prescription route with her...I just kept a huge bottle of Maalox with me and swigged it constantly. Sick. But just as effective (or ineffective) as the pills thus far.
Now Miss Ads wants her SEARuhl...specifically her "Hoop Hoops" aka Fruit Loops, which she is only allowed once every few days. Of course, this doesn't stop her from asking for them every morning! And so the day begins...
There are good and bad milestones. The good ones are fairly obvious; rolling over, first steps, first words, first solid foods. The bad ones are just as important, but not as fun to blog about; first tantrum, first time-out, first time Mom closed herself into a room and counted to 100 before emerging (wait, that's not a commonly accepted milestone? :-) ) We had a bad one this past weekend. Poor Ads had her first "sick visit" to the doctor and her first ear infection. In some ways, it's great that she made it to almostbutnotquitetwo before we had to take her in to a doctor. And an ear infection is pretty small potatoes in the whole realm of illness and "things that can go wrong", so I'm grateful for that.
But it was a rough weekend. Addie couldn't sleep for long periods of time unless she was being held and rocked. She couldn't settle into her normal routine and she refused to eat anything but macaroni and cheese for five straight meals. Including breakfasts. Poor little muffin.
Fortunately, she is on the mend now and we didn't have to give her antibiotics. We can still save those big guns for something...well...big. And we have a new appreciation for her sassy and independent little self. While it was nice to be able to cuddle so much, I'd rather have her be her normal self, strong opinions and all, and than be so obviously unhappy.
And in other random happenings, my house was completely and totally surrounded by crows yesterday morning. It was 6 AM and this incredible din filled the air, waking both Ads and I from a sound and much needed sleep (Tim was on call, but he probably wouldn't have woken up anyway!). Even one crow is noisy, right? Well, imagine hundreds. It was incredible. The trees in our neighborhood were filled with huge black birds fighting and shrieking at each other and generally acting like extras in a Hitchcock movie. Nothing says "This is going to be a great day" like hundreds of omens of doom circling around your house at daybreak.
Pregnancy wise, I am 34 weeks today! I think. I keep screwing up the week count and saying I'm a week farther ahead or behind than I actually am. Either way, I guess we're getting there. It's funny because I could tell you with great precision what week and day I was on with Addie's pregnancy. "How far along am I? Oh, I'd say about 34 weeks and 3 days, give or take an hour." I'm feeling pretty good, though I'm getting to that point of "OK, let's do this" pretty rapidly. My heartburn continues to rage. I've got yet another prescription this week, so we'll see how this goes. I was already on the stuff they give to people with ulcers, so now I'm on the stuff that they give to people who swallow fire for a living. My heartburn was just as bad with Addie but I never went the prescription route with her...I just kept a huge bottle of Maalox with me and swigged it constantly. Sick. But just as effective (or ineffective) as the pills thus far.
Now Miss Ads wants her SEARuhl...specifically her "Hoop Hoops" aka Fruit Loops, which she is only allowed once every few days. Of course, this doesn't stop her from asking for them every morning! And so the day begins...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Little Treats
Sweet little treats!
Addie loves our pumpkins. She treats them like pets.
Tim said she was telling him that they were orange.
Here she is showing off the little pumpkins. These little white and orange pumpkins are called "ghouls", which I think is pretty cute.
Calum is a total ham. I'm so jealous, because I would love to have Addie actually sit still for a photo. We've come to despair of getting good shots of her! He was an Ewok, by the way, but he refused his headpiece.
Asher, the Cuddly Lion
The Swanns
I originally planned for Addie to be a peacock this year. But the costume arrived and it was ...well...cheap looking. The feathers were faded and imperfectly dyed. It was like a depressed peacock. Peacock in need of Prozac. That wasn't really what I was going for! Plus, she hated it. She screamed like a banshee when we put it on her, I think because there was a bird's head on the hood. She was NOT pleased about having a bird's head on top of her own head. Moreover, Tim didn't like it because he rightly pointed out that peacocks are male and peahens are nothing special to look at anyway. I didn't think of this until he pointed out, but I had to admit he was right.
So, long story short, Ads was a butterfly again. Last year's costume was huge on her, and this year it actually fit. And she loved it. As soon as we put it on her, she exclaimed that it was "awesome!' and "Bee YOO too" which is how she says "beautiful".
We had a few friends over to have some chili and cornbread and to trick or treat. Addie LOVED trick or treating. She was thrilled to be outside, taking a walk at night, with some of her favorite friends. AND we went to people's houses, knocked on their doors, and they let her choose candy out of a bowl. What could be better from a toddler's point of view? Every morning since then, as soon as she wakes up, she runs into the kitchen and asks for a "tweet" from the candy bowl. She has most definitely inherited Mama's sweet tooth! Her favorite candy seems to be York Peppermint Patties, although she will also eat...with great relish and many loud MMMMMs... Rolos, Whoppers, Almond Joys, and Twizzlers. Thank heavens we just bought her a new toothbrush. She wanted the kind of that buzzes and rotates like Mom and Dad have, so we upgraded her to a fancy new Hello Kitty electric toothbrush. And not a moment too soon, either!
Addie loves our pumpkins. She treats them like pets.
Tim said she was telling him that they were orange.
Here she is showing off the little pumpkins. These little white and orange pumpkins are called "ghouls", which I think is pretty cute.
Calum is a total ham. I'm so jealous, because I would love to have Addie actually sit still for a photo. We've come to despair of getting good shots of her! He was an Ewok, by the way, but he refused his headpiece.
Asher, the Cuddly Lion
The Swanns
I originally planned for Addie to be a peacock this year. But the costume arrived and it was ...well...cheap looking. The feathers were faded and imperfectly dyed. It was like a depressed peacock. Peacock in need of Prozac. That wasn't really what I was going for! Plus, she hated it. She screamed like a banshee when we put it on her, I think because there was a bird's head on the hood. She was NOT pleased about having a bird's head on top of her own head. Moreover, Tim didn't like it because he rightly pointed out that peacocks are male and peahens are nothing special to look at anyway. I didn't think of this until he pointed out, but I had to admit he was right.
So, long story short, Ads was a butterfly again. Last year's costume was huge on her, and this year it actually fit. And she loved it. As soon as we put it on her, she exclaimed that it was "awesome!' and "Bee YOO too" which is how she says "beautiful".
We had a few friends over to have some chili and cornbread and to trick or treat. Addie LOVED trick or treating. She was thrilled to be outside, taking a walk at night, with some of her favorite friends. AND we went to people's houses, knocked on their doors, and they let her choose candy out of a bowl. What could be better from a toddler's point of view? Every morning since then, as soon as she wakes up, she runs into the kitchen and asks for a "tweet" from the candy bowl. She has most definitely inherited Mama's sweet tooth! Her favorite candy seems to be York Peppermint Patties, although she will also eat...with great relish and many loud MMMMMs... Rolos, Whoppers, Almond Joys, and Twizzlers. Thank heavens we just bought her a new toothbrush. She wanted the kind of that buzzes and rotates like Mom and Dad have, so we upgraded her to a fancy new Hello Kitty electric toothbrush. And not a moment too soon, either!
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