Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas in New Jersey with Matt’s family.  Jack was so excited about Christmas that he woke up at 4:30!  Fortunately Matt got up with him and then

Here are pictures of Jack on Facebook from Christmas.

We now all *might* be coming down with a stomach bug that the relatives from Connecticut brought our way…..

I’ll keep you updated.

Jack and Scary Chicken

My dear grandmother sent Jack a yellow singing chicken.  Most children would be delighted with such a gift.  Not Jack.

The second video is him conquering the chicken.

The Artist

Jack has recently discovered crayons as a means of art instead of another food group.  When I first tried to give him crayons when he was around a year old he only wanted to eat them.  A few days ago he started coloring in a new way. You can see his first real drawing below.

New Videos of Jack

In deference to my mother and sister who have requested more regular updates of Jack

Here is a link to a video of Jack reading to himself.

You can also see his super cute Bumgenius diapers that I love love love.

and there is the video itself. Embedding it was easier than I thought. If you just read the handy WordPress instructions about embedding video. … that is… Here are some more. Jack laughing with his papa.

Jack on his potty on the New York Thruway this summer.

The last one is sideways (sorry!)

Cooking with Jack

Jack enjoys stirring empty bowls and playing with measuring cups while I am cooking. He also LOVES putting a dash of spices into whatever I’m cooking. Here we are adding cinnamon and raisins to our oatmeal this morning.  Below he is posing in front of the “Monet” that he was obsessed with at the White Elephant Christmas party we went to last night.

His godfather Stephen picked the “Monet” out with him. Below are some of Jack’s friends. We went to the Jefferson Hotel to take in the holiday decorations and lights. He is wearing the outfit his great-grandmother gave him. Thank you Grand! Without you I don’t know what he would be wearing.

Jack update

Perspective (and a completely fluffy distraction)

Yesterday a couple came by our house. We  met them before when they were homeless.  They helped us dig our patio in exchange for some money to buy a hotel room.  This time they were still homeless but they have a 10 day old baby.  They stayed with us last night. I cannot imagine being homeless with a new baby.  I don’t know the choices that have led them to homelessness this time. They don’t seem to  have involved drugs or anything like that. They chose not stay with us tonight. They got money somehow for another  hotel room. When Jack was 10 years old I was doing well to get dressed.  (out of respect for them I’m not using names) The mother is being such a tender and sweet mom.  She is breastfeeding and loves her baby so well. My heart just breaks for them.  I cannot imagine being homeless with a brand new baby.. How challenging.  (the problem is– they want to stay together– which is perfectly reasonable– but the shelters in our area don’t allow couples to stay together– someone needs to start a shelter that allows families to stay together! Maybe I’ll do it)

Watching them and the new baby today has given me some perspective. Not that I don’t still feel sad (I do).  But I remember again that I am very blessed to have a home, food, a warm bed.  Simple comforts.

And now on to the trivial.  After Jack was
born and I had a newly fluffy tummy, I felt frumpy. Now that my tummy is less fluffy I still feel frumpy.  Somehow having a one year old makes it difficult for me to do a copious amount of personal grooming. (or putting outfits together)

Not that I was terribly fastidious about it before. But now I feel I’m doing well to actually get dressed instead of going about all day in grey sweatpants.  I did a complete purge of my closet and threw out anything that I didn’t love.  Which cut out a lot of clothes.

Now I still  just feel frumpy and old. But with less clothes.

I look at what 40,50 year old women are wearing and think “that  looks cute.”  And then I remember that I’m 30!  I should enjoy looking young while I can instead of looking

“mature.”

I think what I need is to come up with some outfits (of the clothes I have) and just go with them.

I am just now realizing that juxtaposing the post about the homeless people staying in our house with my lack of wardrobe moxie looks terribly shallow. Sorry.  I really do care about the dear people staying with us. Much more than clothes.

Well, in case you are still reading,  Here is the link to an interesting site that has some fun trends.  and here is another one.  I have been perusing them the past few days to get some ideas. CLick on them– They’re interesting.

How do you manage–

1) your clothes

2) getting dressed with a toddler

Beautiful Paintings

I’d like to introduce you to my dear friend Liz. She’s an artist who hails from Georgia but currently paints in NYC.Here is her website. I’ve been friends with her since I was eight and she was the older,wiser nine. We’ve stayed close through the inevitable metamorphases of growing up. Check out her website. It has some beautiful work. If you are ever in the market for some paintings I hope you will consider her work. I love the exuberance of her paintings from this summer when she was in Florence. Here is one to whet your appetite.

Happy (belated!) Thanksgiving

We are celebrating celebrated thanksgiving with my family at Wrightsville Beach NC. It is beautiful even in November. Jack liked the sand at first but then decided that it was wet and icky and cold. This was my first gluten free thanksgiving. I made gravy and stuffing and yummy cupcakes and blondies (chocolate chip bars according to my sister). It was a lot of effort but definitely worth every minute. No nasty side effects from eating wheat. Thanks to Gluten free girl I had all the recipes for it.

Although I have so much to be grateful for this year (dear Friends, supportive and loving family, a wonderful husband and son, a warm house, abundant food, a loving God, etc. etc.) I must admit that I have been a little a lot sad lately as a result of the emotional effort of the last few months of trying for baby Illian #2. Two and a half months of daily temperature taking, cooking and drinking herbs and weekly acupuncture has taken its toll. I am just tired. Tired of having to think about having another baby. Tired of having to jump through hoops to accomplish what comes “naturally” to most people. Don’t get me wrong —I am so grateful every day for Jack.

But opening up my heart again to another little one is hard. It seems that it would be easier not to try again. But we are. I am trying to remind my self that God doesn’t love me less and that I haven’t done anything to deserve this. I know that my suffering may seem small to some. In the scheme of what life can throw at you– it isn’t the “worst” that could happen. But it is hard.

Thank you for all of your support to me during times of stress and hardship. How do you cope when you are feeling down as a result of chronic circumstances beyond your control?