fuck it. I've been trying to get these photos to display chronologically as they were drawn... but I'm too tired and have had too much wine to try to edit their order. This drawing should be the last in the set of 3. (Figure out the progression on your own SmartyPantses.)
Thursday, May 11, 2006
face with ears
Ruby has really taken to drawing faces these days. On this one I said, "how about some ears?" and she tacked on the two little lines on the side of the head. My favorite thing though is that weenie little hair up at the top...
still sick
Eloise barfed all over me yesterday morning, so now we have two kids with runny poos... and I've been through 2 huge packs of diapers in 3 days. It's getting kind of ridiculous actually. Ruby has been ill since Sunday afternoon. What crazy timing though - with the packing and my reunion coming up, the house closing, the Montessori visit. I have barely had 2 seconds to train for my leg of the marathon (I abandoned all hope to run the whole thing... maybe some day...) and I fear that I will end up in the medical tent after running 6.5 miles. That would be amazing though - if I could run hard enough to pass out or something. HA! Then one of the UVM med students would have to give me i.v. fluids and stand near my head with one of those kidney shaped dishes in case I puked. Or wait, even better would be if I totally cramped up in my legs and collapsed on the Battery Street hill and had to be escorted (arms over random medics' shoulders) to the tent...
Aside from my lack of running, I think our self-imposed little quarantine has put a damper on our farewells to good friends. Next week should be completely crazy with all of Myles' final functions and his relatives arriving on Friday evening. We won't even be able to have guests here because the house is really just boxes and trash bags right now (not to mention CONTAMINATED with rotavirus) and smelling like a giant turd. I just want to squeeze everything in at the last second here and then be able to relax in our new home. I'll be so pissed off if I don't say some pleasant, good old fashioned goodbyes to the people I love in this town.
Aside from my lack of running, I think our self-imposed little quarantine has put a damper on our farewells to good friends. Next week should be completely crazy with all of Myles' final functions and his relatives arriving on Friday evening. We won't even be able to have guests here because the house is really just boxes and trash bags right now (not to mention CONTAMINATED with rotavirus) and smelling like a giant turd. I just want to squeeze everything in at the last second here and then be able to relax in our new home. I'll be so pissed off if I don't say some pleasant, good old fashioned goodbyes to the people I love in this town.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Karate Kid Part IV
"Ruby-san, the heart of your karate practice depends on a deep seated knowledge of the fundamentals of headband-wearing. A headband too high up will lead to poor vision and the strained facial muscles - but, a headband worn across the forehead will bring skill like Ralph Macchio."
run run run
Holy shit this was funny. Who knew a gazebo could be so exciting? They climbed inside and just ran in circles for no apparent reason...
parking lot butterfly
Sunday we took a trip to the Essex outlet mall with Myles' mom and played around in the green grass (I know, I know... it's weird when lake Champlain is out your back door but we couldn't help changing things up a bit). This wacky butterfly sculpture was sitting in the middle of nowhere and we had a nice Daddy moment in the sunshine. Notice the brand new Carhartt overalls on the girls - the pant leg is cuffed 2 times so we can get some extra wear out of them!
post-bath dress-up
I snapped this little moment the other night when the girls discovered my sun hats. I couldn't seem to get a good one of when they were walking around with the brims down... you couldn't tell they had faces and their tiny naked bodies were just carrying around giant hats. The hysterical little gnomes!
rotavirus
Ruby has been battling a nasty stomach bug since Sunday evening and I'm really really tired of soupy diapers. It's so sad to see her all droopy lidded, dehydrated and exhausted. Seeing her sick reminds me that she's a really energetic and chatty little kid. She's a total nutball though. Apparently she told Eloise, "Mommy is on a diaper run" while I was out today...
As for me, I'm just packing up all of our shit gradually and happily discarding all things that come into question. For example, I just gave away a perfectly good Patagonia jacket that I'm sick of... I've had it for 4 years and I'm kinda over it. In the past I might have held on to it though, thinking that some day I might really really love to reach into the closet and pull out that familiar fleece thing. You really can't "re-vamp" Patagonia. But my vintage chinese jacket... now that's a different story altogether.
Yesterday I was completely depressed about leaving this special town. The weather was pristine, the views of the lake were beyond perfect, I went running on the bikepath, we went to the playground, I got food at the market and we never had to get in our car to get anywhere. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to being a slave to the automobile once we get to Providence. Everybody says we will adjust really quickly... but what if I don't want to? Driving my stealth minivan sometimes makes me angry! What ever happend to the days of my zippy little Golf?
Which brings a funny topic up actually... I have been thinking a lot about how I can barely remember what my life before having children was really like. These days we (moms and dads) seem to spend a large chunk of time obsessing over our children to the extent that we are literally living only for a life outside of our bodies. I mean, Ruby and Eloise are such a part of me now that I cannot remember what or who I used to be. I know that sounds ridiculous... and I don't mean to seem insensitive towards children... but I am really annoyed about the expectations of parenthood (be they self-imposed or culturally imposed) these days. Perhaps all of this thought is stemmed from our application process to a Montessori school in Providence. Ru and El have to go in to be "observed" on Monday morning before we close on our house. It just makes me wonder what a "happy childhood" is supposed to look like these days. Is it fair to send them to "school" twice a week when they are 2 years old? I mean, what's the rush? Well, I've already looked into some pre-K programs and they all have portions of their applications that want to know about prior "playgroups, activities or schooling" that they might have previously received! Why should I care? And what happens if I make the choice not to care and send them to public school in Kindergarten? Seriously. It's enough to drive the wife of a surgical resident INSANE... and we haven't even moved yet.
Phew. That feels better now. Sometimes I wonder why I keep a blog... but those little stream-of-consciousness moments like the above paragraph seem to brighten up my days.
Now I'm off to upload some photos for you El and Ru junkies. Shalom.
As for me, I'm just packing up all of our shit gradually and happily discarding all things that come into question. For example, I just gave away a perfectly good Patagonia jacket that I'm sick of... I've had it for 4 years and I'm kinda over it. In the past I might have held on to it though, thinking that some day I might really really love to reach into the closet and pull out that familiar fleece thing. You really can't "re-vamp" Patagonia. But my vintage chinese jacket... now that's a different story altogether.
Yesterday I was completely depressed about leaving this special town. The weather was pristine, the views of the lake were beyond perfect, I went running on the bikepath, we went to the playground, I got food at the market and we never had to get in our car to get anywhere. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to being a slave to the automobile once we get to Providence. Everybody says we will adjust really quickly... but what if I don't want to? Driving my stealth minivan sometimes makes me angry! What ever happend to the days of my zippy little Golf?
Which brings a funny topic up actually... I have been thinking a lot about how I can barely remember what my life before having children was really like. These days we (moms and dads) seem to spend a large chunk of time obsessing over our children to the extent that we are literally living only for a life outside of our bodies. I mean, Ruby and Eloise are such a part of me now that I cannot remember what or who I used to be. I know that sounds ridiculous... and I don't mean to seem insensitive towards children... but I am really annoyed about the expectations of parenthood (be they self-imposed or culturally imposed) these days. Perhaps all of this thought is stemmed from our application process to a Montessori school in Providence. Ru and El have to go in to be "observed" on Monday morning before we close on our house. It just makes me wonder what a "happy childhood" is supposed to look like these days. Is it fair to send them to "school" twice a week when they are 2 years old? I mean, what's the rush? Well, I've already looked into some pre-K programs and they all have portions of their applications that want to know about prior "playgroups, activities or schooling" that they might have previously received! Why should I care? And what happens if I make the choice not to care and send them to public school in Kindergarten? Seriously. It's enough to drive the wife of a surgical resident INSANE... and we haven't even moved yet.
Phew. That feels better now. Sometimes I wonder why I keep a blog... but those little stream-of-consciousness moments like the above paragraph seem to brighten up my days.
Now I'm off to upload some photos for you El and Ru junkies. Shalom.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
FlySplat: Version 1 Ruby
Throw all the couch cushions on the floor and jump up high... splat! They can't seem to get enough.
check in
I wonder if I'll ever regain the energy to treat this blog the way it deserves to be treated. We have just returned from a visit to Boston and Providence and we have really started packing our things up. Boxes and dust bunnies everywhere. Actually, while cleaning out our junk drawer we found a pubic hair and had a good laugh about where these kinds of things make their icky appearances. For example, I JUST discovered another pube underneath a little number puzzle. Disgusto to say the least! I wonder what other lovely charms I'm going to find when I clean under the plastic high chair covers.
My latest obsession is with figuring out how to decorate and landscape our new home. We visited the house on Thursday morning and while we were playing in the yard Eloise managed to get a huge thorn from a tree stuck in her knee. No exaggeration, pulling the thing out was like taking a thumbtack out of a cork board... it was deep (and reminiscent of an accident that only an Edward Gorey character would suffer). So we need to chop down this tree that grows 2 inch thorns and drops thorny twigs into the little yard... clearly the couple that lived in the house didn't have young kids. To emphasize my point - there are also super scary looking thorn bushes and holly bushes on the property. Ugh. How uncomfortable and spooky.
I have a great book suggestion to any of my mom buddies reading this: "Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety". It's refreshing to read something so sympathetic to the stay-at-home AND/OR working mom. Go out and buy a copy immediately!
Okay my girls are about to tear the apartment to shreds. The couch has been peed on, the excercise ball is being dribbled and puzzle pieces are getting kicked all around the dirty floor. Maybe I will just abandon all hopes for cleanliness and organization in my life. I can hardly imagine how much more time that would open up in my life. Seriously, I have been feeling a vibe from my maternal grandmother - she was a total slob (much to my mom's horror) but she was a true creative. Her life was full of debauchery, collections, crafts, excess, mess, fattening food, gay men, caftans, Chanel No. 5 and too many pets. Her house was like a wacky fairy tale. Can I let go of my expectations for a TIDY life?
My latest obsession is with figuring out how to decorate and landscape our new home. We visited the house on Thursday morning and while we were playing in the yard Eloise managed to get a huge thorn from a tree stuck in her knee. No exaggeration, pulling the thing out was like taking a thumbtack out of a cork board... it was deep (and reminiscent of an accident that only an Edward Gorey character would suffer). So we need to chop down this tree that grows 2 inch thorns and drops thorny twigs into the little yard... clearly the couple that lived in the house didn't have young kids. To emphasize my point - there are also super scary looking thorn bushes and holly bushes on the property. Ugh. How uncomfortable and spooky.
I have a great book suggestion to any of my mom buddies reading this: "Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety". It's refreshing to read something so sympathetic to the stay-at-home AND/OR working mom. Go out and buy a copy immediately!
Okay my girls are about to tear the apartment to shreds. The couch has been peed on, the excercise ball is being dribbled and puzzle pieces are getting kicked all around the dirty floor. Maybe I will just abandon all hopes for cleanliness and organization in my life. I can hardly imagine how much more time that would open up in my life. Seriously, I have been feeling a vibe from my maternal grandmother - she was a total slob (much to my mom's horror) but she was a true creative. Her life was full of debauchery, collections, crafts, excess, mess, fattening food, gay men, caftans, Chanel No. 5 and too many pets. Her house was like a wacky fairy tale. Can I let go of my expectations for a TIDY life?
Friday, April 21, 2006
d.j.s-to-be
Our babysitter Audrey got the girls suited up in their bunny hats for "Pollywog Arts and Crafts" - then gave them each an earphone from her portable cd player on the walk there. Rumor has it they were the talk of the town! (What's new though? Their little orange and green pumas always turn heads - and the little Crocs make all the Grandmas swoon.)
mamma-damma
Eloise called me Mamma-damma today... and then decided to call Ruby "Rooba-dooba". They are both very into playing with names and words, singing, experimenting with rhymes. Ruby will occasionally just come up to me and say, "Hey Moms..." - for no real reason. It cracks me up every time.
The girls have been doing a bunch of running around the house without pants or diapers on these days, which means I've become a slave to the papertowel roll. Today I decided to be eco-conscious and use towels and washcloths to clean up any accidents, but then I discovered that I have to do a really icky load of laundry right away. It's all very draining to say the least. Well, I should say that my clean ups have at least sparked their interest in public toilets. They successfully went pee in grown up toilets twice today (yes, that's a grand total of 4 identified pee urges!) and I was so proud. What a hysterical thing to be proud of!
I wish I had the energy or creativity to say something entertaining about my daily interactions, but I'm just so beat by the end of the week. Today was particularly exhausting because I was alone with the girls from 7 AM to 7 PM - with minimal interaction with friends - mostly we were outside on the playground, walking around everywhere, soaking up sun, playing soccer on the waterfront (that was truely FUN). We joined our pals Chelsea and Ben and Hazel for dinner at Flatbread - where I slugged a delicious beer and stuffed my face. Going out to eat is much more relaxing with Myles around... but we're getting better at it all the time. Maybe today was just a little taste of the year ahead... except I won't be in sweet Burlington... instead I'll be lonely in a strange place with a new and needed-to-be-cozied home, trying to muster up the energy to have fun without a "Home by 6" Dad around.
Ooooh. I am SO not looking forward to being a single mom again. ick.
The girls have been doing a bunch of running around the house without pants or diapers on these days, which means I've become a slave to the papertowel roll. Today I decided to be eco-conscious and use towels and washcloths to clean up any accidents, but then I discovered that I have to do a really icky load of laundry right away. It's all very draining to say the least. Well, I should say that my clean ups have at least sparked their interest in public toilets. They successfully went pee in grown up toilets twice today (yes, that's a grand total of 4 identified pee urges!) and I was so proud. What a hysterical thing to be proud of!
I wish I had the energy or creativity to say something entertaining about my daily interactions, but I'm just so beat by the end of the week. Today was particularly exhausting because I was alone with the girls from 7 AM to 7 PM - with minimal interaction with friends - mostly we were outside on the playground, walking around everywhere, soaking up sun, playing soccer on the waterfront (that was truely FUN). We joined our pals Chelsea and Ben and Hazel for dinner at Flatbread - where I slugged a delicious beer and stuffed my face. Going out to eat is much more relaxing with Myles around... but we're getting better at it all the time. Maybe today was just a little taste of the year ahead... except I won't be in sweet Burlington... instead I'll be lonely in a strange place with a new and needed-to-be-cozied home, trying to muster up the energy to have fun without a "Home by 6" Dad around.
Ooooh. I am SO not looking forward to being a single mom again. ick.
Monday, April 03, 2006
getthefuckout!
yeah. it's probably our new house as long as it isn't riddled with lead or termites...
We Are 2!
Yeah, so I forgot to mention that we celebrated Ru and El's birthday on March 14th... it was low key and sweet. We'll save the big parties for #5 maybe.
hey hey hey
Oh my. I have some guilt over not blogging - which is bizarre - but I did get some email reminders from some pals around the country so I feel like I've let some folks down! What a crazy series of events have taken place since I last posted. I feel like a completelly different person actually...
So here goes: Myles did not end up matching in the traditional sense of the word, but ultimately the best possible thing happened when he was offered a preliminary year of surgery at Brown (RI Hospital). We are moving to Providence - which is completely excellent considering the other locations I was preparing myself for. Now I can even entertain the idea of getting my masters at RISD... if they would be happy to accept me and my weak portfolio...
We enjoyed a most excellent trip to Captiva/Boca Grande Florida (photos to come later, sorry) where we enjoyed watching the girls swim, play in the sand, and obsess over their bathing suits. The airplane ride was interesting and exhausting, but the end result of all of our kid shuffling was a total reward. I highly recommend Captiva for a family getaway actually, but all you really need is about 3 nights 4 days stay. The weather was completely perfect aside for some wind so we were ready for a temperature change after about 5 days. Resort life is wack anyway. No wait - Florida is wack. Next time I hope we're in Fiji or at least some place where we can contract an intestinal bug or two. (That might have to wait until the girls are 4...)
Wait, I forgot to mention that Ru and El almost drowned in the kid pool the very first day we were there. We were completely horrified at how easy it is to take your eye off of them. One adult to each 2 year old at AT ALL TIMES dummies! And we hadn't even had our piña coladas... jeez.
Guess what? We basically bought a house this weekend. Is that wack? yes. definitely.
I'm not really sure what to make of the entire experience, and I'd be lying if I said we bought our Dream House, but that can wait. I know i know.... but unfortunately I did see something that resembled my sort-of dream house and we really couldn't afford it. We went for something more our speed right now and it will be easy to move into. Besides, the neighborhood is great, I can have a studio in the basement or on the 3rd floor and we have a deck and yard. The library is around the corner, along with a good bakery and a coffee shop. A better thing to consider though is that I don't know anyone in Providence. Fun.
Ruby and Eloise like to tell us that they are going to Providence all the time. Ruby even said that she was from Pwahvadence Wode Eye-wund today. The entire experience in home buying has put a bit of stress on the girls I think - mainly because I'm not giving them as much mommy play time as they are used to. Instead I'm on the phone or talking house detail crap with Myles. When Ruby woke up at ten of 4 in the morning at my mom's house (Sunday, with new daylight savings adjustments to be made upon waking) she was lying in our bed looking at me and she said, "mommy, what's pillow called in italian?" And when I told her I didn't know, she continued to talk and talk until I had to wake up with the f-ing birds. "Birdies outside mommy. Tweetin'."... "Yes Ru, I know. Birdies. That means it's super early and most people are sleeping... can Ruby go back to sleep too?" "NO. I'm awake. Eloise awake too?" (Poor Weeze. She'd sleep to 10 AM like a teenager if Ruby let her.) Anyway, to fill you in on the Italian bit, I started talking to them in my piss poor Italian while they were taking a bath one night and they took an interest for some reason - and I have this illustrated kids Italian/English dictionary with hideous creepy pictures of every stupid vocab word you could think of- so they just like to bother me about italian words that I don't know now. Then we go look them up. Their little brains are like super absorbent sponges so it's entertaining (and potentially cruel, forgive me) to see what they are capable of. It's an incredible thing to watch how they learn and process everything, and especially to see how they interact with one another! What if we all had a twin? HA!
Alright, time to figure out how to post my pics. Go to the flickr site if you want to see extras...
So here goes: Myles did not end up matching in the traditional sense of the word, but ultimately the best possible thing happened when he was offered a preliminary year of surgery at Brown (RI Hospital). We are moving to Providence - which is completely excellent considering the other locations I was preparing myself for. Now I can even entertain the idea of getting my masters at RISD... if they would be happy to accept me and my weak portfolio...
We enjoyed a most excellent trip to Captiva/Boca Grande Florida (photos to come later, sorry) where we enjoyed watching the girls swim, play in the sand, and obsess over their bathing suits. The airplane ride was interesting and exhausting, but the end result of all of our kid shuffling was a total reward. I highly recommend Captiva for a family getaway actually, but all you really need is about 3 nights 4 days stay. The weather was completely perfect aside for some wind so we were ready for a temperature change after about 5 days. Resort life is wack anyway. No wait - Florida is wack. Next time I hope we're in Fiji or at least some place where we can contract an intestinal bug or two. (That might have to wait until the girls are 4...)
Wait, I forgot to mention that Ru and El almost drowned in the kid pool the very first day we were there. We were completely horrified at how easy it is to take your eye off of them. One adult to each 2 year old at AT ALL TIMES dummies! And we hadn't even had our piña coladas... jeez.
Guess what? We basically bought a house this weekend. Is that wack? yes. definitely.
I'm not really sure what to make of the entire experience, and I'd be lying if I said we bought our Dream House, but that can wait. I know i know.... but unfortunately I did see something that resembled my sort-of dream house and we really couldn't afford it. We went for something more our speed right now and it will be easy to move into. Besides, the neighborhood is great, I can have a studio in the basement or on the 3rd floor and we have a deck and yard. The library is around the corner, along with a good bakery and a coffee shop. A better thing to consider though is that I don't know anyone in Providence. Fun.
Ruby and Eloise like to tell us that they are going to Providence all the time. Ruby even said that she was from Pwahvadence Wode Eye-wund today. The entire experience in home buying has put a bit of stress on the girls I think - mainly because I'm not giving them as much mommy play time as they are used to. Instead I'm on the phone or talking house detail crap with Myles. When Ruby woke up at ten of 4 in the morning at my mom's house (Sunday, with new daylight savings adjustments to be made upon waking) she was lying in our bed looking at me and she said, "mommy, what's pillow called in italian?" And when I told her I didn't know, she continued to talk and talk until I had to wake up with the f-ing birds. "Birdies outside mommy. Tweetin'."... "Yes Ru, I know. Birdies. That means it's super early and most people are sleeping... can Ruby go back to sleep too?" "NO. I'm awake. Eloise awake too?" (Poor Weeze. She'd sleep to 10 AM like a teenager if Ruby let her.) Anyway, to fill you in on the Italian bit, I started talking to them in my piss poor Italian while they were taking a bath one night and they took an interest for some reason - and I have this illustrated kids Italian/English dictionary with hideous creepy pictures of every stupid vocab word you could think of- so they just like to bother me about italian words that I don't know now. Then we go look them up. Their little brains are like super absorbent sponges so it's entertaining (and potentially cruel, forgive me) to see what they are capable of. It's an incredible thing to watch how they learn and process everything, and especially to see how they interact with one another! What if we all had a twin? HA!
Alright, time to figure out how to post my pics. Go to the flickr site if you want to see extras...
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