A Lovely Vignette of My Life (IMHO)

Today was just a beautiful day. The weather was crap, but that has nothing to do with this entry. Lily was a delight all day--the epitome of sweetness. She is usually a sweet delight, but today she outdid herself. Serene and full of smiles. Gracious to my bustling around, patient as I vacuumed and dealt with dishes, and cuddly and grateful when we sat to nurse. Unreal. I cannot imagine a more beautiful child.

We had a really nice Karate lesson. Tiger said that I looked like I had more confidence in what I was doing, which is nice to know that I looked how I felt. We had a good time. When we got home Julia was just beside herself with joy with Lily, which is always nice. Tiger made a simple and lovely dinner while Lily nursed, and the three of us hung out on the porch, Lily swinging while we ate, the dogs frolicking in the yard, everyone in a good mood. After dinner we practiced "I'm a Believer" for the company picnic. It feels so good to be playing music again, and even better to be playing together. Lily put up with our noise, and Elisa hid in her kennel. Then a quick round of Buffy/nursing/knitting to feed our habit, followed by Tiger reading to me as I nursed the baby to sleep, and now, writing. We might not be party animals, but I think that I could get used to this. This is good. This is nice. And now my two favorite people in the world are sleeping peacefully next to me. Life is good.

Lily

Lily has this new hilarious smile where she pulls her lips into her mouth over her gums as she smiles. She looks like a little old man who's lost his dentures. I hope to get a picture of her doing this, but she has a way of being ridiculously cute until the millisecond I pull out the camera--then she gives me the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.

A New Tradition?

Recently Tiger and I have been establishing a new routine, hopefully a new tradition, in our family. In the late evening, while I nurse the baby to sleep, Tiger pours a glass of wine, and pulls the La-Z-Boy up to the bed and we just talk about anything and everything and sip wine. Unfortunately it is difficult to capture what makes this time so special. The lights are low and everything is calm. Our little princess is in her happiest place having her pre-bed snack. Sometimes the puppies are curled at my feet. We look at Lily and into each other's eyes and talk over the day or whatever is weighing on our hearts. It is simply a beautiful moment at the end of the day. Last night Tiger told me that he enjoyed these moments together even more than he enjoyed our times together in Mexico (for our 5-year anniversary and our "babymoon"). That is so huge. (Those vacations were stupendous.) How sweet it is.

Lily, Changing, Growing

Lily is such a sweet child. A real trooper. She puts up with a lot of guff with a smile on her face. She's reached the stage (which I adore) that she kicks her feet frantically when she is happy. You walk into her line of sight, and she kicks her legs like a cute froggie. Tiger calls her "Little Kicking Bear." At the Doctor yesterday she weighed in at 17 lbs. 10 oz. and 26.5" in length. My beautiful big girl. Her smile is infectious and she garners attention anywhere we go, even from young men. Women young and old coo and say, Awww, look at the baby! She's become a champ at turning over (still hasn't rolled off of anything) and no longer growls like a baby bear when on her tummy, which was very cute, but I am glad it no longer frustrates her so much. For the last week or so she pushes herself up on her arms as far as they will go--she's so strong, crawling will very likely come soon (ack! I need to baby-proof the house and get a new vacuum!). The other day, while she was sitting on her Little Potty, I made a face at her in the mirror, and she laughed! She got the joke. It's fun to see her sense of humor developing. She's gone back to nursing every two or three hours, around the clock, and I am exhausted. It is hard for me to be gracious about it at night anymore, after getting used to sleeping a bit longer again. During the day I don't mind so much; I know this is only for a time, and someday soon enough I will mourn her no longer nursing. For now I will enjoy it (except at 4 a.m.).

Mr. Peterson

Last night, Tiger pulled out his guitar, and I pulled out my bass, and we worked on a song for the company picnic, The Monkee's "I'm a Believer." He asked me if I wanted to sing with the Band his company was putting together for the picnic and I said of course, thinking it would be a bunch of hacks like me, only to find out that it is a bunch of professionals who do music on the side. I started to get a bit intimidated. I mean, sure, deep down I want to be a rock star (who doesn't?), but then I got married, finished school, had a baby, etc. and I haven't played in about 6 years, really (when I was 19 I put together enough decent stuff to record a demo. I did a bit after that, a few coffee shop shows, but nothing much). So we're planning on singing in front of all his coworkers without a practice session. Groovy. It's been a dream of mine for the last 12 years or so to play music with my spouse--you know, a husband and wife team--of whom Over the Rhine is my new shining example of cool. So I find my musical guy, married him, and, as far as music and us and playing together goes, blah. Nothing. A fantastic marriage, but a bit disappointing musically speaking. Until last night. We had a blast. I guess I'd always been a bit hung-up about doing original material, and due to a creative dry spell this led to doing not much at all. So we were working on "I'm a Believer," which I knew was not a Smashmouth original, but did not realize was the Monkees. God bless iTunes. You can find just about anything you want whenever you want it.

When I was in early elementary we had this music teacher, Mr. Peterson. He wore Nacho Libre-type polyester pants and white boots (actually, Mr. P's were black, but same general style) and had a Monkee's-type haircut, which were totally off the cool-radar of 1986. We thought he was such a dork. Fridays were "Guitar Day," and he would pull out his guitar and hand out typed packets of song lyrics and we would sing songs like "Puff the Magic Dragon," "Take the Last Train to Clarksville," and that song about West Virginia by John Denver. We liked guitar days, even though our first-grade selves didn't know where he got these weird songs that weren't by Warrant, Poison, or Bon Jovi (Actually , I'm a bit appalled that the kids in my class had those albums as first-graders--the only reason I knew about those bands was because of "Tape Day," which was also a Mr. Peterson exclusive).

I'm now realizing that Mr. Peterson was probably just some poor guy who had wanted to be a professional musician and took the prudent and safe way by becoming a music teacher. He probably wasn't nearly as old as we thought he was, and probably had "Guitar Days" as a sanity break from all the ridiculous and mind-numbing songs in our elementary music books. I mean, what self-respecting musician--or any adult for that matter--can take songs about "my funny bone" all day? He really did try to make music fun for us. What kindergarten or first-grader can really appreciate what an adult is doing for them by having Musical Chair Day? Judging by his clothes, hair cut, and song choices, he probably had wanted to be a Monkee, and instead was in some town the size of a thimble teaching music to a bunch of squirley , bratty elementary school kids in a tiny, depressing basement room all day. I pretty much want to bash my head in a wall for this poor chap. Guitar Day was really a brilliant move on his part.

Well, here's to Mr. Peterson and all the closet Rock Stars out there. Even if we never get up the courage, the talent, or the luck to really do it, may we all find a way to have Guitar Day.

Question for All You Readers

Has anyone ever read a really good book that was written in Present Tense (no, I do NOT mean "Present Day" or "In the Present")?

For example: "Susan trots down the stairs to the basement while humming an indistinct tune. She turns on the light and notices a strange, dark liquid seeping from under the door. Suddenly she is filed with dread and realizes that it is blood." That sort of thing.

I just have this idea that no good book could possibly be written in the present tense, and I would like to be proved wrong.

Lily and I put 100 miles on the car today. On 6 hours of sleep. Man, was she a trooper, in a good mood the whole way.

The strangest, most beautiful thing happened last night... Tiger was late at work (I mean really late--got home at 1:45 type of late), and I was in a mood, taking it personally that I hadn't heard from any of my European friends lately. I IM'ed Tiger to see if they had sent us an Update from Nice lately, to see if we were still on their prayer request list or if they had forgotten about us (not that I really thought they had forgotten about us, but, like I said, I was in a mood). In the meantime, I went to the church Nice's webpage and was looking at pictures of people I love in Nice, people who are new and I never met, people I met in Seattle who are now in Nice, and I was flooded with all sorts of emotions--of wanting so desperately to be there, not wanting to leave all I have here in the States, not wanting to take my daughter from her grandparents, wondering what our next Operating Instructions are. It doesn't help that it was late and I was overly tired. Tiger IM'ed back and said we were in their last Update. My heart gave a sigh of relief. I laid down next to my tiny sleeping angel, my mind racing with hopeful scenarios, plot lines, song lyrics, conversations, and anything else my brain could conjure up at the time. As I was trying to muddle through the mental mess I thought, I just need to pray. Out of all this mental guano came a gorgeous, fast, and lengthy prayer, all in French. I was astounded and awed by it. On my own, I can say maybe three sentences on my own in my pathetic version of French, before I hit my word limitation and I can only go on in English. But not last night. It flowed from my mind and heart out to God. I've never spoken in "tongues" or anything like that, but I wonder if this was a sort of heart's version of the thing? It gave me hope. I guess I can't prove that what I "said" made any sense to anyone but me and God, but I suppose that isn't quite the point now, is it?

In Other Dental News...

Lily got her first tooth today. * snif * Rolling over and a first tooth all within two days of each other. It's been a big week in baby development.

Another Succesful Dental Visit @ Ambercrombie and Fitch

I think my new dental office must recruit former Ambercrombie and Fitch employees. Everyone there looks to be between 25 and 35, thin, fit, tan, and attractive. I don't know about you, but I am very unused to having both my dental hygienist and dentist being young, attractive, metro-type men. What the heck? In fact, I was under the impression that I would be seeing the dentist I had 6 months ago, but there was this new guy, about a year too old to fit Ambercrombie's latest "look book." Too strange. I am used to a guy my parents age with questionable breath.

The hygienist really liked the idea that Tiger and I were taking Karate as activity we could do together sans kids, and he was wondering if that was something his wife would be interested in (as they have no such kid-free couple activities). It's so nice to be an inspiration ;-p.

The good news is that I have no cavities (yay! I'm still at a lifetime total of two), and a high-five for being a flossing superstar. Excellent.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

About a month ago (June 20th, to be precise) Lily rolled over twice, and then seemed to forget about it, or at least not want to be bothered with it. That all changed today in the church nursery. She rolled over 5 separate times in quick succession. I think it's official: she's a roller. The funny part is that she HATES being on her stomach! So now every time I put her onto her back, she rolls onto her stomach and is mad about it. Silly munchkin.

Me, an Entrepreneur?

This morning I was reading an article in Time magazine about entrepreneurs and I thought, Why not me? I started to develop the seed of an idea for a on-line store to sell unique, cute, and cool baby/toddler sweaters. You know, I'd make a few prototypes, have pictures of them on the cute babies I know, and then sell them made-to-order. I've got the skills. I've got a computer geek for a husband (to do my website, etc.). I've got design ideas. I have an adorable model. I've even thought of a slogan. The question is, do I have the time or the drive?

Ohh, THERE They Are...

Today Lily "found" her feet, meaning that she now grabs them. I am anticipating sticking them in her mouth to be her next plan of action.

First Tooth, Coming Through!

I think Lily is working on pushing out a first tooth! Bottom left (her left). My beautiful baby is growing up so fast!

A Week at the 'Rents

I just spent the last week at my parent's house back in my home town. That was a trip in and of itself. Lily and I went down on Tuesday, and I ended up having to stop 3 times for a 2.5 hour trip. Twice to nurse her in bizarre places (once in the parking lot of an apple farm, once at a sign that said "Swan Lake" even though all there was as far as the eye could see was prairie), and once in a place with a bathroom for me. Sheesh . I had been planing on going down Tuesday, coming home Thursday, and returning with Tiger for my parent's 30th Anniversary party on Saturday. The ride down was such an ordeal that I ended up staying clear until the following Wednesday (also, the fact that my sister is moving to Mexico in a week and I don't know when I'll see her next kept me in town to hang out with her), and Tiger rode to and from my parent's house with my aunt, uncle, and their three kids (which I am sure was a separate adventure in itself). The ride back home was not quite so difficult, but when Lily and I did stop to nurse, I realized making the trip by myself and two kids would be more than I could handle right now. It's a good thing kids (usually) come one at a time. Hopefully they will always come one at a time for me :-).

I had a great time being with my parents and sister, even though she was working during much of the time. We did manage to go on at least one long walk a day, which was lovely. It was very nice to have everyone around, and I've come to the conclusion that having family living nearby was the way things were meant to be. This was especially clear during the weekend, when all the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins were in town--it was such a lovely time that it is difficult to describe it in words. The party was the fist time the Iowa family met Lily; it was so sad we only got to spend 24 hours together before they had to go home. I absolutely ache for them. We had a 3rd birthday pool party for my little cousin N on Saturday. I got to have some bonding time with with his mom and baby sister (my youngest cousin is only a year older than my own child!), which was a treat.

My parent's 30th Anniversary party was a complete success! Nearly all the invitees came! I've never seen my parent's house so packed, and everyone had a great time. It was fun to see people who I hadn't seen in eons, parents of childhood friends, former teachers...it was crazy. Mom and Dad even managed to have a good time, I think.

While cleaning up for the party we discovered a family of six owls living in the tree in front of my Parent's house (we found them because of all the guano they were leaving on the sidewalk). They became quite an attraction. I wanted to take one home and name her Hedwig, which just goes to show how much I'd been steeped in Harry Potter lately. Bye the bye, I got the chance to finish book 7 while I was visiting, too, despite being constantly interrupted. I read the last few chapters twice, just to savor it. I'm trying not to be just a bit depressed now that it is all over. Interesting enough, I learned that Harry and I would be the same age. So if he were real, and Hogwarts was real, and I went there, we could have taken classes together. I'm such a nerd.

Katie and I stayed up too late a few nights watching smutty TV. Just one episode. Only one. OK, OK, just one more. But I got a lot of work done on my knitting project during the smutty TV sessions, bonus.