Baby Wishes

Today I try something new. I blog post from my car. In heavy, beyond heavy traffic. I left my classroom 90 minutes ago. I'm currently at a spot that would ordinarily take me 12 minutes to get to.

All other routes are RED traffic on Google maps. So. Hello! May as well make the most of a quiet moment.

You'll love this post link if you have EVER had children. Seriously. Why are you still reading this? Go check it out:

http://theuglyvolvo.com/2013/12/10/a-ten-month-olds-letter-to-santa/

a little something to read

This is so real. So my internal debate right now. Thank you, Momastery.
Link to article:
Friendly Fire

yes, she does get fussy sometimes. not often - but she does.

on blogging...

This is what our house looks like lately.  All. The. Time.

First of all, THANK YOU to anyone reading this right now.  Truly, you are DEAR and TRUE friends.  I know because if you check this blog you've realized that I never post anything anymore!  Yet here you are, loyally clicking on that bookmark to see if by chance I've pulled up the laptop and tossed some pictures up. 

I have to tell you, I've been so very overwhelmed with LIFE these days.  We have been LIVING.  Forget about documenting the living... :)

Truth be told... I'm kind of intimidated to blog again. I mean, where do I start?  So much to share. And life keeps tumbling forward at warp speed with the little ones and jobs.  Also, I'm sure I'm experiencing some hormonal roller coastering these days (as I did after Ains turned one and we slowly started weaning).  The night weaning occurred first.  Blessed SLEEP here I come!  But oh, the mama guilt, the fear of supply drop, the hormonal tornado.  Sigh.  And then - SHE TURNED ONE. 

She's growing up so fast!  We soak up every mess, every diaper change, every whimper and giggle and drool.  Every babble, every sign-language attempt, every sweet-baby-smell-snuggle. And yet it goes.  Just look, my first baby is so big!  She's set her mind to learning the 'cup song' (haven't seen this youtube yet? you MUST). 

So I finally recalled some advice a friend once gave me: 'just start'.  He was talking about unpacking (when we moved to DC) but it applies to lots of things. including this blog. So, I'm back. I hope. I'm just gonna start.  It's probably going to be messy, not in chronological order, not in any order... but so is my life right now.  Stay tuned!

guess what i learned how to do at a workshop today??

yup! Wordle.  Wordles are 'da bomb'. :) Momma LIKE.

Big Sister Interview

Ains answers all of the questions we want to know - Thanks, Dasha, for the questions!!  (This interview was conducted BEFORE we knew whether baby was going to be a girl or a boy.)

summer summer summertime!

What do you do with an endless stretch of days?

• walks to the local bike shop to practice riding training-wheel bikes
• visits to the parks & playgrounds
• afternoons at the pool (love free public pools in DC!!)
• gelato & lattes (at least one or the other nearly every day)

I have created a monster.  You know you're in trouble when you wake up to: "Mommy, let's go to the coffee shop."  :)

• a visit to the natural history museum (preschool style)
• homemade smoothies (PINK!)  
• clean pantry, organized desk space, paint stain off the couch, fridge clean, floors double-triple scrubbed, furniture & wall hangings re-arranged (quite a chore in this old house with old plaster and brick walls!), laundry under submission, wall-molding dusted, walls scrubbed, cabinets washed, toy bins cleaned and simplified
• play :: trains, blocks, dollies... you name it.
• Dora & Lady and the Tramp

• an hour at the local library 

Check out these cool new books!  We love them!

here

here

I. Love. Summer.

A few plans for the week:
* repaint front door (sand, prime, then paint)
* jasper's birthday
* line the kitchen shelves & cabinets
* plan our ROAD TRIP
* more pool time!!
*perhaps clean the chandelier??? Any suggestions as to HOW?

Washington D.C.

Over the past week, I have been asked why it is that I so very much love living in the Nation's Capital ?   This is a fair question - particularly because I grew up in the rural farm town of Ferndale, and most of our immediate family on both sides live at least 3,000 miles away.  Not to mention we own a house there, and miss fabulous friends near and dear to our hearts.

Hmm... here's a stab at it ~

• people.  So very many people of so many different varieties.  It's not that I'm the type to strike up small talk with the lady next door, or collect stories about people's lives around me to hang up on an invisible bulletin board.  In fact, I'm actually not very social at all.  I don't go out with friends.  I'm not even good at seeking out friends!  Heck, I barely call the ones I have.  But I LOVE people.  The fact of people.  The nature of people.  The buzz and energy of people.  I love looking out my window and seeing people walk by. I love having loads of people to pass me by as I walk to the coffee shop down the street.  I love the art, the culture, the life that simply having so many different people in an area provides.  And let me tell you, D.C. has PEOPLE.
• jobs.  For my husband. For myself. Jobs we both love and want to get up for in the morning.  Jobs that enrich both of our lives.
• history.  Ok, I know.  Jasper - stop laughing.  I know my husband is cracking up now, and has quite possibly stopped reading this post. :)  I am not one who enjoyed learning history in class.  Dates, times, names... they all elude me.  My brain just won't hold on to them and line them up in a nice sequential line that tells the tale of people (see above why I love people).  But touching history.  Breathing it.  Feeling its ghosts around you.  Now, that's different.  That's incredible.  That's something that draws me in and captivates me.  D.C. is rich with this kind of touchable, breathable, tangible history.  It permeates every day.
• weather.  Seriously, people.  I do like the humidity.  Now, I'll outwardly complain alongside the next sane person in 99% humidity with 100 degree weather...(I'd be a fool not to)... but secretly, I love it.  I adore it.  And I love that it only lasts for the summer.  That there is a clearly defined rhythm of seasons here... though fall and spring seem abrupt, they are certainly present and distinct.  Winter brings snow.  Flowers have discernible life spans.  Fireflies have a season. As do ants and mosquitos.  Everything has its own time.  And my body and mood can shift and change along with the season.  Rain even brings a welcome cozy indoorsy feeling.  And the thunderous rain with the big storms in summer bring an energy unlike any I enjoyed as a child in the mild climate of the Pacific Northwest.  
• grandeur.  I kind of tipped my chin down and whispered this one.  I'm embarrassed to admit, that I love the largeness, the imposingness, the intimidating nature of this city.  Its broad, low, heavy buildings.  The ulcer-inducing traffic circles.  The fact that the President and Governmental heart reside and work here.  D.C. has an air that I don't like to meet head-on when greeted with it at a cocktail hour or dinner reception, but I do enjoy knowing that it is there.  I get a guilty pleasure from knowing that I'm living and working in it too.
• opportunity.  This place is central to not only our country, but is a vital piece of the larger world.  You can practically see the web of opportunities emanating from it like rays on a sunburst.  'The world is your oyster' this city seems to murmur.  
• energy.  Need I say more?  Just one visit to D.C. and you'll know what I mean.
• being.  This city has something more intangible about it.  A certain gritty, no-nonsense, honesty.  You won't perhaps notice at first, as you see the people running up or down the escalators because they're always racing to the next thing.  But it's there.  Here - you just live your life.  So many different people from so many different places...there is more than one single idea out there of how to live life.  Few pretend 'niceties'.  Late for work? Speed.  Tired? Get a quadruple latte and stop fussin.  Not interested/ing?  don't talk.  Not really friends? don't need to fake it.  Friends?  uber-loyal.  Now, I have to say this with a caveat because probably most of the people here do have a circle that they need to act a certain way in.  But for me?  I feel freedom to be whoever I am.  Here, you can choose from a plethora of "circles".
• suits.  I love a man in a suit.  Keep wearing yours, sweetheart.
• why not?  Truth is, I'd live just about anywhere on the globe.  (okay, maybe not Lynden.) I'm a gypsy at heart, though too practical to be one by practice.  This world is a big place. 

Mommie's First Black Eye

Don't mess with the Tiff....

:)  Who knew dance rehearsal could be so violent?

Tribute to Tonya

Tonya - 

Tonya is now gone.

It is hard to believe.

Harder to bear.

She was a light that now shines from within all who knew her.

 I first met Tonya while she was dating my "baby" brother - 

She called him while he was out at Jasper's bachelor party a couple of nights before my wedding to tell him she was pregnant.  

 She and I spent many nights on the phone through her pregnancy.

She was immediately a sister to me.  She and Nate even drove out to where I was vacationing on the beach just 2 weeks after her Peach was born so that we could meet the new little bundle!

A year later, they were married in a small town in North Carolina, her home.

Adele and Dylan - cousins; best friends from the beginning and still today.

the whole family, including Mikayla from Nate's first marriage

 She was good for my brother. She was good for us.

 When she joined our family, it was like a 'click' - a perfect fit. She was the bigger sister I never had but always needed. 

Even after her marriage to my brother fell apart, Tonya remained a vital part of our lives.  Here she is teaching my sweet-pea how to vacuum when we visited last year.

Ains always loved getting some 'sugar' (kisses) from her Auntie Tonya, who threatened to give sugar regularly. :)

 

Our kids are like peas & carrots - so happy to be cousins!

 We look forward to many more happy times with this sweet boy!

Who was Tonya?

She was a sister, friend, daughter, mother.  She was warm, nurturing, kind, on-the-ball, spit-fire, salt of the earth, GOOD. She told it like it was.  She was 'mother' to nearly everyone - setting you straight if you needed it.  She lived life in the moment so fully.  She reached out to you through her eyes, and soft hugs.  Only a year older than me, she was wise, mature, and so 'together'. She loved butterflies. Cameras. She loved to learn new things. She was loyal, grounded, and looked at things straight-on.  She laughed. She cried. She worried. She loved. Tonya embraced life and lived it. She was well-placed in the career path of Human Resources.  She was well on her way to making a name for herself in photography.  She took beautiful photos. Here are just a few:

~ she took these 2 of my baby girl ~

Oh Tonya, how my heart aches for you.

Her last living week, we were blessed with her presence. 

She and Dylan visited us in D.C. - a long awaited trip.

The trip was centered around Dyl's hero: Abe Lincoln.  But we made time for lots of play, pancake making, dinner cooking, restaurant visiting, book reading, park going, monument visiting and tourist viewing, lounging, visiting my school and attending Ainsley's daycare egg-hunt, dancing to her favorite: Usher, shopping, movie watching: Nim's Island, and of course late night talks.  I only wish I had more pictures.

But the memories of that week will live strong.

at Ford's Theatre - watching a presentation and dramatic retelling by a Park Ranger in costume

It was both dark and moving. Neither of us kept dry eyes.

notice the detail of the hands - he's sitting like Lincoln's statue in the official, current, President's seat in Ford's Theatre

working her magic with the camera - and wearing flip flops as she is notorious for

silly time - so much laughter that week!

Friday morning - the morning of her death... we made pancakes and colored Easter eggs

the kids' hands were well-painted by the end... she said their hands were gonna "smell like feet" - they sure did!

the clean up

Tonya and Dyl waved good-bye in their black, Ford Mustang convertible -- saying "This will be Dyl's car when he turns 16!"  Ains and I waved farewell and said, "Next time, we'll come to you."

We did.

Under unexpected circumstances.

the procession

Every day, the sun rises. 

Every night, the sun sets.

Every moment - you live.  In my heart and in the hearts of those who knew you.

Thank you, Tonya.  Thank you for your gift of life to us. For being who you were. For taking care of all of us in your own very special and amazing way.  Of all the things you were - I will never forget how incredible of a mother you were.  Above all else, you were a GREAT MOM.  One of the best I've EVER known.  I will hold what I learned from you close to my heart for as long as I live.

 

 Tonya Ann Dail Watt

1976 - 2011