Trains

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Originally uploaded by CasaGriffin

We went to Fort Worth recently via Amtrak. I'm not sure who had more fun, Zachary or Greg. Does it really matter?! Now Amtrak is not for the impatient folks who require everything to happen exactly as the schedule says, but it is for those who like the romance of the tracks, the choo choo of the engine and scenery you don't normally see from a car or plane.

We enjoyed ourselves. Zachary was tickled to be on the train. Everytime the train sounded it's horn, he looked for the train. I had to remind him that WE were that train. He loved running everywhere, loved looking out the windows, climbing all over the seats, watching cows and other trains from the window.

On our way home on Saturday, we got a sleeperete.. a tiny room with 2 seats and a pull down bed. It also came with a full dinner in the dining car, a shower for the whole family, and a place for Zachary to sleep. I'd highly recommend the tiny sleeper cars.

We'll go again soon. Greg wants to go everywhere via train now. Zachary expects a train to transport him to all locations too. Just like Daddy.....

Rainy Days

So here is how you make it through an extremely wet, rainy Friday when you are housebound by lack of car. You create one activity after another. We started our rainy day by watching a little more Sesame Street and Biscuit Brothers than we normally do. This allowed the mama to drink an extra cup of coffee or two and to have some rainy day induced down time before breaking out her bag of tricks.

To divert wee little one from the television marathon, I offered up the suggestion of making bagels. Of course he was delighted to help. Climbing up on his stool, he began to bark orders... "salt please. baking soda please". We mixed up dough and he rolled and kneaded his little section and I kneaded my portion. After we finished the dough and left it to rise, it was nap time. After nap we shaped the bagels and boiled them. Zachary enjoyed stacking and restacking his bagels on the pan.

He also enjoyed playing camera with his bagel.

After consuming a few hot bagels from the oven under his tent (aka quilt between chairs) in the living room, we moved on to the next task. Since it was again pouring outside, I brought in his race car. Since it had been on the side yard porch for the past few weeks, it was covered with spiderwebs and rollypollies and grass. I figured I would vacuum it off and he could race around the living room. Instead, he spent the next half hour vacuuming the car and the house. Who knew!

Later in the day, we put on our bee boots and grabbed babes new umbrella and headed outside for some puddle splashing and to check out the digger at the end of the block that is being used to fix the trail. Of course, by the time we made it to the end, the rain was coming down again. No coats on us, just some water shoes and a toddler sized umbrella. We stood in the rain admiring the digger for about 15 minutes and then walked home, or actually I carried the toddler home under the tiny umbrella and made sure his bee boots didn't fall off. We got back, soaked but happy. Upon changing clothing, we ate some more snacks and got ready to head out to play.

We met up with our friends for dinner. After filling up on chips, salsa and tasty Mexican at La Reyna, we headed over to the Bob Bullock Museum for some free music - a Ska band - and toured the museum. Zachary was delighted to have his best little dude buddy, Levi, for company. They were crazy toddlers, running, spinning, singing, laughing and sweetly being friends.

When our darlings were about to turn into pumpkins, we all headed back to our cars and headed home. After an extra lap or two of the neighborhood, Zachary fell asleep and we ended our rainy day.

Zacharyisms

I've got to write these down before I forget them. Zachary has all these "isms" that are his and his alone and they are adorable and sweet.

- Aah Choo mama - When one of us sneezes, he replies with "Aah Choo, Big Sneeze" This Zacharyism is also applied to flatulence. When the dog farts, he replies, "ah cho poopoo Senna"

- Milkstash - What he calls his milk mustache

- Happy Cake - This has taken the place of Happy Birthday. He sings "Happy Cake to You" all the time. Yesterday when we were at Bookpeople, Happy Birthday was sung over the PA system to an employee. Zachary grabs my hand and takes off from the children's book section. I ask what's up... "Happy Cake? Where is Happy Cake?" Can you tell what this child likes?



More to come as I remember them or hear them.

I'm a Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama

I don't usually do many of these sort of surveys, but this one looked like fun. Not much of a surprise that I'm a Granola Earth Mom according to this one. I had a friend in college who called me "Granola crunch crunch" and I think I'm one of the few people in Austin who has more Birkenstocks in her shoe collection than other shoes, and wears them daily. I scored a 129 on this one... If I'd birthed at home and made my own organic diapers, I would have scored higher.

http://www.naturalmotheringutah.org/granolafactorquiz.htm

Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July. I realized today that this is Zachary's 3rd Fourth of July. His first was in San Marcos and he helped celebrate the holiday with his Nana and Papa on the river when he was almost 6 weeks old. Last year he took his very first steps at Little Stacy Park and we ate a lovely dinner at the Haller's house and watched fireworks from Daddy's office building parking garage. This year we started the day by organizing a neighborhood playdate at the park. Lots of families braved the drizzle and humidity and came out, which was exciting. After nap, we went to a friends house to play with lots of other toddlers and their parents and eat wonderful food and fabulous hot dogs (Thanks Katie!) and get muddy and run wild. Afterwards, we drove back into town, parked our car and rode our bikes over to Zilker Park. We grabbed a spot near the Symphony, enjoyed the music and some hot wings and watched the fireworks. Zachary loved them this year. He was talking about them all day in anticipation. "Fireworks. Pop. Bang"... While we were watching, he kept reaching up with both hands and tried to catch the fireworks.

Other fun from today. I caught Zachary singing the Beatles Blackbird today. Sweet. He also insisted on bringing Macie doll with him today. "Macie come too? Peeeaaase?"

Happy 4th of July all.

Summer fun

Today while eating lunch, I look over at Zachary, who has a few black olives on his fingertips and is eating them one at a time. "Hey Zachary, what do you have on your finger?" I ask. "A plum"....a what I wonder? "Stuck in my thumb. Pulled out plum" he responds..... So I haven't read the kid the Mother Goose in a few months (those things whig me out) and Greg says it's been at least a few weeks since he read any Mother Goose and that Little Jack who was such a good boy story. Anyways, things like this just keep pouring from is little self. I'm amazed daily at how much he knows, how his words are all there, how he follows the conversations Greg and I are having and gets it. We had his 2 year checkup last week. Dr. Ward shines his little flashlight thing on the ceiling and Zachary looks up, points and says "A light. Up here".... The Doc. starts to say "What great words. You use them very well" when Zachary starts a soliloquy about "Look, the light. It is the Moon. Up here"... The Doc stopped his "good words" at that point. Yup, kid has imagination.

We now have to play puppets all. day. long. He loves to grab a stuffed animal and make them talk to the mama animal. He'll hand me somthing and say "mama talk" and I have to talk and make it move. He always starts the conversation with a "Hiiiiiii" in this slightly higher pitch voice. Tonight at dinner he said "hi" to the ice cream cone at Mr. Natural. He said "Hi" to the helmet and the cow in his barn. He is great about talking to anything he hopes will bounce around and have a play conversation back.

I love this kid.

Big Smile. Peeaasse.

Zachary has learned to smile on command. And he uses this new found talent all the time. Cameras come out and my little man announces "Big Smile.Pease" and then puts on the goofiest and cutest smile ever. We were at a wedding over the weekend and he announced this everytime the camera came out.

He is a hilarious kid. I laugh all day long. He cracks me up and he knows it. And I love it.

Mother's Day...

We started Mother's Day with a little haircut for Zachary. I couldn't stand to cut his lovely locks, but once the baby mullet was gone, I think he looks pretty cute. We had a very busy but lazy day. We started the day slow, played outside, did a Mom's day car cleaning (thank goodness!), then Zachary napped and when he got up, we packed up, went bathing suit shopping for me and then headed to Central Market and got some picnic food for our evening. Then we headed to Barton Springs for some swimming. I had a nice relaxing swim down the pool and Zachary enjoyed playing at the pool edge. After swimming, we walked over to the Zilker Hillside Theatre for a Mom's Day concert by the Austin Symphonic Band. Talk about a lovely evening. Zachary was beside himself. He ate tamales and fruit and chocolate milk and conducted the orchestra and we all hung out drying in our suits under our clothes and enjoyed the weather and no skeeters either! We had a little extra long drive home trying to get Zachary to sleep and he finally conked out and we're happy campers.

My little green bean

This afternoon in the garden, after Greg got home and just before we had a lovely dinner together, Zachary came into the backyard to help me in the garden. He came over and pointed to the purple green beans and said, "umm umm" which translates to "tell me tell me". I told him that was the green bean that we planted, that the flower had turned into the bean and the bean had gotten big enough to eat. He replied with an "eat eat" and we picked it and he put it into his mouth and bit it, the bean snapped with freshness and my dear son lit up with delight. He ate it up and asked for more. I beamed with pride as my son gobbled up the green beans that we had planted together, watered together and tended to over the past month.

I'm amazed at how easily we can influence and impact these little people. I knew the power that parents had, but I had no real idea how influential we could be. My son is turning into a more educated and curious naturalist than I will ever be. I am so excited, so proud. I'm delighted to say the least. Plus, he likes green beans

Amen

Zachary is so alive. So much activity, so much new awakenings everyday. We've entered the world of 4 and 5 word sentences, which are delightful and cryptic. He's saying everything, communicating with us and delighting me with who he is. I'm as much in love with him as a person as I am with his daddy. Funny thing. I'm still mystified daily that there his a third person sitting on my couch somedays. Thing is this other person is this tiny little guy with a baldish head!

Dinner tonight was delightful. We all sat down at the table and I start eating and look at Zachary and he's sitting there with his hands folded in front of him and saying "more office. More office"... not sure how he got that, but he wanted us to pray. He loves it when we say grace and asks for more each time. He has on occasion folded his hands, but never as a request for prayer. At the end of the Lutheran common prayer, he said "Amen"..... Delightfully sweet.

While Zachary and Greg were playing today, he started saying "Where are you" which comes out "weeerrrRRRRRUUUUU" . He was filling the bird feeder with Greg and was looking for the birds. He kept saying "where are you birds. Food birds. Fill bird food full. Come birds" Oh my gosh I'm delighted.

He's also into sitting at the table and saying "I got it. FLY." At a dinner a week or so, Greg attempted to swat at a fly that was buzzing us and that started a new dinner tradition of pretending to catch a fly and then hold hands above our heads and proclaim "I got it. FLY."... He's also enjoying picking up my seashells, holding them to his ear and saying, "Listen. Ocean. Listen, Dolphin"..... Fabulous.

I'm blown away by him. Makes it so much easier for me to be here at home with him when he's a delight, but I'm just so amazed and so in love........

Second Baby blues???

Hold your horses cowboy. No, we are not having a second baby. But we've been thinking about it a lot lately. We've actually been thinking about not having another baby. For at least now that is. This line of thought seems to really throw some of our friends and family into a tizzy. Many of our friends are having baby number 2 or 3. Many have children the same age as Zachary and are pregnant, due in a few weeks, or trying for their next child. I am delighted for them but at the same time, not ready for another child. This weekend I held a 7 day old baby girl. She was lovely, simply perfect but didn't get any of those baby making hormones to start running. Greg and I have always said that we have the love in our heart for another child but that we just don't need ne right now. I think to better explain the line of thought is that we know that love is infinite and that we can continue to grow our love and that if we were blessed with another child that our love would expand to love the new child. That's great, I don't doubt that at all. But here's the deal. I really like what we have right now. Really really like it. My love for my son, my love husband, my love for what we are creating as a family together is so incredibly strong. I don't want to do anything right now that might tip the scales and throw the balance off. Selfish, I know, but parenting is that way. I am just getting used to everything, just beginning to recognize my life again as my life. Becoming a parent was such a huge change and everything that I knew before was now different and now everything that changed is becoming familiar to me. It is all really really good right now. So I don't want to do anything right now to change it. Having another child would change my incredible love for my son and for my husband. I don't want to change things right now. I am not sure if I want to change things so dramatically again anytime soon. Greg and I had over 10 years of establishing ourselves together before we had the baby. We've been working hard to incorporate being parents and friends and to begin to recognize ourselves in our new job descriptions. So for now, this is what we are going to do. We are going to just relish in the good times and enjoy having our son in our lives. No matter if folks think us to be wierd or whatever.......

Ice Storm 2007

We survived Ice Storm 2007. Greg was home for 2 1/2 days plus the Monday for MLK day, so we had a great time being stuck at home with everyone. We played a lot, we baked bread and cookies and muffins (see a theme here). We did a lot of painting and coloring and playdough and short, cold walks outside. We installed a closet system in Zachary's room and I organized the pantry and we went to Randalls one evening for supplies and we let Zachary run all over the place. Great place to take a housebound toddler during an ice storm! Overall, we had a really good time having to stay inside and be together as a family. But I did enjoy getting out this morning and heading to the Children's Museum for a little fun but now I really miss the beautiful icicles hanging from my house and the frozen grass that crunched under my feet and the frozen toys and having Greg home.

Birthdays and Graduation, a good day indeed....

Yesterday was my birthday. Yesterday I graduated from Graduate School. Very good day and a long time coming. It has been a few challenging months leading up to this day. I've been working like a crazy woman trying to finish by all the deadlines in the Graduate College. I took my oral comprehensive exams months ago, finished writing my final draft in October and have been editing and re-editing the thesis a few billion times. But it is done. All done. Complete. Never again. I am going to take a few months off and just be Mommy. I'm going to get through the holidays, going to finish unpacking a few boxes, organize some closets, play with my son, laugh with my husband.

Husband....while I'm on that thought, what an incredible man. Without him, I'd never finished. Thank you thank you thank you.

I had a great day. My dad met us in San Marcos. I walked the stage, talked to a lovely guy during graduation about his life, his fiance, and then opened gifts from my parents - birthday and graduation gifts, so nice, at the Fish Hatchery on the steps. Afterwards we enjoyed the gorgeous day by getting an early dinner at a cafe and ate on the front porch. The restaurant actually is the first house that Greg and I looked at buying in San Marcos. Kinda a nice way to end an era in San Marcos, wouldn't you say. Of course we drove by the old house - fitting and we realized that we can really move on now. We said 6 years ago that we were buying the place so that we could go to school and once we were done, we could move on. Now we can and we have. Anyways, that's our day and I loved every moment of it... it was quiet, not a big to-do, just my husband, my darling son and my dad. Perfect....

Weekly update

Zachary is enjoying his bathtimes these days. He likes to lay down in the tub and blow bubbles. It is stinkin' cute too cause his little naked tush sticks up out of the water as he plays. He also stands in front of the faucet and captures water in a bowl and blows bubbles into the dish. Yesterday we played outside on the lawn in the afternoon and watered the plants and he kept taking drinks from the faucet. Of course this led to soaking wet Zachary, but who cares. He adores the water and is quite a waterbug. I think we'll head to Big Stacy Pool and enjoy the 85+ degree weather this afternoon. Can you believe that, it is November and we will be going swimming! Guess it helps make up for the 30-some-odd days of 100+ degree heat that we suffered, but survived, through this summer.

Last week was Halloween and we had a lot of fun. We went to a party with around 30 other 1 year olds and Zachary and Greg had a ball. We did a little trick or treating too. I had my thesis defense on Halloween that afternoon and afterwards we ran out to the Outlet Malls in San Marcos and on our way home Zachary fell asleep. Luckily he woke up after the doorbell rang for the umpteenth time. We put him in his turtle outfit and hit the candy trail. We met a few neighbors, collected some candy and checked out lots of great decorations and costumes. Our neighborhood really goes all out for Halloween and boy-howdy, were there trick-or-treaters! Zachary had a great time checking out the big kids costumes, pointing at lights and pumpkins and enjoyed a piece of chocolate or two as well.

Chronicaling the cute, the sweet, and the non-forgettables

Every day Zachary does something that makes my heart bubble over. I tell myself at that moment that I must not forget it, I must write it down. As well intentioned as I am, it doesn't always get done. I hope my dear little bird will forgive me in the future and instead be happy with the love I gave him in other ways. So in order to chronicle some of them, here are a few cute ones from this week.

* AAaahhhh.. I have taught Zachary to say aaahhh after finishing a drink. I did this originally to be funny, but now he just does it. However to make it super sweet, here's what he did this week. On Monday when he woke from his afternoon nap, he signed milk and we settled into the rocker for a little baby nuzzle time. He took a quick nip and looked up at me and said "Aaaahh" with the sweetest smile. I almost died from the cuteness.

* Orange juice. The way he says OJ is sweet. Ung-juice.

* Go Gaw-gai = Go Outside. He sounds like he's speaking Thai but when he's pounding the door yelling GO GAW-GAI we know what he wants. I think it's a combo of go outside with go bye.

* The use of the word other. Other shoe, other kitty, other drink.

* Mommy! He now yells MOMMY when he's looking for me. We also play MOMMY-BABY, which is him saying mommy and me repeating with a Baby and I differ the ups and downs in the speech and he repeats them. Very musical in a very loud way.

* The tap. He now taps my shoulder with sweet little pokes and accompanies it with a Mommy and once he has my attention, he points to the thing of interest and proceeds with his Zachary speech.

That's a few for now. More to come later.

Hamilton Pool and lazy days

We went to Hamilton Pool on Sunday. We decided to change our Sunday plans (church, unpacking, naps) and just head out of town to the pool. I have been once years back with the kids from daycamp and Greg has never been. Crazy. It was the perfect day - in the upper 90's with scattered clouds. Zachary napped on the way out and woke up at the park. We loaded him into his Kelty backpack on Greg's back and headed to the pool. We found a spot in the shade on the rock beach and headed into the water. Zachary loved it. The fish there are totally tame - it's like jumping into a fish tank because all the sunfish and baby bass come swimming up to you and nibble your fingers and that delighted my little boy!

Old house woes...how a day goes downhill

Hi all. I need to rant, so don't proceed if you don't want to hear it.

So I started my morning out great, as Zachary slept well last night and didn't do any 3 am wake-and-screams and slept in till 8! My day took a turn for the worse at lunch, when I checked my email and found one from a friend in San Marcos who informed me that my former house in San Marcos had won Yard of the Month. What??!! Crazy. See, I drove by the old house a few months back and was shocked to tears by what I saw. The new owners of my 100+ year eclectic house on a half acre had chopped down all the 200 year old Ashe Junipers and cedar elm trees that were out front and planted god-awful palm trees. I was so sad because these trees were my friends- they were old and grand and beautiful and these people were turning my eclectic house into something austere and gaudy.. At that point I knew it wasn't my house anymore. Anyways, the article talks about how the new owners tried to get a landscaping company to remove the trees and how the company refused to remove them (yea, they were huge and old!)... It goes on to talk about discovering plants that had been shaded out ( Umm, no, I put in 4 in pot mountain laurels 2 years ago) and well, the whole thing made me cry, especially where the article said they were considering redoing the backyard, which has a few trees that are very old and I'm sure they plan on wiping those out too.

Then my day gets worse. Truly. We just moved into a new house and thought when we were house hunting that we'd taken care of our landlord. He agreed to let us out of our lease once we found a house. Then when we told him we had a house in May he said congrats. Then we told him our move out date in June he said we'd be liable for a renter. What!? Well, we didn't have the agreement on paper, so what could we do. Our landlord then increased the rent on the house and we've been looking for almost 2 months for a renter to no luck. So last time we talked, he said he'd find someone and came down on the rent and had 25 calls in 1 day- we figured he'd have someone in a matter of days. As of August 1 we were not paying rent. He keeps refusing to meet with us to let us return keys and do a walkthru and I was getting worried. We've been dumb and didn't get anything in writing. His lease agreement has nothing in it about reletting, etc. So as of this evening, we got an email saying we owe another months rent or else. Great..... What next, paying for our next 3 months of rent?? So now we have a lot of questions and I'm calling the Austin Tenant Council tomorrow in hopes of learning how screwed we actually are. I guess the worst case is we shell out a few grand for rent and loose our deposit. Not that I don't have better things to do with the money now that we are a 1 salary household...

Ok, so now I really need some tres leches and I ate the last of it last night. I'm thinking of making a drive to get something sweet and sugary...

Thanks for listening/ reading. On the bright side, Zachary went to sleep again before 9 pm and I am almost unboxed and the guys come to install a garage door opener tomorrow. That will be fun. I've never had a garage with an opener!

Just in case you want to read the dreaded article, here it is....
A Stucco Success Story
Even though it is only 50 feet wide, the landscaping at 1217 Chestnut, between Windmill Drive and Ridgeway is hard to miss.

To read the rest of the story, go to http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/apstorysection/local_story_215114008.html

July 4th festivities

He officially walked today. Yes, that's right. He took 4 huge steps. Ok, so he's taken a few steps now and then, but no more than 2 or 3 and only on a few occasions. But today while we were at Little Stacy Park, he just let go of the play house and walked from one side to another. Greg and I squealed with joy and Zachary just looked at us like we were crazy and then gave us the super grin! He has been walking holding onto us for months. He's graduated to barely holding onto a fingertip, but he just hasn't been interested in letting go. But today he finally did.

Then of course he decided to show off for our friends, the Hallers, at our 4th of July dinner. He took lots of good steps for his buddy Levi. We had a wonderful time, ate some tuna steaks and veggies, drank some vino and ate peach pie. The boys frolliked like puppies. We left their house and drove to Greg's office to watch the fireworks from the parking garage. We also got to watch the lightening show, which was spectacular as well. Zachary hung out in the Ergo with me and kept signing "Light, Light, Light" continuously.

Fun fun fun around here. Ever wonder why I don't blog that often?! I'm having too much fun with my boys.

Little Bird Painting

I totally forgot to write about Zachary's birthday gift. Actually, it is more like my gift from my mom for Zachary. I have been looking for artwork for Zachary's room for a long time and have debated what to do. Well a few months ago while I was at Cafe Caffeine trudging along on my thesis when I decided to slipped over to the Moxie to do a little window shopping. There I saw a few wonderful paintings that I adored. The incredible local artist is Shannon Lowry and she makes these incredible "cakes" that are exactly what I've been wanting. I forwarded her website to my mom just to share and never meant anything by it except wanting to show it to her.

At Zachary's birthday party, Mom keeps telling me to be careful with one certain gift and then she finally come over and says I should open this gift immediately. The gift bag has a huge box in it Inside the box filled with Austin newspapers is a small package wrapped in waxpaper. I start to open it and she's gotten me, and immediately get teary eyed and say "look, my little bird." Then I notice that the bird is saying "Zachary" which is when I lost it and began to cry.

I love the painting. It is hanging in Zachary's room above his bookshelf where I can see it from the rocking chair as I put my dear little son to sleep or read him books or just rock.

Crayola and Paper

Today Zachary's artistic side has officially emerged. We were supposed to go meet up with our friends at Jody's house, but due to Zachary's 104 degree fever, we didn't go. So what is a mama supposed to do to make her and her sick kiddo happy? Why crayons of course! I broke out the So Big Crayola's that Nana got Zachary for his birthday and a pad of paper and let him go at it. We've tried to color a few other times and usually more crayon ends up in his mouth, but today the coloring thing took hold and he went to town. Notice the arm motion on the double crayon action and if you look closely, you can see the lovely picture he made.

Despite not being able to have our mama and friends time, I have to admit that we had a pretty good time. Zachary made it through his virus with lots of coloring, cuddling, nursing, cool baths and cold springs, blueberries and strawberries and a little bit of his mama and daddy lovin'.

Exceptionally cute items

Here are a few of the incredibly cute and sweet things my little bird does that make his mama's heart melt.

* A softness check: He tries things out for softness and cuddle-potential. For example, he will crawl over to a pillow or blanket or stuffed animal, lay down and place his sweet little head on it and then pat it. Too sweet. Or he picks up various things, places them next to his cheek and hugs them. aaaaaahhhh.. He does this to books, lovies, the telephone.

* The Kiss: He has started to kiss. He'll kiss his stuffed animals and has started to consistently kiss Greg and I when we ask him too. He comes at you with this wide open mouth with big wet lips and plants a wet one smack dab on your lips. It is always accompanied with a huge smile and a giggle as well. To top that, the other evening, while trying to coax him back to sleep at 3 am and while he was snuggled across my chest and face, I kissed his head and he turned his dreary head to mine and planted a sleepy kiss on my lips. Oui vey, did my heart melt on that one. Made being awake in the early hours so worth it.

* Dog and tennis balls: Zachary has discovered that Senna is allowed to play with the tennis ball, the only toy in the house that she gets to freely chew now that the toys are for Zachary. He enjoys sitting on the floor and offering Senna a tennis ball and when Senna takes it from his, he squeals in delight and claps.

* The Lay-Down-Play: Zacharydoodle likes to play while laying on the floor. Sometimes he lays on his tummy and plays with toys in front of him. He lays there, kicking his little feet and babbling away.

More to come as my little one discovers the world.

Happy Birthday

My little bird is 1 year old.
Simply amazing.
Here are a few pictures of my chocolate cake loving son. He is partaking in Papa's famous chocolate cake and seemed to be quite happy with it.













Papa's famous chocolate cake and 1 single candle.















See that cake everywhere, yes Zachary did that himself.















Yes, his legs, shirt and new scooter toy are covered in cake. He decided that the toy wanted some cake too and proceeded to help it out.

We didn't get to party the way this mommy and daddy had expected too but we had a good time. We went to Houston to visit Peter and Rebecca, who were in Houston from New York City for their engagement party. Since we won't be able to go to their wedding this summer, we decided to celebrate their marriage and Zachary's birthday at the same time. And for those of you who know the stories, you'll understand that without Peter and Rebecca and a certain vacation to visit them 1 year, 9 months and a few days ago, we wouldn't be celebrating our son's birthday.

Thank you Peter and Rebecca and thank you Zachary for a lovely party.

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy.

A mother's late night musings

I can't sleep and my thoughts keep turning to motherhood. This time last year I was wishing that the baby would be born. I was so sore, so big and so very ready to meet my tiny son. His due date was May 18th, but I had secretly hoped he'd be born on Mother's Day, sappy I know, but I remember thinking that it would happen because I was ready. Well, as we all learn, our babies come when they are ready.

This time last year Greg gave me a wonderful necklace that I wear often. It is my motherhood necklace. I had it on the day Zachary was born. Greg also gave me a pair of matching earrings upon his birth. I have the necklace on today as a reminder of my pregnancy and of my first born and that today I get to celebrate being a mom because Zachary is in my life.

But then the bittersweet part takes over. Next Saturday my little bird will be 1 year old. I'm not prepared for this! I keep thinking he hasn't grown, he's not that big, not that different than a year ago. But then I look at him, I look at my body which has returned to it's relative normal size, I look at the stretch marks, which I consider my battle scars, I look at my milk-filled breasts and I know that he has grown, he has changed and I register how much I have changed too.

I spent yesterday morning with Anna, my oldest friend, and her 7 week old baby boy, Jackson. He's lovely. I forgot how small newborns were. I forgot how light they were, how small their hands are, how they smile with the milk drunk look and drift in and out of sleep through the day. He was yummy, adorable and so sweet. Zachary looked like such a big kid next to him. It made me sad but then so excited about this little person who is growing in his personality and self.

Sleep is calling me. Zachary and Greg are snuggled in bed and have now been resting peacefully for an hour. I should join them and stop being so melodramatic.

Happy mom's Day

My husband and son are the best. Today we celebrated Mama's Day. We were back from our week in Houston, woke up in our big bed all snuggled together (and Zachary was so excited the evening before he kept waking me up to nurse all night long!). The three of us proceeded with our morning rituals...Zachary plays poke Daddy to wake him up, then stands up on our pillows to look out the window and retrieve Mama's water bottle to the bed, then we play where's the kitty? and then he charges after sweet Maya-cat and we scramble to sit up and catch him before he hurls himself off the bed. After tackling him we snuggle some more, exchange smooches, cuddle a bit longer and then get ourselves up.

This morning, little Zachary decided that 6:30 am was the longest we'd stay in bed. So Greg and him got up and proceeded to make me breakfast. Since we've been in Houston for 7 days, our fridge was a little bare, but luckily there were some bagels frozen and eggs and just enough cream for my coffee. Zachary ate his yogurt and some O's cereal and we decided to head out to check out the status of the new house.

Luckily Zachary fell asleep in the car on the 2 mile drive over and we pulled into the garage of the house, which now has drywall, as does the rest of the house. Thank goodness that I still like the house after seeing it with drywall too! This means the house passed the insulation and drywall inspection and tape and texture are next. Yippee!

We then enjoyed a Mother's Day lunch at Central Market, where Zachary ate grilled cheese and managed to steal some fries from Greg. After we got home, I was surprised by the rest of my gift, a spa package at Milk+Honey Spa where I got a massage and my nails done. My toenails are now a happy shade of red and my nails are whose your mother pink... I thought it appropriate. The spa was delightful, very modern interior yet soft and calming. Very good massage from Steven, who isn't used to the "unhappy shoulders" of co-sleeping moms. He spent the hour luxuriously digging into my neck, shoulders, and back and making me a very happy lady. Yes, co-sleeping will cause injuries, not to the babe, but definitely to the mama whose child insists on staying positioned in mama's armpit just so and also frequenting the all-niter diner.

Greg made a delightful dinner of rissotto, italian style fish and garlickly green beans, I drank white wine and Greg followed it with a lovely cappucino. We ate this lovely dinner in front of the television so I could watch the final episode of West Wing. Yes, I'm a West Wing addict. I've enjoyed watching because it was the hour a week where I felt happy with our government, even if it was a pretend on on TV. Sometimes fantasy is best.

The three of us then played and read some books, and I took my cappucino to Zachary's room to nurse him to sleep. Of course, he's woken twice since then and is now laying on my lap and I'm perched in an awkward position, trying to write my thesis and taking away all the grand benefits of my massage. Oh well.

Back to writing. Good night to all my mama friends out there.... Happy Mother's Day.

Zachary and the Dog

A few cute photos from this week. Zachary and Senna have been enjoying the sandbox this week.
















Zachary and his new sandbox toys...















Senna thinks we're at the beach when we play in the sandbox turtle.















Senna has taken Zachary's stick and he is attempting to remove it. I intervened soon after this photo was taken and gave both their own sticks.

I need a village. And sleep

I need a village and I need one quick. Right now Zachary sleeps on my lap and I'm contorting myself to type and to write my thesis on the couch. Zachary has decided this week to go to a new extreme with his mommy-separation-anxiety and this has resulted in some pretty severe sleep issues. In addition, he's teething again (4 molars are creating mountains in his little mouth) and he's had a cold. UGH. That is way too much for a little 11 month old to handle and it's a lot for his parents to handle too.

Don't get me wrong, it is endearing to have him be so attached to me, but sometimes a mama wants to put her son down, go to the bathroom alone, cook some dinner or sleep without a baby attached to her. Sometimes a mama wants her little one to sleep more than a few hours uninterrupted or to not wake up for 2 hour stretches overnight or not have to get out of bed and rock the baby for an hour or two. Or as it is right now, I'd just like to put him down and take a shower.

It is also hard to keep up one's relationship with your spouse at this stage as well. Sleep deprivation makes one a bit crazy, creates short tempers and general misbehaving. I'm trying very hard but it's tough and poor Greg takes the brunt of my frustration. I can't yell at Zachary at 3 in the morning that I want to go to sleep, but it's so much easier to bitch at Greg about the dishes the morning after... It's not fair and I need to behave and I need the babe to sleep as well.

That's where the village would be nice. When I quit work, I lost a huge chunk of my village. Folks just don't come around that often. Then we moved and my village got smaller. Plus we have no family nearby and driving to Houston is not my idea of a village, despite what my mother-in-law says...

I'd really like to have more mamma's around to commiserate with, to gather with and to just plain not be alone. I really didn't realize how having a baby isolated a person and how it could make a person lonely at times. Okay, okay, I know, I'm just exhausted, overcaffinated and need a bit a vacation and a completed thesis.

Well, I finally put the babe down in his crib and he didn't wake up. So that means I have a minimum of 15 minutes till he wakes to a max of.... Well... Hopefully hours. So I'm off to shower, grab a snack and change the sheets on the bed.

I promise, after some sleep and a little break, I will be a happier blogger.... Tomorrow will be cute photo day, promise.

My son is a fish

No, I know, I'm not Faulkner and Zachary isn't Vardaman, thank goodness! But Zachary is definitely some sort of water loving animal. My son is crazy about water. He wigs out when we turn the tub faucet on. In the mornings, when the Mummy gets to take her shower, I have to close all doors and very quietly turn on the water because half the time he wakes from his naps upon hearing the sound of gushing water. He loves it that much.

So last week I bought him a pool. We made our first trip to the chain toy store and picked out a grand blow up pool for $20. We came home and set it up in the yard and filled it with water and my little water-lubbin' rascal all but ran into it. Too cute, too much fun.

Now on Friday I let him fill the pool himself. I have to make sure to drain it occasionally since the birds love it and so do mosquito larvae and I don't want to nuke the grass. Anyways, we had been outside playing in the front of the house. We were playing stand on the chair and also played help give the herbs a drink and unplant them and play in the mud. He loves the dirt from the pots. Well by this time, say 9:30 am, he was covered head to toe in mud and I figured it was a perfect time for a quick dip in the pool, especially since it wasn't very sunny out yet so I could forgo the sunscreen and the skeeters were low. I got the pool, put it on the patio and stuck the hose in it and away Zachary went. He scurried over to the pool, went over the side and grabbed the hose. He loved it! He was soaked head to toe. He squirted himself in the face, he gave the dog a drink, he splashed, he frolicked and romped and his mama had a wonderful time and was satisfied to be the mommy.

House and Home

Since Zachary was born, I have been trying to define the meaning of home. Before Zachary, home was at Casa Griffin with Greg. Casa Griffin was this strange, vibrant house that had personalit of it's own - created from 120 years of previous owners and from us as well. But 1217 Chestnut Street also was my first home, my first place where I created roots, where Greg and I shaped our visions of our future, where I cooked 4 Thanksgiving dinners, learned to tile, watched deer from the living room and learned about homeownership. And then the house became the hindrance to being able to stay at home with my new baby and so Greg and I realized that it was only a house and that home was much simpler than we knew... Greg, Katherine and Zachary = HOME.

So we moved, downsized our life and have been enjoying being back in Austin. And over the past month or two, we've been searching for a new house. Man, what a process. The real estate market here has gone absolutely nuts. All the great neighborhoods that were expensive 6 years ago are ludicrously priced now and so we've had to change what we were looking for.. before I would have said a small bungalow in a quaint neighborhood, such as Bouldin Creek or Travis Heights, with some established trees and interesting neighbors with yard art. Well, after a few lost bids on houses and frustration with escalating house prices, increasing interest rates and few houses on the market, Greg and I have decided to purchase a new home by a builder. Yup, the Griffin's are moving to the 'burbs! Sort of... it is only 2 miles from where we currently live and actually, the project is an infill project in a community that Greg's old boss at TBG planned.

We showed up last Saturday and decided to do it. Come this after noon, we'll have put down earnest money and will await the completion of the house. Wow...

We'll be establishing home again. I thought for a while I didn't need a house to do that, but I've been longing to dig in the dirt with Zachary and put in flowers and food and to paint his bedroom and organize closets. Silly, I know, but still wants. I will work hard however to not go crazy and let the house define me. I think this will be easier for sure at this new house... it's in a subdivision for goodness sake. If you knew our last home, I think you'll understand what I'm saying.

House doesn't = home, but I'm looking forward to being at home in this house.

Coffee-Talk and baby free

Guess what, I'm away and ALL ALONE working on my thesis. Yes, that's right, I have escaped the house and I'm working. No no, you are not working, you are saying, you are playing on the web and your blog... yes, I am, but I just had to write this because it's been a long time since i've been child-free and thesis capable!!!!

Zachary and Daddy have food at home ready for them and are mowing the yard right now- don't worry, they are safe, because our mower is a non-motorized push mower and Zachary is perched on his daddy's back in the backpack. Hopefully Greg will feed Zachary soon and bathe him and so forth, but if not, oh well!!

Ok. Back to work. I LOVE the look of the table here in the coffee shop - papers strewn everywhere, computer,a cup of joe by my side and the cell phone, on vibrate, just in case.

I'm going to go relish this now and write LOTS!!!

Wanna play in my sandbox?

Is it safe for kids to eat sand? Zachary really seems to be enjoying eating sand. He does so in such a supremely cute way that I just let him, because I just can't stop the cuteness. I fill up his pail with sand and then he bends over to inspect the sand and leans into the pail, sticks out his tongue and tries a mouthful of the sand. Much too funny. His other sand eating technique is to take his wet hand and plant it firmly into the sand, thus coating his little hand with a fine layer of sand. He then take his hand to his mouth and licks it all off. That elicits a look to me that is then followed by the sweetest giggle and then mommy-heart-melting! I really hope the sand tastes like sugar.

Listening to God

I have thought since Zachary was just a wiggly presence in my belly that he knew God. Now I'm not trying to be all super-religious here... I am just trying to say that I feel that Zachary lived within me for 9 months and during that he really knew God and what life really is. During those first few weeks, I'd whisper to him and ask him about the meaning of life, what God looked like and what sort of conversations they had shared. I longed for Zachary to tell me what happened those months that he squirm around in me, listening to the muffled sounds of my voice, feeling me press on my belly to rub his small back and pat his little tush. Something happened in there and wished to know.

I mean, think about it, from a simple sperm and an egg comes this dividing mass of cells known as a blastocyst and from this develops an embryo which then turns into a fetus which becomes my son once he was born. AMAZING. Truly truly awesome. So shouldn't this bundle of wonder know the unknown? Don't babies, truly innocent beings, know the answers to the simplest yet most complex questions.

anyways, I came across the following writing today and it so simply states what I have asked Zachary since he was born.


Day-Old Child by Carol Lynn Pearson


My day-old child lay in my arms.
With my lips against his ear
I whispered strongly, How I wish-
I wish that you could hear;

“I’ve a hundred wonderful things to say
(A tiny cough and a nod)
Hurry, hurry, hurry and grow
So I can tell you about God.

My day old baby'’s mouth was still
And my words only tickled his ear.
But a kind of light passed through his eyes,
And I saw this thought appear;

How I wish I had a voice and words;
I've a hundred things to say.
Before I forget I'd tell you of God-

I left him yesterday.”

Big Stacy week

This week has been a blast for the Griffins. This week Zachary enjoyed swimming at Big Stacy Pool. I don't mean just enjoyed, I mean totally and completely, flipping out excited enjoyment of the pool. Zachary sees the water and the kids and people splashing in the water and he just gets all excited and squeals and kicks and smiles. It is completely delightful and such a kick to watch him.

We have been swimming at Big Stacy Pool, which is a partially warmmspring fed pool located a few miles from our house. It is the fabulous pool was built by the by the Works Projects Administration in the 30's and is filled with Austinites from all walks of life.

Well Zachary adores being there. So much so that the past two days that we have gone (yes, that is right, swimming in the end of February/beginning of March!) we didn't even make it to the playground because he was so excited. Greg met us at the park after work both days (he rode his bike from work! Yippee!) and we just had a delightful time. Zachary gets in the water and begins to do this frantic frog kick and pushes off of me and desperately wants to swim. However, he isn't into getting his face wet still, as he will occasionally submerge his face and then get upset when he discovers the water. Poor little guy.

This weekend is going to be cooler-temperatures in the mid 60's, so I don't thing we will be doing any swimming this weekend, but we can't wait to take lessons next month.
 

Letter to Zachary

Hello Zachary,

I know it has been a long time since I last wrote you. I had every intention of writing to you so often, but as you might realize, life for your mommy has not been ordinary and many things that I have meant to accomplish haven't happened. But of course the important things, like spending time with you, tickling your skinny ribs, blowing on your feet, playing airplane and mommy-baby snuggling time at the breast, those important things have happened.

I hope that one day you will know that your Mom and Dad adore you and because of that, have allowed themselves to completely rearrange their lives to better fit you, to make more time for songs and laughter, and more time for shear love.

I love you, my little bird. You make me complete. You make my life with your daddy full and rich and I look forward to everything.

It is late and you are sleeping and I will go get you and bring you to bed. I will gently wake you and we can have our cuddle time before you drift asleep.

Goodnite my little sweetpea.
love,
Mom

So I've decided to Blog

So I've decided to keep a Blog...

I have decided to embrace the digital way and join the world of blogging. Seems becoming a Mommy has made me want to write down the multitude of thoughts and feelings racing through my sleep-deprived conciousness. Now I have journalled before and have quite a few paper versions filled up, but digital is new for me.

What will this site be for me? I think it will be a place for me to write down my thoughts on Zachary, my Little Bird, and being a new Mom and on my life with Greg as we start a new chapter in our life.

So read on and we'll see where this heads.