Nerdling Part 2

Jane at 4 months, four days.

Cate at 1 month, five days.

Sadly, Cate dropped the pink hat (along with several shoes) on the streets of New York, never to be spotted again. Sometimes I think Cate & Jane look a whole lot alike but then sometimes I think they look drastically different. Opinions?

Jane had her four-month doctor's appointment yesterday and weighed in at 10 lbs, 14 ounces. We officially don't have to worry about her weight! However, the gas is still an issue. Pear juice works amazingly well and we're going to try probiotics next.

In other news, my college girls are coming to Olympia for the long weekend. Melissa had to cancel last minute because her sister gave birth to her first baby a few weeks early and she headed to Spokane to help out. Sad but such a good reason! RaChelle (with Claire) and Anna and Kori are still coming. It will be a little different in years past – three little girls underfoot – but we are still excited to see each other and catch up. 

Week 1/52: The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David L. Ulin

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Short and left me feeling slightly smug. A perfect book to start 2011! Really, who is going to read a book about the so-called lost art of reading other than people who read quite a lot (which is why the NY Times Book Review didn't like the book much). But I love books like this — I collect books about books, about 1/3 of which are of the real-readers-are-disappearing-all-hell-is-breaking-loose variety. I read/collect books about books to be reminded why I read, why it's important, why I am compelled to enter into yet another story.

One quote: "This is the burden of technology, that we are never disconnected, never out of touch. And yet, reading is, by its nature, a strategy for displacement, for pulling back from the circumstances of the present and immersing in the textures of a different life."

And I say: this is why I read. Because when I have a hard day with the girls and am feeling very much like a stay-at-home-mom, I can immerse myself in something else — even for a few minutes. I don't like to be connected all the time. I turn my phone off, put my computer on the shelf and engage in another mind or another life. I don't think I could have survived three months in the hospital without the ability to lose myself completely in a book. Reading brought solace and the sense that life was teeming outside the narrow scope of my hospital room.

How My Life Looks


How My Life Looks
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Pretty sweet, eh?

There are moments, or to be honest, hours when the sweetness is buried under frustration. The background noise of continual low-grade screaming. Mornings where four hours have passed and I am still in pajamas with unbrushed teeth and bedhead although I have not really sat down. Has anyone tried to get out the door with two kids? How do you do more than two?

But then Cate starts repeating all her loved ones, “Mama, Daddy, Jane, Henry, Auntie Liz, Mama, Daddy, Jane, Henry, Auntie Liz” and Jane gives me her adoring gummy smile and I am snapped back to the reality that my babies will not be babies forever. Or I get to go on a walk around Capital Lake with a new but very dear friend and we see a sunset that is just gorgeous and I thank God all over again for giving me this particular life with all its joys and complications.

PS – I am making cinnamon rolls in this picture. Smearing cinnamon butter into dough. It looks kind of gross unless you know what you’re looking at.

52 in 52 (2011 edition)


deep thoughts
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Everyone knows I am kind of a dork about books. Well, brace yourself. Ever since I came home with Jane, I have just been all over the place. My free time and the books I want to read don't really match up. Meaning: I have started about 30 books and finished very few. Well, I did read all of Harry Potter before Christmas but literally I had no time to do anything else. I might not have cleaned my bathrooms for two months.

So this year I have made a list. I love lists. 52 books in 52 weeks. All are books I own and have been meaning to read either again or for the first time. Actually, I think The Great Gatsby is the only book I have previously read but I was a junior in high school so does that count? The two quotes above pretty much describe me: "There is no enjoyment like reading" AND "Keep busy to keep happy." So a list, however Type A, makes me feel like I am accomplishing something, even if I am sprawled on the couch. Not too bad.

So expect a mini-review every week. This week's pick: The Lost Art of Reading by David L. Ulin. Really short. Mostly because I am determined to get all caught up on household tasks (ahem: cleaning bathrooms) before I spend a whole lot of time on the couch.