in praise of technology

Thank you, oh instant messenger gods and godesses who magically allow me to see and hear my friends and write to them although they are thousands of miles away and on other continents. My conversation yesterday with my friend Silvia in Spain was so cool, it is great to connect with these wonderful people I met ... in another lifetime really.
Was I ever not married and a stay at home mom?
Was that me flitting all over Europe or a story I read about a very lucky girl? How amazing.
(can you hear David Byrne? letting the days go by... How did I get here?)

A most exciting birth, Gianna, welcome to our cruel, crazy wonderful world. You chose a fantastic family and an amazing mother. Nice work. We are so thrilled for you all.

Thank you, oh cellular phone gods and goddesses that bring our voices to each other.

Just you watch how punctual this year I'm going to be with my holiday letter. I'm going to post it here, at the very beginning of December! No late ones for me... well maybe. I'm thinking of doing a postcard. Wish snapfish did one, but no.

No expansion

After an assessment of our priorities, the second floor comes in as an absolute negative. More debt, more stress, more more. We won't do it, for better or worse. We do have a few other things to concentrate on, so we should be okay on being occupied (!!)

The boys are down at the same time again, thanking the goddess of napping is in order. This morning I read an article in Bicycling (Jan/Feb issue, p. 56) about America's broken traffic laws, and it made me feel desperate about any of us going onto the road to ride. Our friend lost his mother on Friday, and we grieve for him. I don't think I have anything appropriate to say about death. Every time Death strikes, I wish many years had already passed so that the hurt won't be as fresh for the person. Like I said, it's not appropriate to say it. Maybe the only thing to say is factual: that birth and death happen-- sometimes in close proximity. That's certainly not comforting or wise. Just dumb. See? Nothing worthy to say, except we are deeply, deeply sad.

I have heard the news of two new babies in our life, and am waiting to hear of another. Did you see the new slideshow option? I love this thing, it's a neat new feature. Well, they're all new to me, but apparently it's new to the blog too.

So. No second floor. No office/study/guest room for us and no bigger living room. No second bathroom. Oh well. Maybe next, next year. Or maybe not.

Giving Thanks

Where to begin? That I don't have homework,
that my boys are healthy,
that we have family, alive and well,
we are clothed and fed and provided for.
we have heat and a place to go, and
no crummy mortgage that keeps getting bigger

That we can support a family farm, even in the winter,
that we can be grateful for the vast gifts we somehow
are lucky enough to receive. That there is stock on the stove
filling the house with cozy smells.

That Buy Nothing Day exists

First Quarter (almost) Over

Two biggies this weekend, DR and G went on a plane without me & DM, and DM rolled over from his belly to his back! What big boys I have. Finals are closer to being over. I've got to rework my answers on one, and finish a paper, and then we all will have survived my first quarter of school.
G's birthday is Wed. and we're going to celebrate a little. The Iowa clan cancelled their trip west, so it'll be much more low-key over thanksgiving than we thought. I look forward to feeling relief from being finished with school, but instead of making that closer to coming true I'm writing here.

Notes on crying. Does everyone's baby scream at an ear shattering billion decibels or just mine? I can barely stand to be in the house when DM cries. It puts me into flight mode. This isn't a good thing for offspring is it? To make their own mother want to flee while pulling the hair from her head in order to stop the torture of listening to the sound? I am going to attempt to make it stop again. wish me luck.

day worth recording

Look at my baby! last night he just saaaaat up! all done with that seat, apparently. (4 mos old exactly, and look at him go! (sorry its sideways, i'll get better here.)

We left the house by 9, hopped in the double stroller (see above), and went to play at Claire gardens. This afternoon, both boys napped at the same time for over an hour and I got to work on my final and catch up on school mail. Any one of these things is a miracle, and they all happened in one day!

Nonna & Nonno left yesterday, and so now none of us really know what to do. Who's in charge of feeding us now? Who's keeping track of all this stuff? :)

G and Rowan are going on a plane trip tomorrow, to visit cousin Gino in Seattle, and to see the salmon run in the stream near B & C's house.

Who's awake?

Just me,
everyone else is sleeping nicely.

I've been having bouts of awakeness in the middle of the night, and while this should prove useful considering all that I would like to get done, it's not. I just make lists in my head and forget them by the time I am yanked from sleep by either Rowan or Milo.

But creating this blog was on my list, so see, I've gotten something done! I plan to use this as my new place to write letters, that way, if you all want to know what's going on, I'll be here--recording what's happening. No more printing and signing letters for the holidays, I'm going to include this address on our picture.

Sleep is amazing isn't it? DR (darling Rowan) and DM (darling Milo) look like they are under a magic spell or something. Wish I had some of that magic.