Welcome to toast & cereal

Reunion

Joe came back from his two-and-a-half week trip to an ecstatic Viola, who ran across the baggage claim with arms outstretched to greet him. It was one of the cutest things I ever saw.

The images are blurry, but the emotion comes through.

She set about pointing out all the spots on the terrazzo floor. This took a while.

She also pointed at papa with both hands, just in case I missed him. As if my relief at him being home wasn't palpable.

Caribbean

Well, so far I've been in the Caribbean for 9 days on a cruise ship. We finished our work a couple days ago and have been hanging out and quite bored. I thought I would be able to get some work done but wifi costs a fortune and its hard to concentrate when everyone around you is on vacation, leathery, and entitled.

Yesterday, I was able to get out in St. Martin and sail on US55, Stars and Stripes, the 1987 America's Cup yacht that was instrumental in bringing the Auld Mug back to the US after Dennis Conner lost it to the Aussies in 1983. He redeemed himself by skippering US55 to victory in the Louis Vuitton challenge series and then skippering the Young America boat in the finals of the Americas Cup. I need to check my facts but I think that's how it transpired.

This morning i turned on the TV in my cabin and the Americas Cup, which is in the hands of the Swiss, was getting ready to start. Larry Ellison and his BMW Oracle trimaran won the first race handily. You have to love International TV. I've been able to catch a couple Italian Soccer matches as well.

Sunday I say goodbye to the sunny Caribbean and the Solstice and hello to the Eclipse in Papenburg, Germany, where the temperature is currently 20 degrees.

Boy, do I miss Jess and Viola!

Crackers

The upside to single parenting is that I get Viola all to myself. I presented her with crackers for the first time on Friday night.

Hm, these are tasty. Crunchier than anything I've ever eaten, but tasty.

Maybe I'll bite off a bigger piece.

I've seen squirrels do this; I think I've got the method down.

That is one tasty, salty slurry. Let's add some more.

More, mama! (This is how she makes the "more" sign.)

Let's just say they were a huge hit. Hooray for wheat consumption!

Single Parenting, Round Two

Perhaps you recall my trials and tribulations last spring when Joe went out of the country for work.

This time, he's gone for longer and I've just (on Monday!) started my new job. I'm still getting used to the commute, which is why it took me two hours and two buses to get there this morning, when it should take one hour and one bus.

And on the way home I realized I left my car keys at the office...in Seattle. Lucky for me, Tory the super-Nanny swooped in to get me in our other car. Tacoma Dome Station security assures me my car will be ok there overnight.

Meanwhile, Joe tells me the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico is kind of a dump. He said something about a really bad sandwich.

A year of texts

Selected texts sent to me from Joe over the course of the year:

"Feed me!"
Jan 22, 2009 7:56 pm

This was my first time away from the baby for any substantial amount of time. I had gone to a baby shower. It was before she was taking a bottle, so I needed to be home to feed her, and this was my cue to return.

"I'm home if you need a ride. Since it's raining."
Mar 2, 2009 5:15 pm

I was at a play date at Jenny and Clark's - they lived about 12 blocks away at the time, and I would put Viola in the wrap and walk over there. Clark was born two weeks before Viola, and Viola and I hung out with them once a week until I went back to work. I don't know what I would have done this year without Jenny!

"Everything going well with the Pookie at work?"
Jul 8, 2009 10:17 am

By this time I was back at work. I'm not sure why I brought her in this day, but I'm sure it didn't go well. There was nowhere for her to nap, and I was forever handing her off to coworkers just as she needed to be changed or fed. I love that he capitalized our pet name for her.

"I don't have a house key."
Jan 9, 2010 10:32 pm

The three of us had been out that day, and we'd dropped Joe off at the studio so he could work a late party, and then we'd gone to bed. He'd gotten a ride home with a friend, but he couldn't get in the house. I didn't hear this text; my phone was downstairs and I was fast asleep. Asleep, that is, until he started throwing pebbles at the window.

"Breast shields?"
Jan 11, 2010 8:05 am

For perhaps the 50th time in my year of pumping, I had forgotten a part to my breast pump at home. For perhaps the 10th time, I would run to Target this day to buy spare parts. Other times, I would fashion bottle lids out of plastic wrap and rubber bands secreted from the supply closet, or pour breast milk into Ziploc baggies. Once I even borrowed an entire pump from a very generous co-worker.

"The trash can has a mouse in it!"
Jan 18, 2010 9:33 am

Ah yes, and this brings us up to the present. Mouse Battle 2008 became Mouse Battle 2009, which has become Mouse Battle 2010. We've called in the professionals now, but that doesn't mean we aren't still living with the problem every day. On this particular morning, Joe said the mouse was staring at him from under a pile of garbage and he took a moment to ask it, "Why? Why are you in my garbage can?" But, to mis-quote one of Viola's favorite books, the mouse didn't answer. He was very busy eating our garbage.

Viola's 1st Birthday

Check out the photos of Viola 1st birthday!

One year ago today

Happy birthday, Viola!

Merry Christmas Eve

Viola is napping on my lap, Joe is out picking up oysters (according to Alton Brown, they were a popular Christmas food in the US about a century ago, though I can't find it corroborated anywhere), and we've finished a batch of peppermint truffles, with a batch of port truffles in the fridge ready to be rolled. It's a far cry from the bounty of homemade goodies we made last year, fueled by the nesting instinct and trapped by icy roads. Still, it feels festive around here nonetheless.

Tonight we'll head over to Joe's parents to spend the night and await Santa's arrival!

Welcome to the holidays, Viola

In the past two weeks, some stuff has happened.

We put you in the car at bedtime and picked up your grandparents at the airport. You woke up when we walked in the house, near midnight, and stared very seriously at them for 15 minutes or so, then gave your grandpa the full lower-lip treatment. We left you at home the next day with these strange people while we went to work.

Your laundry built up for a day or so while the pipes to the laundry room froze.

Your mama went to Seattle for work and forgot a part for her breast pump, so spent most of the day worrying about the front of her shirt. Then she waited on the wrong side of the street for the bus for 90 minutes before making it home with mammary glands ready to burst. Meanwhile, your papa took the car in for an oil change and found it needed $500 worth of new rotors.

We dragged you out in the rain and dark to pick out a Christmas tree. You marvel at it every day, and we tell you not to touch it.

Your parents left you alone all night for the first time. While they were staying in a luxurious waterfront bed and breakfast, you were wondering where your nighttime food source had gone. You banged hard on the windows the next morning as we walked up the sidewalk.

You picked up a mouse turd off your cosleeper bed. Your parents and grandparents started getting jumpy when they entered new rooms. Some strange people came to set up traps all around the house; another thing you aren't allowed to touch.

You mistook your mama's nipple for a chew toy, and drew blood. You cried with her.

You were trapped at M-Space for two long days for the annual blow-your-own ornament event. You were nap-deprived and walking-deprived.

And then tonight, you sat on the floor of the laundry room while mama shut off the valve to the hot water heater, to stop it from spraying energetically around the laundry room. You watched while we carted out soggy photo albums and lots of other old stuff from before you were born.

On the other hand, you got to spend a precious seven days with your grandma and grandpa Balsam, who you adore and who adore you right back. They got you lots of fun new toys and clothes for Christmas already, though mostly you're interested in the box they were shipped in.

All this, and Christmas isn't even here yet!

Viola's First Steps

We shot this footage November 11. Sorry for the delay!