Welcome to toast & cereal

Beach!

Titlow Beach has lots of rocks you are not supposed to eat...

and lots of rocks you can barely pick up.

Mmmmm, snack time! Crackers and apple sauce taste better at the beach.

Sand castles are fun! But do not mix well with eye rubbing.

Wooooo, woooooooooooo!!!! Train so close and loud, Viola likes them much better in books rather than in person. Me too.

I don't have anything in my mouth, especially not a sticker

I just remembered these photos that my friend Jenny took of Viola on Valentine's Day while she was helping me figure out our new camera. There are more (without stickers in mouths) over in the photos section. Jenny photographed us as a new family last year and is going to shoot us again next weekend (she has a new website for her fabulous photography business here). This gorgeous red sweater was knitted for Viola by her great-grandma.

Cherry blossom viewing, yes please!

Last weekend we met up with the Gardner family for some hana-mi, or cherry blossom viewing, on the UW campus.

The trees were glorious in the early evening sun, and the grass was carpeted with petals.

We ended the evening with a sushi dinner. Viola ate lots of rice and nori nd avocado, and wowed everyone by scooping up mouthfuls of yogurt with a spoon, all by herself. Here's hoping that my working in Seattle will mean we see our Seattle friends more often!

Easter

On Easter we celebrated new beginnings and the symbolic third day in our own way: it was the third day of our new one-nap-a-day world order. Viola was a little sleepy, but she held up like a champ. Was it the resurrection of a well-rested life for us? Only time will tell. As you can see, there were requisite headpieces and an egg hunt. Viola had no inkling that there was supposed to be anything inside them.

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!