Baby in Orange

Baby in Orange

Photo of the Week

2009 Week 41

Thanksgiving 2009 - and then I cooked

It was a very relaxing Thanksgiving Day for us today. Amazingly, incredibly - I did NOT have to work today. Though the question of the morning was whether there will be a client phoning from England with an "urgent job," like last year. So we took the phone off the hook. Or didn't answer it. I forget which... You get the picture.

And then, I cooked... for the first time in a long, long time. It was so RELAXING. Much better than staring at a computer screen all day... I might even call it THERAPEUTIC.

(Wait. Thanksgiving dinner cooking therapeutic? Never thought I'd say that. In the past I might have called it "holidayish, traditional, my annual duty, non-creative drudgery in the kitchen on a holiday... okay, I'll stop.)

As I cooked, I also spent a little time documenting the cooking process. You know, just in case it never happens again. (This part was a bit annoying at the time, remembering to stop every so often to grab the camera and take a picture, but now it's nice to have the images to look back on.)

So, I hope you enjoy them (almost) as much as I have delighted in having a day without paperwork, computer (mostly), and dictionary. A day just to RELAX. Wow, what a novel idea.

Pumpkin cheesecake in progress

Hazelnut Chocolate Tart - done

You didn't think I'd stop at just one dessert, did you?

My homemade cranberry sauce. Simmered in a nice full-bodied red.

Ahh, the disheveled chef. Really not a good picture of me.

But... look at my cute baby! She joined me for part of the cooking.

I said no computer, but I'll let you in on a little secret...

I DID check my e-mail once or twice through the day.

What is Thanksgiving without apples? They are a MUST in my stuffing.

Little blue-gray eyed passenger

The table is set...

The turkey is ready...

Toddler's Kefir is served...

Time to GIVE THANKS.

Oh, the Love

I just love watching the interaction between these two.

The way he adores her...

The way she brightens when he's near...

Moments like this don't have to be orchestrated.

They happen every single day.

(I just have to have my camera ready)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We have so much to be thankful for.

Photo shoot

This weekend, I found some time to finally do a photo shoot.

This sweet little girl needs an official Announcement.

Now I just have to figure out which pictures to use...

And then send them out before the Christmas cards...

but not before the Thank You cards... Hmm...

Helping Daddy

Back from the grocery store...

He's a total HAM

Going back out...

A very cute ham, indeed.

Massage?

Massage?

Photo of the Week

2009 Week 40

Halloween 2009 - Thomas and Pumpkin

Thomas and Pumpkin

A contemplative pumpkin she is

With his Thomas costume and his Elmo bag, he was ready to trick-or-treat

(we had practiced it at home)

Or maybe not... this was the first and only house we went to and we didn't get past the bottom of those stairs... It was that lady's fault, who came out and dared to ask:

"Are you Thomas?"

I don't think he realized that he was going to have to interact with STRANGERS.

They are cute as a button

(don't tumble down the stairs, don't tumble down the stairs)

Much safer from inside the house, where he alerted Daddy

each time the trick-or-treaters rustled the leaves outside.

Still contemplative

(What is the meaning of a Pumpkin?)

Methinks, he makes a very handsome Thomas

Red noses

Can't tell that they're coughing their lungs out, can you?

This is the type of activity that got us here...

Too late now! Okay, you can kiss her feet!

Going on 29 hours...

...without sleep. That's right, I haven't slept since 5 a.m. yesterday.

At around 4 p.m. yesterday I finished all my work for the week. I was finishing e-mail negotiations about next week's projects and was itching to get out of the house. Ron was off and we had had a good day together, even though I was working and Caleb was sick. The poor child has not been sick very much in his three years of life and he does not take kindly to not feeling well. Runny nose, cough, they are not friends of his. Not even acquaintances. But Daddy's presence brought him joy and it was a good day. I had fancied going out in the afternoon; I had been locked in the house all week.

So when I finally finished the last project, we packed up the kids and headed out. Best Buy, Pier 1, and Barnes & Noble - one store for each (talking) person of the family. Ariana was happy as a clam in the sling, napping a little and curiously looking around a little. We even had dinner out, then headed home.

I decided to take the evening off for some much needed rest, and to catch up on Monday's work over the weekend. Caleb went down to bed. It was time for Ariana to settle down too and for my evening to begin. She promptly fell asleep and I put her in bed.

15 minutes later, she's up, sputtering. What's this? I nurse her to sleep again. Put her down. Up 5 minutes later, sputtering and coughing. A few more of these and I give up on my fun night; now I'm just tired. Time for bed. Every time I put her down she wakes up sputtering, coughing, choking, screaming from not being able to catch her breath... she needs to be held upright, but she does not like it when I sit down, so I am walking her around the house... I realize that it's going to be a LONG NIGHT.

Not a wink of sleep did I get. Not one wink. A couple of times I thought I might get a little sleep, only to have something happen. Like Caleb awakening and calling for me at 4:30 a.m. just as Ariana fell asleep nursing in my lap and just as I laid my head back in the armchair. I get Caleb from upstairs and we lie down on the couch - "Sleep, it's still night." Not even five minutes pass when Ariana stirs and starts squealing...

Caleb finally falls asleep in his chair, but I am not so lucky. Ron wakes up and goes to work at 7:00 a.m. Now it is just the three of us... with a very sleepy Mommy. (A couple of days ago, she was teething and I got just 3 hours of sleep. I'm really racking up the awake hours here.)

Ariana seems to be feeling a lot better after her rough night. The bulb syringe was more effective in the morning. So was the shower I took her into to clear her passages. She is sleeping, finally. I wish I could say the same about me.

The funny thing is, I took her to the pediatrician Thursday morning, completely healthy, for her "well-baby" visit, then joked about it on Facebook... how the trick is to see whether your healthy baby remains well after visiting the doctor, where all germs reside. Within 36 hours she is sick. Though I don't think she got it there... I think she got it from Caleb, just like 2 months ago. That boy loves to kiss his baby sister.

Anyway, no worries, just probably another 3-4 day respiratory illness. They get over it quite quickly. I hope I can say the same for my sleep deprivation.

4 month measurements

Weight: 13 pounds 4 ounces (25-50%)

Length: 25 inches (75%)

Head circumference: 16.5 inches (75%)