Mara's Adventures in Maine

Big Rock Candy Mountain

2012-02-14T15:15:00.001-05:00

We went up to the "big mountain" last weekend with Matt's parents, and stayed overnight at "Auntie Do-nice"'s condo up on Shawnee Peak. It was a fun little getaway for the whole family. The condo is right on the mountain -- like, if you're sitting in the living room/kitchen area looking out the window, you are watching skiers whisking by. It's awesome. We could just walk out the door and across the street, and be shuffling through the snow at the summit where the chair lifts are and everything. Our friends Mary and DJ and their son Patrick ("Paddy") came up for the day on Saturday, too, to add to the fun. Adelin loved going up Friday night with Nannie and Poppa, exploring the condo, and sleeping in a big girl bed overnight! Donovan was a great traveler, and also enjoyed getting tons of attention from all the people waiting to hold him. Nobody skied, but we were all totally impressed by Paddy's snowboarding skills and got to watch his first lesson with his Dad. And both kids enjoyed sledding with their Daddies. I even got on the sled for a couple runs. The best part was being out in the fresh air, doing winter-y things in Maine with my family and friends.

Advice

2012-02-10T15:11:00.001-05:00

Here's some surprisingly good advice that I got from my stepfather today:

"Ask yourself, what would a Tiger Mom do? What would a French Mom do?
What would a Maine Mom do? Then choose based upon what a Cambridge mom
would do armed with all that info."

I like it!

Vote For Allison

2012-02-07T21:30:00.001-05:00

Remember this? It's time to vote. You can cast your vote for Allison here.

Go Pats!

2012-02-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

Adelin's got jokes

2012-02-04T14:26:00.018-05:00

Adelin is a little comedienne, but she has a few go-to jokes that she repeats in order to get big laughs. One of them is saying "bananapants!" especially by inserting 'bananapants' randomly into different songs. She also likes to yell at Matt "I EAT POOP!" She likes him to reply, "What!??" in his super-shocked voice. In fact, she likes this so much, that she has discussed it with me on other occasions. "I tell Daddy, I eat poop! And he says What!?" She also likes to call me, and many other people and things, stinky, and hold her nose and say "P.U.!" She has also started making up nonsense words and then yelling them to get a reaction. This is actually comedy gold.
Right before taking this video, she was eating grapes off the plate without using her hands or fork. This had me in stitches. Donovan was also impressed.

Donny Plays

2012-02-01T10:04:00.003-05:00

Aimee and Schuyler Week

2012-01-22T21:52:00.002-05:00

Or, Things To Do In Maine With Little Kids When It's Cold Out.

Aimee came and visited with her son Schuyler this week and we had a blast! There were some challenges, though, keeping three kids under four happy and entertained for a week in the winter in Maine! Here's a list of some stuff that we did, for those who may benefit from it, or for those who are just curious.

1. Children's Museum: We went twice, once for just over an hour in the afternoon and once in the morning for a few hours. It really is a great place for kids up to the age of seven, I would say. Any older and I would think they might get kind of bored unless they were there for some specific activity or event. Schuyler, who's turning four in a few weeks, really loved the fire truck! It was nice when they announced an activity over the intercom, so we could regroup and do something with the kids together.

2. LL Bean/Freeport: We went with Schuyler and Donovan in the afternoon while Adelin napped at my in-laws'. It's a nice, quick trip, and a good way to get a walk in when it's cold outside.

3. Gilsland Farm: Kind of a bust. I wanted to see what their "Children's Discovery Room" and "Environmental Center" consisted of. Pretty much just a couple of corners with some raggedy books and taxidermy. I think this place would only be worth it for a specific, child focused program, or to try out snowshoes.

4. Peekaboo Children's Center: The trampoline was a hit with both kids and Schuyler played for a long time at the train table. Even though it's touted as a play-place for kids up to age seven, I felt like Schuyler was just at the edge of being too old for it. It was a great option though, for a good solid hour of running around time especially when the playgrounds are iced over.

5. Pineland Farm: They have family programs in the winter, including "The Joy of Chickens" on Thursdays and "Friday on the Farm" on Fridays. We ended up doing a self-guided tour because of a weather cancellation, but we still had a blast. I was a little ticked at their disorganization, but overall it was a good experience for the kids to meet some chickens and cows and take a beautiful drive up to New Gloucester.

6. Maine Mall: With Chuck E. Cheeses, the Carousel, and all the stores, I figured there had to be something to keep Schuyler happy. His favorite ended up being playing on the computers at the Apple Store! I never would have thought of that. He also rode the little train that goes through the mall, and we checked out the toy store.

7. Walk in the Woods: One of the nicest times we had was taking a little afternoon stroll through the woods near my house. It was fun playing "explorer," stomping through the snow, and sliding around on the ice. It may be cold, but when the sun is shining and you're bundled up enough, the winter can be really beautiful.

Options we didn't end up exercising:

Sledding at Riverside Golf Course
Ice Skating
Open Gym at Maine Academy of Gymnastics
Bounce Zone
Library Story Hours.

We had such a blast and we already miss our friends. It was so amazing to see Adelin and Schuyler interacting, and to imagine all the fun Adelin and Donovan are going to have together in just a few years. We also learned a lot from them, about trying new foods and eating strategies and about sharing and playing nicely together! Schuyler is a great big kid role model and he was so sweet and gentle with both his younger friends. We're hoping that they can come back in the summer and we'll have even more fun!

My Sister-In-Law is Awesome... Really... REALLY

2012-01-19T16:14:00.001-05:00

I've posted about my amazingly talented sister-in-law before many times, and it's still true! I wanted to share that she was profiled on NYC Life this week as part of Art/ Trek NYC, a documentary TV series that showcases an emerging artist in each of New York City's five boroughs.

The episode she was featured in premiered on Monday, but will reair tomorrow on NYC TV. But if you want to watch it NOW (of course you do!) or don't live in NYC (duh!!), then it's available to watch right now right here.

Happy Half-Birthday, Donovan!

2012-01-16T15:17:00.002-05:00

Six Months Old!

First Big Snow

2012-01-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

I just shoveled for like 10 minutes and I feel like I'm gonna die.

What Donny Is Like

2012-01-10T11:29:00.003-05:00

I Am Beautiful, Dancing

2012-01-07T11:27:00.000-05:00

"Octopus" by Adelin

2011-12-31T10:05:00.000-05:00

Christmas Pictures

2011-12-29T11:25:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of my photographer extraordinaire sister-in-law, Allison.

Holiday Teaser

2011-12-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

I'm going to post more pictures from our whirlwind of holiday celebrations, but here's a little teaser. This year we lit the menorah for Hanukkah and Adelin got to help for the last night (last night).

Look What Santa Brought

2011-12-25T13:01:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T21:52:00.001-05:00

From the Recker men

Happy Five Month Day, Donovan!

2011-12-16T21:24:00.001-05:00

My little man is five months old today and it snuck up on me! I can't believe how fast it is flying by. We've put away the swaddling cloths and the pacifier, and now we're about to break out the spoons and purees because he's going to start solids! His personality is still sweet and a bit goofy. He's calm most of the time unless he wants something, and then he really let's you know it! I think it's hilarious how he opens his mouth really wide if he comes close to your face. It's like he's trying to eat everything, which makes me laugh. He's pretty 'talkative,' always cooing and making crazy sounds, just trying to get himself some attention, I suppose. He's pretty much the most perfect little baby boy under the sun.

Potty Training

2011-12-09T09:18:00.001-05:00

This page is under construction.

Just kidding, but seriously, the potty train ground to a complete halt on Monday of this week when Adelin stood next to her potty, looked me straight in the eye, and pooped in her diaper. All the while yelling "No! No Potty, no potty, no!!"

With that in mind, this site made me laugh this week. And (sort of) thankful that my child isn't ready.

Yet.

Love

2011-12-07T19:55:00.000-05:00

Chock Full of Family Goodness

2011-11-28T10:07:00.001-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving, chock full of family goodness! Marky and Matthew were down for the week and then we went to my mom's for Thanksgiving itself, and stayed for a few days to visit with my brother and Allison. Adelin and Donovan both got tons of face time with their Guncles and Gogo and Algal. Plus Baba did all right, coming up on Sunday to get baby kisses for her birthday.

It's funny who babies get attached to. Donovan immediately had eyes for no one but Guncle Mark, and proceeded to make googly face and coo and laugh whenever he was in sight. Of course, all the Marky attention floating his way gave big sister Adelin some confused feelings. It's not easy to share! But she's learning.

Down at my mom's house, we walked in the door and Adelin was immediately requisitioned for kitchen duty. She made her first pie -- a miniature pumpkin -- which was so adorable. My mom got a real kick out of watching her use her little rolling pin right next to her grandmother. We are a pie baking family, so this is a real milestone!

We went to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum on Friday. It was an unseasonably warm day, which was kind of bizarre after our pre-Thanksgiving snowstorm earlier in the week. But it was in the high 50s out in Lincoln, Massachusetts where the museum is and Adelin had a blast running around, climbing and hitting the sculptures with sticks that she found. "Look at that!" she yelled at one point. She is so cute. Donovan enjoyed himself by sleeping in the carrier with Dad.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T15:23:00.001-05:00

Happy Four Month Day, Donovan!

2011-11-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

Things that Donovan likes:

Getting lots of kisses, especially on his chubby knees

Being at the same level as Adelin so he can see what she's doing

The jumparoo

Getting tickled, especially on his face with the taggies blanket

When Daddy makes a surprised face, sitting in the Bumbo facing Daddy

"Flying" through the air

Pretend eating sounds

"Bumping up and down in my little red wagon..."

Mommy

New Phone

2011-11-10T12:42:00.002-05:00

I got the new iPhone. It makes movies! It does video chat! What a world. The future is now.
Here are some little videos that I've taken with my new best friend... I mean phone. It's just a phone.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T22:34:00.006-04:00

Clicking here should bring you to the Kodak album of the pictures my friend Mary took.

Donovan Laughs

2011-10-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

Donovan on the news

2011-10-18T20:19:00.000-04:00

Donovan was on the news tonight. Isn't he so cute sleeping in what is apparently some kind of death trap now!?

Happy Three-Month Old Day!/Bruddahs

2011-10-16T14:31:00.006-04:00

Today Donovan is three months old. He is so amazing -- with wide blue eyes, a huge smile, a silly giggle. He is a gigantic baby, already moving out of six month size clothes and feeling so heavy in my arms. He is starting to commando crawl a little bit and has a strong back, already sitting in the bumbo and just starting to enjoy the jumparoo.

Last time I wrote about his sleeping he proceeded to stop sleeping well for me for a whole week. But at the risk of provoking the ire of the sleep gods once again, for the past few nights he has slept in his crib upstairs all night, through the night. It's amazing, and I'm so thankful to him for it. I love our mornings all together, going upstairs and getting both kids up and dressed in the giant playroom that is our second floor. Life is good.

Tomorrow is my brother's birthday. I love my brother, and I am very excited because he is now expecting a son of his own, due in March. Donovan and little Diego Jr. will be around 8 months apart -- closer in age than Matt and I are, even. I am paralyzed by the potential cuteness involved here, imagining these two little boy cousins getting in to all kinds of fun down in New York City, up here in Maine, on the Cape, and wherever our family get-togethers might take us. My brother is one of my favorite people... EVER -- not just a sibling, but a dad sometimes too, a coach, a co-conspirator, a therapist, my homie and really one of my best friends -- and I can't wait to be the best aunt ever to his kids. And share with him all the awesome adorableness of parenthood, with children closer in age to each other than we were to any of our cousins.
So happy birthday, bruddah. We love you.

A Day In The Life 2

2011-10-13T20:45:00.000-04:00

When Adelin was 10 months old, I posted a typical schedule for a day with Adelin. Now it seems people are just as curious about what a day looks like with two kids, so let me break it down again:

6:30-7:30am -- Adelin wakes up -- "Hi Bubble! I'm Adelin!" I feed Donovan, then go upstairs and get Adelin and Donovan dressed, and put a load of laundry in the washer.
7:30-8:00 -- Breakfast
8:00-8:30 -- Donovan goes down for nap #1. While I'm upstairs I put the laundry in the dryer. Adelin watches a show while I shower and get dressed.
8:30-9:00 -- Adelin and I play, read books, color, etc. If Adelin is spending the day with Ken, then he usually shows up around 9:00am.
9:00-10:00 -- Donovan wakes up and I feed him. It takes around a 1/2 hour to feed him right now. After he eats, I change his diaper and then we get ready to go out if we're going somewhere.
10:00-11:30 -- This is our chance to do an activity, like go to a park or the library, or the children's museum.
11:30-12:00 -- Donovan goes down for nap #2. If we're still out and about, he sleeps in the carrier or the car.
12:00-12:30 -- Lunch. After lunch, Adelin goes down for her nap. While I'm upstairs, I grab the clothes out of the dryer to fold them downstairs. I usually have at least an hour when both kids are sleeping to clean and start prepping dinner.
1:00-2:00 -- Donovan wakes up and I feed him, and then finish up what I'm doing so I can play with him.
3:00 -- Donovan goes down for nap #3.
3:30-4:00 -- Adelin wakes up and we read books and play for a bit.
4:30 -- 5:00 Start cooking dinner. Donovan wakes up and I feed him. If Adelin spent the day at "Nannie and Poppa's house!" then she gets back home around 5:00pm
5:30 -- 6:00 Eat dinner
6:00 -- 7:00 -- Donovan goes in for his tub time while Adelin watches a show. Then Adelin has tub time with Daddy while I nurse Donovan down to sleep. Both kids are in their cribs by 7:30 on a good night.
7:30-8:00 Clean up.
8:00-9:30 Relax, watch a show or a movie on Netflix, read a book, talk like grownups. I'm trying to be in bed by 9:30 right now because Donovan is still unpredictable with his wakeups.
12:00am-5:00am At any point in this window, Donovan could wake up. When he does, I go upstairs and get him, and bring him downstairs into our room to nurse and go back to sleep in the co-sleeper, which is where the next day finds us, and the cycle continues...

Tummy Time 4/Superbaby!

2011-10-05T15:16:00.001-04:00

Donovan loves Tummy Time. As I was posting this video, I was looking back at my Tummy Time posts with Adelin, and relived this one, which made me smile. It's continually astonishing to look back and be able to compare these two babies so exactly. I mean, that was basically the same time of year, and she's doing the same things at the same age. What made me smile even more is that I was talking about how excited I was so introduce Adelin to Miyazaki's films, and just a couple weeks ago we did just that, showing her MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, and then, most recently, KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE. She loved both films and we all enjoyed experiencing them together.

These are the moments. My kids are beautiful, and awesome, and I love them.

Speaking of Superbabies, Donovan has been sleeping through the night for the last two weeks. I have been quiet about it because I didn't want to jinx it, I guess. I realize that the superstitious-ness comes from a ridiculous place but I just can't help myself... He goes down around 7pm and wakes up once between 3 and 5:30 am, then returns to sleep until 7am. (I actually think he would sleep in more, but his sister wakes him up through the monitor.) It. Is. Awesome. Last night we put him in Adelin's old crib and he was fine. He started squeaking at 3:30am and so I went and got him and put him back down in the co-sleeper in our room. It was great. We'll probably do that for a while until he stops needing that 3-5am feeding. I'm not expecting that until well past 6 months, but he's a big baby and as you can see from this video, has super powers. So perhaps it will be sooner.

Talking to Donny

2011-10-01T16:23:00.004-04:00

Sleep 2 or Dude, I Don't Know

2011-09-28T16:23:00.002-04:00

Adelin sleeping

When Adelin started sleeping all night, through the night, without any wake-ups, I was pretty psyched about it and wrote about it here. She was 7 months old. Dealing with interrupted sleep in combination with learning to live with an early morning wake up time was probably the hardest adjustment for me with parenthood. For some moms, it's the breastfeeding, for others, it's finding day care -- for me, it was sleep. Ah, luxurious, lovely sleep. I didn't appreciate you when I had you.

With Donovan, there was nothing really to get used to. I was waking up every couple of hours for the last few months of the pregnancy anyway. In fact, when he first came home and was doing four hour blocks in a row, I was high on life. I hadn't slept that well in weeks.

But after about four weeks of being a total blob, he started to wake up. And fuss. And he was doing three hour and two hour blocks at night. "Okay," I thought, "I can handle this. It's only temporary." But at six weeks, his fussiness peaked and I thought, "jeez, I can't shush and swaddle him for hours like I did with Adelin." Because I have ADELIN around too. And as patient and loving as she is, she is not going to be about a day full of watching her mother try to put her brother to sleep. That girl has Things To Do.

Donovan sleeping

So I went on the internet and reacquainted myself with all the craziness out there. Philosophies of parenting, all hell bent on one goal: SLEEP. Baby led, parent led, combination schedules. Cry it Out, Extinction, Gradual Extinction methods. Attachment parenting. Swaddling, shushing, baby-wearing, back patting, family bed, motion and motionless sleep. For any method or technique, there are a hundred website or blogs telling you how to do it, why doing anything else is madness/harmful/evil and how the children of the person telling you what to do are happy/perfect angels/SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. It's pretty wild out there on the information highway for a sleep deprived mom.

I decided to give E.A.S.Y a try with Donovan, since it's the simplest and he already seemed to be amenable to it. E.A.S.Y is an acronym that Tracy Hogg, aka "The Baby Whisperer" came up with to help parents. It stands for "Eat" "Activity" "Sleep" "You," as in -- the baby eats, the baby does something, then the baby goes to sleep, and while the baby sleeps you take care of yourself (or sleep, too). She encourages putting babies down awake and not nursing them to sleep, so they learn to go to sleep themselves. She doesn't encourage crying it out and has a lot of other stuff that she talks about in her book that I wont go in to now. I read "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" after I had Adelin and tried her method, but Adelin firmly needed to be nursed down to sleep so I abandoned E.A.S.Y or I guess amended it to E.A.E.S.Y. or "eat all the time whenever Adelin wants" method. With Donovan I skipped re-reading the book, skimmed some blogs on the internet to re-learn the basic idea, and then started trying it out with Donny. It actually works pretty well with him right now, since he is able to use the pacifier to get himself to sleep, so bully for me I guess.

But it's not like, presto chango, the baby is sleeping through the night. He is happier, probably because I am happier not worrying about what he needs next and having to swaddle and shush him for hours with Adelin tearing around the house like a crazy person. But I kind of think it would have been the same outcome if I had tried any other of the strategies out there. He will sleep through the night at some point, consistently, and then he will sleep all night through the night without wake-ups at some point consistently, and probably to get there I'm going to try a lot of other ideas. I don't particularly think the Baby Whisperer is a genius, she just fit what I needed. I guess what I'm saying is -- babies don't sleep. And then they do. All I can maybe do is screw it up. So I might as well drink a soda and enjoy all the other stuff -- like how unbelievably adorable and sweet he is -- while I can.

Crazy Baby 3

2011-09-18T11:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Matt!

2011-09-16T21:56:00.000-04:00

Today is Matt's birthday! It is also Donovan's Two-Month Old Day. So I put him in his special Daddy onesie (nevermind that it's six month size, this dude is one huge baby)
Happy Birthday, Mattman. I love you.

Crying in stereo

2011-09-12T10:24:00.001-04:00

I'm not going to sugar coat it. Two kids is hard.

The worst is when they both cry at the same time. Adelin doesn't cry that much, but she whines, and she can really wind herself up about the stupidest crap. Then Donovan starts in, or has already gotten going, and I'm sitting there feeling like all the energy is draining from my body, and imagining some desert oasis somewhere that I can escape to, with nothing but a bag of cookies and a blanket that I can hide under.

But there are several chinks of light shining through this curtain. First and foremost, I have Matt's dad (and Matt's mom as well), who takes Adelin and gives her the one on one time she needs three days a week. This is huge. I also have an extremely supportive husband who does everything he can to help out, and deflects my tired crankiness with jokes, smiles, and hugs. These two things cannot be overstated in their importance.
I also have the knowledge that everything will change soon, that this is a temporary point on the way to something easier and better. Donovan will get his schedule together, probably around twelve to sixteen weeks, hopefully before. That will make things a lot easier. And Adelin will move beyond this whiny stage... someday. Though look at me, I'm still whining.

And in the meantime, I've got this:

What Dora is Good For

2011-09-01T08:53:00.000-04:00

For a while she was saying "guapo" for "cuatro" which was pretty great.

Pooka pooka pook

2011-08-24T13:08:00.000-04:00

You all see where this is going, don't you? I've now started directing Adelin in these videos -- we're only a little step a way from full costumes, story lines, and special effects. I may just put that film major to some use after all.

Week 6

2011-08-23T12:18:00.001-04:00

Trot trot to Boston

2011-08-18T13:08:00.000-04:00

I like that she lets us know when she's laughing, just in case we're not sure.

Happy One-Month Old Day Donovan!

2011-08-16T13:12:00.007-04:00

Donovan is one month old today (I know, I can't believe it either!) and I took these pictures of him. Aunt Marilyn gave me these stickers that you can use for just this purpose, which was an amazing instance of great minds thinking alike because it's something that I really wanted to do for Donovan after seeing my friend Sarah's portraits of her daughter Kennedy -- she has month 1 through 12 all framed together and it looks so cute. Here are his 1 month portraits -- I'm not sure which one I like the best, but I figure I'll pick the one that goes best with the other months. But isn't he so cute with his sailor suit!?

Herding Cats

2011-08-09T11:06:00.000-04:00

It is really hard to get a picture of the two kids together but I keep trying. Today I took this series with them on the couch. Adelin was momentarily awed by being able to have her brother on her lap so she forgot about pulling faces and all the garbage that she usually does these days when we try to get her picture.

2011-08-06T12:43:00.000-04:00

My amazingly talented sister-in-law took a bunch of pictures while she was here visiting the weekend after Donovan was born and these are some of my very favorites from the bunch. Looking at them, I am again rendered almost helpless with gratitude that I have a family that loves my kids and supports Matt and I so completely, and also all get along so well -- it's great to be able to have Matt's brother and my brother all together with their partners and everyone just loves each other so much. Those are the moments when life feels really good.

Family resemblance

2011-07-27T20:53:00.003-04:00

Adelin, about 1 week old

Donovan, about 1 week old

They look so much alike!!

Adelin's Birthday Party

2011-07-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Here are pictures from Adelin's birthday party on the 16th. Obviously this got overshadowed a bit by Donovan's coinciding arrival, but I wanted to share pictures of all the cute kiddos. Thank you Denise for helping out on photo detail once again.

Adelin and the Old Man

2011-07-21T16:00:00.000-04:00

"What are you watching on the TV? Is that Matlock?"

Happy Birthday, Everybody!

2011-07-19T01:46:00.000-04:00

The story of Donovan's birth will now become legend. In this family, anyway.

On July 16th, he decided to come in to the world. I think he was trying to be the surprise guest at his sister's birthday party.

I woke up that morning feeling crampy and thought to myself "wouldn't that be annoying if I was going into labor right now and had to cancel this party that I put so much work in to preparing for?" And then I put the thought out of my mind because it was just so ridiculous.

Through the morning, I was feeling contractions, but I've been having mild to serious Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks now (it's why I stopped working the previous Monday) so I wasn't that worried about it. I thought to myself "well, if my water breaks then I'll cancel."

Without going in to too much detail, by 9am I'd found enough reason to call the doctor, so I put in a call and spoke to my doctor, who happened to be on call on Saturday. Actually, that is a funny side story - at my Thursday appointment, in which I was so uncomfortable and almost begging my doctor to commit to inducing me by the 25th - my doctor whispered to my belly "hey, I'm on call on Saturday!" To which I replied, "no! That's the day of his sister's birthday party--- any day but then." So anyway, after talking to the doctor, I decided that I was probably in labor but I was going to soldier through Adelin's party no matter what, give her the second birthday spotlight and then go to the hospital a) as soon as my water breaks or b) immediately following the party.

Guests started to arrive just before 10 and I was set up in my special chair outside to meet and greet. I proceeded to host the damn party going through contractions every 3 to 5 minutes, getting increasingly more uncomfortable. We did the cake at around 11am, and shortly afterwards I had a powerful image of a cat going in to a cave to have kittens -- it was such an animal feeling, like I needed to get away from everyone and be alone. At that point, I walked slowly inside the house and called my doctor again to tell her I was going to the hospital. I then informed Matt, and proceeded back outside to make an announcement. What I remember about this was that I was trying to time it so that I could thank everyone for coming and tell them that I was leaving between contractions, because I was afraid I was going to scream and scare the 17 toddlers and 3 infants at the party (not to mention all the mommies, daddies, and grandparents). I then went and got into the car, and at about 11:30am we drove to the hospital. At 1:28pm Donovan was born. Yes, it was an incredibly fast labor and yes, they were able to put in an epidural -- although it went in just before 1pm and I started pushing at around 1:10pm so you figure out whether it had any time to kick in. The nurses didn't seem to think so. All I know is that it H---U---R---T, but quickly it was over and I was holding a beautiful baby boy.

We are all home now and doing great and ready to start on this adventure as a family of four. Adelin loves her new brother and just wants to kiss and hold him. Donovan is a champion nurser already and just looks to me like the boy version of his sister at birth, so far, though his hair is lighter brown and his face is a little fuller. I feel like the sun is shining in our house and incredibly lucky to be married to Matt and creating this family with him. Almost like it's my birthday every day. So happy birthday to everybody and enjoy the pictures in the coming days (and weeks) until I can find the time to write again.

He's here!

2011-07-16T15:26:00.000-04:00

Donovan Eli Sanchez Recker
10 pounds 5 ounces
22 inches
Love, love, love.

Sizing Him Up

2011-07-14T20:40:00.000-04:00

Today we went to my 38 week appointment and got a sizing ultrasound for the new guy. He's a big boy already, with an estimated weight at this point of 9 lbs, 7 oz. My prediction is that he's going to be over 10 and come out some time between July 22-25.

Here are the pictures taken today with the 3D Ultrasound. It made my heart melt to see my little prince in there with his chubby cheeks, tons of hair and big fat belly rolling around. I can just tell he's going to be a cuddler just like his big sister. Speaking of, she has taken to "sharing" her toys, drinks and snacks with her baby brother. She just holds them up to the belly. She's so great.

Family Swim

2011-07-11T18:25:00.001-04:00

We had a fun time swimming in family friend Denise's pool on Sunday. It's definitely summer here in Maine, and I am definitely ready to have this baby.
Haven't had a lot of blog time lately between work, getting the house together, getting ready for the new guy and being too pregnant to function. But today I finally threw in the towel and told work I was done. I'm hoping that I'll be able to enjoy the next few days with Ady before baby makes four... But I'm also so uncomfortable, I can't imagine that he's going to stay in there for another two weeks.

Let's Hear It For New York

2011-06-28T07:06:00.001-04:00

Better late than never, I had to acknowledge the historic vote in New York State last Friday night. Gay marriage is progress and progress is inevitable! Aint no stoppin us now.

There's nothing you can't do, indeed. Congratulations, New York, for getting it right.

3rd Annual MinMEs

2011-06-17T23:06:00.003-04:00

Our first day in Maine was June 15th, 2008 - we have now lived in Maine for three years.
Two years ago I kicked off the Mara In Maine Awards (MInME's), awards given to places and things that I think deserve special distinction, based on my inexpert and un-researched opinion. Last year I added some new categories, and this year I made a new ribbon, which is about all I can muster between all my current craziness. And so... coming to you live from Portland, Maine... the third annual Mara In Maine Awards!

The first category is Best Restaurant. And for three years running, 555 takes the MInME! We were able to revisit this restaurant a few weeks back, and I was reassured that it still is the best meal to be found in Portland. A shout out to Walters for a fine meal this year, and another special acknowledgement to Local Sprouts, which I think is the best place for us to go for a meal with Adelin, as it offers tons of good veggie options and a whole section of toys for her to go get distracted in while we eat.

Best Bar has to go to Bubba's Sulky Lounge this year. I don't think there's another place like it in Maine. The 80's night on Friday nights is a really good time, and it's just such a wonderfully bizarre place to go. I mean, the random decor, the epic hugeness of it (there's like three or four rooms... it just keeps going!), the light up floors... It's not a place I would want to go regularly, but if you're in the mood, it's going to be a good time. Me and the belly enjoyed a nice dance session there the other night, and it was the best time I had in a while, even without drinking. So for that, this year, it gets the MinMe.

Best Park is going to Willard Beach this year, almost entirely due to the amazing time I had there with Adelin on the first gorgeous day this spring. The temperatures went into the high seventies, and Adelin and I jumped in the car with her bucket and shovel and drove the ten minutes over there, where we easily parked and walked right out onto the sand. Adelin went cuckoo bananas when she saw the ocean, and we spent a happy hour there digging and soaking up the sun. And the cherry on top of that happiness sundae is that there's a play structure there for her, just in case the awesomeness of a beach and ocean isn't enough. Yah, it's not the cleanest beach in Maine and yah, it's not the prettiest, but it gave me a beautiful moment there on a day where I otherwise wouldn't have had the time for a full beach trip. So it takes the prize.

Best Ice Cream this year easily goes to Gorgeous Gelato, which is making Maine proud as the first real competition for J.P. Licks in Boston. It (gulp) might be better. The 'gorgeous' flavor haunts my dreams, in a good way. As a seriously pregnant ice cream connoisseur, I have been sent into eyes closed raptures by this ice cream. Big kudos, and a well deserved MinMe.

And so we find ourselves at the conclusion of another exciting night of awards. So many amazing nominees, but only a handful can get the exclusive prize. But there's always next year.

Three years. Much like three years ago, I find myself surrounded by boxes, settling into a new home. Much like two years ago, I find myself with a big pregnant belly, with just weeks to go until the baby arrives. And much like last year, I write this while my daughter (23 months today) sleeps upstairs, cuddled with her loveys, with a cool summer night breeze wafting in through the window. Tonight my life feels like a chain of circles, with everything happening over again, the wheels on the bus go round and round...

With two years to go in Matt's residency, we have passed our halfway point in our Maine adventure. The uncertainty of the future is both alarming and exciting. Even with the insanity of the move, and the related setbacks and disappointments that we are still negotiating, it's clear to me tonight that we are incredibly fortunate. We live in a beautiful place, near our amazing, supportive family and surrounded by friends and people who genuinely care about us. We have an incredible daughter, who amazes us every second and keeps getting more fabulous. And we get to look forward to meeting our son, who I know will change us, again, forever. And we have each other, which will always feel like home, no matter where the adventure takes us.

Getaway

2011-06-13T20:48:00.001-04:00

Matt, Adelin and I took off last Wednesday night for a long weekend to Cape Cod. We decided to leave a day early when we heard the weather forecast for Thursday - 90s and humid in the greater Portland area: no thanks. We left at around 7:38pm and got to the Wellfleet house around 11:00pm, so we made pretty good time.
We invited our friends Andy and Kana (and their dog Suki) to join us for the weekend and we are so glad they took us up on it. We had the best time with them. They were totally gracious about Ady's strict schedule and repeated demands ("Suki! Suki! SUKI!") and were just a lot of fun and easy to be with, which is what it's all about with friends on the Cape. (Kana also wrote about the trip on her blog here.)
Kana took this picture, which is one of my favorite moments from the weekend. I love how Adelin looks as though she is reaching out to the ocean -- embracing the beach, Cape Cod, the summer, life. In actuality, Ady is clapping her hands above her head to call to the seals, which we saw swimming in pairs over at Marconi Beach, on the ocean side. We didn't swim there (too windy and cold) but I did get in the water several other times at Long Pond and Duck Harbor. Anyway you look at this picture, though, it's pretty fantastic, and just a beautiful encapsulation of our lovely little vacation.

Happy Anniversary

2011-06-10T13:49:00.001-04:00

Five years ago I said: "each day is a gift that we give each other." It feels even more true now, as we frolic in the same sand and water that we did then, with our beautiful and perfect daughter smiling up at us, and our son dancing happily in my belly. Today is our fifth wedding anniversary, and we are enjoying ourselves with our good friends Andy and Kana (and Suki) down here in Wellfleet.
This picture was taken five years ago, on the ferry as we left for our honeymoon.

Bad angle, good times.

2011-06-09T09:33:00.000-04:00

We are on the Cape for a vacation long weekend and our last trip... For the next 18 years or so. Just kidding, but maybe not. Anyway, I'm fascinated by this picture because it's such a terrible angle, but also I am ridiculously, hugely pregnant once again. Enjoy.

Our new house ("Before")

2011-06-04T14:36:00.004-04:00

Dining Room

Kitchen

Living Room

Master Bedroom

Upstairs Front Bedroom from stairs

Upstairs Front Bedroom toward stairs

Upstairs Back Bedroom

Moving Day

2011-05-31T22:00:00.023-04:00

Today was moving day and... it was horrible.

Remember three years ago, when we had that wonderful moving experience from New York to Portland? When our moving help all showed up and were great, and we drove the truck up and had no mishaps, and moved in to our new apartment and was beautiful and clean? Remember that? Let's think about that and bask in it for a little bit. Ahhhh.

Because this move was different in almost every way. Our new house in Falmouth was not ready to move in to. Our moving help never showed up after giving us the run around for five hours. We had to scramble to find new movers, who looked like they were possibly the last two movers left in Maine that nobody wanted. We didn't have cleaning help, so I had to clean the apartment myself which is just what I was trying to avoid. Matt ended up doing a lot of hard labor as well, which we were also trying to avoid. And we weren't able to spend the night in our new house, which was a disappointment.

But with experiences like this, I am always struck by how fortunate we really are. We have lovely, wonderful friends who came through for us in the zero hour. Andy and Kana came over and helped me clean, and then just decided to cast their bid for saints of the year by helping us move our last remaining items and finish unloading the truck in Falmouth. They are nothing short of fantastic friends.

We also have Matt's parents, who in their usual style rolled with the punches and kept Adelin happy and out of the fray for the day, who are continuing to let us turn their home into a refugee camp for yet another day, and who have helped us in a million ways with this move and with everything else in our lives. Having them here to support us makes everything bad seem okay.

So now our stuff sits in boxes and disarray at the new house, still waiting but, at least, it's there. More to come.

Countdown: 5 Days To Go

2011-05-26T12:10:00.002-04:00

Next Tuesday is Moving Day, but since Matt and I are going away this weekend we pretty much just have three more days to get all our stuff packed and ready to move. The good news is that we've practically packed everything that we don't use every day, so we are living in Boxland a little bit right now but it feels good. The bad news is that we use A LOT OF STUFF every day, so there's still a ton of crap in our apartment that we're going to have to scramble to get packed up tonight and Monday night.

On an unrelated note, we went to Smiling Hill Farm with Kana and Andy yesterday (Happy Anniversary guys!) and Kana took these pictures of Adelin with a miniature donkey that lives there. Adelin loves animals and is fearless around them. She runs right up to them and tells them that she speaks in their language (to the cow: MOO! to the donkey: HEE HAW, etc.) She is so happy around them and it's a joy to watch.

Big Girls

2011-05-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

Put their shoes on all by themselves!

Dress Up

2011-05-18T12:25:00.000-04:00

Adelin had fun playing dress up the other morning. Here she is wearing a ridiculous purple outfit that her cousin Catherine handed down to her.

Sorry, I cut off her head with my not so great camera work and also she's not facing the camera most of the time. Actually, I'm not sorry cuz seriously I'm really pregnant and it's hard enough chasing her around without a video camera.

Crazy Baby, Morning Edition

2011-05-16T07:08:00.001-04:00

Adelin is working on her Carrot Top style prop comedy routine this morning. I can't really describe how weird and wonderful she is acting.

Counting

2011-05-09T22:01:00.000-04:00

This morning Matt and I were totally astonished to hear Adelin in her crib, counting from one to ten.

I was able to capture it later on camera. I would be so excited if she becomes a huge math nerd genius. You know right after this she also busted out with 11 through 14? Excellent.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T09:52:00.000-04:00

Life is good when you're Adelin's mommy.

Working Mom

2011-05-06T18:43:00.001-04:00

I get a lot of questions about my job and how it's going, so it seemed like time to mention it here. I love my job. I work part time, I try to stick to three days a week but sometimes I've been doing four. I work part of the time with one or sometimes two or three teenagers, doing after school stuff, and part of the time with kids that are slightly older (18-25), at a program that helps them transition to independent living. All the kids I work with have cognitive impairment, so that means Down Syndrome, Mental Retardation, brain injuries, and other related disabilities. I love the kids I work with. They're all really different and amazing. I feel very inspired by them and their stories, and it makes me feel really good to be a part of their lives and to feel like I'm contributing to their lives in some way. But I do miss Adelin, which is why three days a week is perfect for me. Any more than that and I do find myself longing to see her and be with her. But I also know that being a full-time mom is not something that I'm going to want to do again for any long period of time, especially after all our kids start going to school, so I'm trying to balance that plan with my desire to spend lots of time with my kid(s) right now.

I plan to keep working as long as I can and then to take at least three months to be with the new baby. Beyond that, I can't say. I feel right now that I will want to go back to work at least one or two days a week, so we will have to figure that out. I also am starting to think that Adelin may be ready for some kind of daycare experiment at least one day a week, since she is getting to be so social and seems to crave social interaction with other kids. It's so hard to know how I'll feel though once the new baby arrives. When I first held Adelin in my arms I know that something really major changed for me, and being a stay at home mom with her for almost a year was the best decision I ever made. There were really hard parts about it but overall I feel so incredibly fortunate that I was able to do that. So it wouldn't surprise me if this little guy comes out and convinces me to hang out with him, too. We'll just have to see. And I know that no matter what happens, there will be days that I second guess myself, and there will be days like today where I think I'm a genius.

I'll just have to be sure to blog on those genius days.

Brother On The Big Screen

2011-04-27T17:09:00.000-04:00

That's my brother on the left, ringing the opening bell on Wall Street today. On the big screen in Times Square. Awesome!!!

Moving On Up

2011-04-20T22:20:00.000-04:00

Since we found out about our little bundle of joy that's due to arrive at the end of July, Matt and I have been talking about whether or not we should move to a bigger place. We decided to make a decision by March 1st, and then put it on the back burner for a while. Sometime in February we decided that we weren't going to move, that we were going to tighten our belts and stick it out in this apartment in order to be financially responsible parents, etc. And then about two weeks later, we said "screw it, this apartment is too small for two kids" and I started combing the classifieds.

And miracles of miracles, we found a place... just down the block from Matt's parents! It has a fenced in yard, and three bedrooms, and it's going to be a lovely, lovely home for us for the next two years. We move June 1st!

I have pictures of the inside, but I think I'll wait and do some before and after shots when we move in, like I did with this apartment.

We are both getting really excited about moving in to our new place, but there's so much to do now. We've got to pack, and clean up this place, and move, and find another car, and we've got to do it all short-staffed because I am getting to the point where lifting and lowering and doing all the packing and moving related things are becoming less and less of an option.

And the countdown begins. Six weeks until moving day!

Happy Birthday Marky

2011-04-15T09:17:00.000-04:00

Guncles

2011-04-09T22:00:00.004-04:00


With the Guncles on the beach

Marky and Matthew are visiting this weekend! Today we went and had brunch at Inn by the Sea, which I think should be renamed "Inn kind of close to the sea" because dude, it's a long walk down that boardwalk to get to the ocean. But maybe I'm just pregnant. So nice though, and we had a lovely meal and really enjoyed going and seeing the beach and the ocean on what may be the first really beautiful spring day that the whole family has been able to enjoy together.

Miss A enjoys the beach

Playing leapfrog with Daddy

24 Weeks!

This afternoon we walked around Portland and then had a little early birthday celebration for Marky, who turns 30 next weekend. Adelin didn't know what to think about the cake and candles. But she was so happy to be hanging out with her Guncle!


Happy Early Birthday to Uncle Marky

She's Got The Look

2011-04-06T09:22:00.006-04:00

Miss Sassy was looking especially fabulous on this particular day a few weeks ago, walking around in her light blue long underwear, her hair piled up on her head, her shirt lifted up to expose her belly button, and working my sparkly yellow heels. Which, by the way, she can walk in better than I can.

Conversations with Qbert

2011-04-03T09:18:00.010-04:00

Adelin will have long conversations with her stuffed animals (and us as well) which we unfortunately don't really understand because her toddler speak hasn't become totally clear to us yet. But it's still adorable.

On a sad note, Qbert had to go to that giant stuffed porcupine puppet farm in the sky because I put him in the dryer and I wasn't supposed to. Don't tell Adelin.

Terrible Two (or One and a Half)

2011-03-29T20:18:00.000-04:00

There are times where the whole mommy gig is really hard, and there are times when it feels easy and super fun. Since about 18 months Adelin has been demonstrating more and more of what I guess could be considered "terrible two" behavior. That is, being negative and saying "no," a lot, having mood swings and mild to serious 'temper tantrums.' The two biggest challenges with this phase, for me at least, has been her 'anti-Daddy' moods, when she can be dismissive to downright mean to her poor father, and her picky-ness with food. Like, as in, only wants to eat crackers. All day.

I have never been a patient person and still wouldn't describe myself as such. But besides the intuition and boob milk I also discovered something in becoming a mother that I never knew I possessed, which is a small well of patience, made especially and possibly only for my daughter, that sometimes goes deeper than I thought possible. (Of course, there are many days when I forget the way to this well, I must admit.) And I do believe that Adelin is an easy toddler, as things could go. She's highly distractable, usually fairly mellow, and has a sweet, loving temperament that it's easy to bring her back to. For the most part, when she starts to lose it, I have figured out how to breathe deep, hold her or rub her back, and refocus her on something else. Turning things into a song has helped. (We sing several verses of a made up 'good-bye' song whenever we leave Greenlight Studio to avoid meltdown city.) As for the bouts of Daddy-phobia, we know it will pass, and Matt has been excessively amazing about the whole thing. And the food issues... well, she ate risotto the other day. I'm clinging to that like a life raft as I continue to put dish after dish in front of her, and watch her eat only one thing: the fruit. And then smile up at me and ask for "cwacker!"

In the middle of all of that, there is a night like tonight, where me and her are solo in the middle of a month where that's going to be the rule more than the exception, as Matt has a schedule from hell for the next couple weeks. And I've worked all day and I'm tired, and coming off a little road trip that for some reason took the stuffing out of me. But even though I put a lovely meal in front of her (frittata, tortilla, apple) and she didn't eat one bite, she was so smiley and happy and, well, fun -- I felt like she was the sunshine in my house tonight. It was just one of those nights, where it should have gone the other way -- me checking the clock every five minutes, digging every toy out of her toy box and finally giving in and putting on Dora -- but it didn't. We spent the whole night just playing and laughing and running around, and then had a relaxed, but fun tub time together and read a couple extra good night books. And I sang a few extra songs, and just held her a little bit longer than I usually do, just because her face is so sweet when she's falling asleep and her eyes are closed, and the moon is lighting her face through the window. I guess it teaches me: expect the unexpected. And savor these moments, when my heart just feels full of love for my little daughter, and I think, who cares about the terrible twos? Because I am just so incredibly lucky to be her mom.

Uh-oh

2011-03-24T12:39:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine posted this today on Facebook. As Adelin would say: "Uh-oh!"

Kickin it

2011-03-20T11:07:00.000-04:00

Let's Hear It For the Boy

2011-03-15T14:33:00.002-04:00

Today Matt and I went to an ultrasound appointment and found out that the little baby kicking, dancing, and having a grand ol' growing time in there is, in fact, a boy! So I can do the "I was right" dance, Adelin gets a little brother, and Matt gets the gender scales evened out around here! We are both really excited about it. Of course, we would have been excited either way, but it's so nice to finally KNOW.

He's 1 lb so far and my doctor says I'm measuring a few weeks ahead. No surprise there. Everything is healthy and he has all his fingers and toes and other necessary parts.

Now begins the arduous task of coming up with names. For the record, no, we are not going to share the name this time, so don't ask. But we also may not come up with one until the 0 hour anyway. So if you ask "have you decided on a name?" and we say "no" we may or may not be lying.

This Just In: Adelin in the Portland Press Herald

2011-03-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

Adelin and I went to the Children's Museum the other day and got ourselves all up in some photo shoot the Portland Press Herald was doing for a story on the Children's museum. We were making noisemakers. Well more like, I made it and Adelin stared at the bigger girl sitting to her left. And then she ran around with the noisemaker I made taking all the credit for it. Hmmph.

Adelin gets dizzy

2011-02-27T09:01:00.003-05:00

Cousin Sleepover!

2011-02-25T15:42:00.000-05:00

Adelin's big girl cousin Blue came up with her Nana and Grampa (Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ward) and had a sleepover at Claire and Ken's house with Adelin last night. Basically, this was the best day of Adelin's life because she got to play with her cool older cousin, follow her around, hold her hand, show her all her toys and jibber jabber at her for hours about all kinds of stuff. I don't think I've ever seen my daughter with such a big smile on her face. They played in the snow and had lots of great girl cousin time.

Adelin Hides/No More Pictures, Please

2011-02-24T09:01:00.000-05:00

Adelin's friend Kellan (and his mom Trina) came over for a playdate a couple weeks ago and Adelin and Kellan were being so cute together hiding behind the wall and then running out for applause. See how Adelin gets lazy and barely backs up behind the wall.

Then here is a video that illustrates why I haven't taken as many videos lately:

Imagination

2011-02-12T08:11:00.000-05:00

One of the big developments I've noticed in Adelin in the last few months is in how she plays -- there's a lot more imagining stuff, acting out with her animals or baby dolls different little scenes, like 'eating' or 'taking medicine.' It's fun now to sit with her at her big barn and take out all the animals, and she feeds them and puts them down for a nap and then puts them back in the barn. She also likes to share her snack with her baby dolls, and in the morning when she gets her medicine and vitamin, she insists on also giving some medicine (but not really, of course) to her babies, who she will line up like good little patients.

Here she is in her pajamas in the morning with me, exploring this empty fake food box that came with her shopping cart, and then offering me some snack.

On Vacation

2011-02-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

We are on vacation in Miami until Friday. The weather is amazing, and we're pretty psyched to be missing SNOWMAGEDDON that seems to be rocking the rest of the country.

Baby. Baby. Baby!

2011-01-25T16:47:00.000-05:00

If Matt or I even get near the computer, Adelin comes running over. That's because she loves watching videos of herself, and she knows they're all on the computer. She will seriously sit in my lap for over a half an hour watching all the old videos of herself. She'll say "Baby. Baby. Baby!" She says this over and over again: before you play them, when they're done playing, if you don't play them... (then she says it louder.) We call them the "baby videos" but I don't remember if we always called them that or whether we started because she kept saying "baby" so much.
I'm not sure if she even understands that the videos are of her, although the other night Matt asked "who is that baby?" and she said "ME!" and pointed to herself. But I think Matt might have taught her how to do that. Or maybe I did, I don't know.

Anyway, I thought I might share some flashback videos of Adelin that she likes to watch that I've never posted on here. They weren't originally filmed by me -- the first two are my mom's, and the last one is Matt's. Enjoy!

This is Adelin at 12 weeks.

Here's Adelin at her first Thanksgiving, so she was a little over 4 months old.

And here's Adelin and I playing with her jumperoo. This was early February 2010 -- so she was around 7 months old. That's almost a year ago now. Holy crap.

Uncles

2011-01-18T15:31:00.000-05:00

Adelin loves all her Uncles. She calls my brother Diego "Gogo" and Matt's brother Mark "Guncle Mawkee." She also points to Mark's boyfriend Matthew and says "Matyoo" or "Guncle". If she sees a picture of someone riding a horse, she says "Mawkee!!" Even if it's not him. For a couple days after Diego and Allison left after their Christmas visit, Adelin would ask for "Gogo" whenever she woke up from her naps. I'm not going to lie: it's really cute, and I love that she loves her Uncles.

Here's a nice video of her playing with Gogo.

It's a snowy day outside today, so it's nice to stay warm and snuggly inside and think about how lucky this new baby is going to be, to get born in to this awesome family with so many fun Uncles (as well as Aunts, and Grandmothers and Grandfathers and cousins...).

Deja Vu Baby

2011-01-12T13:10:00.000-05:00

Remember this? I wrote that post...hmm... almost exactly two years ago today.

Well this is not deja vu. I'm pregnant. Again.

Check out the date, upper right. That's today! Matt and I (and Ken, who watched Adelin) braved the storm to go to our twelve week ultrasound appointment this morning. We saw the baby, healthy, hiccuping, and squirming around like crazy and we are both thrilled.

I'll dispense with the Q&A this time in favor of just facts.
-My due date is July 25th.
-I'm twelve weeks pregnant.
-We will find out the gender again. That will be in March.
-We have no ideas for names as of yet, but if we decide, we probably wont tell anyone again before the baby is born.
-I have been feeling pretty nauseous this time, but not as tired.
-I did start showing again pretty much immediately, so that's been fun trying to get creative with the baggy items in my wardrobe.
-This time, the pregnancy code name is "Mitzvah," because we found out over Hanukkah.

So, that's our big news. We're both really super duper thrilled. Adelin has been told and so far, she's containing her excitement really well. She did give me raspberries on my belly last night, though, which I'm counting as her first sibling cuddles.

Butt Five

2011-01-05T16:25:00.000-05:00

At the risk of embarrassing Matt, I'm posting this video of Adelin playing basketball. She got her hoop as a present from Baba, who I think has secret dreams of Adelin being the first female player on the Celtics. It could happen.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T15:05:00.000-05:00

For the third year in a row, we had a Christmas slam dunk with Marky, Matthew, Diego and Allison coming in from New York. We also used Elfster once again to exchange gifts. The twist this year was that I made our "stocking stuffer" gift exchange a HOME MADE gift exchange, so that everyone was forced to make their gift rather than buy something from people's wish lists.

Everyone did very well with their homemade gifts. It's not a competition or anything, but I was fairly convinced that I had clinched the best homemade gift prize with the special board book I made for Ken to read with Ady. ("Grampa and Me" peekaboo board book with pictures of Ken and Ady hidden behind special flaps.) But then I opened my gift from my homemade secret santa -- Matthew Duffy -- and I realized how far short I had come. Because he gave me the Best Gift EVER.

So enjoy the above slideshow of pictures taken by my amazingly talented photographer sister-in-law Allison set to Matthew Duffy's newest single, "Frosty the Fierceness."

Lyrics:

Frosty the fierceness was a legend in his day

He would give you face and strike a pose

And then send you on your way (hey!)

Frosty the homo was a muscle queen they say

He wears a mesh tank top and eats no carbs

Only shakes made out of whey

There must have been some glitter in that pink jockstrap he found

For when he placed it on his hips he began to prance around

Frosty the lezzie was as butch as she could be

If her girlfriends talk she just bangs their box

In a Subaru fantasy

Instrumental dance break

There must have been some lip gloss in that gucci purse she found

For when she placed it on her lips she would lipsync to the sound

Frosty the trannie was a covergirl so whack

With a busted wig she would walk runway with two boobs made out of smack

Frosty the Fierceness

So Fierce

Fingerpainting

2010-12-25T16:17:00.006-05:00

This is Adelin painting her secret Santa a pretty special gift: her first fingerpainting! Merry Christmas, everyone.

Nom Nom Nom Nom

2010-12-24T09:31:00.000-05:00

Back To Work

2010-12-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day of training at my new job. Yes, that's right, I'm going back to work, and no, it's not in television.

I'm not going to talk about the company because I don't think they'd want me to be their spokesperson, but it's a non-profit here in Portland that provides assistance to people with emotional and intellectual disabilities. I'm going to be working with one part of the company that specifically provides educational and living assistance to 18-25 year olds with disabilities. It's a radical departure from what I've been doing, but an important step in my eventual goal of running my own organization to help troubled teenagers go to college or trade school. When I say eventual, I'm saying like, YEARS away, so relax.

I'm really excited about starting my new job and I'm even more excited after today. Everyone I have met so far have been amazing, and everything that I keep hearing about the company is super positive. The best thing is that I can set a schedule that works for me, and more importantly, Adelin, so I can still spend the amount of time that I want to spend with my super fantastic daughter.

But when I do work, Adelin is going to be getting some good grandpa time and I think she's pretty stoked about it. Today she was practically like "talk to the hand" as I was trying to get kisses on my way out. She was busy playing with grandpa. Awwww.

Stinky

2010-12-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

Crazy Baby 2

2010-12-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

Adelin enjoys squealing and running around and playing catch-me-if-you-can. If you didn't get enough with the above video, here's a longer version:

You Can Pick Your Friends...

2010-12-02T12:24:00.000-05:00

In Her Toybox

2010-11-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

Adelin likes to climb in to her toybox and just play. Today she was screaming at me "No!" "No!" So I decided to take a video of her on our new Flipcam (thanks Uncle Marky!) but then she started acting all cute.

Walking In Mommy's Shoes/Funky Baby

2010-11-23T17:09:00.000-05:00

Adelin recently started stepping into my shoes and walking around in them. This was the first time that she successfully took a few steps in them, down in Boston. Since then, she has actually gotten a lot better, and can walk across a room in some of my flats. So adorable.

I should put a warning on this video: IT IS EXTREMELY CUTE. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Drumlin Farm

2010-11-19T13:06:00.000-05:00

Today is my Mommy's birthday. In honor of her, I'm going to write about a special day that we had with her recently.

Last week, while still in Boston, we took a field trip out to Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary. It's a Mass Audubon-run facility about 25 minutes from my mom's house in Cambridge. It's in Lincoln, Massachusetts, which is a really beautiful area that we caught at the tail end of leaf peeping season. It was a little chilly, but a nice sunny day to go and do something outdoors, and Matt was really excited to take a walk down memory lane, since Drumlin Farms is a place that he loved to go when he was a kid living in Belmont.

My mom came along, which made it an extra special day for Adelin. She just loved all the animals, and being out with her mamamamama and dadadadada and bababababa. My favorite was the beautiful black calf that walked right over to us with its huge wet eyes and took a little lie down. So adorable. I think Adelin liked the sheep best. She kept waving to them. They might have been closely tied with the chickens. She kept talking to them "cluck! cluck! cluck!" There was a woman near the chicken house who was holding a bantam hen on her lap. She let us pet its soft feathers. I couldn't believe how soft it was. I was also glad to finally see a bantam hen, after reading THE BIG RED BARN all the time to Adelin and the part:
There was a little bantam rooster
and a little bantam hen
with a big clutch of eggs.
Count them. There are ten.
I think that's how it goes. I'm not even going to check because seriously, I've read that book so many friggin times I must have it memorized. I'm not sure what Matt's favorite part was, I'm going to guess it was seeing the foxes. Or the wild hawk that comes to visit the caged birds that they have there. There's a vulture that's been there since 1977. That bird is old, dude.
I don't know what my mom's favorite part was but it probably had something to do with seeing Adelin happy and laughing and getting to hold her a lot.
Happy Birthday, Baba.

Oh, and in the pictures in the slideshow where Adelin is on Matt's shoulders, she's totally giving him wet willies in his ears and it was really hilarious.

New England Aquarium

2010-11-15T13:03:00.002-05:00

First things first: we're back in Maine! We got in yesterday afternoon and filled our apartment back up with happy smiles because both of us were so glad to be home. The band is back together again. All cozy and warm in our underground den. Or rather, above ground apartment.

For our last week in Boston we definitely got a few activities checked off on our to-do list. One of the most amazing was our day at the New England Aquarium. We went last Wednesday morning. Matt worked the late stay schedule last week, going in mid-day and getting home after 8pm, so we had mornings to hang out, which worked out really well. We were at the aquarium right at their 9am opening time, which I recommend to anyone going to visit. It was so nice to have the place almost to ourselves for the first hour, since the first school groups didn't get there until around 10am. As we walked in, we said 'hello' to the seals, in their big tank right at the entrance. Seeing them got Adelin really excited and happy, and I have to admit I was jumping up and down too. Right inside the aquarium, we immediately came upon the penguins, who were getting fed. They have a cool feature where you can look up the penguin's names on a computer by the color of tags that they have on their wings. Well, they're more like little bracelets that they wear. Anyway, the penguins were really awesome, and Adelin was just pointing and "ooooo"ing all over the place.

We walked up the circular ramp that leads around the giant tank, just stopping and looking in the glass along the way. I loved the giant silver tuna (I think they were tuna, anyway) and the giant turtles. Seeing those turtles made my heart stop a little bit. They are so fantastic looking, just huge and swimming lazily in the water with their mysterious turtle smiles.

We saw jellyfish and these Dr. Seuss looking pink anemones, and an electric eel eating its breakfast. They still have the same display that they had when I last visited the aquarium, which converts the eel's electric activity into sound that makes it possible to tell when it's hunting and killing prey. Hearing those loud shocks was a little bit scary, I was glad to be on the other side of the glass. (Yes, I am a wuss.) We saw an octopus, who put his tentacles right on the glass so we could see the little suction cups and everything. We saw sea horses and sea dragons with their leafy looking appendages. We saw tree frogs, and touched starfish, hermit crabs and horseshoe crabs.

We spent about an hour and a half there, and then headed out as Adelin started to get fussy. She had a ball, though, giggling on her Daddy's shoulders, walking between us and swinging on our arms, pointing at the fish and other animals through the glass, and just looking around at everything, including the other kids that were visiting. It will be fun to go back again and again as she gets older and can interact more and more with the exhibits.

It was such a neat field trip for us as a family, and totally free since Matt's work provided free passes for their visiting residents. It was easy to get over there and back on the T, and we even had a little bit of time after we got back to have lunch with the Mattman before he went in to work. For anyone reading this and contemplating an aquarium trip with a little one, I would say, go for it! As a part of a day trip to Boston, I think it's a must-do.

Boston Fall

2010-11-08T17:16:00.001-05:00

We are in Boston for the week with the Mattman. It's his last week down! We have lots of adventures planned so stay tuned.

Vote!

2010-11-02T11:21:00.002-04:00

Well, I voted for Cutler. I'm basically trying to prevent this guy from becoming governor, and I support most of what Cutler is about.

It's fun going to the voting booth with Adelin. I put her in the carrier, and bring some snacks and milk, and she has a great time trying to steal my pen and vote for Scontras. AS IF!!!

Speaking of, I met Chellie and Hannah Pingree at the Reiche School, which is where I vote. I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a picture. Mother and daughter political dynasties are rad!

Have a great election day, everyone.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T16:17:00.000-04:00

Good News

2010-10-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

One good side effect of no longer working in the media is that I am no longer subjected to the barrage of alarming, crazy, stress-inducing, and sometimes outright terrifying news stories that feed the twenty-four hour infotainment culture monster that we've created. The flip side to that is that sometimes I find myself arriving late to the party when something major happens (Chilean miners were rescued in this house about six hours late and only thanks to Facebook). But it still seems that as soon as I open my NPR, New York Times, or Associated Press apps on my iPhone (I am shameless for Apple products, I know) I am bogged down in Depressio-city. But I have found an antidote -- and he happens to be my older brother.

My brother is quietly collecting and sharing what he calls the 'positive side of digital media and content' -- the funny, the strange, the silly, the uplifting. His blog is here and today after spending the early morning getting generally annoyed at everyone running for governor in Maine, my sweet brother made me cry happy tears with this post. Thanks, D. I love you, too.

Local Sprouts

2010-10-25T12:31:00.001-04:00

There's a new cafe on Congress Street and Matt and I checked it out a week or so ago. I kind of had a mini-freak out over it, because I feel like it's everything that I would want in a cafe. Like, if I ever went after my completely ridiculous dream of owning my own cafe, it would be THIS CAFE.

It's called Local Sprouts and I guess it used to be somewhere else or something, and now it's on Congress. Great story, I know. It's all about local and organic food, and supporting community learning programs for people with disabilities. The food was really good, and they have a lot of vegetarian and vegan stuff on the menu. And when we went in, there was a musical duo there that did a whole kid-centered act and juggled and stuff which blew Adelin's mind. They also have a child-sized rocking chair, which I need to get for Adelin because she is obsessed with them.

10/27/10 IMPORTANT UPDATE: I now have a child-sized rocking chair. Thank you, Claire and Ken.

Periodic Matt Update

2010-10-18T22:56:00.000-04:00

We miss Matt.