Flying Catch-Up

Flying in just before it’s been a WHOLE MONTH since we’ve posted… oops! We are still here, still thinking about posts, but they haven’t happened for a few big reasons. All is well; just many, many changes on the horizon. Some news and new things first, and then I’ll throw pictures at you, maybe, to catch up.

1. I am FINISHED with my former “real” job! My last day was Thursday; 5 months after giving notice, it was a sprint to the finish. I wrapped up as much as I could, copied some files, cleaned out my cubicle, turned in my keys and drove away for the last time. After 6 years of pack-rat tendencies and rather varied projects, even just the sorting and cleaning and deleting and recycling was a big deal. But now I’m FREE…to develop new things, to figure out how to finance our lives, to be home more with Bean. It feels good, it will be a new adventure.

2. I started my own business; I’m filed with the state, have a website and business cards, even have a new business credit card for keeping expenses separate. I don’t actually have CLIENTS yet, ahem, but that will come. I have a few things in mind that I’ll hear about soon. It’s a writing/editing/Personal Historian/oral history type service. If you want more details, email me or leave a comment.

3.Last but definitely not least... I’m pregnant! Yep, just over 12 weeks right now. I’ve been queasy a lot, which never happened with Bean, and its felt a bit more uncertain this time. But I think that’s part of a second pregnancy with a toddler to chase… there’s not time to sit and write in a pregnancy journal, etc. Due late July or early August… a summer baby!

So, yeah. That’s where we’ve been. I’m finally feeling a bit better, after recovering from the month-long cold/sinus/early pregnancy exhaustion. I made it through my last work days, and Bean is doing really well; talking up a storm and correctly identifying most colors without prompting (!). He’ll continue to go to his daycare 2 days a week so I can catch up on house projects, rest, and get this business going. Just a few things on the list...We’re busy and grateful. New lands ahead!


Bean is excited about my new "mobile office" briefcase!

Sneak Peek

So, we found this Tigger and put him to work raking leaves (at a friend's birthday party in town)...


A frog came along to help (a friend of a friend's son, not sure of his name...)


Luckily his tail didn't get in the way!


He had enough energy left over to do some reading afterwards...



And talk to a friend!!

Yep, I'm revealing Bean's Halloween costume early, but I thought the Grandparents who missed out on a visit today due to germs might like a sneak peek. He's too cute not to share. Very cuddly in this second-hand suit, too, I might add. He doesn't really seem to notice his new tail, etc, but did say "Cat!" when he first saw the costume. Yep, a few steps ahead from this first halloween!

This party was for a friend who is exactly 6 months older than Bean, turning 2 years old! That means in just 6 months, we'll be....Oh, my. Time flies!

5 Years

Went walkin' in the woods with my guys today... one tall, one not-so-tall.

It was a nice short celebration of 5 years together (married) for WF and I... it's been a good time, and now we are three!



We looked at the pictures from that day 5 years ago, sharing them with the new addition. He recognized pictures of "dada-papa"... Grandpa, I think. Fun to start sharing some of his family history with Bean, now that he recognizes pictures. Mind boggling, isn't it all?


Love you, WF... here's to many more 5-year milestones!

Talkin' Turkey

Or chicken, actually. Bean had his first taste of a very local chicken this weekend, with some tasty chicken soup made from scratch by WF. And I mean from scratch! That chicken was conceived, hatched, raised (partly on scratch or tasty corn for chickens) and butchered by WF on our property. Well, OK, he didn’t conceive the chicken in that sense, only in the thinking sense, but he’s facilitated the sustainable flock idea; ie rooster + broody hen = more baby chicks. And then he even made the soup! That’s local, man. And what a good, skilled guy to have around!

Bean appreciates his daddy’s efforts. And will likely tell us about them very soon. We captured this new style of “talking” this weekend, as well. Kinda like gobbling, I suppose….

Still Snowy

Oops, I spoke too soon on the spring thing. Friday was indeed 72 degrees, but I spent most of it indoors. Then, Saturday and Sunday had predictions of SNOW, which did indeed come true. Ack!



We gathered on a beach near our friend’s Spiral Earth intentional community for a lovely little ceremony despite the weather. We’re tough northerners, but this was ridiculous! I suppose it lent a more intimate air to the whole event, a nice day to remember. Here’s to a good communal future!

Adventure, Complete

Things I learned (or was reminded of) last weekend:

Even babies are required to remove their shoes at airport security checkpoints.

Singing familiar songs out loud on a crowded plane may be a bit embarrassing, but works wonders for calming and distracting a certain Bean baby.

A 22+ lb 6 month old is MORE than a lapful, but this particular 6-month old can still manage to nap there if needed.

Bean is a shameless flirt with people on planes, subway and city busses; piercings and dubious looks make no difference.

Cousins are lots of fun!


One should make sure the camera battery is charged before heading into a beautiful fall evening in the Boston Commons.

It’s fun to say “Train to Maine”… and you can even get clam chowder while aboard!

WF is a superhero: a hilarious, helpful daddy, even while waiting for me to attend a work conference at a smarmy hotel.


Yes, indeed, we managed our first plane/train/subway/bus adventure with Bean-tot! We flew to Boston for our yearly visit, then "trained to Maine" for a work conference for me (much of the adventure financed through a work project; whoot!) The weather was great; still so many fall leaves out there.

Bean was amazing; a born traveler. We figured out that he gamely rode with us on 6 different forms of tranport. And as he's not very mobile yet, we were able to get away with wearing him in the Ergo carrier most of the time. No stroller! WF was, as always, great at making Bean laugh to distract him. Makes me want to quick fly out and travel the world! But alas, reality calls. Now we're back to regular life and some semblence of routine, with good memories of Bean's first big trip!

4 years

In some ways it’s hard to believe it was already 4-years-ago that WF and I said our vows on a beautiful October day. In other ways it seems rather long ago (we’ve come a ways from worrying about locally-grown reception food and flowers to considering our son’s health and education!). This is our first anniversary as parents, and it’s a whole new, sometimes rocky world…

I love you, WF, and may we celebrate many, many more of these days, as a family!

3 Days

Variety IS the spice of life, eh? Check out my weekend summary:

Visited 1.5 week old baby born in a log cabin built by his daddy; brought food to help with their off-grid new-baby life.

Attended a baby shower (with Bean) that included a great wisdom-sharing circle and other blessings for a baby boy-to-be, the son of two mommies older than me.

Sat briefly by the shore of the big Lake, watching waves and showing Bean smooth rocks

Found myself fainted on the floor of the bathroom at 3 am, then revisited my dinner in a most unpleasant way; scared us all, but recovered quickly. Food poisoning?

Worked a little on cleaning, and seriously stressed about an upcoming visit by a realtor; need to do more cleaning!!!

Decided we DO have a case of thrush, and ran around the town looking for grape seed extract. Hope we can catch it pretty quick; Bean’s got white patches on his tongue and is grumpy about nursing. Acidophilus, Vinegar, sunlight, grapeseed extract is our current arsenal; we’ll see; fingers crossed.

Attended a great play called BIRTH; I had helped with publicity for the local show. Saw my own “belly pics” from late pregnancy projected on the wall as part of the play (surprise!).

Sat on stage after the play as part of a panel that included my midwife, lactation consultant and other amazing local women; I was the last-minute “mother/consumer” participant; an honor!

Ran home after the play to meet old friends from Alaska who were passing through town and dropped by with little notice; was so good to see them, but wow!

Started getting stuffy and feeling like I was coming down with a cold by Sunday evening…

From baby to wisdom to throwing up to sitting on stage to welcoming old friends; what a wild ride! But now it’s Monday, and I’m supposed to be productive at work, and should be avoiding coffee (with cream) and sugar for thrush-prevention reasons. Hmmmm.

Weekend Catch-up

Whew! We're still here, finally now getting to last weekend's posting. We've been trying to do a bit too much, I think, but it's been fun. Just tired now, in the midst of the regular week. Need more hours in the day!

Here's a sampling of what we've been up to, told in pictures:



Some friends "bought the farm" (literally) and so we shared in a little welcome celebration there. Very exciting intentional community plans in the works; more on that soon.


Bean turned 4 months old, and I turned 36 years old. Ugh. We're both getting to be so mature, eh?

Bean has definitely discovered that hands are useful, especially for bringing things up to one's mouth to chew on. Toys are a necessity now, and grumping can happen simply because he's bored and wants a toy, not just the old standbys of hunger or wet diapers. Our little boy is growing up!



He also loves to stand up, putting those extra-pudgy knees to good use.



We attended a family reunion on my side and then saw WF's parents. All 4 grandparents in the same day! Bean is the star attaction, with a few smiles for all...




We then ventured out to the Rennaisance Festival, a big sunny day. We were a bit rushed, but still had a good glimpse of that "otherworld"... there is a nice feel to the place. We hadn't been there in years; looks like a fun place to go back to with an older kid someday.





So, life is full and colorful, just like this post. But also sometimes TOO full, also like this post. Off to go try to catch up with the house chaos and the sleep shortage!

A Berry Nice Weekend

Another weekend of firsts (and seconds) for the baby bean! We headed over the Bayfield on Saturday with plans to attend a Chautauqua show, the Wailin' Jennies this time. We try to get there about once a year, even in this year of new baby adventure.

We are lucky in that we had some willing babysitters living nearby, friends from my long-ago Park Service days. So, it was a date for WF and I! I even drank some beer... after feeding and after the Bean was asleep. Bean did OK; apparently had a bit of unhappy time right after we left, but my friend has 3 kids and knew what to do.

The show was fun, and we ran into a few people we knew (a very small world up here, really). We then returned and slept in our tent in their backyard... Bean's first time in a tent! He's such a champion sleeper that he never noticed, I'm sure. Here's a morning picture... looking very well groomed, aren't we? Ug.



Then we ventured out to the local organic berry farm, Blue Vista. Bean snoozed away in his carseat in the rows while we picked and picked. Blueberries and raspberries; such fertile abundance, and we didn't even have to plant them! I love pick-your-own places. It was not Bean's first trip to a berry field, however; we went strawberry picking a couple weeks ago; the snoozing in the seat amidst the rows worked well there, too.



(We forgot our hats, hence the odd headgear. But we remembered baby's hat!)

We're pretty much just eating the berries (ie no jam making), but I'm trying to squeeze a few containers into the freezer among the mommy-milk. Local fruit for at least a little while longer. Mmmmm!

Power Lament

My public service message for today:

Have you ever considered living “off the grid”? Before you make the leap (or tell me how lucky I am) please consider the whole lifestyle picture. Are you raising a small child? Working outside the home? Pumping mama-milk to store for later? Suspecting that you have an excess of a certain enzyme that makes milk go sour soon? Frustrated with a freezer that can’t store much or freeze very cold?

Then, by gosh, DON’T DO IT! Stay connected to that massive grid, hold tight to your power cord, for now. Yes, I appreciate that we get most of our energy from the sun, but I am ruing the day that WF made this decision (before my time here). Mostly because of the freezer situation, again. A Sunfrost refrigerator is a lovely investment in efficiency, but in practice, the thing is damp, tiny and not very cold. Fine for single ascetics, not so great for moms trying to work and pump and store milk safely for the baby.

Granted, I am also likely dealing with an enzyme issue that the freezer can’t help, but I HATE pouring out the hard-won human milk that has become foul-tasting in our lovely fridge/freezer.

In a perfect world (or at least my current view of perfect, ha), I wouldn’t be away from Bean so much and therefore wouldn’t need to pump and fret about storage for later. I’m struggling with the separation, no matter what our silly electricity situation may be. It’s so hard to stay motivated at “work” when it feels like there are more important things to be doing in my own life. Sigh…

And I’ll admit that the solar panels ARE appreciated and entertaining sometimes, and WF had no way of knowing that this would be our current life situation way back when he made these decisions. Just trying to get up the oomph and sort out logistics to make some changes to our life SOON, one way or another.

Two Loves

Now I have TWO men in my life to love:


Napping. (Not sure why picture won't stay horizontal?)
WF is already teaching baby Bean about the world of chickens and fruit trees, as well. They've been out walking quite a bit.


Awwww....Just one gratuitous baby pic.


Most of the pictures I have so far are from this angle, right next to me. He's hard to put down!

Baby Bean's Blog Debut

He's here! He's home! We're doing well... just tired and working hard to keep this peaceful little bean-baby eating enough; he wants to cuddle and sleep.

The cats are doing OK so far; there was quite alot of sniffing, now lots of space being given. WF commented that Schroeder keeps watching him like he's holding a ticking time bomb.

We are truly blessed....

Snowshoe Cedars

We're big fans of showshoeing (haha).

We made it to the sacred Cedar grove and year-round running spring just across our property line. It was stunning, as usual. An ancient cathedral, within shoeshoeing distance!




Baby-to-be enjoyed the ride, and I did better than my current level of fitness might indicate. Thankful for the sun and a day off to enjoy!

Leap Day Love

Happy Leap Day, and Happy Anniversary to WF! It is finally time for our “first” anniversary of getting engaged on a favorite Lake Superior beach, 4 years ago today.

It was a lovely day, and one steeped in a little fun historical significance. I first wrote about it here, (click to see fun postcards!) which is getting quite a lot of hits lately as Leap Day approached.

You see, it used to be known that during a Leap Year, it is the “prerogative of a women to ask a man’s hand in marriage.” The article that I found from 1904 in the Ely, MN Miner newspaper says that “many sensitive young men have been dodging somewhat elderly young ladies ever since New Year’s Day.” Ha!

Well, I’ll admit that I was a “somewhat elderly” young lady back in 2004 (was 31, yikes), and had decided that I was very certain about being with WF and wanted to honor this old (if slightly sexist; why not ask anytime?) custom. It was an anniversary of sorts, anyway, and we were in a place I consider very dear. We ended up both asking each other, and our fate has continued on, married for 3 years now and expecting a baby. It was a good start to a life together, and it’s fun to finally have the first “anniversary” of that day back again.

Happy Leap Day, WF! I love you!

Still here and kicking

Sorry, just haven’t been feeling very bloggy lately. We’re still here, baby is kicking (or poking or stretching or…?) and I have caught my first cold in a long time. Urgh. Trying to take care without doing most of my usual non-pregnant cold routine (goldenseal, zinc, etc are all no-nos right now). Have been enjoying some fresh, potent ginger tea and dried kelp. I’m not sure if the kelp is really helping the cold, but I’ve been craving it. Mmmm, salt. And iron and iodine and other good things; it’s a healthy (if non-local) craving at least.

We are also headed off soon for our yearly NE trek, which always involves much prep for housesitters and chicken-sitters and even solar system-sitters (the batteries can’t go for more than a couple days without a charge, so if it’s not sunny while we’re gone, stuff must be done). Blah. But it will be fun to get in a little adventure before I am bigger!

House projects are somewhat stalled while we gallivant around. Flooring still seems great; there’s just must to do with putting things back and waiting for other small jobs to be done first (painting, etc). I am somewhat fixated on finding baby furniture right now, but it’s hard to balance Freecycle and Craig’s List and Ebay and random email offers from friends while trying to travel and stay focused at work and home. I really wish it was garage sale season; the only bad thing about the timing of this baby adventure! That and ice, I suppose. I slipped and fell on my (new, well padded) backside last weekend; no harm done, but still a bit scary. Ah, winter. One of these days I’ll post some pictures of our shrinking snowpack and the chickens who brave the elements.

Be well!

Happy Holidays

We managed a small, "historic" artificial tree (I purchased it years ago before realizing real trees are the best environmental choice) in the midst of our chaos this year. The stove is still not installed after the flooring projects, so we are thankful for the woodstove. More projects today, but it was a lovely holiday with some family time and safe travels amidst the snow.


It was a cozy evening; Schroeder enjoyed my lap. The belly makes a good cat pillow, for now!

Blessings to all and wishes for a wonderful new year!

Snowshoes and Shovels

Ah, yes, the first obligatory storm post! We did indeed get socked in by snow last night. It was really blowing by mid-day, and now we have about a foot of fairly fluffy snow. WF has finished snowblowing a path out so I can go to work tomorrow.

It is amazing to see this much so soon after last year's nearly snowless winter. We already got out the snowshoes (baby-to-be's first snowshoe!). I am surprised at how soon I was out of breath during that little adventure. I've pretty much stopped running due to the odd back/hip pain it causes (pregnancy related) but am still trying to walk. Not enough, probably... need to get out more!

The chickens refused to go out in the snow; WF reports that even the enticement of nice hay didn't get them out the door. The first hen to explore the possibility slid down the snow-covered ramp, and promptly turned around to go back in. Wimps!

This evening, we're hanging out around the fire, cooking a rooster and some historic beets on the woodstove and trying to dry this week's laundry nearby. I wish the weekend was a few days longer so I could catch up on everything here. More soon...

Car Curmudgeons

First, an update: Young Rooster (oops, there I go again with the naming thing) has been found and is OK. Apparently he and his sister headed for the weeds during the hawk incident and were too scared to show themselves for a while. WF left the chicken tractor door open and they found their way “home” sometime in the evening while we were gone. Smart chickens!

Second update: We are the proud owners of a “new” car! The ’91 Toyota is still running, but the rust issue is getting serious. A few, ah, structural problems have developed. But WF and I are both car curmudgeons, and didn’t to get anything too extravagant. I would have bought another small, efficient, sometimes-4WD wagon in a minute, but companies just don’t make them anymore. The car salesmen would just laugh at me; sales levels were too low on those models, apparently, so car companies stopped making them. Are they telling me I’m not a target demographic for the car companies? Harrumph.

So, after long discussions, dedicated online shopping by WF and a gas mileage compromise (WF still considers this as rather extravagant, but it apparently gets nearly 30 on the hwy), we have settled on this ’99 Subaru Forester. It has only 44K miles, and really was owned by a little old lady. The mechanic who inspected it kept telling me what a great car it is (I think he wanted it for himself). Ta da!


(Salty already; tsk!)

It possesses such extravagant features as:

*An overhead dome light that works
*One cup holder
*A back tailgate that locks and opens on request
*Airbags
*Intact wheelwells and still-attached mudflaps

Wow. We’ve been living without all that for years now; The Toyota is “pre-cupholder” and has crank windows. (It’s amazing what you just get used to. An overhead light that turns on when you open the door? Bah, that’s unnecessary!)

This car does have some crazy other luxuries like automatic windows and locks, keyless entry, and even an altimeter, thermometer and barometer (?!?!).

Our curmudgeon status is somewhat intact, however: it came with a lovely radio and tape deck (no CD player). And we’re not going to get it changed. Still stuck in the ‘90s, but I don’t care! (I’ll admit that it accepts Ipod broadcasts just as well as the ’91, our little nod to modernity.)

One more thing checked off the before-baby list, and I’m happy!

Exclamation!

I’m back!

It has been an exciting month or so. About 3 weeks ago, I received an email from my mother that contained 64 (happy) exclamation points. Really- I counted. She IS given to plenty of such punctuation on a normal day, but this was over the top!!

So, what do you suppose has caused such excitement? I simply shared the news contained in these little items…


Yes, indeed!! For those of you not immersed in the baby world, those are positive pregnancy tests (2, just to be sure). There is a bun in the oven, due in April ’08. I am only about 8 weeks along, so it’s early and all that… but I am choosing to embrace this early time and share the news with people now- online and in “real life”. Positive energy and wishes from others seems helpful, rather than pretending nothing is going on for the first 3 months. I have actually been feeling pretty good, just more tired and hungry!

I’m not sure how this blog will evolve, but I must say I’ve been too distracted by internal events to find motivation to post about garden produce, etc. I’d like to keep a mix of material here… I’m doing some more paper journaling with pregnancy stuff, so probably won’t be tempted to assault readers with too much information. Now that the big announcement is out, perhaps I’ll feel more able to post about today’s potato harvest, etc.

We are definitely excited at the news, but feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done before welcoming a new little person into our lives (and our currently cluttered home!). I’ve been very busy at work again, coordinating a new project that kicks off in a couple weeks. It feels like there is MUCH on my shoulders and I’m just hoping for enough energy and resolve to get through everything in the next 7 months. We DO have good motivation!

So, more later, and more “regular programming” as well. I’ve enjoyed this blog as a phenology/garden journal stand-in, so I’ll try to keep that up as well. Perhaps also a way to document some house projects and changes. As I grow, I hope that our clutter shrinks, helping me to feel more comfortable in this house. Blessed be, there is much ahead!