I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~Henry David Thoreau
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Seven Months
Dearest Benjamin,
Today you are seven months old! It's hard to believe we're on the second half of your first year. You are growing so quickly! And, if it's even possible, you get more and more fun every day. You also get cuter. Here are a few of this last month's highlights.
You LOVE your socks. I try to put them on you, but they're off and in your mouth within seconds. On cold days I have to put on these special slippers that you have a hard time taking off so that your feet don't freeze.
You also love mirrors. You talk to yourself, kiss yourself, give yourself high fives...it's endless entertainment for you.
You also have a favorite pillow. One day we put you on our bed while we folded clothes and you discovered this squishy delight. You love to pound on it, squish it up in your hands, and shove it in your mouth.
You are quite the little monkey. You have figured out how to lunge forward from sitting to your hands and knees, stomach, or side (it's really a matter of chance how you land).
You have also mastered reaching, and you're getting good at pulling yourself up on things (and people), as long as you can reach. This has made you quite the adventurer. You are rarely content to sit in one place. You're constantly lunging, reaching, and trying to climb on everything.
You and I also have a very special "wrestling" time before your bath. We climb on my bed and play. You monkey around, and you climb on me and suck on my face. The other day you gave me my first hickey.
You're also a little joker. You love to play peak-a-boo, and you giggle like crazy. It's my favorite sound in the whole world.
Benjamin Aidan, you are the absolute best little boy anyone could ever ask for. I love you, B!
Today you are seven months old! It's hard to believe we're on the second half of your first year. You are growing so quickly! And, if it's even possible, you get more and more fun every day. You also get cuter. Here are a few of this last month's highlights.
You LOVE your socks. I try to put them on you, but they're off and in your mouth within seconds. On cold days I have to put on these special slippers that you have a hard time taking off so that your feet don't freeze.
You also love mirrors. You talk to yourself, kiss yourself, give yourself high fives...it's endless entertainment for you.
You also have a favorite pillow. One day we put you on our bed while we folded clothes and you discovered this squishy delight. You love to pound on it, squish it up in your hands, and shove it in your mouth.
You are quite the little monkey. You have figured out how to lunge forward from sitting to your hands and knees, stomach, or side (it's really a matter of chance how you land).
You have also mastered reaching, and you're getting good at pulling yourself up on things (and people), as long as you can reach. This has made you quite the adventurer. You are rarely content to sit in one place. You're constantly lunging, reaching, and trying to climb on everything.
You and I also have a very special "wrestling" time before your bath. We climb on my bed and play. You monkey around, and you climb on me and suck on my face. The other day you gave me my first hickey.
You're also a little joker. You love to play peak-a-boo, and you giggle like crazy. It's my favorite sound in the whole world.Benjamin Aidan, you are the absolute best little boy anyone could ever ask for. I love you, B!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Love Weekend
I have been blessed with TWO three-day weekends in a row, and both have been blissfully happy. Last weekend was perfect. It was a perfect blend of relaxation and activity. This weekend was much the same. Friday night my BFF Shelli watched Ben while Matt and I had a sweet and 
romantic valentine's date (not a lot of people available for babysitting on Valentine's Day). We went to this beautiful restaurant tucked away in the middle of a bunch of office buildings (go figure), then we went to the movies (which I think we've done once since the arrival of our sweet little bundle of love).
Saturday we just had a leisurely family day. We went out to breakfast, played, took naps, read books, went to Barnes and Noble (a Shannon and Matt favorite), and took a walk. Barnes and Noble trips have been interesting lately. Ben is no longer content to sit in his stroller and look around. Now that he's lunging, standing, and trying to crawl, he wants to play monkey-boy all the time. On Saturday Barnes was particularly crowded, so we sat in the corner on the floor. I set Ben on a blanket with some toys, hoping that would satiate him for at least a few minutes. Nope. He was climbing all over the place, trying to grab the book I was trying to read. Not a lot of reading happened. But it was still fun.
Sunday was much the same as Saturday. I made breakfast, we played, we read, we watched some TV...it was a deliciously relaxing and fun two days. Today Matt was back at work, but I had the day off. So Ben and I went to meet my besties Shelli and Erin for coffee. Then Ben took a nice long nap while I read and cleaned a little. Then I got all domestic. We went to the store, and upon our return I put dinner in the crockpot and whipped up a new batch of peas for Ben. (Oh, I did carrots on Sunday, and they were a huge hit.) When Matt got home we played, ate dinner, and went to the mall for a little dessert. Now we will snuggle up and watch "Important Things with Dimitri Martin" and "24."
Thank you, God, for my life. I am quite content and satisfied. I know that nothing is for sure in this world, and that at any moment things could get infinitely better or worse. And in the event of the latter, I will try my best to remember that I have a good life, and that I am surrounded by good and loving people, and that I have a God who blesses me abundantly.
romantic valentine's date (not a lot of people available for babysitting on Valentine's Day). We went to this beautiful restaurant tucked away in the middle of a bunch of office buildings (go figure), then we went to the movies (which I think we've done once since the arrival of our sweet little bundle of love). Saturday we just had a leisurely family day. We went out to breakfast, played, took naps, read books, went to Barnes and Noble (a Shannon and Matt favorite), and took a walk. Barnes and Noble trips have been interesting lately. Ben is no longer content to sit in his stroller and look around. Now that he's lunging, standing, and trying to crawl, he wants to play monkey-boy all the time. On Saturday Barnes was particularly crowded, so we sat in the corner on the floor. I set Ben on a blanket with some toys, hoping that would satiate him for at least a few minutes. Nope. He was climbing all over the place, trying to grab the book I was trying to read. Not a lot of reading happened. But it was still fun.
Sunday was much the same as Saturday. I made breakfast, we played, we read, we watched some TV...it was a deliciously relaxing and fun two days. Today Matt was back at work, but I had the day off. So Ben and I went to meet my besties Shelli and Erin for coffee. Then Ben took a nice long nap while I read and cleaned a little. Then I got all domestic. We went to the store, and upon our return I put dinner in the crockpot and whipped up a new batch of peas for Ben. (Oh, I did carrots on Sunday, and they were a huge hit.) When Matt got home we played, ate dinner, and went to the mall for a little dessert. Now we will snuggle up and watch "Important Things with Dimitri Martin" and "24." Thank you, God, for my life. I am quite content and satisfied. I know that nothing is for sure in this world, and that at any moment things could get infinitely better or worse. And in the event of the latter, I will try my best to remember that I have a good life, and that I am surrounded by good and loving people, and that I have a God who blesses me abundantly.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
To My Valentine
Come, Let us roam the night together
Singing.
I love you.
Across
The Harlem roof-tops
Moon is shining.
Night sky is blue.
Stars are great drops
Of golden dew.
Down the street
A band is playing
I love you.
Come,
Let us roam the night together
Singing.
--Langston Hughes
I love you, Matthew Donald Miller!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Little Drama King
So just to see what would happen, I took Ben's toy away while he was playing with it. Generally he looks around for it, then if he can't see it, he moves on. So this time I took his little book and hid it under the rug right in front of him. He then threw himself face down on the ground and started moaning.
And so it begins.
And so it begins.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Peas? No Thank You!
Benjamin loves food. No joke...the kid will eat just about anything. From his first bite of rice cereal, whatever is on the spoon, he's in. No fuss, no deliberation; he opens wide, swallows, then opens up for the next bite, no questions asked. Although his tastes are a little opposite what the books say. Most babies apparently have their preferences ordered thus: fruit, yellow/orange veggies, green veggies. Not Ben. He goes the other direction. He LOVES green beans and peas, loves yellow and orange veggies, and likes fruit (except peaches).So I decide to get all super-mom and make my own baby food. So I bust out the food processor and buy a few bags of frozen veggies. I decide to start with peas. Now, I figured they'd be pretty easy to make. Plus, he loves them.
The first red flag occurred when he screamed bloody murder when I turned the food processor on. This from the kid who, when he had colic, I would put in the baby wrap while I vacuumed to calm him.
My second disappointment came when I got a whopping eight servings from a full bag of peas. I pretty much saved a few cents.
And then I tried to feed Ben the peas. Apparently he's got the same food texture issues I have. Or he wanted me to get all sad that I spent all this time, money, and energy being super-mom only to abuse him by giving him home-made peas. Probably the former. At any rate, he screamed like I was torturing him. I didn't manage to capture this on film. I was too busy trying to calm him. I was, after all, trying to kill him.
So I waited a couple of days and tried to give him the peas again. No go. No screaming this time; but definite failure.
Anyone need a freezer full of pureed peas?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Just Because
As per a few requests, here are a few of Benjamin's latest endeavors.
I don't think I'm going to buy this kid any more toys. All we wants to play with are his socks. I put them on, and seconds later he has ripped them off and they are in his mouth. His little toes are freezing. I've tried having one pair of socks on and giving him another pair to play with/eat. Nope. Apparently they're no fun unless he's yanked them off his feet.
He is desperately trying to crawl. He has mastered lunging onto his stomach from sitting. He now does it all the time. It doesn't even matter whether or not he wants to be on his stomach (he doesn't). I think he just does it because he can. Then, of course, he gets mad because he hates being on his stomach. So I pick him up, sit him down, and he does it again. It's pretty funny. He can also, as you can see, sit on all fours if I put him that way. Then he slowly sinks down to his stomach. Also quite funny.
Our sweet little monkey tries to climb on everything. He loves to stand up, and he loves to try to climb. He's not very good at it--most things are too high for him to really be able to pull himself up. He can pull himself up on some things--but he's still to short to do it on much. He'll stand holding on to anything, though...even the back of the couch or the wall.
He's also getting cuter every day. Some kids get bigger...Ben just grows in cuteness. Well, his little body grows, too. But he's definitely getting cuter. And this picture was taken after he spent a whole hour in the church nursery...just enough time for mama to finally be able to sit through an entire message. I got paged out during closing prayer. Thanks, buddy!
Also, apparently that same night he was flirting with the girls, touching their faces all tenderly and trying to share his toys with them. Yep. Not quite seven months old and he already shares. Of course, he's probably trying to shove his toys in their mouths. But still. And already trying to get with the ladies. He's his daddy's boy.
I don't think I'm going to buy this kid any more toys. All we wants to play with are his socks. I put them on, and seconds later he has ripped them off and they are in his mouth. His little toes are freezing. I've tried having one pair of socks on and giving him another pair to play with/eat. Nope. Apparently they're no fun unless he's yanked them off his feet.
He is desperately trying to crawl. He has mastered lunging onto his stomach from sitting. He now does it all the time. It doesn't even matter whether or not he wants to be on his stomach (he doesn't). I think he just does it because he can. Then, of course, he gets mad because he hates being on his stomach. So I pick him up, sit him down, and he does it again. It's pretty funny. He can also, as you can see, sit on all fours if I put him that way. Then he slowly sinks down to his stomach. Also quite funny.
Our sweet little monkey tries to climb on everything. He loves to stand up, and he loves to try to climb. He's not very good at it--most things are too high for him to really be able to pull himself up. He can pull himself up on some things--but he's still to short to do it on much. He'll stand holding on to anything, though...even the back of the couch or the wall.
He's also getting cuter every day. Some kids get bigger...Ben just grows in cuteness. Well, his little body grows, too. But he's definitely getting cuter. And this picture was taken after he spent a whole hour in the church nursery...just enough time for mama to finally be able to sit through an entire message. I got paged out during closing prayer. Thanks, buddy!Also, apparently that same night he was flirting with the girls, touching their faces all tenderly and trying to share his toys with them. Yep. Not quite seven months old and he already shares. Of course, he's probably trying to shove his toys in their mouths. But still. And already trying to get with the ladies. He's his daddy's boy.
24 Years
Okay, so I'm a "fan" of 24. And when I say "fan," I mean I watch it. But I don't necessarily like it. I did--the first four seasons were great, and then it turned to crap. Season five was lame. Season six was some of the worst television I've ever seen. And that's saying something--there's a lot of crap on TV. If I had as many dollars as season six had of plot lines...well, I could probably bail out the country. So last night I'm watching, and I'm thinking, "What is the objective, anyway? What is Jack trying to stop this time?" And then I realized that the only thing driving the plot at this point is the president's husband (please don't try to tell me that any of the 3,456,976 lame subplots count). And then I thought, "Who the heck cares about him? He's a big weenie, and no one will be sad if he gets killed."
And then I thought again about something that has tip-toed across my mind in the last seven years: time. And not the whole 24 hours thing. But if you think about it, every season has a new president. And without doing any actual research or work to get specific, if I do some simple estimating, that means that the current season is at least 24 years past the first season. And Jack was no spring chicken in the first season. He had a really annoying idiot daughter who was at least 20 or something. Which puts Jack (again, I'm not going to do any actual real work here), at roughly 70 years old right now.
I know, I know; since when has 24 ever been believable. But seriously...this is ridiculous.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Simple Pleasures
I've been pretty whiny lately, so I thought maybe I'd try to think positive. In the midst of my impending potential job loss, sickness, and this winter heat, I'm choosing to turn my gaze and reflect on the big and little ways that God blesses me. So here are some things that bring me joy:
1. Benjamin Aidan Miller. He is 17 1/2 pounds of pure wonderful. He is truly a bundle of joy. His smile melts my whole being, and I fill with radiant warmth when he reaches for me, nestles on my chest, grabs my face and sucks on my cheek with his "kisses," and squeals in delight when I come home from work. He daily teaches me what true love and joy are.
4. Rainy Days. I love to snuggle up in my jammies with a warm blanket, some hot chocolate, and a good movie with the windows wide open so I can smell that sweet scent. Mmmmm.....
5. Bath time. Mine, not Ben's (although that's fun too). Complete with aromatherapy bubble bath and sugar scrub from Bath and Body Works...so relaxing.
7. Television. Now, I'm not a big TV person. But I do have a few TV shows that I really like [The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, Lost, 30 Rock (the best least-seen show ever)]. Cuddling up on the couch with my hubby and watching these shows makes me happy.
8. My students. Teaching middle school is definitely a double-edged sword. I often both love and despise my kids, sometimes all at the same time. But with all of the things that drive me crazy come many funny moments. They make me laugh, and I learn from them every day.
9. Pictures. I love looking at photographs, both old and new, and remembering. True, I have a lot of very painful memories. But I have far more joyful and beautiful ones. (Besides, when we're talking about pictures, we're talking about happy memories. Not a lot of pictures of crying and death lying around. That would be morbid.)
10. My family and friends. I am truly blessed with incredible people in my life. I am nothing without them. And even though marriage and motherhood has necessarily distanced me from them in many ways, I continue to grow closer to them through time and experience. They make me laugh, allow me to cry, and generally make my life full and complete.
1. Benjamin Aidan Miller. He is 17 1/2 pounds of pure wonderful. He is truly a bundle of joy. His smile melts my whole being, and I fill with radiant warmth when he reaches for me, nestles on my chest, grabs my face and sucks on my cheek with his "kisses," and squeals in delight when I come home from work. He daily teaches me what true love and joy are. 2. Books. This probably goes without saying for me. But I would be remiss if I did not include the past-time that makes my heart keep beating.
3. Music. It has especially helped that four of my favorite bands have released albums in the last
year-ish (Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and The Fray), all of which are, in my opinion, quite good. I have also recently discovered Ingrid Michelson, who is fantastic. I love music. I love to turn my car stereo on and rock out on my way to work, and I love to turn up the tunes in my classroom to get pumped for my day. A good song or two can be a good pick-me-up, or it can be very cathartic. Don't judge me, but sometimes I make video montages in my head while I listen. I also belt out the songs like I'm some kind of rock star. Please don't crush my dreams.
3. Matthew Donald Miller. We were made for each other. He makes me laugh. He makes me feel beautiful and lovely. I love making him laugh, and I love making him feel handsome and manly. He is my best friend, and I can't believe that I am so blessed to be married to him. He is truly my soul mate.
3. Music. It has especially helped that four of my favorite bands have released albums in the last
year-ish (Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and The Fray), all of which are, in my opinion, quite good. I have also recently discovered Ingrid Michelson, who is fantastic. I love music. I love to turn my car stereo on and rock out on my way to work, and I love to turn up the tunes in my classroom to get pumped for my day. A good song or two can be a good pick-me-up, or it can be very cathartic. Don't judge me, but sometimes I make video montages in my head while I listen. I also belt out the songs like I'm some kind of rock star. Please don't crush my dreams. 
3. Matthew Donald Miller. We were made for each other. He makes me laugh. He makes me feel beautiful and lovely. I love making him laugh, and I love making him feel handsome and manly. He is my best friend, and I can't believe that I am so blessed to be married to him. He is truly my soul mate.4. Rainy Days. I love to snuggle up in my jammies with a warm blanket, some hot chocolate, and a good movie with the windows wide open so I can smell that sweet scent. Mmmmm.....
5. Bath time. Mine, not Ben's (although that's fun too). Complete with aromatherapy bubble bath and sugar scrub from Bath and Body Works...so relaxing.
7. Television. Now, I'm not a big TV person. But I do have a few TV shows that I really like [The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, Lost, 30 Rock (the best least-seen show ever)]. Cuddling up on the couch with my hubby and watching these shows makes me happy.
8. My students. Teaching middle school is definitely a double-edged sword. I often both love and despise my kids, sometimes all at the same time. But with all of the things that drive me crazy come many funny moments. They make me laugh, and I learn from them every day.
9. Pictures. I love looking at photographs, both old and new, and remembering. True, I have a lot of very painful memories. But I have far more joyful and beautiful ones. (Besides, when we're talking about pictures, we're talking about happy memories. Not a lot of pictures of crying and death lying around. That would be morbid.)
10. My family and friends. I am truly blessed with incredible people in my life. I am nothing without them. And even though marriage and motherhood has necessarily distanced me from them in many ways, I continue to grow closer to them through time and experience. They make me laugh, allow me to cry, and generally make my life full and complete.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Oh Happy Day
With Matt's pneumonia, my sinus and ear infections, and Ben's cold at last slowly abating, the congestion is giving way to smiles.
