Family Fun

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Halloween 2013

(First of all, let me apologize for missing Monday’s and Wednesday’s posts.  I thought I had posts scheduled to go up, but evidently I didn’t.  Oops.  Everything is fine here and I haven’t had any babies or anything.)

Halloween!  I looooooooove Halloween.  It’s smack in the middle of my favorite season, it’s the unofficial start of the holidays, and I just love the day.  My birthday is in mid-October, so when I was a kid I often had Halloween-themed birthday parties.  Hubby even calls me “Jaclyn Lantern” – one of my favorite nicknames.  This year, I was both excited for and dreading Halloween at the same time.  Dreading because my sister-in-law Emma and I are in the midst of a Whole30 – my second and her third – so neither of us would be able to partake in the sugary parts of the holiday.  (That candy bowl did call to me fairly loudly last night, but I decided I was just hungry and shut it up with a chicken curry with carrots and kale.  It was a lot easier to resist the candy than it was to avoid the cider donuts at the pumpkin patch, though.  That was kind of painful.)

But Whole30 aside, I was really very excited for this Halloween because it would be the first time that Peanut could participate.  Last year she was teeny tiny and had only been home from the NICU for twenty days, so we were still trying to adjust to the lack of sleep and figure out life with a newborn.  Add to that, Superstorm Sandy swept through and while we didn’t really get hit in DC, we had enough rain that it made getting out to the store to buy a costume almost impossible.  By the time I made it out of the house, most of the newborn sized costumes were gone.  I ended up finding a tutu at Target and paired it with a onesie we already had to make a slapdash ballerina costume.

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This year, we were determined to do it up right… or at least half-heartedly.  Peanut is still too little for trick-or-treating, but we procured plenty of candy for our trick-or-treaters (a bust; we only got one kid – hubby’s office is going to be sugar-high for a looooooong time) and we got Peanut a real costume to wear for her first visit to the pumpkin patch.  This year, she was a…

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Kitty cat!

(Carters had two costumes in her size: a kitty cat and a ladybug.  The were both darling and I couldn’t choose, so we let Daddy decide, and he picked the kitty.  I think he made the right decision!)

Last weekend, we took our little kitty to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins – something else we didn’t bother with last year.  We picked a small farm instead of the gigantic pumpkin colossus that most families here visit, because we thought it would be less overwhelming for Peanut, and I think we made the right call, because the pumpkin farm was plenty stimulating.  There were hayrides and pony rides, which we skipped – maybe next year – a gigantic contraption for bobbing for apples, two barns full of animals to greet, and plenty of pumpkins and apples for the choosing.

We immediately headed for the barns.  Peanut loved visiting with the animals at Mount Vernon, so we thought she’d get a big kick out of these.  Well, I think we either surprised her or got too close, because she burst into tears at the very first stall (donkeys).  I whisked her outside, calmed her down, and we went back in when she was ready.  After the initial cloudburst, she was all smiles as she met horses, cows, sheep, goats, a gigantic bunny rabbit, a dog and a cat.  The cat was the biggest hit of the day.

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Next we meandered over by the apple stalls and checked out the fresh produce on offer (and tortured ourselves with the smells of cider donuts).

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Then we headed into the pumpkin patch for the main event: choosing our family pumpkins!

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On Halloween itself, Peanut and I enjoyed a snuggly day at home filled with plenty of reading (she’s very into the Karen Katz lift-the-flaps books, so we read Where Is Baby’s Pumpkin? about seventy-five times), giggles and treats.

Giggles:

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Treats:

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(My absolute favorite Halloween treat: roasted pumpkin seeds!  Why yes, I do look forward to these all. year. long.)

Hope your Halloween was as much fun as our multi-day extravaganza!  (And I hope you got more than one trick-or-treater.  Weak.)

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Weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake

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Oh, my friends, do I have an adventure to share with you: Peanut’s first international travel!  Last weekend (which happened to include my birthday), hubby and the kid and I hopped across the border for a few relaxing days in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.  This trip was my anniversary present from hubby, and I was so excited; I’ve been wanting to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake for at least five years.  And now that we live so close (it’s about 40 minutes from the border, which is less than ten minutes from our house) it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We headed up mid-day on Saturday, after Peanut woke up from her morning nap, and we arrived just in time to feed her and put her down for the afternoon nap.  (It was a bit of a scramble, because I realized I had forgotten the sleepsacks, and Peanut doesn’t sleep without a sleepsack.  But hubby found a Wal-Mart and was able to run out and pick up some emergency sleepsacks without crossing the border again, which he really didn’t want to do – the line to get into the States was loooooooong.)  Saturday afternoon was low-key; when Peanut finished her nap, we headed out of the B&B and explored the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake for a bit (it’s a gorgeous, meticulously preserved nineteenth-century town in the heart of the Niagara wine country) and then had dinner in a pub.  We shared an order of fried pickles, which were amazing, and I had the turkey burger I’d been craving for weeks.

The next morning, we got up early for a walk down the Niagara Waterfront Trail.

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Peanut enjoyed checking out the boats and the wildlife.  We walked for about 45 minutes, then headed back to the B&B for breakfast – which was out of this world good.

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I wasn’t really hungry for lunch, after such a big breakfast, but I knew I wanted to try out the Irish Tea Room.  After Peanut woke up from her morning nap, we headed back into town for tea and a scone (with real Devon cream! oh, yes) and even though it felt as though I was trying to stuff an already-full tummy, it was worth it for this:

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Come to Mama.

I had Earl Grey and a raisin scone with cream and jam, and hubby had a cappuccino.  I’m picky about scones – I can’t stand scones that taste like doorstops, which is most American scones.  This one was perfect.  Light and fluffy, with perfectly chewy raisins and a sweet crust.  Yum.

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Fortified by tea and scones, we headed out for an afternoon of wine tasting.  I knew better than to set too ambitious of a schedule – even without a baby in tow, four wineries is pushing it for me.  I decided we’d try to visit Konzelmann, Palatine Hills, and Small Talk, but that if we didn’t make it to all three I’d be perfectly okay with that, too.  (I want to visit every winery in the region, but that’s going to take some time, and quite a few trips.)  Well, we made it to Konzelmann and Palatine Hills, and I was happy to check two off my list.  (We probably could have squeezed Small Talk in, too, but I got to chatting with the winery folks who were pouring my tastes – it happens – and lost track of time.  So it was my fault, not Peanut’s, that we didn’t get to our third winery.)

We started at Konzelmann, which was absolutely beautiful.  The building looks like a castle on the outside, and the tasting room inside was breathtaking.  I tried quite a few of their dry reds and whites, which were all spectacular, but it was the sparking rose that really blew me away.  I have a thing for rose wines, and for sparkling wines, and especially for sparkling roses, and this one was magnificent.  I bought two bottles and will buy more the next time I’m up Canada way.

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After tasting, my inhibitions were lowered just enough for me to poke around and take a few pictures.  This is a shot of some of the vines, and of the working part of the winery – where the magic happens – taken from a cute observation deck off the parking lot.  I am fascinated by viticulture and oenology – have been since I took “Introduction to Wines” at Cornell – and I love seeing the business end of a winery.  (Fun fact: did you know that women make better winemakers than men?  Our noses tend to be more sensitive.  I capitalize on this factoid when I imagine myself as the hottest new winemaker in Sonoma as I drift off to sleep at night.)

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Here are some grapes ripening on the vine at Konzelmann.  (This was also right off the parking lot.  I said I poked around a little, and I mean a little.  I didn’t actually stray more than three feet from the parking lot.  Darn my goody-two-shoes tendencies.)  The employee who did my pours told us that they’re just starting to harvest the white grapes, and the reds will be coming off the vines in a few weeks.  Wish I was there for that – I love watching harvest.  We saw a little bit of the beginning when we visited Napa and Sonoma in September of 2009.

I don’t have any shots from Palatine Hills, because my wine-student memory muscle was working overtime as the tasting room manager made me guess what each wine he poured was.  (And then I got into a discussion about terroir with the trainee.)  Their wines were fabulous too, and I brought home two bottles: a steel-barrel Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir.  I was so relieved to find that, at both Konzelmann and Palatine Hills, I was able to get a full tasting in, just on the “dry” side.  I’m not a fan of sweet wines, and I expected Niagara to be all Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Icewine, which I can appreciate but which I don’t particularly enjoy.  The region is famous for those, and I’m sure justifiably so, but I had more than I could handle just sticking to Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir, and those were absolutely delicious.  I’m glad to know that the Niagara region makes superb dry wines as well as sweet – now I’m even more enthusiastic about my project of tasting my way around the region.

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We headed back into town for dinner at a yummy, casual bistro (casual is the word for us right now – white tablecloths are out until a certain member of our party can eat without smearing sweet potatoes on everything).  After dinner, we found ourselves caught in a chilly Canadian October downpour… but I really wanted gelato.  (For some reason, Niagara-on-the-Lake is lousy with gelato places, and they’re all raking in the stars on Trip Advisor.)  We were wet and cold, but it was my birthday, so we went with it.  We popped into Il Gelato di Carlotta (ranked #1 out of all of the restaurants in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Trip Advisor) and I had a dish of half hazelnut, half caffe.  Perfection.

We headed back across the border as soon as breakfast was over the next morning, and thus ended Peanut’s first international travel experience.  (I still think it’s hilarious that we have to travel about four times as long to get to Peanut’s local grandparents, than we did to get to Canada, a foreign country.)  I loved Niagara-on-the-Lake, and I’m already scrolling through my calendar, trying to figure out when we could get back there for another weekend.

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32 Things To Do Before I Turn 33

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Last year I took a leaf out of my pen pal Katie‘s book and came up with a list of 31 things to do before I turned 32.  I didn’t hit all of them, but I gave it my all and had a great time chasing after the big and small goals I set for myself.  So I’m gearing up for another effort this year and trying to set myself a list of things to do this year.  Updates to come periodically, but for now, here’s the list:

1.  First, a BIG one: Visit my BFF in Germany next summer (and maybe tack a week in Austria on there too).  I know this will be a challenge to pull off with a toddler, but we really want to try.  Hubby, R and I are all super excited.

2.  Write my grandmother at least once a month (I don’t expect replies, just want her to receive letters from me).

3.  Visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Greycliff.

4.  Run the 2013 Buffalo-Niagara YMCA Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.

5.  Read and blog about 20 classic books for The Classics Club.

6.  Make refrigerator jam.

7.  Re-read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series.

8.  Join a group at church.

9.  Road-trip to Ithaca for a weekend.

10.  Knit a dress for Peanut.

11.  Learn to play three new piano pieces.

12.  Go to see Shakespeare performed in Delaware Park.

13.  Have a date night with hubby at Rue Franklin.

14.  Knit through 1/4 of my yarn stash.

15.  Write a guest blog (anyone interested?).

16.  Take Peanut for a bike ride in one of those hilarious trailers.

17.  Finish Level I of the Rosetta Stone French course.

18.  Spend a few days (a week if I can swing it) with my high school BFF and our kids.

19.  Knit a lace beret.

20.  Go to a Sabres game!  (Ideally, I’d also like them to win.  C’mon guys, for me?)

21.  Overcome my fear of baking bread – a holdover from last year.

22.  Get in the habit of better skin care – another holdover from last year.

23.  Volunteer with Literacy New York – Buffalo-Niagara.

24.  Knit a cozy shawl for my grandmama.

25.  Go see a movie in the theater.

26.  Read South Riding, by Winifred Holtby.

27.  Buy a Sabres hockey jersey for Peanut.  (She already has a Cornell jersey.)

28.  Learn the Tunisian crochet stitch and make myself a scarf.

29.  Do some charity knitting.  I’m thinking hats for preemies?

30.  Read a book by Umberto Eco.

31.  Try out five new hikes in WNY.

32.  Another BIG one: buy a house.

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Homecoming Day: The First Anniversary

October 11, 2012, was our fiftieth day in the NICU.  We had been there all day, every day, since August 21st.  I was there on August 31st, the day I was supposed to be in New York with my family for my baby shower.  I was there on Labor Day weekend, and all through September.  Every day, the routine was the same.  Wake up, grab a quick breakfast, and rush to the hospital.  Fill out our form for the day (attesting to the fact that we are not sick with anything communicable), scrub, and walk through the secured doors into our baby’s world.  Every day, we sat by the isolette, talking to Peanut, singing songs, reading stories, giving her baths, changing her diapers, taking her temperature, talking to her doctor and her nurses about her progress.  We were fixtures in our little corner of the room.  And although she was in a room with about nineteen other babies, we had eyes only for her.

By October 11th, we were tired.  The routine was exhausting and we wanted to go home – which is to say, we wanted everybody to go home.  I’d made no secret of the fact that I did not want to come to the NICU on my birthday: that I wanted to spend the entire day on my couch, in my house, with my baby.  Some of the doctors and nurses had shaken their heads dubiously and told me not to get my hopes up, which is a phrase I hate.  (I’m in the NICU.  I leave my baby here every night.  All I have is hope.  Do you really mean to take that away from me?)

Still, we had seen a light at the end of the tunnel, and we knew that Homecoming Day was not far off.  Peanut had been in an open crib since October 4th, and a few days ago, she had ripped out her feeding tube.  (She’d been trying to do this for months; according to one of the nurses, almost all of the babies rip their feeding tubes out at some point.)  The nurse on duty decided to leave the tube out: since Peanut had evidently decided she was a big girl who could take all of her feedings by mouth, the NICU decided to see if she would put her money where her mouth was.  And she did.  She was almost four and a half pounds and she’d passed the car seat challenge, proving she could sit in her car seat for ninety minutes without any problems.  One of the neonatologists had told us that Peanut may be ready to go home as early as Thursday (October 11th), but she wasn’t Peanut’s regular doctor and we didn’t know if he’d agree.

What happened, I believe, is this: Peanut was tired of the NICU too.  She wanted to go home too.  So she decided it was time.

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That morning, we went through our routine as usual.  We arrived in the NICU, performed Peanut’s morning “hands on” – diaper change and temperature – and relaxed with her for a short time.  I headed off to the mothers’ lounge (not going to get more specific than that; ladies, you know what I mean), and when I returned, hubby was beaming.  “We got the discharge!” he announced.  Peanut’s doctor had stopped by for his rounds and told hubby he was thinking of sending us home.  Peanut was only eating 40-45 ml at each feeding, and he’d like her to eat 50 ml, but he believed she could.  So the only question was, did we want her to prove him right here, or at home?  Hubby promptly responded that we’d like to prove him right at home.  He left to visit his other babies and returned shortly with our discharge papers.  We signed what we needed to sign.  I dressed Peanut in a sweet pink and grey outfit, a gift from her Aunt J, which seems impossibly tiny to me now but which was still a bit baggy at the time.  We hugged the nurses goodbye, and we walked out the door.

And now, a year later, here we are.

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One year later, I can almost forget that we spent fifty harrowing days in the NICU.  Peanut has gone from frighteningly tiny to the twenty-eighth percentile, holding her own among her full-term buddies.  She approaches everything with riotous joy (especially dogs, and the playground).  She says mom, dada, fish, kitty, and book (although she doesn’t pronounce the latter three quite right).  She enjoys eating paper and batting at lighting fixtures.  She’s herself.

What a year.

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Old Town Alexandria

I have loved Old Town since I first moved to DC, back in 2003.  When I was in law school, living in a hot apartment on the crowded GW campus in Foggy Bottom, Old Town was my afternoon escape.  I’d take the Metro to King Street and spend a few happy hours wandering up and down the main drag, licking a cone of frozen custard or coconut ice cream, poking my head into shops and pretending that I was on vacation.  When hubby and I moved out to Arlington, then to East Falls Church, Old Town was an occasional day trip for us.  For the past three years, though, we’ve been living in Mount Vernon (that’s right, I don’t mind telling the world where I lived, since I don’t live there anymore…) and Old Town has become “our place.”  It’s where we would meet for wood-fired pizza after work on many Fridays.  It’s where we would take Peanut for long strolls on a Saturday, or to church and brunch on Sunday.  (We had many favorite brunch places – Fontaine, Vermillion, Hank’s Oyster Bar…)

On our second-to-last night in DC, I headed home from work a little early and met hubby and Peanut out in Old Town.  I got there first and treated myself to a nice browsing (and buying) session at the Torpedo Factory.  For those not in the know, the Torpedo Factory was once an actual torpedo factory – back during World War II.  But today, it’s an art center.  It’s divided into dozens of studios where resident artists work and sell their creations.  You can find everything from oil paintings and digital photographs to pottery, hand-dyed silk scarves and hand-crafted jewelry.

Here’s the interior, shot from the first floor:

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If you haven’t been, and you’re in the area, please go check it out.  The Torpedo Factory is one of the coolest, most unique things to do in the DC area.  Many of my paintings were purchased there, and all of my small but growing collection of pottery and stoneware.  I’ve taken many visitors there: my parents and family friends, my aunt (an artist), and Katie and Jeremiah, to name just a few.

I often go in just to browse, but this time I had a few items on my agenda to purchase – just little things that I’ve wanted for a long time.  (Fortunately, most of the painters’ studios were closed, so circumstances prevented me from doing real damage.)  Here are my purchases:

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I’ve always kept half an eye out for a handmade mug from the Torpedo Factory, and this time, I found the perfect one: a handmade, smoky grey-and-blue stoneware mug from David Norton Pottery.  The artist wasn’t there, but one of his studiomates was, and she told me she always saw seascapes in David’s work.  I’d been thinking it looked like the night sky after sunset, but now I can’t not see a seascape.  One of my favorite details is the little indentation at the top of the handle – perfectly sized for my thumb to rest.  Now that’s some thought that went into this mug.  I love it, and I’ve been drinking my tea from it many mornings.

Another thing I’ve always wanted was a pair of earrings from Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery.  They make these gorgeous knitted wire earrings, many of which have freshwater pearls embedded in them.  R bought a pair years ago, but I’ve never been able to pull the trigger, although I love them.  Last time I was there, I’d passed on a pair with black freshwater pearls and regretted it.  So when I saw the above pair, with creamy pearls, I jumped.  I also grabbed a pair of funky, but still understated, beaded earrings, and I’ve been wearing them quite a lot since I picked them up.  And from the same gallery, I bought this pretty blue, green and gold woven bookmark.  I sent a rainbow version in the mail to my pen pal Katie some time ago and have wanted my own ever since, but never saw a color combination I liked.  Until this time – well, this is a color combination I love.  So I grabbed it.  Worth.  Every.  Penny.

Hubby and Peanut met me in the Torpedo Factory and we had a nice browsing session (being careful to watch Peanut’s wingspan and keep her away from breakables.)  Then we nipped up to the Spice and Tea Exchange, where I stocked up on some of my favorite spices and bought a stoneware salt pig, and headed to dinner.  We had pizza at Pizzeria Paradiso, our favorite local pizza joint, and then split up to head back to our cars and meet up at home.

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On my way back to my car, I meandered through the waterfront and snapped the above picture.  It’s the perfect shot of the OT docks – serene at the end of the day.  Just looking at it relaxes me.  Much like a visit to Old Town itself.  It’s not my backyard anymore, but rest assured – I’ll return there.

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31 Things: Update 3

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Well, with my 32nd birthday on the horizon, I suppose it’s time to step back and take stock of the year.  (After all, isn’t stepping back and taking stock what bloggers do best?)  Items completed or postponed/cancelled are crossed out.

1. Spend lots of time snuggling and loving Peanut while she’s still tiny.  Most important thing on my list!  Motherhood is magical, and I’m soaking up every moment of it.  This is one loveable kid:

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2. Get into the habit of better skin care.  I haven’t done as good of a job creating a skin care routine as I’d hoped to.  I’ll be continuing to work on this next year.

3. Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy (long overdue).   Done.  Read about my impressions of the trilogy here.

4. Run the GW Parkway Classic 2013.   Calling this one done.  I revised this goal because what I really wanted was to get back into road racing.  My sister-in-law and I ran the Healthy Strides Community 5K in April, and I called it “my icebreaker race” because I was breaking back into this hobby after a long hiatus.  (I ran consistently until January 2012, when I injured my foot.  Then in February 2012, I got pregnant and running felt wrong, so I shelved it for the good of the baby – which I later learned was a very smart thing to do, since I was put first on activity restrictions and later on strict bed rest due to some very uncool, scary complications.)  I’m currently in the midst of training for the Buffalo-Niagara YMCA Turkey Trot (an 8K, or roughly 5 miles).

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5. Take plenty of family hikes with hubby and the little miss.  We’ve definitely done this.  Peanut’s been on several hikes in the BOB stroller and most recently in the Baby Bjorn, on Daddy.  She loves to be worn!  We’ve had so much fun showing her around our favorite trails, including Great Falls.  Can’t wait to explore our new area with our little sidekick in the upcoming year.

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6. Overcome my fear of baking bread.  Um, yeah, this didn’t happen this year.  Maybe next year.

7. See Book of Mormon at the Kennedy Center, summer 2013.  Had to let go of this one.  Maybe next year, on Broadway?

8. Give Peanut a magical first Christmas!  (I can’t wait to be Santa.)  Done!  Read all about Peanut’s first Christmas here.

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9. Finish reading Miss Read’s Fairacre series. Done!  I’ve been meaning to post about the series after finishing it (I did write about binging on Fairacre last year), so look for that soon.

10. Buy myself a Longchamp bag and a new wallet. — Got the wallet; waiting on the bag for awhile.  There are other things I’d rather have right now, so I’m saving my pennies for those instead.

11. Plant a successful herb garden.  This one went out the window when we sold our house and moved to Buffalo.  Maybe in a future year I’ll get it together enough to do this.

12. Read Winnie-the-Pooh to Peanut.  Done!  I can’t even describe how much it has meant to me to share one of my favorite children’s books with Peanut.  Look for a “Peanut’s Picks” post on this in the next couple of months.  ;-)

13. Take up Zumba.  I started going to a class that met during my lunch hour on Tuesdays in DC, and it was a lot of fun.  Now I need to find a class in Buffalo.  My cousin tipped me off to one that I may check out, if it works with the schedule.

14. Knit a sweater for Peanut and a hat for myself.  Made two sweaters for Peanut (including the one pictured below – so sweet) and a sweater for a (former) colleague’s little guy, also a NICU kid.  Didn’t get to the hat, though.  I cast on and then realized that it wouldn’t fit, so I had to frog.  I’m planning to try again as soon as I locate my circular needles.  They’re in a box somewhere.

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15. Toss or donate the clothes that I don’t like but that are still hanging in my closet.  Did this in connection with packing for our big Buffalo move, and it felt great.  I took a carful to Goodwill and was so glad.  I have a few more piles of stuff that made the move because I ran out of time for errands, but that’s all destined for Goodwill soon, too.  The process was cathartic, but it did lead to some “What was I thinking?” moments.  Like the white blazer; very “optometrist chic.” #yesthatisarealthing #actuallynoitisnt

16. Attend Potomac Paddle 2013.  This didn’t happen, and I’m disappointed about that.

17. Reconnect with an old friend.  I did this.  I actually had someone else in mind when I wrote that goal, and I still need to reach out to her.  But the person I did manage to reconnect with is also special to me, and I’m glad that we re-kindled our friendship.

18. Have a playdate with NICU mom friends. Did this!  Two of my mom friends from our NICU brought their little guys over and Peanut had a blast playing with her friends.  It was so much fun to have little boys in the house, and I loved catching up with their moms.  We didn’t manage to get together again before I moved, so I’m extra glad we made it happen once.

19. Paint my bedroom purple. Didn’t happen.

20. Break in and wear my silver ballet flats. Done!  Well, not my silver ones, but I broke in my black ballet flats and they’re now my go-anywhere, do-anything shoes.  In fact, I wore them so much that I now need them resoled.

21. Re-read the Anne of Green Gables series.  Done – or will be by the time my birthday rolls around in a week!  Look for posts about each individual book, and then about the series, coming over the next couple of months.

22. Climb Old Rag.  (This one: maybe not so realistic.  I’d need to train a lot and find a babysitter.)  Didn’t happen.  I need to find a good, challenging hike for next year.  Maybe one of the Adirondack 46 hikes?

23. Knit another pair of socks.

24. Buy a fabulous pair of shoes at a great price. I found these gorgeous ladies on the 70% off rack at Shoes by Lara, an independent shoe store near my office in DC.  Don’t mind if I do!

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25. Bake a pumpkin spice cake.  Delicious.  I had originally planned to make this my birthday cake, but hubby has something else in mind.  🙂  So I made it in honor of his first week of work at the new job and we took it over to share with the grandparents after a day of apple-picking.  Yum.

26. Take Peanut to the beach.  Another one I let go of this year.  Maybe next year.

27. Get to know the women in my neighborhood better.  Lots of stop-and-chats on walks, and I definitely felt part of the neighborhood.  Just in time to move.

28. Get back into a regular yoga practice.  Didn’t do this, but I’m hoping to be better going forward.  Moving has made me really tight, so I need yoga in my life again.

29. Start a baby box for Peanut.   Done!  I have an adorable baby box and I’ve been keeping up with it as Peanut has special milestones.  I’m also faithfully filling in her baby book.

30. Start a frame wall in my foyer.  Not going to happen in our rental.  Maybe this will be something I can do when we buy a house again.

31.  Lots and lots of family time with hubby and Peanut.  Did this.  We were lucky in that we had some time together in Buffalo right after we moved, before hubby started his new job.  And before (and after) he went back to work, we enjoyed plenty of weekend outings and morning and evening snuggles together.  I love those two nuts.

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What a fun year it’s been!  I can’t believe how many of these items I’ve actually crossed off.  My first full year of parenting, a big move, and lots of family time.  I’m lucky for sure.  Next week, check back for my “32 things” list.  There’ll be two items on there that are BIG (don’t get too excited, though – they have nothing to do with babies).

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Peanut’s Picks: JANE EYRE

Peanuts Picks Lets Read

So, there are a lot of things that adults do that I don’t understand.  Like, for example, why does Mommy walk around all day drinking out of a cup and then when I try to share, she snatches it away and says, “No, honey, that’s too hot!” – what is that about?  If it’s too hot, then why are you drinking it?  And if it’s not too hot, then why aren’t you sharing?  Sharing is caring, remember?  I share with you every time I lick my hand and then wipe it on your face.  Would it kill you to practice what you preach?

Another thing I don’t understand: why does Daddy watch that show for hours every Sunday?  You know the one I mean?  The one where everyone is always running around on the striped grass and clunking heads and falling down?  And it lasts for, like, a month and a half?  I don’t get it.  (Mommy doesn’t get it either.)

But one thing that Mommy does that I do understand is reading books over and over again.  I always like to read my books over and over again.  Especially my favorites, like Tumble Bumble (I like the part about HOORAY!) and Bear Snores On (I like when the bear sneezes SPOILER ALERT).  I especially like it when Mommy lets me turn the pages.

Anyway, Mommy’s favorite book is Jane Eyre.  I know this because I have my own copy that we read ALL. THE. TIME.

BabyLit Jane Eyre

This is a very interesting book.  It is about one governess (Jane) who has two trunks.  She lights three candles, which is dangerous.  (Mommy won’t explain why, though, because she says it would take too long.  Silly Mommy.  If it takes too long I’ll just cry or go to sleep on you, whatever.)  She lives in a place called Thornfield Hall, which has four towers.  I forget the rest.

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This is me when I was little. LOOK AT ME READING.

Oh, right, and she teaches Adele with six chalkboards, which seems excessive to me.

Anyway, I really like this book because I like that there is a bird on every page and Mommy points to them for me and then I get to turn the pages, which is great.  But I noticed that my Jane Eyre book doesn’t look like Mommy’s Jane Eyre book.  Like, where are the bird pictures in Mommy’s book?  There are no pictures in Mommy’s book.  And she won’t let me turn the pages.  What gives?  Mommy says that we’re both reading Jane Eyre, but I think she’s just pretending.  LOL, Mommy pretending.

E Reading JE

Lesson for parents: My book is better than yours.

Mommy says that if you want to buy the book, you can get it here or support your local indie bookstore.  Also, make sure you get the one with pictures, because the other one is boooooooooooring.

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Great Falls

Before we left DC, we tried to go on a sightseeing binge and return to as many of our favorite places as we could pack in, reasonably speaking (we are slaves to naptime, after all).  That meant returning to the Torpedo Factory for a few last browsing sessions, stopping by favorite restaurants and cafes, and many, many London Fogs for me at my favorite coffee shop.  (Oh, they’re going to miss me, for sure.)  One place that I knew I had to visit one more time was Great Falls National Park.  We’ve had many a happy hike here, and I could stand all day, just drinking in this view:

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We’ve done this hike in every season.  We’ve done it in the heat of summer, like this most recent visit, we’ve done it under arbors of turning leaves, in six inches of snow, and amidst new buds.  I love it every season, and there’s something different and special about Great Falls each time we go.  It’s my favorite hike in the DC area, and possibly my favorite hike in the world (although Buttermere, in the English Lake District, and Point Reyes, in California, might give Great Falls a run for its money).  I’ve been wanting to show this wonder to Peanut for months.

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Come to think of it, I’m not sure how much she actually saw.

We had a blissful time, though.  We climbed over rocks, carefully (hubby especially carefully, since he had a wee one strapped to him), goggled at the view, and generally drank in the spectacular scenery.

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I’m sure that I’ll be back.  I plan on making plenty of return visits to DC, as often as I can, and I love Great Falls too much to say goodbye forever.  I truly believe this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and I’m so lucky that I got to live near here for a chunk of my life, and to spend so many happy afternoons hiking here.  And I’m sure that, whether it’s here or someplace else, I have many afternoons of hiking ahead of me.  After all, I have the two best hiking buddies a girl could ask for:

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Love those two.  Happy trails!

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The Buffalo List

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Ever since we officially decided to move to Buffalo, I’ve been working on a list of things to do once we get there.  Some are things that we’ve done before (since we’ve been visiting my in-laws in the area for the past ten years, and hubby lived there before that), and others are new ideas that I’ve come across in reading Visit Buffalo Niagara or surfing various Buffalo blogs.  I’m going to keep track of our progress via the new Buffalo tab at the top of my blog, so feel free to follow along as we explore Buffalo and the surrounding region.

In the City

1.  Cheer on the Sabres at First Niagara Center – as often as possible!

2.  Run the Buffalo-Niagara YMCA Turkey Trot (again; I ran with my sis-in-law back in 2011).

3.  Attend Shakespeare in the Park (again; hubby and I did this many moons ago when he lived in Buffalo).

4.  Climb at Silo City Rocks.

5.  Attend Holiday Pops and classical music concerts at Kleinhans.

6.  Have dinner at Rue Franklin (again – yum).

7.  Volunteer with Literacy New York – Buffalo-Niagara.

8.  Join a moms’ group in my neighborhood.

9.  Take Peanut to the Buffalo Zoo and the Explore & More Children’s Museum.

10.  Kayak Canalside.

11.  Attend First Fridays and the Allentown Art Festival.

12.  Visit the Albright-Knox Museum (again).

13.  Explore the Erie Canalway and the Scajacquada bike routes.

14.  Check out the Olmstead park system.

15.  Attend the Taste of Buffalo food festival (next summer, since 2013 has already happened).

Surrounding Areas

1.  Take hubby to Aurora Brew Works for a belated anniversary celebration.

2.  Tour every Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in the greater Buffalo region.

3.  Take Peanut swimming in Lake Erie.

4.  Visit every winery on the Niagara Wine Trail.

5.  Have a playdate with a friend who lives in the ‘burbs.

6.  Bike to Akron, NY.

7.  Niagara Falls, obviously.

8.  Work our way through the “50 Hikes in Western New York” book.

9.  Visit the Roycroft campus.

10.  Go snowshoeing!

Farther Afield

1.  Make another trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

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2.  Spend a weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

3.  Become Adirondack 46’ers.

4.  Take Peanut to visit Cornell, her future alma mater.

5.  Road-trip through the Eastern provinces of Canada.

Buffalo family and friends: any other suggestions for must-do activities in the area?

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The Thursday Cute Exchange

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My bestie R and I have a new tradition we’re trying to establish.  It’s called The Thursday Cute Exchange.  We text each other constantly, natch, via free iMessage, but on Thursdays we have a standing appointment to exchange adorable pictures.  (We do this anyway, but it’s a date for Thursdays.)  And we’ve kept it up via email now that R has moved overseas for the year and iMessaging is on hiatus until she returns (or I download another app for my iPhone – whichever comes first).  I send pictures of Peanut and her adorable adventures so that R can keep up with her goddaughter’s constantly increasing cuteness.  R reciprocates with pictures of her pets and of her boyfriend playing with the neighborhood kids.  And a good time is had by all.

There’s no point to this post other than to tell you about this new thing that is bringing me all kinds of joy lately.  And to encourage you to set up your own cute exchange.  There’s really nothing like a picture of your friend’s cat drinking from a running faucet to brighten up your Thursday morning.