January 8, 2016 by Jaclyn

2015 Goals: Final Recap

Happy New Year! It’s been some year, hasn’t it? I think we can all agree that 2015 brought more than the usual number of ups and downs – for the world at large, and for many of us (me included) personally. I’ve got a whole slew of end-of-year posts planned, including my usual three-part bookish recap, a monthly roundup of all of our family adventures, and a post about my hopes for 2016. But for now, a look back at 2015 goals, the good, the bad, and the totally half-@$$ed.

Big Goals

~~Have a baby.~~ Done! This one was sort of out of my control, as you can imagine. But I love the result rather a lot! Nugget joined us on March 11, 2015, and I already can’t imagine life without him.

~~Focus on immediate family.~~ This is something we worked hard on, especially in the second half of the year. At the end of last year, I felt that too much of our identity was wrapped up in relationships outside of our four walls – important relationships, of course, but we needed to take some time to focus on each other. I think we did decently well at this – whether it meant committing to hike together every month, eating together as a family most nights, or sneaking away during extended family vacations to do some activities as a foursome. We still have a ways to go, though.

Keep growing in our new region. This one slipped through the cracks, especially after Nugget’s arrival, and I think we suffered for it. I definitely don’t feel as if we’ve put roots down here. We’ve tried – maybe not as hard as we could have, but we’ve been hibernating with a baby. Still, I can’t declare this goal accomplished.

Small(er) Goals

~~Plant a garden with Peanut.~~ Can I declare this done if I subsequently killed 90% of it? Only the rosemary and the parsley survived my negligent stewardship; even the hardy mint eventually succumbed. I did bring the parsley and rosemary inside (after they miraculously soldiered through the first snowfall of the season, I thought they deserved to warm up) and I’m committed to keeping them alive all winter. Of course, you know what that means: my attention will kill them, where my ignoring them didn’t. Well, one thing’s for sure – Peanut and I both learned some stuff this year. Hoping for a more successful garden next spring.

Marathon or bust! Bust. I realized early in my training that a marathon was just not happening this year. I still want to run one someday, when the kids are a bit older. (Maybe when Nugget is 3, I’ll have another go at it.) But I did run three 5Ks and a 4-mile obstacle race, so at least I can say I’m back out there. I have my eye on a few fun races for next year – including another half marathon, if I can make the training work with my currently very tight schedule.

Start juicing. I’m really mad at myself, because I haven’t done this. And I got the juicer for Christmas last year! Sorry, Santa. In January, I mean to do this. I really do.

Use my dSLR more. So I learned something: babywearing is really fun, and I love it, but the combination of Nugget in the front carrier and a big camera around my neck is just not workable. I’ve relied on the iPhone and luckily it takes decent pictures. Once Nugget either moves to my back or is spending more time in the stroller, I’ll dust off the dSLR.

~~Do at least one home project every month.~~ I sort of stopped keeping track of this, but I think it must have averaged out to at least one project a month as we worked on updating some cosmetic things to get our house ready to sell. So I’m saying – yep, did this.

Get back into yoga, and try out barre classes. Other than one yoga class on vacation in the Outer Banks, I haven’t done a thing – and I’m feeling it. (I always feel so much looser and more comfortable when I’m doing yoga regularly. Why don’t I do it more? Oh, right, two kids and no time.) And as for barre – haven’t done a minute of it, and still really want to.

Get organized. I haven’t made nearly as much progress organizing as I’d like to, but an upcoming move should present a golden opportunity to work on this.

Lose the baby weight. Not quite yet. I’ve lost some, but not all. With Peanut, it took a little over a year, and Nugget is only nine months, so I’m not panicking just yet. With two kids and, again, no time, I’m not expecting it to be a super fast process. I’m planning to do a month of no sugar in the new year, and hoping that will jump start the next phase of getting back into shape post-baby.

~~Hike in a different place each month.~~ Did this – wow! Twelve months of hiking in a different park each month! Our hikes took us all around WNY, down to North Carolina, and out to Colorado. I still have to recap November and December for you, and then I will post a big roundup of all of the hikes we did for this project – look for that coming in January. I’m really, really proud that we stuck to this goal for the entire year and made a commitment to hitting the trails as a family all year long.

~~Take a family vacation – or two!~~ How about TWO?! After a stretch of almost four years without a vacation (other than the occasional weekend getaway) it felt so great, and so long overdue, to get away on not one but TWO big trips. We joined my parents, brother and sister-in-law for a big family trip to Hatteras Island, North Carolina, in July (recapped on the blog over several weeks thereafter) and spent a week and a half visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado over Thanksgiving (recaps to come). Two trips, two beautiful places, two opportunities to spend lots of quality time together and with Dan and Danielle – too lucky.

~~Date nights, for realsies.~~ I’m proud to say that we’re actually making an effort to get out together as a couple again! It only took three years, ha. What finally clicked was when we realized that with the kids both hitting the sack in their respective rooms at 7:30, we could put them to bed and then slip out in the evenings. It’s an easy night for a babysitter, who ideally can just sit on the couch with a book and hopefully not hear a peep from upstairs. And it’s a guilt-free evening out for us, because the kids would be sleeping in their rooms whether we are downstairs in the family room or out on a date, so we don’t feel that we’re missing out on any time with them. That was a revelation, and we’ve taken advantage of it twice now – once to see The Martian, and once to see Star Wars. Hope to keep that rolling in 2016!

Well, in looking back at my goals, things are really better than I thought. I set some ambitious goals for the year and I always knew I wouldn’t have a perfect record – especially not with a new baby in the house. But it’s been a fun journey and I’m looking forward to seeing where life takes our family in 2016.

January 4, 2016 by Jaclyn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (January 4, 2016)

Whoaaaaaa… it’s 2016?! I mean, I know that it’s 2016, obviously, because I’ve been working on New Year’s posts for a couple of weeks now (you’ve already seen our year in review, and there are more posts coming – in fact, it’s probably going to take me most of January to get caught up on everything, if not into February). But still, it seems like 2015 really went by in a flash – even more than they usually do – and now we’re staring down the barrel of the first work week of 2016. I missed posting last week, because Christmas, but I actually hadn’t finished any new books over the course of the preceding week so I had nothing new to report anyway.

the sword of summer the givenness of things

Rolling right along. I wrapped up the last of my 2015 reading by finishing The Sword of Summer (the first in a new trilogy, focusing on the Norse gods, by Rick Riordan) and then reading the last few essays in Marilynne Robinson’s new collection, The Givenness of Things, in the same day. Is it possible to have two more different books in the same sentence? Riordan’s books are uproariously funny and fast-paced (although, as a matter of fact, they’re incredibly well-researched and deceptively smart) and Robinson’s essays on theology, history and philosophy are academic and cerebral. Two very different reading experiences, indeed.

And now it’s onward. I haven’t gotten much reading in since wrapping up the last two 2015 books several days ago. I started Rebecca Makkai’s The Hundred Year House and am enjoying it, but have been reading it slowly and choosing to spend more time in front of the TV than I usually do. I gave Steve a Disney Infinity for Christmas and we’ve been playing our way through the Star Wars game that came with it – he’s an avid video gamer and I’m not, but every so often it’s fun to play together when he has a game that looks appealing. (The last one was Super Mario Galaxy, many moons ago before children, so you can see how rare that is.) I picked out the Disney Infinity because it looked like something that we might be able to enjoy together, and we are. We’ve also been watching more television than usual – we’re a few weeks behind on Supergirl, thanks to November travels, and we’re trying to get caught up (I haven’t been able to stay spoiler-free, which bums me out) and we’ve also fallen down the rabbit hole that is The West Wing. (I watched it back on first run but haven’t seen the entire series, and Steve had never seen it at all. He’s really enjoying it, I’m having fun rediscovering my old favorite characters – Josh and Leo! – and we’re both loving all the shots of our home city, D.C.) Last night started Downton Abbey, so I expect reading time to take even more of a hit until I find out who Lady Mary is going to marry. (And please, Downton writers, some happiness for Edith? I know the show is already wrapped and aired, but in case things end badly for her I’d like it if you could go back in time and fix that, please and thank you.)

Happy New Year! What are you reading – and watching – this week?

January 1, 2016 by Jaclyn

2015: A Look Back

Happy New Year, my friends! I hope that you all had wonderful, joyful, sparkly and safe evenings last night and that you’re now ready to face 2016 head on. Let’s make it the best year yet! But first, as I like to do, here’s a look back at the twelve months of fun and challenges that we’ve just wrapped up.

31w4d

In January, I hit a very important pregnancy milestone – 31 weeks, 4 days! It was a big deal to me, because it was officially my “pregnancy PDR” – Peanut had been born at 31w3d. I snapped a picture for posterity and expressed a hope that Nugget and I would get all the way to full term (spoiler alert: we did!). I also mused on some bookish topics, including my ongoing reading slump and a day of reckoning as a mystery reader. And we started off our year in hiking with a twofer: a stroll through Reinstein Woods that doubled as the first of our seasonal explorations and the first hike in our twelve months’ hiking project.

In February, we were busy indeed! We weathered absolutely frigid temperatures with plenty of indoor fun, including visits to the Buffalo Botanical Gardens and the Buffalo Museum of Science, and we got outside for a hike through Knox Farm. I got an extremely late start on Nugget’s nursery and made my peace with the fact that there was no way we’d get it all done before his arrival in March. I also shared my “alphabet of right now” and my thoughts on the news that we could expect a “new” Harper Lee book in July.

In March, we joyously welcomed our sweet baby boy! Nugget officially joined our family on March 11, 2015, so most of the month revolved around our great happiness and getting to know him. We pretty much hibernated, sleeping when we could and getting in lots of snuggles, but we ventured outside at the end of the month for a walk through Como Lake Park – Nugget’s first hike.

In April, we celebrated Nugget’s first Easter, even while shaking our fists at a fresh snowfall that morning. We made good progress on the nursery, I was cleared to run (!) and once the snow melted (for good, finally) we ventured to a new-to-us scenic spot: Times Beach Nature Preserve.

In May, we enjoyed warm sunshine and rising temperatures for the first time in way too long. Peanut and I planted a patio garden and a fairy garden together and I relished the chance to spend some one-on-one time with my first baby. I celebrated my first Mother’s Day as a mom of TWO and ran my first race of this post-partum period, and we hiked at Darien Lakes State Park and Reinstein Woods.

In June, we celebrated National Trails Day with – what else? – a hike at Sprague Brook Park, which immediately became one of my favorite local walks. We also celebrated Father’s Day, I participated in #BlumeAlong, and Peanut and I continued getting our hands dirty in our patio garden.

In July, we managed to pack more fun into one month than I would ever have thought possible! We started off strong with a fun Fourth of July at Canalside, followed by a picnic in our backyard and a swim with the grandparents on the fifth. Our whole family (plus Nana!) enjoyed the treats at Taste of Buffalo, then Nana and I took the kids blueberry picking. At the end of the month we headed south for a family vacation: first stop was our old stomping grounds of D.C. and northern Virginia (miss it so much!), including a stop by Great Falls National Park, my very favorite hiking spot in the entire world, and then we continued on for a week of beach fun in the Outer Banks.

In August, we continued to soak up summer fun. We celebrated Peanut’s third birthday (where has the time gone?) and our tenth wedding anniversary (seriously, where?!). We hiked to the Eternal Flame at Chestnut Ridge Park, enjoyed swimming in our backyard and soaking up the sun, and I joined in the Austen in August fun.

In September, we rang in Labor Day by squeezing in our summer walk through Reinstein Woods. We also got a special treat when Aunt Rebecca flew into town for a brief visit, and we got to hike with her at Niagara Falls State Park! Later in the month, we went apple picking – a favorite fall activity – and finally managed to make it to the orchard during the too-brief Gala apple season. The other big news of the month was that Nugget turned SIX MONTHS OLD. I can’t believe how fast his first year is flying by! The rest of the month was bittersweet as I wrapped up my maternity leave and headed back into the office; I spent a lot of time missing the little guy and reminiscing about our long, sweet summer days together.

In October, we made it our business to have ALL the fall fun. We visited the pumpkin patch, hiked at Letchworth State Park, and took the kids trick-or-treating. We made several visits to Elm Street Bakery in East Aurora, danced at the wedding of a dear college friend, and I celebrated another birthday and scared myself silly during #RIPX. Life just gets more and more full with each passing year.

In November, the kids enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the campfire in Nugget’s room (is that some toy, or what?) and we welcomed a new family member – BB-8! But by far the best part of November was our trip out west to visit Uncle Dan and Aunt Danielle in Colorado. We spent Nugget’s first Thanksgiving with them and it was so wonderful. There was hiking, great food, and visits to the Denver Zoo and the Denver Aquarium (where Uncle Dan fed a stingray and a mermaid waved to Peanut). Recaps of the whole vacation coming soon! We also squeezed in our fourth and final seasonal walk through Reinstein Woods – we’re so lucky to live near such a lovely wild spot.

In December, we celebrated Nugget’s first Christmas! He dressed up like Santa (he was a good sport about it) and I think he had a great day. I shared tips for festivity on a budget, including making our own Advent wreath (a fun activity that Peanut and I did together). We also had a playdate with two of Peanut’s school friends at the Buffalo Zoo and finished up our year of hiking every month with a stroll through Tifft Nature Preserve, and celebrated a lovely, low-key New Year’s Eve with fondue and baby snuggles. It doesn’t get much better than that!

We have so many things ahead of us in 2016 – at least one move, and maybe two; Nugget’s first birthday and Peanut’s fourth; and hopefully another family vacation. And who knows what else? But it’s great to look back on the year that’s just ended – we had a big one. We did a lot, we learned and grew a ton, and – most important of all – we completed our family when we added one sweet, joyful little boy spirit to the crew. 2015 brought some tough times and some growing pains, but it also brought a lot of happiness and baby giggles.

And now, on to 2016 – I hope that all of my friends have a magical year!

December 30, 2015 by Jaclyn

Christmas 2015

Another milestone down – sniff – Nugget’s first Christmas! I think that both of the kids had a good one. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and it just seems to get better and better, with so many fun things to do and experience through the kids’ eyes.

On Christmas Eve, their school was closed, so I took the day off and Steve worked from home, and we took the kids out for some fun (maybe) morning Christmas activities. We started with a Polar Express story hour at a local children’s bookstore that I’d never visited before – and oh, my, GOODNESS, was it a gorgeous store. I picked up a few more things on Santa’s behalf (post about the kids’ book haul coming next week) and then we enjoyed the story. After the story hour, we headed to the mall to meet Santa. Steve and I were both a bit skeptical that it would go well, but Peanut had been talking about meeting Santa for weeks, and she promised – promised – that she would sit on his lap and not raise a ruckus. Of course she got performance anxiety as we waited in line and we ended up with the world’s worst Santa photo. Peanut is crying (see the tiny tear?), Nugget looks like he’s about to punch someone, and Santa is the unhappiest of all. (I couldn’t really blame Peanut – this Santa seemed really unfriendly. But seriously, what a waste of time and $25.00. We’re never doing this again – I don’t care how much Peanut begs next year. She’s all talk and I am not falling for that again.)

After the Santa drama, we all needed a bit of a break. We headed home for lunch, and Peanut took a nap. (Nugget did not, of course.) Later that evening, we hosted Auntie Em and Aunt Grace and their respective boyfriends for drinks and snacks. I made gluhwein and we all enjoyed the combination of alcohol and sugar. Can’t beat it.

We were up at zero dark hundred on Christmas morning and Peanut went tearing downstairs and into the family room, where she spent a good five minutes jumping up and down and shrieking “PRESENTS! PRESENTS! I’M JUMPING! LOOK AT ME JUMPING!” Nugget was impressed with his sister…

…But even more impressed with his new fire truck.

(He really likes hard plastic and wooden toys – trucks, cars, blocks – and has very little use for anything soft or snuggly. So he got exactly what he likes from Santa: a fleet of trucks, cars and planes, a giant bag of Mega Bloks, and some new things to chew on.)

After the gifts were opened, we got dressed up and ready to head to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner. But first, I gave myself a present: a picture of the kids together on Christmas Day. All together now: awwwww.

And then this little tableau took place:

Poor Nugget. The kid can’t call a toy his own. (His face just slays me.)

But things were looking up once we got to the grandparents’ house. After a delicious turkey dinner and a gift exchange we were all revived. Especially Nugget. Nothing cures a heart broken by the loss of a Mega Blok like some new wrapping paper to eat.

On Boxing Day, we headed out for a family hike at Tifft Nature Preserve – the final hike of our twelve months’ project (recaps of November and December, and then the whole project, coming in January). It was a crisp, cloudy day and we had the park almost to ourselves. Then we headed home to wait for Nana and Grandad to arrive… and with them came…

A new gown for Princess Peanut. Oh, brother.

Merry Christmas one more time, my friends! I hope your days were filled with warmth, joy, family and friends, and that no one stole your Mega Bloks.

December 25, 2015 by Jaclyn

On Christmas Day In The Morning

I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And who was on those ships all three
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day
And who was on those ships all three
But Joseph and his Lady.

And he did whistle and she did sing
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
And he did whistle and she did sing
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the bells on Earth shall ring
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
And all the bells on Earth shall ring
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And children throughout the world shall sing
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day
And children throughout the world shall sing
On Christmas Day in the morning.

To my friends who are celebrating today, I hope you have a joyous day. And on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

December 23, 2015 by Jaclyn

What It’s About

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:9-14).

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. 2015 is almost behind us, and I don’t think many people will be too sorry to see it go. Our fellow Americans are being murdered at prayer meetings and at office holiday parties, our friends in Paris were savagely attacked, little children are being driven from their homes in faraway countries, and a candidate for the highest office in our own country has proposed barring the gates to people based on their religion. (Oh, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are turning over in their graves on that last one.) In many ways, it’s been a crummy second half of the year – there couldn’t be further from peace on Earth, and as for good will toward men, well, we’ve got precious little of that going around too.

But tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I’ll be busily wrapping up the last of the gifts, and taking my kids to see Santa (because Peanut requested to go this year – last year she was terrified of poor old Kris Kringle). But I’ll also be hoping that a little of the spirit of Christmas, what it’s really about (and that’s not sugar, reindeer or the new play kitchen that Peanut will be finding under the tree on Friday morning) will trickle down and infuse the coming year. We need some of the spirit of Christmas to last us a little bit longer in 2016.

So, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. And Friday is Christmas. Which is a day about hope and peace and loving our neighbor. Let’s go be Christmas, all year long.

December 21, 2015 by Jaclyn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 21, 2015)

December 21st – wow, we’re almost there. I know I’m not the only one to feel that Christmas snuck up on me, because everyone else I’ve talked to recently has said the same thing. I feel perpetually behind the eight ball this year. I just got my Christmas cards out on Friday (so if you’re expecting one from me, you should be seeing it appear in your mailboxes soon) – a far cry from last year’s lifetime record of December 8th. I’m still not done with my Christmas shopping, and I haven’t wrapped a thing. And that’s with my decision to give myself a break and not drag out all of the decorations or force myself to bake cookies – even with taking it easy, so to speak, I’m still way behind. I think that for me, it was a combination of a few factors: Thanksgiving being late (it was late, wasn’t it?) and being in Colorado until December 1st (usually we’d get our decorations up and Christmas photos taken, and cards ordered, on the weekend after Thanksgiving), being swamped at work, and having two kids to shop and wrap for instead of just one. All that’s to say, I’m crazed. And I really hope that things slow down over the course of this week, because I would like to, you know, savor and soak in sweet Nugget’s first Christmas. If I can sit down long enough.

This past weekend was the rare weekend in which I did almost no reading. Instead I did running (the Caroler 5K in East Aurora), Christmas shopping (checked off about half of my list, which is better than nothing), hosting (Zan and Paul came over for our annual Buffalo Bills elimination game viewing) and more elf-ing (making a special gift for one of the grandparents, who reads here and therefore shall remain nameless). I read a little bit of The Givenness of Things, Marilynne Robinson’s most recent book of essays, on the way to my 5K, but that’s actually all the reading I did.

Despite the lack of bookishness this weekend, it was a decently productive reading week overall. I finished Sisters In Law, the new biography of Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and their careers leading up to, and then on, the Supreme Court. Definitely wouldn’t be a subject that interests everyone, but as a female lawyer it was my speed for sure. It got me thinking about equality feminism as opposed to difference feminism, and where I feel the movement has fallen short (or maybe, just, still needs a bit of work). Then I blew through the first volume of the new Black Widow in one sitting (didn’t entirely understand it, but that seems to be par for the course, because comics). And then turned my attention to Robinson and have been making my way very slowly through her essays, reading a few a day (other than this weekend) for several days now. They’re gorgeously written and absolutely brilliant, and they require time and attention and close reading, which are a bit beyond my capabilities most days lately. But I’m loving the experience of digging in and thinking hard about the intersections of history, theology and current events. (Not that I’m not intellectually challenged in my day job – but it’s nice to give serious thought to something other than law sometimes. And it probably makes me a better lawyer, come to think of it.)

On the agenda for this week, I’ve got the rest of The Givenness of Things, and then I think I’m going to read some fiction – The Hundred Year House, by Rebecca Makkai, which looks great and which has been languishing on my TBR for long enough now. And with Christmas looming on Friday, and all of the work and then fun that entails, I’m not going to commit to any more reading beyond that.

What are you reading this week, my friends?

December 18, 2015 by Jaclyn

Fall List 2015: Final Update

The twinkly season is upon us, but I can’t let fall go without a final check-in on my to-do list. We had a lovely – albeit extremely busy – season. As Nugget gets older, it’s easier and easier to get out and about as a family, which is wonderful. The more he is able to do, the more I look forward to doing with the kids as they continue to grow. In the meantime, I think we did really well at making the most of fall (my favorite season!).

~~Take the kids apple and pumpkin picking.~~ Done – both! We visited Stonehill Orchards and took home half a bushel of Gala apples in September, and picked out our pumpkins at Kelkenberg Farms in October. (Yes, I did dress the kids in their Halloween costumes for our pumpkin picking excursion. OF COURSE.)

~~Visit my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado.~~ Done! We had a fantastic trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving. We spent a week and a half out there exploring Boulder, Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, and more, and enjoying everything that the mountain west has to offer. Colorado is an incredible state. I knew this, of course. Expect lots of waxing poetic when I get those vacation recaps up starting in the New Year!
~~Drink hot cider from Main Street Coffee Roastery.~~ Done! The Cider Deluxe from Main Street was my Friday treat to myself this fall. I couldn’t get enough.

~~Host family and friends for Nugget’s baptism.~~ Done! My parents and my father-in-law joined us – along with Uncle Erik and Aunt Rebecca, Peanut and Nugget’s godparents – to celebrate little Nugget becoming the newest Episcopalian in early November. We had a lovely little family party and I think our sweet boy felt very loved and celebrated.
~~Read some Sarah Vowell.~~ Done! I tore through Vowell’s newest release, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, and loved it. I really enjoy her smart, witty, slightly snarky takes on history.
~~Bake pear-almond bread.~~ Well, I didn’t do pear-almond bread specifically, but I did make some yummy almond thumbprint cookies recently, so I’m calling this good.
~~Have a zoo playdate with friends.~~ Done! Just this past weekend, but better late than never. We met up with two of Peanut’s little school friends, their moms and their siblings for a morning at the zoo. I have some complicated feelings about zoos, but we had a good time. It’s always nice to get friend time in and let the kids run around, play and enjoy some animals.

~~Take Peanut trick-or-treating (for real!) for the first time EVER.~~ Done! Peanut looooooooved trick-or-treating. Last year, I think, she would have been terrified and miserable, but she’s grown up a lot over the course of a year (who’d have thunk?) and she had a ball this year. The only tears came when we decided that we’d been out long enough, and told her it was time to head home.
Re-read Anne of the Island or Emily of New Moon (or both!).

~~Finish our our year of hiking in a different place every month and take our last seasonal walk through Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve.~~ I’m calling this one done, even though we haven’t gotten our December walk in yet. We’ll be hitting Tifft Nature Preserve within the next few weeks, and that will round out a year of hiking in a different place every month. I’ve still got recaps coming for you (I owe you our fall Reinstein walk – at least, I think I do? – and our November hike is a good one) so keep your eyes open for those.

Not a bad fall! How about you, my friends, did you accomplish everything on your seasonal to-do lists?

December 16, 2015 by Jaclyn

Nugget: Nine Months

This boy. I’ll tell you – guys, he has just stolen my heart. Every smile, every giggle, every sloppy kiss planted on my chin, all make me more and more his, forever. He is just the happiest, sweetest baby and it is such a privilege to watch him grow.

The biggest thing this month was Nugget’s second vacation (seriously, two vacations in nine months – the kid’s doing alright), which involved his first airplane flight and his first Thanksgiving. He did as well as I could possibly have hoped for on the plane. No napping, of course, because Nugget doesn’t do that sort of thing. But I made sure to be feeding him during takeoff and landing, which helped with his ears, and with a full belly he was a happy little traveler for the rest of the flights. He giggled, played with toys, and when he got restless we walked up and down the aisles. I would have loved it if he’d have conked out for an hour or so on at least one of the flights, but of course he didn’t help me out there. No matter – he charmed everyone on the flights and I got lots of compliments about how well-behaved he was. Keeping him happy was a lot of work, and the flights weren’t the most relaxing I’ve ever had, but it was well worth the effort for the smooth flights.

As he was when we went to North Carolina in July, Nugget was a champ all throughout the trip to Colorado. He had a few rough nights as he got adjusted to the altitude, and we were both a bit tired as a result, but he’s such a good baby that I doubt anyone but me noticed that he wasn’t completely himself. He loved checking out the Christmas lights in Boulder and Estes Park and spotting trees and animals in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I know I am a broken record, but I just can’t stop singing the praises of my sweet, good-natured boy. He fits in so well with our family – it’s amazing how complete we feel now that he’s in our lives. He’s just such a joyful, happy little fella.

Nugget at 9 Months

Weight: 16 pounds, 3 ounces – not much gain from last month. He’s under the third percentile for weight – following in big sister’s footsteps, sigh. Why do I make these absurdly tiny children? He’s a good eater, but I think his no-nap policy may be catching up with him. We’re going to bump up the foods we’re offering and see if we can’t pack a couple more pounds on him in the coming months.

Height: 27.25 inches – he didn’t shrink from last month, so clearly my measurement was off. Well, I warned y’all.

Clothing Size: 9 months, quite comfortably. Expect this answer to be the same for awhile.

Sleep: We continue to have our good nights and bad nights. For most of our vacation, Nugget was back to nursing every two hours, newborn-style. I think it was a combination of the unfamiliar environment (scary when you’re little!) and the high altitude (extra hydration needed) – but he wasn’t the best sleeper on vacation, even for him. Since coming home he’s pretty much snapped back into his usual routine, but with more fussing at bedtime, and the occasional bouts of crying around 10:00 p.m. (that’s new). He’s back to eating pretty much once a night, which is very doable for me at this point. (More than that and I start to fray a little at the edges.) As for naps, he continues to be the world’s worst napper, and even lap naps are getting harder to come by. Dad got a couple in Colorado – so snuggly – and he’s lap-napped for me a few times since, but it’s getting harder and harder to nurse him to sleep and then keep him asleep in the afternoon. Daycare doesn’t try that hard to get him to nap, because he’s so good-natured and easygoing that he will just play happily all day long, without a rest. If he doesn’t start gaining weight a little more quickly, though, we may need to come up with a new plan – but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Likes: Hugs and cuddles from Mom and big sister, dancing to the Laurie Berkner Christmas CD, the way Dad’s “lion noises” ruffle his hair, sneak-watching “Clifford the Big Red Dog” on the iPad (Peanut’s current viewing of choice) during dinner.

Dislikes: I think it’s safe to say he’s not a big fan of his snowsuit.

Favorite Toys: Well, the absolute favorite toy this month isn’t actually Nugget’s toy – it’s Dad’s. Both Peanut and Nugget think that BB-8 is the best thing they have ever seen. (#thisisthedroidyourelookingfor). But leaving BB-8 aside, Nugget has gotten really into playing with the Green Toys school bus – he loves to drive it around the family room floor – and he’s developed a loving relationship with a Crocodile Creek playground ball that looks like the planet Earth. Funnily enough, I bought the ball for Peanut – I thought we could work on learning continents, HA HA – and bought Nugget a different playground ball with a rocket ship design. Peanut has no interest whatsoever in her globe ball, but she stole Nugget’s rocket ship ball immediately; Nugget, meanwhile, couldn’t care less about the rocket ship ball but you can’t pry the globe ball away from him. Who’d have thunk? Well, they’re both enjoying the balls I bought for them, just not exactly as I had pictured.

Milestones: The major milestones, I talked about above – first plane flight, first Thanksgiving. As far as developmental milestones go, he’s soooo close to moving. He’s been doing a fair amount of rolling around to get from one place to the next, and it’s only a matter of time before he either crawls or pulls up and starts cruising. (I’m still predicting that he will skip crawling and go straight to cruising, but I could be wrong. BB-8 is a powerful crawl motivator.) He’s also doing lots of clapping (my heart, my heart, soooooooo cute) and is starting to repeat sounds, even making a few noises that have sounded like words (up, egg and uh-oh) – although I’m not counting them as first words because I don’t believe he knew what he was saying. I think he’s poised to make some big strides in the next few months.

Quirks: Nugget is a lover, not a fighter. Ha, ha, no, really. Especially when it comes to me, he’s actually aggressively affectionate. One evening, while we were out in Boulder, he attacked my face with so much slobbery love that my brother told us to get a room. Ha! He loves his dad and sister, of course, but he saves the really over-the-top affection for me. Fortunately I’m pretty into him, too.

Happy nine months, sweet baby man! I’m so glad you’re here.

December 14, 2015 by Jaclyn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 14, 2015)

The weeks keep rolling on by toward the end of the year and things continue to be crazy. My work week settled down, thanks to a postponement on the big event that I had scheduled for the end of the week – whew! Not that it means much of a reprieve – I’m still plugging away at a few projects that must be finished by the end of the year, and then there are all of the holiday tasks on the to-do list. Christmas cards are stuffed and addressed and will go out in today’s mail, so that’s done – but that just means I have to really turn my attention to shopping now. I’ve got all of Peanut’s gifts, but that’s about it – nothing for Steve, nothing for Nugget. Must fix that soon. (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!)

Despite the craziness of this week, and everything still left on my to-do list, I did manage to get some reading done. (This seems to be a theme, these days. Week is crazy. Kids, work, etc. Still got some reading done, but never enough.) I finished a comic, Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Batgirl of Burnside, and enjoyed it. Abandoned another coming, ODY-C, Vol. 1: Off to Far Ithicaa, because it was just too weird for me. (So disappointing: I was really excited about that one. The Odyssey! Gender-flipped! In space! But it was just too over-the-top.) Then I devoted a few days to Michael Dirda’s collection of essays on books and the bookish life, Browsings. I did finish it, but found it quite uneven. Every so often there would be an essay – like Aurora, his moving call to action on gun control – that I really loved. But most of them were dull, annoying or both. It was a short collection, though, so I got through it. And now I’m midway through Sisters In Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshmann. As a woman and a lawyer, I’ve benefitted and learned from both of their examples, and so I’m finding this engaging book completely fascinating.

On the reading agenda for this week: finish Sisters In Law, then tackle another library book. I have a few that are due back on December 21st, and while I think I should be able to renew them, I’m still focusing on those. I think I’ll pick up one of the two Marilynne Robinson essay collections I have out, or maybe the first volume of Black Widow.

Coming up on the blog: a nine month (!) update for Nugget on Wednesday, and a belated final update on the fall list on Friday. Have a great week, my friends!

What are you reading today?

covered in flour

the adventures of a wandering reader…