What vertigo will do

Thursday was lost to a bout of vertigo (neck alignment issues, yuck!), and part of Friday too, but having recovered, I find I am full-er of pep and vigour than I have been in a long time. Finished our headboard, finally (which I promised photos of and cannot deliver tonight...I keep forgetting to take a shot in the daytime), got through a lot of sorting in my upstairs "studio" (I must decide on a good name for this space), and started a fun little gift for samuel wyatt yuen harstone, who is about to turn one year old (will post photos, eventually). I also took possession of a shared serger, learned how to use it, and have started planning christmas gifts galore!

This is a mixed time of year for me. Dad died on December 12th last year and that has changed this season for us all, at least a little bit. But I also love christmas, when I can do it the way I like - which is to make things for people I love, see as many of them as possible, and wear fancy dresses. So on I go, in the spirit of dad in his best moments, trying to remember to enjoy all the many luxuries I have in my possession...a cozy place to sleep, hot tea in the morning, cool whiskey in the evening and lots of family and friends in between.

Speaking of whom, I have posted some new photos, finally, on flikr. The style page boasts a shot of a new sweater (thanks Annabelle!), the village page shows some new (and old) visitors, and the faces page includes some of his maturing visage...enjoy!

Busy but good

Busy weekend, very satisfying. Photos to follow. (only 7 words, I know, but way past time for bed...!)

Grandmas to the rescue

After a night of very little sleep and a day spent wandering around in the rain waiting for a repair to our van that never happened, I should be exhausted and grumpy. And yes, I am exhausted, but thanks to two wonderful grandmas, not so grumpy. They granted me three whole hours of sleep, whisking Jaya away for some shopping, then brought home dinner, left me a car to get to Bellingham in and took the dog so I don't have to worry about walking her for the next few days. Now that's something to be grateful for, this evening before American thanksgiving.

So tonight, a little blessing for grandmas everywhere. Praise be for your tending, tea-making, tidying, and treasuring.

Such luck

On my own tonight, I think I am especially aware of the enormous change this child has brought into my life. I am sitting in the living room where I have sat so many nights, on my own, with others, early and late. And yet, everything is different because he is here.

Some days, most days actually, it's a leap of faith to realize that the tiny child asleep in our bed is someone we created. Someone we are responsible for, and to, for the rest of our lives.

When he cries, and I have to stop what I'm doing to comfort, it's annoying or exhausting or at the very least emotionally draining, and then, when he's comforted and his little face relaxes and his head nods back on my arm, the drool running down his chin and the smile flickering in sleep, it really is like love overtakes my heart and makes it stop just for a moment, in awe perhaps, at how much feeling it is possible to have. And that is the warm thought I take with me to sleep tonight.

Eventually, the second one hundred (or thereabouts)

Well, so much for hundred words a day. We have had a blip in the sleep schedule, and it seemed wiser to catch what rest I could than to write about my lack of it. So a break was necessary.

And now I find I am having trouble knowing what I want to write about anyway. I am writing sentences, deleting them, writing others, and deleting those. Much like my rare moments of "free time" these days, I have stored up so much for these few minutes, I can't sort out which ones I want to unpack first and end up tumbling around unproductively for the duration. I think tonight is just the warm up, then, getting me here again, and hoping to bring me back tomorrow. Oh, and I have photos to upload - another task for tomorrow...but here's one in the meantime, anyway...our pumpkin at four months...

The first one hundred

So, it turns out that Jaya is still sensitive to dairy.

I ventured into the world of milk-based products this weekend (oh, cheese, how I have missed you) and was last night roundly thumped for it by two tiny yet persistently gassy feet. And today's bedtime was about an hour and half delayed by an upset tummy and a subsequently squirmy kid. I am still optimistic about a relatively smooth night ahead, but with little foundation in reality. Yet more proof that parenthood can be defined as leaving behind the joys of one's adulthood for less predictable (and sometimes less tasty) wanderings.

As I was writing this, Jaya woke for his regular 1 hour post-bedtime fuss and when I went in to settle him, Kelsey, who is sleeping beside him said, "he just had a giant fart", and I said, "oh good, well done!". Yes, these are indeed strange times...

A long deep breath

First off, I can't figure out how to respond to comments people make to postings, so let me just say, thanks to those of you who have commented, and especially thanks to sara t. for reminding me to get back to it.

My excuse, predictably enough, is lack of sleep. Jaya was on a strict schedule of staying up later and later, culminating in a 1:30 am bedtime that put the kibosh (is that how you spell that?) on my "after bedtime me-time". We have now, and actually, with surprising ease, found a bedtime rhythm that seems to work for all of us. Of course, now that I have committed my pleasure with this rhythm to writing, it will change. But for tonight, we still have an 8pm bedtime that allows me and us a little bit of time for being adults. Which means it's time to get back to writing.

Inspired by some great writing ("Away We Go" is hilarious and you should see it if you haven't, also "Middlesex" is a great story and you should read it if you haven't), the fact that this month is Novel Writing Month (during which writers attempt to write a novel in a month...which I am not doing, by the way, and you probably shouldn't either), and an old english teacher of mine who used to make us write 250 word stories using ten obscure words (thanks Ms. Bevis), I am going to commit to writing 100 words a day. I'll share them here, I'll write more if I have time, and I won't worry too much about what words they are. But there will be at least 100 of them every day, at least until the next unscheduled interruption...starting tomorrow...