Interruptions

Noah and I had a date night last night. We had a lovely supper of meatballs, rice and green beans, after which our evening commenced. On the agenda was a movie and popcorn; the 'Sound of Music'. Then the pager went off.
Kathryn was napping, so I diddled and diddled. It was just a CO2 alarm gone off, which usually takes 5 minutes to take care of. This one took a LONG time. I think he was back at 7:30 or so. To pass the time, I looked at Pinterest till that got old, and eventually decided to make a small batch of cinnamon rolls. And so I did. They turned out beautifully. Anyway, Noah came home, with sparkling grape juice as a peace offering. :) We ended up sipping out of wine glasses and nibbling on girl scout cookies while watching Julie Andrews dance. It was fun. And then there were delectable cinnamon rolls to top the evening off. It was a grand success.

There  is a quote that sums up what I've been thinking about lately. "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."- Abraham Lincoln.  I'm a procrastinator. A very good procrastinator. Something that I finally did today that should have happened in the fall is to spritz Oxiclean on a stain on one of our kitchen chairs. When Amy and I made applesauce, we put the box of apples on a chair, but never noticed the bottom was wet until we were done. That was about 6 months ago. Is anybody else that bad?

I'm also realizing that Kathryn is gonna learn to do the same things I'm doing. She follows by example. How in the world would I be able to punish her when I'm daily teaching her bad habits?  I need to teach her that when something falls on the floor, pick it up. Instead of just looking at the leaves on the ground, get a rake and take care of them. Fold all the laundry right away instead of leaving the last load in the dryer for hours to wrinkle. But of course, there are so many other things to interrupt me instead. Things that aren't as monotonous as daily household chores.

When we found out we were expecting a baby last winter, teaching all these things was not what I included in the 'when you have a baby' mind-set. I was thinking changing diapers, reading stories, lots of cuddles, those types of things. I still get to do all those things, just the list added a few things I didn't know.  I didn't realize then that washing dishes can be a life lesson.

Spring has Sprung!

Purple tulips on a white tablecloth, puddles outside, warm weather. Spring is in the air, and I'm really enjoying it. Kathryn likes to go for stroller rides in the great outdoors, and fusses every time we need to go back into the house. I have a feeling that it won't be a punishment for her to play outside this summer! 

We had a lovely visit with my family over the weekend. Noah, Dad, and Kenny built me a gorgeous huge bookshelf. We got the thing stained and into the house yet Saturday night. Now the only problem is I don't have any length of uninterrupted wall big enough to put it on. I put all of my 30 or so books on it, and Noah's books, but the poor thing is only half full :) It now holds photo albums, picture frames, CDs, DVDs, and our vase of sand we poured at our wedding. I kinda like it not filled up. Makes it feel nicely uncluttered. We took Mom and Dad to see the house we are getting. All kinds of ideas came forth on how to make it a much more spacious-feeling home. The basement stairs are parked smack-dab in the middle of the house with the kitchen on one side, and the living room on the other. One brainstorm was to leave the stairs there, but cut the wall down to the height of the counter, and at the end put a breakfast nook or something like that. Thats my favorite yet. The papers are getting signed for this deal on Monday morning.

I tried to bake Paska yesterday. Its a traditional sweet bread with an orange and a lemon served with a special icing at Easter time. I was on the phone as I was making it, and forgot to add the eggs or the sugar. Sweet breads usually have eggs in them, but since this one no longer happened to be sweet, it turned out ok. Now you just kinda need the icing, but thats ok, since without sugar or eggs in the bread it was practically calorie free. Doesn't that make sense? It does to me. 

Catching Up

Kathryn is growing up. She used to be this little baby, contented to sit and watch the world go by. Now she gives everything she has in an effort to be a part of that world. We hear her babblings, screeches, and cries of frustration when her toys don't do what she required of them. Miss Kathryn is a very opinionated young lady. She has experienced the tastes of ice cream, bing cherry juice, orange juice, and as a very regular part of her diet, prune juice. She is exploring the delights of pulling the lace table runner towards herself so she can play with the salt and pepper holder, the wonderful crackling sounds a bread bag makes when you crunch it up. Her throwing arm is also getting its exercise.

That Old-Lady-House I mentioned in an earlier post is to become our new home this spring. Apparently moving three times is the equivalent of a house fire in terms of how much stuff you get rid of. I suppose my 'house' is about burned down then. The new place does have a basement, so that means I will have a cold pantry for my canning. It also means that I will probably have a a huge walk-in garbage bin. :(

The delights of winter are almost past. At least according to Accuweather, next week is supposed to be the last week of really cold. That makes my heart very happy. I thought about starting plants this year again instead of going to the greenhouse, but I tried that last year, and it really didn't work. Somehow it seems to work best when you are a woman with grown children. I'm not sure why, but isn't that when you magically know everything and how it works?

Happy New Year!

I didn't make new years resolutions this year. I usually would quickly think one or two lofty ones up on Dec. 31, but this time I saved myself the trouble and bother. That said, I'm going to blog about something else.

We went to see my family over Christmas, and really enjoyed our time there. We got to see people we hadn't seen in almost a year and a half. Kathryn got to meet both Great Grandmas, and about 60 other people she had no idea were related to her. They all seemed to like her though. One of my little cousins informed me that she couldn't walk yet because she was too little, but he could run really fast.
My niece decided early on that she and Kathryn were best friends. Edith also liked Noah much more this time. That may or may not have to do with the fact that he was playing a game on his computer.

Thee best part of the trip was of course the presents. I got a whole bunch of candles which have been making my house smell pretty ever since we got home. My aunts had a baby shower for Kathryn at the Christmas gathering, and we got all kinds of gorgeous clothes and a few blankets. They were all bigger sizes so that means we don't need to go shopping for a few months.

Last weekend we were planning to go to Noah's parents for Christmas, but it was supposed to storm, so early in the week we cancelled. Saturday came and the storm was pretty much non-existent.  We almost went up after all but decided not to. Lucky for us because Sunday morning we were expecting to get into a nice warm car since it had been running for 10 min. It was COLD. The blower motor fan thingy that blows the hot air into the car was not working. So we drove to Northwoods Beach with the windows open, hoping we would be able to keep the windshield from fogging up too badly that way. It got fixed on Wednesday.

We looked at a house on the weekend as well. Its an old lady house. But maybe we can turn it into a not-so-old lady house. We are waiting to hear back on that. It was decorated back in the 70's and thats still what it looks like. Oh, and it has a fully carpeted kitchen. That was the only really odd thing about it.

And Kathryn is growing up. She is making lots more sounds now. Not just throaty grunts and sighs. Its so much fun to watch her roll her tongue around in her mouth, wondering how exactly to use it. Smiles are coming much more often. Not only in response to mine, but she smiles first. Her teddy bears are also starting to get headaches, I think. She enjoys throwing them onto the floor just as much as she likes sucking on their ears. Sometimes I think she is starting to laugh, but I don't know if that is just wishful thinking or actually.

Anyway, I'm gonna be a good wife now and dream something up for supper.

Someday...

     Someday I would love to make my house look pretty again. To have everything properly wiped down, dusted, mopped, swept, and shined. All at the same time.

     Someday I would love to have a nice healthy supper, and Noah's favorite apple pie fresh from the oven to let him know that I really do still love him. 

     Some day I want to have a clutter-free house. No box of papers or stashed away things in funny corners that nobody else can see. At home, these things would have gone to live in Mom and Dad's room for them to take care of. Now that's my room, and its perplexing. 

     Someday, I want to be able to decorate my own house. Not everybody else's where I need to use the nails that somebody else put up for their things that are completely in the wrong spots for mine. I want to bang my own holes in the walls and not have it matter. (I'm not complaining, Danae :))

     Someday I want to know what the problem is every time Kathryn cries, and keep a better handle on my own attitude when she decides its jolly well playtime after her 5:00 a.m. feeding. 

     Someday I want to get over this fear that if I take Kathryn outside, she will get deathly ill and die and it will all be my fault. 

     Someday I want to be able to actually study for Sunday School. Not read the email that lists 15 passages, laugh out loud at the thought of actually getting anything profound to share. Actually to read them, study them, and do my own thinking. 

So it is Christmas

 Its December. Did you know that? I'm finding it a little hard to comprehend. Maybe its because I did most of my Christmas decorating in November, even before Thanksgiving.  Some of my family came down for a visit two weeks before Thanksgiving and helped put up the tree. We put it in front of the living room window, where it drove me crazy because it took up half the space. So one evening, Noah invited Lance for supper, and they moved the tree and rearranged the couches while I stood and directed the show. I'm much happier with these results.

Last weekend, Noah and I went Christmas shopping in Duluth, and got everything on our list. We went to the Texas Roadhouse for an early supper with Lance, Amy, Kristine, Ben, Benny, and Chadwick. The place is super noisy. We were gonna go to Bentleyville that evening to see the lights, but we got stuck in traffic up on I-35 and it would have taken long to get in, and Kathryn had had it with her car seat. Some other time, I guess.

In three weeks we are planning to go to Canada for Christmas. It'll be the first trip up since we got married. I am dreading the drive, but looking forward to being up there and seeing everybody. Last weekend we did a sort of 'trial' trip by going to Noah's parents place for the weekend. Kathryn did wonderfully. I was so proud of her. On the way home I told Noah that it would be OK if she cried for the whole next day, cause she had been so good. The problem was that God heard that.

In the last few weeks, Kathryn has smiled real smiles, and is paying much more attention to life. She gets completely mesmerized by the lights on the tree. Its so much fun to watch her:) We started putting 3-6 month clothes on her, and the poor baby is only 7 weeks old. She's growing fast!

Diapers and More

     For those of you who didn't get the news yet, Noah and I became parents just over 2 weeks ago, on October 15. We had a healthy baby girl, who we named Kathryn Grace.
   
     Since then, our schedule became full of yucky diapers, monstrous burps, some teary eyes, and of course the almost endless feedings. The latest addition to our life has been a very congested, snotty nose. Those green suction thingamajigs they send home from the hospital with you are really nice! For the mom, at least. The baby doesn't really like it. So far this morning, we have had 3 tremendous outbursts of sheer fury when that thing came close to her nose.

     But now she is sleeping peacefully. Except I did a terrible thing by putting her down on her tummy to sleep. I feel almost guilty, but not enough because she has been in that position for about 10 min now, and she is still sleeping! Every single time I put her down in her crib, she is for sure gonna be up in less than 5 min. The SIDS stats say that since babies no longer should sleep on their tummys, the death rates went down 50%. What they usually don't tell you, except I found it on some for site, is that deaths from asphyxiation and choking, and other such things have increased since then. So why is it more okay for babies to die one way than the other? And one more thing. (I'm not doubting my faith here, just wondering). God has everything all pre planned. All those babies who died from SIDS over the years, would they have died then anyway from other causes if not SIDS?

     On to other happier things. I have learned to get up early in the mornings since Kathryn was born. Really early. That goes against my grain. I like to stay up late at night and make up for it in the morning. Kathryn works the same way, except she takes naps all day long. One day when I get smart, I'm gonna post some pictures on here to make things more interesting, and so you can see my baby.

      I like to hold my baby when she sleeps. Did any of you moms do that too? Forget about folding the laundry, just lean back in your chair and cuddle your baby a little closer? They smell so babyish, and their hair is so soft. O and for your information, I am a very possessive mother. Kinda like Rapunzel's mother. At least thats who Noah compares me too :) Maybe its just one of my quirks, but it takes some getting used to going somewhere and knowing that the people there all want to have a turn holding my baby. Sometimes I will say no, not for any other reason than that I want to hold her yet too, thank you. Is that going overboard? I don't know. Ask me again though when she is a few months old, or when the next baby comes around.