Monday, January 31, 2011

thin as a pin!

So, I am sitting here reading my favorite blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, and thinking about finishing one of the handfuls of blog entries I’ve started. I keep starting them and not finishing. And then not posting.

It seems to me everyone these days has a blog!

My thought is: Why would the average person want to read this one?

Well, for one thing, my kids are hilarious. Especially Viv. Just now, she came in to tell me about this and that as she was getting ready for the bath. I offered to pull the elastics out of her hair before she got in, and when I managed to successfully do it without hurting (at least too much), she exclaimed, “That was as thin as a pin!” which basically translates as, “Congratulations, Mommy, on not pulling all my babyangel hairs out of my delicate scalp!”

A couple of nights before when getting ready for the bath, she was *ahem* doing her business (I really am sorry that the topic always seems to turn to this, but...) she was having quite a difficult time. I was beginning to be concerned, such were her obvious pains over the process. However, all my worries were quickly dispelled when she hollered (straining), “Somebody bring me some broccoli!”

I don’t know, but I think I could possibly spin something off of that.


Thursday, January 27, 2011

small milestones

Funny. I wrote this last June. She does sleep though the night now. She does! And I DO wake up, deliberately, before she does (most of the time) to just get my bearings. (It is necessary!) But for such a time- all the days and nights run together...

June 16, 2010

The day started off with a bang. Or rather, a shrill cry. Blythe woke up just before 6 a.m., an hour before I am willing to get up and start the day with her. Usually, I try my hardest to soothe her back to sleep so that we can get off on the right foot together at precisely 7 o’ clock, when we commence our daily schedule of naps and nursing at certain times, just so. We end at 7:30 p.m., setting her little internal clock on a course for success for this day and all the days of her life henceforth. Not today though. After about five times of putting the pacifier back into her mouth and caressing her cheek with the little lovey in her crib, I said, “Fuck it,” probably out loud, and threw my hands in the air. I picked her up as gently as I could and then stormed around in a stupor, fuming that I was already awake for the day.

It really wouldn’t be such a big deal, except that I’d already been awake with her about four times that night. Every two-to-few hours, Blythe wakes and cries for me, and my body flings itself out of bed before my mind even has a chance to evaluate the situation. I nurse her and lay her softly back down, hoping to go quickly back to sleep myself. On an alarming number of occasions, she will cry again at precisely the moment that I am drifting off, which is a torture like no other I can think of for comparison. Though the interval between cries in such scenarios must be quite short, my body propels itself skyward with as much urgency as ever, and in this manner the night slowly wears on.

For this reason, when 6 a.m. rolls around, and she makes every indication that she is not willing to go back to sleep, I (having no wit or rationale left) stomp around the house and curse.

So on this morning, I got up and texted my husband, who was already off to work, early as ever, but with the advantage of having a full night of sleep under his belt. Once when Lydia was new, I had a terrible cold and drugged myself up with Nyquil while Dave volunteered to sleep on the floor of her room and get up with her in the night. I still heard her first. Dave eventually awoke when I was stepping over him to pluck her out of her crib and tend to her. I still hold this example up when trying to explain to anyone else how well he can sleep though the sound of the crying child at night.

Blythe and I made ourselves comfortable downstairs with strong coffee, brewed already from the programmed coffee pot, and I chose as my devotion on this day, “Sleeping Though the Night” by Jodi Mindell. Basically, I knew I was going to have to go back to relearn something, somewhere, about getting your kid to sleep.

I love this hour. And when my children are sleeping in on a consistent basis, I love to get up before them. Even though I am naturally a night person, I relish this time alone in the morning, time to get my wits about me, time to let the caffeine kick in before being touched, demanded of, complained to, or otherwise needed by three very small, complex persons who’s sense of the world is quite urgent.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Playlist 2010

This is not so much a top ten list. It definately does not cover music mostly from this year- some songs are pretty old. But it is what we were listening to and why. We give out little homemade discs for Christmas each year. Here was our Playlist 2010:

1. Fans (Kings of Leon, Because of the Times, 2007)
Sara- I listened to this album a lot while running this year. There is nothing particular about the lyrics of the songs that moves me, but the big, open sounds on many of them, or what iTunes describes as songs that “luxuriate in mid-tempo [and] bump and shuffle with loose grooves” that makes me want to open up and move forward. Not just on a treadmill.

2. You’ve Got the Love (Florence and the Machine, Lungs, 2010)
Sara- This album was my new favorite this year. Florence has a sound that reminds me a little of Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane. Throw in some harp, power drums, and a slightly unhealthy yearning for the underworld, and you’ve got a deliciously dark and brooding album that actually does a lot to cheer me up.

3. Right as Rain (ADELE, 19, 2008)
Sara- This is from her critically acclaimed debut album of a few years ago. (She has a new release this year called 21.) I think “19” is because that is how old she was when she recorded it, which makes her soul-queen diva sound that much more impressive. These lyrics really do resonate, and though they are a little bleak, the overall mood of the song is pretty carefree, saying, “What’s so great about being ‘fine,’ anyway?”

Who wants to be riding high
When you'll just crumble back on down
You give up everything you are
And even then you don't get far
They make believe that everything
Is exactly what it seems
But at least when you're at your worst
You know how to feel things"

4. Southbound Again (Dire Straights, Dire Straights, 1978)
Dave- This is just a favorite traveling song for me since I do so much of it each year. Always to the north so at the end of each project I am always headed Southbound when it’s time to come home.

5. All the Roadrunning (Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris, All the Roadrunning)
Sara- This is one of my “desert island disks,” and I listened to it over and over while running this year. This beautiful, wistful song is one of my favorites on the album.

6. River of Tears: Live (Eric Clapton, One More Car One More Rider: Live on Tour, 2001)
Dave- After watching this DVD, there is no other version for this song. Clapton’s studio albums are a disservice to the passion and emotion he plays with. I love how the emotion of the music he is playing matches perfectly with the lyrics he is singing. Also I relate not to the heartache of love lost but to the constant overwhelming feeling of wishing

“In three more days, I'll leave this town
And disappear without a trace.
A year from now, maybe settle down
Where no one knows my face.”

7. Impossible Germany: Live (Wilco, Ashes of American Flags, 2009 – but I had to get this live recording from something called Rock the Net: Musicians for Neutrality)
Dave- Beautiful guitar parts. Great tone. (3 different fenders I might add). I love the layers spun from the melody.

8. On My Way Back Home (Band of Horses, Infinite Arms)
Dave & Sara- Simple, melodic and gorgeous. We love it. If you love this too, it’s worth buying the actual disk just for the accompanying album art. Another traveling song.

9. Into the Mystic (Van Morrison, Moondance)
Dave- This song makes me think of Sara and I when we were young.
For most of my life I wasn’t much of a Van Morrison fan until I learned recently that he and I dislike some of his same songs. He was rather socially awkward and would often have panic attacks before a show. He didn’t even show up for his own induction into the rock and roll hall of fame. He was kind of uncomfortable with his own success and felt it discredited his music. He is an artist and a great songwriter. I love this whole album. Rediscover it. It’s worth the listen.

10. For the Summer (Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs, God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise, 2010)
Dave- Ray LaMontagne is one of my recent favorite singer-songwriters. I love this song as well because it is about traveling home after being gone for too long. I share the feelings behind every lyric in this song. This is probably my album of the year and my favorite song on it.

11. Windows Are Rolled Down (Amos Lee, Mission Bell)
Dave & Sara-
We both love this guy. Hands down one of our mutual, absolute favorite singer-songwriters. You’ve heard it all before. This is a new song from his album that will be released in 2011. We are looking forward to this new album and to a new year in 2011.