My Photo

31 for 21


  • Get It Down; 31 for 21

Team Jam Jar

  • Buddy Walk 2007
    Thank you for supporting Team Jam Jar! We raised over $2200--far exceeding our goals! We really appreciate all your help!

Um....? Yum!

I finally found a fast food burrito place in the vicinity of my very own home. Hello, Chipotle. I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Fresh, organic, farm raised meats. And cheap. I may be 15 weeks pregnant? But that? That is a burrito in my belly.

Side note: went to a newcomers meeting this morning. It was a lot of fun! I knew we were in the right place when I saw the bumper sticker that said "My kid has more chromosomes than yours." I don't generally subscribe to those kinds of bumpers stickers, but it helped us find the meeting!

So many cute kids. And we met a couple other young/newer parents and even got some phone numbers and made a tentative date to go to this new restaurant called Clementine with one couple we met who's adorable daughter, Amara, is about 9-ish months old and going to be having heart surgery towards the end of the summer. It felt good to be able to chat for a minute about Georgia's surgery and tell them how much it changed Georgia's entire life! It's like night and day before and after surgery. I so hope their little Amara has an easy time of it. As easy as heart surgery can be!

I know I have questioned (at least to myself) how or why these meetings would be important to me, but it is just so incredible to be around other folks who know what it's like. Who don't flinch at the sight of a feeding tube or talk of heart surgery. And a lot of the other folks we've met so far, this is their first child who has DS too. There are similarities with EVERYONE who's child has DS, but when it is your first there's this other level of connectedness. And because it was a Saturday there were lots of dads there, which I think was good for Alex. We met this other couple who had a 3 month old son who was also a cutie and I got their number as well. The woman/mom was so forthright and sweet and funny and the dad seemed really cool too. And the best part is that all these people live, like, within 5 miles of us!

Maybe I've found a way to make friends after all. I was a little bummed to find out that MOST the other moms also work (at least part time), but that's just because I want them all to be available all the time to hang out with me! Hell. Maybe I ought to get a job on the weekends.

Or not. Not now anyway. But maybe after Doobie Number Twobie.

Scootchie Pants

Something really cool happened today. I let Georgia play on the floor in the bathroom while I showered and when I was done I opened the bathroom door and went to my bedroom (right next door) to get changed. I kept saying "Come on Georgia, Come in here!" And stuff like that when all of a sudden I saw her little face peer around the corner. It was only about 4.5 feet and it took about 7 minutes, but the fact that she CAME when I called her? That her she was able to get her little face to peer around the corner of ANOTHER room at me? It made my heart stop a second.

She's been getting around by pulling one knee up under her and stretching her other leg out. So she uses her hands, 1 knee and 1 foot. It's slow and utterly uncoordinated, but it's so much more than she's ever done that it's really exciting. She's also been standing up on her feet with her hands down, sort of like and A-position or something? I wouldn't be surprised if she starts wheelbarrowing herself around like that one of these days!

Spoke with the school system today (we've been in talks for a couple weeks while we awaited a particular person in VT to get her act together and send us G's paperwork) and we have a joint meeting set up with an OT, PT and ST for June 6th. Finally. I am looking forward to getting things started down here.

Finds

Georgia and I took a morning jaunt to the Goodwill because I was in dire need of some tchotchkes and this is the type of trip Alex cannot tolerate. He has very little interest in tag sales, flea markets, consignment shops, antique shops, art galleries...yeah. We are complete opposites. I hate to admit that I have tended to give up on those types of things that I like doing because he can be such a bear about it that we usually just do something else. I am happy to say Georgia is a tad more amenable to her mother's curiosities. Also, we haven't opened the boxes with the artwork in them yet and the house is feeling bare--despite those boxes and piles of junk I keep telling you about.

Now, I am the first to say, I don't like clutter. I don't like a lot of junk. But while I am exhaling that little gem I am usually inhaling the beauty of other people's homes and design ideas and I just have to say, I have a hankering for the cozy, the nostalgic, the old. Things with history. Things that last. Things that tell a story. Things that make you feel all homey and mushy like you are swimming in a big warm bath of apple cider. Er...or something.

This is going to make VERY little sense, but something about the music they were playing on the radio (on my new fave staysh) on the way out to the store put me in the mood for some finds. Lover, You Should Have Come Over, by Jeff Buckley always puts me in a contemplative reflective nostalgic (yes, all those things) mood and they also played this David Grey song, My Oh My, that has been catching my ear, which is funny because I am not sure how I feel about Mr. Grey, but I especially like when he emphatically almost talks the line, "You know I used to be so definite."

Anyhow, that's neither here nor there. I guess I am just coming to terms with the fact that I am on my own (with the company of the little imp) most days all of a sudden now. And I will be the first to admit that I think Alex and I had developed a bit of a co-dependent marrieds thing. So I am embracing this new "freedom" in which I can do and go and shop and gather and decorate and listen and spend my time more or less the way I want. Providing, of course, I have cooperation from Miss Georgy-pants.

So. After a bunch of gobbledy-gook I bring you my finds.

First a paper cut of a mother and child. It's framed and encircled in some saying about gifts, but I think I am going to take the actual cutting out and place it on a different background, paint the frame and hang it up in one of the kid's rooms.

Papercut

I really love children's book illustrations from the late 19th and early-mid 20th century. My friend, Mike, who is an amazing artist and has his own mural company and I have been "in discussions" about his painting a mural for Georgia's room. Since he lives in Boston and is not able to come down for the length of time it would take to do a mural in Baltimore he is instead going to work on a set of panels for her room. We don't have definite sketches yet, but we've been talking about doing paintings that are derivative of Golden books from the 1940s/50s (without giving too much away, i.e. here).

As much as I love children's book illustrations I don't really have anything that supports that supposed love. A few books here and there and you may occasionally find me cruising websites just looking at artwork, but I never buy anything. I am not really much of a collector of anything. Collections kind of stress me out. I feel they are too definitive and I can't help but feel pigeonholed and contrived the minute I start "collecting". It's just another one of my little things.

Anyhow, I found this Kate Greenaway print with the strangely alluring and cryptic poem Higgledy, Piggledy (A double dactyl! See? That degree in poetry didn't go completely to waste!) from 1895. The print:

Higpig

The poem:

Higgledy, Piggledy! see how they run!

Hopperty, Popperty, what is the fun?

Has the Sun, or the Moon, tumbled into the Sea?

What is the matter, now tell unto me.

Higgledy, Piggledy, how can I tell?

Hopperty, Popperty, hark to the bell!

Big ones, and little ones, scamper away,

For nobody knows, what will happen to-day!

See? Weird poem, eh? What will happen today?

Anyhow, it's framed rather nicely in a gold frame so I think I will hang it (again in one of the kids' rooms) as is. Come to think of it, just about everything I got is for one or the other of the kids' rooms.

Then, the lamp! Oh, how I love this lamp! I didn't realize JUST how much I loved it until I brought it home and discovered all it's little secrets. For instance, it's stamped on the bottom October 1976 (when I would have been 1-2 months old); there is a light inside the pumpkin that illuminates it (and hello? Pumpkins? I love pumpkins!); it reminds me of my childhood because either I, or my aunt, or my cousin, or my grandmother, or a friend? I dunno...but SOMEONE had a lamp very much like this and I love it now as much as I did then. And lastly, that little guy? He twirls around while one of my favorite nursery rhymes of childhood tinkles along!

The lamp (I need to clean it up and get a shade still):

Pumplamp

I also got a little wooden shelf to hang on the wall to house some of my doodads, but I don't have a picture of it.

And last but not least. I found this sort of bag with these folded up posters in it. From what I could see it looked like the posters were sort of country scene illustrations for kids. I thought, "Well, I DID want to get something stimulating to hang either in Georgia's room (while we await the mural) or in the playroom." (Not to mention the other upcoming muffin will be needing some color on his/her walls as well!)

It wasn't convenient to really pull all the posters out of the bag as they were kind of big and unmanageable, but I could see I liked the theme, if you will. It was sort of farm-y and Vermont-y and I liked the colors. And as much as I am allowing myself to live in this new place in my new life? You can take the girl out of Vermont, but you can't take the Vermont out of the girl! Alex and I still talk about one day having a house there (although we'll probably stick to southern Vermont, truth be told).

Anyhow, for $5 I said "Throw it in the cart!"

It wasn't until I got home that I realized it was 3 large posters that fit together to form a sort of mural of their own. It was hard to get a picture of them since they are not yet hanging up and the thing is like, 4'x10' or something crazy like that. Anyhow...I am not sure where it will go just yet, but I love the thought of pointing out the horses and cows and pigs and sheep and dogs and cats and barns and farm houses and chickens and tractors and mountains and farmers and whatever all else is in there and telling the kids all about Vermont and New Hampshire for that matter where half their grandparents live and "going there" once in awhile when we can't go there for real.

See?
Vtmural

And all that for about thirty bucks. By the time we got home Georgia was napping hard enough to stay asleep when I carried her in the house and now I have spent the majority of my "doing stuff while the baby naps" time writing this ridonkulously long post. Them's the breaks!

Morning Progression

If Georgia wakes up in a good mood (so much relies on this little fact) it's one of the best times of the day. She's playful, cuddly, smiley, and ready to do things like point at my nose or show me her belly. She's ready to tackle the day and its tasks and she's not yet frustrated or intolerant or bored by the things I am asking of her.

When we finally go downstairs I give her her meds and then we have the dreaded 30 minute wait. Honestly, some mornings she doesn't mind the wait. But some mornings things dissolve after that two bite bit of apple sauce and medicine.

That's where Signing Time comes in. It seems to be making an appearance more and more in our lives these days.

Morning hair:
Am1
On the way to a breakdown while mom is fumbling with DVD player. (A mother knows these faces. Looks harmless enough, doesn't it?)
Am2
"You mean you are putting in Signing Time!? How did you know!?"
Am3
Georgia tends to do little hand gestures right BEFORE the movie starts. I don't know if this is significant, but I choose to say yes, it is.
Am4
But mostly she just stares and/or plays with her feet while watching.
Am5
Ahhhh...happy.

More Pickshas

For those who said the house looks nice and homey and cozy, thanks! I have to admit, I was shooting AWAY from the junk and sadly only the living room and kitchen are relatively unpacked as of yet. We keep moving things from one space to another and at this rate the basement "playroom/Mom's studio" is not going to actually become anything other than box and excess stuff storage for awhile.

Our bedrooms (less the newbie's which has become the temporary junk room) are on their way to being unpacked, but it seems as soon as you get some stuff unpacked and put away all of a sudden the stuff you've been using pops out and lands all over. Such is life. There's always laundry to be done. Especially when you have a pooptastic kiddo. Which, I am happy to report seems to be abating. I did give the little gal some yogurt yesterday (thanks for the tip), but mostly we stuck to Pedialyte as per doctor's orders. Because of the accompanying fever the thought is Georgia had a bug (on top of all the other bugs). As of later yesterday she has seemed MUCH better and it's so nice to be reminded once in awhile of what a sweetie she can be!

She's probably going to grow out of this thing in five seconds, but I finally came upon a Johnny Jump Up again and decided to get it so she can bounce while I cook dinner. We got one at the last apartment but it didn't work in any of the wonky doorways. And apparently PTs frown on these because of the loose hips thing, but I honestly can't help but think it will help G develop leg strength. She was much LESS sure of it than I thought she would be, but I think she'll warm up to it. I don't think she quite gets the concept yet.

First time in (see, she looks a little perplexed) view from dining room:
1sttimejonny
But then she warms up a little (view from kitchen):
Honnyjumpup
She didn't bounce so much as sway and she seemed timid to put pressure on her legs which is funny because she'll stand up when we hold her hands and while in her exersaucer. So who knows?

Then Daddy came home and was surprised to see the squirt hangin' around (note the junk all over the place):
Dadhome
And this is from last night at the dinner table:
Dinnertime
She was alternately being a cutie-pie and then making the what we call "Granny face" (the face is accompanied by this mysterious little playful moaning noise and then she peeks to see if we are watching her. Too much!):
Granny

Bringing Home the Bacon, One Slice at a Time


  • BlogHer Ad Network
    More from BlogHer
    Advertise here
    BlogHer Privacy Policy

Doin' Stuff


  • Wrapped Emotions button
Blog powered by TypePad
Member since 01/2006