All about Mama

Oh, noes! I've been tagged! (For those of you unfamiliar with the blogosphere, "tagging" is what happens when someone completes a meme [quiz or questionnaire, usually] and then asks another blogger to complete the same meme on their blog.) I'm going to refrain from tagging anyone else, though. 'Cause I think everyone who reads this has already been tagged.

The Rules: Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.

1) I used to be a cowgirl. I have a degree in Agricultural Business and spent time on a cattle station in Australia and a feedlot in Idaho. I loved the work - being outdoors, riding a horse, even building or repairing fence had a satisfaction to it that I never got from an office job. But I didn't like the people or (most of their) attitudes, esp. when it came to the environment.

2) I am a twin. That won't be news to most of you :-) I am second born by 10 minutes. There are two parts to the family folklore: a) Mom didn't know she was pregnant with twins, and only found out after my sister was born; and b) I kicked her out so as to have the womb to myself. Well, here she is getting me back by hitting me in the butt with a hammer when we were about two years old.

3) If my upper back and the back of my neck are cold, then I am cold. You'd think this would translate to a love of turtlenecks, but alas, I hate things close around the front of my neck - it makes me feel as if I am choking. Instead, I love any sweatshirt or sweater that covers the back of my neck, like hoodies or funnel necks. Before I had Chase, my favorites were half-zip sweaters, but now I need/like things that zip all the way open so that my lower back doesn't get cold when I nurse. And wow this makes me sound really picky, doesn't it??

4) I have always wanted kids, and when I was about 12, I decided my daughter (because I was NOT having a boy!) would be named Katharine Anne. Oh, to be mother to cute little Katie, who would grow up to be sharp and sophisticated Kate! But when I got pregnant, even before I found out that I was, indeed, having a boy, the name never crossed my mind. Because by then, the world - or at least elementary schools - was full of Katies and Kaitlyns. Instead, my chosen girl name was Claire Elizabeth.

5) I never outgrew phases. I think every kid and teenager goes through phases, but I feel like I went through quite a few as an adult. First there was the cowgirl phase, really an extention of teenagedom. Then I entered my soccer phase, where I was crazy about all things "futbol" - I started playing soccer when I was 24, I practically lived at the local British pub, I dated soccer players, and I fanatically followed the USA Women's team. OK, not too fanatically. But there was a time I knew all the players, knew when the matches were, etc. etc. I've attended both men's and women's World Cup matches, several NCAA finals games, and of course many San Jose Earthquakes games. Need I say the soccer phase also incorporated a wild party phase? Well, it did. Eventually, I grew out of that and entered my writer phase. And now I'm in my stay-at-home-mom phase, which I am enjoying very much, thank you. I wonder what will come next? Will I go back to the writer phase, find something new (knitting, anyone??), or outgrow phases altogether and find balance by incorporating all my loves into one glorious life?

6) I can trace my ancestry back to the Mayflower. That's on one side (my mother's). On the other side, my grandfather emigrated from Germany just prior to WWII. I'd say close to 75% of my genes are British (with the rest Irish, German, and Swedish), but I look very German - so much so that when I went to Europe in 1998, nearly everyone spoke to me in German.

7) I wish I were more Bohemian, that I were one of those people who wears flowy skirts, has purple hair or dreads, and lives in a loft. But I've never felt comfortable when I tried those things. Perhaps it's just that the lifestyle is better in fantasy in reality. But I guess at heart, I'm just a jeans-and-a-t-shirt, drivin' my Subaru kind of girl. :-)

I missed it by a day

Dear Chase,

You were 11 months old yesterday. Perhaps if I were a more organized mama, I would have remembered to make this post then, instead of doing it a day late. Well, you can't have everything, I suppose.

Dada and I have been looking back through photos of your life, getting ready for your first birthday. I can't believe it's only 30 days away! I also can't believe how small you once were, or how much things have changed.

I mean, bathtime sure isn't like THIS anymore. You like it a lot more now, that's for certain. You crawl around and play with the bath toys. And you love it when we lay you on your back. Oh, then you become what Dada calls "The Kick Kick Kid"! With a big grin on your face, you kick at the water and make lots of noise and splashes.







You don't sleep like this anymore, either. Although you are sleeping soundly right now, which is how I have time for this post. Your new routine is to take VERY long naps, and you only need me there to get you to sleep. So you are on your own, and I am able to blog, or read, or knit, or even clean (not that I make that choice often!). You still sometimes sleep in my lap, and I'm grateful you haven't outgrown that yet. And you still sleep in our bed with us most of the night. Although I am not always appreciative of your feet in my chest, I love feeling you snuggled up to me, and I love your first-thing-in-the-morning smiles.


You still like to chew on this remote, too, although now that you have six teeth, perhaps it isn't such a good idea. You have lots of other toys that you actually play with now. Blocks and balls, shakers and tambourines, and a rainstick your daddy
just got you. You also play with the curtains, and my slippers, and the coasters on the coffee table. We got rid of one of the TVs so you wouldn't play with that so much, and today you spent a bit of time teaching yourself how the doggie door works. Oh, that's another of your favorites - trying to pet the dog. It is difficult when she moves as soon as she sees you coming, but the grin on your face when you succeed is just priceless!

There is lots more to tell you about, but I will save the rest for your big ONE YEAR post.

For now, here's a big kiss, baby {MWAH!} Sleep well. Mama loves you!

Keeping promises

James just came in an reminded me that I haven't posted in over a week. And I promised I would post a couple of times a week. So, here is an entry ;-)

First Christmas Snow

I think I mentioned that we had snow on Christmas Day, right around noon. It was very wet, and didn't stick around for long, but the huge soft flakes were very pretty! Mama bundled Chase up and took him outside to experience it. He doesn't look very thrilled, does he? But we were thrilled our across-the-street neighbor, Jeff, was outside with his very nice camera and took this photo to preserve the experience for posterity.


These may not need to be preserved for posterity, but they ARE the first pair of socks I've ever knit. Also, so far, the only pair. It was hard getting a photo of them in action. Chase was far too interested in something else - trying to catch the dog, probably - to pose for Mama. That's OK. I have since made him a pair of matching mittens, and those don't stay on too well, either.

Before and After

Chase has great gobs of hair. We don't know where he gets it from; goodness knows neither of his parents are particularly blessed with loads of hair. But Chase was born with a head-full, and somewhere around 6 or 7 months old, he started getting more, and what he had already started getting long. Eventually those long bits started getting in his eyes all the time. Much as I hated to do it, we had to cut them. Mama did it in the kitchen with her old haircutting scissors (the ones she used to use on Auntie Greta in the backyard) with Chase sitting in his Tripp-trapp chair. Do you think he knows this kind of tending is just another type of Mama kisses?

Eats

I had a post all written earlier, in my head. When I was unable to get anywhere near the computer. Maybe it was in the wee hours of the morning, when Chase was nursing, and I couldn't sleep? I don't remember now, just a few hours later, and that should give you some idea of what happens to a mama's brain in the first year of parenting!

I do remember the post was going to be about food, and eating, and Chase. Always about Chase ;-)

I've been baking lately. It started at Christmas time, when I made some cookies for a "craft" swap. I promised 3 dozen cookies, and I didn't feel right giving the person 3 dozen of the SAME cookies, so I made three different kinds. Well, four kinds, actually, but one didn't turn out. I've been trying my hand at bread, too, but not very successfuly. And yesterday I made scones.

I realized I approach baking and knitting in much the same way - I make little changes here and there to better suit my tastes and my talents. I guess I've been doing this with cooking for so long that it seemed a natural approach with knitting, but it sure freaking my knitting friend out when I talked aobut making changes to a pattern - my first real garment, and the changes weren't simple ones like substituting the yarn, either. Though I did that, too! Wait, this isn't supposed to be a post about knitting! Back on track.

Chase gnawing on an apple core.

We started Chase on solid food back in the summer by letting him lick and suck on the pears and apples I was eating. A month or two later, we introduced him to bits of banana, sweet potato, white potato, avocado (not a success), steamed carrots, grean beans and red bell pepper. Yes, all things he could pick up on his own and eat as he wished. No purees here - we are following a trend the Brits call "Baby Led Weaning", although it doesn't have to do with weaning the way Americans think of it. It has to do with letting the baby be in charge of his food, and with letting them explore the natural tastes and textures of food, something that doesn't really happen so much with the "baby food" you can buy at the grocery store.

Extra bonuses - (a) It costs less. He just gets bits from our plates most meals. (b) We get to eat! At the same time! All three of us! No one is stuck "feeding the baby" while the other parent eats, and we aren't feeding Chase at his own mealtime. We get to have meals as a family, all eating basically the same thing. And Chase is getting better and better at actually getting the food in his mouth, although he still gets the majority of his nutrition and calories from breastmilk, and he loves his "nursies."

Oh, right! That is how I'm writing this post today. See, I knew it started somewhere...I am going to a mama-baby blessing this afternoon, and leaving the boy home with Dada. So I am pumping, something I don't do oftehm. I can't do much else when I pump, as I'm stuck in the chair. But I can type! I can also knit.

Which is what I think I'm going to do now. 'Cause this entry is SO adrift, I have no idea how to wind it up except by saying, "The End."

Mama's been a bad, bad blogger!

Another month and more has gone by, and I've been ruminating on why I find it so hard to write here.

In part, it is because of limited time on the computer. That boy can crawl now, and it's much harder to let him do his own thing - I have to keep an eye out to make sure he isn't about to kill himself by chewing on a power cord or pulling a chair on top of himself.

But more it is due to one of my definitions of self. Although "writer" has been (happily) usurped by "mama" and "partner" at the top of my list of Who I Am, it is still a huge part of my identity. And I know too many of you - my family and friends - have that view of me as well. After all, I'm still the girl who took three years off to write novels. And shouldn't a writer have a well-written blog?

Perhaps, though, that it is better to have a poorly written blog than no blog at all. You'll have to let me know. Because I hereby resolve to write an entry at least twice a week. Even if that entry contains nothing but photos - no captions, even! - something will show up here.