Tuesday, May 29, 2012

a tradition begins.

WHAT a glorious weekend.

For those of us who live in a vacation spot, it's sometimes easy to forget - to focus more on the differences between ourselves and the people who come seasonally "from away". But there are similarities, too...there's something about this spot that draws people from afar to the rocky beaches, the foggy harbor, the isolation, the serenity.

Lucky for me, I have a friend who reminds me every once in a while to enjoy this place I live instead of working myself into the ground every summer.

We had one of those days on Memorial Day, when we spent an early evening at the beach with friends, barbeque-ing, sitting still (as much as one can with an *almost* 11-month old!), and appreciating our surroundings and each other. 

There was talk of this becoming a weekly tradition. That would be okay with me.
Finn's first experience in the ocean - definitely not sure about it at first, but who can suppress a smile when when Mommy and Daddy sing "The Wheels on the Bus?"



Chad's got a bit of a warped sense of humor. We call this one "Sacrificial Baby".
We need more moments like this in our lives.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, friends.

Monday, May 28, 2012

baaa.

so for the past few weeks, finn's taken a bit of a shining to goat's milk.
it's great for me because it allowed me to go away for the first time (ah sleep, sweet sleep), and it also means that he'll take a bottle from me now, which is a totally new experience. it's tricky learning how to hold him and hold the bottle when i'm used to just sticking him on "the boob" (as we call it around here).
so now my role has changed from sole provider of sustenance to primarily soothing. it's been pretty seamless and we've both adapted well to it. i've been so busy that i didn't have time to think too much about it, which is just as well. i try hard not to get too precious about anything...i can be extremely sentimental, and it would just be overwhelming if i really thought about how much he's grown and changed already (at almost 11 months old!), and at such a rapid rate.
see, now i'm thinking about it and getting all choked up and misty. it's just as well that i haven't been able to think too much about it.
the decision to start with goat's milk was precipitated by the acknowledgment that i was running out of stores of breast milk and we were going to need to send something to day care with him when i'm at my new part-time job. i really didn't want to supplement with formula and figured that the milk is at least super local and plentiful for now.
the only snafu in the whole process was ordering his bottle. i thought i was ordering him one to match mine, which is a dark red, so i ordered raspberry, which - it turns out - is bright screaming pink.
ah well, luckily i married a guy whose masculinity isn't challenged by a little bit of challenging gender stereotypes.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Sarah's Big Adventure

Big news, folks.

Last week, I spent my first night away from Chad and Finn.
And guess what? We all survived.
I know, I know - shocking but true.  It was a very spontaneous, last-minute whirlwind trip to pick up costumes for Singin' in the Rain.  It was just the right amount of time for a first night away - off on the 1:00 boat, and back on the 2:45. There was some knitting, some amaaaaaazing fries at Duckfat (always, always get the garlic aioli), some great conversation, and a whole lotta COSTUMES. Wow, I had no idea that many clothes could fit into one place. It was amazing.
Then there was Thai food and a solid night's sleep with just a twinge of guilt knowing Chad would be getting up at least once (yeah, that sleeping through the night thing didn't last long).
The next morning, we went to Bintliff's for breakfast (splurged on the smoked salmon plate), which fueled us up for an epic morning of errand-running (am I the only one who gets ridiculously excited about going to Trader Joe's?). Man, living on an island really makes you a marathon shopper - you would not BELIEVE how much we got done before 10am.
En route home, we stopped at Pyro City. Can you believe that there is a place called Pyro City? It's a fireworks emporium and my partner in crime needed to pick some sparklers up. I tried to resist the temptation, but it was too strong, and I wound up going in. Wow, what a trip. The place was INSANE. I gave in and bought one that I was assured is not too loud for Finn's birthday. If it goes well (meaning we're all intact after setting it off), we might wind up making it a tradition - I mean, why not take advantage of the fact that his birthday is the day before the 4th of July? 
Anyhoo, it was a fantastic getaway...apart from the fact that my faithful breast pump decided to kick the bucket while we were gone, meaning I was (literally) exploding when I finally picked up Finn, who was only too happy to provide me with some relief.

Turned out that he and daddy had had a perfectly lovely evening - only got up once in the night for a quick bottle. He was happy to see me...truth be told, I don't actually think he noticed that I was gone. Does it hurt? A little. But it also sort of feels like I've opened a Pandora's Box...
...but really, who could spent TOO long away from this one?
Not me.

Friday, May 18, 2012

oof.

Unbelievably busy week.
Sick child.
No blog posts.
Back next week.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

this

Just stopping in on this unbelievably beautiful day to share this.

Because it's exactly how I feel in someone else's words.

Hope you're all having a simply scrumptious weekend!

Friday, May 11, 2012

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

carnage.

sometimes, i'm really good at being at the ready to capture significant moments in finn's life.
sometimes i'm not.
and it's times like those when i'm very happy to have friends who whip out their ipads to photograph...
drum roll please.......
finn's first chocolate chip cookie: the aftermath.



i mean, come on.
just look at those eyes.

Monday, May 7, 2012

doing the wave.

i just watched finn learn how to wave.

how crazy is that? he just learned how to do this thing all of a sudden, after watching people wave at him, today he just started doing it on his own. he's obviously quite pleased with himself that he can make people waggle their arms enthusiastically at him by doing it himself.

man, it's just so trippy watching all these firsts, knowing that it's all just the beginning, over and over again.

(if my son has waved to you before now, please let me live in my little denial that i saw it happen first).

Friday, May 4, 2012

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.



Wednesday, May 2, 2012

punk

so we had a little baby food crisis last week.

first off, let me say that i was NOT going to feed my child packaged baby food. heck no. instead, i spent time steaming, pureeing and freezing butternut, apple, spinach, pear, sweet potato...the list goes on.
when i offered him those items in the first place, he was a fan, so i froze them, feeling very proud and giving myself a little pat on the back.

then finn stopped eating all the food i so lovingly put away for him.

so i decided i'd just puree up whatever we were eating and give that to him. the same thing happened. he ate it up for about a week or two, then nothing.

THEN we went over to a friend's house who had some of the happy baby packets, and finn tried a spinach-mango-pear blend that he LOVED. so finn's grammie went over to the mainland and picked up a selection, all of which he ate with gusto. it seemed like we had found a winner, so i ordered a bunch more on line...when they still hadn't arrived a week later, and we were back to table food - hummus, yogurt, etc.

when the packets finally arrived, he practically inhaled one, giving me a huge sigh of relief. but evidently, that was a fluke because he hasn't eaten more than two or three bites since and is getting VERY well-versed in the joys of blowing raspberries with a mouth full of pureed food of various colors. we've tried loads of different varieties, but just can't get him interested again. of course, this cloud does have a silver lining - he's a pretty cute kid in general, but man - when he wrinkles his nose in disgust at something, it is pretty friggin adorable.

so i guess this is just another lesson - there is no predicting the whims of mr. finnley james. we just have to go with the flow. it is encouraging, though, that he digs guacamole, hummus, quinoa chili, scrambled eggs, and (as was evidenced  last night) greek orzo salad with feta and fermented garlic.



what a character.