About a week after the move, we traveled to NC for a (beautiful) wedding, which was at Dean's parents' house, then Amelia and I stayed with my parents for several days. At both places, Amelia basked in her grandparents' undying love. Last Friday, A and I flew home. Traveling alone with her was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be.
We flew from Charlotte through Houston on the way home, and we flew, I think, over the oil spill. I looked down--which I rarely do in a plane--and couldn't tell if we were over land or water. What was below was brownish, like bare dirty land, but there were tiny specks that seemed to be leaving a wake as in water. After a few minutes the brown gradually gave way to blue. So sad. I have been trying to think of ways we can further decrease our oil consumption.
We spent most of the weekend trying to get our house into order. It is still not finished. I finally took my clothes out of boxes yesterday but now I simply have clothes strewn about the bedroom. The golden age of Amelia sitting and playing with things has mostly passed; she wants to be held or to hold your fingers and pull herself to standing or for you to sit with her and watch her practice crawling. All of which I am happy to do. I just can't get anything else done.
We have fallen into the beginnings of a pleasant little weekday routine. Wake up, breakfast, go to the park, nap, playtime, lunch, more playtime or an outing, nap again, play and snack, a dip in the baby pool, and another nap in the stroller just before Dean comes home. During Amelia's morning nap I have been writing and during the afternoon nap, reading. We've been twice to "Book Babies" at a nearby library and I've met two moms, one at Book Babies and one at the park. Plus our across-the-ally neighbors, who have a 15-month old.
I love our neighborhood. The houses are beautiful, old and colorful. They are pink and yellow and green and blue and purple; one is painted like a rainbow, one is painted like the night sky, complete with stars and a crescent moon. There are all kind of people walking around: old hippies and young hippies and people who look like 80's punk rockers with pierced lips and people pushing strollers and people with sagging pants and teenagers in bathing suits and children in small packs and people wearing suits and ties. Within 3-6 blocks of our house we have a park, a rec center with a pool, 4 or 5 bookstores, 2 or 3 vintage furniture shops, a cool clothing store where I got a beautiful purple skirt, a Goodwill and several other thrift stores, and so many restaurants--sushi, Thai, pizza, coffee shops, brew pubs, breakfast. And, I just found out, a delicious ice cream shop.
In Amelia news: teething. An upper left tooth has come in. I think it is a canine tooth. The right one is working its way out as we speak. It's funny because the upper front teeth (the incisors) aren't in yet. Just call her fang.
Fang is waking up. Gotta go--pictures are coming soon!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Brainard Lake
This is where we hiked today.
Dean had carefully planned our hike, but we got to the recreation area to find that most of the trails were closed due to SNOW. On June 15.
It turned out that there were plenty of great views and places to walk. Amelia loved her new carrier. She peeked around Dean's shoulder for most of the hike. Then she fell asleep.
The mountains are huge.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Mile High City
We made it to Denver!
Last Sunday, we left our DC home. Now it's a week later, and we have moved a cat, a baby, 2 adults, 3 wonderful helpers, and a 17-foot U-Haul towing a Toyota Corolla packed to the gills over 1500 miles.
I am exhausted. Let's just say the move did not improve Amelia's sleep. But thanks to my family's help, we have almost all the boxes unpacked. I will post pictures of the house ASAP. But we love our house and the neighborhood. And for the record, it's 53 degrees here. And rainy. People say it rarely rains in Denver, but it's rained every time I've been here. So we'll see.
Last Sunday, we left our DC home. Now it's a week later, and we have moved a cat, a baby, 2 adults, 3 wonderful helpers, and a 17-foot U-Haul towing a Toyota Corolla packed to the gills over 1500 miles.
I am exhausted. Let's just say the move did not improve Amelia's sleep. But thanks to my family's help, we have almost all the boxes unpacked. I will post pictures of the house ASAP. But we love our house and the neighborhood. And for the record, it's 53 degrees here. And rainy. People say it rarely rains in Denver, but it's rained every time I've been here. So we'll see.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Dear Washington DC,
It's almost time to say good-bye.
I remember my first time visiting you. It was very, very cold, and our long walk from one end of the city to another foreshadowed what would be our primary activity here: walking. Just the other day we wrapped our our last bit of free time here with a three hour walk from home to Woodley Park. And spicy crunchy tofu rolls.
You are the city that taught me about cities: crosswalks, subway systems, crazy people who shout at you for no reason. You are the city of Street Sense, striding government workers, and five hundred free museums. You are Capitol Hill Yoga and Eastern Market, Lo Loma and La Lomita Dos, The Devil Makes Three and Bonny Prince Billy. You are the city in which I learned the importance of loving your work. You are the city in which I learned that I could successfully avoid driving on any major interstate, with one exception, for almost four years. You are the city in which I spent three years relearning to write. You are the city (sort of) in which my baby was born.
I will remember your steamy summer nights, your icy winter winds, your rowhouses and their spiral staircases, your sudden thunderstorms, your not-that-tall buildings, your Metro exits blocked by plump tourists wearing American flag t-shirts. I will remember walking miles in the heat while my belly grew, and miles in the snow holding my bundled up daughter. I will remember as one the hundreds of dinners we've made, wine and music, the last leisurely pre-Amelia evenings. I will remember dark branches beside my upstairs window, sipping coffee and writing at my desk, Dean's music drifting into the room.
I will remember Goldie on her stoop, the jay in the evergreens, a thousand steps on the sidewalks.
I remember my first time visiting you. It was very, very cold, and our long walk from one end of the city to another foreshadowed what would be our primary activity here: walking. Just the other day we wrapped our our last bit of free time here with a three hour walk from home to Woodley Park. And spicy crunchy tofu rolls.
You are the city that taught me about cities: crosswalks, subway systems, crazy people who shout at you for no reason. You are the city of Street Sense, striding government workers, and five hundred free museums. You are Capitol Hill Yoga and Eastern Market, Lo Loma and La Lomita Dos, The Devil Makes Three and Bonny Prince Billy. You are the city in which I learned the importance of loving your work. You are the city in which I learned that I could successfully avoid driving on any major interstate, with one exception, for almost four years. You are the city in which I spent three years relearning to write. You are the city (sort of) in which my baby was born.
I will remember your steamy summer nights, your icy winter winds, your rowhouses and their spiral staircases, your sudden thunderstorms, your not-that-tall buildings, your Metro exits blocked by plump tourists wearing American flag t-shirts. I will remember walking miles in the heat while my belly grew, and miles in the snow holding my bundled up daughter. I will remember as one the hundreds of dinners we've made, wine and music, the last leisurely pre-Amelia evenings. I will remember dark branches beside my upstairs window, sipping coffee and writing at my desk, Dean's music drifting into the room.
I will remember Goldie on her stoop, the jay in the evergreens, a thousand steps on the sidewalks.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
In case you're wondering
how the sleep training is going, it's kind of a draw. Amelia got a cold, seemed to get better, and then suddenly had really watery eyes and a runny nose again, so we were hesitant not to check on her when that was going on. She's recovered. I had a low point of rage and despair the third time I got up with her, oh, maybe Sunday night, and we did the crying thing again the next night. The last couple of nights she has cried really early, like 7:45 and 8:30 pm, so after looking in the room to make sure she wasn't tangled up in her giraffe lovey or something we just let her cry because what could she possibly need that early? Then she has been sleeping till 2 or 2:30 and I let her cry for about 15 minutes, then break down and feed her, and she sleeps again till 5:30 or so. So. This is as much as I can really do right now when we are about to move halfway across the country and then return to NC for a wedding a week later and then go back to Denver a week after that.
I realize I've been strangely silent on the subject of moving but we are in fact moving in 4 days. We have been calmly preparing for weeks but I am starting to get stressed out about things like cleaning out the refrigerator and packing for the trip and starting a new life under the shadows of the comical and unlikely Rocky Mountains.
Right now I am more concerned with leaving the house in the next hour. Amelia heard I had plans to leave her at her father's office to go shopping for an hour and she decided to take the Longest Afternoon Nap in the History of Amelia. She did have a big morning of eating small pieces of solid things* (cheese, cherries, turkey, puffs) and practicing standing up (she reaches for your hands, grasps them, and pushes herself to her feet, looking quite pleased with herself) and then Lucy came to visit. But I really want to go to H&M. I figured trying to write would make her wake up. I might just go rustle outside her door.
*Amelia refuses to eat anything off of a spoon or that you try to hand to her. Having discovered the pincer grasp, she will only eat what she can pick up off her high chair tray. Or the floor.
I realize I've been strangely silent on the subject of moving but we are in fact moving in 4 days. We have been calmly preparing for weeks but I am starting to get stressed out about things like cleaning out the refrigerator and packing for the trip and starting a new life under the shadows of the comical and unlikely Rocky Mountains.
Right now I am more concerned with leaving the house in the next hour. Amelia heard I had plans to leave her at her father's office to go shopping for an hour and she decided to take the Longest Afternoon Nap in the History of Amelia. She did have a big morning of eating small pieces of solid things* (cheese, cherries, turkey, puffs) and practicing standing up (she reaches for your hands, grasps them, and pushes herself to her feet, looking quite pleased with herself) and then Lucy came to visit. But I really want to go to H&M. I figured trying to write would make her wake up. I might just go rustle outside her door.
*Amelia refuses to eat anything off of a spoon or that you try to hand to her. Having discovered the pincer grasp, she will only eat what she can pick up off her high chair tray. Or the floor.
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