Kayden Turns Two

Makili attended his first official birthday party last weekend. I unfortunately was too sick to go, so Raph and Makili went and brought Kayden a new hockey stick. (It was a hit with her dad from what I hear.) Raph took these shots of the fun. I'm especially fond of the banana shot.

The Sleep Saga

We finally tired of the 2 hours sleep schedule and decided to let the crying loose last night. But amazingly, Makili was pretty okay with it. He went to bed at 7:30 and we didn't go in his room until 4:30 this morning, with only a two short bouts of crying, one hysterical 15 minutes and one whimpery 30 mintues. We're hopeful that things will go as well tonight. Keep your fingers crossed because I am pretty sick and need the sleep.

Craucus

I had a pretty good time at the Maine Democratic Caucus. Let me share a little of my experience.

We arrived slightly early and quickly realized we were not early enough. Lines of cars circled the high school looking for parking spots. Luckily we have a Jeep and drove up on a big snow bank. Perfect. We made our way past the people campaigning outside, pushing their Hillary stickers on us, and into the door where we were shepearded into a LONG line to "sign in." There was another line to register or change party affiliation, if you were independent or unenrolled. Our line moved fairly quickly since we had registered the previous week, though we were flabbergasted when we turned the corner and the line was another long distance into the cafeteria where the sign in occured. in we went, after I stopped to chat with anyone who had a baby, (since by the nature of the neighborhood caucus, they were neighbors) and off to the M table. (I still feel like I should be at the B table most of the time.)

Our names weren't on the list. Another line. We waited while the man in front of us, also an obama supporter, swore at the lady at the table and called her an idiot. She looked up our names on the more recently printed list (couldn't they have waited to print out the final list?) and told us to go back to the M table and assure the lady there that we "were on the list." Real official. Then we were shephearded into the gym where Hillary signs and Obama leis adorned the bleachers. Accidentally we ended up on the "right" side with the Obama people and waited for that long line of registees to come in. State congress people gave short talks, but mostly there was visiting with neighbors and meeting new people. They ended up turning unregistered voters away, even though they are supposed to be able to register the day of. Very democratic, huh?

Each candidate had a spokesperson who gave a speech. Obama supporters were intense, booing and being fairly raucous. The speeches were really well-thought-out and extensive. They were impressive actually. Then we had to get to appropriate side of the gym for real, because we were to be counted. At this point, a simple ballot seems like it might have been more effective. Counting 550 people accurately is a joke, especially one at a time. It took several tries before they figured out a system that seemed accurate. Come on. As a foreigner, I would have laughed at our democratic exercise. In this age of technology we must be able to come up with something better!

They shared the results. And there was a SECOND counting. Thankfully, they just counted the people that moved. I think the people who joined the Obama camp felt like heroes after the applause they gathered.

In all, I felt that the caucus left people out, may have been at least a little inaccurate, and was a bit too long. It was fun to see neighbors, Makili loved the commotion, but it was damn hot with close to 600 people in that gym. Makili was stripped down to his diaper by the end of the night. That's democracy for you I guess? I have some pictures...maybe tomorrow.

Busy Weekend and the Afterbath

We ventured up to the Raph's parents house to celebrate his mom's birthday this weekend. Lots to do. So much to do, Makili felt like sleeping was a waste of time. Oh well. We had cake with Ann and her twin brother George.





Makili spent some time trying to wake up Grandpa from his naps, while being egged on by Uncle Abram and Aunt Ny, who is also pregnant.




Aunt Gina brought three of her five lap dogs over (Yes she admits to being the crazy dog lady.) She is working on trying to convince us to take a dog home, which has been easy to resist thus far, though in the future Makili might throw some fits, because he really likes those little dogs.




Makili was lucky enough to inherit some toys from the Burns', whose kids came caroling the last time we were there. What a lucky boy!


This picture was from our house, the afterbath. I think the mess surrounding the quiet moment is pretty representative.


We finished our weekend with our participation in the Maine Democratic Caucus, which I intend to report on further. It was quite an experience...

About nursing

I've always been a fairly modest person. Compared to good friends like Cara Puff, who once answered the door to meet her new roommate naked, I'm a complete prude. But somehow getting pregnant and nursing have sort of brought out a new side of me. It isn't that I'm no longer modest, but I do believe women should have the right to breast-feed in public. It shouldn't be something that we need to hide, something considered offensive. So I am committed to nursing in public. I try to be discreet, but I don't use a nursing cover and I don't go off into a separate room. I try to be respectful of older people and teenagers, but other than that I nurse in public.

I have found young children, for obvious reasons, are very interested in nursing. I am slowly collecting some funny comments to nursing from young kids. Our friends Jess and Ryan's little girl, Rachel, walked up to me while I was nursing one day and after looking carefully, said "What's he chewing on?"

I've been babysitting some cute kids for last month or so and they are also interested. Morgan, who is about 18 months old, looks and me as I nurse, and shouts imploringly, "milk? milk?" and I say "Yeah, the baby is getting milk, that's right." Finally one day her older brother Sam said, "I think she wants your milk Blayne!" Sam is pretty sweet. Whenever Makili cries, Sam says, "Maybe you should give him some milk."

One day when we were all reading books on the couch, Sam leaned his head on my chest and said "I'm going to lay me head on your nipple." Though his mom recently told me that he actually says "nibbles" which is even funnier. She also told me that Sam and his older brother Jack were nursing on each other the other day. Sadly she didn't get a picture for me.

Details

Winter is receding, or so it seems anyway. I haven't taken enough picture of the ice which is so beautiful and hands down my favorite thing about winter in Maine.





I'm not very politically oriented, but I get chills when I hear Obama speak. I wasn't in a tsunami state, and I haven't even registered in Maine yet. It is interesting to me how oratory skills, which have long been a cornerstone of candidacy, still are important in this day and age... Though there is always George Bush to counteract that theory. Anyway, with no tv, I spend a great part of each day listening to NPR and I'm sadly addicted to this political process. I find the engagement of the population reassuring and exciting and hopeful.

So damn cute I can't handle it.



Sucking lips.



Can't stay awake for a hike, so I'll just take a nap here.



Look at the size of that head. Seriously.


A favorite toy, even Larry tells us the phone is rotting his brain and making him unable to sleep. I have been keeping him away from it since I heard the sleep idea. Anything that might help!

Sense of Humor

It is interesting what babies find amusing. The other day I was fixing the futon while Makili was standing in the crib next to me. I bent over to get something and flipped my hair back as I stood up. He cracked up. So I did it again, which produced an even more raucous bout of laughter. So for solid five minutes I practiced my head-banging, while he melted in infectious laughter. Cheap thrills.

Padded Room?

Things with Makili have changed really fast. I remember the first few times he fell and bonked his head. I freaked out and yelled at Raph, who was of course at fault. I think he must have fallen at least a dozen times today. He is just not content hanging out playing with toys. To be honest, it is completely exhausting. Like there are things I want to get done. I put him in his crib to play for a little while today while I was reading some stuff in the same room. The crib is safe. He pulls himself up on the side and makes noise and smacks his hand on the side and what not. So I'm doing my own thing and he's happy and then all of a sudden he lets out his, "that hurts a lot" scream. I look up and he's standing there. His feet, arms and legs aren't twisted through the slats. So I'm like, "what is the deal?" Then all of a sudden blood comes oozing out of his mouth! Shit!! I of course freaked out. I guess he bit his lip or hip it on the side of the crib or something. There wasn't anything sharp, so I don't really know what the hell he did, but I mean come on. I can't even leave him alone in the crib for christ's sake! He was over it in like a minute, but I don't think I'm over it yet.

Fun With Grammy

I really can't get enough of this infectious laughter. We had a great visit with my mom this week... Can't you tell.

The Caterpillar

He is already way more efficient at his "crawl" than he was three days ago, but you get the picture. Anyway. He's so damn cute, I'm going to end up posting way too many videos...there's another one coming tomorrow.

Milestones

7 months. 200th post on my blog. We've come a long way. He crawls. He pulls up on things. He doesn't put things in his mouth (the only baby I know.) He is starting to really like his mom a LOT. He concentrates and investigates. He loves to hold food, anything food, and somehow he can tell food from non-food without tasting it. He will stare at a pretzel for a long time, turning it over, feeling its delicate curves and rough salt. Today we gave him an avocado peel and he really liked that slimy new texture. He loved that so much his socks turned green. Oh well. He loves music class. He does not like that there aren't breasts waiting for him at every moment of the day. He does not like it if you show him the pacifier when he wants to nurse. He likes your hands to be waiting to help him stand. He knows the word "help" which is said to as we offer our hands. We're just starting baby sign language. I thought I would start with milk, since he loves that so much, but he's too hysterical when he wants to nurse to look at my hands or even put an inch between him and my chest, so we gave up and are starting with "help" and "more." We'll see how that goes. He still likes being outside even when it is frickin cold or there is a foot of fresh snow. We went on a hike in the newly fallen snow this last week. So beautiful. He likes the BIG goodnight moon book, the book with the flaps that hide body parts, the puppy our friends Ryan and Jess gave him that talks, mom's necklace, and matchbox cars. We like the fact that he is finally sleeping through the night again, or at least 6-8 hours at a clip. Thank you sleep gods. He's a pretty happy camper, and we really can't complain either.

Cuteness

Makili was in complete hysterics. Unfortunately, our video-camera is pretty sub-par and doesn't really work for like five minutes when you turn it on. I missed the silliest laughter, but caught the end of the fun... I'm pretty excited about posting videos, hopefully you'll enjoy them too.

Momentum

This quilt was intended to be Makili's Christmas gift, but it didn't make it back from the quilter in time, so instead it will be his 1st birthday gift. It's arrival, however, got me quilting again, and I finished another one this week, though I won't post a picture until it's quilted...

As for Makili movement is his thing. After weeks of backwards and sideways movement, he has finally learned to propel himself forward. I guess that means that he's officially crawling, though it doesn't really look that much like crawling, instead more like the break-dancing move, the catepillar. He also pulls himself up on things which gets a bit dangerous. He's getting pretty adept at it. Though he can "crawl" now, he still defintely prefers to stand and scoot along the couch or the crib or your legs. We're actually on our way right now to buy cabinet locks...

I took some really cute video yesterday...maybe I'll get motivated enough to elarn how to upload it, though more likely that will happen when our new internet connections gets hooked up this week!!!! Hooray!

My guys

Skating before Walking

Raph really wanted to be able to say that Makili was skating before he was walking...

Cimbing Dad, Dirty Looks (give me the boob), Chapped Cheeks

12-16"

Yesterday it was 50 degrees and we went for two breath-taking walks - at Fort Foster and the Cliff Path in York. I was talking about how nice it was and how I was going to take my mom there when she comes next week. Then I just learned that we are expecting 12-16" of snow tonight. Oh well. I still love living by the ocean. Of course I lived by the ocean in Hawaii too and we didn't get any snow there...

Slacker

I really haven't gotten around to bloging lately as I'm sure anyone who regularly reads my blog knows. Life has been very busy and uneventful all at once. Makili is getting big and very mobile - pulling himself up on things (he pulled himself up on the music stand/bookshelf thing the other day and fell and got a little scrape on his face). He is close to crawling, going backwards and sideways very adeptly... I think he is going to be an early walker too since he spends a lot of time holding on the the couch smacking the cushions.

I started nannying/babysitting for three kids a day and a half a week. Luckily they're really nice kids. I've been enjoying the challenge and all that they teach me. Caring for four kids simultaneously is quite an exercise! Makili loves the activity and he and their youngest daughter who is 16 months are very interested in each other and spend part of each day staring at each other. So far so good!

Other than that we've enjoyed having new neighbors, my cousin Tim and his girlfriend Tamara, who bought a fabulous house two miles from ours! Yes! The more the merrier - who's next! We've been sharing culinary delights with them, despite their lack of a cooktop. Tim made the best pizza in the history of the world last week. Tonight is samosa night at our house. It is great to have them nearby. We are strategizing the extravagant garden we intend to put into place next summer (any of my farming friends who are interested in giving advice are welcome to do so...bob, becky, tara, etc?)

I'm feeling pretty good about life. The extra money from babysitting gives a little bit of breathing room with finances, allowing us to continue to live simply, without financial stress. Just the way I want it. And how about 60 degree is January. I am NOT complaining...

Seapoint Sunrise Starts 2008

It may not surprise you that we were up to see the sunrise that brought in the new year. A fitting end I think to the "Year of Light!" Snowy, soft, and cold. I stood there and told Makili that in this year he would take his first steps, say his first words. And I reflected as I stood on the snowy beach that the ocean we watched lap on the shore connected us to Hawaii where Makili was born just six short months ago. The future and the past connected in one string of thoughts. it was a sunset worth being awake for.

A few pictures from 2007 - I added a few random picture from each month of the last year.


January


February



March



April



May



June





July






August




September




October




November


December