soooo long, farewell...no, not farewell...

It's been so long since I logged onto blogger...
--I couldn't remember what the site was called
--I couldn't remember what my username was
--I couldn't remember my password
--Couldn't remember what my last post was.
Pretty sad!

What has changed since the last time I posted?
--My father has finally gotten himself and my siblings moved into their own place.
--Torrin's good start to the school year has taken a downhill turn
--Mira is finally learning her letters, in preschool, since I don't teach her such things.
--Orion crawls all over the place and has 4 teeth. I don't mind that he is 10 months old and not walking. He is my baby and there is no rush. He waves bye-bye and is a great little guy. Baby O is a rather long and lean little dude, not so much a chubby boy at all. He still goes to work with me and I haven't started looking for a daycare for him either.

Basically, stay in school, blah blah blah...

This evening after dinner, while Torrin was washing dishes, he mentioned something about President Obama's speech.

This after I'd spent a collection of various moments the past few days infuriated by the partisan venom spewing about. I'd expressed subdued versions of my opinion on the matter on various websites, and yet I'd gone through nearly the whole day without having actually heard the speech, seen it in print, or talked to someone who had.

And there before me, was my own progeny, and intended audience of The Speech. So, I asked him what he thought about it. Torrin said something like "basically, stay in school, blah blah blah, just like what other normal people say when they talk to kids at school."

Wow...so earth-shattering. What's the uproar? Oh, right, the lesson plan. How to Help the President. You mean it wasn't "why Americans should be Socialists?" No? We should...stay in school? Who's paying for that? Oh...um...taxpayer funded public schools... Oh, wait. Other normal people talk to kids in schools too? Isn't that taking up instructional time? What? Well then what about, say, a pep rally? Another instructional time drainer all in favor of promoting unity...um...hmmm. I don't want my kid learning the school song, or even knowing what the school mascot is! No way! What we really need to do is force teachers to register their party affiliations and let us choose our children's instructors based on political ideologies.

Upon further probing, Torrin reported that Obama said "all across America, like, 50 times." "Stay in school." "Don't do drugs." Boy, if that's the message my 8-year-old kid heard, it couldn't have been that bad.

Right?

the whole MONTH of August gone?

So, um, yeah. I haven't been posting. If I could do it from my phone I might! I have a very basic phone, and in general do not approve of the practice of cell-phone-photographing, but it is quite a handy trick. I will offer a glimpse of our past month with phone pictures, with the exception of this first one: That is Mira at the Indian Club powwow on August 1. My friend and I were up all night working on very simple dresses. I don't know how to sew. Never even took Home Ec (Family Consumer Science, whatever you call it these days) either. My mother is the opposite of hand-made, home-made, etc., so I didn't learn anything from her. My friend was a textiles art person...a few years ago, and my great-grandmother's sewing machine, borrowed from my auntie, had not been her particular design whittler so things were very slow-going. Of course that could have been avoided with some simple advance planning, but that would be way too obvious. Also of note, Mira's hair was comprised of only the third- and fourth-attempt I have ever made at French-braiding. Possibly fourth and fifth, but no more, no exaggeration at all. She "danced" in the powwow. Note quotation marks. Main point, she had fun.

Here is Torrin on his first day of school, August 19, 2009, beginning 3rd grade. He looks grim, but honestly he was thankful to return to school. He's just totally over the whole "look-happy-for-mom-taking-pictures" thing.

Here is Orion on the same day, smiling as we waited for.EV.er at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) with a client. I go in to get my renewal license in two weeks, yay...

Torrin on August 15 in the dressing room at Kohl's, trying on clothes for school. We couldn't afford to buy this shirt that Torrin liked, so I told him I'd take a picture of him in it...

Mira on the 13th of August at PetCo...she was filling up the container of kitty litter.

And here is Orion in the same Kohl's dressing room as Torrin, on the 15th.

Why I don't post more often.

This on Thursday morning just before leaving for work/daycare/summer program...they said they were King Kongs...

Brownville, a bit late.

On Saturday, July 11, my dad's band Full Measure played a riverboat gig on the Spirit of Brownville to 81 ticketholders. Tickets sold for $10. They are a classic rock cover band, and that band is one of the reasons that we have the kids here at our house so much. But anyway. Once we got to Brownville, we didn't know where to go next. We wound our way up a crazy hill, past a super-redneck-looking shanty of a house...and found ourselves at an intersection facing not one, but two red Festivas.

We asked this guy for directions. You can't see the little yippy dog that was occupying the passenger seat. It was at that point that we knew that everything would be all right.

There's Ben and Orion looking peaceful on the boat, watching the Missouri River waves.

My dad's band. He is goofy. And barefoot.

Little sister Claire and brother Anthony, reverting to their natural state... :)

Orion tried his first ice-popsicle.

Our banana masterpieces. Stolen from the floating hotel's kitchen, and returned, in better fashion.

We stopped for a bit of R&R the next day at the Antiquarium before heading back to L-Town. Ben and I purchased, among other things, a National Geographic magazine from the year 1913.

This picture was taken on the way home...at an intersection, I looked to my right and saw this hanging in a shop window. What do you read at first glance? Support our troops...a bit of irony there.

finally did it...

After much debate (mostly internal, on my part), it has been done. Mira has bangs. In general, I am not a fan of bangs on little girls. I, for one, had them, and had far too much of them. So often you see little girls with as much bangs as the rest of their hair. Too much bangs begins to infringe on that dreaded mullet look. The other thing I hate about bangs is that once you have them, it's so hard to get rid of them.

Mira had a ton of chin-length wispies. She has often eaten them. She has asked to get her hair cut a few times, and upon further questioning it came out that those short hairs in front were the ones that bugged her. I cut only the chin length hairs, none of the rest of her long hair (which goes just past her little bum).

At first Mira wasn't really cooperating and wouldn't give me a nnice happy picture. I don't mind pictures where kids aren't smiling, but as my little sister Claire pointed out, it looks like a mug shot! Mira says it's her "plain face." But we handed her the scissors and she cheesed away.

My babies are gone!

It's been so long since I posted that I couldn't remember which screenname I use to sign in here! In between, I've had the most relaxing weekend of my entire life since having kids and other trinkets of here-and-there. My son T-boy is staying with his dad until the 26th of July, perhaps another week after that. My-little-girl is in Colorado for a week with her daddy and grandma.

Here is Mira in Ottawa, IL...she was sitting on the edge of a fountain, dangling and swinging her feet. Then...she fell in. She was devastated. Mom took pictures (28 June).
Here are Mira and Orion at Jazz in June (free jazz concert series). Orion grabbed sister's hair:

Iowa City has an awesome city park with a carousel, mini-train, huge green spaces, playgrounds, etc. We stopped there on our way to drop Torrin off with his dad. Orion had his first carousel ride:

Here is Mira playing around in a shawl we got from her great-grandma, at the rained-out Pawnee exhibition powwow in Kearney on June 20:

Orion loved talking to one of Mira's babies one night:

They just looked cute. I think this was Thursday morning (02 July).

obsession

Dipping baby's toes into the pond...also fun: playing with photo editing software.

The living, and the dead.

Shadow of mommy holding baby


on the first day, there was light.

we found berries!

Why, why, why, do I find it so irresistible to take pictures of flowers? All in all, they're all the same darn thing. I can find hundreds of shots online just like mine (or better) by doing a quick search. Ben says, "why not? At least it's not crack."

Baby O is a big boy now. He has been taking sips of water today, from a water bottle and a regular drinking glass. Just showing off, really! Good thing, too, as it was pretty hot and muggy. Personally, I like warm weather--I just dislike the overabundant indoor air conditioning that accompanies it, making it nearly impossible to choose suitable clothing in the morning.

Ha. That reminds me, what will my workplace be like without Viktor Krum? And more frightening...who will they plunk into that position next?

Oh, and check out my big baby! Last year's camping trip with our uncle made the paper, thanks to said uncle's rock-star status. :)

perfect Saturday

Torrin and Mira climbing the Torn Notebook

Mira and Sophia's pink-polished dirt-digging fingers
We planted pansies.

Lying on the grass, sleeping Orion on chest, reading a book in the sun.

Happy kitty on a window sill in the sun

and just what are you so happy about?

In the fog of my too-busy, unfocused, haphazard existence, I find myself gazing in awe at my baby as mothers so often do, amazed by his unfazed joy.

And I say, so often, "why are you so happy, little boy?" or, "what are you smiling at?" because nothing so grand seems to be unfolding at the moment.

Well, why not? What's wrong with smiling for no apparent reason? I've said before...the most genuine smiles are probably the ones that noone sees. If nobody's watching, it's not a fragment of a forced bit of show for someone else's benefit.

So...what are you so happy about? What makes you smile, like this:

The unbelievably-happy-at-work baby.

I'm happy that Orion is nearly six months old and still going to work with me, so I don't miss out on all of those little daily babbles and smiles, and heck, even the diaper blowouts. Because, if anything, for whatever reason it sucks a whole lot more to clean up poopy clothes in the evening at home when you didn't see the intial damage done in the diaper.

Even though I am paid so little, at least it is all done within the "typical" workweek, so that I can take kids to events on the weekends without missing out on sleep like 2nd shift workers or people who have to work Saturdays and Sundays.

Even though it is sad that Grandma Norma is no longer with us, it means that we have Claire, Anthony and Sophia in town now. No more missing birthdays for lack of gas money. No more three months without visiting. Way more familial interaction for my little ones, and way more opportunities for the hiliarity of childhood to shine through.

do your thang

Little Taller Sister, who just turned 14 earlier this month, had a jazz band concert last night. First, we drove out to Dawes Middle School, where we thought she was to be playing...got there 5 minutes late...all of the doors on all sides of the school, locked...turns out we were supposed to be at Irving after all--6.7 miles and many stoplights away. As we walked to the audtorium, Mira wondered aloud, "where's Rock Band?" Poor little girl thought we were going to go somewhere to play Rock Band, like they have at her uncles' house! Of course, in true 3-year-old form, she suddenly had a life-or-death need to pee during one of the songs...at least it was before her aunt's group. Once Little Taller Sister's band was playing, Mira was somewhat enchanted and wanted to know, "when I'm a teenager, can I?"

I sure hope she does! It would be nice to have at least one musical offspring.

bon week-end

Saturday was an eventful day. We did a lot of walking, starting the day with a stroll over to the Capitol for the Mayor's Run, which is a mile run for elementary school kids and is apparently one of the top ten in the nation in terms of size. Torrin was in the fifth heat, for boys second grade and younger. His hair was in a ponytail, but he's wearing terrible shoes because, well, we only have one pair of shoes for him. Shoes are expensive. Anyway, there I stood on the curb, waiting dutifully like a good Mommy, camera ready, scanning the little faces in search of my little boy running down the road. Well, I missed him. I heard, "Mom!" and there he was, nearly gone already. Not quite the shot I was going for:

. It got sunnier on our walk back--we were leisurely with our exit, departing well after the sixth and last heat finished but were still home by 10:30. Orion tried on his flashy sunglasses:

Sophia took time to stop and smell the roses...er...tulips:

After lunch we bundled everyone up again to head to the powwow on campus.

The weather was perfect.

Mira really wants to learn to dance.

And her little friend from school was there! She was overjoyed.

She really had a great time playing with him. She is excited to go to his house to play sometime.

et cetera, et cetera, blah-blah-blah.

Neither Torrin nor Mira have been doing well today. Mira's first meltdown came this morning. She didn't want Cheerios in her squares (Mini-wheats). She refused to eat them, so Mommy refused to put the sparkly sequin purple bow in her hair that she so badly wanted. Then, after visiting Torrin's classroom at school for a reading event, she vanished. We walked around the whole school (fairly big), didn't find her...we were in the office describing her when a woman brought her in. She'd gone out to the playground, alone. "But Mama, I didn't go in the street!" she protested...and wailed profusely as her pancake got thrown away. She also missed out on May Day basket's after the stories in Torrin's classroom because of her earlier unruliness.

Torrin was at school goofing off, refusing to follow directions. So I had to go pick him up from the Principal's office, all 7.92 years of sobbing mess Torrin. He filed a stack of folders for me. The task initially seemed insurmountable, but by the end he was doing all right, not asking for help alphabetizing anymore.

The Festiva Project plods along. I don't often see undocumented Festivas these days, and I only have about 35 total. But there's not many things that ruin my day in the way that missing a new Festiva does. Worse, when I miss more than one in one day. I've only captured one Festiva outside our city, although I missed one driving on the Interstate. Chalk that up to a phone call while driving (I know, naughty).

Diagnosis:

My temperature yesterday at 3:00pm yesterday: 99.8F
Blood pressure: 110/52
Orion: 15lb, 10oz. He seems to be concentrating his growth in advances in height, not weight.
No signs of infection: I'm not contagious.
Post-bronchial inflammation: I am to use an inhaler for 10 days. Woo-hoo. Except I've never used one before, and I couldn't tell if I did it right last night.

doo-wah, ditty, ditty, dum, ditty doo-rag

That's my boy!

Tired, today. The sort of thing where your eyes burn from the labor of just staying open, and when you blink, you let it linger. A wistful moment of rest, gone, just like that.

I called this morning for an appointment with the doctor, but I waited until after 9 to call and all of the slots for today were filled. For the most part, sickness doesn't bother me too much. We've escaped flu, and I can only remember once in my adult days when I ever felt too ill to function and carry out the day's duties. For the most part, if I am ill, it is only a minor inconvenience; an afterthought. I dread ingesting chemicals and concoctions called "medicine," I would much rather prefer the sort of natural medicine of a lying on the earth in the sunshine or embracing my babies. But this ickiness, cyclical coughing--voice loss--faucet nose thing hasn't ever really gone completely away over the past few months. It has subsided, but not vanished. This weekend it was worse again. Yesterday I could barely speak. I feel cheated, though--through it all I have never approached the kind of sickness where you lose your appetite (illness as weight loss mechanism). No, instead, I plug away at the YMCA with nowhere-near-peak lung capacity, not losing any weight. Where is the justice?

Ph, right--it's lying there in the corner with those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups wrappers.

the way things are meant to be

Today was Arbor Day; did you know it? Tree Day, essentially. But most importantly to me, it was a day off from work. Paid holiday, no less. Best part yet? The kids still had school.
Orion and I got to hang out at home, and relax. I read the whole newspaper before noon, which happens pretty much never.

It felt so natural. Orion, who amazes me daily with his even-keeled temper at work, was even more pleasant at home all day with just Mommy. I didn't know it was possible.

He just turned 5 months old today. With Torrin I stayed home with him until he was 6.5 months old and I began college. Mira was 5.5 months old when I started my AmeriCorps term. There's 4.5 months and a bachelor's degree between the two of them; between Mira and Orion there's two AmeriCorps terms of service and 2 years of working at the Indian Center. But Orion didn't get to stay home with mom at all. It seems so unnatural. I'm thankful that he is with me all day and not compartmentalized in various toy stations at daycare, but it's not even close to having my full attention.

We had a good day even though I didn't get anything accomplished at home except sewing a button on a pair of pants that had gone half-unbuttoned for the past couple of wearings. I attempted to vacuum but couldn't figure out how to empty the cat fur out of the cannister. Bless him, Ben does most of the vacuuming but it also means that he is the one who better knows how to operate the darn thing. I have the instructions--buried in a pile of papers six months high that needs filing. The carpet was so encrusted with fur that I didn't even want to lie the baby down so I could start sorting. Alas, if only I had every Friday off, maybe I'd get somewhere...

Now, it's bedtime. We're playing Dance Dance Revolution. It's never been at our house before; this game system belongs to the library. Orion put himself to sleep in Ben's arms, gnawing on his green bandana. It's been bringing him great joy all evening.

Under the Table and Dreaming

This title works if you're Orion and sleep under Mommy's desk at work all week!

Speaking of sleeping beauties, here's my little girl looking rather gargantuant:

It's BEAUTIFUL outside. About 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This is how I love it. Now if only I were sitting on a blanket in a green grassy field, with a gossip magazine, a churro, and horchata to drink, that'd be just about perfect. Beverage and snack negotiable. The tulips shown below are from our backyard, sitting happily in my office window.