Across the Land

Choppie, Baby and I are fresh back from a cross-country trip. We went out to visit family in Oregon. Choppie drove Truckie (our trusty ol' red truck) while Baby Lang and I used the air-o-plane. (Truckie is not a baby-friendly vehicle).

While West, we hiked a mountain (Spencer's Butte??). We ate fish. We licked ice cream. We played with COUSINS!!!

Now back home in Providence, we are sleeping, food shopping and recovering from jet lag (Guess who is asleep now?).

Blood Oyster

Last October, pregnant and aware of the encroaching winter, I was overwhelmed with an urge to eat oysters. Quietly, I gulped two down at a farmers' market. Later, I told Choppie B. He was less than happy: pregnant people aren't supposed to eat raw shellfish (among other tasty things).

Soon I gave my word that I wouldn't eat any raw oysters until the babe arrived. So now, July, that babe has very much arrived and its time to celebrate.

For three weeks now, we've purchased a handful from Perry (Matunuck Oyster) at the Saturday market. Come evening, Choppie shows his manhood off by opening these toughies up. He has drawn blood doing so.

Once all are on the half shell, we gather out wits, sip a fizzy ferment, then slurp each precious gulp of deep-sea-sweet-slithery-meat. Oysters are such a trippy food.

C is for Community

On Tuesdays, Baby Lang spends an hour with the neighbors, Barbara and Tommy.

The original idea was Barbara's. She stressed to me how important it is for a mother to breath /shower / take a personal moment every now and then (she being a mother herself). She kindly offered that she and Tommy take Baby Lang for a bit each week.

The first time I dropped him off, I admittedly was nervous. I wasn't nervous that they wouldn't take good care of him. I was nervous that he would become a crying mess.

Quite the contrary. When I returned, I found Baby Lang more blissed out than I've ever seen him -- awake but clearly on cloud nine.

The lesson learned: there is nothing as rich as the richness of community. While neither Choppie B nor I have blood relatives near, we've discovered how meaningful our friendships are and how much they are helping us to be good, calm parents.

The Funny Thing About Babies

Is that their arms don't really work and you can prop them up in funny places and laugh. 

Here is Baby Lang. I propped him up recently in a corner of the couch and he had no option other than to abide. 

The funny part is I left the room (into the kitchen to grab a glass of water). When I returned, he had toppled over (imagine him rotated 90 degrees to the left) and was stuck sideways. 

Little Duck, Little Babe

I took this photo to measure Baby Lang's growth. The crocheted Duckie was made by Tia Marmar (my 'ister). We put it next to him and took a picture the day he was born. 

He is nearing 2 and a half months now and here he is again with Duckie. 

Note: The outrageous shape of his bottom half made by cloth diapers. 

PS. We are extremely pleased with using cloth diapers. It is surprisingly easy. 

Strawberries and Jam

Here is a pic from strawberry picking on Father's Day. Notice the two legs hanging from beneath the berry flat.

Its been wet here in the East for over a week now. That said, it's not the best year for strawberries. By the morning after we'd gone picking, half of the flat had rotted due to moisture and tender skins.

Spoiled hand-picked berries is, of course, a very hard thing for me, Ms. Do-Not-Waste, to deal with. Consequently, as soon as I opened my eyes on Tuesday morning, I rolled out of bed and turned on a pot of berries to boil (for jam). 

By 9 a.m., Choppie B and I were almost done packing pints of bright red jam. It was a stressful, sticky operation and while strawberry jam is delicious, making it out of obligation first thing in the morning when one has been up multiple times during the night to breastfeed an infant is not quite as sweet. 

On the otherhand, imagine that strawberry jam slathered thick over a pipping hot piece of bread with butter or angelito (our artisan cream cheese) in the middle of JANUARY. Yes. It will taste good. 

Father's Day

Choppie B celebrated his first fathers' day yesterday. To celebrate, we picked strawberries (in the rain) at Ward's Berry Farm in Sharon, MA. It was soggy. It was fun.

Little B found himself overwhelmed with joy to be picking such a brilliantly colored and flavored fruit- so much so that he had to close his eyes.

Little B also took a few moments in the afternoon to compose a special sequence of 'coo's' which he then sang to his father.