Manzanita

 
 
 
 
Anneke got to take her second beach trip, this time for the whole weekend! We got to borrow a friend's beach house. Manzanita is a special place. It's where Dave and his family vacationed when he was a child, and it's where Dave and I got engaged. The weather was supposed to be cloudy, but it turned out to be beautiful, albeit cool and windy. We watched the waves from the deck during the day and movies at night. We strolled down the beach into town and had yummy sandwiches and champagne (me) and beer (Dave)for lunch. We tried clamming--again--in Seaside; still no luck. We had better luck in Astoria, where we lunched at the Columbian Cafe, one of our favorite places. You can go there and order "Mercy," which means you get whatever the chef feels like whipping up. The kitchen is up against the window, so we got to sit and watch our meals being prepared while we waited. Honestly? I think the chef kind of phoned it in this time--he apparently just tossed some halibut cheeks in with the regular salmon special. And he made mine super hot despite my ordering medium. But what tasty cheeks they were! I think Anneke had a good time and I know mommy and daddy did. She will definitely have many good times there in the coming years.

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep

 

When Anneke was about six weeks old someone asked me, "what's your favorite thing about being a mommy?", and I somewhat guiltily did not know how to answer. Favorite? How did I sort out my favorite thing amidst such a transformative experience--notice I did not say "joyous" or even "wonderful." Sometimes the only thing that felt sure to me was the not dramatic but just matter-of-fact reality that yeah, I'd die for this little person. And that no matter how much I might enjoy little interludes away--dinner with the girls, or a pedicure, or even date night with my husband, I always reach a point where it's time to be home and with our baby NOW.

Not to misrepresent my experience of mother-love--really what I mean is that it's just too profound for me to really pick it apart or describe very well. Blogging about it does not do it justice, so I'll shut up about it.

Okay, but my current favorite thing? Rocking our baby to sleep. I've been reading up on sleep training and the need to leave the baby in the crib to fall asleep, and I don't know if I agree or disagree--sometimes that actually works. But there's nothing like having Anneke slumped like a little monkey on my chest, with her breathing slowing down and her little head on my heart, until she finallys succumbs to sleep. It just feels like the way to do things, at least right now--and we won't be able to do this for all that long.

Milestones

 
 
Anneke is rolling over like a champ! These were taken yesterday and today; note the tentativeness of yesterday's neck-holding-up,and the decisiveness of today's! Tonight when I was trying to put her to bed she rolled over onto her tummy, propped her head up, and turned and gave me a big smile. Cute. A little obnoxious that much past her bedtime, but definitely cute.

"Why do fathers have to wear pink tiaras and drink tea so much?"

This is an actual Dutch Baby:



For fathers day Caroline made me one to start my day.

Here I am enjoying both of my dutch babies:



You may also notice the brand new Joy of Cooking I received to replace the well worn one from my bachelor days.

The tiara quote that makes up the title of this entry refers to something I heard Friday morning listening to NPR. Kristian Foden-Vencil, our local voice talent who these days speaks over Morning Edition on the weekdays, was asking the host of Think Out Loud to see if they could answer this question in their show centered around Father's Day that was about to start. Apparently Kristian has three daughters. Kristian has a strong English accent that makes him sound pretentious, but hearing him throw in some levity like this made me think he may actually be a fun guy.

For Father's day I choose to have a nice quiet day where I could get chores done around the house, finished off with a trip to Mount Tabor park where we feasted on a dinner from Flying Pie Pizza, my favorite pizza in town.

A perfect first Fathers Day.

Baby Angst

 
 
 

Three months old, and so over jumping through mommy's hoops.

Fun at the Coast

 
 

It should have been the worst day at the coast ever. In some respects it was. It all started when Dave came home on Friday and declared he wanted to go clamming. So early on Sunday morning we drove to Nehalem Bay, armed with a clam gun, a picnic, and an absurd amount of baby gear. It was a very clam-less venture. I think our pool has more clams in it than Nehalem Bay. But I was so glad to be out after being cooped up inside for days cursing the Portland rain, I didn't care. Until the baby started to fuss and we realized just how far we had moseyed from our car.

Stats from our day:

Sessions perched on a piece of driftwood nursing baby while Dave mucked around: 3
Number of times singing "Anneke Grace" to the Winnie the Pooh theme in vain attempts to quiet her fussing: about 30
Foul-tasting beers drunk at Bill's Tavern before hitting the road: 1/8 (finally gave up in disgust)
Minutes spent on the cold, windy beach in Manzanita before mommy begged to go back to the car: 5
Tiny little sunburned neck: 1
Clams: 0

You know what, though? It was a fantastic day for our little family. It was so nice to get out of the house and out of town. Even if I didn't wield said clam gun, I loved watching Dave get out and give it a go. It felt just like old Dave and Caroline times, with a labor-intensive, demanding, adorable twist.

To all the babies

Whew, lots of babies are being born all of a sudden! Baby Rhiannon, baby William, baby Hazle, baby Sofia, baby Elias, baby Victor Vaughn on the way--I know I'm forgetting someone. I don't mean to leave out Lucy, Sophie, Lucy (again), Alex, and Erin, but they've been around a bit longer. With that in mind I thought I would share something Fr. John Scannell sent to us after receiving our birth announcement. I think it would be easy in this day and age to have a cynical reaction to this unless you know Fr. John; he is one of those people who is older, wiser, and not the least bit cynical. Besides, none of my heroes and heroines are cynical, and I think this is beautiful:

"When God wants an important thing done in this world or a wrong righted, he goes about it in a very singular way. He doesn't release his thunderbolts or stir up his earthquakes. He simply has a tiny baby born, perhaps in a very humble home, perhaps of a very humble mother. And he puts the idea or purpose into the mother's heart. And he puts it in the baby's mind, and then God waits. The great events of the world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts. The great events are babies, for each child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with man, but is still expecting goodwill to become incarnate in each human life."
--Edwin McDonald

Welcome, babies! You all have amazing moms and dads!