july turns into august

GrassRoots was hot. and wet. and so we only went for a few hours on Saturday, which was a bizarre change of things. We planned on going Sunday with Z... taking her up to hear Preston Frank, Driftwood and Donna...instead we hung out in PJs til 630pm which is something we hadn't done since her birth!

Monday we had "the talk" - a big one about life and future and finance. I initiated it in a wine haze at G-Roots. "Nick, I don't want to go back to the center." We took a good, long look at what we had to do to make that happen and now we're doing it. Which, in essence, means getting creative. So this should be fun.

The big announcement has been met with an array of emotions ranging from excitement (all the grandparents) to astonishment (my now former boss) to sadness and jealousy. Looking out at the days that stretch before me I am both excited and scared. I'm not a person who will claim that I was born to be a mother. I see nothing wrong with that but it's not me. So I will have to learn to balance and integrate this new role into the ones that I already have. I'm sure this will be like everything else I have embarked on and I'll do it the "kate-way." I just hope I can drown out the remarks and continue to live my own way...our own way...


sleepy baby in her first tie-dye

chase lake

it was fun to share the cabin that my great-grandfather had built in 1938 with my mom, husband, and daughter. what a remarkable place Chase Lake is. "it feels like we've been gone longer than a weekend," Nick said because he felt so rejuvenated.

my great-aunt catharine put it best "all i need are the 3 Ws: woods, water and wind."

What a great weekend we had.

girlie on the porch:




nick doing a little work on the porch:




grammy and zoey by the lake:


sound asleep in the ergo after a hike:

Framily

A few days ago I was reading the blog of one of my favorite environmentalists, Julia Butterfly Hill. She made reference to her "Framily" which she said are her friends-family. "Finally!" I thought to myself, "a much shorter term for what I refer to as my family-of-friends."

Nick and I have been blessed with knowing some pretty amazing people. Of course, our "blood families" are incredible - they have supported us and loved us through thick and thin. As the saying goes, though, you can pick your nose but not your family. You can, however, pick your framily.

It is a wonderful feeling to know that you have created for yourself a little group of people who love you for being you. Who know everything about you and love you just the same - and not because they have to. And vice versa. People who you grow and change around- who you celebrate with and cry with. We are so so lucky to have the people we have in our lives.

The arrival of Zoey, more than anything, has truly revealed to us how important our Framily is. I hope know who you are and that we love you. :)

6 weeks

My little girlie has been here for over 6 weeks. We're still getting to know each other but we're getting it down more and more every day.

I went to the doctor for my 6 week check up and i can start exercising again which brings me joy to no end. We were doing about 3 mile walks in the evening about 5 times a week but that's not really targeting what I need it to. Now I feel comfortable getting some core workouts in. I have decided to try some Pilates. A few years ago when i was first getting into yoga I purchased a dvd called "10 minute yoga solutions" which had 5 different ten minute yoga workouts that you could do individually or together. When I looked up Pilates on the netflix watch instantly what appeared but "10 minute Pilates Solutions" - which has the same instructor who is NOT ANNOYING. thank the HP. So hooray for the 10 minute solutions because for the first 4 days of this week that's about the longest name the girlie was taking. Today, though, she's out for the count.

Zoey is smiling more now and has some pretty decent early neck control. She can now see the mobile-y dangling elephant thing in her pack and play and loves to stare at them when I change her CLOTH DIAPER. Oh yeah, we're only 3 days in but the cloth diapering is going well, so far. Baby steps, though. When we went on our walk last night we still put her in a disposable diaper. I don't know what we're worried about... the sposies leaked poop all over the place on Sunday. ALL OVER THE PLACE. So Zoey got her first dunking bath on Sunday. :) It's to be expected, the poop, the lack of naps for days on end. It makes me appreciated contained poop and moments of quiet alone time for me that much more.

We also love to sing and dance in the afternoon. Two woman dance parties, they are! Anytime JBB or Ziggy Marley plays she settles right down. It's pretty dang awesome. My little reggae baby.

On another note, happy birthday to my amazing father-in-law! If every kid in the world had just one grandparent that loved them as much as he loves Zoey the world would be a much different, much better place.

i heart corky

six years ago my adoration for nick and our commitment to love each other forever and ever was recognized by the state of new york and the episcopal church. It was commemorated by a kickin' party that started at the binghamton regency and lasted into the wee hours at the harry l. pub.

my adventures with nick started long before and, god willing, will continue for many years to come.

i hope that someday every couple that decides they will love each other forever and ever will get the opportunity to have their love recognized by the state of new york.

ch-ch-changes

My clothesline last week filled me with a weird amount of joy. The day brought a ton of sunshine and Z's clothes were out on the line all tiny and colorful. Our backyard neighbor yelled to me, "Looks like you've got a baby in the house" and chuckled. So true.

By the looks of the clothesline a lot has changed round these parts. The stark change has been my relationships with everyone and everything. From my relationship with Nick to my relationship with my cat, even with myself. The hardest part about this is that I am normally a "reflector" - needing large quantities of time to examine what is going on and how to digest it, to see how I fit into the latest version of my life. Right now my largest quantities of "alone time" are spent in the shower or washing dishes or trying to put together announcements or just generally catching up. It's not that I didn't expect this, you see, I just hadn't lived it yet.

That's another thing the "wait untils" - I'm not waiting until, I'm trying to live in this moment and figure THIS thing out. When the next thing comes I'll handle that but for now, I'm handling this. I'm sure I can handle anything that comes my way just as generations of women before me have handled it and generations after me will. I'm a very smart woman, you know, quite adaptable with a spectacular partner who is equally as adaptable. As Buddhism believes, everything you need is inside you just have to find ways to access it. Just give me reprieve while I acclimate myself, please.

early literacy

Zoey had about 10 minutes of alert chill time in her pack-n-play the other day so I figured she might like a book to check out. A developmentally appropriate black & white book with bold images, of course. She loved it. It totally captured her attention. I was one proud English major mama!