how we all dance.

It’s a boy! No, he doesn’t have a name yet, it’s rough assigning a permanent identity to a brand new, clean slate of a person.

Martin Luther King Day, 1.18.10

Home birth. If I could do this one over, though, I would have preferred to do an unassisted birth. This time there was too much chaos, too many interruptions pulling me out of my focus… and I am an introvert. Maybe I’ll write on that idea sometime.

Easy short labor, big healthy boy: 7lbs 14oz and 21.5 inches long. I’m going to check my midwife’s scale, though, he seemed so much bigger than Matthias who also had the same stats.

Family love:

The guys are pretty stoked on having another member in their man club.

Still using the newborn hat that my SF friend Lane knitted for me back in ‘96.

We have a photo just like this of Persephone from 13 years ago, similar little face peeking out from the same little hat and blanket. She’s good at holding a baby because she’s good at holding a cat.

Day Three trying out the “new” mei tai – straps salvaged from the old one, new body made from some more of that Ugandan batik from Mary. It’s been good for three baby carriers so far.

Also from Day Three – I made sure to snatch photos of the skinny newborn before he started changing and chunking up – which he has done quick style. Again like Matthias, he seems to be on the “gain a pound per week” plan.

Old tee shirt turned into a little dude hat – just in time for the Saints/Vikings playoffs game. This also assuages somewhat the disappointment Bret felt at not being able to get a Sons of Anarchy baby hat.

Pure glee – the world’s HAPPIEST big sister ever.

Last October I had the ridiculously good fortune to meet a kindred spirit living right in my neighborhood. We hesitantly began a friendship by sending a few emails, getting together a couple of times, that sort of thing. A few days into January I sent her another email and received back an automated message saying that she was offline for all of 2009 and that if I wanted to contact her I could call or write. I wondered what kind of virus had gotten into her mail server.

I looked to see if she had a Facebook account. She did. It was open to people in our network, so even though we weren’t “friends” yet, I could access her profile. Right there at the top was a message confirming the idea that she was offline for all of 2009.

And – I panicked. How were we supposed to develop our new friendship without emails and facebook status updates? Why did she have to do this to me, to trounce on my hopefulness for an exciting and fruitful mind-meld? How was I going to schedule her to come over for tea?

I called her. I sent her notes in the mail. She called back. We had tea. And bit by bit over the year she shared with me an occasional musing on her ‘net-free life, on making the decision to become more present to her family, breaking the addiction to constant email-checking, maybe turning her experience into a writing project. Parts of me were envious. I’ve often practiced, in small spurts, computer-free Sundays for the very purposes of being more aware of my immediate surroundings, being more productive in and around our home. I always find that I really enjoy my kids more on those days, and that I accomplish a frightening amount of non-cerebral work. The internet can cause us to become a bit frenetic and a lot distracted, and Jenny always seemed so peaceful. She still ran into people, she still went places, she still found things to do. All of these things were tangible, real, and local. She probably harvested a lot more value from each experience because she wasn’t simultaneously checking her phone for text messages or writing emails in her head.

Baby gift: fleece purchased locally, dyed and spun into yarn by Jenny while she was not occupied by the internet.

Jenny came back online this past weekend. Now she’s blogging about her experience and thoughts from the past year. Her writing is clean and clear, there is no bogginess. If you can stand the irony, check it out.

Emphasis on the “little.” I know it’s really hard to figure out just which of these kids is mine, right?

After the first few weeks of gymnastics, Rivendell decided she would prefer to do karate. Actually she’s been wanting to start almost since Matthias began about a year ago, but I was unsure about her commitment level… Anyway, we made her finish gymnastics before signing up for karate NOT because I believe in the finish-what-you-start theory of parenting (I don’t – if something doesn’t seem to have value, don’t waste any more of your time with it!) but because she needs more lessons in economics, both financial and time.

R.’s ability to focus and perform the moves is impressive – or maybe I’m just the mom that thinks so. Regardless, she does seem to be taking it more seriously than most of the other Little Ninjas. I wonder if therapists offer family discounts for so many people with over-achievement issues.

We DO thankfully get family discounts here. Persephone just started in the teen class, and when I go back, I will be free!

I didn’t use a pattern for this one (of course not) but hybridized my own design after studying some of the offerings at Clan Arans. I especially love the moss-filled V in the center panel and the upwards winding braid. I never thought of making one go up before! Grab your cable needle and go find your clan – or graft yourself into a more fashionable one.

Totally fearless little compact person.

She’s trading in her balance beam for a gi and a deep fighting stance though, and for that I am quite thankful.

The last one we made – maybe five or six years ago? – was a complete disaster. Maybe because I was still trying to bake without eggs and butter. This time, I hardly had anything to do with it, which is just the way I like things to be in my kitchen.

Matthias figured out all the elevations; I cut out the facades and realized that “measure twice, cut once” only works if you check the specs first. Oops. Back to the drawing board.

Practicing on the extra pieces. It’s sort of like a glue gun…

The face of accomplishment. (I wish she would let me comb her hair. I really do.)

Ours doesn’t look anything like the Martha Stewart one that inspired us, but it’s standing and that alone is nearly a miracle.

I have been at a complete loss for words lately – a little vampire is sucking up my life force right now. And of course, I’m perfectly willing to allow this to happen. I’m just surprised, even though I’ve done this before, that this process can use up all my mental creativity. I don’t know why the brain has to shut down when the womb is fully active; in fact it seems that is not true for everyone. There are some fabulous bloggers out there who don’t get stopped by a little pregnancy once in a while. But it’s true for me and I just can’t seem to get any creative or productive projects done. There are even a couple of topics that have been burning my brain lately but I Just. Can’t. Start. Writing. Snore.

But now we have Mike. He’s staying with us for a couple of months while he looks for his own place up here, and he and Bret have been knocking things off “the list” every day. (See top item in the sidebar to the right.) Granted, neither of them seems to be capable of knitting a baby sweater, but I’ll let that go since I no longer have to be assaulted every day by pink stripes.

Thanks Mike.

Proof, once again, that men and women are created equal but different.

These photos are two months old. I’ve been, well, tired. Oh, and busy! Did you see that exchange student??! She kept me hopping, triple time.

I almost forgot about these photos from Father’s Day weekend, “Bring Your Dad to Class Day.”

Loads of laughs from everyone. A bunch of dads (and one mom) who were really great sports. Kids totally thrilled. What’s not to love.

I really wasn’t sure about this martial arts school in the beginning. I used to call it the “karate factory,” because everyone, and I mean everyone, attends classes here. They have an after-school program that picks kids up, a summer camp program, adult classes, it’s a very busy place. And if you know me, I usually run really hard in the opposite direction of “everyone.” But you know what… it was closest to home, it had the best class times for kids (before dinner instead of during or after), and the most flexibility. Turns out that “everyone” may have been smarter than me this time. I am so glad to be doing something normal for once.