A Year Ago Today ...

I was holding my baby daughter in my arms for the very first time.
















My sweet girl! What a year!

Anna surprised everyone by being breech (necessitating a c-section) and being a girl. Practically everyone's predictions had been for a boy, except for my friend Jamie (who never wavered!) and a random stranger at the Y who cheerfully announced to me while we were walking around the track that I was going to have a little girl. That the baby was a boy seemed a foregone conclusion. So, when the doctors finally got around to telling us we'd had a girl (we had to ask!) all I could think of was "Girl? It's a girl? Really?"

Of course my maternity leave flew by too quickly. I was lucky to be able to work it out to stay home with Anna for five months. The weather cooperated by staying relatively mild and allowing us to more easily leave the house for walks and for trips to the mall. I held Anna as much as I could, we snuggled whenever we could snuggle and I tried not to obsess about her sleeping, eating, and developmental benchmarks and just tried to go with the flow of the schedule Anna set. I'd hoped to breastfeed for six months and was proud when we made it past eight.

I thought I would keep better track of the times Anna ate and slept but the nights especially became a blur. I'd roll out of bed while the rest of the house continued sleeping and try to keep Anna's little ice cube hands away from my bare skin while I fed her, changed her, and rocked her back to sleep. When she was teeny tiny, the second time she'd wake up at night I'd bring her back to bed with me and she'd sleep on my chest. We were constant companions.

Eventually Anna became more her own little person and began doing all the things I looked forward to as signs of her growth--smiling, rolling over, playing with toys, sleeping more at night and less during the day, growing out of her clothes. As soon as she consistently slept through the night she began to get her teeth and eating cereal and baby foods. She went along on shopping trips, restaurants, Saskia's gymnastics meet, visits with friends and family. Soon I'd hear about the funny little things that happened with her at her daycare and notice her little clothes showing wear and tear from playing with her friends. Now she giggles and claps and lets out a little shriek of excitement when she notices we are headed toward the swings at the park, or when she's about to get get a special toy or see her beloved older sister.

Certainly nothing in this experience of motherhood is unique to me. Today is a day for me to stop, reflect, and look back on this year and recognize the experience for the care and the work and the joy that it was, and vow once again to slow down as much as possible so I can continue to enjoy the experience of being a mom.

And what can I say about Anna?

Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.

Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moondust in your hair
And golden sunlight in your eyes of blue!

That is why all the kids in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you!

Just like me, they long to be
Close to you!

I adore my little girl, I'm very proud to be her mommy!! Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Oh, by the way ...

A few comments on the weekend, which was a nice one. It had a good mix of productivity, relaxation, and entertainment.

On Saturday night we met Stephanie and Arvind for dinner at The Craftsman Restaurant in Minneapolis. It's on East Lake Street, not far from the river so in actuality very close to St. Paul. Here is their website:

http://www.craftsmanrestaurant.com/

Fabulous evening! Refreshing conversation, excellent food, fine service, and a pleasant atmosphere. All the tables were full, but through some acoustic feat I never felt I was straining to hear anyone at our table or having to raise my voice to be heard. We hope to meet up with Stephanie and Arvind again in the future, either with or without kids (they have two young sons).

Anna stayed home that night with a new sitter, Lucy, who reported that the evening went well. Lucy's family (our former neighbors on Beard) gave Anna a sweet little doll (christened Dolly) who's become her newest constant companion. Pics of Anna with Dolly will follow some time in the future.

As for productivity, we began our search for bathroom tile and fixtures. These things are key to begin work on our bathroom, as they need to be ordered a few weeks in advance of the work being done. We ended up finding tile we liked on Sunday, at The Tile Shop on Lyndale in Bloomington. Thanks to excellent customer service by an employee named Alex, we learned that our chances of finding porcelain tile for the bathroom walls was zero, and that any marble/stone would cost twice as much as similar porcelain tile for the floor. He actually pulled numerous samples for us to compare to each other and wrote up a selection sheet of what we liked. It was just the right amount of assistance, more than all of the employees at the two previous stores we'd visited. Yes! Now it's on to fixtures, which I expect to be a far easier search.

Sunday morning we went out to breakfast as we usually do. This time, it was to Grand Bakery in Minneapolis. First of all, it opens at 8 a.m. which is nice. It seems like many of the other places we've visited don't open that early. We arrived around nine and were the first customers there, which is perfect when having Anna along and not necessarily knowing in advance how her temperament would be. We ended up getting a headstart on all the customers who showed up later. In general we had a good experience, it's a neighborhood place and people would stop in and order some scones and coffee and leave as well as stay a while. It's not one of those strapping-breakfast kind of places, the portions were on the smaller end, as you would have in a nicer restaurant. The food was delicious, and we were comfortable there with Anna as most of the other customers had kids with them as well. So, in short we had upscale food in a relaxed atmosphere. There are other places I would probably recommend before this one, thought this one wasn't bad. It's more of a date breakfast place, I think.

And of course the entertainment portion of the weekend was provided by watching A Prairie Home Companion on Sunday night. To be honest, unless you're a big fan of the show (better yet, have seen it in person) or a big fan of Robert Altman-style movies you probably wouldn't care for this movie. Edwin and I got a kick out of it, of course, due to our history with the show and being able to recognize familiar faces and locations in many of the scenes, but for the average person on the street I don't think they'd jump up and down with excitement with this movie. It's mostly just there.

That is all.

Don't mess with Blockbuster Video!

I rarely rent videos. I love to watch movies, but I think it is such a rip-off to rent videos that as much as possible I avoid actually going into a video store. Until Sunday. For some reason I forgot how much I disliked Blockbuster and thought I could quickly stop in to rent A Prairie Home Companion. Why oh why didn't I just stop at Target and buy it? We know we'll want to own it anyway.

So, Blockbuster Video is closest to our house and I've rented from them before. However, since I hadn't rented from them within the last 90 days and didn't have my Blockbuster card, they couldn't look me up from my drivers license and I was told I'd have to fill out all the paperwork for a new membership. Whatever. I needed my drivers license and a major credit card for the new membership, and had to fill in the numbers of each on the membership form.

While I'm doing this it occurs to the guy who's helping me that he may have messed up typing in my last name. The space or possible lack of a space between "Van" and "Riessen" frequently throws systems off. Usually I think to ask the person to type it in the other way, or look under "Riessen" and this clears up the problem. I didn't think to do this on Sunday, but the employee did and sure enough Edwin's name came up as having an account. Problem solved, right? No.

Because only Edwin's name came up on the account, I still didn't have the authority to rent a video. The employee called Edwin at home and asked if it was okay that he rent to me. Edwin said yes, but to actually add me to his account he'd have to come in personally with his ID, has Blockbuster card, and fill out a form. That phone call wasn't enough.

I suppose there are a lot of exes who pull nasty tricks on each other, taking out a dozen videos and not returning them, etc. I suppose places like Blockbuster get screwed by people all the time, making the major credit card info necessary to cover themselves. I told the employee I understood that he had nothing to do with setting up the policies of Blockbuster, but good grief I could get my prescription drugs through the mail but I could not rent a video? Crazy.

So, one step closer to NetFlix!!

Funny, there had been a Mr. Movies even closer to us than Blockbuster so I went there for a while after we'd moved to our Drew house. The store manager was a nice guy and they had a great candy selection. :) I expected I'd strap Anna in the stroller and Mr. Movies would be a frequent destination for us while on my maternity leave. But then it closed. The first time I was there and tried to check out a movie, I was told I had to pay a late fee! Turns out, while Edwin and his ex were still married, she'd rented a movie there and didn't return it on time. The Horse Whisperer. Typical. So, there remained a late fee on the account since 1999! I'm sure the look on my face at the time I was told this (in 2005!) was classic. I explained the situation to the manager, who completely waived the fee. I'm not sure how much it was, but good grief. It was then I considered him A Nice Guy.

So, I'm thinking Blockbuster could show the Department of Homeland Security a thing or two. After all, if they have this many hoops for checking out a video, think of what else they could do when the stakes are higher!! LOL!

October Madness!

October is a crazy busy month for birthdays and anniversaries, so let me mention them all here:

9th: Joe and Jennifer's anniversary
16th: DeAnn's birthday
17th: Diane and Tony's anniversary
17th: Yvet's birthday
21st: Paul's birthday
22nd: Mary's birthday
24th: Linda and Jeff's anniversary
24th: Jeff's birthday
30th: Anna's birthday

I'm not sure that I'll get cards out to everyone, I'd rather not send a card if I don't have the time to write a letter, so in some instances a card doesn't get sent at all. Honestly, when I get a card with a quick signature and nothing else, I think what's the point? Save your stamp. So I'm not going to do that in return.

Despite all the special dates in October, my extended family has no special days in November. We thought that would change last year, as Anna's original due date was November 7. Something in November! A sure way to make "the calendar" every year, had it happened that way. Edwin, Saskia and I talked about Anna's impending birth quite a bit a year ago. Edwin and Saskia would have loved for the baby to have been born on Halloween, since they like the holiday so much. I'd rather the baby not be born on Halloween. Another prefered date was November 2, as Saskia's birthday is June 2 and we thought it'd be neat if they had the same date of the month. Other than Halloween, I was fine with any date as long as the baby didn't go overdue. I couldn't imagine going overdue, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. The anticipation would have driven me crazy had I gone overdue. I guessed the baby would come a little early, for various reasons, and turned out to be right. I also happen to like October's birthstone better! ;)

ONE THING THAT HELPS KEEP ME SANE: In short, my job can be very tedious. We've all been provided headphones and I have a good variety of music at work that I've brought from home, but lately I've been listening to past episodes of This American Life while I work. Here is a short description of the show, and it's website:

From WBEZ in Chicago This American Life
Hosted by Ira Glass, this weekly radio show on topics that aren't really news, but topics that relate to everyone's life in some way.
http://www.thislife.org/

Generally, the hour-long show has three or four stories all based on the same topic. Most of the time, it's just ordinary, every day people sharing their experiences related to the main topic, or being interviewed by Ira Glass. Sometime contributers to the show include David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, and Anne Lamont. Trust me, David Sedaris' books are far funnier when you are able to imagine him reading the words. Sarah Vowell is not only funny, but also has a fascination with history which I share. I put her latest book, Assassination Vacation on my Christmas list this year. Anne Lamont always seems to have a compelling insight on life due to her life experiences and faith, so I appreciate her as well. Anyway, the website makes available shows going back to 1995? 1996? and you can listen to them all free. So I do. I think the show actually airs on MPR on Saturday afternoons, but when would that ever be convenient? Listening to the show while I work is a nice treat and gets me through the tedium. Thank you!!

Today Edwin and I start shopping for the supplies we need to have our upstairs bathroom remodeled. We have found a handyman (Brad tells us he's not a contractor) to do the job, and as soon as he finishes his current job he'll be able to start with us. Yay! We expect that to be in the next couple weeks, and once started the job will take 2-3 weeks. It all depends on how difficult it is for him to remove the tile that is currently on the bathroom walls. He guesses this tile is original to the house and secured to the wall with concrete, making it's removal probably the most difficult part of the remodeling. We're very excited to have the bathroom updated, all the fixtures will stay in their current locations but just be updated. In addition to the bathroom, we're adding some additional side jobs to Brad's work, like installing a ceiling fan in Saskia's room, fixing our closet doors, replacing a radiator, etc. It'll be nice to have these things done!! And, if they could be done before Thanksgiving wouldn't that be fabulous?

Housework is calling ...

A Full Nights' Sleep

It's been about a week or so since I've slept through the night. Anna has been waking every couple hours, either because her fever medication has worn off and she's miserable (last week) or her cough medication has worn off and she's coughing (this week). Last night seemed to be far better than the several nights previous to it, thank goodness. We're both tired!

Being able to function on significantly less sleep has been a surprise of motherhood for me. I'd heard about it, of course, but couldn't really picture myself being able to do it. But I am! Everyone seems to have a different definition of "sleeping through the night" and from my view Anna didn't achieve this until she was six months old. By that time I was back to work. For me it was a bigger milestone when Anna only woke once at night, as getting up once during the night is a breeze, more than once becomes especially tiring and renders me sluggish the next day. Waking once must hit my sleep cycle just right, or something. So, I've felt sluggish for several days now and am trying to move slower, not push myself too much to conserve my energy a bit, get to bed early when I can to get through this time.

Over the weekend I put beautiful, dark red mums in the planters on the steps to our house. They're just gorgeous and I vow that this time I will replant them somewhere in our yard after the season is over. I did not do that with the last mums, but then again the mums I got a year ago weren't this beautiful. At the Beard house Edwin had replanted some mums and they did grow back and bloom without any further intervention, so it is possible for these to be successfully replanted as well. We'll see! I hope so! My window boxes have been unsuccessful year after year, now I am debating whether to fill them with mini-pumpkins (one of our neighbors did this and it's really cute) or just wait a little bit longer and fill them with pine cones. I wonder where I could go and just pick up some pine cones for this, it seems silly to have to buy them or pay a lot of money for them.

I mailed out Anna's birthday party invitations yesterday. I bought her invitations, decorations, etc., at Party City, a store I had never stepped foot in until a week ago. What a festive place to look around, and with Halloween imminent there was a hustle and bustle that made it fun to be there. I think I have everything we'll need from that store, now I have to figure out how to incorporate duckies into the party and decide on the cake. Decisions, decisions!

A couple nights ago I finally finished Angels and Demons. Eh. It was entertaining to a point, but then somewhere 2/3 through it got tiresome and a chore to read. How that is possible when the chapters are only 2-3 pages long with simple dialogue and lots of action is perplexing. The motive of the bad guy seemed too far fetched to be believable and the inevitable love story between Langdon and Vittoria cheesy and juvenile, thrown in for good measure and unnecessary. Oh well. Not that the DaVinci Code is a literary masterpiece but I did like that book far more than this one.

So, I've started to read Anna Karenina. Twenty pages down, eight hundred more to go! My concern is not the length, but keeping all of the Russian names straight. The version I am reading won a prize for translation (Pen/Book of the Month Club and the one the Oprah chose for her book club), so I am hopeful that I won't get bogged down like I did years ago when I attempted War and Peace.

All for now ...

Yay! It's the weekend!

Ahh, feels so good. Edwin often gets Anna out of bed on weekend mornings so I can sleep in a little bit. I'm not always able to sleep, but the rest I get is always nice.

We went to the Town Talk Diner for lunch today. LOVED IT! It's located at 2707 1/2 East Lake Street, Minneapolis, one of the businesses dealing with the revamp of Lake Street. I don't recall when all the construction work began, but I'm sure for those who are in the area frequently it feels like it's been going on forever. This place is a couple blocks east of the Hiawatha/Lake intersection, if you need a point of reference. We haven't been able to go out for dinner on a Friday night for several weeks, so this seemed like a good alternative. Great idea, Husby!

While at the Town Talk Diner, we learned that Anna does not like omelets but does like scramblers. We also recently learned that she loves fresh apple cider, but doesn't really care so much for apple juice. She is fine tuning her tastes, obviously! Friday night, thanks to Saskia's encouragement, she ate an entire jar of squash and white beans that Edwin had made for dinner. It's nice that she's eating such a variety of foods. So far, she's not keen on green vegetables or applesauce. but she eats just about everything else. Switching from formula to whole milk was an easy transition, and she has also switched from bottles to her Gerber cups easily. Thanks sweetie!

Tonight I hope to work on Anna's baby scrapbook a bit. I have everything ready to go, I think I'll be able to spread out on the dining room table and not have to put it all away for a few weeks. As with the wedding scrapbooks I put together, I'm procrastinating on these albums. I want them to be perfect and want to make sure I have everything just right, so then it all becomes an intimidating project and easy to put off. But, typing about it out here will force me to work on it, right??

I just sent out the email inviting all my family in the metro area to Thanksgiving dinner. It's always been a lovely time and Edwin has been very proud to pull together the menu. We've been hosting Thanksgiving since 2001, and I've kept the menus every year since to put in a scrapbook. The Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appetit should be arriving soon, which is always where he pulls his recipes. I try to clean the house from top to bottom and decorate, if Saskia is with us she'll help me clean, come up with ideas for kids activities, and create place cards for everyone. Thanksgiving is often the first time we've made a fire for the season, and the television stays off. It's been a nice tradition.

WHAT I'VE REALIZED LATELY: It is not necessary for me to automatically produce my ID when making a liquor store purchase. Finally figured that one out--I don't look anywhere near 21 anymore. I used to always just hand the ID over with my credit card, assuming that I would be asked for it, but then it occured to me that no one had actually asked for it for a very long time. I do always have it, of course, but who am I kidding to just hand it over? So I've stopped handing it over. I myself am a horrible judge of age and when I worked concessions at the Fitzgerald I would card just about everyone to be safe. I guess the pros can tell, I'm not fooling anyone.

Well, it seems like I always have ideas of what to write about here but once sitting down at the keyboard I seem to forget them all. Hmm.

Mademoiselle Boo














Here's a picture of my sweet girl Anna Louise. She even has her own blog, which is far more exciting than mine! ;)

Damn it's cold!

And it's snowing just as predicted. Brrr! Those first cold days of the season always feel so much colder than they really are, I know in February this would be a relative heat wave. But I'm still cold. My two potted plants in front of the house which had been growing gangbusters all summer are now kaput.

I just learned that my friend, Bob, has just completed his last chemo treatment. Congratulations to him--I'm thrilled for him that these treatments are now in the past. I am not naive enough to think this has automatically cured his cancer, but it's still a remarkable milestone and something worth celebrating. He's been back to work for a couple weeks now.

Well, I should have kept my mouth shut in the previous post about Anna being a healthy girl (or knocked on wood while typing it, etc). Since that post she's had some mild to more concerning fevers, the highest temp I got was last night at 103. Her cough has lingered, like mine and Saskia's (and the people in my immediate work area!) and she can switch from baby glee to inconsolable crankiness at a moment's notice. So, Edwin picked her up early yesterday, I'm home from work today, and tomorrow we'll tag team it to get us through to the weekend. The baby Tylenol we give her to manage her fever works quickly so she's able to play and be her usual self as long as we keep giving it to her. Still no other symptoms, I keep scanning her gums for a new tooth but no sign of one yet.

I am so, so close to finishing Angels and Demons, maybe tonight will be the night! Waiting to be read is Anna Karenina, a book I've been wanting to read forever, the Unbearable Lightness of Being which I picked up at Barnes and Noble long ago, somewhat intrigued by the fact that it's set in Prague. Those are the big two, substantive books in my future. Otherwise, I have the Sex and the City book I bought for Edwin's birthday, but I will wait to read that one after he's had the chance, Brideshead Revisted and The Mists of Avalon (thanks Margot and Hans!)

Here--Anna wants to type a few words before I go (she is sitting on my lap):

. m azw;.pl4, ds/ fd xm,. ugfu ix? g;fb ;'gg

Stay warm everybody!

Home for the Day

Well, I spoke too soon in one of my recent posts--Anna is sick. Not horribly sick, but that borderline sick where you debate whether or not to bring her to daycare, whether it's bad enough to bring her to the doctor, etc. She's had a cough but not a lot of other symptoms until a couple days ago--a low grade fever, today a runny nose. I was up with her for about 2-2 1/2 hours in the middle of the night last night trying to work with her cough and get her back to sleep. I ended up digging out the humidifier for her room, cleaning it and setting it up. That should help a lot, according to the nurse I talked to on the phone yesterday.

Marion has alerted me to other things since Anna has been in her care, but I just don't think I need to run to the doctor for every little thing that comes up. There was a time in August that Anna had a fever, but it broke after 2-3 days and the highest it got was 102 so I didn't bring her in. I know I'm not going to get a prescription for her if it's just a cold, so as long as she's not showing any other scary symptoms I will let it run its course. In part I am trying to avoid the inevitable frustration of bringing her in and being told there's nothing they can do and to keep her comfortable. Kids do get sick, it's part of being a kid.

Anna still plays and smiles as usual and her appetite is still pretty good, so I don't think this will affect our plans for the weekend very much. I can't really make her sleep any more than she wants to, she's never been a great napper. It was lovely to hold her in my arms last night and just be there for her, trying to coax her back to sleep. These days she's too busy to want to be held for very long.

I do say, the times I've had to stay home with Anna due to sickness have always been lovely days weather-wise. Since these times have all been borderline, I can at least buckle her up and go for a drive, which is generally enough for me to feel I've gotten out of the house. Today we went to Turtle Bread, where I got some soup for lunch and shared a croissant with Anna. Then we went to Knollwood Mall. No pajamas for Sas at Old Navy, but, DSW still had my sunglasses which I had lost there months ago. At least I'm pretty sure those were the ones. YES!! Starting out the summer I had two pairs of sunglasses that I really loved, and though I rarely lose things I lost both pairs this summer. And got them both back! Lucky, lucky.

Yesterday I visited the closest library to us, the Linden Hills Library. It just doesn't occur to me to go there, the hours are erratic, it's not as big as the one on York, and parking can be a hassle because you have to park on the street. But, I found out they have toddler/kids storytime on Monday nights at 7, and their DVD and video collection is excellent! I ended up checking out The Love Letter, The Long Way Home, Breaking the Waves and Notting Hill. The only one of these that I've seen before is Notting Hill. I'll report back!

The last movie I saw in the theater was Little Miss Sunshine. First of all, it had Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carrell who are all actors that I like immensely. I laughed hard throughout the entire movie, I didn't find any of the storylines predictable, and often could relate to those roadblocks which pop up in life and the crazy things you find yourself doing to work around them. The comedy was a little naughty, but still clever. I mean naughty as in I-can't-believe-I'm-laughing-at-this!! naughty.

Well, so far my posts are pretty hum-drum day to day stuff. I'd like to think I have the capacity to go deep on certain topics, but there's just so much going on now in the world that's upsetting that I don't even know where to start. It's far easier to stick to the latest movies I've seen, Anna's most recent accomplishments, my activities of the day, that kind of thing. Oh well.

Friends

Today I had lunch with my friend, Jamie. She is one of the few lunch buddies I have at work, I recently learned that I've lost another--Lisa, who has decided not to return from her maternity leave. I am happy for her of course, but also sad in that I know it will be more difficult for us to keep in touch from now on.

Two other work friends who had their babies in the last couple years also decided not to come back. I can't help but think of them from time to time, especially when I have a particularly challenging day. Overall I'm happy with my decision to go back to my job, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't wonder about it and consider what life would be like if I were home with Anna. That's what happens when I have too much time to think about personal stuff when I'm at work!

Oh, and I have decided to keep any comments about my work out here to a minimum. It's an important part of my life, but to be honest I have no trouble leaving it behind when I leave for the day. It's not constantly on my mind. So, if you (whoever you is or will be) find it odd that I never mention work will know that it's conscious decision on my part.

I have just been made aware that the Twins are behind in game two of their series with the A's. They lost their first game against the A's, and though they have the reputation of coming back to win late in the game, it just doesn't look like it's going to happen this time.

CURRENT FRUSTRATION: the tire pressure light in my vehicle has been on and I can't get it to shut off. I'm supposed to go to my dealer to have them look at it, but that's just too much of a pain in the ass. I did have the local Goodyear business check it out for me (much more convenient, and I trust them) and they were unable to find any problems. That is good enough for me! But, it's annoying to see the light. I have ignored lights before when I was confident there weren't any problems, but it's all a different ballgame now that Anna is with me most of the time. Could Goodyear be wrong? When will I ever find the time to go to my dealer (in Inver Grove Heights) for something as minor as this. Grr.

Tonight I hope to make my weekly trip to Target :) I always pick up a pack of diapers for Anna, and she likes a lot of their food brand items as well and we are out of a few things. Target sells the strawberry applesauce that Anna likes, I've tasted it and I don't think it's that much different than regular applesauce except for the color. Otherwise, Anna hates all other forms of applesauce, which has become a running joke in our household and is mentioned from time to time on her blog. The look on her face when we try to feed it to her is classic. Silly girl!

Hanging out

I'm at home, Anna's been in bed for a while now. All is quiet. Edwin's traveling for work most of this week.

In the background I have Eyes on the Prize on television. I taped it last night, so I don't feel as though I'm missing anything by being out here. I remember watching parts of it when it first was on television years ago and just feeling shocked, appalled, and ashamed by segregation and the black experience in America. I just didn't realize how horrible it was, and how relatively recent in our history it was. Shameful.

My current book is Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. Without child I'm sure I would have finished it in a weekend, but with child I'm on my third week or so. This book takes place in Rome, more specifically Vatican City. Sigh! Another city I have the feeling I won't have the chance to visit!

Anna was not herself this evening so I'm on the watch for any new teeth or sniffles. Marion mentioned that Anna has a cough, but she has mentioned that before when I haven't noticed anything. I feel very fortunate that the few times Anna has been sick it has been something that has passed quickly. No ear infections yet, no diaper rashes we couldn't remedy, no middle-of-the-night trips to the ER.

As it does every fall, it saddens me that the hours of sunlight are getting fewer and fewer. Sigh!

I was very excited today to realize that the month of October is quickly filling with social events! Yay! We don't hire babysitters very much, but we will be at least twice this month due to dinner plans with friends Stephanie and Arvid, and a dinner party being hosted by a colleague of Edwin's. We also have plans to invite other friends over for dinner here and there, so our weekends are pretty full. After a couple months of hits and misses in trying to make social plans, I am very encouraged!

I've been very reflective so far this month, as my dear baby girl turns one on the 30th--she is my heart. There are times that I think of all the freedom I had prior to being a mom which I don't have now, and although I'd be lying to say I didn't miss it at all, I'm not lying when I say I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. It just doesn't feel right to be away from her for too long, to not be there to greet her when she wakes up or to say goodnight before she goes to sleep. Though on its face the early daycare hours appear tiresome, over time I have found it to be a blessing that I have to pick up Anna so early--it has given me quality time to be with her during the week after a full day at work. If her daycare went until 6 p.m. that would probably be when she'd get picked up, which allows for practically no time to be together before her bedtime of 7-7:30.

Anyway, my sweet girl is all I hoped for and I am blessed.

Well, I should close here and do something productive around the house ...

Go Twins!!

The Twins play the Oakland A's at noon today for their first playoff game. Very, very unfortunate time for those of us who must be at work. Oh well. A few of us fans are clustered in my work area so I expect we'll all keep each other updated through the game.

Somehow I knew the Twins would come back after their disastrous start to the season. I didn't expect they'd win the division, the Tigers lead seemed too far out of reach. I only hoped for a shot at the wildcard, funny how this all turned out. I remember Edwin teasing me about this early in the season after a particularly rough stretch and I predicted they'd come back. You can never rule these guys out. Their rallies are just unbelievable. I for one would not complain if they'd just take the lead early on in a game and keep it, these come-from-behind wins due to runs in the 8th and 9th innings are just too nerve-wracking.

In thinking about the Twins season, I realize their story this year is a good lesson in persistence and hope. Things can change, you continue to work hard and you don't give up. Now, the Twins have been rewarded with a playoff spot, a reward coveted by so many other teams. But what if they had not gotten the playoff spot in the end? There is still a reward, the reward of working hard and not giving up hope even with long odds. I think anyone, be it a team or an individual is entitled to be proud when they've kept up the intensity of pursuing ones' goals, whether or not the goal is reached. It's not all about the end result.

Yesterday was a breathtakingly beautiful autumn day and I made sure to bring Anna to a nearby park to play in the evening. She loves the swings, and I love to swing, too, so she goes on a baby swing by herself for a while, and also on my lap while I swing. We usually find a baby slide that she can go down, slides are much easier to do if Edwin is with me as one of us will be at the top and the other at the bottom to catch her. I wish I'd had our camera--the best part was setting her in the grass and piling leaves around her and throwing some in the air so they'd (gently) fall around her like rain. She loved it! It's those simple things which I'm finding meaningful. We have glory all around us.

It's October!

No statue of Venus, I ran out of time on Friday. Sigh! Let's just say work hasn't been very pleasant for oh, the last six months or so and I'm getting tired, feeling defeated by the numerous issues going on. It's been hard to remain hopeful, optimistic about this stuff.

At the moment I am snacking on a bag of Chex Mix, which has "60% less fat than regular potato chips". Hmm. I love Chex Mix, to the point that it doesn't seem like Christmas unless someone whips up a batch. The less fat feature is bonus. The "someone" could actually be me, since it's not that hard to make and I've made it before. Last year our lovely neighbors (to the north) dropped some off for us, I think I was the only one who ate it.

I had an exciting weekend in that I just got a new bike! Yay!! I've known for some time that a new bike would be in my future. As a family, we do a good amount of biking and my years old Huffy just wasn't cutting it anymore. Plus, no matter how much Edwin oiled it or how much WD40 I sprayed on it my brakes squeaked so loud as to bring attention to me. I'd browsed on Craigslist here and there hoping for a deal, but I didn't know what I was looking for, hadn't done any research.

Eventually I went to the Trek website and learned about their WSD bikes--women special designed. Perfect! The design is intended to ease lower back and hip pain which often occurs with women due to biking, and certainly happens with me. Since I found this information, I was set on getting this special design, so knew to ask for this when I went to check out the bikes at Penn Cycle. Then, with the help of a great sales guy who in addition to helping me narrow my bike search kept Anna entertained, I found my new bike--a 2006 Trek 7300, WSD. It's mostly gray with apple green. I think I need a new bike helmet to match! ;)

So Edwin and I went biking with Anna yesterday, not only is it a wonderful, new bike for me it's also far easier for Edwin to attach to the bike rack on the car. We drove to the French Regional Park in Plymouth, the trails are a little shorter than what we usually like but with Anna and me being so sore from my class at the Y on Saturday the distance was perfect. I didn't mind doing the short loop a couple of times, there were enough curves and small hills to keep it interesting and the leaves appeared to be in full color with lots of red sumac as well. It was a glorious sunny afternoon.

Anna is a trooper, she's still a little small for her trailer and bike helmet but we keep the trips short or take more breaks, she helps by somehow getting comfortable enough to nap for part of the time.

The Twins won the division!! OMG, I literally get chills when I discuss this dramatic turn of events with another Twins fan. The diehard fans must be over the moon! I need to learn the second verse of the Twins song (we're gonna win Twins, we're gonna score ...), as I've been singing it to Anna so she has another song to practice her clapping. More on this another day!

My other notable event of the weekend was taking a new class at the Y on Saturday. I generally don't take any of the classes at the Y, I prefer to just go to my machines or weights and do my own thing. However, this class was too tempting--the time was perfect, and it was a combination of three different areas of interest all in one. The first 30 minutes was beginner kick-boxing, the second 30 minutes core strength training, and the last 30 minutes fitness yoga. It went pretty well, I'm not that coordinated to keep up perfectly so missed many of the reps. I also had lower back and hip pain prior to the class so opted out of those moves which resulted in a jolt of pain to that part of my body. Otherwise, it was all good and I'd like to go again if it continues to work in my schedule. Ha!