John Making Happy Noises

For those of you who see John in public, you see him almost always quiet and watchful. Here is evidence of his nature at home, where he makes loud happy noises like these for 10 minutes at a stretch, usually when we're lying next to each other playing. Turn up your computer's sound! (Sorry for the strange angle, but I was taping from my office chair with John lying on the ground.)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7803195121162698593

The Skirt Mama Can't Wear

I have sewn my first item of clothing: a skirt! Trying to learn to sew overwhelms me. When I read through the instructions on this McCalls 4258 skirt, I felt like I was reading Greek. Nonetheless, I forged ahead, calling my Aunt Stella (seamstress extraordinaire) with questions often.

The first problem I encountered was that I didn't have enough fabric. The envelope says that the pattern in my size requires 2-1/4 yards of fabric, so I asked for 2-1/2 yards. I preshrunk the fabric and when I laid out the pattern, discovered that I didn't have anywhere near enough fabric. It is possible that the fabric cutter shorted me unintentionally. I was forced to cut with the grain instead of on the bias (that means "diagonally" for people like me, who didn't know until yesterday was the bias was). This would mean that the skirt wouldn't flow and swing as beautifully, but at least I would have a skirt.

Here is my beautiful skirt in a sable colored linen with light beige embroidered polka dots.

My neat hem:
The zipper was incredibly difficult for a beginner like me to figure out. It looks invisible and neat:
And yet I completely messed up! Somehow--I don't understand it--the zipper extends about an inch and a half above the waist. Any chance I can take the skirt to my friend Sarah (also seamstress extraordinaire) to check it in to the Sewing ICU for zipper repair?

Even if we get the zipper fixed, I won't be wearing this lovely skirt. It doesn't fit . . . by a lot. I have now learned that on the flap of the pattern's envelope one can find how many inches the pattern maker believes any given size to be. McCall's size whatever is five inches smaller than what I find in the stores. I'd have to lose a lot of weight before I'd fit into this skirt. In fact, I have discovered that McCall's does not even make this pattern in a large enough size for a woman of my girth. Well, I'll be!

I guess it's back to the sewing store to buy more fabric and try again!

John Sitting in the Tub

Each time before when we tried to see if John wanted to sit up in his baby bathtub instead of lying down, he didn't like it. Tonight when I set him in his bath, he sat upright and didn't want to lie down. He became fascinated by his own reflection in the mirror.

Three Videotapes of John

Today I taped three little videos of John. The quality is not high, but the grandparents will be able to see how much more John is able to move and manipulate his environment than a month ago.

• John Playing with his Plastic Rings
• John a Bit Frustrated (Note how he simply doesn't want to creep on carpet, while in bed he creeps up and down the length of the bed for 20 minutes at a time!)
• John Creeping on Carpet (I finally caught John on video creeping on the carpet! He only does it a bit on film, and not very successfully, but you can see his method. It seems he does not get as much purchase on the carpet as on the mattress. Or perhaps John just doesn't like the feel of carpet on his forehead as he digs his head into the floor, like he is plowing the soil.)

Memorial Day Weekend

We enjoyed a mostly relaxing three-day weekend, especially after Chris has been working such long hours for the last two weeks. On Saturday we didn't have any social obligations, so we worked on the house. Chris installed a shiny new faucet in one of our bathrooms and fixed our mail box.

My memory is fuzzy but I think we were mostly blobs on Sunday, which was much needed. On Monday, we travelled two and a half hours to St. Michael's Catholic Church in Auburn, Alabama, to attend the first traditional rite Mass that has been prayed there in the diocese, I think, since the Council of Vatican II. John did fairly well during the drive, only occasionally crying to let us know he needed us to pull over so I could nurse him.

Chris tells me that the Mass was lovely. As usual, I spent the Mass moving between the cry room, the vestibule, and outdoors with a happily loud, but sometimes crying, baby, so I wasn't much of an eye witness. After Mass, I got to meet some Internet friends "IRL" (in real life). Here is a photo of four of us ladies and some of our ten children:


After the Mass, we went to a picnic to celebrate the Mass and in honor of Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Ret.), the author of We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, which was made into the movie We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson. (Lt. Col. Moore initiated bringing our Mass to St. Michael's.) Unfortunately, Chris and I weren't prepared to stay longer at a picnic in the hot heat, while wearing our church clothes, and with no sunscreen for John, so we merely stopped by to eat and run.

Cutie photo of John flipping around on the floor and laughing:

Swimming in the Garage

Daddy wanted to try putting John's kiddie pool up on a table so that it would be easier on our backs to sit and hold up John (who doesn't yet sit up steadily). Hence, we ended up swimming in the garage this afternoon!

What's Cookin'? Today Chris cooked Slow-cooked Steak Fajitas, which he reported were very good.

"Snakes on a Plane" . . . I mean, "In the Grass"

Wildlife Report: This morning when Chris was mowing the lawn, he nearly mowed over a three-foot-long snake in our grass! As you can see from the first photo, Chris barely saw it in time.

The snake appeared not to be poisonous, so we let him slither away unharmed, hoping that he will help keep down the rodent population. We called over the neighbor kids: two six-year-old twins. Chris and I were amazed when their intrepid mother said, "I wonder what would happen if I touched the snake?" First she gently put her foot on its tail, then she picked it up by the tail and pulled it out of the bushes! The snake simply slithered away with renewed vigor.

Chris and I suspect that the egg which we found in the towhees' nest might not be a new brood but is a dud from the last brood. We have not seen the parent birds and the egg just sits there.

Memorial Day

A special dedication for all the brave servicemen of the United States Military and thier families who have sacraficed so much for the cause of freedom and liberty in thier stuggle to free the world from the evils of communism and islamofascism.


Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

Flag Etiquette: The US flag is to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to noon. At noon the flag should be totally lowered and then hoisted to full staff. If you have a flag flying from your home and are not able to lower your flag to half staff, a black ribbon should be tied to the top of the flagpole above the US flag and displayed until noon. At noon the ribbon should be removed.

A little bit of history: Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The south refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just the dead who died fighting the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every state on the last Monday of May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 to ensure a three-day weekend for Federal holidays).

Interesting Facts: Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, approximately 1,200 soldiers of the 3d USInfantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

Education: To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on December 2000 which asks that at 3 pm, local time, for all Americans to voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of Remberance and Respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence. The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to return the meaning back into this upcoming holiday.

Creeping and Swimming

Today John practiced proto-crawling on the carpet for the first time.

In another first, John played in his new kiddie pool!

John had two fun animal encounters today. For the first time Oliver laid down alongside John while the baby was nursing. Perhaps Oliver has been waiting lo these five and a half months for John to reach out in friendly invitation, like he did yesterday!

While we were at PetSmart buying cat food, I stopped by the small animals section as I enjoy looking at the tiny critters. When I paused in front of the cage of about 18 parakeets, John began laughing. We stayed there about five minutes and every time another parakeet would fly across the cage John would let our peals of laughter. He thought they were the greatest!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

A friend asked me to share this chocolate chip cookie recipe. It has healthful ingredients, but don't be fooled that it is low-fat or low-calorie! (You can play around with ingredients. I used regular Crisco. Of course, you could use butter instead. I didn't use anything organic. I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks and excluded pecans.)


Sarah’s Gourmet Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup trans-fat free Crisco (green container)
1 cup white sugar (or organic raw sugar)
1 cup (organic) brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c unprocessed bran*
1/4 c milled flaxseed

1 bar bittersweet chocolate, crushed
1 cup raw pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Mix dry ingredients together and stir into cream mixture, blend well.
Add chocolate and nuts, mix until just blended.
The batter will be a similar texture to moist brown sugar.
Grease cookie sheet.
Using 1/4 cup dry measuring cup, gently form cookies and drop onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake 10-12 minutes. Do NOT overbake. At 10 minutes, if they have expanded and are slightly darker in color than the batter, they are done. If you touch them they will seem soft and uncooked, but they will harden as they cool.

Cool and enjoy. Store any extra in freezer the first day so they will keep better.

Makes about 18 cookies.

* Unprocessed bran can be found in the organic or baking section. Hodgson Mill is one maker. Crunched up bran cereal can be used as a substitute. Some people find the bran leaves crunchies on their teeth, but it adds a fiber kick to the cookies.

Housekeeping Tip of the Day: If you have an ant problem in your bathroom and you decide to try using Hot Mexican-Style Chili Powder instead of normal poison so that your baby isn't poisoned and doesn't lose brain cells, know that the ants will indeed go away, but the white grout between your floor tiles will be stained pink, even after you scrub with bleach powder.

First Contact

John is definitely mobile now. He practices crawling in our bed, but nowhere else. If I put him down on the carpet, he just rolls, but won't even attempt to crawl. In bed, he is a mover and a shaker. He moves rather like an inch worm, putting his bottom up in the air and using all points of contact at some point: toes, knees, hands, elbows, and forehead. John can move forward or in a circle, but not backward.

John now moves with purpose and a plan. This is how he made First Contact with one of our cats. It took five and a half months, but John grabbed Oliver the cat twice today. The first time, John was shoveling forward with his forehead when he head-butted right into Oliver. John looked up in delight, then simultaneously grabbed a fistful of Oliver's fur on his back and under his belly. I know how much it hurts me when John grabs my hair at the roots all throughout the day, which is why I was so pleased and impressed that Oliver was utterly tolerant, if slightly alarmed. Later in the day, John spied the cat nearby, laughed at the genius of his own plan, and began crawling. He crept 12 inches toward Oliver, then began grabbing his paws, one by one, and his tail. After Oliver decided that enough was enough, he got up and walked away from the baby.

It won't be long before I need to get the baby gates from our basement!

What's Cookin'? Tonight Chris took me out to dinner at an Indian restaurant we both like. We realized that it was the first time we've taken John out to dinner at a restaurant. It was a very early dinner and he did well!

Tonight I baked my friend Sarah's chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was always irritated as a child by how my mom made me eat healthy . . . and now I'm turning into her. These cookies have ingredients such as whole wheat flour, unprocessed bran, and milled flax. They're the best, most interesting chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten!

Professional Photos of John Are Ready for Viewing!

Grandparents: Go get your Kleenex. Prepare to cry. The professional photos and slideshow of John are available on the photographer's personal blog.

Later, perhaps today, they will be available on her professional blog.

Our New Toys

Today in the mail, John received his new wooden blocks . . .




. . . and I received my new Ergo baby carrier!



John liked his blocks, perhaps a little too much. He would get hold of one, then want to hold another one. He'd reach for the second block and thereby drop the first block. What he wanted to do was hold all the blocks at once, so he began crying because he could only hold one at once. Baby John's patience is short right now because of his feeling ill.

I'm so excited about my Ergo. I can wear John on my stomach, hip, or back. The Ergo has a little "bonnet" that goes over the baby's head after he has fallen asleep so that his head doesn't flop all over in his relaxed state. This afternoon John stayed happily in my carrier for a couple of hours. He fell asleep, so I put the bonnet on. Later he woke up, so I took it off. I made dinner and potted a plant with John on my back. It felt so good on my back and cooler in this warm weather! The Ergo can carry a child easily till he is about three years old.

John Has a Cold

Our boy came down with quite a cold by the end of Saturday, so he and I stayed home today. He was pretty miserable all day, which made Mama tired. I was grateful that John was able to break out of his general malaise and irritability to play happily sometimes.






By the late afternoon, John and I were going stir crazy, so I slathered him in sunscreen, put a sunhat on his head, and walked him around the block. As usual, this caused him to be quiet, for which I was very grateful.



Wildlife update: We have a new bird egg! When our bushes were being pruned yesterday, Chris noticed that the towhees' nest has a new egg in it. I read that towhee babies only remain in the nest 10-12 days, so perhaps the baby birds really did fly away. Or did a marauder bird kill the baby birds and take over the nest, laying its own egg? Chris says the egg is blue and I don't think towhee eggs are blue. I'm so worried that I scared off the birds the first time that I haven't even gone to the bush to view the new egg.

New Professional Photos of John

First we had a professional opinion that John is "perfect" (from a nurse at the hospital when he was born) and now we have a professional opinion that he is "cute" (from a professional photographer). In the Moment Photography provided photos of mothers and babies to decorate the walls for Bellies In Bloom, the conference of the Georgia Birth Network which I attended today. I came upon an advertisement looking for babies to photograph in John's age range, so I sent the photographer a photo of John and he was selected. We had our photo session last week: the photographer got to use John's photos at Bellies In Bloom and we received a free session and slide show of photos.

Grandparents and family: you're welcome to buy any of these prints from the photographer if you'd like. Email me privately and I'll provide you the password to the online proofing. Even if you do not plan to buy, it should be fun to look at the 200 photos taken of John and me. [Photos are not posted yet, but should be available by Monday or Tuesday 5/21-22.]

Bellies In Bloom was very enjoyable for me today. The sessions were:

• Breastfeeding Basics (the lactation consultant speaking was also the professional photographer who took photos of John!) (Interesting tidbit I learned: A lactation consultant needs 5,000 client hours beyond her formal learning to become certified, while pediatricians only take a one-hour breastfeeding course in medical school.)
• Dads and Doulas: A panel of dads share their experiences
• Waterbirth and Other Options for Hospital Birth
• Tips for a Healthier Pregnancy and Easier Labor
• Natural Family Planning
• Homebirth Q&A

My only criticism is that there were only 15 minutes between each session and no lunch break, so I had to skip a session to get lunch and I never had enough time to visit all the vendor tables!

Several Videos of John

You know you're the parent of only one child when you have time to hover around your baby all day with a video camera, hoping to capture his proto-crawling on film. I never did, but I captured other cute moments. For anybody who is not a grandparent or aunt or uncle of John, these videos will probably be boring. You've been forewarned.

• Frustration: John is frustrated, trying to reach some toys.
• Noises: Listen to John's low guttural singing.
• Not Crawling: John has been "shoveling" (head in the ground, bottom in the air, feet pushing him along) as of late, but I couldn't get it on film.
• Not Rolling Over
• Rolling Over
• Reading: John playing with his favorite Itsy Bitsy Spider book.
• Jumping and Turning: John enjoying his jumpy seat

In wildlife news, our family of towhees is missing. Today the nest was empty and I saw no signs of baby bird remains on the ground. But where could they be? Did I disturb the parents too much by peeking in the bushes those two times? I never touched the nest! If the parents wanted to relocate their babies, could they have done so? Or did they just abandon the babies to sure death? I'm worried.

What's Cookin'? Tonight Chris and I had our friends Matt and Elaine, with their two children, over for dinner. What fun! I wanted to cook pizza, but couldn't decide on which recipe, so I made six mini pizzas. We cut them up and sampled them all:

• Tomato sauce, Roma tomatoes, goat cheese
• Olive oil, red and yellow bell peppers, portobello mushrooms, artichoke hearts, goat cheese, balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil, caramelized Vidalia onions, Gorgonzola cheese
• Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese
• Pesto, caramelized Vidalia onions, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese
• Tomato sauce, caramelized Vidalia onions, red and yellow bell peppers, and goat cheese

I also made a chocolate angel food cake, which I served with strawberries, kiwi, and whipped creme. This was my first angel food cake and the first time I used my fleur de lis Bundt cake pan. I learned something new today: angel food cake is not meant to be cooked in a Bundt pan because it sticks, and when one does cook with a Bundt pan, one needs to coat the inside with some kind of flour-grease mixture. The non-stick spray I used probably acted as a glue. I ended up cutting the cake slices right out of the Bundt pan.

Learning To Sit Unsupported

This morning I showed Chris our baby birds. We saw the male this time with the female and are now almost certain these are towhees.


We noticed that John wearing this particular pair of overalls without a tee-shirt makes him look a bit like a moonshiner from the backwoods.

I have sat John on the ground unsupported only twice now. Last week he flopped right over but today he was able to sit by himself for about five seconds each time. John has always loved standing on my lap and can now support himself against a piece of furniture (if I stand him there and keep my hands nearby to catch him).

John is becoming stronger by the moment. While lying down, he moves his body around in creative ways, as if exploring this new body he's discovered. Several times I've seen him get up on all fours, either his elbows and knees or his hands and feet. He remains that way only a moment, then stretches into a new position. Interestingly, John moves the most and does his army crawling in the middle of the night while half asleep (eyes closed).

What's Cookin'? Tonight I made yogurt-"fried" chicken (coated in yogurt and bread crumbs, then baked) and a new recipe: Black Bean and Couscous Salad. I used spinach couscous, which was a most lovely light green color. This salad is quite delicious, healthy, and full of protein. I think it would be good to take to a potluck.

We Have Baby Birds!

We have baby birds!

Today when I took out the trash, I noticed a bird fly out of the nearby bushes.
The bird made a real ruckus and landed on the nearby rocks and leaves in the forrested strip between our house and the neighbor's. The bird made so much noise in the dried leaves and by chirping loudly that I was surprised it wasn't simply flying away. Then I realized what kind of birds make that much ruckus: mama birds!

I turned to the bushes and found a nest with two tiny baby birds in them. One bird was nearly sitting atop the other. Their little eyes stared at me and they didn't make one single peep. I knew they were alive because their eyelids blinked every so often. The photos are very difficult to make out.

I tried to photograph the mama bird, but each time I aimed my camera, she flew away another ten feet. She kept doing that until I realized that she was purposefully drawing me away from her babies. A good mama!

From consulting my birding books, I think these might be rufous-sided towhees, although the nesting description doesn't sound right because this nest was in a bush, not on the ground.

What's Cookin'? Banana bread to send with Chris to the office.

Love Them Thrift Stores

I really enjoy shopping at thrift and consignment stores. Six baby clothing items for $6.70!

Sweet John loves his bath time every night.

What's Cookin'? A few days ago, I tried my hand at black bean soup for the second time. The first time I made it, I was lazy about the instruction that said I could use a food processor or blender; instead I just mashed it up with a fork and was left with beans in water. This time I used my Cuisinart and I ended up with something more like stew. Also, the flavor was okay but not great. If anyone has a good black bean soup recipe or any tips, send them my way! Tonight I made meatloaf for Chris and a hockey puck for me, Aunt Erica's roasted potatoes, and broccoli.

A Sleep Shift

Four times since the eve of Mother's Day, I have been able to simply walk into the bedroom, lay John on the bed, and walk away, successfully resulting in John falling asleep peacefully and quickly by himself.

What I want to know is: who took our baby and have the pod people been here?

Mother's Day 2007

Chris created such a lovely Mother's Day for me! In the morning, I woke up to find a Dove chocolate bar tucked in John's pajamas. I came downstairs to find a blooming azalea bush (which we'll later plant in the yard), a card and gift from the cats (Haribo gummy bears), a card and gift from Chris (Red Vines), and a card and gift from John (a framed photo of himself). The sweet gifts were wrapped in white printer paper because Chris didn't know where I stored the wrapping paper.



The cats appreciated me in their own special way. Their card read: "Dear Human Mom, Thank you for all the years of prompt feedings (not counting last night). Don't worry about the dry water bowl. We actually like drinking your husband's bath water* . . . just about as much as we liked that first class airfare plane ride.** Even though we deserve better, we still love you. Love, Oliver & Missy."

* I regularly let their water bowl run dry and we find out because, as Chris steps out of the shower, the cats leap inside and frantically start licking up the water droplets off the tile. ** This refers to the flight from California to Georgia when I moved here with the two cats.

After I opened my gifts, Chris cooked me blueberry waffles and bacon. Yum! Following are some scenes from my day. You can see that John has learned how to maneuver in his jumpy seat, so that he can rotate and lean forward to get that darned frog in his mouth.

How beautiful is my boy? You see why I think I need body guards to protect John from being snatched for his cuteness!