15 posts tagged “me”

Happy Halloween!

Oct 31, 2009
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Trick or Treat from Liberace (and her parents)!!

Daddy & Liberace

Liberace & Mama, Halloween 2009!

The whole dorky family

Taking Advantage of the Best, Shortest Season in NY

Oct 4, 2009
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Fall here is something to behold. Lasting for only a fleeting moment, the trees turn shades that have inspired poets, musicians, and artists for centuries. Amos took a school trip to Plattsburgh last year, and ever since he's talked about driving to this certain point along the way, where there are little waterfalls and a gorgeous view. Today, with the warmer 55 degree weather, we dropped all our work and jetted off. These are the kinds of trips I like the best; Amos and I both have so much work to do, we hadn't eaten lunch, but we knew that if we didn't grab the incentive and just GO we would never have the time. I only made time to grab my knitting, camera, and some milk for Hazel, and we took the afternoon off.

NY Fall

13 months

Daddy & Hazel

(I love that face on her. She was actually laughing, I just caught her at a weird moment, but these are the pictures I love the best.)

On the way home we found an excellent bar & grill way out in the middle of nowhere. I don't know what town it's in, I think it may be called Ohio, but I know we'll make our way back there. Hazel had an apple we brought along and some homemade, and therefore not at all greasy, sweet potato fries. These fries were reason enough to go back, clearly hand-cut and fried for just a second without any breading to mush things up. Homemade pickles and a fantastic burger eaten in front of a crackling fire sealed the deal for me.

Oops, forgot one!

Hey what's this thing?

Why is September almost over?

Sep 22, 2009
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I still have tons of stuff to do!!!!

We have been extremely busy, all three of us. With the start of the school year (for both Amos and I) came a crazy rush of adjusting to yet another new schedule. We have lived by some serious schedules since I got pregnant with this baby! Here's a little run-down of what all has been going on:

1. Daycare started for Hazel, and I think she likes it as much as any 1-year-old would. When we drop her off she cries for a while, which I didn't know about until yesterday, but Donna says she does fine not too long after we leave. She hasn't been the sweetest baby these days because she is starting to teethe again, so it's been a little rough with her. But with plenty of Tylenol we'll get through it!

2. School is awesome. And hectic, and scary a little. I finally have grades back in both classes, so I feel like I am doing ok thus far. With English classes you sometimes don't get grades back until your first big paper, which could be assigned two months into the semester, so it can be a little nerve-wracking to be doing all this work and not know if you're doing it correctly. Luckily I'm making A's in both classes right now - whew!

3. I'm having a long stroke of bad luck that is getting me down, but I figure the longer it goes on the sooner it just has to stop. That includes losing my newest camera, the cute little red Nikon that I've been using pretty much exclusively to get all these quick, nice shots of Hazel, and which also had my 4 GB card inside. I still have a 1 GB card for the other, bigger Nikon, but I am SUPER UPSET about losing that camera. Maybe I can hold out until Black Friday and beat the crowds back to get a cheap deal on another one...until then there may not be as many pictures of Hazel, though I know I haven't been posting many here.

I have to go make a Powerpoint on feminist literary theory, so this is going to be a short summation. But more to come soon. Until then, here's a little something funny to take the edge off!

12 months waking up medium

I like this thing

Sep 1, 2009
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Here are a few pictures we've taken of Hazel with our iphones. Amos has been surprisingly into taking Hazel's picture with his phone, though he never was before.

Blurry, and pretty red, but not too bad!

Teeth brushing

At Trent's birthday party; she has a tiny little busted lip from a fall she took right beforehand, but she's really tough. This is the one that Amos took!

Fat Lip

We were *running* yesterday, not walking! Hazel has taken steps on her own, but she doesn't really seek that out. More often she grabs a finger, just one, and tries to get us to run beside her. We are working on it though.

Running

Happy Birthday Hazel

Aug 26, 2009
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Today is the anniversary of several things:

The worst pain I've ever felt.

The first time my Mama saw all my junk in probably 20 years.

The first time someone I barely knew helped me go to the bathroom.

A bunch of even grosser stuff that I won't mention again. Ever. Probably.

But most importantly, the moment that our daughter was born, the moment we became parents, and the moment our parents became grandparents, our siblings became aunts & uncles, and our friends honorary ones. Happy Birthday Hazel, our sweet, funny, squishable, beautiful daughter.

and some more crying

Hazel

This video I just took! Birthday dancing!

Birthday Dancing

Slovenes, Wine Country, and B&Bs

Jul 22, 2009
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Last week was the wrap-up on our whirlwind vacation summer. We took one last trip in mid-July, meeting up with Amos's parents and kind of tagging along on their vacation. We had a great time, but I've been too pooped out to write or even look at those photos until now.

The first stop on this vacation was New Castle, PA. New Castle looks a lot like Utica: abandoned and creepy. There was a little downtown part that looked like they were trying to fix it up, but I guess they just started on that effort. But we weren't there to sightsee; we were there for the Slovene festival! Carnival food vendors, bands, musicians, and polka lovers flocked from all over the country to this days-long jam session. The site was also a campground, so we took advantage of the picnic tables, playground, and pool while there. Actually they had a little wading pool, I guess you'd call it, which was only about 3" deep and had fountain streams jetting into it. Amos walked Hazel around in it, and she loved it.

Unfortunately she was still having a bit of a hard time with her tooth coming in while we were here, so Amos and I spent more time in our hotel room trying to get her to sleep or eat or calm down than we did at the actual festival. I think Jim and Nancy had fun, though, and we did while we were there. I also will say that we encountered no good food there, with the exception of this one greasy spoon. It was something like $14 for the 4 of us to eat breakfast, which is just awesome.

After the festival we headed up to Geneva, NY, which is located in the Finger Lake/wine country region of upstate. It's actually really close to where we live, only about 2 hours away. Geneva definitely had more curb appeal than New Castle, though it was surprising in its way. The downtown area, which we could walk to from our B&B, looked cool, but really there wasn't much there. This seems to be common in the NY villages we've visited; the buildings and downtown area look cool, but have things like attorneys, real estate offices, just places that you don't visit.

On the Lake

So, being a family of problem-solvers, we drove to other places during our 3 days in Geneva. We visited Canadaigua and racked up at the Salvation Army there, and also visited Naples, which is tiny but had some nice wine and a pretty nature trail. Hazel was feeling much better during this part of our stay, so we were able to get out and do more. Also, we stayed at the cutest place here called The White House on Washington. It was comfortable, elegant, and relaxing, plus the host, Eric, kind of let us go crazy. The 5 of us took up the 2 rooms in the B&B, so we kind of also took over the kitchen. Nancy even cooked dinner there a couple of nights instead of going out. I hope we get to stay there again!

Nature Trail in Naples

After all the fun it was time to come home, and I was honestly ready for it. We have been on the road this summer, me more than the other two Confers, and I have enjoyed just being in my apartment with my stuff doing my laundry. This was a great summer, though, and I'm so happy we got to visit all these people we love and see all these new places!!

Hazel will bite you

Home Once Again

Jul 2, 2009
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I miss my apartment when I'm gone. I realize that I love my books, my cameras, all my stuff. That includes Amos and Hazel. I arrived back from Portland yesterday morning, about 11.30 am. My flights went from 6.30 pm the night before, all the way basically non-stop until getting to Syracuse at about 10 am or so. Yesterday was a blur of getting home, trying to find something to eat (I refuse to pay airport prices and hadn't eaten since about 11.30 am the previous day), and taking a quickie nap & bath before Hazel's dinner & bath. I missed her so much.

Portland was amazing. AMAZING. There is no way that I will not be back to that city. Besides the delicious food, the super nice people, and renowned music scene, there's just something about Portland that completely jived with me. Everyone there seems to be progressive in the ways that Amos and I are building our family to be; they recycle, bike, share parenting duties without raised eyebrows, go to shows, let pedestrians pass. The city's only sweeter because one of my favorite people lives there.

Laura and I had SUCH a great time. I needed to see her; it reminded me that I'm not just a mother and wife. It was refreshing. We drank, danced, cracked jokes, drove around, biked even more, shared recipes, and just laughed and laughed. I can't even put it into words...this was just the best vacation I've ever taken. Reaffirming.

Halo Thai

Laura and I out dancing

Our bikes love each other.

Sprockettes

Hair! Happy!

Oh I should also mention that Laura and I decided to get spontaneous haircuts. That's what that last photo is about. You just can't tell mine is different because I'm shorter than her. Trust me that both our do's are slamming.

I've got Spring Fever

May 14, 2009
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Like, bad. So bad that I don't want to be inside for anything, ever. That includes updating this blog, but last night I was gently reminded about not posting by my mother, who kindly said, "So you haven't updated your blog in a week. Why? Go put something on there." So, mommalicious, here you go.

We have been busy and not busy; cleaning, playing, going for walks outside, just hanging out and meeting the people. Amos's schedule was all weird the past three weeks with the following: a trip to a conference in Plattsburgh for 3 days, then finals, then grading, then graduation. He doesn't have classes anymore, but is still at work most days. Hazel and I get outside everyday when the weather permits. Though it's been as hot as 90 degrees, most days it settles around the high 50s, low 60s, and of course there's the famous overcast/rainy days here (like today). I've also been knitting up a storm, as Hazel seems content to play by herself for blocks of time everyday. I sit in an armchair, let her practice standing by holding on to the coffee table, and just knit away while she laughs and tries to grab things.

She's actually getting pretty good at all the walking/standing business, but still cannot stand up by herself. She is so fidgety and busy that she turns to look every which way as soon as you get her up. She can pull up by herself, but had a nasty fall coming down about a week ago, so now she's kind of scared to try it. It's kind of funny; she stands up until she's tired/bored, then looks around and hollers, not cries, for me to come and help. We are working on those skills, though!

Here are a couple of photos I took with one-time cameras and scanned in. Enjoy!

I Got a New Piece.

May 2, 2009
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Today was a huge day for Hazel and I. First of all, tonight was the first night of her life that I didn't nurse her right before she fell asleep. She did amazingly well (we have been training for this night for about two weeks, also). I was a little bummed about it, though. Also, and maybe subconsciously to commemorate the event, I got a new tattoo.

New Ink!

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Excuse the chipped nail polish, ink splatters, and the already insane puffiness. Way back, before I was pregnant or married, even, I knew I would one day get another tattoo, and that it would be about being a mother. Sometimes I think about these things and kind of don't mention them out loud, ever, so I think this came out of nowhere for everyone, but I've been marinating on it for quite some time. For some reason today it just clicked, and I decided now was the time. I really love it, even though it HURT like bananas.

Nachos and Lemonheads and my Dad's Boat

Apr 28, 2009
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Yesterday Carrie, Britt, and I thought it would be a spectacular idea to have a picnic at Lake Delta State Park. It wasn't a spectacular idea, turns out, but it wasn't horrible either. I did learn some things, though:

1. Picnics are more complicated than you think, unless all you bring is potato chips and cheese sandwiches.

2. When you're picnicing with two 8-month-olds and one 18-month-old, don't expect to last all day. Expect to last maybe 2 hours.

3. Bring 17 extra onesies and a lot of wipes.

4. You will have to get your baby all the way naked at least once.

5. Do not bring cameras, phones, lipstick, books, anything that's important or expensive. Go with stuff that can be knocked over repeatedly in the wet sand.

6. Speaking of sand, babies will eat it.

We did have a good time, but not in the same way I expected. Everything is different with a baby! Hazel loved being in the water, absolutely adored it, and I think Trent did too (this was both their first times being in water outside). Emma's feet got sucked down into the lake muck so that she couldn't move, which made her fuss a little but was pretty funny. All in all I think we'll go again, but we were joking that we need to outnumber the babies by at least one!