Cherry Blossoms

 Hands down, the best thing about living in Washington, DC is the cherry blossoms. Every good thing you've ever heard about them is true. Pictures don't do them justice and they certainly can't capture the smell. It's magical.

Even on its worst days, I think Washington is one of the most beautiful cities in the country, but when it's in bloom, it's incomparable.

Last week, we braved the crowds and headed down to the Tidal Basin after Chuk got off of work. It was the peak bloom day and the weather was beautiful: warm and sunny and breezy.

 The blooms were about two weeks later this year than usual, but they were worth the wait.

It's times like these when I feel really lucky to get to live here.

I miss them already. But I suppose their fleeting nature contributes to their magical qualities. 

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I took these pictures of the cherry trees on my street. 

These pictures are of the same trees two days later. The blooms come and go so quickly. But even as they're leaving, it is so beautiful. All of the sidewalks are covered in fallen petals. It's the most gorgeous confetti.

The National Christmas Tree

I really don't understand how Christmas has snuck up on me this year. Thanksgiving was so early, it seems like I should have had all the time in the world to get ready for it. I think it probably has something to do with Chuk's crazy end of semester school schedule and a teething baby and each of us getting sick. Things have finally settled into a more normal pace and I'm determined to squeeze as much holiday spirit and quality family time into the remaining days of 2012 as I can.

Now that we've grown to a family of three, it's really important to me that we begin to establish some family traditions. I want our holidays (all holidays, not just the December ones) to be based on creating memories together rather than material acquisition. We've only bought the baby three presents for Christmas; they were $1 each and came from the Target dollar spot.* I'm making him some things too, but I'm trying to be realistic in recognizing that he really doesn't need anything, can't appreciate things yet, and has limited storage space in his room.

Instead of gifts, we have lots of activities planned from looking at Christmas lights in our neighborhood to baking to singing carols. One night, after work this week, we were able to check another fun activity off our list. We went to see the new National Christmas tree (the old one fell down this summer in the durecho) and all the small state and territory trees. We also posed for another free picture with Santa. (Baby was happier than he looks in this picture, but the shutter got snapped between smiles.)

It was so nice to be out doing festive things with my guys. The evening left me feeling quite merry and bright.

*For the curious, we got him a wood and metal tambourine, a metal slinky, and a small sensory ball that is similar to these. 

What's Been Going On

Since I last wrote, we've been keeping busy.

This guy wore a bow tie on Thanksgiving, which was pretty hilarious. It was a tie that had belonged to my husband when he was a boy.

Not to brag, but this was the best turkey I've ever had in my life. It's gone now. We ate it for lunch and dinner everyday for more than a week.

My baby tried solid food for the first time on Thanksgiving. (I've been exclusively breast feeding for seven months! This was not my plan, but he's been developing on the slow side with the milestones.) He did really well with it, but caught a cold the next day so we haven't given him any more food since then so he could get the breast milk antibodies and whatnot.

We got our Christmas tree.

My 20 pound seven month old and his 29 pound three year old cousin.

We went to see my in-laws, which wound up being a total nightmare. I think my sister-in-law has a personality disorder.

Chuk and I celebrated seven years together with a fancy Italian dinner. Baby came along too, so it wasn't so much romantic as it was entertaining/exhausting, but it was still nice.

We still take lots of walks.

And we've been trying to squeeze as much family time in around Chuk's finals schedule as possible.

Of course, we spend most of our time just playing at home.

But tonight someone got to meet Santa for the first time. He was unimpressed.

Guilt Over Not Feeling Guilty, or I Hired a Babysitter for Tonight

I can account for every moment I've spent away from my son during his whole life. In six and a half months, I've spent exactly 15.5 hours away from him, or about a half hour a week, and that includes EVERYTHING including the time he was in the hospital as a newborn, the four trips to the grocery store I've made without him, the one time I had lunch with my mom and sister, the time Chuk and I got pizza while my mom stayed with my sleeping baby, everything. My husband has, on occasion, spent more time away from him in a single day than I have in his whole life.

I don't think this is entirely healthy for me. I can see how easy it would be for me to sacrifice my hobbies and interests and give up larger and larger pieces of myself to motherhood. But being a mom, as wonderful as it is, isn't the only thing that defines me, or at least I don't want it to be.

So I've started trying to find ways to take breaks. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. My husband works full time and is taking four graduate level classes, so even though he's a feminist, he's not much help, but we're talking about him taking on baby duty three nights that he doesn't have class so I can take an intro to knitting class, something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

More monumentally, I temporarily overcame my shyness and asked our upstairs neighbor, the one who's always asking to hold the baby and covering him in kisses, to babysit tonight so Chuk and I can go to a concert. This is a major milestone, people. I'm leaving my baby with someone who isn't his parent and not my mom. We're going to see Ray Lamontagne and I couldn't be more excited. I saw him in concert eight years ago and he was fantastic. Chuk and I danced to him at our wedding too, so it'll be an extra special date night.

But I'm nervous too, not so much about the baby, who I think will be in good hands, but about my neighbor. My baby has been on a nap strike all week (that's another story, but suffice it to say, good Lord, I've earned this night off!) and has suddenly started getting fussy during diaper changes. He's never been put to sleep by anyone besides me. What if he cries the whole time we're gone? My husband, mom and I are bound by blood to love him even if he's screaming his head off, but the babysitter, not so much. I expect it to be fine (my plan is to have him in bed before the babysitter arrives, knock on wood) but there's always that twinge of doubt in the back of one's mind.

I'm forcing myself to get over it though. And just to gild the lily, I'm leaving the baby with Chuk on Saturday night and going to an Aretha Franklin show with a girlfriend. Yes, I'm leaving my baby two nights in a row. I figure belting out R-E-S-P-E-C-T will assuage any ovarian guilt I might be feeling.

Activities for Infants

All day today I've been thinking it was Friday. Even yesterday I thought today would be Friday. Every time I've realized today is only Thursday I am exceedingly disappointed. Long week, friends, long week.

Anyway, now that the weather is getting colder here I've been having trouble thinking of things to do with the baby to help fill our days. Our default is stay at home and hang out or go to the park and look at the trees, looking at trees is Baby's favorite thing, but soon the leaves will be all gone. It's hard coming up with things to do with an infant; it's not like we can do a craft project or bake something or play a game. He can't even sit up and holding things is a hit or miss proposition. He's mostly in to just looking at stuff. It's extra awesome if that stuff moves, but not too fast for him to see it.

 

So I've come up with two lists, an inside list and an outside list, for things we can do when the weather is bad and when it is nicer out. Most of the ideas are completely free, but the ones with a fee are $5 or less. If you don't live in my area, not all of these things may be available to you, but perhaps it will help you to think of some ideas of fun things to do where you live.

Inside
Pet store to look at fish
Watch people swim at the indoor pool*
Soft playroom**
Botanical Gardens Conservatory (Specifically, the waterfall in the Hawaii room)
Museums
     National Gallery's water fountain
     Portrait Gallery's atrium with its undulating ceiling and large area to run around
     Natural History for dinosaurs
     Building Museum** (The playroom will be fun when he's a little older.)
     American History (Probably the least interesting for babies, but it has lots of toys on display.)
Visit Chuk at work
Library
Ride the bus or metro**
Book store
Coffee shop** to people watch
Take a bath together***

Outside
Dog park
Spray ground
Playground (For myself, I list out all five playgrounds within walking distance of my apartment.)
Park
Feed ducks at the river
Watch the bigger kids play sports at school, soccer field, or little league field
Arboretum for the koi pond (and the trees, obviously, trees are his favorite)
Walk around the neighborhood
Zoo
Sculpture Garden to watch ice skaters in the winter and fountain in the spring



*Our city's indoor pool has a large window between the lobby and the pool so we don't have to be on the actual pool deck.
**Fee associated with this activity
***Not outside the house, but still different from playing with our same old toys.

Western Maryland

Panorama of Deep Creek Lake

I always ask for a trip for my birthday. Plan A was a cheap cruise out of Baltimore, but that was deemed (by Chuk) not doable with a baby, too expensive, and too time consuming. Plan B was staying in a yurt at Deep Creek Lake State Park in Maryland. I have such a fascination with yurts. Unfortunately, when we arrived the yurt was already occupied. (They don't take reservations, so we knew it was a hit or miss plan.) Plan C was stay in a hotel but still check out the fall foliage in the area.

Chuk planned all the baby's outfits for the weekend. Notice the bear on his shirt. 

While I'd still love to stay in a yurt one day, Plan C worked out beautifully. I'd never been to that part of Maryland before and it was just gorgeous.

The weather was perfectly cool and crisp. We took some short hikes and were able to admire the changing leaves and check out some waterfalls.

Bundled up and ready to hike

Muddy Creek Falls, the highest in Maryland

I love living in the city, but weekends in the country are sometimes just the thing. We had a lovely, relaxing time.

And one the way home, we saw a double rainbow! They aren't very clear in this picture, but in real life the one on the left was so vibrant. I'm taking it as a good omen for my 33rd year.

How I Got Here

This week, twelve years ago, I was a senior in college. A friend of mine from high school came down from Smith to my college for the weekend and we went to a free Wycliff Jean concert sponsored by my school. Afterwards we went to another friend's dorm room and did Thin Mint shots (peppermint schnapps and chocolate syrup). I was thinking about breaking up with my on-again, off-again boyfriend, again.

This week, ten years ago, I was living in California, working at a job I hated and taking pottery and ballroom dance classes. I played badminton for exercise. I was single and went to happy hour with my girlfriend every Friday night.

This week nine years ago, I was living in China and baked a boxed yellow cake with canned chocolate frosting that I had brought with me all the way from the US. My apartment didn't have an oven, so I baked it in a borrowed toaster oven. It turned out terribly, but I ate it anyway.

This week, seven years ago, I was living in Washington DC with a roommate and nursing a broken heart. My boyfriend, the one I thought I had a future with, had just dumped me while we were on vacation in Boston. I worked all the time, often traveling more than three weeks a month, and had just started grad school at night.

This week, five years ago, my dad died. I had just finished grad school and gotten engaged. I was shell shocked from so many life changes occurring at once.

This week three years ago, I was vacationing in beautiful Quebec. I had just gotten married and started a little blog.

This week two years ago, I took a little trip to Chicago. I was dreaming of moving to Wicker Park and reconsidering my position on never having kids.

This week, this year, I'm eating Ethiopian food and going yurt camping in Maryland with my husband and five and a half month old baby. Today, I turn 33 and (in both a good way and a bad way) I still can't really believe this is my life.

A New Way to Celebrate Halloween

Is it lame to take a baby who is too young for solid foods trick-or-treating? I fear the answer is yes, but GAH, it's his first Halloween! In an attempt to balance my need for pictures of every one of my infant's "firsts" with my shame at knowing the neighbors are going to know his 30-something parents are going to literally be stealing candy from a baby, I think I've struck a Halloween compromise. I'm calling it "Reverse Trick or Treating". 

My plan is that we'll go to one or two of the houses on our street (minimizing the shame) for the trick-or-treating photo op and the authentic Halloween experience, but we'll spend most of the evening going door-to-door in our apartment building passing out mini loaves of pumpkin bread. Apartments never get trick-or-treaters (which is so sad because no one should be denied the cuteness which is small children in costume) so I don't think my neighbors will be prepared with candy, but if we do the treat-giving I think it will eliminate some of that awkwardness of an unexpected knock at the door and give us a chance to meet more of our neighbors. It's a win-win-win*: baby gets to trick-or-treat/I get more pictures, we get to meet more of our neighbors, and the neighbors get pumpkin bread and to see a baby otter.

Speaking of the baby otter, I bought this clearance costume online while I was still pregnant because it was brand new and less than $5. It's a size 6-12 months so I thought surely my very tall sixth month old (he'll be six months and one day old on Halloween) will fit into it. But no, it's about five sizes too big on him (except for the hat, which fits perfectly on his big noggin.) I was debating getting/making him another costume, but Chuk put the kibosh on that and suggested we stuff the costume with newspaper. I'm not going to stuff it, but he's probably going to be an otter next year too.

What are you doing (if anything) for Halloween? Do you know your neighbors?

*Win, win,win is from The Office. You can watch a clip from episode I'm referencing here.