45 years August 29, 2008

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

today is the 45th anniversary of martin luther king jr.’s i have a dream speech. tonight, i am listening to the first presidential nomination acceptance speech by an african american. regardless of your politics, this is a milestone for our country. and hey – it’s only taken 45 years to get here.

i’ve struggled to process and articulate why it’s more important to me to elect an african american to the presidency than a woman, although either would be historic. i guess the best way to sum it up is that, in my experiences and exposure to the world, racism is a bigger problem in our country than sexism. i’ve seen its effects in my jobs, the cities in which i’ve lived, my neighborhood, and even among my friends. i’ve seen its effects on my own attitudes and perceptions, and it’s high time our nation faces it. it’s also time that the countless little boys i’ve worked with over the years have public role models who look like them and aren’t just athletes or entertainers. its time that my daughter can grow up in a society that is able to look beyond skin color or funny names to the real issues at hand, and the actual character and leadership ability of a person.

ultimately, i know that this election is not overtly about race. and i’m not voting for obama because of his race. i’m voting for him for many reasons, but i’m thrilled for the chance to be a part of making history in the process…

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she’s finally smiling! August 26, 2008

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Originally uploaded by amy joy

friday night fun takes on a whole new meaning. August 23, 2008

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Originally uploaded by amy joy

warning – this post is all about the baby August 21, 2008

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Originally uploaded by amy joy

our little girl is eight weeks old today. isn’t she pretty? this was her hanging out after bath time tonight. she’s pretty serious a lot of the time, but i think she’s just taking everything in around her.

it’s hard to believe that it was only eight weeks ago today that she was born. about this time at night, our little family was settling into the hospital room when our nurse came in to say there was a tornado or severe thunderstorm or some such thing. (it’s hard to remember exactly, since i was on all kinds of pain medication.) the funny thing was that she had to move my bed and the bassinet away from the window (which faced an inner courtyard, not really the outside) about five feet, since there wasn’t room in the hallway for bedridden patients such as myself. hee. we laughed until the weekend about how much safer we felt those few feet away from our original spot. (remember, pain medication makes everything funny.)

but now the hospital is a distant memory, and we’re a family in our own home, getting used to each other more and more every day. i’m finally feeling like it’s normal to be at home all day with my child, but it’s hitting me that we only have four more weeks until i have to go back to work. on the other hand, that’s almost a month, which sounds much longer.

here’s a milestone for those of you keeping track – last night she slept for eight hours! at least, i think she did. part of me suspects that maybe she woke up earlier and i got up and fed her in my sleep, but i doubt it. she’s never topped a six hour stretch before, though, and that was rare. of course, it may have had something to do with the three hour walk we took with sarain and her son mink in the afternoon – lovely, but exhausting. (note to self – the next time we try that, i must take my wallet with me so that we can stop for a frappucino at the halfway point!) also, i think we’ve successfully made the transition to cloth diapers, thanks to the simple and effective design of g diaper covers. three poopy diapers and not a single leak! (if you look at the website, you will see that g diapers aren’t cloth, but i’m using cloth prefolds inside the covers instead of the flushable diaper pads, being the descendant of solid, frugal mennonites.) thanks to lisa for the encouragement to give it a try!

in other fun news, daniel has finally caught up on orders at skreened to a reasonable level that meant he was home around 6 tonight, which was so, so lovely! he’s been working super-hard, and i’m so glad that the business is taking off, but i’m also glad that his first employee(!) is starting soon, and he won’t have to do it all by himself.

finally, my mom is visiting for few days next week, and i’m happy about that! the last time she was here, she worked nonstop cooking and cleaning and bathing the baby and basically doing everything, since i was essentially bedridden and recovering from surgery. this time, she gets to do the fun things like play with alex while i do the work i don’t always get the chance to do, and take walks with us, and go places if we so choose. fun times! (also, i think she might babysit one evening so that daniel and i can have a pre-anniversary date.)

sigh. sleepytime. g’night, dear ones!

g’night, dear ones!

there’s a first time for everything August 16, 2008

we just got home from alex’s first craft fair, which not only was in our neighborhood this year, but was happily sponsored by skreened. it amazes me how many people you can meet when you’re holding a cute baby in a sling. it also amazes me how good (read “mostly asleep”) and content alex was being toted around a busy room. now she’s finishing up her nap to the drum circle soundtrack that is coming from the african village festival across the street from our house.

last night was another first – my first girls’ night – coordinated by my dear friend nikki – since the baby was born, and daniel’s first time watching alex around bedtime, which is not her best time of the day. but they did great, and it’s been so good to see daniel father her. when i got home, he was reading an article to her on the future of creativity while she was hanging out in the swing, and it was such a nice home to return to after a really good time feeling like a normal person with a normal social life again.

also, i just remembered that i had a bizarre dream last night that daniel and i met phil collins and had a great conversation with him. strange.

swimming in air August 12, 2008

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Originally uploaded by amy joy

our girl’s favorite pastime these days is keeping her legs in constant motion, as evidenced here. also evidenced is one of my favorite baby things, babylegs. these (and the super-cool hand-embellished onesie) are from my dear friend michelle, whose own new daughter was born just a few weeks earlier than alex. we have another pair, too, from my other dear friend erica. look for those in another photo soon.

animal lover

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Originally uploaded by amy joy

don’t worry – i don’t leave alex alone with the cat. but yesterday afternoon i was sitting on the couch with her dozing next to me. as usual, sufjan was trying to get as close to us as possible. since he was being less bothersome than normal, i didn’t throw him off of the couch. before i knew it, this cuddle-love was taking place. maybe it has something to do with the fact that all of her books and toys feature animals in some way?

“you go home and wake up” August 9, 2008

there is a lot of sad news today. the country of georgia has declared a state of war, bernie mac died from pnuemonia, there was a killing at the olympics that seems to be the result of mental instability, john edwards’ personal indiscretions are all over the headlines….sigh. it’s enough to make one cynical. but instead, i point you to this lovely little blurb about embracing the playful side of life at any age.

it’s been a lovely, relaxed day. deb got to meet alex, and we spent the morning talking, relaxing and walking to franklin park. after that, it was a late lunch at panera, a visit to daniel’s new office, and then a trip to london to drop deb off at her sisterkris’ house. kris has three beautiful children, and it’s so hard to believe that deb’s baby sister now has babies of her own.

question – has anyone out there tried prefold cloth diapers with g-diaper covers? i have a ton of prefolds, but they haven’t been too effective with the bummis covers that i have for preventing leaks and soiling of covers. i’ve heard that the liners in g-diaper covers do a good job of keeping the actual outer covers clean. i really want to make cloth diapers work, but disposables have been so much easier. i’m also not wanting to do the whole g-diaper system with the flushable liners, because they just aren’t in our budget.

don’t forget to get lunch at rad dog tomorrow in the pattycake parking lot, if you’re in columbus!

August 8, 2008

alex is asleep, daniel is catching up on a backlog of orders at the office, and i’m here with the dog, waiting for my friend deb‘s flight to arrive from portland. hurrah! she’s getting two for one this weekend, meeting both alex and her newish nephew, malachi. i’ve known deb since i was seven, and i’m super-excited to have some downtime with her tomorrow.

in other news, i had a meeting this morning that resulted in my officially applying for a home-based family therapist position. it’s the same program that i worked for during my internship, and if i get hired, it has the potential to be the ideal situation, including the fact that i could only work 32 hours a week, and a decent portion of those hours could be from home, aside from sessions with clients and meetings. everything is in motion – now i just have to wait for the call scheduling a formal interview. again, prayers would be greatly appreciated. this really is my dream job at this stage in my life. i love the program, it would use and improve my clinical skills, and the flexibility is pretty unbeatable. i also already know and love the supervisors. so. that is that.

we went to ikea on monday so that daniel could get some much-needed furniture for the new skreened office. (it looks great, by the way. you should stop by and say hello!) it was our first trip of any substantial length with alex, and she did very well, all things considered. i carried her around in the sling for hours, and she slept a lot, looked around, and only had some minimal fussing with no major breakdowns. i have to admit, though, that both of us were exhausted when we got home, but that just meant going to bed early and sleeping in. my favorite purchase of the day was a set of the cutest little jungle animal finger puppets i’ve ever seen. now they talk to alex daily in their own little animal voices. yes, i am having too much fun with them. but there were ten(!), and they were only six dollars for the whole set(!).

i must get caught up on pictures. i know that half of you only read this for the photos.