BFFs IX

Just chillin' on the front porch. Mindin' our own business.

Where do I put this stuff?

At first this photo will not make sense in this post.

Things found on my (makeshift) pantry shelves:

• screws (assorted sizes)
  
• blocks of wood
• phone book
  
• plaster dust
• dog food
  
• pieces of wall
• paint rollers
• paint brushes
  
• bag of bread heels
• old kitchen hardware
• Mona's Christmas hat collection
  
• tape measure
• breast pump
• broken cutting board
• beer-making kit
• binoculars
  

Things I would like to have on my pantry shelves:

• cans of soup
• other non-perishable, edible items
  
• Mona's Christmas hat collection (there is simply no good place for this)

Jono is working really, really hard to finish our kitchen cupboards before he no longer has access to his crew's carpentry shop. He is gone all day and night.

The end is near...

The photo is of Mona as a puppy sporting her first "Christmas hat". She now has a green Santa hat (it says "spoiled"), a couple of pairs of reindeer antlers with bells, and a yellow beach visor. We did not buy her any of these items. Just FYI.

Broseph

And better yet, he's finally making a record: tylerjamesmusic.tumblr.com

Hear music at tylerjames.com

Yep, that was a shameless plug.

Seven / Eleven

Four dorm rooms
Four college houses
Two guitars
One woody wagon
A gazillion camping trips
Two three-day break-ups
One summer away
One semester abroad
Three plane rides to visit
Seven months apart
One question, one answer
One wedding
One apartment
Three houses
Four gardens
Three cities
Two states
Two countries
Too many jobs
One brother, one grandpa
One dog
One baby...

Seven years married
(Eleven together)

The Bathrobe

Need I say more?

P.S. Did you notice that I am currently sucking at keeping up with my weekly installment? Well, I am. It's supposed to be Jude Discovering Stuff. He's discovering plenty - I just don't feel like taking pictures of it all the time. I hate to say it, but I think I'll sign off of it for now. Don't worry. If Jude happens to be wearing a hat or discovering something that is putting me over the edge, I will be sure to share it with all of you :)

Cheerio Mouth

Does he not have the tiniest mouth you've ever seen? I mean, seriously. How is a mouth that small possible?

It is definitely not a Geertsma mouth. Our mouths are big, both literally and figuratively. He can thank his Daddy for that little pie-hole. We call it Cheerio mouth, especially when he forms it into a microscopic "o" when he's reaching for something he wants.

Just an observation.

=

Eight Months!

Jude is eight months old now. Hmmm. What is he doing these days? Let me think.

More stuff that makes me want to pass out with cute overload. Of course.

He laughs spontaneously all the time. He even stopped nursing the other day just to look up at me and laugh for no reason (Dad K and Mom L witnessed this - it was grand). I have a small collection of ridiculous faces that I make at him. They put him into hysterics, especially if I'm making them at him from further away. He thinks people are funnier if they're far away.

He is sitting up on his own, and I can leave the room without worrying he'll fall over and bump his head (though I still set him down a nice distance from hard/sharp objects).

He is eating everything. Barley, brown rice and oat cereals. Sweet potato, peas, green beans, carrots, pumpkin & zucchini. Plums, prunes, blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, banana & avocado. I just introduced whole-milk yogurt (plain) and egg yolk (not a fan of that yet). The only things I have left to "introduce" are wheat, cheese, meat, cow's milk, honey, citrus fruits and non-green beans. Some of that is nixed until his first birthday (cow's milk and honey), along with sugar. No teeth yet.

He acts self-conscious, and occasionally shows off when he knows we're looking. He'll be playing with a toy by himself, and he'll notice he's being watched. He then gets a tiny smirk on his face (almost undetectable) and looks quickly back at his toy. He can't help but check every three seconds if you're still looking, but he tries to "act busy" while he's doing it. The old "I don't care if you're watching me or not, because I'm completely absorbed in this activity" routine. Not very convincing.

He makes a wider range of noises, including one that sounds like he's gagging. That one's his favorite actually. Nice.

He's good at playing by himself now. He can entertain himself for 30 - 40 minutes at a time.

When he's exploring something, he holds it in one hand and pokes at it with the other. He hasn't gotten the hang of the old thumb/index finger pincer skill yet, so he fans out his fingers and taps gently at something like he's playing the piano. We call it "twiddling". He especially enjoys twiddling the propeller on his toy airplane.



He imitates us... including noises we make like the "lip-popping kissy sound" (hard to describe), the "pbthhhh" sound he's been loving for awhile, and that grunting/gagging sound I described earlier (we imitate him with that one, not the other way around). He also loves to shake his head back and forth in a "no" motion, and when we do it back he is thrilled. This can go on for quite some time.

He loves to play peek-a-boo, especially if we hide behind a door frame and peek out at him from further away. We try to make the "a-boo" sound scary because he likes it better that way. He's also becoming a fan of "sooooo big", and is just starting to lift his arms a little bit when we say it.

He finally got sick :( Just a few days ago he had his first runny nose and fever. We recently left him in the nursery at church for the first time. Bingo.

He is obsessed with cars going by. When we're out on the front porch and he hears one coming, he's starts going ballistic in my arms: body stiffened, legs kicking, arms waving, heading turning back and forth frantically to see where it is. As it passes he follows it with his gaze until it's out of sight.

Best of all, he leans toward someone when he wants them to hold him. He's just starting to reach for people too, mostly me in the middle of the night, which I love. I'm not being sarcastic - I could do without the 1am (and 4am) feeding(s) he's still demanding, but when he reaches for me, what can I do? I'm putty.

Honestly, I was unaware that babies were so hilarious before I had Jude. He cracks me up all day every day. I wasn't much of a baby person before I had him, and now I'm wondering what the heck my problem was. It doesn't get much better than a miniature human being covered in a nice layer of chub doing miniature things all day. I mean, come on.

P.S. I wrote most of this post a few days ago, so here's a recent development. Jude officially slept through the night for the first time last night -- right on the day he turned 8 months old. I'm so excited I can't stand it. I feel like calling everyone I know. Every once in awhile I think of it again and get a shiver of disbelief down my spine. I will function as a normal, fully-awake human being again.

A Story, Just For You

I missed Friday's "discovery", so to make up for it I'll tell you a story. It's a true story about Mona and a cat.

The neighbor cat is really a kitten. His name is Tanner, and he is no more than a few months old. This kitten occasionally traipses up the steps and onto our front porch where we are sometimes hanging out, just the four of us.

When the kitten comes up the steps, this is what happens. Mona freezes in place. The kitten is curious and begins his approach.


Mona's next move is an interesting one, considering she is a full-grown husky who is often mistaken for a wolf, and Tanner is a tiny kitty with light-brown stripes and trembly white whiskers. Mona slinks underneath one of our chairs, lies down, and averts her eyes. She is terrified of that kitten. If the kitten attempts to come closer (he often does because he is a brave kitty) Mona looks at the ground and stops breathing until he moves on.

When the kitten takes his leave, Mona will eventually come out and sniff around the corners of the porch, but she will not set foot on the porch steps until she is DEAD SURE that cat is gone. Preferably in another solar system.

That is the story. Like I said, it's 100% true. I hope you enjoyed it. I know we did, as it happened.

BFFs VIII

My favorite part of this picture: Jude's hand disappearing into Mona's neck.

祖母去中國 (Grandma Went to China)

Look what she brought back for our little man.
並且神色什麼她為我們的小人忆起了

My head almost exploded five times while he was wearing this.
當他佩帶此时，我的頭幾乎爆炸了五次

P.S.

Mom's China blog: belindageertsma.blogspot.com

Jude Discovers Oliver

Oliver is the neighbor baby.

Overwhelmed and Wallowing in Self-pity

Sometimes, when I'm feeling annoyed about my life, I get sick of comparing myself to others and telling myself that I'm relatively lucky. Sometimes I just want to feel sorry for myself.

Like last night, for example. I let it all come down, I got good and cranky, and I bitched for awhile. I just needed to. I know our problems right now are tiny, stupid and not worth worrying about compared to people who have just lost a parent or child, or to someone who can't walk, or to someone who has a terminal illness. I know this. But last night I lost that perspective for a few hours.

Jono is losing his job. His work has been patchy ever since this past Winter, when he started having a few days off here and there because his crew couldn't find work. While this was happening, he started thinking about going back to school again - something he'd been wanting to do for years. He wants to get a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Urban Planning.

We sat down and tried to figure out how we would pay the bills and take care of Jude under those circumstances. After going over every other option we could come up with, I came to the conclusion that even though I was formerly committed to staying home with the babe, cooking from scratch, and all that other good stuff that constitutes simple, healthy living, the only way Jono could pursue this goal would be for me to go back to work full-time to put him through school. We're hoping, of course, this translates into a better job for him that fulfills him more, and once that happens we can continue building our family and pursuing our values of simplicity and all that.

If Jono gets into school, the current plan is for him to become a full-time student and a part-time stay-at-home dad (otherwise known as a SAHD... for those of you who love acronyms). We figure we will need to hire out some daycare when Jono has an important exam or a day-time class, but for the most part, Jude will continue to be cared for by one or both of his parents, which is important to us.

Sounds good, right? So what was I feeling sorry for myself about? It's just a change of plans is all, and I needed to adjust my expectations for the next couple of years. I know I will feel guilty for leaving Jude for eight hours a day. I know I will feel conflicted on a daily basis.

There's also a little salt in my "OCD" wound right now as we try to finish up our disaster-area of a kitchen and the paint job on our house (why we start major home projects in the middle of our already chaotic life at the moment, I don't know). In my miserable, self-pitying state last night I said to Jono, "I'm frustrated right now because honestly, I don't ask for much. I don't want new stuff or a bigger home in the suburbs, or a huge career, or WHAT HAVE YOU. I just want to take a nap once in awhile; I want a kitchen where my stuff is where I can find it; I want to live in a place where there isn't broken glass sitting on top of my books by the windows you're fixing; I don't want to move ever again when I'm nine months pregnant; I'm sick of endless home projects; I just want to hang something on the wall; I want to have time to sit outside and do nothing once in awhile; I want a peaceful life..." (insert violins here).

Jono was good enough to comfort me, even thank me for committing to going back to work, and then convinced me to take a load off and watch an episode of The Office with him on Hulu. God bless him.

I'm more or less over it this morning. It's amazing what a semi-decent night of sleep can do for you. I still want to take a nap instead of logging paid hours while Jude sleeps. (This blog is one of my few indulgences. I really should leave it alone and take that nap...). But, there's light here.

I am married to someone who works harder than anyone I know, and he's the best dad ever to our son. At least he has goals, and they're cool too (urban planning is fascinating and good planners are needed badly in our cities). Some women go back to work full-time at six weeks post-partum, and I'm about to finish my 8th month home with Jude. I have a good part-time job at a non-profit, with a great boss who is willing to take me back full-time very soon in a bad economy. We've had so much help getting into and fixing up our house from our dear families. We could never have done it on our own, which I guess is a good lesson in interdependence.

If Jono can get into school, graduate in a couple of years and get a good job, we'll be in great shape because our home expenses are so low. And eventually I'll get to be home again for awhile, I hope, and continue with my psuedo-Amish lifestyle of gardening, taking care of my kids, getting good, local food & canning it, drying our clothes on the line, writing for fun, spending my days hiking around outdoors somewhere with the bambinos, small-scale activism and other reverse-evolutionary activities ;).

I still struggle with feeling like I'm not a true feminist at times (or that feminism threw the baby out with the bathwater), but mainly, that's what makes me happy right now - so I'm over it. As much as I enjoy my desk job, I don't need one to feel fulfilled. I hope that's okay.

*Sigh*

Jude Discovers a Daisy

This one you've already seen - it's from our camping trip -
but I thought it deserved its own post.