tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58864316257987332622024-03-13T00:02:19.393-04:00homefrontthings we make + doEmilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.comBlogger261125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-67781181838229421302015-03-02T14:13:00.004-05:002015-03-05T06:50:21.779-05:00lastlyThis is my closing post. I haven't updated "homefront" much since 2012-2013, and even then it was infrequent. Apparently my blogging heyday was during the era of one child, when though it didn't feel like it then, I had time and a little energy for it.<br />
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I loved this space for awhile, and I hope Jude will treasure it one day.</div>
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Bits of our life together are now shared from Instagram, where posting takes all of 30 seconds from start to finish. My username is "emklooster" if you want to follow.</div>
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Peace and love, </div>
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Emily</div>
Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-23250264714300978102015-01-30T14:04:00.002-05:002015-03-02T14:36:22.182-05:00twenty-fourteenWe don't do a Christmas/update letter, but I think there is value in mulling the year over, and feeling a measure of gratitude about our growth and experiences.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theo and Mae (October 2014)</td></tr>
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<b>Some 2014 highlights...</b><br />
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First, I was pregnant for most of the year. Highlight? Not really. Just a fact that affected my experience. We found out almost immediately after the turn of the year, initially an anxiety-ridden surprise that soon morphed into a source of joy.<br />
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<li>We joined a new church that is about one-sixteenth the size of our former one.</li>
<li>My brother's band, Escondido, played Founders! We all went to cheer them on.</li>
<li>Jude played soccer with the parks and rec program and had a good time running around a field in a mob of short teammates. We made some new friends watching the games.</li>
<li>Jono and I saw The National play a show at Calvin and we were six feet from Matt at one point. He'd been drinking. The show was incredible - Mae's first, in utero.</li>
<li>My side of the family took a rainy, buggy camping trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was kind of a pain and we decided never to tent as an extended family again.</li>
<li>The kids and I took a trip to Iowa with my family for my cousin's wedding.We caught up with family and canoodled with a tiny pig at one of their farms.</li>
<li> We went to Lake Michigan for our anniversary and just sat on the beach for two hours, undisturbed. Our new idea of luxury since having kids.</li>
<li>We decided to send Jude to our neighborhood school, after a two-year process of mulling over all of the options, and even enrolling him at a different school first, until we saw there had been a tuition hike. He was off to kindergarten at Congress Elementary in early September!</li>
<li>Two days later, I gave birth to Mae Leona, and our family is complete, God willing. I took three months of maternity leave, and we spent our days feeding, sleeping, walking Jude to school and back, meeting great-grandparents, and going on fall hikes at Aman Park, Seidman Park and some trails near an orchard.</li>
<li>We went to Lake Erie to be with Jono's dad and step-mom for Thanksgiving. We hiked out to Point Pelee, the southernmost tip of Canada, and spent time gazing out at the lake from the two picture windows on their back porch.</li>
<li>We followed our new tradition again this year of getting a Christmas tree at the farmer's market, on foot.</li>
<li>I went back to work in December and things got real. Jude had his first Winter Program at school, which was kind of a mess, but also cute.</li>
<li>We were interviewed by our public school system for a promotional campaign that includes a set of parents from each school around the city. Suddenly as of January, we are on a local commercial, the radio and a billboard. The resulting fame has been overwhelming (just kidding!).</li>
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So there it is, 2014. We loved you. I hope you're grateful for your life this year as well, even if nothing is perfect.</div>
Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-2346326022390834022014-06-25T14:13:00.002-04:002014-06-25T14:17:41.209-04:00this is beautiful.<iframe width="525" height="280" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/w2MnJGBpSR4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-90061861405646110002013-03-12T16:16:00.000-04:002013-03-12T16:28:36.792-04:00maple syrup festI plan to make the maple syrup fest at <a href="http://blandfordnaturecenter.org/" target="_blank">Blandford</a> an annual tradition. Here's the fun from this year!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last step in the process</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuel for making the syrup</td></tr>
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<br />Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-80322108387604167882013-03-09T12:30:00.000-05:002013-03-09T15:46:25.765-05:00jude and lucyI don't know anything more pure than a budding friendship between pre-schoolers. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jude hasn't yet noticed Lucy's arm around his shoulders. Give it 3, 2, 1...</td></tr>
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Jude's friend Lucy comes over every few weeks for a morning to play. Her parents are friends of ours, and the two of them used to go to daycare together almost full-time for a couple of years where they apparently bonded for eternity. Or at least until kindergarten. Whenever they see each other again, it's as if no time has passed.<br />
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Lucy is opposite from Jude in every way. She loves chaos, naughtiness, hugs with people other than her mama, cheap thrills and making messes. I think her influence will do him good, and I approve of each and every time she force-kisses him, puts her arm around him when he's distracted and can't fight her, and/or splatters something on the wall near him so that he can tell on her.<br />
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The other day as she was leaving he refused her advances to hug him and she put her face right up to his and raised her voice, saying, "BUT I'M LEAVING NOW!" (As in, <i>don't you understand the significance of this moment?</i>)<br />
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When we asked Jude who his best friend was, he said "Mommy". I will tell him he said this when he is 15. We then said, "What about Lucy?" He got a huge smirk on his face, giggled and said, "Yeeeeees", all drawn out as if he was relishing each letter in the word. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halloween 2012</td></tr>
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These two are just my favorite.Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-37751360654238897822013-03-06T09:27:00.001-05:002013-03-06T09:30:10.651-05:00smoke ring for my haloThere's something about February and March that make me want to revel in melancholy. Kurt Vile's music is kind of far-off and intimate at the same time. This is the official video for his song, <i>Baby's Arms</i> off the album Smoke Ring for My Halo.<br />
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Just a little ear candy for this late winter thing we all have to slog through.Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-66833235235133877342013-03-05T14:22:00.004-05:002013-03-12T17:07:50.969-04:00making, doingTo pass the time well in winter, I've made a goal of either taking the boys on an outing or doing some sort of planned activity each day, so they spend only some of their time making their own creative fun while I get things done. For me, it's easier to connect and focus on them well in the warmer months when we can just run outside together or when it's obviously a great idea to go to the zoo because the weather's so good. In winter, it's easy for me to fall into a ho-hum pattern of ticking off the to-do list and letting them make their own fun, which is healthy at times, but not <i>all</i> the time.<br />
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I made the conscious decision to be an at-home parent for a few years, and I don't want to forget the most important component of that is my boys and the time I spend fully present with them.<br />
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(I like this poster, and this artist.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Danna Ray, on <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/110155160/be-present-every-day-large-print?" target="_blank">Etsy</a></td></tr>
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In the planned activities vein, we've done some of these easy, at-home projects which took little effort but paid off in a learning experience and/or no-TV versions of entertainment.<br />
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1) SCRIBBLING<br />
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We do a lot of scribbling, planned and unplanned. We've tried the approved surfaces like dry-erase and chalkboards and mirrors with dry-erase markers, and Jude has tried some non-approved surfaces like walls, bathroom drawers, and one small, premeditated scribble on the top of each of the books on our bottom shelf. He wouldn't be Jude if there wasn't some sort of order to what he was doing, even when misbehaving.<br />
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2) PAINTING<br />
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Jude loves to paint too, and Theo pretend-paints next to him because he's too crazy to be allowed near real paint. Here's the bathtub version of that. I used Jono's shaving cream, a muffin tin and food coloring:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jude painting with shaving cream and food-coloring, yay.</td></tr>
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3) BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR (endless possibilities)<br />
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I don't have what it takes to be a kindergarten teacher, and the thought of homeschooling scares the living daylights out of me, so the prerequisite on everything we do is that it will take me no longer than ten minutes to get things ready. So obviously we had to try baking soda and vinegar experiments - big results for microscopic amounts of effort. I added food coloring to the vinegar for some added shazam.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He did this for half an hour.</td></tr>
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4) FREE STAMPS<br />
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On day we had Jude's friend Lucy over and we did some stamping with toilet paper rolls. I made simple stamp designs on one end of the roll by cutting about an inch up repeatedly and bending back the resulting tabs. They're primitive, but still appreciated by the three and four-year-old set.<br />
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5) SALT LETTERS<br />
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The other day I tried a Montessori-type activity I found that was super complicated. I poured salt into a wooden box and Jude traced letters into it with his fingers, using his flash cards as a guide. I was sweating bullets after prepping that activity. Never again.<br />
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6) UP-CYCLED SNOW GLOBES<br />
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The furthest we've gone into craftiness is making snow globes together this past Christmas. It's a little tough doing this with a four-year-old, but I let him pour the glitter in and fill the jars with water, and that was enough for him to feel fulfilled in the project once he realized how fun they were when they were done.<br />
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We used old salsa and baby-food jars and plastic figurines from the craft shop, plus some water-resistant glue to adhere the figurines to the insides of the lids. You could toss anything into these: Fisher Price little people, transformers, or whatever small toys you have underfoot.<br />
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7) CLOUD DOUGH<br />
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The last easy thing I've tried lately is cloud dough. Eight cups of cheap flour and one cup of baby oil in a plastic tub and we had an indoor sandbox. Jude made mini sandcastles using my smallest leftover containers to mold the towers. I have no photos of this because flour is boring to look at, and though I've already subjected you to the serene, non-events of our household, a photo of it crossed a line I had somewhere. <br />
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If you're a parent who prefers not to spend a morning prepping for a ten-minute thrill, these projects are for you :)Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-54011535595285003182013-02-17T21:09:00.000-05:002013-03-06T09:48:36.200-05:00michigan winteri love the beach in winter.<br />
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<br />Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-65801654289355696692013-02-17T20:41:00.003-05:002013-02-17T20:44:51.356-05:00ewok or owl<div style="text-align: center;">
This post is total nonsense, but quick survey: when I look at Theo, I'm reminded first that he is a beautiful boy, and second that he resembles two creatures:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">baby ewok</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">owl</td></tr>
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What do you think? Am I way off? </div>
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Either way, he's delicious.</div>
<br />Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-66064274332100683752013-02-04T21:47:00.003-05:002013-02-04T21:48:29.669-05:00ho hum...<div style="text-align: center;">
Another day with the two small ones. These two photos make me laugh.</div>
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Theo has face-stuffing down to a science.</div>
Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-48262759228476345312013-01-09T13:59:00.002-05:002013-01-09T14:05:03.369-05:00redonkEverything about Theo is ridiculous. (In a good way. Hello.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His hair. I kid you not.</td></tr>
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When his
eyebrows came in they looked like they'd been painted on and plucked.<br />
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When his eyelashes came in, they were twice as long as mine.<br />
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When he got past the squinty newborn phase, his eyes opened up and stayed the size of silver dollars.<br />
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When his hair came in, it was ridiculously high and fluffy,
courtesy of the double crown on the back of his head - two hair whorls that mirror each other exactly and are about an inch apart.<br />
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When his teeth
came in, there was a howdy-doody gap between the two front ones.<br />
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He has the same cleft chin as the rest of us, but when you add it to the other stuff it kind of fits the bill.<br />
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His cheeks are so fat now that someone we didn't know said, "What's the name of the one with the fat cheeks?" <br />
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He is
ridiculously loud, to the point where Jono said to him one evening, "Theo, you don't belong in my family." (He was joking, of course. A little.)<br />
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He fell halfway down our long-ish staircase, giving himself a black eye. He cried for about 30 seconds. (This is the opposite of the behavior we typically see in another small person who lives here.)<br />
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He's all about cheap thrills, wherever they may be found.<br />
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Theo seems to be wired for the extreme, both in his personality and his physicality. We've enjoyed watching one ridiculous thing after another occur in and around him, and I'm sure we'll be entertained by this for years to come.Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-17094876453868593702013-01-08T10:37:00.000-05:002013-01-08T14:33:07.036-05:00Pretending Real Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Jude is four now, and the flavor of the things he says is morphing along with his age. Here's a sampling from his third and fourth years (so far):</b><br />
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"Theo's head looks like a blueberry."<br />
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"I like this kind of baby. This is the baby that I wanted." <br />
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"I'm pretending real things."<br />
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"Can you go in the window room and stay there?" (He wanted to sneak chocolate chips from the cupboard.) <br />
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"I'm making this go away so you can't see it." (Said while spreading sand around that he wasn't supposed to throw out of the sandbox.)<br />
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TMI: "I made a J! I'm going to try to make a U." (This was said in the bathroom, and I'll let you guess what he was talking about.)<br />
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"Theo is like a little crumb."<br />
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"Fee's dream is to join the circus." <br />
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Talking about his little stuffed dog; "Do you know what Puppy doesn't do? Bite. If you put your hand by his mouth he licks it. If you put your hand here [by his nose] he does this. [Sniffs]. You can touch his fur like this. [Strokes gently.] Don't pinch Puppy. Only a teensy weensy bit."<br />
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<b>I love this little dude. </b>Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-21345707556651724992013-01-07T22:05:00.001-05:002013-01-07T23:51:26.317-05:00happy new year!Please excuse the lame "shutterfly" branding of this card, and my month-long silence. Click through twice to see it larger, if you want to see Theo's cheek to face ratio with greater accuracy.<br />
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Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-31705261128477889442012-12-08T10:53:00.000-05:002012-12-08T10:55:32.217-05:00Homebrewing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brew time means it gets hot and steamy over here.</td></tr>
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For Jono's birthday this year he wanted a home-brewing kit for beer. I got a few family members to go in on one together, and now he reminds me of a moonshiner during Prohibition. There are bubbling jugs tucked away in our basement and coat closet almost continually.<br />
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So far his brews have been delicious, and it saves us money. Jono's favorites are heavy on the hops, while I prefer porters and stouts. He has brewed two different recipes for me now (out of four total, I think).<br />
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I'd recommend DIY brewing for anyone who loves micro-brews and doesn't make six figures ;) We got our kit at a local make-your-own stuff shop called Siciliano's, but I'm sure you can get kits and recipes online as well.<br />
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Here's one I had the other night. Yum.<br />
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<br />Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-75173937779288335742012-12-06T10:04:00.004-05:002012-12-06T20:27:16.952-05:00the dragon mask<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is not a Halloween post, unfortunately ;)<br />
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Both boys are on a daily inhalant medication, a mist they breathe into their lungs through a nebulizer machine and mask. Jude has grown out of his more extreme symptoms but still needs seasonal treatment (fall and winter), and Theo is now on it as well because of his recent asthma episodes. In spring, once the cold/flu/respiratory virus season is over, I'll take them both off of it through the summer.<br />
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We had another ER visit with Theo about a month after the last one, and this time he was admitted into the children's hospital where we had what they called an "aware" sort of situation (eight or nine docs lined up at the door to check him out), and he was close to being moved to the ICU before he turned around.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Election night jitters</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to remove his IV</td></tr>
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The nebulizer mask is a dragon, in an attempt to make it friendlier for children. I don't know though. "Smoke" coming out of the holes in its beak-ish nose? It would be horrifying except the dragon has orange raised eyebrows that give him a more benign look. But either way. "Now, young child, put this rubber serpent thing over your face and breathe deeply."<br />
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The med is potentially life-saving for our kids though, so I appreciate any effort that makes giving it to them less creepy. Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-82225812377222216562012-12-04T20:20:00.005-05:002012-12-04T20:21:00.175-05:00For DadA special edition (for Grandpa G):<br />
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Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-74597162095689135222012-12-04T10:52:00.001-05:002012-12-04T10:56:25.597-05:00The Twelve Months of Theo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="goog_621800430"></span><span id="goog_621800431"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">You'd al<span style="font-size: small;">l seen the first six months, and the second six months <span style="font-size: small;">only got better with the chub<span style="font-size: small;"> and fluff</span>... so there you are.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">H</span>ere's an e<span style="font-size: small;">xample of the difficulty I had in capturing him lying *still* at 12 months<span style="font-size: small;">. I had to anchor him with my boot<span style="font-size: small;">s<span style="font-size: small;">, which he thought was hilari<span style="font-size: small;">ous. What a little squirrel.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>Amateur photographer's note</u>: the natural light coming in from my windows varie<span style="font-size: x-small;">d</span> quite a bit in these<span style="font-size: x-small;">,</span> so I brightened them up, producing the Andy Warhol-esque effect on the colors<span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span> And yet his eyes stayed dark because of the angle of the light. You can still mostly tell what he looked like<span style="font-size: x-small;">, a</span>nd I'm just being anal<span style="font-size: x-small;"> ab<span style="font-size: x-small;">out it<span style="font-size: x-small;"> ;)</span></span></span></span>Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-33790361909872032612012-11-28T10:31:00.001-05:002012-11-28T10:31:46.410-05:00their birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm grateful for my boys, who turned one and four on the same day. November 20 has become one of the best days of my life two times over, and is appropriately just before Thanksgiving every year :)<br />
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Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-67173913667848160582012-11-28T10:16:00.004-05:002012-11-28T10:33:23.580-05:00chunky chicken<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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As I've said before, Theo spends much of his free time getting his chub on. He does this fake whine whenever he sees, smells or senses food in the area, scrunching up his eyes and showing me his gappy front teeth. Then he says ma-ma over and over until I deliver. It's synonymous with food, and it's the only time he says it (so far). <br />
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In the past I've written on here about how scrawny he was at first after being born three weeks early and developing two big food sensitivities (plus being a poor breast-feeder). This photo at two months always makes me shudder because of how gaunt he looks. For most of his baby-hood, he wasn't even showing up on the weight chart.<br />
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At his nine month check-up I rejoiced as I was told he had made it to the FIFTH percentile for weight. After months of worrying about him getting enough calories - I had been told he wasn't by the doc - I felt victorious. I had been feeding him solids liberally since six months to help him catch up.<br />
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Three months later at his 12-month check-up, I would not have predicted Theo would be as chunky as he is now. He has cellulite, a big rear-end and cankles, which I am happy to point out to many, proud mama that I am. There are matching chub rolls over his knees, and his cheeks expand an inch or so from his face. He is now a pudgy 21 pounds, in the 25th percentile for weight and the 50th for height. Yay, Theo!<br />
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All adjectives for food that makes my mouth water come to mind. (Is that weird?) My dad used to call Tyler Chunky Tuna, and I just grew my own version.Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-70266614801547322802012-11-15T14:35:00.004-05:002013-03-06T09:49:57.250-05:00Ankle Biter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If I have mentioned this before, here it is again. Theo has two passions in life:<b> food and people. </b>He is both a face-stuffer and a little socialite. I predict some potential hedonism in his future.<br />
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Toys have held no special fascination for him, and he does not entertain himself well. The two ways in which I accomplish tasks while he is awake is a) do them while holding him on my hip, or b) stick him in the high chair with finger food. I've gotten pretty creative with food he can feed to himself. We started with Cheerios but now we do tofu, grapes, bananas, raisins and anything I happen to be making for dinner that can be divided into bite-sized pieces and picked up by small, chubby paws. <br />
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Jono nicknamed him Ankle Biter the other day, because he's always at my ankles tugging on my pant leg. Oh, and I guess he did literally bite me on my leg three times recently when I didn't pick him up fast enough. I'm not kidding. Now when he approaches me as I'm busy with something and Jono is home, I yell, "COME GET HIM, HE'S GOING TO BITE ME." My voice shakes a little, and the child is 20 pounds with dandelion fluff for hair. <br />
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Here he is, the little stinker, at his typical station:<br />
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Notice in the third shot he's getting a little more serious about getting picked up. Watch out. Oh, the innocence.Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-55468586601363333412012-11-15T14:20:00.000-05:002013-03-12T12:22:44.336-04:00orchards and stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every fall we make a trek out to at least two orchards, usually with extended family. Our first stop this year was Robinette's, right outside our city. This is the place we choose to go with just us - it's close and not too elaborate.<br />
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We ate pumpkin-spice doughnuts, gawked at the giant apple and went down the wagon slide a few times, like we always do. Although all of this was a first time for Theo! <br />
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Normally we'd also squeeze in a hike on the nearby trails, but it was getting late and our boys were wheezy. (The onset of respiratory problems in my children is the only part of fall that I hate.)<br />
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We were planning to purchase some cider at Robinette's for a few toasty warm drinks (rum n' cider, anyone?) later on, but with the drought and all the price of cider was ridiculous. Sad. And not just because I won't be drinking rum and cider... more importantly I feel bad for the farmers. <br />
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Second stop this year was Fruit Ridge Farms with my side of the family, which we'd done one other time with them. At this one we went the whole nine yards: doughnuts, cider and a hay ride, the duration of which Brett pontificated about his love for the outdoors and the soul-healing, peaceful activities that are often set there. (He whined the whole time.)<br />
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We were a little stressed at the beginning of the hayride because Theo seemed fussy, but as long as my dad was letting him jump up and down in his lap, and no one tried to shush him when he yelled for extended periods at the top of his lungs, he was fine. Not sure we can say the same of our fellow riders, but oh well.<br />
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You may notice the reappearance of the mini baby scarf, which Theo allows me to put on him, while Jude did not (other than in the hospital directly after his birth, when he was in no position to fight me). <br />
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Now the leaves are mostly gone from the trees and we're preparing for winter. I smelled it for the first time two days ago while taking out the garbage, which initially gave me a little thrill. Hoping to milk that feeling into January, but I'm doubtful this will happen.<br />
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Happy fall, y'all.Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-33153269258527160762012-10-25T10:08:00.003-04:002013-03-06T09:51:33.789-05:00Iowa: a first<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainbow near Grundy Center, IA</td></tr>
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I'm half-Iowan, if that makes sense. My mom was born and raised there, and I grew up there too, partially. We get back often - a few times a year - because of these roots, and to see the people we love who are still there.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First stop, three hours in.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squash face</td></tr>
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My latest trip to Iowa was a first though. I went there alone, with my two boys. I have a small clan of good, old friends from the Iowa days who I wanted to see. My friend Malissa now lives in Washington and was going to be back near our old hometown for her sister's wedding. She e-mailed the other three of us to see if we could make it out. I am the only other wild card, being second-furthest away in Michigan, while Teri and Deborah both live in Iowa. At first I wasn't going to go. I had just been there with my family the month before, and I knew my mom couldn't come with me this time because of a surgery she was scheduled to have. So I dismissed it.<br />
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But then the e-mail responses from my friends continued to come in, saying "I'll be there!", and I thought to myself, what's stopping me from going alone with the boys? Deborah comes to Michigan alone with her three kids to see her sister all the time. I felt inspired by her. If she could do it, so could I. Thirteen hours each way? Meh. It was do-able.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Windmills were a common part of the landscape</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My little creeper. And my glasses are crooked.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last stop - relief from one of Theo's two meltdowns.</td></tr>
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So I did it, it went amazingly well, and I was inwardly a tiny bit proud of myself. I feel like I could do it again sometime, no sweat.<br />
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One major thing that helped were two great little kids' albums by the 90's band, <a href="http://www.theymightbegiants.com/" target="_blank">They Might be Giants</a>. We checked out both the ABC and 123 records they had made from the library (Jude is currently obsessed with letters and numbers), and both Jude and I were singing along with every word a few hours into the journey.<br />
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Also, the big sky and massive cloud formations were incredible. I have probably 20 photos on my phone of the various stages of storms rolling in and out, and it was breathtaking.<br />
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Lastly, it helped that we stopped to stay overnight with my lovely grandparents eight hours in. If we hadn't been able to do that, it probably would've been a deal-breaker on taking this trip. What ended up being a fifteen-hour journey would've been a wee bit too much to ask of my small-ish boy-children.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jude with his <i>Bedstemor </i>("Grandma" in Danish)</td></tr>
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Hanging out with my friends was so great. There's always that catch-up period, but a few hours in we were talking over each other like we always used to do. My friend Deborah's sister, Heather, said to her, "Do you realize you guys are constantly interrupting each other?" We laughed and agreed that we still manage to hear what everyone else is saying. We're just excited by each others' presence, I guess. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9y0gVO0i1Ug/UIlFaYbNH2I/AAAAAAAAEAc/4gVdiWuyqrY/s1600/95e75bcee96d11e18d8622000a1e8ba3_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9y0gVO0i1Ug/UIlFaYbNH2I/AAAAAAAAEAc/4gVdiWuyqrY/s320/95e75bcee96d11e18d8622000a1e8ba3_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seven of the ten collective offspring</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deb's Jackson with Theo</td></tr>
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I sadly did not get a photo of the four of us together, but I did snap a couple of our multitude of offspring. Malissa has four, Deb three, Teri one, me two. We tromped around Sioux Center, Iowa with our ten collective children for an afternoon, hitting the park, a huge open space in the mall (because it rained for awhile), and a coffee shop.<br />
<br />
We're seriously discussing having our next reunion in Las Vegas, a destination that usually wouldn't interest me, but with these women (and maybe without the kids), I wouldn't say no :)Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-19342548949047609402012-10-11T10:39:00.000-04:002012-10-11T21:57:36.569-04:00Good Old ER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sMtK4AhmqCo/UHbVbAp3GUI/AAAAAAAAD-E/vSkDlUPlNtw/s1600/download+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sMtK4AhmqCo/UHbVbAp3GUI/AAAAAAAAD-E/vSkDlUPlNtw/s320/download+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Oh, ER, the hours we have spent within your walls. Especially after Theo's recent respiratory episode, where we hit a record time of 1.5 days and most of two nights. Ugh.<br />
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That is the furthest I'll take my complaints though. There are many children, including two within our own circle of friends and family, who have spent horrible amounts of time in hospitals, and a chunk of time here and there that we have spent in this sterile, worrisome location is ridiculously small by comparison.<br />
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When we do go there it's because of our boys' "reactive airways", which translates into intense wheezing and breathing difficulties after colds, exercise, etc. Jude was in the ER three times one year for it, and Theo was inducted for the first time last week. Jude continues to be on a daily medication for his asthma that we now use only seasonally, as well as an inhaler when his wheezing and coughing spike. Chances are Theo will be on the same thing(s) within a year or so, considering the symptoms we've seen in him this past month.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sleeping on my chest, finally, after a breathing treatment</td></tr>
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Being one of those types who prefers natural remedies, especially with my children, this bothers me sometimes. We tried other things before putting Jude on a daily med. But the importance of my boys' ability to get oxygen into their lungs trumps all that. We still use natural remedies for congestion (an olive oil and eucalyptus rub and humidifiers), but when they start to have any serious trouble breathing, out come the big guns. When you're at a turning point, eucalyptus oil is for kids whose colds don't land them in the hospital. <br />
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Okay then, moving on...<br />
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A few great things came out of last week's experience. First, we all got to see Theo in a tiger hospital gown. Ack! Amazing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exhibit A</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exhibit B (hair shot)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exhibit C ("Nurse?")</td></tr>
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Second, unless he was getting "booger-be-gone" or albuterol breathing treatments, he remained his happy self, blabbering endlessly, playing in his hospital crib, flirting intensely with the nurses (see video).<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyEWza4-9ef2p2_9Ka6FdhsRXbICeAhZdfLVSeXR8mYzZbhh8M9HlbcaMH6vRupsz7MLh7sx_LzibldyfhQ3Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Speaking of flirting, the third great thing was that the ER had a little red welcome wagon in which Theo and I wore a path around the hospital. In our boredom, it was one of the only ways we could escape our tiny room.<br />
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I can barely describe how he looked perched in this wagon, in his hospital gown with his fuzzy hair standing on end, without becoming breathless and flushed. I'm fanning myself right now.<br />
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Whenever we rolled past a nursing station there was mass swooning and cooing from the lady-folk, mildly bored on their night-time shifts. Theo LOVED that, of course, and amped it up a bit by head-banging and yelling at them with a crazed, elated look on his face. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GRAYL3-lLKI/UHbXyFB2-7I/AAAAAAAAD-0/pW9T7kUwK8M/s1600/nose-frida-main-product.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GRAYL3-lLKI/UHbXyFB2-7I/AAAAAAAAD-0/pW9T7kUwK8M/s320/nose-frida-main-product.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I guess the last good thing that came of this little episode is that we were given an excuse to purchase a Nose Frida, the Snotsucker. Using it involves the parent placing a clear nozzle into the baby's nostril and actually sucking from the tube attached. The boogers flow freely (and visibly) into the clear nozzle from the power of your own breath. Mind-blowing. (Note that boogers do<i> not</i> go into the parent's mouth. There's a filter!)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpLf-wqgzr8/UHbX9pwadmI/AAAAAAAAD-8/yy80aQBFufM/s1600/20070501-nosefrida2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpLf-wqgzr8/UHbX9pwadmI/AAAAAAAAD-8/yy80aQBFufM/s1600/20070501-nosefrida2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
Nose Frida has actually become a verb in our house, and though Theo hates it, the rest of us kind of look forward to it, to be honest.<br />
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"So Theo, did you just get Nose-Frida-ed?"<br />
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"Did you Nose-Frida him yet today?"<br />
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So, we're home now, he's still a bit wheezy, and we're praying we don't have to go back this week. Somehow I would find that embarrassing, though I'm not sure why. Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-64745640764565797462012-09-27T10:10:00.001-04:002012-09-27T10:10:21.860-04:00Two Teef<div style="text-align: center;">
Here we have photographic evidence of Theo's first crack at eating a cucumber slice, back when he had only two bottom teeth. Look carefully. (See them?)</div>
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This is kind of how I get my jollies these days.</div>
Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886431625798733262.post-42887742416877061512012-09-27T09:55:00.004-04:002013-03-06T09:52:42.279-05:00Dirt --> Food<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFoc-ThZTGM/UGRX632ZBYI/AAAAAAAAD8M/NZKWFFB8zmU/s1600/fd468568bcbf11e1a9f71231382044a1_7.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFoc-ThZTGM/UGRX632ZBYI/AAAAAAAAD8M/NZKWFFB8zmU/s320/fd468568bcbf11e1a9f71231382044a1_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This past spring we were pleasantly surprised to find out we'd been able to nab a plot in the community garden we used to live near. The days when we stepped outside our back door and into an urban farming paradise are over, but we can still have a plot over there and (sadly) drive there from the southeast side of our city instead.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcA0YsX2nWg/UGRYJ1RZGMI/AAAAAAAAD8U/UAeaXVaMVu4/s1600/8a53c58abcbe11e1a39b1231381b7ba1_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcA0YsX2nWg/UGRYJ1RZGMI/AAAAAAAAD8U/UAeaXVaMVu4/s320/8a53c58abcbe11e1a39b1231381b7ba1_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bystander</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first harvest: a radish</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garden picnic, one of maybe four we had this summer</td></tr>
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The plan was to have a family garden night where we would all meet there after Jono got off work, have a picnic supper and weed for awhile. That did happen a handful of times, but it was bloody hot this year, and for the most part Jono found himself running over there at dusk after the boys were in bed to keep up with the bumper tomato, pepper and squash harvest we received.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JbVSy0Wl-zI/UGRYu1whcFI/AAAAAAAAD8s/j_AiGjaooj8/s1600/1d1c30e2e3d311e1a23c22000a1c9e05_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JbVSy0Wl-zI/UGRYu1whcFI/AAAAAAAAD8s/j_AiGjaooj8/s320/1d1c30e2e3d311e1a23c22000a1c9e05_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jude picks the first carrots to come ripe</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9FmC4d91p3A/UGRYvfYf_EI/AAAAAAAAD80/sda30rxHSVw/s1600/b2a1596ae3d511e1890222000a1cfddf_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9FmC4d91p3A/UGRYvfYf_EI/AAAAAAAAD80/sda30rxHSVw/s320/b2a1596ae3d511e1890222000a1cfddf_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the of grape tomatoes we planted (too many)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZcnVxamS48/UGRYwWQUVNI/AAAAAAAAD88/GKvmtQVUmgo/s1600/f6b66664e3d411e1a74822000a1e8c8d_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZcnVxamS48/UGRYwWQUVNI/AAAAAAAAD88/GKvmtQVUmgo/s320/f6b66664e3d411e1a74822000a1e8c8d_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theo polished these off single-handedly as baby food</td></tr>
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We canned salsa together, and Jono outdid himself canning marinara sauce, tomato sauce and tomato juice to take care of the excess. I made two huge batches of curried squash soup (from that cookbook you gave me, Ant B!) and froze it in old apple sauce jars. We pawned veggies off on anyone who stopped by. In the end we successfully let almost nothing go to waste, and we feel pretty good about how it went.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qF_uVCUpfUU/UGRcliCNu0I/AAAAAAAAD9s/bAwHl5c4DuQ/s1600/c0e9b140f53511e1a2ab22000a1e87b3_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qF_uVCUpfUU/UGRcliCNu0I/AAAAAAAAD9s/bAwHl5c4DuQ/s320/c0e9b140f53511e1a2ab22000a1e87b3_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot peppers for the salsa, mostly grown by Jono's dad and Jan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgwsOKTe3yQ/UGRZQU2gBxI/AAAAAAAAD9E/VUysvdPu-tM/s1600/193914f6f53d11e1b1281231381b6846_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgwsOKTe3yQ/UGRZQU2gBxI/AAAAAAAAD9E/VUysvdPu-tM/s320/193914f6f53d11e1b1281231381b6846_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cauldron of bubbling, spicy goodness</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4CVIwSE88fI/UGRZRNhp1QI/AAAAAAAAD9M/tSuEGzh1IEY/s1600/65bae4caf47611e1b28822000a1c9e1a_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4CVIwSE88fI/UGRZRNhp1QI/AAAAAAAAD9M/tSuEGzh1IEY/s320/65bae4caf47611e1b28822000a1c9e1a_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grape tomatoes in the process of becoming tomato sauce</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YLvGmBleTKw/UGRZRq9ssgI/AAAAAAAAD9U/u5N9bIdGAAc/s1600/9557397cf47611e18fa722000a1e8ac2_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YLvGmBleTKw/UGRZRq9ssgI/AAAAAAAAD9U/u5N9bIdGAAc/s320/9557397cf47611e18fa722000a1e8ac2_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curried Squash Soup</td></tr>
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<br />
Maybe fewer tomatoes next year. And less squash. And only one cucumber plant, not four. And perhaps potatoes, more carrots, green beans and garlic. (I'll take this list off-line now.)<br />
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In case you're interested, here's the curried squash soup recipe I used, from my "Pumpkins and Squash" cookbook (by Kathleen Stang). <br />
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<i>4T butter<br />1 medium onion, thinly sliced <br />1 to 2 teaspoons <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1348754094_1">garam masala</span><br />2 teaspoons curry powder<br />2 cans chicken broth (or one box)<br />4 cups sliced crookneck or other summer squash<br />1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream for serving<br />1/4 cup toasted almonds or pistachios chopped for serving<br /><br />Heat
butter in skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for ten minutes
or until golden brown. Stir in garam masala and curry powder and cook
one minute more. Stir in the broth, add the squash, and bring mixture to
a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for ten minutes or until squash is
tender. Transfer 1/3 of soup to blender and purée until smooth. Repeat
twice with remaining soup. If necessary, reheat soup.<br /><br />Serve hot with a dollop of plain yogurt and a sprinkle of nuts (or chives, to make it look fancy).</i><br />
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Yum. <br />
<br />Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00865837734722271438noreply@blogger.com4