Quick Hits from the Month so Far.

Wow, busy month - I have to thank those loyal readers who faithfully check here regardless of how good I am at posting.

Here are the month's baby highlights in pictures:



Gosh I'm cute.




I went on the American Heart Walk...of course, mommy did the walking.




My hands meet in front of me now!




Yuppers - still cute...


In more grown up news...

I am hard at work on my dissertation. The clock is ticking with only a month to go until I move out to Phoenix. I am also applying for jobs in the Phoenix area, so I am hoping for the best.

Look who's three months old today!

What a fantastic (and busy) three months it has been. I cannot believe I ever lived my life without him.






My friend Monkey and Me.









Sleeping like an angel.









What is that fascinating thing at the end of my arm?



He's interactive, he's found his hands, and he's still cute as can be. I think I am in love all over again. (Don't tell his daddy)

Back in the Burgh

I was oh, 8 months pregnant, when my boss came to me and said, "I have been invited to speak at a conference in Pittsburgh the last week in July, and I can't go, do you want to go and give the talk instead?"



Hmmm, had I not been pregnant, and known that I was going to have a roughly 6 week old baby that week I wouldn't have hesitated to say yes. As it was, I thought about it first, and still decided to go. It was too prestigious to pass up, particularly as a grad student, and it was at my undergraduate alma mater.




So, a few weeks ago now, the three of us piled in the car and drove to Pittsburgh. For three days, I would go down to the conference (in the hotel conference center) and come up between talks to feed the baby. Justin watched him while I was "being professional" and we had a good time. It was like a mini-vacation and conference rolled into one.




Before we headed back to NY, we stopped by the old haunts, and toured Phipps (where Justin and I got married seven years ago). It was particularly special to bring Russell there.




I miss the burgh. I just never fell in love with Long Island the way I did with the Burgh. Let's hope I can love Phoenix.

Barrell and Robertson visit

Russell finally got to meet the last of his grandparents and his aunt Kimmy and cousin Morgan on July 12th.

Auntie Kim holding Russell.

We had a good visit, despite my being very sick at the time (duct infection, fever of 102, not recommended...)







Cousin Morgan holding Russell. A very cute pair.


All were deliriously happy to meet him, unfortunately there are no pictures of grammie Sue with the baby...I think she planned that.







And the very (VERY) proud grandpa Bill with his daughter (moi) and grandson. I don't know when last I saw him that happy. Please forgive my shade of green - I really was not well. that day.


We had a lovely lunch and a good visit. I was sorry they couldn't stay longer. I can't wait to get another chance to see them all.

Busier than ever.

We've been a tad busy these last few weeks, and so I haven't been good about posting at all...but I have an excuse...see:



Yep. Still cute.

Posts to come in the next few days in my July wrapup...
- The Barrells and Robertsons visit Russell : check
- Conference and family trip to the Burgh!: check
- Back to work.
- and a picture story about the evils of monkeys!

All will include cute baby pics, so stay tuned.

Phoenix digs

Justin's trip to Phoenix was succesful! We have rented a nice (big, at least for us) house in Phoenix that we both really like. I won't go posting our new address for all the world to see online, but rest assured I will be sending it out by email when Russell and I move out there in a few months.

There is a joy in the end of our apartment days. And an even bigger joy to the end of our long Island days.

Oh yeah, and we will have a small guest room for anyone who wants to visit sunny Phoenix.

Yummy!

If you happen to have an overrun of zucchini (which is common this time of year) have I got the dessert recipe for you! Don't knock it until you've tried them - they are SUPER yummy. I would have posted a picture of them, but I just finished off the batch I made a few days ago. Of course, I do have more zucchini. hmmmm.....

Zucchini Brownies

1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
2c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/2 c. walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Grease and Flour 9x13 pan
*Mix oil, sugar, and vanilla until well blended.
*In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
*Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until the well incorporated
*Fold in zucchini and nuts(or chips).
*Spread in prepared pan.
*Bake 25-30 minutes, or until springy and the edges just start to dry.

These, unlike most other brownies known to mankind, are better completely cooled. They start to form a crunchy sugary crust which makes them even tastier.

And, for the record, they are even vegan (so long as you use vegan chocolate chips) in case you find yourself needing a dessert for a vegan.

First family portrait

We finally got around to taking a picture of all three of us...



...or is that all four of us?


Needless to say, there was a certain lack of success in getting us all to look at the camera at the same time. I think these are about the most accurate family representation we are gonna get. Chaos. But lovable chaos.

Infant carriers

I LOVE my Moby wraps (I have two - thanks mom and Becky!) they make it possible to carry a cranky baby around and still have my hands free, they mean that I can go out without having to lug the carseat with the babe in it, and I am sure in the next few months I will find a hundred more things that they are good for.

Surprisingly, this is the only picture I have with the baby in the wrap - it's from "my point of view" - the green is the wrap. One of these days I'll have to get a picture of the wrap from the view of the rest of the world.

So imagine my joy when I found a contest with a prize of FIVE (count 'em 5) baby carriers of various types. A baby carrier for all occasions! Anyway, if you have any use for baby carriers - or five friends who have infants perhaps - or you want to enter just to send them all to me (I mean, hey, it can't hurt to ask) Go on over to this site:

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Good luck to you - and me

What it means to be content.

One of the things I have really been working towards in the last few years is being content. Content with what I have accomplished, content with what I have, content with who I am, etc. Somewhere along the line I got it in my head that I needed to have more, do more, be more...and it was starting to eat at my soul.

I can say that I have successfully kicked the need for more stuff. Things just matter less to me now - which I believe is a great thing. I spend significantly less time thinking about what I "am too poor to own" and anything we purchase these days is carefully thought out and definitely a need. Or at the very least a 'want' that will get real use and not just sit on a shelf somewhere taking up space in our home.

I have still, however, been having to battle the 'accomplishment' monster. Have I done enough? What am I doing next? Is it what I want or is it what I think others want me to do? Will it make me happy? Hard questions, indeed.

Having a very special little boy has really helped me a lot towards answers. I find I need very little but to snuggle with my baby to make me happy. I have what we need to survive and thrive from day to day. I also have a yardstick to measure whether or not something I am doing is really important to me: "Is it more important that spending time with my little boy?" It's not the only question I need to be asking myself (since, "Do I need to do it to support us?" is kind of important too). But it is a significant question that will allow me to measure what is important to me.

...What brought this to the blog? I read a really moving blog post the other day that made me think about what it means to be content. The author, Emily, has been trying to tame the "stuff monster" too, and seems to be close to succeeding. But the post spoke to me, and made me realize how much closer I am to just plain being content with my life.

Who wouldn't be, with this guy to hold onto every day?