Clara's Room

We finally put some finishing touches on Clara's bedroom. I still have a few other things I'd like to do over time, but at least it now feels like her bedroom! Clara especially enjoys having her name spelled on the wall--just ask her!

Playtime!

We had an unused gift certificate to Target and decided to get Clara this swell play gym, primarily because we are always on the lookout for something to distract her for even a few minutes from the fact she is not being held! We have met with only minor success, meaning that she still prefers playing face to face than entertaining herself. She doesn't mind lying on the floor with nothing around her, and she actually seems to enjoy the bouncy seat I borrowed from a friend. The jury is still out on the play gym, but perhaps she'll grow to love it.

In other news, Clara is up to 11 pounds, 12 ounces as of January 30. You grow girl! :)

Daddy's Girl

This picture is from back just before Christmas, but it shows Jeremy at his happiest: when he's holding his little Clara! Jeremy is back in school now--this is the first full week of classes--and pretty much the first thing he wants to do after his long day is snuggle with Clara. I think she enjoys it, too!

We have finally gotten our winter weather in Syracuse: lots of snow and cold but very little sunshine. Clara and I think this is fine, as it helps us to maintain our milky complexions (some might call us pasty, but we resist that label).

This second picture shows one of Clara's favorite pastimes: staring at the ceiling. There's no accounting for taste...

Then and Now

Jeremy and I can barely remember Clara as a teeny tiny baby. When we brought her home from the hospital just under two months ago, she weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces, which we thought was an impressive gain from her lowest weight of about 4 pounds, 2 ounces a few days after her birth. We did not understand what impressive weight gain was back then! Yesterday, after returning from a drive around town we decided to snap a picture of Clara in her carseat. What a difference two months (and more than six pounds) makes!

Mommy and Me

Jeremy decided that yesterday was the perfect opportunity for a mother-daughter photo shoot. We'd just returned from Clara's first brunch (an important milestone for all babies) at our friends Ryan and Emilee's house, where we were wonderfully and blissfully overfed. Clara spent the event sleeping in her carseat in their guest room, since she is still under relative-seclusion orders from her pediatrician. At any rate, we had a happy morning--evidenced by the near-smile on Clara's full face!

Clara's Shots

Our home health nurse visited the other day (a county service for babies who spent more than two weeks in the NICU), and Clara's new weight is 10 pounds, 3 ounces. For a little girl who started out so tiny, she has certainly worked hard to catch up to her full-term peers! I have a feeling that by the time she is three months old on February 4, she'll be too big for her 0-3 month clothes. Who would've thought?

Enjoy these pictures of Clara's post-immunization trauma. Poor baby.

Retrench!

As a modern nod to the classic Pioneers in Petticoats, Jeremy and I have declared our intention to retrench in 2007 (having an expensive hospital stay and a tiny income also contributed to our decision). Part of our retrenchment includes my goal of dividing sometimes cumbersome household duties over several days so as not to feel backed up and overwhelmed (some may remember similar strategies during our "Vigorous Living" stage).

So now, the days of my week are divided as follows:

• Monday: Makin' Bakin'--this is the day I bake bread and other tasties.
• Tuesday: TCB--this is the day I "Take Care of Business" by paying bills, filing, and managing other household elements.
• Wednesday: Wild Card Wednesday--this is my day off, which means that other than taking care of Clara and showering, I can do whatever my heart desires.
• Thursday: A Day for Laver--taken from the French verb meaning "to wash" (pronounced lah-vay), this is the day we do laundry and ironing.
• Friday: Freewheeling Friday--this is the day I go out on the town to get groceries, go to the library, etc. Jeremy has no morning obligations on Fridays, so he can parent Clara while I roam Syracuse.

On Saturday, we divide household chores and enjoy one another's company (and Jeremy usually reads for school). And of course Sunday is the Day of Rest, so we go to church, play games, and talk to family on the phone.

So far, our cry of Retrench! has been going pretty well. We're trying to make the most of our resources, which takes a lot of creativity. But if there's anything we enjoy, it's fashioning solutions to seemingly difficult tasks. Carry on!

Winter in the Northeast

When Jeremy and I moved to Syracuse on May 31, we encountered one of the warmest days of the year: hot, oppressively humid, and almost intolerably sunny. But of course, this is upstate New York, so despite the heat people almost immediately began to tell us that we'd never survive the winter. (Why anyone would assume that two people most recently of Montana wouldn't be able to survive the cold and snow is another question for another day.) At any rate, the summer and fall passed with many an ominous warning about "lake effect snow" and the other horrors of winter in the Northeast.

And of course I believed everyone--and why not? NOAA lists the average snowfall in Syracuse at over 100 inches, so lake effect obviously affects life up here. But, courtesy of El Nino, we have joined the rest of the east coast in enjoying unseasonably warm weather. In fact, when the mercury rose to 62 degrees this weekend, I couldn't help but remark to Jeremy that this winter is more reminiscent of winter in California than any other place I've lived. Sure, we have more than our fair share of gray, rainy days, but overall it's been a pleasant winter.

No doubt my enjoyment of this mild winter will be short-lived, as the snow can't stay away forever. In the meantime, I'll keep my parka in the closet and enjoy whatever I can of these waning mild days.

Clara at two months

Our little Clara is really growing up! Today marks the end of her second full month of life, although perhaps we are a bit too entrenched in our sleep-deprived haze to fully recognize the significance of that fact. But we are so pleased with her and her continued growth. At last check, she weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces--a 13 ounce gain in just one week. We're hoping that her rapid weight gain tapers off eventually, or we'll have to resort to using a crane to get her in and out of the house!

At long last...

I started this blog in June and actually maintained it. Thrice! (I suppose, all things considered, I shouldn't call such a feeble effort "maintenance.") But I've been newly inspired by reading my cousin Katie's blog, and I figure I might as well give it another go.

Of course, much has changed since July, when I had barely a bump under my clothes to indicate a forthcoming child. Since then, she has forth-comed, our little Clara Amelia! Born six weeks early, much to the shock of her parents, Clara weighed just 4 pounds, 8 ounces at birth. But in the ensuing eight weeks and one day, she has managed to just about double her birthweight (please note the "then" and "now" pictures of our darling girl). What a trooper. Her last official weight was 8 pounds, 12 ounces. To us, she looks positively gigantic, although I suppose she's technically still a little baby. At any rate, we are slowly adjusting to chronic sleep deprivation, since she is definitely in charge of when any of us sleep. At present, she is enjoying the waning hours of 2006 by sleeping like an angel on Jeremy's shoulder. Normally we might try to put her in her little crib eventually, but since, often as not, she wakes to full alertness at the mere suggestion that her body will touch a surface not belonging to one of her parents' bodies, Jeremy decided he'd just hold her until it's time for her next meal.

I suppose, given that this is the last day of 2006 I should offer some sort of poignant reflection on the past year. Alas, I'll just have to guarantee that 2006 may well have been our most eventful year to date. In the past 12 months, we've gotten two masters' degrees; traveled more than 4,000 miles by car; presented two papers at the Association of American Geographers conference in Chicago (yes, they even let those of us in English studies to participate from time to time--especially those with a spatial bent to their research); moved across the United States to Syracuse, NY; and had a welter-weight baby! (Note to all expectant mothers: be careful when rolling over in bed, as you never can tell when such strenuous movements might cause your water to rupture.)

In all, it's been a bumper year, and yet we're very satisfied to report that we're enjoying the change of pace new parenthood has brought. Although being Clara's parents has us feeling a degree more stressed, fatigued, and frazzled than usual, we also feel a greater sense of peace, purpose, and contentment. May all of our years conclude thus.

Happy New Year!

A day trip to Skaneatles

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I thought the most special thing that was going to happen that day was the veggie omelet we made for breakfast. But of course, Jeremy had other plans! He thought it would be fun to take a half-day trip to Skaneatles (pronounced, for whatever reason, skinny-atlas), a little village on the north shore of Skaneatles Lake. Our first drive out of Syracuse, and our first trip to a Finger Lake. And we loved it!

Skaneatles Lake is apparently the cleanest lake in the country, according to the locals. I hope its clean, because that's where Syracuse gets its drinking water. :) But there's no denying that the water is extremely clear and blue, and we enjoyed having a picnic at a lakeshore park (one that, incidentally, prohibited picnicking, but we were not alone...) then walking around the shoreline and the village. Skaneatles Village is a quaint little tourist stop, full of restaurants and boutique stores. Jeremy is always a good sport to follow me into little shops and feign a mild interest, which I appreciate.

At any rate, we feel very comfortable in saying we will make several more trips to Skaneatles. It's only 20 miles from Syracuse, yet it feels worlds away. Add that to the fact that the Clintons themselves vacationed there for a week in 1999. A perfect vacation spot! :)

Happy 4th of July! On June 30!

We had a great time watching fireworks and enjoying an evening picnic with our friends Ryan and Emilee. The "vegetarian question" ended up not being so bad; we bought a bunch of delicious sandwich fixings, and everyone made their own. Ciabatta bread (love it!), avocado, sprouts, red pepper, cucumbers, Swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, and turkey (or not), along with a choice of spreads. My personal favorite was a little innovation of mine based on a sandwich I had at a Leaf and Bean coffee house when I was studying for my comprehensive exams with my friends: peach mayonnaise. Thoroughly mix together more or less equal parts mayonnaise and peach jam/preserves (at the Leaf n' Bean the flavor was apricot; I think the options are limitless) and chill for an hour or so before using. Delicious! I told Jeremy the taste was better for people who like a hint of sweet among their savory, which I do and he does less. Either way, though, I was happy.

Anyway, we enjoyed the picnic, and we were charmed by the fireworks show. Jeremy called them "thinking-man's fireworks," since for the first half of the show there was ample time to contemplate each individual firework before seeing the next one. But things picked up eventually. Either way, the setting was great: a picnic on the grass on the edge of Syracuse's Inner Harbor, which we're told is extremely polluted but is nonetheless quite picturesque. One of those waterfront restoration projects that so many cities try, with varying degrees of success.

The only downside to the evening was that almost nobody in the parking lot was willing to use the "zipper" approach to parking lot-emptying. One annoying young man was so preoccupied with staring us down to let us know that we would not be getting his spot that he actually rear ended the car in front of him. Whatever. Overall, it was a great night, full of that summertime magic that manages to create even better memories with the passage of time.