Henry doing a walkabout

Henry is experimenting with this walking thing. We had this walker toy in the side yard, one of the many treasures left by the family that owns this house. I think we would get along with them if for no other reason then we have a mutual love for this house. The song is You Have known by the pneumatics.

Grammi is Here!

Grammi Kris is here and her way back from Hawaii. Portland is an acclimation area that is the mid way point, weather wise, between warm Hawaii and freezing Indiana. Today though is pretty cold here with a dusting of snow this morning so I am not sure it is really a mid way point. We are all excited to see Kris but Finn is super jazzed. He snuggled with Grammi this morning on the couch while we had our coffee. I am home with the sickness that has been going through our house like the plague. I guess when you have four kids in the house all day you will get some bugs now and then. hopefully Kris doesn't catch anything on her trip through. With Kate's birthday coming up soon her and her mom are out on the town shopping the day away. They have no sympathy for me being sick and have left me with the boys while they stimulate the economy. Really I am just napping while the boys nap as well but I want sympathy anyway, some one feels bad for me right? Anyone? Em? Lins? Aunt Jamie?

New Math

There are some funny new math equations here. I have this friend that came into our well established group of friends a bit late and he tried like the dickens to fit in. He was and probably still is a real good tennis player but he had never played ping pong and we were playing us a lot of ping pong. So this guy practices and practices and become consumed by the game. We have come to learn that consummation is M.O. for our friend, but at the time it was pretty funny to us. He would start a conversation with a ping pong challenge and not give up until you played him. I am a terrible player so he beat me pretty soon after starting and then worked his way up the ladder. I am not sure if he ever beat Kyle, our undisputed ping pong champion, but my guess is he is still practicing if not.

Waiting to live

I was riding home one night a few days ago and I was mulling some things over that I had been feeling for a while without fully fleshing them out. I feel like I am waiting to live. Like I am making plans for the things I will do, places I will go, experiences I will be a part of in some mysterious future time. I am waiting for that time when I have more money to do this or that. When summer comes and I can get out and explore the neighborhood, city, Northwest. I am waiting for that time when Kate goes back to work and I come back home with the boys. When I will fully present in my boys lives and in my own. Waiting for X to happen so that I can enjoy Y. I was thinking how these thoughts are just traps that limit my world. They aren't plans for the future they are just excuses to justify some not living in the moment. Some other excuses like it's late when I get home from work, our money is tight, or there is nothing to do and no time are not untrue but they don't justify apathy. What ends up happening is that my world becomes TV shows, fantasy basketball and other limited escapes that end up taunting more then they satisfy. I am not sure how you break out of this really because there are some valid reasons for waiting. Also waiting is part of life, but i don't want to be waiting for something new when I am meant to be doing the things I was waiting for last month. This doesn't make any sense does it?

Finn's weekend

This weekend was a good one for us but a great one for Finn. It started with a couple nights spent with Grandma in Clatskanie. Papa came home early and he got to spend some time playing trucks and eating crackers. Then Tom Tom and Grandma Sue stopped in on their way home from Hawaii. We went to Multnomah Falls and Finn had his rain boots on and all the puddles he could handle to splash around in. He hiked up the short way to the bridge between the falls and then him and I ran down, dodging hikers and finding puddles. We came back and got a fire going while Finn slept for 3 hours. The next day we took the train downtown for breakfast and found some more puddles around the waterfront. Finn went with Kate to take Tom Tom and Grandma Sue to the airport after a too short but great visit and when he got home Papa was soon delivering a truck load of fire wood. Finn helped us unload and got to hold Papa a little before going down for his nap. Two grandpas, a great grandma, a hike, a train ride, and too many puddles to count, it was a good weekend indeed.

A fist full of payback

Henry is getting more and more mobile and Finn's picking on him is starting to come back to haunt him.

A more Super Sunday

On super bowl Sunday we had some folks over for the game. We had some great snacks, a decent chili and a chaotic house of kids and football to liven up the joint. but long before the game started there was an even more important contest to be won. A local artist was making space in her studio by giving away some paintings from her blog. She put the word out and it trickled to me through this blog. There was some great stuff on there and I wanted in on the action. I debated which painting I wanted, thought of where they would go and why, and what story they would tell about us and our space. Everyone in the house was in on the plan and with the comments opening up at noon that Sunday I picked my peace and got the computer ready. At 11:45 Jesse yelled down from upstairs my 15 minute warning. I went to the computer and brought up the page. Kate told me to type out my response and and copy it so I could paste in as soon as the comments opened and not waste time writing out the particulars. Good Idea! I got my comment ready and refreshed like a madman until the comments opened up. It was exhilarating, my heart was pumping as I scrolled down to what would soon be my piece and clicked on the link. I pasted my comments and saved and that 2 seconds it took to pull the page back up was an eternity. I had done it, mine was the first comment. I got high fives and pat on the butt from Jesse like I had "scored a homer at the super cup" as Esse would say. There was genuine excitement and the game wasn't for another couple hours. There was a comment after mine that was a lovely story about a lady and her son picking out the one they wanted and I hoped the artist wasn't swayed by cute stories. I mean I could say that this was a piece that we wanted for our boys room but it wasn't who had the best story, it was who was first. A couple days later I got an email letting me know when and where to pick up the painting. The artist was great and seems to have had a good experience with the whole process. you can read other accounts here. The painting is not hung in it's new home yet but it is in the third place already. We aren't sure if she will live above the boys train table or above Henry's bed. Maybe in the downstairs family room or maybe in a place as yet unknown. Where ever it will live it will be with us and we are all still pretty excited about that.

Mr. Messy

There will be more to come but here is Henry in the midst of enjoying his birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Henry!

You are 1 today and we are so lucky to have you in our lives. Your a funny baby and have been really easy to raise so far. Your hair is crazy and you dance when ever the music comes on. You like to carry things around in your mouth tilt your head back and forth when you crawl. You tell me in depth stories with the few sounds that you have mastered. Your not walking yet but you say ball. I love you little man and I am so happy that your my boy. Happy birthday buddy.

Rotating beds

Finn got a new bed yesterday, well new to him anyway. He is in a toddler bed now with easy access to getting in and out by himself. He was pretty fired up about it last night, excited to go to bed. "Come see my big boy bed mommy!" With Finn moving to the big boy bed Henry moved up from the small wooden crib to the big rickety one that Finn just left. Henry was starting to get to the point where, standing in the smaller one, he could almost pivot out. Now he is a little guy in a sea of crib. Henry didn't take to his new bed like Finn did. He was screaming and crying each time we left the room. Finn would yell at him that it was OK, but Henry didn't seem to think so. With a warmed up bottle of milk Henry finally saw the light, or stopped seeing lights all together and drifted off to sleep. They both slept through the night after a rough go the night before where both of them were up and crying in our bed at different times. Nap time today will be a real test for Finn to see if he stays in bed or gets down and starts playing but he is pretty good at going to sleep. They are growing up fast, too fast sometimes.

Got nothing to do today, why not read a story

http://blueful.com/

It's cold here, but not that cold

It has been brisk in the pre-dawn walk to the train. Thanks to a great Christmas gift of warm gloves from Scott and Mandy last year and good scarf I have been pretty warm. I got a travel buddy who works at the same place and gets on the stop just North or me. He showed me how we could get on the bus right away a couple stops earlier and not have to spend anytime waiting int he cold. He also pointed out that our company offers discounted Monthly passes that will be a significant savings from my current Craigslist search. After getting a talking to for being late a bunch the first two weeks I have found the rythem and am now 20 minutes early for work taking the good train and bus.

Finn got to spend some time at Grandma Debbie's house today giving Henry some time to not get knocked around and play with whatever he wants. It was a win win I think. Kate and I made her own dress form that turned out super cool. I'll post pictures later. This weekend was nice time of making dress forms, fixing sewing machines, cooking dinner, and folding clothes. Not to be cocky or anything but i'm kind of a catch!

Crazy clawfoot goodness

The boys in the bath

Adventures in public transport

Day 1

With my January All-Zones pass secured I started my new public transport work life this week. I got a pump for the tires on Jesse's bike and a lock to bring with me. The 6:40 train will get me to to the stop closest my work at 7:45 leaving me a mile ride to work. It was lightly raining and though I thought to pack an extra pair of pants last night before going to bed, I didn't remember to actually do it in the morning. I made it to the train just fine and it was running a couple minutes late. I got to the stop by work at 7:50 and was 3 minutes late coming into work. I also had a wet muddy strip on the back of my pants and lost my glasses some where along the way. It was an uncomfortable day squinting and trying not to go anywhere so that no one would see brown stain on my bottom. I made it back to the train but missed the 5:15 train that would get me home at 6 and so had to wait for the 5:25 train. It was a good ride back with some vetern bike commuters that set me straight on things like reflectors, lights, and most important: Fenders! I couldn't get on the Yellow line train that would drop me off by the house so I rode from the Rose Quarter back home up a little hill. The bikes gears were not working and the peddles would slip as the gears caught and switched making impossible to peddle hard. I made it home tired and dirty and having learned some good lessons. I need a bike of my own, it needs fenders, I need an extra set of clothes anyway, and I am going to enjoy this.

Day 2

Knowing that I need to get my own bike and not yet able to do that I left the bike at home and took the train/bus option today. I needed to get the 6:29 train in the morning to make it to work on time and I missed it by 2 minutes. That meant waiting another 15 minutes for the next one and missing the bus connection by work that would get me to work on time. Knowing I was going to be late I sat back and read with the other commuters. At the Sunset Transfer Center there was a fare check, the first one I have experienced in the few times I have taken the train. A couple of people got pulled off for not having fare but it was a pretty quick check. I got a ride from work to the station and made the 5:15 train with no problem. I made it home to Ribs, beans and Salad and far dryer and cleaner then the day before. I learned that 15 mintues is not enough time to get up, have coffee, and make it to the train so an earlier alarm was in order.

Day 3

Alarm went off at 5:45 this time and I awoke with a terrible headache. I called into work and went back to bed. No train today, we will see how Thursday goes.

New Seasons

Coming out of New Seasons Market with my lentil soup into the quickly piling snow I am starting to feel at home. It is cold and wet out and I can see my breath as I make my way around the store to the back where I parked. There are people waiting as the train pulls up and looking through the window of the cafe inside the grocery store the hipsters are out in force. I'm not sure that Portland is who I am but I think it is who I want to be and that makes it homey in a way that I can't easily put into words. My Eco-Indie-Liberal-Hipster-bicycle cred is lacking and I am more likely to stay in then hike to base camp at Mt. Hood but there is something about the city that resonates with me in a way that Hawaii never did. I loved getting the chance to live in Hawaii at a great house on the beach with a swimming pool and convertible sports car to take in the sights. All of those things were great but they didn't resonate. I may never have a Suburu or drink Pabst Blue Ribbon at the Douglas Fir but I hope to take the train more, buy local, grow what I can, and enjoy good coffee, who knows I might even get out and hike a little.