Ateca and Jen have a playdate!

Ateca sent me a text a couple of weeks ago to let me know that she was watching her cousin, Kasey, for the weekend and that we should set up a playdate for our girls.  This confirms my suspicions that playdates are just for big people who have to take little people everywhere they go. 

So last Saturday, we made Evelyn (5ish months) and Kasey (21 months) play together while Ateca and I talked about our jobs, apartments, and the next generation of Duggars.  By "play together" I apparently mean that they were just mystified by each other.  Kasey played with the baby toys and Evelyn chewed on things.

As always, Evelyn loved Ateca:

But I'm not sure Kasey was that fond of me.  I'm a stranger, I didn't let her pick up the baby, I'm a bad playdate hostess because I didn't think about juice and snacks (that one actually bothers me!), etc.  And then there was this:

I'm the kind of monster who sets out candy within reach of short people who aren't allowed to eat it.

Whoops.

And that's why we have this picture now.

Sorry, Kasey.  I hope there's a next time so I can make it up to you.

I got the call this morning that EA was gone.

I am so glad we went to visit a couple of weeks ago.

I'm glad he saw Evelyn twice.

I don't know if he ever knew that their shared initials were intentional.

There is so much I want to tell you about him and how wonderful he was, 

but I can't really form the thoughts right now to write out all the ways he influenced me.

I am so profoundly grateful to have known him and to have him be my grandpa.

Book list for August 2010

Lady Oracle. Margaret Atwood.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Stieg Larrson.  Trans. Reg Keeland.

Knitting Without Tears. Elizabeth Zimmerman.

"We are not wasting time. We are living slowly."

(And taking silly pictures.)

I saw that phrase somewhere and thought it was a nice thought.

How slowly did I live today?

Pretty slowly when you take into account my nearly 3 hours of napping.

My new schedule has finally been approved and I am now spending a couple of afternoons at home!  Today was my first day and I practically skipped out of the building and all of the way to my car.

 

I thought I could throw Evelyn in the Moby wrap and walk to the library before her nap because the weather was so nice.

She cried, spit up all over the Moby wrap, and was practically falling out of the wrap trying to lay down on the way home.  I ate lasagna while nursing, and then a piece of pie with my bare hands while she fussed and nursed.  I intended to lay down with her for a little while.

Ahem.

One hour later, she'd woken up and I was still in bed.  We were so comfy there that I nursed her back to sleep and--poof!--2 hours were gone and I was waking up only because she was hungry again.

So.  To recap: my afternoon was perfect.

July's book list

We like reading in this family.

 

Since it's been a while, I thought I'd re-explain how the monthly book lists work:

I write down a list of the books I've finished for the month.  I don't include anything related to work.  I've also decided that I won't include anything that I've read to Evelyn strictly for her entertainment (although we're still working our way through Beowulf).  So that adorable picture up there is just being adorable, and not for assuring you that we've read a lot about firefighters lately.

Library books are marked with an asterisk.  

Audiobooks also count.  I just made up that rule last month when I wanted to read, but couldn't because Evelyn won't let me sit on a couch and ignore her for hours at a time.  So I tried out some library books on CD and enjoyed nursing her at night while listening to stories of bereft women with disintegrating marriages and mystery stories filled with violence against women.  That was not intended to be as sarcastic as it looked.

Eats, Poops and Leaves: The Essential Apologies, Rationalizations, and Downright Denials Every New Parent Needs to Know and Other Fundamentals of Baby Etiquette. Adam Wasson*

The Knitting Circle (CD). Ann Hood. Read by Hillary Huber*

The Girl Who Played With Fire. Stieg Larsson. Trans. Reg Keeland.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (CD). Stieg Larsson. Trans. Reg Keeland.  Read by Simon Vance.*