some favorite pics

The last two weeks were busy wit house guests. First, my parents came and we had a really great visit. They arrived just in time for the beginning of spring weather and we ate and shopped and did a bunch of springtime yard work... The day they left, my friend Kerry arrived. She's moving to Santa Fe and came for a whirlwind week of apartment hunting (she found a great one!) before going back to CT to pack and drive back out ... Again, a very pleasant visit with lots of eating and warm sunshine.

Another positive byproduct of having a full house was that we got some great family pictures! The oval mirror shots of me and my iphone were missing out on the bigger picture!

My father gave Annette a new camera for Christmas which she was eager to try out (especially from the grandma standpoint!!!) and Kerry, though she had to use my layman's camera takes really great photo's every time.

So here are a few of my favorites...

Here ya go Cami...

5 1/2 months. A little more. This pic does my thighs and bottom a ton of justice! It's ALL getting bigger. And better! soon I'll post more project pictures (including Annie's wrapping fabric burp cloths).

So far Natanya responds to music and moves a lot when we play rock and roll. A natural response to sound but I can't help but imagine that it's in the genes! On both sides!

The house is back in order and nesting is extremely happening .

I got my drawings back from the framer and they look really good all fancied up. The show will open on May 7th and I'm so glad I was so well prepared. I didn't choose 10 images as originally planned but went ahead and got everything framed, including the images I blew up and embellished. 42 in total!

Lots of good, exciting stuff going on and and lots of wonderful support from wonderful friends...

And of course, despite the continued snow fall, SPRING is in the air.

YIPPEE.

my daughter

-my daughter-

The soft beauty of a child

gathers about you

as you take her in your

arms.

Knowing the fragility of her blood

the remorseless march of her

seconds

you hold her tight, rocking to

your own inward winds of fear.

You two are one tower, one great

leaning together of stones resisting

time as best the two of you can-

A man is immortal, fearless when

He holds his daughter is

silhouetted

against the edge of the horizon,

Black shapes on grey, when he holds

her

tightly in his arms he is very

strong

*this was my christmas gift from my father in 1980. i was eight years old.

glurk

It's been awhile. We started on our roof project (replacing the entire thing) and have wound up with a 1700 square foot skylight covered with plastic and an impending week of snow/rain.

When the roofers got the roof off, they discovered that the only insulation was (literally) 9.5 tons of dirt and some some pumice with various pieces of cardboard and metal trash strewn in. Three men took off all that dirt one bucket at a time as they couldn't get a vehicle close enough to the house to unload into. As bizarre as it sounds, dirt and straw used to be typical insulation for these flat roofed houses ABOUT A MILLION YEARS AGO!!!! Anyway, the tarps we attached to the ceiling inside were not sufficient for the job and the entire house is a giant dust/dirt storm... And I have a head cold/fever bug.

But fortunately we have Jono's studio which is all set up with kitchen, bedrooms and everything we need to be cozy. It's actually been really nice to be up here because Jono is working on the extremely time consuming process of mixing a record with a deadline at the end of the week. We've been able to sneak in little visits and eat meals together which definitely wouldn't have happened if I was staying in town. AND last night was the first time we could see/feel Natanya moving from the outside! It was so exciting and it was great because we were lying in bed together and so Jono got to be there too. Major magic! She then proceeded to roll around and kick about all night long...

So, all is well as long as I can keep the great things in perspective while I imagine our house rotting away under rain & snow through the haze of a gooey head and logy chills...

Natanya's books

I spent the afternoon clearing a bookshelf and organizing Natanya's books from young adult to non fiction and then to fiction in descending reading levels. Even though not much nesting can happen until we get the roof replaced, it's exciting to start putting little things in order!
I've been filled with fantasies of making Halloween costumes and reading together and having dance parties in the living room... I've got plans for easels and art tables and snowmen and cooking together... I don't give much thought to tantrums or tears or exhaustion or impatience though I know those things will occur in between the fun...

I've got a shed full of teaching materials to go through when it warms up a bit. Aside from lesson plans there are puzzles and games and all kinds of treasure. It will be awhile before we get to these things I know but I've been saving it all for her and I just can hardly wait to share it...

GIRL!

We went to a friend's house concert/birthday party last night. I had received an email from him earlier in the week requesting that I be one of seven people in the audience to dress up in any way but to be a "character" and show uniqueness... I of course took it on whole heartedly and spent a lot of time dreaming up the easiest way to portray springtime and got enthusiastically dressed up for the event. When we arrived, it became clear that I was the only one who was in any sort of costume. My friend said he'd forgotten to send me the memo that said he was bagging the costume idea!

That said, Jono and I had just come from having an ultra sound where we saw our baby all perfect and extremely active and beautiful... We found out that she is a she (although an ultra sound is not definitive) but I went in so convinced that she is a she that I would have been surprised otherwise.

I was so elated by the time we got to the party that I felt like the embodiment of springtime and of joy and of life and I had great fun being dressed up!
I've spent the day ogling the little blob pictures that they give you from the ultra sound images. I always wondered why my girlfriends seemed so excited about the non-descript, grainy, barely distinguishable pictures and now I know. When it's your baby, it all looks very important. The blob of pixels here shows telling genetic information and the blur of darkness there is life in motion...

It's all so vital and so essential...

My heart is expanding along with the rest of me but at a much faster rate!!!

MY SWEET VALENTINES!!!