Matryoshka Dolls

What you see here is a Yellow Submarine nesting doll set from the website Golden Cockerel.

I'm a bit obsessed with the idea of nesting dolls lately. Not really just lately either, probably for about 6 months or so. When Gigi went to visit Grammie and she had a set and really enjoyed playing with it, it lit the fire.

I started with the idea of simply getting any old set. Then Nick got involved and we moved to the idea of purchasing a "pirate" set. Of course, I wasn't thrilled with that idea because we ninjas are always under-represented. I then approached an Etsy artist about doing a custom pirate/ninja/pirate/ninja/pirate set only to find out she wanted to charge an extra $75 above her already ouchie prices just for the design. Yikes. NFW.

Well, I don't get obsessed often, and the truth is I'm not very good at it. For awhile there, the fire still burned, but out back because life gets busy. I'm back on it now. So I'm on the lookout for a modernistic matryoshka, one that doesnt cost more than, lets say, a hundred bucks. I'm not a collector of things and I really am buying this for Gigi. However I would like this little toy to reflect our family aesthetic, if we have such a thing. Clean, simple, not too flowery, on the cute, not particularly realistic side. (ha!) I would definitely consider a design that felt distinctly Japanese.

And I have this one shot to buy it. Because I have no problem spending money on something meaningful, but that's the key, isnt it? If I am going to spend $50-100 on something I am most likely going to look at every day, it really should be meaningful.

Birthday Pictures

A banana chocolate birthday

Eating the candle

Ginger & Gigi

This is it, all the pictures we took.

I think we forgot we were supposed to be documenting this day, but we had fun!

Playdates

Baby playdates are such an odd phenomenon. Not because they are in themselves odd, but because of the circumstances surrounding them. They are not organic in the sense that they just happen in a spontaneous way the way things used to in my teens and twenties. They are planned and there is serious unspoken etiquette about what goes on during.

Can I pass for someone who belongs? Sure I can. I do belong. And the ladies I often share baby space with are very nice. But are we really ladies? No. We are MOMS. Yes, we all have personalities and likes and dislikes but they dont often come out in conversation. We dont talk much about politics, health care, finances, the latest news, religion, family life, or even sex, the thing that got us here in the first place. We talk about kids. What milestones they've hit, what activites they engage in, what they are eating, what they are wearing, what they are saying.

It's good to have an outlet like this. The truth is, no one else wants to talk about these things. And all the while Gigi is playing near other children, which exposes her to other ways of doing things, some germies she probably needs to come up against and toys she doesnt own.

But for women who feel like their identity is drowning in a sea of powder pink or baby blue, playdates are not the answer. I haven't had any kind of identity crisis (yet). I thoroughly enjoy being a mom and I feel pretty secure that the rest of me is alive and well. However I can't imagine that a playdate will make any woman feel normal.

What is normal? It's different for everyone. I wish for a good debate now and then. Or to change someone's cell phone language to Spanish like we used to at work. Or even to identify a client's needs and sell them something. Or whatever. But we are moms and we dont have time for these things. At least, not with each other.

I think eventually the key is to find a way to stop replacing other facets of me with kid oriented stuff. At least that is how I feel at the moment. How will I do that while taking a one year old everywhere I go? I havent figured that part out yet.

The Perfect Food

I really have finally found the perfect snack for Gigi - CocoPops. CocoPops are a pancake-shaped grain cake made of wheat, corn, rice and salt. The grain is compressed under high heat in a special machine until it explodes, creating each cake.

The machine is right out in the open at Wegmans, and apparently people enjoy just milling around the machine watching cakes zing out of the shute.

Gigi and I dont have that kind of attention span, but I finally gave the cakes a try. Wow! They have the consistency of styrofoam, taste vaguely of salt, melt in the mouth and dont mush if you drop it on the floor and step on it, unlike pretty much every other snack food I have had the misfortune of letting Gigi wander away with. Best of all, Gigi LOVES them.

Clearly this is a fad, but I intend to stay on it as long as Gigi will let me! Yay for CocoPops!

Birthday pictures to come! In the meantime, enjoy these few from August:

At Shogun with Great Grandma and Grandpa.

She ate everything we gave her, including things we didnt...

She loves food, and lemons are food, right?

Enjoying her very own chair.

Sometimes she will find a book she wants and sit down to read it.

Oh so cute.

Gigi loves her summer sink baths.

When she's in, she's there for at least 45 minutes.

Going Away

Soon, Nicholas will be going to the Outerbanks for a traditional man-vacation.

In my imagination, this is where he goes to wear the same clothes over and over, drink hoity-toity wine like a yuppy fish and play boardgames until he passes out. I don't have evidence to the contrary, so I will continue to believe these things until some kind of counter-proof comes my way. I wholeheartedly support it.

Having an infant is intense. Having a full-time job with responsibility can be intense. Studying for your MBA is intense. Doing all three simultaneously, and well, deserves a vacation.

Nicholas leaves Wednesday and returns Sunday I think. I will freely admit I don't do particularly well without my favorite person to hang out with, but everyone needs some downtime from the intensity of life.

Thank You Notes

One of my favorite things to do is write letters and notes. Some would say it was therapy, and if therapy was what I needed I might agree. What I need is a different entry altogether! What note writing is for me is an opportunity to think deeply on the subject and be truly grateful. It gives me a chance to breathe. For that moment, I am only thinking about whatever it is I am writing about and the person I am writing to.

It is also a love affair with the medium itself. Note cards and papers are expressive. They convey the aesthetic of the sender. It is an act of love and empathy to give notecards as a gift to someone. It is also wonderful to receive a handmade card, something I have been lucky enough to experience.

Of course, I have sent and received my fair share of hastily scrawled notes, vapid and superficial. In my advanced years (ha), I am realizing - and I believe there is a cliche dedicated to this train of thought - that if something is worth doing at all, it should be done well. Or at least with the best possible intentions and attentions paid.

So last night, as Gigi was stalking around amidst our new wealth of books, clothing and toys, I took some time to really think about the effort it took our guests to come and add to the happiness, to say nothing of the nice gifts they brought. And that was my perspective as I wrote out a first round of thank you notes. And even if no one could tell but me, even if I was the only one who benefited from the process, I was so grateful for the opportunity.

Birthday Party

Yay! We had Gigi's birthday party today. She did very well, even with all kinds of family and friends around. She actually seems to have matured between when she woke up and when our last guest left.

So we had DiCamillo's pizza for lunch, and Raspberry Ginger Ale and Iced Ginger Peach tea to drink. We opened presents pretty readily, after most people were assembled. Nick got it started and we didnt write down who gave us what. So as I type Nick and I are trying very hard to remember from whence everything came. Hopefully everyone will understand...!

For the Happy Birthday song, I made two organic cakes, banana with chocolate neufchatel frosting, and chocolate carrot with neufchatel frosting. I enjoyed making them and from what I understand, people enjoyed eating them. Gigi ate the candle, which was not organic, and then enjoyed her cake.

Of course, there were lots of people here that I wanted to really talk to, and of course there just wasnt enough time. Kevin, Paul and Nels hid in the media room watching football most of the time, and frankly I dont blame them! I wish I had been relaxing with some of our guests instead of doing whatever it was that I was doing...probably being a hostess. I'm not knocking being a hostess- somebody has to do it- but it's lots of fun to chitchat.

I am so grateful for all of the wonderful books we received! My goodness, it will take a few weeks to read them all. What a wonderful day. Gigi loved every minute and now she wants to relax with mum and dada for a little while to nurse.