they do have a more delicate flavor.

"I don't like onions, Mommy. I like shallots."
Claire Elisabeth, age 3 1/2

papa bear.

One of my girlie's less attractive features is nightime wailing. She is a great sleeper, but if she wakes in the night she wakes up deeply offended. She will pad her little feet through the house to make sure that everyone knows that she is awake. Last night, it happened at 3 AM, and then 3:30 and then 4.

Nate has been sick basically since fall, yet still moved himself to the couch last night to stand guard over my bedroom door. Sick and coughing, he slept there on the off chance that the girlie would make a repeat appearance. Imagine her shock when she reached for the bedroom door at 5 AM only to hear her Dada's voice from behind her?

And I? Completely oblivious to what was going on, I slept until 8:30. You can keep your roses, that my friends,is love.

progress report.

Seven items from my 33 things before I'm 33 list have been completed. Several others are in the works. Here's what I've done so far:

3. Can tomatoes from our garden.
4. Construct a tutu.
14. Freeze a big batch of pesto.
15. Pick & dehydrate fruit
19. Spend an afternoon cuddling with Everett as if he were the only baby here.
27. Print and bind this big huge blog
30. Learn to make Kombucha

Which item should I do next?
Also, I'm curious, what's on your list?

a lazy girl's guide to becoming a runner

It's summertime. The weather is beautiful. You're sitting at a quiet campsite and you make a list. It seems like a good idea.Number 7: Run in an actual race.
Crap.
So you start to run. And you hate it.
Only you keep running.
It helps to be friends with girls who ask you to run with them.
And also: Mister Baby's Birth Mix makes great running music.
Eventually, you find yourself wanting to run. No one is more surprised than you.

Actual race date: January 1. I'll be the one with my own cheering section.

everyone does.

Claire has this book memorized. In our family, this is not a surprise at all.

After reading this page, she says Probably super-huge every time.

gratitude in bits.

For his new favorite word: MomMom
For her hilarity: "Mom, my toe hurts. I need a Tums."

For Roasted Brussels Sprouts*, for pie that I didn't have to make, for a $3 toaster purchased at 5 AM the next day.

*I add garlic

#30 learn to make kombucha

Yum.

One step further in the direction of hippie*.
Thanks, Des for taking me under your voodoo wing.

*I still shave my armpits.

somebody's on the hot tamale train.

If your husband surprises you with tickets to watch your favorite guilty pleasure live at the Rose Garden, you should be impressed.

If your husband was raised by non-dancing Baptists, you should be very impressed.

If he does all of this while nursing bronchitis and still manages to set up childcare and a room at Kennedy School, you should probably scream Mary Murphy-style whenever he walks into a room for at least a week.

I love you, Nate. You still manage to surprise me.

#27 print and bind this big huge blog.

From the inside cover:
This is our story. I have always been writing. Four years ago, I sat down and started writing to you. I didn't know what you looked like yet. I didn't know if you were a boy or a girl. I only knew that I was scared. The first day after I found out that you were there, I couldn't eat. I was so afraid that I would feed you the wrong things. I knew how to do lots of things, I had no idea how I was going to pull off being your mother.

It got easier. It is not a new story. We sleep less than we used to. We smile a lot more. I write these things because I want you to know that you are loved. That you were chosen when you were formed inside me, even before I was ready for you, you were chosen for me. God gives good gifts, girlie. And you and your brother are the best gifts of all.

I hope that this book doesn't embarrass you too much. I hope that you look at it and see a girl who was changed by knowing you. I hope that whatever you do when you're grown brings you the kind of joy that you have brought to me.

#27 Done.
Thanks to blurb and my sweet husband.

cinderella.

The girl likes to load the washing manasheen "all by myself." Also? Loading laundry is way more fun when wearing a tutu.

I decided against daily November posting. I enjoy my blog in moderation. Also, Everett is still not 100%, and I'm certain I would end up posting way too much about poop. I'll stick to my usual goal of 11 posts per month. Go read Becca's blog if you need daily does of cute.

question.

Should I do this again?

I did it a few years and then I decided to go ahead and have a newborn in 2008 instead of the intense naval gazing involved in daily blogging.

Help me decide.