Catching up: November

November was a great month. I could write ten entries about November and still have more to say. But now it’s snowing and I’m excited about Christmas, so I’ll write just one.

We started out with a trip to Northern California at the end of October to visit my mom’s side of the family. While we were there Eva met two great grandparents, five great aunts and uncles, and nine cousins (first, second, and then some). We took walks in the woods, drove on windy country roads, and made big pots of chili. It was a wonderful trip.

reading to a baby flowerWe have a whole gallery of pictures, but this is one of my favorites – Eva’s cousin Emma loved to read to Eva. And if you look carefully you’ll see this picture was taken on Halloween – Emma is not reading just to Eva, but to a baby flower.

momumental viewEva and I spend a lot of time running the Mt. Vernon Trail. We start at Gravelly Park, which is next door to National Airport, and often see planes that are about this far away. Eva is not convinced she likes this activity, but we keep going because the view is amazing. We have more airplane, foliage, and disgruntled baby pictures here.

20091122_008-newsmWe closed up our family garden plot for the year. Though it’s late in the game, I was able to freeze a ton of parsley and hung some oregano and thyme to dry in the basement. I wish I had been photo documenting all along – the garden plot produced huge quantities of vegetables this year, and I’ve been refining my food preservation skills.

smile for the paparazziAnd, of course, there’s the November gallery, which has the usual baby head shots to keep the West Coast grandparents up on Eva’s every development. Like the one at left, showing how well Eva can sit on her own.

I lied, there will be two November entries. I just can’t get Thanksgiving into a thumbnail and two sentences. Stay tuned!

NaNoWriMommy

nano_09_winnerNaNoWriMo: a personal history

2007: Finished while working full time and thought it was hard. I mock my childless self.

2008: Finished while working full time and with lingering pregnancy sickness.

2009: Finished (a day early!) while working a small freelance job and caring full time for a six month old. Thanks for the fireworks, NaNoWriMo. I feel I deserve them this year.

Looking ahead to 2010: Can it be done with a toddler in the house? The most daunting challenge yet…

Rice cereal goatee

what? it's gone? unacceptable

Baby laughs

On the off-chance someone out there is having a bad day, I give you a laughing, squealing baby accompanied by her crazy mother:

I spend a fair amount of time bouncing up and down in front of Eva in large-scale games of peek-a-boo, and I can tell you it’s quite a workout.

Dedicated Eva fans should head over to YouTube to view the HD version of this video.

6 months

Eva is six months and one day today. You know what that means – time to expand our food horizons!

finally, something they don't take away

The rice cereal was a big hit this morning – Eva caught on much faster than I expected and ate a fair amount. I loved her “I’m full” face (below), which also gives you a sense of the aftermath – again, better than I expected!

no really, i'm done

And we’re off into the land of high chairs and plastic dishes – and I’m looking forward to making baby food starting next weekend. There are a few more pictures from this morning up in the photo gallery.

Another four generation photo

I love generation photos – and by some miracle we’re all smiling in this one. You don’t know how unusual that is for this particular group.

babies produce real smiles

I’m not sure when I’ll get through the other 413 (!) pictures from our trip to Northern California, as it’s NaNoWriMo time now, but I’ll post a few on the blog in the interim.

Fall recreation: hiking at Great Falls

the kid who can't contain her happinessA few weeks ago, my friend Lisa and I went for a hike at Great Falls National Park with Eva and Lisa’s dog Caleb.

As someone who grew up with real waterfalls, I’m not sure I would name these falls “great” (as in “large”), but they are pretty. You should also take a look at some pictures the Washington Post put up today of fall colors in the park.

don't drink the water

caleb leads the wayLisa and I walked almost the whole park on the Virginia side – a 4.5 mile loop by my calculations, and much farther than I expected considering the 25 pound weight on my back.

Once again, Eva deemed the trip a success.

the pack gets rave reviews

Autumn in New York

A few weeks ago Matt, Eva, and I flew up to Albany for an event at RPI, Matt’s alma mater. Yes, we have returned to our former life as traveling fools. The flight up was a success, as you can see below.

try to relax

Matt’s grandparents live in the Albany area, and we were able to stay with them the whole weekend. The leaves were almost to peak fall color, and it was beautiful.

foggy morning

Matt’s grandparents have my ideal property, which includes a field just for garlic and a 19th century cemetery. Here we are walking around their pond:

matt shows off his new photography tricks

And visiting their latest addition, the Hoophouse (hopefully I’m spelling that right). Lucky people – they can garden year round!

basil and salad greens in the winter

Here we are before the main event that weekend. Turns out we clean up well every now and then.

who are those dressed up people?

We don’t jet-set as effortlessly as we used to, but it’s nice to know it can still be done. All of the pictures from our New York visit – including more fall color and farm photos – are up in our photo gallery.

Queen of the jumparoo

She reigns over her tiny kingdom


Related: Allegra and Matt have new Fisher-Price Rainforest songs stuck in their heads. Anyone care to hear a rendition of Cuban themed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?

Flying through September

she floats through the air / with the greatest of ease...I reviewed our September photos on September 28 and thought, “21 photos. That’s a nice number for our September gallery.” I went out the next night and left Matt home alone for two hours. I came home to 41 new photos of Eva, plus a video. Sigh.

I still managed to keep our numbers low, though that’s really because all of the excitement happened at the beginning of the month, which we covered. So I leave you with a link to the gallery, and a video.