found time

For about a month now, Anna has been sleeping in her crib for 11-12 hours at night… without waking up for a feeding. I hesitated to blog about it right away since I didn’t want to jinx her, but we’re still going strong. I sure love spending time with my little pumpkin, but I have to admit that it’s pretty darn wonderful. These days, Seth and I get to spend our evenings doing other things besides trying to get Anna to sleep. A few of our favorites:

Reading. Yes, I have rediscovered the joy of reading for fun! Seth is almost done with Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven, which is a fascinating read about polygamy and the fundamentalist LDS church. I tried the Twilight books, but decided that preteen smut was no way to spend my precious reading time. (Creative idea? Yes. Well-written? Nope. Save yourself the trouble.) Right now I’m re-reading one of my most beloved books, Kathleen Norris’ The Cloister Walk, and I made a recent trip to the library and came home with an armful of books that I’m juggling all at the same time: Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Essential Green You by Deidre Imus, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, and Freakin’ Fabulous by Clinton Kelly of What Not to Wear fame. How’s that for variety?!

So You Think You Can Dance. We recently moved the TV out of our bedroom, which has made the room an altogether peaceful and wonderful place, so we are watching much less TV overall these days. But we still find ourselves curled up in front of the TV on Wednesday and Thursday nights for this fantastic show. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and tune in. It was recommended by several close friends of mine and I’m just sorry I didn’t listen to them sooner!

Baking. This weekend we went to the Lavender in the Village Festival and I came home with a bunch of fresh lavender that I attempted to turn into lavender shortbread last night. It did not work very well (it’s not often that the divine Ina fails me, but last night she sure did – I wonder if there is some high-altitude adjustment for shortbread that I missed?). My next experiment will be replicating the fabulous lemon-and-lavender muffins from Breadsmith, one of my favorite spots in St. Paul. Any other suggestions?

So that’s a bit of what we’ve been up to this summer. No exciting travel, but it’s nice to be cruising along in a routine and I, for one, am enjoying a summer without nausea and round ligament pain! And, of course, Anna just gets more and more fun. We can’t believe she’s almost six months old! I am always hearing from fellow parents that their favorite age is whatever age their child happens to be at the time, and it’s true for us, too! She is incredibly alert (people are always stopping us to tell us how focused and engaged she looks, and we can’t help but agree). Anna loves church (yesterday Seth sang a solo and she perked right up and craned her neck toward Daddy’s voice), going for walks, and splashing—in the bathtub or swimming pool.

Lately, too, she’s been showing increasing affection for some of her favorite toys. It’s so sweet to see her hug and cuddle something soft. Also in the soft friend category are the kitties—and Anna is loving them. Sometimes she grabs their fur, pulls, and twists, but lately she seems to slow down and stroke gently when we tell her “gentle.” It’s amazing to see, and even more amazing is the cats’ tolerance! She shrieks with glee when they approach and they don’t run away (every time, that is).

Anna seems very eager to crawl and we’re pretty sure she’ll be on the go any day now. We’re also planning the big foray into solid foods sometime soon and are very excited to see what she thinks about all of that. (If grabbing for Mama’s utensils and drinking glasses is any indication, Anna is going to love grown-up food!)

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

as seen on a starbucks cup...

Do not kiss your children
so they will kiss you back
but so they will kiss their children,
and their children’s children.

- Noah benShea

I love this quote. Besides being a bit of what my mom would call “a tearjerker,” it perfectly sums up my philosophy of parenting. The way I see it, good parenting is like paying it forward: giving the world a competent, well-adjusted, happy person without asking any reward in return. Yet having our kids “kiss us back” seems to be the goal of a lot of parents. But that’s not really what parenting is (or should be) about, is it? A person shouldn’t have kids to validate her existence, or for companionship, or to raise her self-esteem. And parents seek their kids’ approval more than they should. Parenting really isn’t a mutual relationship; a parent is a parent, not a peer or a friend.

Just my opinion (but then again, I do get paid for my opinion on this subject). :D

websites I recommend!

I just discovered these two websites and thought I'd share!

First is Itty Bitty Bistro, which contains "healthy recipes for babies, toddlers, and children." We're planning to start Anna on solid foods next month and I've liked the things I've found here - there will be all kinds of fun things to try once she's more into toddler foods.

And then there's Sort Floor Books, where you can find all kinds of books for a song. They have discount, bargain, used, damaged, and out-of-print things... lots of children's books, but lots of everything really. Check it out!

(I won't even get into my favorite blogs, which is a whole other post!)

What are some of your favorites?

anna goes swimming...

... and other summer photos are now up here and here.

five years!

Exactly five years ago today, Seth & I became co-workers at Lutheran Summer Music, thus beginning our lifetime partnership. Fourteen months later we were married!

What a ride it's been: grad school, law school, the loss of my brother, an apartment in St. Paul, a move to New Mexico, buying a house, travel, jobs, kitties, friends, family, and the birth of our precious daughter!

Note: Isn't it amazing that Seth took an interest in me despite the fact that I was sporting my worst haircut ever? If that's not proof of grace, I don't know what is...

Love you, honey!

what's in a name?

A number of people have asked us about the origins of Anna Justine's name. Here are some tidbits (probably much more than you wanted to know!) about how we chose her name.

Anna means "gracious and merciful" in Hebrew. Our names (Seth and Elizabeth) are both Hebrew in origin, and we wanted to continue the tradition with our own children.

In the Old Testament, the story of Hannah tells of a "barren woman" (not a fan of that term, by the way) who prayed every day for a child and promised that if God blessed her with a child, she would dedicate him entirely to God. God answered her prayer and sent her a son, Samuel (incidentally, my maternal grandfather's middle name). After a time of praying for our own child, we are blessed beyond measure to have one of our own.

In the New Testament, Anna is a prophet who prophesies when the infant Jesus is presented in the temple. She was married for seven years, then after losing her husband at an early age, devotes her life to living in the temple to worship, fast, and pray. Rather than spend the rest of her days dwelling on loss and unfairness, she chose to embrace life and devote herself to ministry and caring for others. This resonates with me, as I am someone who is constantly striving to do the same.

Anna is revered as one of the first figures exemplifying feminist theology. In her book Taking Up the Cross, Barbara E. Reid writes: "That Anna is a widow provides an interesting lens on her prophetic ministry. The Greek term for 'widow,' chçra, means 'forsaken,' 'left empty.' Instead of being forsaken, she forsakes her home in Asher, in the north of the country, to take up residence in Jerusalem. Rather than one 'left empty,' she fills her days with fasting and prayer and prophecy. The Hebrew word for 'widow,' almanah, has at its root the meaning 'unable to speak'; a widow is one not spoken for. Ironically, as one 'not spoken for,' she speaks as God's mouthpiece for her people." The figure of Anna embodies qualities we hope to cultivate in our daughter. Instead of being defeated by life's challenges, we hope she will devote herself to positive thoughts and actions and a life of service to God and others. Instead of staying silent, we hope she will speak up for her convictions and be an articulate voice in the world. (No pressure, right??)

Anna is also a popular name in Norway, paying homage to our Scandinavian heritage. The name Anne/Ann/Anna also appears on both sides of our family tree. Ann is the middle name of Seth's maternal grandmother, my middle name is Anne, and my great-great-aunt (a professor at St. Olaf) was named Anna. There is also a miniature china tea set (for dolls) that has been passed down to any woman in my family with the name Anne or Anna. I received it from my great-aunt, also named Elizabeth Anne, who received it from her Aunt Anna. It's in a glass display box, which will hang somewhere in our home with a description of all the Annas who have had it before her.

Last but not least, it is a subtle nod to my most favorite heroine and wonderful role model, Anne of Green Gables. :)

Justine means "just, fair" in English, and also has French origins. And, totally by accident, it happens to be a combination of our mothers' names, Jean and Christine. And no, it's not because I'm a lawyer. It was Seth's idea – he just loves it! And so do I.

Lastly, it just so happens that Anna and Justine are the names of two lovely, musical women whom my brother loved and respected greatly (and so do I—they are both terrific friends of mine). In fact, both of them appeared as guest musicians on Eric's college senior recital! We didn't name our daughter after either of them, but I really like knowing that Eric likely would have approved of the choice.

an actual post!

Oh dear. I have shamefully neglected this blog since Anna's birth... but I'm guessing that if you are on Facebook, you are pretty well caught up with what's new with me (short answer: not much, except I am the mother of a now-4-month-old daughter and am back to work full-time). The combination of the 4-month-old daughter and the full-time job means that there is precious little time for anything else, which is why I am hopelessly, hopelessly behind on thank-you notes, birthday cards, and sending gifts in the mail on time (three things at which I had previously been fairly decent). This weekend I finally got caught up on the thank-you notes (I think... but if you sent us something recently and don't get a note from me in the next, say, week, please tell me). I also indulged my OCD tendencies and bought something I've wanted for a long time: a greeting card organizer. Now, instead of my old Rubbermaid container full of stationery, I have an organized box of cards divided by month and occasion. I went through my calendar, made a list of all upcoming holidays in the next three months, and went shopping for cards. Every occasion until the end of August is now neatly organized and ready to go. Of course, this still does not guarantee you will receive a birthday card from me on time, considering I also have to write in the card, find a stamp, and put it in the mailbox.

It's amazing: I considered myself a good, even a very good, multi-tasker before Anna was born. And I think I was as prepared as one can be for the tumult children add to one's life - even though I didn't know exactly what it would be like, I certainly expected that it would change everything, and it has. It's pretty incredible how you can go through an entire day without a break and still not have anything to show for it (although I'd argue a well-fed, well-rested child is certainly an accomplishment). It is a very different kind of being busy than I have at the office. At the end of a particularly busy day at work, I might have done one or two hearings, written a brief or several motions or letters, talked with any number of clients or attorneys, spoken with my clients' therapists or physicians, researched issues of law, attended a committee meeting or bar luncheon, or any combination of these. Yet this is a tropical vacation compared to life with a newborn!

As if the universe is mocking me for having just said this, I just got handed a doozy of an emergency assignment (kidnapped child, taken across state lines by non-custodial parent), so I'd best sign off... but first need to congratulate my dear friends Jenia & Eric on the birth of their daughter Siri! Anna, Seth, & I are thrilled for you and big sister Annie!

More later...