Laowai

Along with our baby cereal so far we’ve had peas, peaches, bannanas, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, apples and pears. Bannanas were the favorite. Green beans, she was not so enthusiastic about. Time to move on to some sort of meat.

Mmmm.

I’ve posted a few new photos in album #4.

I love a simple lunch that comes together spontaneously when you have a fridge full of good seasonal stuff. I remember a summer when mom and I kept having meals of steamed swiss chard and little red potatoes with a good amount of butter and salt and pepper. Those simple seasonal things taste so good. I’m so satisfied when I can throw some ingredients together and come up with something like this: focacia bread, a big slathering of cream cheese, arugula and pickled beets. Mmmmm!

On the phone with Jennifer the other day – Jenna said my name. It sounded a lot like daddy with a “k” sound at the beginning. She said it in her bright matter-of-fact little voice. Oh, it made me so happy.

These pictures are from when she was about 3 months old. I miss her. I can’t wait ’till she and Bea can play together.

It’s never too early to start searching for the right college for Bea. Just Kidding. We have been hibernating because of the hot, humid weather but today I just had to get out. I decided to walk around Northwestern’s shady campus instead of our usual lakefront route. College campuses can be so beautiful – I think it has to do with the buildings being so close together for foot traffic. And there are often old and modern buildings smooshed right up next to each other – forced to get along and show off their contrasting styles.

Northwestern’s campus is no exception. We took a nice long walk winding through the paths between all the buildings and I found some courtyards that I had never been to. We even eavesdropped on a couple tours for prospectve students. The parents looked eager, the kids looked disappointed to be hanging out with their un-hip parents. Next time I’ll take my camera to capture some of the campus architecture.

Here’s an arial view of Evanston and Northwester’s campus. We usually skirt the beach and then head out to the island looking area when we go for a walk.

Here’s a shot of Grandpa and Grandma C., Brian and Bea (in her stroller). We had an enjoyable (and drippy humid) evening at Ravinia.

Sometimes, especially when Brian is travelling, I let the house get completely messy and concentrate on doing something like this:

Simplicity Overalls Pattern 4054, darling fabric from Superbuzzy and although I wish I could say I made it, the little cardigan is from a used clothing store.

Doing stuff like this keeps me happy. Now I must go and clean up a bit!

Oh and I’ve posted some more Bea photos in her album #4 – take a look at the cuteness.

Last weekend there was a wonderful celebration for Grandpa Dice’s 90th birthday. Here are some memories of my grandpa:

– Riding in his big car with a bunch of cousins singing The Bear Went over the Mountain.

– Grandpa believes that bigger is better when it comes to buying cards for Grandma’s birthday. He gets those oversized cards – very sweet.

– Waking up next to some cousins in a big bed in the back bedroom – Grandpa would come in and lift the end of the mattress up and down to get the day started with a giggle.

– Grandpa used to smoke a pipe. After his pipe was lit we’d climb up on his lap to blow out the match. After we blew it out he’d give a little jump and make a surprised look with raised eyebrows.

– The novelty of a girls bathroom and a boys bathroom at the end of the hall.

– Grandpa’s wise words as Grandma served ice cream or pie or some other goody: “pie’s not good for little girls” would always make us laugh.

Here are a couple old pictures of Grandpa:

And a photo of my mom and her sisters on the first day of school:

Bea has finally learned to roll over from her belly to her back. Before last week she could only go from her back to her belly and then she would grunt and whine until I came to turn her over. There’s still one more milestone for her – she needs to learn to roll both ways. So far she can only roll to her right. I’ve spent the past few days watching her roll across the floor until she gets to a chair or a wall or a pillow barricade and then she starts struggling and getting mad. So I turn her 180 degrees and she continues on her merry way rolling accross the room.

Bea still gets up once in the night. I think she should be sleeping through the night but I’m finding it easier to just get up and make her happy. And tonight I realized I’ve sort of come to like this middle-of-the-night routine. We’ve tried the let her cry for five minute intervals technique and it’s worked for naps and getting her to go to sleep for the night. But, when I’ve tried to be unwavering and let her cry it out for five minutes during the night it’s just too hard. Plus, I know her crib sits against a wall that is the bedroom wall for our neighbor. So it’s anguish, listening to her sad sleepy cry and thinking of our poor neighbor trying to get some sleep. I get up and pick her up and let her nurse. She really doesn’t completely wake up. When she’s done, I put her over my shoulder and burp her for a couple minuets. She nestles into my shoulder and she is all floppy because she is asleep. I love her soft head against my cheek. And then I put her back into her crib and she always does a big stretch as I put her down. She arches her back, puts her fists up by her ears and sticks her little lips out. Then she relaxes and goes to sleep on her side and I look at her sweet little shape with her straight back and her chunky thighs. There is something about looking at my sleeping baby that makes me feel calm and warm all over. I doubt I will be able to do this when she is eighteen so I think I will just keep enjoying this time as long as I can.

What a fun weekend we’ve had. A visit to Midland, Grandpa Dice’s 90th Birthday party and then to top it off we watched a bike race in downtown Evanston on Sunday. This is why we love Evanston.

What have we been up to? Well since it’s July we’ve been faithfully following The Tour de France. I love watching it for several reasons. First, the scenery is just gorgeous. If I didn’t care at all about the cycling I could watch it just for the views of France’s mountains and beautiful little towns. Second, it’s fascinating to watch the amazing determination that the riders have. They do some serious suffering to just finish the race let alone win it. Third, commentators Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggett are very entertaining. I like to listen to them every morning as I get things done around the house. And fourth, I like to watch it for the competition – there is a lot of strategy involved and there are so many interesting characters. It’s really very exciting.

We celebrated Brian’s 32nd birthday over the weekend. Birthday Pie:

Bea and I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden for a carillon concert on Monday. Unfortunately it poured during the concert, but later the rain stopped and we went for a nice evening walk. All the bold flowers are out at this time of year:

Bea has started eating food – wow – what a mess. And I know this is just the beginning of the mess that I have ahead of me. She is slowly getting the hang of eating from a spoon. When she catches sight of the spoon her arms go up in excitement and she opens her mouth wide like a little bird. The only problem is she gets impatient between bites and she doesn’t want to take the spoon out of her mouth. I think she thinks she can suck the food out of the spoon. It’s pretty amusing.