Some random facts about my life recently that haven't naturally popped up in our email conversations:
For the past five nights, Eiley and I have been reading Charlotte's Web together. We lay on a blanket on the floor in her nursery. I hold the book over our heads and read while she scratches at the pages with her chubby little hands. She usually loses focus after a chapter, and then we'll sing or play with her stuffed elephant. It's fun.
Jeff and I are incapable of keeping plants alive, so we purchased pink flamingos to plant in our flower pots in the backyard. We thought they'd look cute and kitschy, but instead they look ridiculous. Also, their beak paint is coming off, so we've resigned ourselves to the fact that we can't even keep plastic lawn ornaments alive.
We are getting a new fence in the backyard. This excites me for some reason. It's white, but not picket.
I have been reading a lot, but I purchase my books exclusively from Goodwill and I always judge them by their covers. This recently backfired. I bought a bright blue book with its cute title, jennifer johnson is sick of being single, in all lower case letters and adorned with a photo of a delightfully vintage doll. I read about half of it, then finally quit because it was too crass and had a woefully cliche gay best friend character. Seriously, I started wondering if the author was writing a satire on romantic comedies because the gay best friend was so typical. Blah. Give me originality, people. But I will continue to judge books by covers because it works 93% of the time for me.
Wouldn't you want to read it?
I am ashamed to tell you that I watch the Lifetime original series Drop Dead Diva. Seriously, its cheesiness makes me cringe at least once per episode. Super guilty pleasure. I am, however, proud to tell you that I watched an episode today with a clown in it, and I didn't freak out. This is mostly because I quickly figured out that the clown was Barry Watson from Seventh Heaven and Samantha Who?, but still. Go me.
My sister is an amazing aunt. Like...amazing. It makes me feel all warm and gooey inside when I see how much she loves my little girl. And I'm so freaking grateful that she actually enjoys babysitting (or is a darn good actress and pretends to enjoy it well enough that we're comfortable asking her to do it). We have had a play that we've wanted to see for the past three weekends, and she's been a rock of dependability.
Have you ever played Bananagrams? I think I've already mentioned this recently, but I'll say it again - it's my new favorite game.
We lost our diaper bag. It just disappeared, no explanation. Jeff thinks he might have left it on the back of the car by accident last week, but he's not sure. I personally think that diaper bag elves came and ate it. Either way, it wasn't a huge loss, though I really really liked the bag itself and it did have a couple of items that we'll miss in it.
So on Halloween, we went to a Christian swingers party. I'll let that sink in for a bit before I explain...Okay, so the "swinging" was just that we dressed up as couples with other people's spouses. It all started when Arabella wanted to be Mary Todd Lincoln for Halloween, but her husband doesn't look nearly as much as Abe as Jeff does. Six couples participated. It was pretty hilarious. I was Olive Oyl, and Arabella's husband was Popeye. A good (clean) time was had by all.
Also, I made his hat. Also, Arab has a lock of her husband's hair in that brooch. Seriously. She committed to her historical character, who happened to be bat [bleep] crazy.
That's all for now. Update complete. End scene. Lahve!
We've now been in Maine for over a month. I've been a bit remiss to do much updating on our time here, but that's because we've been so busy. Mostly I've been busy trying to keep up with Sofia, but we've also enjoying our new home. Every box is officially unpacked, we just have some decorating and baby-proofing left to do.
As I continue to meet tons of great people, I keep seeing this nervous look in people's eyes as they ask me, "how do you like Maine so far?" I can't quite figure out why they are always so surprised when I tell them I love it. Is life a blissful carefree holiday for me here? No. But I figure most of that has to do with mothering an infant. I think they also don't immediately realize I've yet to experience winter. Perhaps I will update you even less frequently during that season, you know, "if you have nothing nice to say. . . "
So the place we moved into is amazing. We are still adjusting to having so much space after all of these years in small apartments. But it wasn't quite ready when we moved in, so we still have a constant trickle of repair men visiting Sofia and I during the day.
We have dubbed her "Sofia the Supervisor"
And in case you hadn't picked up on it in earlier posts, we are loving our yard.
Though spending time in the yard involves about 2 milliseconds of idyllic bliss, and the rest of the time is chasing after Sofia who wants to eat everything in sight.
Despite all the new space, Sofia's voracious appetite for stimulation, and my need to move around keeps us on the go exploring the area. I love moving to a new town, getting myself lost, then figuring out how to find my way back home. It allows me to explore new areas and get more familiar with all the roads. Here are some of the spectacles we've stumbled upon in our disorientation:
Stepped out into this while walking through the woods behind our hosue.
For Labor Day weekend, my parents came out to visit us Sofia. Our infant-toting pace of life was a bit slower than their touristy eagerness, but I think they cuddle time made it all worth it. I know at least Sofia had a great time.
Maine is famous for lighthouses, lobsters, and meese. Remember this guy? I refer to him as "Eeyore the moose." We got the moose sighting taken care of right away (the day the moving truck arrived).
photo credit: Manny Reyes
When my parents visited, top of the list of the must-do activities for my dad was making lobster for ourselves at home. [stay tuned for a whole photo shoot of our visit to the lighthouse] So we ventured out to the Saturday farmers' market as a family, perused all the wonderful vendors, and picked out six lobsters [spending under $30 total]. They spent the day squirming around in my fridge while we did some more sight-seeing:
And then they squirmed around in a pot for a bit:
And then, after slathering them with lemon juice and butter, we devoured them. Do not worry, Lobsters, I promise never to do this to you.
Ok, devoured really isn't a great word. Amidst of all this lobster preparation was a two+ hour battle to get Sofia to bed. Not getting to sit down to eat my lobster until I had succeeded this exhausting task, I relished each bite, conscious of little else going on around me. It was a good reward!
One of the greatest blessings to me in settling into Maine has been all of the other moms I've been able to meet. I prayed for over a year that God would provide community for us here, and He has delivered this blessing in abundance. I've been invited to oodles of moms' groups, made a handful of mom friends, started hosting a weekly women's bible study, and run into new mom friends out and about town almost every time we walk out of the house. Praise God! These moms have been full of super useful advice and have been a great resource in discovering new and wonderful things in the area, such as this park on the water:
photo does not do it justice
And now the leaves are beginning to change, and I'm looking forward to seeing a whole new side of New England!
We have been here daily for one month today. If you've been with us for any part of that, we would like to know what you've enjoyed, what you've skipped over, what you'd like to see in the future, and anything else you'd like to tell us. Please.
