She's a "Perfect" 10

Adelaide is 10 months and 10 days old. And yes, we think she is perfect.

The dictionary gave me 22 possible meanings of the word perfect, which I find quite pleasing. I know English is a PITA to learn, but honestly, it's an amazing language. We have more words than any other language, for one thing. And the words that we do have are marvelously flexible...sometimes overburdened, yes, but that also makes them really weighty and chunky and fulfilling.

Anyway, back to Little Miss Perfect.



The meaning of "perfect" that I'm referencing here is exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose. And Addie fits into, and completes, our family exactly. She has now been out of me for longer than she was in me. That feels significant to me. It's concrete affirmation that she's her own person.

I can see others in her, of course. I see her father every time I look at her (who doesn't?!?!) and I see my mother when I see the gold fleck in Addie's right eye. I adljsee my dad's crooked grin and my own super square and chunky baby teeth. She has flashes of temper (my side) and moments of shyness (Tim's side).

But mostly when I see Addie, I see someone entirely new. She's strong and vigorous, and praise God, healthy. She's bright, funny, and clever. She's affectionate and loving. And to her parents' eyes at the very least, she is beautiful. Her bright eyes, that little button nose, her dimpled hands, those sweet cheeks, and those long lashes make me giddy with love and pride.



We had a bit of a struggle to get to Addie. But she's here, and she's even better than we dared to hope. She's "perfect".



Ok, so my hymn of praise and thankfulness is done for now. It'll be back, I'm sure, because that's the kind of cornball that I am.

But in other news, we are just trucking along here in the Roc. We had our Fall Festival, which was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone that made it out despite the tricky weather.

Tim is done with his travels for a long while, so that's good. We're also enjoying having Calum (our friends' son) during the days. It's been a change for Addie and I, but in a good way. Calum is a great little guy, very pleasant and even tempered, and he and Addie seem to enjoy one another a lot.

The multimedia portion!

The photos in this entry were all taken by Rachel Sviggum. We ventured out to the Plummer House one gorgeous fall day and these were the result. Her website here: http://rachelsviggumphotography.blogspot.com/

This video cracks me up, although I don't know if anyone else besides the grandparents will find it funny. Addie loves going into Indiana Jones' dog crate and this is just a short video of her having a great time going in and out...and in...and out...and back in...and back out. She also occasionally tries to go into Rocky's crate, with much less success. She's gotten herself stuck in there twice already and now eyes it a bit askance. With good reason!

Our Trip to Boston

I've been an exhausted blogger lately. Which is to say, I've been an exhausted "failing to blog" blogger lately. There isn't any special reason for my sleepiness, other than having an active 10 (!) month old. And yes, Addie turned 10 months on Saturday. I have a whole slew of thoughts on that ...that I will get to later.

For now, here are some my favorite photos from the Boston trip. I promise to update more about the actual trip itself later. The short story is that it was amazing. :-)

At the aquarium. She loved it, if you can't tell from the super excited look on her face.


Hanging out in the Common with Dad. She was cracking up here...I think Tim must have been tickling her.
Addie loves sitting on her Dad's shoulders. She especially loves pulling his hair and his ears. I love the sassy cap and Tim's expression of...um...joy?
A sweet father and daughter moment down by the Harbor.
Here we were trying to get a nice picture of the two of us. It didn't really work out...
Because Ads started to get a little ...CRAZY...on me.

And then we both started to crack up. This is a video of Addie at the aquarium. If you know my child, you know that it is EXTREMELY rare that she is totally silent (unless sleeping) but here she is very quiet and very interested in the fish.




And another quick video of us spending some family time at Boston Harbor.

Friends and Family

I've always thought of myself as person whose life abounds in blessings. I have many things to be grateful for...too many to enumerate in my short "while-the-baby-gets-her-bath-time"...but I've always felt particularly happy to have a family that I'm friends with and friends that feel like family.

One of those "friends that feel like family" was able to visit this week, and it was food for the soul. And not just any type of food either. Not like "i'm bored, I think I'll have a snack" food. Not like "I'm tired but I've got to make something for dinner, so where's a handy box type mix". No, this was GOOD food. Like a good pinot with herbed cheeses and artisan crackers and fresh grapes and little quaint spoons of honey and chutneys to mix and match.

Leslie, I hope you're not offended that I'm comparing you to a cheese plate. The implication isn't that you're cheesy, but that you're freakin' great, because there is almost nothing I love better than a good wine and a good cheese plate.

Anyway, I didn't intend to get quite so deeply into the food description. But there it is.

And here's my friend, holding my baby, which makes me so so so indescribably happy. Leslie and I have been best friends for years now, since freshman year of college. And I'm lucky enough to have a lot of "bffs" but each one of them is special and totally irreplaceable. And it's just like Leslie to read a book about friendships and decide on a whim to visit. See her take on it here, at her blog.
http://phillipsfamnc.blogspot.com/2010/10/perennial-friends.html



Regardless of motivation, I was delighted to have her for a whirlwind visit. She has two beautiful little ones of her own, so she couldn't be away long, but we made the most of her time.

There was a quick visit to Lanesboro, to take in the scenery and some really delicious local food. That was really the perfect thing for us to do, because we used to take off in college constantly. We'd get some food and listen to music and drive the back roads of Chapel Hill for ages, talking, singing, and savoring the finest fast food our money could buy.

Our palates and consciences have mature a bit since then, so we were happy to find local grass fed beef and local veggies on the menu at the corner cafe.

Here's my cheddar bacon burger.


And Leslie's burger with brie. Which leads me to believe that she will appreciate my "you're a cheese plate" spiel.

Anyway, her visit was short but great. And I appreciated her effort more than I can really articulate. Though I'm going to try.

One of the hard truths of life away from home is that...well...you're away. Obvious enough, but really hard to live on a daily basis. Actually that's not even true. The day to day is pretty easy. You get caught up in your daily round and you do your thing.

But on a fairly regular basis...let's say a least a few times a week...you find yourself sorrowing over the fact that you're away from someone in particular. Not just thinking about them, but actually catching your breath and grieving for a few seconds that you're apart. Because you're missing that person and the daily rituals of their life, big and small. A lot of times its my mom that I miss. And my sisters...how I miss my sisters! And my dad and my brother. And of course, my friends. I am missing Ashley's pregnancy and Leslie's children growing up and Kristin's new dog and Mary Katherine's new house and Chloe's wit and Lauren's wisdom and Cameron's brand new little girl and her store, and ...the list goes on and on.

And they're missing my life. And my baby. My precious, amazing little girl. They don't really know her. I know that they all, every single one of them, adore her. But they don't KNOW her on a day to day basis. And it really kills me.

And that's not a post full of blame or guilt, because honestly, we are all living crazy lives, most of us far from home. And finances and jobs and spouses and time and all of those other big grown up commitments are real and important.

BUT that's why I loved Leslie visiting and why it means the world to me to have a picture of her with Addie. Because I wouldn't really be me without my friendships, and I wouldn't be me without Addie and I NEED my girls to know my baby. And I know how hard it is to make that happen.

And I'm so so excited that we got our time together and so so thankful that you made the effort to visit the Roc. Friend, you're a cheese plate for the soul. ;-)

Anyway, some of that sounds sad, and truly, some of it IS sad. And I think that's ok. It should go without saying that there are great things about being where I am...more great relationships to build, great opportunities for our family, etc. But life isn't just about the cherries on top. Sometimes there is a big scoop of really crappy ice cream in your sundae...like rum raisin, ugh, sick....and I think it's ok to talk about that too. As long as you don't get so annoyed by the rum raisin that you forget about the super awesome scoop of Phish Food right next to it. I'm really into the food analogies tonight for some reason. If you're now hungry, forgive me.

Before I go eat something (because I'm clearly hungry!) , I wanted to end on a slightly lighter note. I've got some videos of Adelaide to share!

And before that, I would just like to note that Leslie and I drove right through Fountain, MN, which is...and I kid you not....the Sinkhole Capital of the United States. Not only is Fountain the proud possessor of this extremely dubious honor, it proclaims this very accolade on its city sign. So as you drive into the town, you see a sign saying "FOUNTAIN....the sinkhole capital of the United States." I think someone should clue the town fathers in that this is NOT a good thing. This is a really bad picture of the sign, but it's as close as I can get. Take my word for it, it really does proclaim its title proudly.

http://www.bluffcountry.com/fountain.htm

Anyway, Addie.

My baby is growing up so fast. In this first video, Tim and I were delighted and appalled by how grown up she looked in her clothes. I was about to join my friends Diana and Laura on a walk, and I dressed her warmly because fall is definitely here in MN. I think she looks so cute, but so ...un baby like...in her outfit. And I wanted her to demonstrate her newfound ability to wave hello and goodbye, but instead she showed off her ability to shake her head "no" very definitively.




And in the second video, I'm still trying to get Addie to wave. I failed again, but it's kind of funny nonetheless.