T-Giving at Civano

[ty] 24 Nov 07

For t-giving this year we headed over to Jeff and David's house for a small gathering. Just the 4.2 of us. Here are some pics detailing our warm and mellow day.

We found two chickens deep in a philosophical discussion so we grabbed them real quick
and stuffed them into the the grill. They were delicious.

Just to get some perspective on how much JP hasn't grown. Organic baby in organic cotton on an organic cork floor.


Who knew that with a little adjustment his new carrier can double as a highchair? Now we do.


Never let it be said that JP and David do not set an aesthetically pleasing, if a bit sparse, table.


Yummy yummy in our tummy.


He continues to get cuter as time goes on.

Bonus Nubby Shots!!

On laundry day he gets to wear whatever is clean and will be warm enough for the surprisingly chilly November mornings.

Who needs parents when you have a box of hand-me-down toys?


Nubby and Gaspar celebrate another Pats victory.

Dedication

[jd] 21 November 2007

About a month ago we ran out of corn-based bags for our countertop composter. This is a brilliant invention that keeps the compost collection in your kitchen from being smelly and producing flies, which means that with this brilliant invention my husband actually lets me compost (his fly tolerance is lower than mine because I work in a building with fly researchers and am fairly innured to the little buggers). Since then we have only been composting when there is a project that produces a lot of food waste, which goes in a bowl on the counter and I empty it out before it causes havoc. At least I intend to empty it out. Saturday night Ruben and Anna taught us how to make chille rellenos, which produced an entire bowl of hot pepper skins, hot pepper seeds and egg shells. Despite my best intentions, I completely forgot to empty the bowl and Tyson put it outside on the porch two nights ago. Can you see where this is going? That's right, Roland is so dedicated in his quest for extra food that he ate the compost: all the skins, all the seeds and about half of the egg shells. WTF?

Time to Child-Proof

This morning Nubby squirmed over to the battery charger that was plugged into the wall, reached up, popped a battery out and put it in his mouth.

Whiskey Tango in the Desert

[ty] 17 Nov 07

We figured as long as we're stuck in the desert we might as well enjoy some of the fringe of society benefits. So today we drove out North of the city to some BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property to shoot some guns.

We went with a couple of our good friends who have so many dogs that they should probably have a kennel license. One of the nice things about hanging out with a bunch of scientists is that as an occupational hazard they have to drive deep into the hinterland for fieldwork. So we ended up way out in the desert having some fun.

A little instruction goes a long way

Nothin' but desert

That's my new (and by new I mean used) Mossberg 500. Pretty much the simplest, pump action, 12 gauge shotgun you can buy. Clearly it has an aftermarket pistol grip and adjustable stock for a slightly more tactical feel. I haven't named it yet.

Overall we had a great time and all 4 of us left feeling like we had pitched 8 1/2 innings at Fenway.

The myth of solid-food poo

[jd] 16 November 2007

Everybody who I knew prior to having a baby told me how awful poo was after the baby started solid food. Every book harps on this point. How innocuous breastmilk poo is, and how horrifically stinky the solid-food poo is. How nast diaper duty will be. Now that Cayden is chowing down on a regular basis (he has doubled his consumption of food), his poop is a whole new ball game. A super, fantastic, life-is-so-much-easier ball game. All those people telling you that solid-food poo is bad? Those people use disposable diapers, and their diaper pails stink. For cloth diapering folks, this is the best advance ever! Everything sticks together, stays on the diaper liner and peels right into the toilet. For all you folks fearing the cloth diapering step... it is really and truely the secret to a non-stinky house (plus it will safe you 2k over a couple years). Not to mention the easy distinction between farting and pooping now. If you didn't hear anything and his face is dark red, it's not gas.

This time it's not my fault

[jd] 13 November 2007

Back when I was a naive, irresponsible mother of a 6 week old baby, I ate a bagel while nursing my son. This may seem innocent, but it was not a plain bagel. It was a poppy-seed bagel. And what happens when you eat poppy-seed bagels? A fine dusting of poppy seeds coats the immediate vicinity. If your fragile 6 week old baby is in that vicinity, there is a decent chance they will get a poppy seed in their eye. This is gauranteed to make you feel like a GOOD MOM, and you and your spouse will spend the next twenty minutes looking over your shoulder for CPS agents while playing with q-tips, saline, and a screaming child during the seed extraction. Needless to say I started covering the kid up with a napkin while I ate.

Cayden, however, did not seem to take home any life lessons from this experience. This morning while I was nursing him, I noticed a globby white piece of rice in his eye and an image flashed through my head. An image of Cayden at dinner last night. After getting a handful of peas and rice & quinoa cereal, he realized he was tired and rubbed his eyes. Many many times. Because, once they have green eyebrows you are laughing too hard to try and stop them from doing it again.