June 25, 2015
We ventured out with Miss SJ to Target to get gift wrap for Grandpa’s birthday present. Selah June LOVES shopping. She loves sitting in the cart and watching the people. She loves seeing all the stuff. Here are my favorites from our adventure.
June 24, 2015
SJ spent the day with Sebastian and Satie. Halfway through the morning, I received a picture of SJ and Sebastian just hanging out.
July 23, 2015
Jeremy told me he thought Selah June went to Asheville as a baby and came back as a little girl. This morning, when I put her in her cute little coral shirt and put a little white rosette barrette in her hair, it struck me too. She’s growing up so fast. No matter how much I try to slow down and soak it all in, I still feel like it’s just rushing by me.
We ended the day with Grammy and Grandpa at Rio Bravo. And, as usual, SJ found Grandpa to be super funny.
July 22, 2015
When we returned from our trip, everything in SJ’s room was new again! Look at all these fun toys! Woohoo! We crawled around and played with every single thing. Our drums and our hammer toys, our Cora, and our ball… awesome stuff.
And we’ve also decided that we don’t like for toys (or anything really) to be put away in its rightful place. The bookshelf is one of SJ’s new favorite things to devastate every time she plays in her room.
Just another random short by Miss SJ.
More destruction….
Another messy moment…
You might be wondering about Sophie’s relationship with Selah June now that SJ can crawl. This video pretty much sums it up.
July 22, 2015
We were in Asheville for a week, and Miss SJ needed a bath pretty much every day. She gets into her food with Grammy. It’s a “hands-on” experience. The problem with Asheville was that there was no whale tub. So…..
Selah June got to play in about 2 inches of water in a big grown-up tub. They had a blast getting their splash on.
When we came back, I experimented with bath outside the whale tub. It kind of freaked me out, if I’m being honest. Wet babies are slippery, and a baby crawling around in 2 inches of water, slipping and splashing face-first, wasn’t my real idea of quality time as we tried to wind down at the end of the day. I’ll try again with some bath toys. Maybe that will help.
July 21, 2015
I can’t believe it’s been over a week since I last posted on SJ’s blog. The hang-up was that I was out of town, and with her while being out of town, and on business while with her while being out of town. There’s only so much one can do under those circumstances. In my case, it was survive.
While I could go back and recount each and every day of our adventure, I find that too overwhelming at this point. I just need to dump all the good stuff about the trip, cut my losses, and start fresh tomorrow. So here goes!
Chillaxin’ With Grammy
Grammy and Selah June had some nice digs at the Residences at Biltmore. Our place was basically a little apartment with a kitchen as well as a washer and dryer. The complex provided us with a pack and play, so SJ had her own bed for the week. She napped really well in it and slept through every night except one.
I thought that they would spend a good deal of time at the pool or go putz around downtown or go for strolls along the forest trails. But Grammy just wanted to catch up on her rest from her crazy trip to the Holy Land and spend time on some projects that have been hanging over her head for a while. By day 3 of “resting” around the room, Selah June was fit to be tied. She wanted to be held all the time. She cried for no apparent reason. And she just was generally fussy. That night we took her out to a restaurant for some girl time on the town, and she was a completely different baby. She flirted with anyone who would give her the time of day. She smiled and laughed at the simplest things. She was just beside herself happy. That little girl got cabin fever! It’s becoming more and more obvious to me that she is a social type who likes to get out there and see the world. While she can entertain herself, there’s only so much of that she’s gonna do in a week! ESPECIALLY in Asheville for goodness sake!
Sweet Little Baby
One night, she was just wired. I don’t know what her deal was. It was about 10:00 at night, and we there was no end in sight. She was jumping and climbing all over us. She was talking and looking all around. It was sheer craziness. Mom started doing her Grammy Whisperer thing where she wraps the baby all up in a fuzzy blanket and relaxes every muscle in her body. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes…. telling Selah June that Grammy was going to go to sleep now.
And with that, for the first time, SJ let out a big yell. She wanted to wake Grammy up! Mom cracked up, and so did I. That just made it worse. SJ laughed and laughed. Then it became a game. As long as she would play it, we took turns faking sleep only to be “awakened” by a screeching baby. Then she started laying her head down on Mom’s lap and arms, like she was a “sweet baby.” Only to squirm and jump up and make us all laugh again. We had a lot of fun, but I can just see the trouble that’s brewing with this child. Uggghhh…..
What Momma’s Been Doing
During the day, I spent a good chunk of time at the Soomo Learning headquarters working on revisions for the 6th edition of Central Ideas in American Government. This is the conference room in which I spent a great deal of time with Zara and Jacob hammering out edits, assignment ideas, student learning outcomes, and the like.
Zara explained to me that the pennants around the room represented each of the schools using CIAG. I couldn’t get all four walls in the picture, but it was pretty cool. To see Ohio State, UT-Austin, and other big name schools included in the mix was just awesome. It stands for a whole heck of a lot of work, lots of patience and pitching, and fingers crossed until they almost fell off.
Drum Circle
Friday night, after a long week of very productive work, I snatched up Grammy and SJ for a fun night out and about. They met me downtown, and we went to Salsa’s — an excellent Mexican restaurant — and then checked out the Asheville Drum Circle. It’s a local institution. People crowd the stadium seating built into the park with bongos, tambourines, and maracas to make music together. People danced to the music in the square. Selah June took her drum and spent time dancing with Mom and drumming to the beat. Probably our most favorite activity in Asheville for the week.
Dinner with the Lindrums
On Saturday night, David and Mary Jane invited us to dinner at their house. David’s mom, Paula, just bought a puppy. It’s a cute little mix of a boutique puppy and looks like a little teddy bear with personality. Here is SJ’s interaction with her new friend. Both of them were so excited and interested in being up in each other’s business…. You’ll see how that worked out.
July 12, 2015
One of the nicest things about SJ’s new crawling skills is that she can get herself where she wants to go. One of the worst things about her new skills is that she can get to anything anywhere. Today, we found her super interested in a hanger. Not dangerous at all…. Ugghhh
But her eyes are beautiful in this one, aren’t they? Or they were until she poked them out.
Our latest discovery is that we don’t like to sit in our music chair anymore, but we love to stand up at it and dance to the music!
July 11, 2015
Selah June and I are going to Asheville for the week with Grammy to work on CIAG revisions for the 6th edition. Mom hasn’t spent much time at all in Asheville, so I’m looking forward to showing her some of my favorite little shops and eateries. She’s going to think the Lindrum’s house is so cool. It’s been a long time since we had good girl time.
Jeremy and I decided to really spend a weekend focused on our little bear. We sat outside and listened to the birds and watched the puppy play in the yard. We had good snuggles and watched our favorite Elmo music videos. We went shopping and rode in the big-kid cart. Miss SJ LOVES shopping – as long as you keep moving. For that reason, she doesn’t really like shoe shopping…
She’s turned into a little wiggle worm. I can’t seem to keep her still for anything. Changing her diaper is almost impossible unless there’s a toy in her hands and she’s in a particularly cooperative mood. At one point, we were snuggling on the bed, and I grabbed my camera and took a quick selfie. Cute little mess.
July 9, 2015
Selah June is now on week 7 of ISR swim lessons with Miss Carrie. Mama is pooped.
Yesterday, Lori at work asked how much ISR costs. I told her about our experience, that Carrie expects kids to be there about 4 weeks and stops charging for any additional weeks after that. SJ has taken longer in part because she’s a little shrimp. She doesn’t have all the chubby baby fat that her baby friends carry with them into the pool. It’s hard to float when you’re so svelte!
Lori expressed to me that she really wanted her grandson to take lessons. He’s 2 and very active. Part of the reason why Lori is so set on it is that she was close friends with the Daigles, a homeschooling family that we all knew growing up. At a birthday party at the Daigles house, their baby crawled out of the house, across the concrete patio, and fell into the pool. No one was watching, and the baby drowned. By the time EMTs arrived, it was too late. They kept the baby on life support for several months, but eventually he died. That event traumatized all of the kids who were about my brother’s age. Miss Carrie’s husband is Sean Glass, who was also friends with Aaron, Abigail, Brock, and Cameron Daigle. That one event shaped so many families and now the offspring of a whole generation of Pensacola teens.
So today Carrie asked that I bring heavy clothes to her lesson. I knew that it would be difficult to watch Selah June in a pool, crying, wearing heavy clothes, and searching for someone to save her. But I wasn’t prepared to experience this lesson against the backdrop of a fresh telling of the drowning of the Daigle baby.
At one point in the lesson, Carrie took off her pink velour jacket and tossed it aside. It floated for a second, but as the water swallowed it up it began to sink – a tiny, billowy memory sinking to the bottom. It made me sick. I felt goosebumps flash up and down my arms. Though it was really hot outside, I felt a chill. And I heard Selah June crying because she was afraid, choking on water, gasping for air.
This is why we are doing this. I am in… as long as it takes to make sure she knows what to do if nobody is watching.
July 8, 2015
I now understand why the whale tub is a staple of any baby’s room. While it didn’t get much use when she was solely on breast milk, as soon as we moved to solid foods the story changed. She had more frequent and stinkier, messier poops. She had pureed food in her hands, on her face, and ultimately in her hair. She had dirt on her knees, sweat all over, and just general stickiness. It’s like she turned into a dirty baby overnight… every night.
Wait! What’s back there?
No! Seriously! What’s back there??
Whoops! Yikes! Whale tub is slippery!
Well, now we have bubbles on our chin. There are worse things in life.
Here’s a little video of the bath time action. Personally, I think it’s further evidence that she’s going to be a percussionist. She can’t help but compare the feel and sounds of drumming against different surfaces… even in the bath tub.