Gifting

Tonight was Noah's last swig out of his bottle.  Based on a brilliant suggestion from a friend, we decided to give his bottle to the baby lion at the Oakland Zoo.  Here's the note that the zookeeper left in return:

Last Sunday, our friend, Jeana joined us for the Art in Nature Festival in Redwood Regional Park.  It was not quite what we expected, but there were plenty of highlights, including a grand piano being played in the middle of the woods and a "tree" person.

The Magic of the Beach

It's a wonderful morning to wake up to when you hear sounds of your son giggling in the kitchen with his Gigi.  Especially when it's a sunny September day and you're heading to the beach.  A little behind schedule, we met up with some good friends, their 10 month old daughter, and dog in Santa Cruz.  Noah did not mind the cold water at all and was pure toddler joy as he played in the water and with the sand, collected crab claws, and watched a sea lion on the rocks.

On the drive home, Noah entertained us with stories about the sea lion and all of his animal friends riding in a helicopter to San Francisco to play a memory game of ABC's.  The mind of a 3 year old.

This week, I had several good discoveries:

Documentary Movie: Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare
I watched it feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenges we face in the American healthcare system and fired up to get started with my Master's Family Nurse Practitioner program.

Musical Group: The Lumineers
Folk rock band with mellow, joyful music.

NPR Story:  Terry Gross' interview of Michael Lewis about his Vanity Fair article, Obama's Way.
The details of Obama's daily life and how they shape his presidency were fascinating.

Comedian and Show: W. Kamau Bell
Smart socio-political commentary with a new TV show on FX called Totally Biased.

I was hiking in Joaquin Miller Park where I go often and was surprised to find hundreds of families in a usually quiet grove.  It turned out to be a cross country meet with kids competing as young as 5 years old.  I felt equal parts wonder at the scale of such an unexpected event, thrill at seeing all of these children running around in the tree-lined setting, and apprehension at the intensity of it all.  I overheard one parent say to his young son (probably 7 years old) who was running around with his friends, "Don't do that! You're wasting energy!"  Regardless, it was a nice moment of community to stumble upon.

Bears, Dragons, and Bedtime Rituals

We have added to Noah's bedtime repertoire.  In addition to reading three books and singing three songs, we now create a special force field around the house.  Noah was having nightmares for months about bears when I finally offered up, "what if there was a force field that protected us from bears?"  This wee suggestion has now evolved into Daddy doing two different types of force fields, the Super Mega and the Alpha Omega, complete with their own sound effects and gestures.  Be sure to ask Paul to perform them for you the next time you see him.

Once the lights are finally out and Noah's snuggled in bed, he and I like to spend a final couple minutes talking about what he will dream about.  At first, he always hoped to dream about lollipops.  Now, it's usually some version of mommy, daddy, or his loveys.  Between this and the force field, we seem to be winning the battle against nightmares. At least most of the time.

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This weekend we got out a fair amount to enjoy the last days of summer winding down.  Friday night we hit Bites Off Broadway with friends and got to eat some delicious food truck creations while Noah ran around with a couple of his buddies.  While his interest in riding his balance bike is usually short-lived, he seems to have endless energy when it comes to chasing his friends who are riding bikes.  Whatever works in getting him tuckered out for bedtime at night.  One of the food trucks was a converted school bus and Noah and his friend were just delighted to sit inside:

We also went to the Dragon Boat Festival on Treasure Island with Gigi.  Looks like he might be interested in the drummer position of the dragon boat crew someday:

Carrie's Summer Reading List

One of the joys of being on summer break after my intense first year of nursing school was the chance to read more.  Here's a mostly complete list of what I read, started to read, and intended to read in somewhat chronological order.  Looks like fiction by far won the day for me this summer, as most of the nonfiction books I began were not finished.  Many are still sitting by the bedside with the possibility that I might pick them up again, although I know my heart is always going to draw me to finding that next absorbing novel.

Read In Toto (Whadup Latin compatriots!)
1. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
4. Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Exam (Yes, I pretty much read this entire 1000+ page book in preparation for the RN nursing board exam.)
5. Wild by Cheryl Strayed  (Love, love, love this book!)
6. The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
7. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
8. Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

Partially Read and Still on the Bedside Table
1. Waiting for Birdy by Catherine Newman
2. You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh
3. The Science of Yoga by William J. Broad
4. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande
5. The Thinking Women's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
6. The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin


Cheryl Strayed's Wild was by far my favorite read for the summer.  There was the sheer power of Strayed's personal story.  Also, this memoir totally inspired me to hike and be outside more this summer.  If you want a book recommendation from me, it's this one.

In Due Time

I know, we might have a bit of catching up to do.  Noah's approximately 3 years, 4 months and 5 days old (hey, I know he'd like that, 3, 4, 5) and it would have been nice and neat if we'd started at day 1.  But, as we all know, life's often kind of messy.  In fact, I have a quote on my office wall that serves as a good reminder:

What fills us is real, sweet, dopey, funny life.
~Anne Lamott

My hope is that this blog can be a space to share many moments of our family's life, so that family, friends, and Noah himself can read this and discover and then re-discover those memories.
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This past weekend, we had a big dinner to host. It was a four course meal to be made of seasonal food from our garden and farmers' markets.  As our garden has gone a little astray since the beginning of summer, we took a big trip the the SF Ferry Building Farmer's Market on Saturday.  Noah, our resident whisker was excited to discover the plethora of whisks for testing at Sur la Table. 

Notice Paul's backpack with bunches of chard poking out of the top.  What you don't see are the five other bags of produce, wine, and 10 lamb shanks we packed away!

Paul did most of the cooking on Saturday and Sunday.  Sadly, I only have a couple photos of the food and none from the actual meal because we were so busy at that point.  But here's a quick sense of what we prepared:

- 10 braised lamb shanks cooked in stock, wine, carrots, celery, onions, and herbs
- 2 batches of macaroni and cheese with broccoli for the kids
- 2 types of fresh baked whole wheat bread with homemade starter
- sauteed chard
- ratatouille of late summer vegetables
- homemade vanilla ice cream
- corn, avocado, and cherry tomato salad (for the school picnic happening on that same day)

Noah loves his new jumbo puzzle and we had a wonderful time at his school picnic.

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