Getting Outside

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the healing power of nature. Take our explosive child, Harvey (aka H-Bomb) for instance--from the moment he was born, he was calmed, sedated even by the outdoors, by the sounds smells and feels of it. He still is. When he attacks at night, we simply open the door that leads to the balcony from his room and stand in the moonlight with our baby. He quiets quickly and nestles in, letting us know that he is ready to give the sleep thing a go again. We listen as hard as we can for this moment and then we release him from our arms and tip-toe/run out of the room as fast as we can.

I have needed a little bit of nature healing myself these days--the job, the house, the move, the friends, the general uncertainty. It has been a little too much for this feeble in the first place mind to take. So we have been getting outdoors a lot, or at least as much as this rainy May has allowed. It has felt good. Not perfect. Not even great, but definitely good. It has allowed me to breathe out. To let go of the mess in the house and the chaos in our lives.

Strawberries!!

They are here! They are here! I can't believe it. Even though I know they are a perrenial andand know that they spread, I still really can't believe that something I put in the ground last year is going to come up again this year with more! I really love strawberries for some reason. There is somehting about thier shaoe and size that I find so endearing. I think i counted fourteen berries compared to the three or four that we got last year. Let's hope that the birds or that they Harveysdon't get them before I do!

I Love the Library

I love it. I really do. I can't believe the amount of time and money that I have wasted at Barnes and Nobles when I have had this free resource right in my back yard. Norah, Harvey and I have had lots of solo time over the past week (Brian has been traveling) so we went to the Bloomfield Children's Library this past Saturday morning just to see what they had to offer. And WOW did they produce. There was a story hour (both of mine were a little too young), craft making, a young children's play room and LOTS more. I think I may be becoming a little obsessed with it though--I mean I really can't stop thinking about ALL of the library-like possibilities. Had I discovered this resource before Spring, the winter might not have been quite as long. I got a couple of really neat looking craft books. They are more like resources so I might want to have a personal copy of at least one of them, but I can decide that after looking through them and before buying them instead of vice-versa. Ahh, life is good.

It's Raining

a lot around here these days. As Brian's mom said to me today, good for the bushes, good for the grass and trees... bad for me. We went kind of nutty inside today. In fact, at 4:30, I piled both of the kids in the car and drive without a destination. We ended up driving in one big circle around town, but the 30 minutes outside of the house did do us some good. Harvey is getting better--I have never seen a baby throw up so much. Poor thing. He is still not very excited about eating but he will be there tomorrow.

Since there is not much else to write about, I thought I would share some of the pretty things that the rain is doing to the outdoors here in Montclair:

Our hydrangea bush is growing some new leaves. I wonder if it will flower this year.


There are new figs on the fig tree already. We are going to miss our figs this year. Hopefully the new owners like them.


And the lilacs are in bloom. I LOVE the smell of lilacs.

Mother's Day

I am so glad you picked me. Lucky, lucky me.

The Little Family

Harvey and I went to the library today while Norah was at school. As of late, I LOVE the library. I think I may be obsessed with it. How did I not discover this resource earlier? I had Harvey in the Mei Tai today and he was NOT happy about it so our visit was a short, but fruitful one.

We got a couple of books about going to the zoo. We are going tomorrow in the afternoon with Norah's cousin Colin--pictures to come shortly. We also got a book about birds--Harvey's new word, "biii-i-ds," and one on gardening. My favorite of all, though, is one by Lois Lenski called The Little Family.



My 25 year old self would be horrified at the gender roles it conveys (the picture of Mrs. Little serving Mr. Little his meal on a tray still scares me a bit, I must say). But my thirty something year old self loves the simplicity the book depicts. Life in the 1930s was, I think, much fuller than our lives today.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I needed to enjoy being at home today. Enjoy this little house. This cozy little place that does not seem to give a very good first (or even second) impression. Our house is on the market, and in our market, places generally go for over asking within the first week of being for sale. Not ours. We are going on week 2 as of tomorrow. We have had 5o+ people through our house and one very low bite. We have one showing tomorrow and hopefully some will line up for this weekend. Otherwise, we may be in this for the long haul, the very long haul. So I decided to enjoy our house today for the first time in a long time--we played, we cooked, we painted. It was all good.

In the cooking category, we made our own version of Reeses Peanut Butter cups. I read about this first on Angry Chicken. Amy has her own special recipe for these treats which you can order. As it turns out, The Artful Parent found a similar recipe online. I went the freebie route as well. Norah and Harvey enjoyed the making of them:


And the eating of them:


By the way, I am issuing myself a "Do Over" for the Buy Nothing Challenge. It starts today, May Day, and ends June 1. Watch me.