Mr. Bumble

Meet Mr. Bumble. He is a lot more active than Baby Bumble. There are no clear shots of him since he moves so much. I need to hire an NFL photographer to get good shots of this boy.

He wasn't sure why he had to have a costume on or why all of the photos were being taken.

Grandma Suzie the Clown was there as well. Mr. Bumble was a little scared of her at first until he realized that mom was nearby.

He got a nice pot of candy, which mom can use to bribe him to clean up his toys. :) So everyone is happy!

 

 

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Survived Sandy!

After three moves, two power outages, and zero flooding, we are back at home and anxious to get on a schedule again! (Rich's office was actually closed for two days.) This storm had the potential of being much worse here than it actually was.

Meanwhile, we celebrated Grandma's 29th (?) birthday indoors. I (Read: Carvel) made this awesome ice cream cake. Happy birthday, Mom!!!

Pardon the phone blogging. Rich is on the computer trying to catch up.

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Wide Open Spaces

Shenandoah National Park was beautiful this weekend. It's still perhaps one week from peak color. We entered before noon, which turned out to be really helpful! Isaac enjoyed walking and seeing the sights. The temperature was perfect -- crisp and refreshing.

 

Notice hawk flying to the left.

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St. Kateri's Canonization

We are super-excited that my namesake is finally canonized! Here is a little more about the somewhat elusive Native American saint. Her cause for canonization was approved after this miracle was confirmed last year. Rich and I went to her tomb in Kahnawake -- an Indian village outside of Montreal -- during our honeymoon. It was a really moving experience for us. We are so happy that she is now officially counted among the saints!

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Fall at Mt. Vernon

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Happy Memorial of St. Isaac Jogues!

"My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings."

 

(from a letter of Isaac Jogues to a Jesuit friend in France, September 12, 1646, a month before he died)

 

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I Promise You Fidelity

Recently I was telling DH about an awful wedding speech one of my friends had at her wedding. The speaker said, "You don't really love each other today. You will love each other on the day that you wake up next to one another, look at each other and think, 'I don't love you anymore,' but keep on loving anyway." (The speaker is into shock-value. And he also isn't married.) I informed DH that I hadn't had that feeling yet, to which he responded, "Well, I've got bad news for you..." 

And we both laughed.

I went back to look at the marriage rite just to remember exactly what we said to each other two years ago because it's somehow all blurry to me now:

I promise you fidelity in riches and in poverty, in sickness and in health, in loving you and honoring you for all the days of my life.

It's pretty short, actually. Of course there were the prayers before and after, the interrogation ("Have you come here freely?"), the blessing and exchange of rings. But I remember how simple the formula of the vows was. Marriage becomes hard when I complicate things -- when I try to justify things that I know won't honor DH. I remember a priest telling me once that he could tell the strength of a marriage based on what the spouses said about each other when the other wasn't around. That really made me think.

One thing I remember distinctly from our wedding ceremony is Fr. Scalia saying to us in a low voice, "During the Offeratory, you should pray for the unity of your marriage." I do that still: pray that we may be one.

  

To celebrate our two years together, we went to dinner at Il Porto, an Italian restaurant in Old Town that makes it's own pasta. DH has been craving homemade spaghetti and meatballs for the better part of the last year. I'm happy to write that he called it "the best spaghetti and meatballs I've ever had." We had freshly shaved Parmesan, of course. See how happy this made him:

I love a homemade alfredo, so I tried one of the specials. It was just like fettucine alfredo, except for the homemade egg noodles. I could taste the hint of nutmeg that completes that sauce. It was AMAZING. The picture doesn't do it justice. I'm drooling just thinking about how good it was.

We talked extensively about our rankings of the "special occasion" restaurants we've been to together. (Thank you, attorney husband.) We named "value" the most important quality. ["Value" defined as cost per units of enjoyment ("enjoyment" broken into: taste, ambience, and service)]  We felt that last year's anniversary dinner at Gadsby's Tavern was hard to top. But definitely seconds (and perhaps tied) were this year's anniversary dinner at Il Porto and Capital Grille, where we went during our honeymoon week. Il Porto's pasta would be hard to top, though the meat was nothing compared to Capital Grille's.

To complete the evening, we split a tartufo -- white chocolate covered vanilla raspberry ice cream. It was fresh and delicious.

Anyway, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to get out with my husband alone for something special now and again. We only do things like this 2-3 times a year, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

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What's Been Going On

(Phone photos/videos)

 

This week we were reminded of how precious life is again. One of our sets of friends (who unfortunately we don't see much anymore since we live so far away!) lost their three-day-old boy to trisomy 18. We went to the funeral yesterday. I've never seen so many tears from so many people in my life. It was really sad. Even the priest was tearing up.

 

We've been holding Isaac extra tight and telling him how much we love him. Isn't he a sweetheart?

 

 

 

We've been a little more patient with all of the "uh-oh"s. This one is kind of cute:

He's currently fascinated with the buckle of his booster seat. After each meal, he stays at his chair until he gets both of the buckles to click in place. Then he looks at us for acknowledgement of his accomplishment. Here he is looking at himself in my reversible camera. But you get the picture...

 

 

 
Everything is still called "dad."



 

Rich was out of town three days this week, which means that I've been making super-simple meals for myself and Isaac. This is one of my favorite "easy meals." I put a little salt and pepper on the tomato slices. The fried egg is on a slice of Swiss cheese and a half of an English muffin. My old roommate, Sr. Elizabeth, used this recipe a lot when she was on the Curves meal plan. She used extra sharp Vermont cheddar, which is arguably better. But Swiss is not bad either.

 

 

 

Isaac's favorite snack is the chocolate Fiber One bar. We have about 50 of these left (thank you, Costco!). Isaac gets super giddy when we pull these out.

 

 

 

Since we're on the topic of food, I discovered a new restaurant that is really nice. I was hesitant to go because it doesn't look like much from the outside. But Heidi and I needed to get out of the rain last weekend, so we popped in for dessert. There weren't many people there. It was super-cold outside. The server sat us next to this beautiful, large fireplace inside.

 

I ordered a white chocolate covered sorbet with a hot chocolate. The price was right; and the service was good. I can't believe I just discovered this place now!

 

Yummy! Afterward, we went to the Fall Wine Festival at Mount Vernon.
It was sold out and quite enjoyable.

 

Isaac has been really getting into Fall this year. He absolutely loves the "crunch" of walking on dried leaves.
 

 

And here is a photo from this morning. I love his four-toothed smile!

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Phone Photo Dump

 

 

We finally dumped our old height chair with all of the cracks and crevices for food deposits by little fingers. I bought this chair for $40 at Target. The tray goes into the dishwasher. The seat is easily wiped down with a cloth. Everything is cleaner. And we have more space around the table.

 

 

 

Rich also picked up a blue ball for about $0.48 for Isaac. He's obsessed with balls these days. It was perhaps the best forty-eight cents we've ever spent!

 

 

 

Isaac has been really attached to mama these days. He's wanted to snuggle and chit-chat and play a lot.

 

 

 

But he hardly ever says "mama." Almost everything is "dad." He calls himself "dad." He calls me "dad." He calls dogs "dad." Everything is "dad." We keep teaching him words and sounds. One of these days he'll pick up on them.

  

 

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Safety, Food, and Books

We bought a new car seat this week as we discovered (thanks to Rich's dad), that it's much safer for kids to be in rear-facing seats until they are two years of age. The AAP recently changed it's recommendation in this regard. Apparently, due to the disproportionate head/body size, babies and toddlers are far more likely to break their necks in a crash. But when rear-facing, the seat takes the brunt of the impact and distributes it evenly to the rest of the body. There were not many rear-facing seats available for children over one-year of age. After a visit to two stores, we bought the only one available. So far, Isaac seems much happier to recline while driving. It has been a win for everyone.

 

 

Also, Isaac is quickly becoming a Swiss cheese aficionado.

 

 

 

 

And he is rediscovering his books. He's not patient enough to sit through a whole book from cover to cover yet, but he does love to move around and turn pages back and forth.

 

 

 

Here is his Time for Bed Bible Stories book from Aunt Judy. He absolutely LOVES this book, especially the page with Noah, the Arc, and the rainbow.

 

 

 

He even walked up and put his arm around me while I was reading it to him. He's never done this before. It was super-sweet!

 

 

 

Here is Isaac-style reading.

 

 

 

He is pointing like crazy these days. It's apparently a 1-year-old's way of communicating. He still calls everything "dad." We've been practicing forming sounds. Occasionally, he'll say "mom," "more," "dog," and "Jeh." ("Jeh" = "Jesus") The attempted "j" sound produces a lot of spit.

 

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Dixie

My creative writing juices are not flowing now (thanks to the 16 hours of driving), but here are some photos from our trip to Charleston, South Carolina and surrounding areas. We had a great time! And what people say about Southern charm and hospitality really is true. It made me wish I were a Southern belle. And Rich was inspired to buy me a new dress and a sweet pair of sunglasses. :)

 

 





 

Isaac's favorite discovery of the entire trip was this fountain.

 

 

 

Isaac had to put this hands and feet in the fountain. Had to.

 

 

 

Dad saved him from himself.

 

 

He also did a lot of walking and exploring. Isaac had a fantastic time!

 

 

 

 

We saw Ft. Sumter in the distance.

 

 

 

And this really cool sailboat.

 

 

 

And this aircraft carrier. I might have said "what aircraft carrier?" when Rich pointed it out. In my defense, it does kind of blend in with the water.

 

 

 

And I was in nap mode. Here is the awesome view from my napping position. I love palmettos!

 

 

 

Many of the homes sported pastel stucco exteriors with matching plants.

 

 

 

 

Isaac met this girl, who was dancing around in a dress.

He was enamored for a while.

 

 

Until he discovered these cannon balls, which were much more interesting.

He was determined to climb to the top!

 

 

We found some really great pulled pork, which was also very reasonably priced. That was another thing we really liked about the trip: many dining options with excellent service, great food, and at great prices. We spent less than we budgeted for food this trip. And we didn't feel like we missed anything.

 

 

We also spent a day on the Atlantic Ocean.

Here Isaac and Rich are chilling at Folly Beach.

 

 

 

Isaac was invited to play with another kid's beach toys.

 

 

 And he was brought three meatballs for lunch when we only asked for one.

Being cute will get one everywhere!

 

 

 

Of course, we had to try the local brew:

 

 

 

 

The shopping was amazing. So many specialty stores! We even found a store that sells just honey! The streets were lined with these beautiful palmettos, which made it enjoyable just to stroll and window shop.

 

 

 

One noticeable characteristic of the people is how they were all dressed up all of the time. Most of the women wore fancy dresses and skirts -- even to the beach. I suddenly felt the need to buy a dress again -- even though I have such a hard time finding dresses that fit.
 

 

 

 

This is where I found sunglasses for $10. Just so we didn't think everything there was perfect, a girl was arrested for shoplifting while we were shopping here.
 

 

 
 

New shades. For the record, the pairs I've liked the most over the years have cost me $20 or less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaac spent a lot of time trying to find the biggest stick in Charleston. He would pick up one stick and carry it until he found a bigger stick. Then he would cast aside the smaller stick and carry the bigger one.
 

 

 

 

We took a stroll along East Bay and enjoyed its parks several times while we were there. I loved the old homes and stone streets and gas lanterns.

 

 

 

 
 

This is the famous "rainbow row." Apparently it is the most photographed part of Charleston, though I certainly found other parts prettier!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trip tuckered Isaac out. He even fell asleep in his height chair the following day (as opposed to trying to escape from it). So, we all had a nice time!
 

 

 

 

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