2011 Resolutions (Including a Blog Upgrade)

Earlier tonight, Ryan and I talked about our resolutions. Here's my list:

1. Focus on fitness and health (cliche but relevant in the post-baby world)

2. Do my best in all aspects of life (e.g., motherhood, work, wife-hood) and don't beat up on myself or others for not being perfect

3. Engage in at least one fun adventure every month (e.g., a hike, river float, or artsy excursion)

4. Expand our blog to include our favorite recipes and food finds

I would like to briefly explain my rationale behind each of these resolutions, so bear with me.

Fitness and Health: Pregnancy was my first ever introduction to obesity. For the first time in my life, I reached a weight considered to be obese for my height. My body aches more than it used to, and I don't feel strong. The proof is in the picture below, which while taken two weeks after I gave birth, shows the true magnitude of my recovery.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not beating myself up or looking for compliments (see resolution #2). In fact, I'm proud of myself because I've lost about 30 pounds from my highest pregnancy weight, 15 since Arlo was born. However, I think many women have a hard time recovering from having a baby and adjusting to their new bodies. I also think we don't talk about it openly and honestly. We all aspire to be the woman who is in a bikini a month or two after giving birth, but 99.9% of us will not reach that aspiration (remind me to tell you about the new mom with a 4 month old, a perfect body, and a string bikini at Arlo's first swimming lesson). And cosmetic surgery isn't an option for most of us.

Frankly, it's natural to be a little more "insulated" than before having a baby. Pregnancy is a journey and the recovery is a journey too. As a mom, I want to do my best to take care of myself both to improve my quality of life and provide a good example for Arlo. Of course, I'm not seeking perfection, just goodness, whatever that means.

Resolutions 2 and 3 are pretty self explanatory, so I'll jump right to resolution #4.

While reflecting on a tremendous year, I started looking at some of my favorite blogs. Of course, I started with my good friend's blog, Plums in the Path. Then, I went to Cannelle et Vanille, Diggin Food, 101 Cookbooks, and a few others and noticed that I really like food blogs. I also, not surprisingly, like to cook and eat (see picture above).

In thinking about the obvious connections between my resolutions and my love for food blogs, I will add food entries, recipes, and other fun tidbits to our blog this year. I will also provide some observations -- hopefully all clever and entertaining -- about reclaiming my body. I hope you enjoy the new stuff.

Happy New Year!

A Christmas Tale

See the captions of the photos for the story. Just be warned: the plot is a little thin.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Cheer

At the risk of getting preachy, I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about how the world has changed. In reality, I don't think it's changed as much as some claim, but I think one thing that seems to be decreasing in importance is the value of community and a shared belief that we are in "it" together. Whether it's politicians urging people to "keep what's theirs" or attacking collectively-driven acts as socialist and evil, I think our increasing social isolation undermines our democracy and decreases our quality of living. I'm all for independence, but not at the expense of compassion, empathy, and humanity.

In short, I'm a bleeding heart, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

Why raise such deep thoughts on a blog? Last night, we went to a Christmas party hosted by our good friends, Amy and Byron. Byron is in a brass quintet and organized a caroling event where his brass group would knock on doors in the neighborhood and play a song or two. When he went to the first house, the person seemed shocked to see his neighbor offering some Christmas music and holiday cheer. Obviously, the neighbor and the rest of the neighborhood warmed up to the music right away, and it made me wonder why we don't see more caroling or general neighborliness.

A week ago, we hosted our second annual cookie exchange for our neighbors. It was a lot of fun, and I wished we had events like that more often. At Halloween, I was surprised at how many parents didn't want to Trick-or-Treat in their neighborhood. They preferred the "safety" of going to a mall or shopping district over knocking on the doors of their neighbors. I respect the decisions of parents to do what they think is right, but I found their perspective troubling.

I love all the holiday traditions of socializing with people you may never get to know if you didn't live next to each other. I love the idea of teaching Arlo about the importance of being connected to the people around him and the value of being part of a community. To me, it's as important as being connected to our world in general: to know where your food comes from, where your water originates, what plants and animals are around you, what art or music is in your midst. All of these things make us cultured and form our individual and collective identity. Without these connections, how do you have the awareness and sensitivity to know how to operate as a society?

Ok, enough commentary. Now for some photos and a video of last night's festivities.

Byron's brass group in warmer digs.

Christmas sweets!

Bundled Up Boy

Apparently, Arlo can sleep anywhere, as he fell asleep during the quintet's performance.

Apologies for the dark video, but this is a clip of the outdoor performance by Byron's brass quintet.
The video also gives you a sense for the Christmas extravaganza that is the Olympic Manor neighborhood. When we moved into the house a few years ago, we started a tradition of walking through Olympic Manor on or near Christmas Eve. It's truly a sight to be seen.

The Nonericks wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

"Forget rolling over, I want to stand!"

It's no surprise to seasoned parents that babies change on a daily basis. This week, some of Arlo's changes include standing and early signs of teething. Arlo now prefers to stand over more conventional forms of hanging out like sitting and laying in someone's arms. Check out the picture below for proof.

As for the teething, Arlo has been drooling like crazy and chewing on almost anything that you put in or near his mouth. He also had a number of rough nights so that he could take his discomfort out on his poor parents. Good thing he's so darn cute.

Our nighttime routine is a bottle, a book, and bed.
Sometimes we throw a bath in there to keep Arlo smelling baby sweet.

Finally! Chubby thighs!
Another change is that Arlo is growing like crazy and gaining weight. He's not the skinny baby he used to be!

Arlo in the Jumper, Part 1

Arlo in the Jumper, Part 2

Rockin' and Rolling

As you know, Arlo hates tummy time. He spits up on Ryan in protest or fusses until we pick him up. One plus side to his disdain for tummy time is the fact that Arlo has been rolling over from belly to back since he was born, albeit not very consistently or gracefully.

Now that he's 3 months old, however, he's a pro.

Santa came early for Ryan and Darcy

We hate our camera. For years, we've been complaining -- well, I've been complaining -- about our point-and-shoot digital camera. The battery compartment door doesn't close all the way, any low light photo comes out blurry, it's slow, blah, blah, blah.

Now that we have a baby, it's time we thought about our blogging public and had a camera that allows the pictures on our blog to match the high quality of the commentary.

Ryan and I must have been pretty nice this year because Santa came early and delivered a swanky new camera. Below are some of our test shots, but we hope to learn how to use this fine piece of equipment to take photos that will make you want to visit our blog each and every day.

Ryan and Arlo say "cheese."

Bath time!
We are practicing back floats and dripping water down Arlo's face in order to prepare for the next round of swimming lessons, which start in January.

Time for your close up, Arlo!

Puppy Dog Eyes

Another picture of A-to-the-lo.

Ryan reads Arlo his bedtime story.
Tonight, we chose The Night Before Christmas. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Gibson!

Oh, the camera takes videos too, so we will post a video in the next day or two.

Now I'm off to bed to get a good night's rest before my first day back at work tomorrow!

Giving Thanks

As you know from watching the video we posted a couple of days ago, we just returned from a great trip to Ryan's home town of Syracuse, NY. We had a great time, and Arlo misses all the attention from his family members. Ryan's mom, Patty, took a lot of great photos of the week and here are a few of our favorites. If anyone else has photos from Thanksgiving dinner or other family events, please send them to us and we will add them to the slideshow.

Click on the word bubble in the lower left hand corner to see captions.

We clearly have a lot to be thankful for this year: a healthy baby, good jobs, and lots of loving family and friends. We hope all of you had a great holiday!

A Week of Firsts

This week Arlo enjoyed his first plane ride, his first celebrity sighting, his first Thanksgiving, and meeting a lot of family for the first time. Needless to say, he's a little excited about it.

Arlo's First Swimming Lesson

Today we took Arlo to his first swimming lesson. Why take such a little baby to swimming lessons? Well, young babies have not developed a fear of water in part because they resided in a watery home in utero. Now is the perfect time to teach Arlo how to swim and take advantage of his instincts.

We wanted to enroll Arlo in swim lessons because we love the water and want to enjoy activities like swimming, boating, etc. with him. Another important part of infant swimming lessons is safety. Arlo will learn not only how to swim, he will gain some basic skills that he can use if he has an accident like falling in a pool or out of a boat.

Australia commonly teaches infants how to swim. If you don't believe me, check out uSwim.com for videos and a do-it-yourself swim curriculum.

Arlo's first lesson went pretty well, but after an hour-and-a-half lecture before we got into the pool, he was exhausted and fell asleep in the middle of the lesson. Of course we took a few pictures:

Relaxing Before Getting in the Pool
Arlo is starting to suck on his hands. We are hoping he won't want the pacifier as much, but as you will see, he still needs the pacifier to soothe himself when he gets fussy.

Arlos' fancy new swim diaper.
Unfortunately, he's too skinny to fill it properly. At his two month pediatric appointment, he measured in the 95 percentile for height (25 inches) and in the 50 percentile for weight (11 pounds, 10 ounces). He's a long and lean boy!

Arlo is so lean, he needed a wetsuit to keep him warm in pool water even though it was about 95 degrees.

Arlo floating on his back all by himself!
Just for the record, I watched Arlo closely during the lesson. Don't be fooled by my apparent lack of attention in this photo!

Backfloat Close Up

A Walk in the Park

One benefit to being on parental leave is getting to enjoy great weather during the week. Arlo and I have been walking a lot and enjoying the sunshine, which we will miss greatly when the Seattle winter (i.e. rain and darkness) set in. Yesterday, I took Arlo off-roading in what I call his SUS (Sport Utility Stroller). Believe it or not, this trail is in the middle of the city. Pretty awesome, eh? This park also has a beautiful beach and a breathtaking view of the Olympic mountain range and Mt. Rainier.

This is the life!

Halloween, Baby Style

When Arlo was just a bun in the oven, Ryan and I participated in a Centering Pregnancy group operated by a local midwifery practice. Centering Pregnancy merges prenatal care with education on childbirth and other parenting information, and the group consisted of parents expecting babies in the same month (August, in this case, with a couple of babies born in late July/early September).

We've enjoyed getting to know other first time parents, and last night, we hosted a Halloween party for the parents and kiddos. Needless to say, it was chuck full of cuteness.

Mark, Myla, and baby Jude get the "Best Dressed" award for coming in matching bumblebee costumes!

Kristin and baby Meadow (dressed in scrubs) enjoy good company.

Bryan (official party photographer) and Meadow chillaxin'.

Wade, Missy, and baby Vivian (a ghost) strike a family pose.

Jennifer and Lucy (Lucy from Charlie Brown/Peanuts) mingling in the crowd. Lucy is the oldest and most mature baby from our group.

Gretchen, Andre, and baby Milo (a frog) in a fabulous family portrait.

Ryan and Arlo (Frankenbaby) hangin' with the Centering crew.

Diablo Dan feeds baby August (Charlie Brown) to keep August happy during the party.

Gretchen, Amy (mom of August), and Myla enjoy a bite.

Beware of Frankenbaby!

A close up of Jude, Milo, and Arlo.

The complete baby lineup.

Happy Halloween!

Showering Amy and Grover

Last weekend was fantastic! We enjoyed a visit from a dear friend and hosted a shower for another close friend. The visitor was Bonnie, who flew in from D.C. to attend the baby shower for our friend, Amy. Bonnie and Amy are like family to us. We went to law school together, and during our third year we started a weekly "family dinner" tradition.

After graduation, Bonnie and her husband moved to D.C. to start new careers: Bonnie as a kick-ass patent attorney and Joe transitioned from a career in science to a position with the government. We treasure any time we get to spend together, but we're waiting for the day when we can lease a private jet to start a new tradition of going on family vacations together. Okay, we don't need a private jet to go on family vacations but a private jet helps.

Anyway, Amy is expecting a little boy due on 1/1/11, which we think is pretty cool. Amy and her husband, Byron, are calling the baby "Grover" while he's in utero, and Grover and Arlo are already hanging out together on a regular basis. In fact, when Amy holds Arlo, Grover likes to kick Arlo in the butt.

Amy holding Arlo while Grover kicks Arlo in the butt.

The shower was a lot of fun largely because of the great people who came. Of course, the unusual Halloween theme helped provide a fun atmosphere. To make things easy, we got a lot of help with cooking, gift bags, decorating, etc. In my experience, having friends who like to help makes everything better.

We put Bonnie to work when she arrived, and she also took some great photos. Check it out!

Amy and a geeky math onesie from Ryan and Joe to Byron.

Sara (frittata cook and helper extraordinaire) enjoying some quality time with Arlo.

Game time!

Good company and good conversation

The woman of the hour catching up with friends.

Sara's amazing mini frittatas.

The spread

Sugar coated glasses for drinks

Savory pumpkin pastries (recipe from Martha Stewart's website)

Dessert and gift bar

Chocolate cupcakes with ganache and marshmallow skulls

Ryan, Arlo, and I are so lucky to have such great friends, and we can't wait for the arrival of Amy and Byron's little guy. Arlo is eager to play with Grover and teach him all he's learned in his time as a Nonerick.

Tummy Time!

Arlo gets a little tummy time everyday to help increase his neck strength and head control. We started tummy time soon after he was born, but he hated it because it meant that his head was buried in a bed, blanket, or chest. In fact, he would roll over from his belly to his back -- a trick usually performed by babies that are a couple of months old.

To help Arlo, we started doing tummy time on a Boppy pillow, which helped but Arlo seems to like tummy time on Ryan's chest best. Thanks to my obsession with taking videos, I was able to capture one of the best tummy time episodes yet.

After taking a quick break to grab a burp cloth, I recorded the rest of the tummy time session.

Arlo is developing rapidly. Every now and then I look at him a see a little boy instead of a baby. For example, I put Arlo in his new BOB stroller last week (see picture below), and for some reason, I think his face resembles a little boy more than a 5 week old baby. Yikes!

Just so you don't think we're bad parents, we have a car seat adapter that we use with the stroller since Arlo can barely hold his head up and clearly doesn't fit in the straps.

Ryan and I are savoring every fast flying minute with Arlo before he discovers that we're not as cool as he thinks we are right now.

Daily Changes and Surprises

As cliche as it sounds, one of the coolest things about having a baby is seeing a little person change and develop everyday. Arlo is now 6 weeks old and weighs in at 10 pounds, 1.5 ounces, two pounds heavier than he was at his 2 week check in. He's starting to feel like a more substantial baby in our arms -- a happy feeling for a neurotic mother.

Last week, Arlo started cooing and smiling intentionally. With each passing day, he's showing more and more personality. Ryan and I think it's pretty darn cool, but we are a little biased.

Another surprise is that Arlo loves his changing table. It's one of the few places in the house that make him smile and coo like crazy. See for yourself...

Now if we could just get him to sleep through the night.

G'ma Micki

This weekend, my mom came to meet Arlo for the first time. For now, her grandparent name is G'ma (gee maw). I don't know what she did exactly, but G'ma Micki has a magic touch that puts Arlo to sleep in seconds. Needless to say, her magic is already missed.

A touching photo of G'ma and Arlo.
Notice how Arlo is fast asleep in G'ma's arms.

Monday, Monday

By popular demand, here's a video of Arlo on a Monday morning.

To be clear, the demand was for a video of Arlo, and the day of the week wasn't stipulated by the masses.

Mimi and Gaga Patrick

As we reported, Ryan's parents, John and Patty, flew out from Syracuse for a visit. They were the first out-of-town guests that we've hosted since Arlo was born, and it was great to introduce them to their first grandchild and spend time with them. Ryan and I were spoiled with meals, babysitting, and general help with the baby. In fact, John and Patty took Arlo for a night so Ryan and I could have a fun night out with friends.

During their visit, we talked with John and Patty about what they want to be called. "Grandma" and "grandpa" seem a little too traditional. After conferring with other family members, Patty remembered calling her grandmother "Mimi" and grandfather "Gaga." While we aren't sure if those nicknames are going to stick, we're using them for now. We welcome any and all suggestions for grandparent names.

Patty took some great photos of the week and below are some highlights.

Ryan consoling Arlo after a traumatic diaper change.

Soma and "Gaga" preparing for a walk at Green Lake.

One happy "Mimi."

Arlo's first restaurant experience at Wild Mountain Cafe.

Mimi and Gaga Patrick enjoying little Arlo.

Thanks to John and Patty for making the long trip out west and for taking such good care of our entire family. We love you guys!