Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The first step out of the nest





I did it! I moved the bed out of the nursery, with fantastic results (I say that now, since night has not yet fallen, and I have not gone to sleep in the room across the hall from sweet Bug). I am very pleased with how the nursery looks though. The changing table is now next to the bathroom door, which is convenient for rinsing dipes and the too-frequent occurrence of Annabel peeing during changes. I hung watercolors of Seattle and Verona, purchased on trips to those respective cities, over the changing table for Bug to look at during changes so she will appreciate the importance of travel and seeing the world.



I'm also thrilled with the $25 chair I scored from a moving sale on craigslist. It made a perfect nook for nursing and reading books. I hung Annabel's art from the Dogwood festival and her first roller derby over it.




I think I'm ready for Annabel to have her own room. I know I've used the blog to indulge my feelings of not wanting Bug to grow up. However, I'm really very excited to meet the little girl she grows into. Sure, a huge part of me wants to stay curled up on the couch with her in my arms forever. But that is selfish. The more rational side of me is terrified of smothering her and wants to fling her headlong into the world screaming "Fly, Bug, fly!" I suppose that is the age-old tension in parenthood --wanting your child to flourish in the world while simultaneously wanting to hold her close and baby her, and I have not stumbled onto something new. It is new to me, though, and even as I type this, she is asleep in the crook of my left arm, which is perhaps what has emboldened me to say I'm ready for the next step.


Regardless, tomorrow is a big day too. I'm dropping Annabel off for two hours at my firm's daycare for a trial run. I'm so lucky to have that perk -- it is such a nice facility run by lovely people. I know Annabel will enjoy the company of other kids. Then in two weeks I'll be enjoying the company of other lawyers.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Hoppy Easter



We had a lovely first Easter with Annabel. We went to church, then had a fantastic brunch at Radial Cafe (biscuits and vegetarian gravy!) which Annabel slept through, then spent the rest of the day hanging out together at home as a family. Annabel was a trooper during church. She made it through the entire service and even went up with me for communion. She was wearing one of my dresses and bonnets. It was her first foray into the world of bonnets. Mom swears that I loved them as a baby (I really think that means that I let her put them on me without complaint), and Annabel didn't mind it a bit either. She did continue to untie the ribbon and put the edge of the ruffle in her mouth. She looked supercute, which is a good thing because there are tons of my bonnets awaiting her as she grows.








After brunch, our sweet little Bug indulged me through a ridiculous photo session that involved her sitting in her Easter basket, a stuffed chick prop, and an outfit change. I think I might have gotten a bit carried away. I tiptoe ever closer to the terrifying world of Anne Geddes. Someone needs to stop me before it is too late. Here is the most disapproving face I got.





Though it was followed by this one:


I think she likes her new friend






It was a swell day, though I'm excited about future egg hunts, egg dyeing, making sugar eggs, getting up at the crack of dawn to see what sweet treats the Easter bunny brought, and attempting to explain the importance of Easter without it being terrifying or trivial.



I set the goal that we would take the bed out of Annabel's room on Easter and start sleeping in our bedroom again. Fox and I realized that we weren't quite ready yet and maybe Easter wasn't the right day to make this big change. I'm pretty sure this is a much harder change for us than for Annabel, but regardless, we are planning to go through with it on Wednesday. I am excited about rearranging the nursery to be more nursery-like, which has been somewhat impeded by the presence of the bed. I just find myself very resistant to change in a time that is filled with constant change. But Easter is about a major change, right? Can I do it? Check back and see.



Until then, The Foxes Three signing off!



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

And baby makes three (months, that is)

Tonight, my dear, sweet Annabel Jane turns three months old. And my, my it has certainly flown by. Yesterday I packed up several of her cute outfits that she's already outgrown, much to my dismay. She has started chatting constantly, mostly saying "Whooooo" -- sometimes insistently, and sometimes in a more relaxed, drawn-out manner (I would like to think this is because she is cognizant of her owl theme, but really "whoooo" is just fun to say. Seriously, try it). She can do a baby push up, where she lifts her whole chest off the floor and turns her head 180 degrees. She laughs in her sleep. She loves to be read books and poems. She has started picking up toys and shaking them around. She smiles when I act silly. In short, she is seeming less like a baby and more like a little girl each day, no matter how hard I try to hold on to her baby-ness.








As resistant as I already am to my baby growing up, I do love to watch other things grow. I mentioned that I come from two long lines of farmers, so it is probably in my blood to take great delight from digging in the dirt and watching plants spring forth. So, last week, we planted our garden on Annabel's twelve-week birthday. Two years ago we built a raised bed in the backyard and have had success with collards, various peppers, and tomatoes. This year, we got a cherry tomato varietal, a regular tomato varietal, spaghetti squash, a bell pepper, and our collards. I'm hoping our collards will come up -- we planted them from seed that we have used in previous years.







Also, my beloved yellow colander that we got as a wedding gift has started to shed its enamel, thus making me fear it is no longer food safe. I was delaying throwing it away because I like it so much, when Southern Living came to the rescue. The good writers there recommend using old colanders to plant strawberries, which thrive with good drainage. So we are trying it out. It sure would be nice to have strawberries this summer that I know aren't full of pesticide. Not to mention the mere thought that I could successfully execute something from Southern Living makes me positively giddy.





I hope Annabel likes to watch plants grow and dig in the dirt too. You may notice that she isn't too excited in her photo with the gardening supplies. But don't worry, once I described what we were doing with the plants, I got a much more positive response.










We had a big weekend. It's festival time in Atlanta, which is one of the best things about the city. Atlantans are not scared of throwing a festival for any occasion and do so constantly from April to September. On Saturday we went to the Sweetwater festival in Candler Park. The weather was gorgeous, so the festival was packed. We heard some great music and had a good Sweetwater beer, as we normally do at the festival. However, this year we also spent a good deal of time in the family area, which was new for us. Annabel was of course too young for the playground and bounce houses, but I think she liked being around the other kids (and I liked having her out of the crowd, though she was as cool as a cucumber there too).



On Sunday, we went to the Dogwood Festival, which is an art festival in Piedmont Park, 3 blocks from our house. Actually, Annabel and I went through the festival on Friday too as part of our daily walk in the park. I never realized that the festival gets fired up that early, since every other year I'm at work on Fridays. But our real day at the festival was Sunday because we went as a family. Fox and I enjoyed a fantastic lunch from Soul Vegetarian -- those guys make a mean vegan plate of barbequed tofu, collards, and mac n' cheese. We strolled and looked at art, hoping to get something nice for Annabel to call her own when she's old enough. We got a great piece by a local artist who does really great acrylics on wood of Atlanta signage. We picked out one depicting some of our favorite places, and figure Annabel can take it with her to her first place (if I ever let her move out of the house). The Dogwood Festival was also packed, but we had a lovely time. What can we say, the kid likes crowds! Or maybe she is excited about her art.




Thanks for checking in with us. Check back next week for an Easter edition of The Foxes Three. Will Annabel catch the Easter Bunny? Will she be confused as to what he has to do with the resurrection of Jesus? Will I be able to remove the bed from her nursery and sleep in a different room from her? The answers to these burning questions await you soon dear reader, but for now, signing off as a three month old...

Friday, April 8, 2011

Mules Rule

I've been a Georgian for almost six years now. Before that however, I was all Tennessee -- eighteen years in Columbia, four in Knoxville, and three in Nashville. In all the places I've lived, my hometown has always been able to draw me home the first weekend in April for a very special occasion -- Mule Day. I was so excited to share that special day with my daughter this year.





Mule Day has gotten strangely popular in recent years. It was identified as a major terrorist target by the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, and in a popular article, The New York Times used this as an illustration of ridiculousness in the department. Larry the Cable Guy's new series Only in America profiled Mule Day. Last year, Naomi Judd was the Grand Marshall. No matter how popular or unpopular it may become, it is one of my favorite days. I feel sorry for those who don't go home once a year to stand in front of the funeral home and watch a two-hour parade devoted to a sterile creature not intended by God or to the county park where the good prisoners are let out of jail for the day to load cinder blocks onto sleds behind teams of mules to see which can pull the most weight. It's a great reason to see family and friends who live far away.




Annabel enjoyed the parade and was on her best behavior. We invited some of our friends who have recently moved to Nashville to watch the parade with us and to come to my parent's house for a big southern lunch. Mom pulled out all the stops with a new grit recipe (featuring Rotel!), pimento cheese sandwiches, turnip greens, field peas, homemade biscuits, and two kinds of pie (chess and chocolate fudge...nom, nom, nom). We ate ourselves silly. Annabel took a nap.






We also got brave and took Annabel to church. She napped all the way until mid-sermon, when all indications were that we might have a diaper situation. I took her out to check, but it was a false alarm.

We also took the opportunity of being in Tennessee for Annabel to visit my mom's family farm, which is in Carthage (really Dixon Springs, if you want to be precise). I'm the first generation on both sides of my family to not grow up on a farm, which is a shame because I really enjoy farms. The upside is that I would not know Mule Day had I grown up on either of the family farms, and really life would be far less rad without Mule Day. We had nice weather and took lots of pictures. Annabel seemed to enjoy herself and looked supercute in her jeans.



The farmhouse my mother and grandfather grew up in is in the background, and the mounting block for getting on your horse is in the foreground. Much cuteness is in the middle. My great grandfather had the farmhouse built in the 1890's


Swinging on the front porch. Good times. We're back in Atlanta now, hoping to plant our garden this weekend. It's the Foxes' little urban slice of farm, if you will. I leave you with a parting shot of Mule Day -- Annabel and her pops, enjoying the parade. Until next year, mules...