January 16, 2012 0

Sunlit Nursery

By Mike in Genevieve, Photography

Genna enjoying some tummy time in her room.

January 14, 2012 1

A Quick Note About Breastfeeding

By Hallie in Baby Life

Nursing next to Lake Superior.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to go into details here for the sake of those of you readers who may not want to know too much information. But, I do want to just say that breastfeeding Genna has never been easy. From the start, she had difficulty latching, had to use a nipple shield (which is a whole other story), and would fall asleep before getting enough food. Then I developed mastitis. Then we had difficulty trying to get away from the nipple shield. Then nursing anywhere but home was extremely difficult with an incredibly active and squirmy baby, distraction, and hating the nursing cover. Then her teeth started coming in. Then I went back to work and my supply dropped significantly.

But now, at over 8 months postpartum, I am happy to say that we have made it this far still nursing. Other than growing and giving birth to our beautiful, amazing daughter, this accomplishment is the one that makes me most proud. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but not everyone realizes how hard breastfeeding can be, and it seems odd to have a family blog that never mentions what is, in fact, one of the biggest aspects of life with a baby. And when I start getting “looks” from people when they realize I am still nursing Genna, I just have to remind myself that this is the best possible situation for our family. I know breastmilk is–in so many ways–the best start to a healthy life, and I can give it to her. And I am.

January 12, 2012 0

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

By Mike in Books

Netherland

About three months ago I realized that I was no longer reading many books. I was using my time to read smaller pieces like articles and blogs on our iPad and I decided that I needed to get back into reading longer material. I closed out 2011 by reading several books and have resolved to do the same in 2012. I’m also going to get back into writing reviews of the books I read, much like I did back in the early days of the original manyhighways.

Netherland is my first read of the New Year and I zipped through it quickly. The book is written in the first person perspective of Hans, a banker who has immigrated to New York with his wife and young son. Hans and his wife are displaced by 9/11 and the event makes Hans’ wife realize that she wants to separate. After she leaves and heads back to London with the couple’s son, Hans is left looking for something to grasp onto, and he becomes friends with an interesting character named Chuck Ramkissoon who reconnects Hans with the sport of cricket. Both cricket and Chuck become the focal points of Hans’ life, though other strange characters wander in and out occasionally, including a man who walks around the city wearing angel wings. The strange characters and experiences in the book make Hans’ life feel surreal to the reader at times, but I also found myself rooting for him as he stumbles around rudderless until the end of the story.

As a former resident of New York, I was curious to read this book because of the cricket, which I often saw immigrant men playing in the large fields of Queens’ parks. I wondered about the sport while riding past matches on my way to play softball in the other large fields of Queens. O’Neill clearly understands the cricket subculture and city itself. Though I know nothing about cricket, I found myself nodding in agreement when he explains how all New Yorkers feel obliged to comment about each other’s living spaces and even ask, “How much are you paying?” when in other parts of America this would be considered rude. He describes small layers and nuances of the city and its people in a way that only someone who has lived in the city can, and this made the book very enjoyable for me. O’Neill is also a wonderful writer, and narrates in long, well-crafted, descriptive sentences without coming across as condescending and only occasionally slowing down the pace of the text. I could certainly have dealt with fewer reminiscences about Hans’ childhood in the Netherlands, for example.

Ultimately, I did feel that I got to know Hans’ character well, and this is what kept me turning the pages. This book was a great way to start another year of reading. Not screen reading, but good old-fashioned page turning.

January 8, 2012 1

Genna & Keys

By Mike in Genevieve, Photography

I told her that if she could crawl to the keys I’d let her drive the car but she didn’t seem that interested. Thus, no crawling… yet.

January 7, 2012 0

Genna Is Eight Months Old!

By Hallie in Genevieve

Today marks Genevieve’s “eighth month birthday” exactly, as she was born on a Saturday. Therefore, we thought it appropriate to do a much-needed update on what our sweet girl is up to these days.

Genna is growing very quickly. She is already wearing 12 month onesies (although they always seem to run small) and has been comfortably fitting into most 9 month-sized clothes for a few weeks. Interestingly, we have not had to adjust her cloth diaper snaps (and thus, the size of the diaper) since she was first wearing them at around 9 weeks of age. This means our baby is growing a bit longer than she is wide every month, and we can definitely tell by how she almost touches both ends of the changing table at the same time now! Though she hasn’t been weighed for a while now, we’re guessing she’s somewhere close to 18 pounds, which is good, because she should hopefully be around 21 pounds by her first birthday, which would be triple her birth weight.

Happy girl at 8 months!

Along with this growth comes many new skills. Genna has been sitting relatively well for about a month, though she still takes the occasional tumble. Every day, though, she seems to gain more core control as she reaches for things nearby and can get upright again withoutfalling over. She also decided to celebrate her eight months by showing us some major achievements today: she rolled from her back to her tummy numerous times (previously, she preferred to only go from her tummy to her back) today and was met with applause from her mom and dad, since this is something we have been hoping to see for a few months now. Today she also attended our friend Kristen’s baby shower, and in her excitement about a new baby girl friend on the way, she began scooting and pushing herself all over the floor in pursuit of interesting things, like books, beads, water bottles, and the other 8 month old at the party. She’s not yet lifting herself up on all fours, and seems to find it more difficult to go forward than backward, but we sense that those obstacles are not far from being defeated. Hooray for a big day development-wise!

So big! But still getting used to wearing shoes.

In the world of nutriment, Genevieve has now explored many foods beyond the basic carrots, squash, peas, sweet potatoes and pears: she also likes applesauce, bananas, avocado, green beans, apricots, prunes, oatmeal, corn, broccoli, chicken, turkey, peaches, and mangos. She’s a great eater and is getting better and better with finger food. Her pincer grasp is almost good enough to feed herself un-frozen peas and bits of rice crackers. This is important, as she needs something to practice chewing with–she has her two bottom front teeth, and her two middle upper ones are just popping through now!

Working on the peas and blueberries...

Genna continues to delight us every day with her huge grins, or pixie smiles, as Grandma Kay calls them. She giggles and laughs a lot, and her laughs–like her burps–are quite hearty. Just making her laugh is entertaining. She entertains herself by chewing on her toes, but she loves being tickled and hugged even more. We are so proud of our little girl, and can’t wait to see what the next four months bring as we journey through her first year together.

"Being 8 months old makes me happy! And so do baths!"

January 6, 2012 1

A Time, Quiet

By Hallie in Writing

A time, quiet,
filled with golden light.
Sunshine streaming in the window.
Breezes, soft, warm, and then cool.
Happy, gentle traffic,
vehicles pulling people to work, to home.
Same road, same lights, every day.
Change was only visible by the backpacks which emerged one warm afternoon.
The yellow buses began their dutiful service.

But for us, there was only the room, the house, the sidewalk, the trees, the sky.
A globe, smaller and more calm, in which we contentedly dwelled.
Each day we learned more about each other.
Each day we saw something new,
the face of the other ever original, ever remarkable.
The eyes, the cheeks, the arms, the tummy, the thighs, the feet,
these were it.
The most beautiful creation. The most astonishing creature.
This body, to support that one. This body, meant for this time.
The bedroom, the open windows, the quiet promise every afternoon,
the sleepiness settles over us.
The time will come, I knew then.

The time did come.
I returned to the larger world, the louder one, the faster one.

But those golden, quiet months hang like a drop of light,
forever.
I know that time was precious, unrepeatable, and limited.
In my heart, in my memory,
that soft existence
is what I will cherish.
This was my first-born time, my daughter’s time.

January 1, 2012 0