A tooth

Well, the peanut turned 9 months this week, which is mindblowing to me. I mean, when did that happen? He has had some major events occur over this time as well. He's great at crawling, for one. He finally, after 3 months, got that one (his first) bottom tooth in. He pulls up like crazy. And he's in his big boy car seat, at last. We haven't had the money for it but it was on sale at a.ll.bee baby. We got a GREAT deal.

I don't have much to say. I'm sick with a cold. We are headed out for Thanksgiving to J's sis in the detroit area. The peanut's first train ride, other than the el, which he rode for the first time last weekend, when we went to rally for marriage equality (his first rally too).

See if you can see that tooth.Also for your viewing pleasure, behold the boy who does his own diaper laundry.

Where have I been?

It's been so long since I've posted. Peanut has gone from sitting to scooting backwards and now, almost crawling. It's kind of awe-inspiring how much he learns and how much he changes every day. As i've mentioned, I am the working mom. We spend our time together in the mornings so J can sleep, and so she can ready herself for the day (by getting enough sleep). And then I'm off to work for the day, missing them both, wishing I could be there to see him. We live in Chicago, and my commute is about an hour, no matter how I slice it. It can be less, but it rarely is. Some times J packs peanut in the car and they come get me from work which is awesome.

Right now, J is at a knitting night with the moms she is friends with and I'm at home with peanut, who is asleep. His new bedtime is 7:30. That's the nice thing about daylight savings time. What isn't as nice is the morning at 5:30. But it helps me get to work more on time.

W

Where else have I been?

Apple Orchard

Visit with J's Nephews,

Peanut's first Halloween.

Election 08

Amazed at my crawling, standing, hugging clapping really cute baby.

Sad that he's growing so fast.

Dog training

being a mom.

oh, and crafting.

St. Paul

We have been back from ST. Paul for just about a week now and I've been too busy catching up and getting new tires and other car things to update this page. We had a great time in ST. Paul. It was fun to see peanut so engaged with so many people. He really lit up every room. Jen's mom taught him "high 5" and how to clap, and he actually used the clap on his own to clap for winnie the other day when we told her "yay" for leaving one of the baby's toys alone. He's so smart. He's been getting better at sleeping and moving around. He scoots (slides) backwards on the floor. We're still getting used to feeding him solid foods, but it's happening at least once a day. He likes pears the best.

We also got to meet the peanut's cousin, which was awesome. He was so cute and small, oh, my. I don't remember when peanut was that small. He was fascinated by the wee baby and I can't wait to see them in the future, wrestling and playing.


I also finished another peanut elephant for the new baby. That makes 3. i modified the tail on this one, making a flannel tail sewn on with the machine instead of the original that has a yarn tail sewn on with an upholstery needle.

Chicago, a test

J & I moved here about 5 years ago from Pittsburgh, where we went to Graduate School for poetry (and where we also met, 2 poets, on their way up into dreamland). We moved for culture and for adventure, to be closer to St. Paul (than Pittsburgh, which is twice the distance), and for a wealth of other reasons. And it has culture, and adventure, and it's a gorgeous city, and i love the people here. But I have to say, Chicago is a hard city to live in, and I'm currently failing its test.

I don't hate it here...not that, but I feel like Chicago is constantly testing us, constantly seeing if we're worthy of it. Being on mostly one income now has brought this point even closer to the surface. We just don't have the money to pay for Chicago's costs anymore. Between parking tickets (late by 2 minutes to a parking meter, and a zone i used to always park in turning into zoned parking), speeding ticket (screaming hungry baby, and I'm not the milk mom), and other fees and the sales tax at 10.25% it just feels like Chicago is constantly saying to us that we can't afford it here. I don't like to complain about money. I feel like we are the luckiest people on earth with our son, but at the same time, I just wish Chicago would give us a break. We just got back from a trip to St. Paul, which was fabulous. I love St. Paul. But I got into the car yesterday to find that I had a tire problem. Took it in to the dealership to find that we have 2 unrepairable tires. TWO! The car is 7 months old. Nails in the sidewalls. So now on top of everything else, I have to figure out how to get that into the budget. I wish I could ticket Chicago for the tires. All the construction, I'm sure that the nails came from that.

Don't get me wrong Chicago, I love you. But where's the loving me back?

I'll post more about St. Paul on a later date. I just got struck by the Chicago test again, and I had to say something.

Tuesday Tired

So the Peanut was up every hour last night, or that was how it felt anyway. He's definitely teething, and maybe growing too. Regardless, it makes for a rough nights sleep for his moms. It's tuesday, and i also have to go to the dentist, yuck, so that's no good. Or if the peanut is reading this, mommy gets to go to the dentist, yeah! (we want to make sure he has positive feelings about the dentist since his moms are both dentist phobics)

Peanut's visit at my moms went well. He was charming and well received. This weekend we are headed to St. Paul to visit J's family. Her brother has a new babe and we're going to meet him for the first time. Peanut is excited.
I have a lot of crafting to do before that, and I'm not sure when I'll slip that into my day. I'm at work now, stealing from my job a few minutes to post this to the world. I want to make the new baby an elephant from Hilary Lang's pattern. Aptly named peanut. Here is the one I made for my Peanut.
I also made one for his friend noah. New baby's will be white with this cute nursery themed pattern. I'll post pics later on.

So today, in sum: dentist, tired, crafting anxiety.

Oh, wait. I want to post a picture of the dog. This is Winnie, or as she likes for people to know, the one they used to love the most before the baby.

Here she's waiting for food to drop. Peanut is eating, and she knows this means good things for dogs.

The rain in the plains

Rainy Day. Today is my peanut day. I get most responsibility for peanut on saturdays and sundays. I love it and it also wears me out. He's napping now and j is out shopping for stuff we need. We all went to target earlier and finally got the fp space saver high chair that we've been wanting. So different from what we thought we'd want before peanut was born when we wanted a wooden one that was twice the price. This one was on sale so that was super cool. 

this blog is boring and i don;t know why anyone would want to read it.

we might go to the renegade craft fair tomorrow, if the rain quits. otherwise, just a quiet day at home and i'll try to take peanut over to my moms for a visit, which is always hard...but that's life.

alright. i am typing in the dark right now. and so i guess i should go check the laundry.

new blog

well, here i finally am, creating my blog. Not sure i like the title i chose, but not having a title is why i've been not doing it for so long. I've been here searching and reading blog-land for some time, and now I've decided to add my voice out here.

I am a mom, a proud lesbian mom raising a son with my partner who works out of the home. He will be 7 months old in a week. I'll be calling him peanut. and my partner, I'll refer to as j.
maybe I'll be less discreet in time. I'm so new to this blogging thing. And new things are scary.