Full House

This summer, as you all know, has been an experiment in family dynamics (and, so my father who is currently in a grad class at Washington University with the terrifying title, "Oil Wars" tells me, it may become the norm as the decades pass and we Americans persist in our addictive love affair with foreign oil ;-) as Leon, Sydney, and I have become residents in my parents' home.

It's been super. Syd is so happy, and Leon and I are so thankful. I suppose, the family member who seems most distressed is Bailey, but that might just be his 9 years of Golden Retriever life creeping up on him (though he sure does love chasing squirrels in the backyard! My folks seem to have an abundance.)

This week, our full house is totally stuffed as my sister has come to town with her kids: Gabe (7), Asher (3.75), and Rhylah (21 months). Nate (her hubby) gets here Friday, and we will indeed be a massive grouping of Staude-Jameson-Harrmanns. It's pretty outstanding, truthfully - and my sister made the observation that this is the first time she and I have both stayed here since she got married! So Mom and Dad are totally loving it; all the kids are HOME. And until I became a parent, I don't think I could have truly grasped how neat this must actually be.

With family dynamics ever in flux and families living farther and farther apart, this time of togetherness is really something to be cherished. Here's what's great about family all together:

1. It's loud - really loud, kinda crazy loud. This is good for Sydney, who as an only child lacks that chaotic normalcy that comes with siblings and larger family units. Loud means you have to listen more closely; express more carefully; and generally appreciate the speed and intensity that comes with all that energy. It's good for people like me who tend to focus a bit too intensely on the schedule, the routine, and the details.

2. Everybody pitches in - or nothing gets done. You help clean; make sure the kids have dinner; keep an eye on everyone in the pool; pick up other people's toys; share your bed with the kids because they love to get up early and just want to be with you. It's a wonderful sense of together that you don't often get in "normal" suburban family living these days.

3. You make memories that matter - I wish Syd was a little older. Today in church during the last hymn, Papa (that's my Dad) was holding her, and suddenly Rhylah wanted to be held, too. So there was Papa (getting some serious forearm work done) with his girls and the congregation singing, and Kate and I watching them -- and I had this thought, "they won't ever remember this." But Kate and I will. And they'll always know his love for them, even when he can't pick them up!

We all know that American family life is in a state of change. Different roles, increased financial concerns, competing schedules of family members, job transitions, more extra curriculuar things for the kids to do than ever before - having everyone share a space is just not what happens that often, if at all, for many families. It's a total joy to have this summer of family life, and to find new connections and meaning in our relationships with each other. It's one of those "I wouldn't trade it" experiences, and that makes us all very glad, indeed.

A Day At the Zoo!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Home Again, Home Again

It's been awhile since I've had the time to post. As ever, I've got plenty of inclination. It must be 25 times a day that I think, "Oh! That would make an interesting post!" - but finding the time remains the tired challenge.

Well, that, and the grim fact that just about half of what I think about posting I decide I really can't because - after all - we can't be terribly honest in our blogs when everyone we know reads them, now can we! Some of my best observations just need to be launched in a more anonymous way, I suppose - which screams loudly about my day-to-day environment.

Here's the update:

Everything has been an absolute jumble. We've recently moved out of our 8-year home on Almond Tree Drive, and are in the far too grown-up process of building a new place to call home (on Lankin Drive ... and I have to say that street name bugs me, because I truly wanted a more lyrical street to call home!). At present, we are living with my parents on Norwich Street.

Yup. Age 33 and home with the 'rents, and with my hubby and Baby Girl in tow! It's a strange sort of familiar, yet totally foreign experience. Living home again means knowing the morning sounds of the house; sitting in my familiar spot at the dining room table (and of course forcing Mom and Dad - who over the years have moved to sit next to one another as opposed to flanking their daughters - to do the same); and feeling far too comfy with draping my laundry over chairs, my shoes across the living room floor, and my hair assecories in the bath (okay, I actually haven't done these last few things - too much - but I think about doing them, and that’s the point)

I'm really looking forward to the summer. So far, over these last three weeks all together, all four of us: mom, dad, Leon, and me - have already determined that we've eaten more meals at a table than we have in months (too usual to just grab and go, or grab and sit (in front of the idiot box) depending on the schedule of the evening!) We've gone on more walks. Had more lengthy chats about religion and politics (my two favorite topics with Dad!). We've spent time laughing. Watching goofy TV (like the Bacheloerette!) and generally enjoying Sydney. And eating lots of Lyons custard, which is the neighborhood place and I must say – bring on the Swiss Mint Concretes, please!

Don't get me wrong - we all enjoy great, balanced, happy lives in our own spaces – but we're all game to enjoy these few months of being a unique version of the American nuclear family. It's pretty great, and I am fairly certain that the experience will be essentially special for me, for Leon, for Mom and Dad, and definitely for Miss Syd - who seems to realize already that she has four adults to love, hug, and be amused by her.

So here's to being home again - there's no place like it.

Saturdays and Sundays

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Little-Old Me

There's this strange feeling of déjà vu; or maybe it’s just the idea that “what goes around" truly does come around; a moment of seeing yourself in some sort of Benjamin-Button way—looking with old eyes and middle-aged perspective at a younger, sillier, more whimsical version of yourself. At any rate, however you want to define it, being the Mom of a precocious, earnest, purposeful little toddler I'm hit with these moments about 29 times a day.

Sometimes it’s profound (or at least I like to think so). Other times it’s touching. Sometimes it’s a bit unsettling (“oops, don’t want her to be like me in that way … ouch!)

This weekend, it was just pure fun. We came home from 4-days in Dallas to find our little girl’s imagination had quadrupled in size. Her current fancy: baby dolls. And so, at the end of our grocery shopping this weekend (given of course that we were in our new Super Wal-Mart where I can buy hummus and car batteries in one fell swoop), we headed to the toy aisle and purchased …

A Cabbage Patch Newborn™

Her name is Paula (not a terribly "baby like" name; my doll as a kid was named Linda. Who names these things may I ask?) We are calling her Baby Polly. Sydney loves her, very much.

Now, back in the day my sister and I wanted Cabbage Patch dolls soooooo bad. Oh my goodness, it was intense. And in the mid-1980s, the 30 dollar price tag was more than steep. But one magical day, this enormous box arrived from my Grandma Joan in Michigan. And there were our dolls. It was totally great. So, I have to admit, I felt pretty cool selecting Sydney's first Cabbage Patch Kid (and yes, I held up option, and the winner was the box she decided to lick.)

So here’s to the next few precious year’s when Sydney will be happy and content to dream and play “in the nursery”. I wish I could let her stay little forever. But something tells me, I’m going to really love the girl, teenager (yes, teenager), young woman, and grown woman this child is working to become.