Latest on Sam

Every other day, Sam gets some time to play on the iPad. He likes to play Angry Birds games, and he has little Angry Birds Star Wars and Angry Birds Transformers telepods that can be used in conjunction with the games. Often, after he finishes playing, Sam will line up his telepods along the kitchen windowsill. These little lineups of figurines make me smile, because they remind me of how sometimes Sam likes to have things looking "just so."

In addition to being a great big brother (whose duties have extended to sitting in a laundry basket), Sam has been learning and changing a lot lately. One of the most recent changes in Sam has been his new interest in art and drawing. Over the past few weeks Sam has independently decided to draw or create some artistic thing, and it has been fun to see what projects he ends up creating. Many of his art projects involve abstract patterns and fields of color. When Sam started to make these, J gave me a knowing look that meant, "These are my genes passing down - see how he likes Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painters?!?"

Some of Sam's recent art creations on our fridge

After Sam finished this drawing, we showed Sam how his art looks a bit similar to one of Rothko's paintings.

Sam's interest in art even became intermingled with another new interest: football! I suppose it's hard for little boys to ignore all of the hype when the local football team goes to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row. Sam got some images of the Seahawks logo from school (on the last Blue Friday before the big game). He came right home from school and immediately wanted to color the logos - he even forewent a snack and an after-school television show (gasp!) because he wanted to finish his project.

 Sam wanted one logo hung on his bedroom door, and the other logo hung on the master bedroom door. They are still here right now, even though the Super Bowl was a few weeks ago.

J and Sam watched the Super Bowl. They were so fixated on the game, that I finally just brought their dinner to them on "TV trays" (i.e. a cookie sheet and a roasting pan). Sam has just really become interested in football over the past few months, due to the interest in the Seahawks.

Sam continues to love to go to museums. We were excited to learn that there was an exhibition of Star Wars costumes coming to our area, and we got to go to the show on its opening weekend. It was a really fascinating exhibition and I loved to learn about some of the historical influences on the costume choices (for example, that costume designers looked to the rich colors of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood for the dresses of Queen Amidala and her attendants). Sam loved seeing the costumes for Darth Vader and a storm trooper the most, but he was also excited about this display case that had Boba Fett and Jango Fett's suits placed side-by-side:

There also was a Nintendo exhibition at the same museum, and Sam wanted to pose for photos by this wall. He's probably one of the few kids his age who can recognize this game, since our video game console is an old NES System!

"Jumping" to get the mystery box

 Feigning terror at the approaching enemies (it was his idea to pose for this shot)

Every few days I am struck by old Sam has become. He is getting to be quite tall! He is still a voracious reader and loves to read books from the library. Right now he mostly enjoys picture books, but we are still reading the Oz chapter books together. We are in The Tin Woodman of Oz right now. He also still loves the Garfield comic books. We usually bring large stacks of picture books home (usually between twenty and thirty books) and Sam will "binge read" and finish them in a few hours.

Sam isn't too interested in wearing costumes anymore (I'm sad this era is ending), but he occasionally will dress up when he has a friend come over to play. Here he is playing with his BFF Lewis. These bright boys make quite the creative, imaginative pair!

Lucy's Eighth Month

Lucy is almost eight months old! It is hard to believe that she is growing up so quickly. Despite that she slept well for a couple of days earlier this month, we are still having a rough time getting her to sleep through the night consistently. If anything, it seems like her sleep patterns have gotten worse than what they were like in January. I fear that my milk supply is decreasing, and I worry that she is waking up hungry. Luckily, just over the past three days we have had a major breakthrough with Lucy eating solids (finally!): she will at least open her mouth for a spoon. Just over the weekend we got her to eat peaches, carrots, and rice cereal with quite a bit of success. Let's hope that she can get more calories that way, especially if my supply is decreasing.

I've been thinking lately about how Lucy is different than Sam, partially because of her hesitance to eat solid foods. Sam never had a problem eating solids - at least, he would open his mouth to try them! Lucy also is a little bit of a melodramatic nurser - she dramatically clamps down on me with her gums (and then twists her head away from me while still clamping down - ouch!) to indicate that she is finished drinking. This gets to be a bit of a nuisance when it happens multiple times a day (and at least once at night). She is a silly!

Lucy seems most interested in feeding herself food. I have gotten her to suck on apple slices a few times. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but I hope that we can do more finger foods in the next month or two.

I took this picture to send to my grandma, who bought this outfit for Lucy

An early morning picture, just after she ate. This is one of her "What are you doing?" faces.

Don't be fooled by that messy face and tray - she hardly ate anything during this sitting. But I love her straight smile. It reminds me of the S family smile.

My valentines!

Another valentine shot! Lucy is wearing an outfit from Gram and Bop.

 

 She loves getting to splash in the bathtub with Sam!

Cheesy Bubba Face

This is her "pick me up" pose. When she anticipates getting picked up, her body goes rigid, her arms lift slightly, and she points her toes.

 Where's Lucy?

There she is!

This is her "Where did Sam go?" expression. She looks like this whenever Sam walks out of the room.

She sat in the grocery store cart for the first time this weekend. It's nice to be able to put groceries in the main area of the actual cart again - her carseat would usually take up most of that space before.

I sometimes turn on an episode of Baby Einstein to show Lucy while I am getting ready for the day. Yesterday Sam heard the Baby Einstein music and ran upstairs to watch the show with Lucy. He apparently felt the need to sit in a plastic contraption too, since he grabbed a laundry basket to sit down!

 

They make quite a pair!

My Recent Art Discoveries

There have been several paintings going around Twitter that I have liked recently, and I thought that I would share them here. It doesn't seem appropriate to share these paintings on my art history blog, because I don't have anything scholarly or noteworthy to say about them. And besides, I like these paintings for more personal reasons, so I'd rather explain myself here.

Albert Gustav Edelfelt, Idyll, 1878

I just was introduced to this painting tonight, and I love it for a lot of reasons. First of all, I want to wear a ruffly pink dress like that (complete with a parasol as an accessory!) while I sit outside in a garden and read a book. In fact, the sleeves of this dress remind me a bit of the sleeves that I had added to my wedding dress. I showed this painting to J tonight and said it would be nice to have him wear a handsome suit and join me in such a garden, and he jokingly responded (while looking at the male figure), "Yes, you'd want me to wear both a suit and a full head of hair!" Ha ha! (I only don't want J to be smoking a cigarette. Everything else in this picture is ideal. An ideal idyll.)
 

 Albert Edelfelt, Good Friends (Portrait of the Artist's Sister Bertha Edelfelt), 1881

This is another painting by the Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt. I've only recently begun to discover his art. This painting is so great on many levels, especially because of the girl's dress, reddish-orange stockings and shoes. I love the colors and textures of the silken pillows, too. Lately I've thought about getting a print of this painting and putting it in Lucy's room. Maybe it would encourage her to love reading (and cute little doggies) as she gets older. (Note: HERE is a higher resolution image of the painting. The coloring is a bit different, and I'm not quite sure which one is accurate. But I think I like the color scheme a bit better in the image I have posted.)

 Albert Edelfelt, Chez L'Artiste (Les Graveurs), 1881
One last painting by Edelfelt. Some of the proportions of the woman's body are a wee bit funky, but I still like this painting quite a bit. This painting reminds me a little bit of other paintings from the 19th century that depict women in studio spaces. But I especially love this painting because of the dress.  The black and white details seem like something that Manet would love to paint. And that the woman is looking at art, of course.

Wilhelm Schutze (1840-1898), Best Friends, n.d.

The style of this genre painting reminds me a bit of Greuze and Chardin. Perhaps I am becoming drawn to depictions of little girls because I now have a daughter myself. The round cheeks and soft arms of this little girl make me think about Lucy and what she might look like in the next few years. Plus, I just think that this subject matter is very sweet. Another painting with a little girl that recently appealed to me is George Frederich Leighton's The Music Lesson (1884).

 Lawrence Alma Tadema, A Kiss, 1891
This is another painting with a darling little girl that makes me think of Lucy. I like to think that the woman on the right, who is kissing the little girl, is the girl's mother. Plus, the light blue color of the water is very striking. I also love the composition, with the high horizon line of the water and the strong receding line created by the stone parapet on the left.

 Winslow Homer, Morning Glories, 1873

I like this painting for a lot of reasons. First of all, I like that this painting takes me by surprise, because it doesn't really remind me of other paintings by Winslow Homer. The potted plants in the foreground remind me of RB and the old Bellevue house. I also like the outfit of this girl, and I like to think how the windows are a little reminiscent of the windows of my own house. Plus, I like the geometricity of the composition and the red hues of the house and plants. J likes the flatness of the painting, with a lot of straight lines and rows.

I also like this painting because it reminds me of my mom. On one hand, I think that my mom would have liked the subject matter, since she liked some paintings of young females that were outdoors or out in nature (like Bougureau's shepherdesses). But this painting's title also reminds me of a poem that my mom wrote when she was in elementary school. I think she wrote this poem when she was in first or second grade, if I remember right. My mom's teacher really praised her for this poem, and it is quite nice. My mom told us about getting recognized for this poem by her teacher, and I can tell that it really made a positive impression on her. I think it's a great example of how a teacher's sincere enthusiasm and encouragement is not easily forgotten by the student. I'm pretty sure that this is how my mom's poem went:

 The morning glory

Has come again

To wind around my roses. 

Claude Monet, The Magpie, 1869

I love the composition of this painting, as well as the long blue shadows that infiltrate into the foreground of this piece, creating a nice contrast with the white snow. This painting was made a few years before Impressionism really took off, and in some ways the whites and dark browns remind me a bit more of Manet's aesthetic (except Manet would have used black instead of brown, if he had made this painting). So, to me, this Monet is like a warm, outdoorsy Manet.

Alfred Stevens, Young Woman Reading, 1906

 I love the strong composition in this painting, in having the girl centrally placed and frontally oriented. I also love that she has one petite foot peeking out from her dress, and this foot helps to subtly emphasize the vertical axis of the painting. Plus, that dress! I need a frilly white dress for when I read. (In truth, the white tiered curtains in Lucy's room look very similar to this dress.) The gauzy fabric and flowing lines of the tiered skirt provide a nice contrast from the direct, frontal composition. Plus, this dress is awesome because tiered skirts remind me of the Minoans and the depiction of Shamash on the Stele of Hammurabi.

John White Alexander, An Idle Moment, 1885

 This lady has the auburn hair that Anne Shirley and I could only dream of owning. And did you notice the lovely curl that is coming out of her bun? I think that this painting's title fits with the subject matter, but the strong brushstrokes used to create the hair and the sleeve of this women suggest anything but an idle moment on part of the artist. What vigor and purpose are shown through these strokes! This painting is also great because the dark palette, combined with the fair skin of the woman's arm, remind me a little of Caravaggio's dark palette and tenebristic techniques.

George Elgar Hicks, On the Seashore, 1879

I love the sweet, fluid lines that are used to create the dainty facial features of this girl. Plus, I love the way that her tresses are lightly swept about by the wind. (J pointed out that the texture and color of this girl's hair is similar to that of my sister V.) This girl seems graceful to me for so many reasons, even in the manner that she lifts her hand up to her neckline. I'd love to carry myself and look as graceful as this figure.

George Frederich Leighton, The Painter's Honeymoon, 1864

I love this painting, not only because of the composition and texture created by the woman's dress on the right, but also because of the subject matter. It reminds me of how I like to sit with J and look at his different creative projects (although his projects most often appear on a computer screen instead of a draftsman's board). But I think that the sentiment is the same. Here is a wife who is invested in and appreciative of the creativity of her spouse. Plus, I love the way that the figures are holding hands and leaning against each other, since it reminds me of how J and I like to express our mutual affection and love.

I suppose you can tell what type of subject matter and aesthetic has been appealing to me lately! I like depictions of women in period clothing who are reading books or lost in thought. (J sums it up by saying that I like paintings of women in "foofy dresses.") It's funny how much I am drawn to paintings of the 19th century. When I was an undergrad, I deliberately avoided taking an upper-level class on 19th century art, because of my childish dislike for Impressionism (a silly opinionated bias that I have overcome, except for my distaste for Renoir). But in truth, the 19th century is really where I am drawn. If I could go back in time, I would have focused more energy on learning about the 19th century when I was a student.

A full night's sleep!

I just want to record that last night, for the first time (at just over seven months), Lucy really slept through the night. Yay! Finally! She slept from 7:30 pm until 6:30 am. (I did have to get up for thirty seconds to put her paci in her mouth around 2:00 or so, but I'm not counting that.)

It's been a long road to get her to sleep through the night (especially with her two bouts of coughs over the past month), but I hope this trend continues! I had more energy today than I have had in a long time. I realized that it has been well over a year since I've gotten to consistently sleep through the night, since when I was pregnant I had to get up in the night to use the restroom.

This photo was taken yesterday, during one of Lucy's naps. She was watching the Super Bowl with Jer and just closed her eyes and fell asleep for a good thirty minutes or so. They had a cute snuggle while she slept. I'm glad she is learning to sleep in diverse settings! Sam was never this versatile when it came to sleeping conditions.

Seven Months Old!

Our Snuggle Bug is seven months old! She has learned how to sit up by herself, and just over the past week she has started to do a lot of babbling ("da-da-da-da" or "ba-ba-bah"). She likes to jumpy-jump-jump in her little Baby Einstein jumper, and she has learned how to push down on the little keyboard to make sound. She also likes to make squeaking sounds on the keyboard cover of our piano, by sliding her little fingers along the wood. (In fact, she prefers to "play" the piano this way, more so than pounding on the keys themselves!)

Lucy is not very interested in eating solids yet. So far, we have had a tiny bit of success with her eating pears, but that's about it. She will not open her mouth for food on a spoon, although she'll try to put just about everything else (non-foods) in her mouth. We have jokingly called her "Fort Knox," "The Berlin Wall," and "The Great Wall of China," because she will not open up for anything. If we are able to get any food inside, she usually spits all of it out. But we are trying to bring down her little wall each day. Once she gets teeth, I may try doing Baby Led Weaning instead, if I don't ever have success with strained foods.

We have been sleep training Lucy, and we are now at a point where we can put her down in her crib (with her still awake) and let her fall asleep on her own. If she does cry, it is only for a minute or two. I used to sing her "Edelweiss" and "Inchworm" before leaving the room, but lately she's been acting annoyed, as if I'm keeping her from going to sleep with my singing. She knows when she is tired and is usually ready to just settle down and relax.

She loves going for outings in the Baby Bjorn. She usually is outward-facing in the carrier, but I think we were trying to get her to fall asleep in this shot. Here we are visiting the Pretzel Tree Trail on New Year's Day.

Sam is still her favorite person in the world.

Watching her first episode of Baby Einstein on YouTube. I love how the roundness of her tummy is perceptible here.

Another Baby Einstein shot. This setup (with Lucy in the exersaucer , looking at a laptop on a chair) is just about the same way that Sam used to watch Baby Einstein as a baby. She doesn't have a very long attention span for watching Baby Einstein (especially in comparison with Sam), but I can usually get something done for about 5-8 minutes with her in this setup.

She knows what it means when I say, "Smile!"

Getting Our Bearings

I took this photo of Sam about two weeks ago, since I was amused at the position that he assumed while reading his books from the library. But now, as I'm looking at this photo tonight, I think that it is a pretty good summation of what our lives have been like this past month. We are been functioning alright and getting things done, albeit in uncomfortable and less-than-ideal conditions. (Although I think Sam would counter that he thinks this splayed position on the loveseat is really comfortable.)

It's been hard for us to get into a good routine since school started up again after the new year began. Lucy had a mild cough at the beginning of the month, which disrupted our attempt at sleep training her. (She still is waking up in the night, but she is getting better.) Then, just as Lucy's cough was starting to improve, J had appendicitis and had to go into the hospital for an emergency appendectomy! We are grateful that his parents were able to help us through that ordeal and over the following few days, but that unexpected surgery took us for a turn. I felt pretty exhausted after that week, since J couldn't help me as much with the kids or daily chores.

And since J has returned to work, Lucy and I have come down with horrible colds. I haven't felt myself for almost a week, and Lucy has been miserable for probably four days. We both have a stubborn, hacking cough that wakes us up at night. My voice threatened to go out on Friday, but luckily I made it through my class. Anyhow, as a result from J's surgery and these various coughs/colds, we have spent a lot of time this month just sitting around the house. This is a typical scene for me to see:

Despite all of the discomforts and adjustments, we have had some fun, too. Last week Fictionist came up here to play, and it was fun to see the band play and catch up with them after the show. We haven't been the best at keeping in close touch with the band (and their wives) since we moved up here, and I'm a little bit sad about that, especially since we all look older every time we do get together. So for me, seeing the band now is somewhat semi-sweet: I have these melancholic notions of the passage of time and loss of close friendship (especially for J with the guys) but also a remembrance of our happy times and then fun that we had in being part of that tight unit.

Snowshoeing and a Resolution

As J and I ate dinner during our anniversary, we recapped the ways that we have celebrated our anniversary over the past nine years:

• 1st (2006): Stayed in cottage at RB, ate Greek food in Bellevue
• 2nd (2007): Went shopping at outlets in Park City (I was pregnant with Sam)
• 3rd (2008): Spend this one apart; it was right after my mom was diagnosed
• 4th (2009): Stayed at home and J gave me four poems and gifts for each year of our marriage; this anniversary was right after my mom passed away
• 5th (2010): Went to Victoria and stayed at the Fairmont Empress hotel
• 6th (2011): Signed papers to purchase our new home! (We didn't go out that night, since we had just spent all of our savings that morning, but we stayed home and celebrated with Sam.)
• 7th (2012): Went to a fancy French restaurant, a performance by the symphony, and stayed at the Fairmont Olympic hotel (see post HERE).
• 8th (2013): We went to an Italian restaurant with Sam at Crossroads Mall. I was pregnant with Lucy. (J has to keep reminding me what we did this year; my food wasn't that great and it wasn't as memorable as other years. Plus, I was just getting over my stint of morning sickness in my pregnancy.)
• 9th (2014): We went snowshoeing as a family! And J and I had takeout food from the Bombay House in Bellevue, which makes delicious vegetarian and vegan Indian food.

Snowshoeing was a lot of fun. We had several mishaps in finding the right parking lot and place that we intended to go at Stevens Pass (only to find out that the Nordic Trail area was too icy and steep for Sam's little legs), so we ended up going to the Smith Brook road. We accessed the trail/road by turning westbound on the Highway 2 from the Nordic Trail Center parking lot, and then going just a mile or so up the highway. The parking was on the right side of the road. It was fairly level and not too steep for Sam.

 

Sam loved dressing up in all of his winter gear. He also loved using the little poles as he trekked through the snow.

We bundled Lucy up nice and warm - she fell asleep in the Baby Bjorn for about half the time that we were out

 

We had this little frozen waterfall be our ending point. Sam was getting a little bit tired, and we wanted to make sure that we stopped before he got too complainy. Since this was Sam's first time snowshoeing, I wanted to make sure that it was a positive experience.

I'm looking forward to this new year. I'm not trying to do too many resolutions, but I do have one resolution that I think will be practical and (hopefully) easy to keep. Since Lucy has been born, I have noticed that it is a little bit more difficult to have one-on-one time with Sam. Recently, when Sam and I have played together or read together, I often have been trying to care for Lucy or do some type of household task at the same time. My resolution this year is to have one hour of focused "Mom and Sam time" each day, when I can concentrate purely on Sam and do whatever he wants to do.

This time will need to happen when Lucy is napping or with J, but I think it will be good. Just in the past few days that we have started this new special time together, I have noticed that Sam has wanted to show me things or confide in me in ways that he hasn't before. The other day, when we got to go to a movie together, Sam mentioned out-of-the-blue that every night he checks to make sure there isn't a vampire under his bed. I had no idea that Sam had this fear, but we talked about it and I think he ended up feeling like he was conquering that fear through our conversation.

Here's to a new year!