Urban Gardening

I'm so excited about making use of this dead driveway space. Our car will fit up the driveway, but it's a tight squeeze- so we've never done it. But this driveway gets AMAZING sun! I've been toying with the idea of making it usable gardening space for a couple of years, but I recently decided to go for it! Our front yard gets 3-4 hours of direct sun daily, and our backyard is shaded by a massive cedar tree. But this driveway gets sun all day long! 

I got rid of the first 6-in of top soil (in case of contaminants), and added in some gardening soil. Side Note: You're not allowed to fill you green waste can with soil, oops! The plants have been there a couple of weeks, and they are thriving! I planted 3 more tomato plants in the middle strip (2 were already in the wine barrels), a cucumber, crooked neck squash, zucchini, and basil. I'll let you know how things progress. I can't wait to harvest my first tomatoes!

6-month Cutie

Go Princeton Tigers! Okay, I had to adorn her with her first bow. Reason #1: She's finally starting to grow some lustrous locks! Reason #2: Ummm...lots of people think she's a boy (especially in this get-up). And, doesn't she look super cute in the jean jacket? This is a recent wardrobe staple thx to gram and grampa Anderson.

An early reader...Sadie loves magazines, just like her Daddy.

In actuality, this prop was placed by two eager parents.

Yeah!!! Proof of Sadie's latest feat---sitting up!

*Ruby*

***Gorgeous Ruby***

Here are some overdue pics of the new little Prinz bundle!!

look at that little head!

with papa prinz

Doesn't she look great the day of labor?? You rock Sooz!!

Uncle Aaron!!

Ruby and me

gma prinz

ruby red peonies for ruby

uncle mark

sisters!!!

I love my Aunts!!!!

This post is several weeks belated... it was so great to have Lida and Claire visit us a couple weeks apart. They both had business in SF, so came to visit us in Oakland. Both visits were delightful!!

I love my Aunt Claire! She stayed for the night and we played and played!!!

stoic sadie

Aunt Lida came to hang out with us for an evening last month. Lida lives in DC, so it was especially nice that a business trip brought her out west.

Baby Cousin Prinz #2

It's a girl! Ruby Adelia Prinz was born at 6:23 this morning at 9lbs 7oz (i think i got the weight right...). Yeah! Congrats Matt and Sooz!!!! She's gorgeous and has lots of hair, just like her big sis! Pictures to come soon....

Babies!

Tonight I went with my friend Anne to the movie Babies. We both have babies about the same age, and enjoyed watching the subtle changes of the 4 babies in this movie over their first year. The Mongolian baby is my favorite! I think this would be a great movie to bring your 3-4 year old to, granted that they have the attention span of an adult.

Read 'em and Weep

Okay, I think I can finally admit that I like page turners. My husband has been reading Light in August by William Faulkner. I am impressed by this attempt (I say attempt because he's been reading it for 2 months). He is relentless, and I know I would have given up if I were him. I however, have been drifting towards quick reads. Not as impressive. Not as challenging intellectually. But darn good fun! And, Oprah would be proud of me. I see that I tend toward the heart-wrenching novel.

I know This Much is True, by Wally Lamb: 916 pages of high drama. I really liked this book. It deals with the complexities of being a twin. The main character is so invested in looking after his schizophrenic (yes, I spell checked that!) twin brother, so much so that he neglected taking care of his own emotional well-being. Wally Lamb's books are not light, and they deal with serious issues, and they usually take you on a long, well-worth-it journey.

Yiyun Li is an Oakland author (woot!woot!). Her first full-length novel, The Vagrants, deals with a group of interrelated characters in post cultural revolution China.  Some of these characters were very compelling, but I don't think the plot came together as well as I wanted it to in the end. I did like getting to know China during this era.

See a good review of this at a blog I like, The Best Little Bookshelf, here.

This book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, was a good fun read (oh yeah, and a little sadistic too!). I am a big sucker for mysteries. PD James and Tara French are two of my favorite mystery writers. This book was unputdownable (yes, that's a word I made up).  Larsson's writing is smart, and the plot moves quickly from the onset of the book. You must read this. I am at my wits end trying to get the second book in the series into my hot little hands. Okay, so I've been thinking... why do mysteries not only deal with murder, but always have some weird sexual subplot? Even with 80-year-old kick a** James you get these twisted characters with odd sexual habits. Just saying... 

I love my spring yard!

It's been beautiful and sunny here in Oakland, yet it's rained enough to get the garden in full gear--it's just lovely!!

Lavender and Sweet Peas

I love this plant, don't know it's name...

Squash growing in 1/2 a wine barrel out front

Lettuce, thyme, rosemary, and mint in our raised bed in the front yard.

Tomatoes in our driveway! BTW, I'm planting a garden down the center of our driveway. I'll post a picture soon (I finished it today!). I'm so excited about it, because I get awesome sun there. Oh, and we don't use this part of our driveway...

A New Perspective on Life

Sadie was so much fun this weekend. She's a little social girl, and always can rally if there is a party to be had. Mark went to pick her up from Daddy Daycare with Uncle Lon on Friday, and he reports that Sadie glanced at him, as if to say, "Oh hi its you, I'm going to go back to playing now."

I've been trying to get Sadie to sit up for the past couple of weeks now by strategically strengthening her core and upper body muscles (joking! kinda...) to help her balance while sitting. But to my delight, she started sitting up unassisted this weekend. Yeah for Sadie! She's such a big girl!   

Thanks Aunt Claire for the new toy!

Yummy arm! (This is daycare bud baby K with Sadie. Sadie loves to look at baby K.)

K enjoys tummy time, while Sadie naps. Super cute!

Baby K and Sadie play on the bed.

Happy Half of a Year, Sadie!

Sadie is 6 months old today! And to celebrate, we went to the doctor. (side note: Mom celebrated all day by obsessively reading [and finishing!] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--loved it!!)

So here are her latest stats:
Weight 17 lbs, 11.5 oz (80% percentile)
Height: 26 in (the same as last time!--there's definitely NO science in measuring a baby)
Head: I forget the inches, but it was big-- in the 90th percentile.

Sadie is so much fun. She has so many little idiosyncrasies at the moment-- it cracks us up! For example, she's not a fan of rolling over, so to entice her Mark gets out the talking Baby Elmo doll --and of course, she rolls over for Elmo. Also, she loves smacking her toys against things to make a loud noise (seen below). And--she scratches her nails against everything to feel the texture. We now have to guard our glasses, because it's the first thing she'll reach for. She also loves her feet, and in the video below she trys to eat them. If you only watch one video, watch the last one--- Aunt Claire taught Sadie to mimic her--what a smart little bundle of baby she is! And so on, and so forth...She is just a ball of fun! It gets better every day! I can't wait for summer!!!


#1 Obsessed with her feet



#2 Obsessed with making noise



#3 Obsessed with the arm trick that Aunt Claire taught me

Mother's Day

Being a mom has been so much better than I  imagined it.

Honestly, I always pictured myself being a good mom, and that's probably because I have such a quality mom. My mom always talked about how much she loved being a mom, and how much she loved us kids (She also talked about how easy labor was--I can't say that was true for me!). Getting those positive vibes on motherhood my whole life made me confident that I would take care of Sadie well.

But, loving Sadie so much is what has surprised me. The first couple of weeks of her life my mom would ask me, "Don't you just love her? Isn't it wonderful just to look at her and think about how perfect she is?". And I would reply (a little annoyed that I didn't share her sentiment), "Um, she just lays there or sleeps. I don't really know her yet." Now that's Sadie's going on 6 months next week, I completely get where my mom was coming from.

Being a mom is amazing. You feel so much love for your child. And, you feel so proud of making this wonderful and unique being. So, a million thanks to my mom for giving me such a healthy view of parenting. I wouldn't be the mom I am to Sadie without the years and years of wisdom, perspective, and love my mom has poured into me.

Thanks Mom, I love you!

I love my grandmas too!!

Pre-Crawling??

Hey parents out there, what do you think? Does this look like Sadie's getting ready for crawling in this video? Sadly, she's lost interest in rolling over. We joke that she thinks, "Been there, done that!". Yet even without a sustained interest in rolling over, she moves around pretty well. I'm not sure how she's doing it, but when I put her down she just wiggles into a new position within a of couple minutes. She loves this singing toy, too.  I am so impressed that she's learned to push its buttons (only some of the time). If she's cranky we just play this toy and she instantly calms down and flashes a big smile. I'm trying to get her to sit up, but it's just not taking! We shall see, maybe I just need to keep at it.

By the way, I love May!! It's beautiful here in Oakland!