Mariposa

On Friday Mark, Sadie and I went up to visit the Pike Family in Mariposa (near Yosemite). This was Sadie's first road trip, and she did rather well. However, I don't think she's a fan of driving at night. The shadows and bright lights dancing around the interior of the car seemed to scare her. She was pacified when I turned the overhead light on-- she stared intently at me for the remainder of the trip home. Pobrecita.
We took a lovely 2-hour walk along the Merced River on Saturday morning. Sadie enjoyed the walk strapped to dad in a Baby Bjorn. She got fussy when dad stopped; she loves any kind of movement (being in the car, her swing, when we jiggle her). I enjoyed chatting with Katie and Pat, holding Tyler's (3 yrs) hand as he chucked big rocks into the river, and watching Sophie (13 months) climb over the rocky terrain to reach the water's edge (she's a little dare devil!).
Mark and I look forward to bringing Sadie on more trips to Mariposa. The chickens and horses to marvel at, creeks to romp in, friends to play with--- what more could you want as a child?

Non Sequitor

This is a blog post of randomness...just pictures from the past couple days:

Chillin' on mom's lap this morning. Sadie's super happy time is right when she wakes up in the morning. She's already wearing clothes for 3-6 months, my big girl!

Mark made dinner Monday night--Donna Hay's chicken, pancetta, and mushroom stew--pure delight! Below: Emergency need for sweets resulted in bananas topped with melted chocolate, pb, pecans, and cool whip. I learned from my mom that anything with melted pb and chocolate can be divine!

For Christmas, Aaron made Sadie a shirt. Isn't she the cutest? I love the Oakland tree motif.

Books of 2009

So, I did some voracious reading for a couple months in 2009, but completely slacked the last 2 months--with fiction at least. I read many baby books right before and after Sadie was born, or bits and pieces of them anyhow. This list just includes fiction books- none of the professional, cooking, children's or baby books I read this year. They are ranked in descending order...[btw, to be completely honest, I didn't completely finish 2 of the books...]

#15 Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

This is non-fiction. Maybe that's why it was my least favorite book of the year? Sarah Vowell is super funny, usually.

#14 Say Your One of Them by Uwen Akpan

I didn't finish this book, but read two of the short stories. Honestly, it's a really well-written, and moving and book--but so depressingly hard to read. It made me very sad. I like painful stories that have some redemption--these stories were just pain-filled. I wish I could be more open and embrace this book, but it was too hard to keep reading. But: Oprah likes it!

#13 Lush Life by Richard Price

Richard Price was a writer for my all-time favorite TV show--The Wire, so I thought I'd love this book. It was good, not amazing. I forced myself to finish this so-so police drama. I wasn't into the characters or plot, at all.

#12 Octavian Nothing by M. T. Anderson

This is a very intriguing book written for the young adult crowd. I'm more than half-way through, and I'll finish it for book club in February. It got a little dull midway- so I put it down and Mark picked it up. It's set in Boston right before/during the Revolutionary War. Octavian Nothing, a young slave and science specimen, is the main character-- doesn't that name leave you wanting more? The plot is interesting, vocabulary fascinating, and Mark says it gets better towards the end. We shall see...

#11 Continental Drift by Russell Banks

I like Banks, so I picked up this book. Good, but it drags on and on.

#10 Waiting by Ha Jin

This woman waits forever to marry a married man. Does her patience win? I liked it well enough, but it was pretty sad at times. I picked it up for a quarter at the library. I love to buy books there on the cheap!

#9 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by PD James

PD James is a go-to author for me. I love that she is well into her eighties, and still write absorbing mysteries. This was a different book for James-- it wasn't apart of her Adam Dagleish detective series. He makes an appearance in the book, but it stars Cordelia Gray, a young private investigator. I liked it, but I always like PD James.

#8 The Black Tower by PD James

I was mad as I read this book. Dagleish, a murder detective, is the main character. He's been confronted with series of deaths while on vacation, but can't go about solving them in the regular manner (because he's on holiday, of course!). I miss Kate, his partner, and all the to-do when the Yard gets involved. I liked it in the end because James plays with your mind so fabulously!

#7 Hanna's Daughters by Marrianne Fredriksson

This was recommended by my friend Kaaren. This book was set on the Swedish/Norwegian border. It follows three generations of women and show how each is affected by their family and the culture around them. The character sare beautifully crafted: real. It's simple, warm, and heart-wrenching at times. This book makes me think of this biblical adage--The sins of your fathers will be passed down to you.

#6 The Likeness by Tara French

A good mystery.

#5 The Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemon

Just finished this tonight. It took me a while to get through. Hemon has mostly written short stories, and while this is a novel, it feel like many short stories connected by a loose narrative. The stories are good, and the writing is good. You're not propelled through the book, but you stroll through the book, enjoying the ride. This book has two narratives: 1) One modern-day Bosnian writer living in Chicago is researching his book, 2) An immigrant to Chicago (and possible anarchist), Lazarus, was murdered by the Chief of Police. It's good, check it out.

#4 The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

What if the Jews has settled in Sitka, Alaska? This was a fun book to read. It was drawn-out and complicated towards the end. But overall, I really enjoyed it.

#3 The Private Patient by PD James

PD James never fails to entertain. I was absorbed in this book, and read it quickly. I love the way she writes.

#2 Into the Woods by Tara French

To tell you the truth, I initially read the book jacket on this one because the cover was so graphically appealing. This is another mystery, a double murder mystery. She's a new Irish author, and I really enjoyed this book.

#1 City of Thieves by David Benioff

After I read this book, I couldn't stop raving about it. Read it, it's good.

Let me know if you've read any of these...and agree or disagree with my ranking. I found that it was a lot harder to write about the books that I liked more... I wonder why that is. Also, what do you recommend I read this year?

A No Good, Very Bad Day

Sadie has been sick all day, again. She has a blasted cold- we think. She was crying all morning- only happy if held or positioned vertically. She's back to our happy baby tonight- but is definitely congested. It's so hard to be a parent, to watch your baby wail in pain, and to only be able to offer nose aspiration and the humidifier as help. She's a precious one, and I hope she recovers soon.

Ticket to Ride

Aaron and my mom came over tonight---we had a fun night playing Ticket to Ride, Aaron's new game. Meanwhile, Sadie slept. To make things even better, we ate Chinese take-out and had No Bakes (Yumminess). We played 3x because we were all obsessed with winning at least once (except my mom, of course). I guess I'm a little nerd- I like games so much! Are there any other good games out there that you suggest we play? We're big Catan fans, and always enjoy a good game of Scrabble too!

Pocket Diapers and Such

It's past 10:30pm already, and I really should high-tail it to bed (Where did high-tail it originate from anyway?). Sadie has been asleep since 8:15pm...I need to sleep when she sleeps to ensure that I'm sleeping. But...we have some exciting news to share! Little miss has graduated from disposables (don't fear--they were earth-friendly) to pocket diapers!

Pocket diapers? you may wonder...

Pocket diapers are the clever marriage of disposables and cloth. You buy a set of 20-30 diapers and you can use them again and again, child after child (washing them after each soil of course!). They are cloth diapers with an absorbent fleece lining, and have an exterior cover that stops seepage. They also have either nifty snaps or Velcro closures for convenience (no bothersome pins!). We bought a little less than 30 diapers in all--half Fuzzibunz and half BumGenius. I'll keep you up-to-date on how life with the pocket diapers go. So far, we've had some leaking issues, but (I think) that was solved with slight adjustments. The best thing about these pocket diapers is that they give your baby the biggest, softest tush!

Okay, now I must be off to bed!

Helicopter Parenting

I love this video of Sadie with her new BFF Katherine. Katherine is two weeks old today; her parents are our good friends Anne and Lon. So, as any good helicopter parent (overprotective and stifling), I've decided that Kate and Sadie will be Best Friends Forever. The girls were born about 5 weeks apart and live less than a mile apart. They have proximity in age and home location working for them- as well as the obvious benefit of sharing a gender. I get excited to think that they could be classmates at Glenview Elementary together-- how fun would that be?I'll keep you posted on how their friendship develops. But I'm pretty sure it's going to be a keeper.

Cheers! Happy New Years! May it be a year full of good times with dear friends!