As many of you may already know, Don and Lori Chaffer a/k/a Waterdeep are my favorite musicians of all time. Don enjoys doing silly things with his music sometimes, which I appreciate though my musically advanced husband doesn't, but mostly I love Don and Lori for their lyrics: Always thoughtful, often profound, willing to use strong language (by which I don't mean profanity) to make their point. Their worship stuff is really cool too.
Anyway, I got an email from them today advertising Derek Webb's new music trading website www.noisetrade.com. I don't know anything about Derek Webb, so I don't know whether I would enjoy his music or not, but Don and Lori have two albums listed, "Heart Attack Time Machine" and "The Khrusty Brothers." I already have a hard copy of the first, and hope to get Khrusty Brothers eventually.
I'm curious to find out what you guys think of this concept. I'm unwilling to enter my friends email addresses without their permission, even though I am guaranteed by the website that these won't be stockpiled, but I'm not sure how much I should pay to download an entire album either.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Photos
Michael took these photos last Saturday, when Parker went outside in the morning thinking he would play in the pool. Actually the temperature outside was so comfortable that no pool was needed. I found them yesterday. These are irresistible to a mom, especially the one in the middle.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Parker Being Cute
Parker got a hold of the camera again this morning and he took a few more pictures. The cute things he's done today are 1) rubbing oatmeal into his eyelashes, and 2) dragging the old infant tub out from under his bed and pretending it was a boat. He sang "Row, row, row, row" and ate cookies all while sitting in that blue infant tub. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of that.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Parker Smiles at the Sun
This is a modified version of the way that Parker smiles at the sun. We say to him, "Parker, Parker, smile at the sun, Parker." Then he scrunches up his eyes and nose, sticks out his lower jaw and gives us what Michael calls a "big cheesy grin," all teeth. Very cute.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
...and I haven't even gotten to the sprinklers yet.
In honor of my parents' trip to China, these are a few family pictures taken at the beginning of the summer, somewhere close to Parker's eighteen month mark. My hair has changed since then, along with everything else. I haven't checked my calendar, but these may have been taken before we found out about the new baby in our future.
Parker Playing in the Rental House Backyard
Robert and Carol have been renting a small house in Madison while their new home is being built. Several months ago we paid a visit, and Parker had a great time playing in the back yard with Michael, the sprinklers, and Pam's dog.
Pictures of Parker from the only time he ever spent any time playing in his baby pool.
He enjoyed it for approximately half an hour, and hasn't shown much interest in it since. It's strange to me because this is the same boy who will play in any other standing water he can find in the back yard. These days he prefers the sprinklers.
Pictures of Parker
I've become sidetracked. I'm supposed to be loading pictures of Parker onto the blog. Instead I've been cleaning out my post list. These are the latest. The first shot is Parker's self portrait. The second is just Parker being cute.
An Old Post, Never Before Published
The reason why I haven't been blogging recently (This is how it goes):
I'm pregnant, and when I am pregnant I have trouble stringing words together. Maybe I'll get together a paragraph in my head while I'm supposed to be working on something else, but then I'll start to write it, and... There's an interruption of some sort, or I can't get it to work the way I want it to. It happens over and over again until I finally decide that I'm not going to do this for a while.
In graduate school just before Parker was born my inability to write proved disastrous. Three papers due at the end of the semester--the one I turned in to my Black Women's Metaphysical Fiction professor was total crap. I couldn't come up with anything interesting to write about, and what I finally did write about was incoherent and possibly offensive without any sort of redeeming usefulness. Seriously. I've tended to feel like an outsider a lot of times in the past and tried to write about being disappointingly marginalized by Ntozake Shange's expressed intent concerning the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.
The paper I turned in for my Shakespeare class that semester, I don't even want to think about, and to this day I turn over and over in my mind possibilities for completing that incomplete earned in Theory of the Novel because I simply couldn't do anything with it. The incomplete haunts me because as long as it exists I damage my chances of ever being able to go back to Graduate School, even though by now I don't know whether or not I really want to go.
At this point I've said way more than I meant to say when I'm supposed to be posting pictures. Anyway here's a post I started at the beginning of May, and so instead of throwing it away, I'm posting it here, almost eight months late:
Parker slept late this morning, which turned out to be a good way to start the day. Especially since I wasn't in the mood to put anything away last night; so there were toys to redistribute, dishes to add to the dishwasher, and others needing personal attention. He atypically slept through one and a half showers, giving me the opportunity to do some devotional reading. I'm slowly and inconsistently working my way through Devotional Classics edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith. Today's selection was from Jonathan Edwards, and I confess that it did not get the attention it deserved. Maybe I'll have better success with comprehension tomorrow.
Parker has lately become a hugger and a cuddler and a climber and a talker. He doesn't blab, blab, blab away all day, but he is saying more and more words.
I've emailed two different people blog worthy material this morning, so I'll lay aside the guilt I feel at not revisiting those subjects afresh, and reproduce what I have already written here.
The first item I considered blog-worthy on May 2, 2008 was a story about how pregnancy hormones affect the mental faculty:
Two coffee cups. One has residue from yesterday's coffee because I found it this morning under my bed. The other has been freshly used then rinsed because I've decided to make a cup of tea. Which cup do you think I chose to put the tea bag and hot water in?
My used-to-be perfectly-good brain says, make sure you use the right cup. My perfectly-good brain does not say, put the old cup in the dishwasher before you do this. Thankfully the tea tastes okay anyway, and Parker is temporarily placated. Unfortunately I just realized that I forgot to put a bib on him, so he has oatmeal down his shirt.
Honestly, I no longer remember what the other blog-worthy post was meant to be.
I'm pregnant, and when I am pregnant I have trouble stringing words together. Maybe I'll get together a paragraph in my head while I'm supposed to be working on something else, but then I'll start to write it, and... There's an interruption of some sort, or I can't get it to work the way I want it to. It happens over and over again until I finally decide that I'm not going to do this for a while.
In graduate school just before Parker was born my inability to write proved disastrous. Three papers due at the end of the semester--the one I turned in to my Black Women's Metaphysical Fiction professor was total crap. I couldn't come up with anything interesting to write about, and what I finally did write about was incoherent and possibly offensive without any sort of redeeming usefulness. Seriously. I've tended to feel like an outsider a lot of times in the past and tried to write about being disappointingly marginalized by Ntozake Shange's expressed intent concerning the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.
The paper I turned in for my Shakespeare class that semester, I don't even want to think about, and to this day I turn over and over in my mind possibilities for completing that incomplete earned in Theory of the Novel because I simply couldn't do anything with it. The incomplete haunts me because as long as it exists I damage my chances of ever being able to go back to Graduate School, even though by now I don't know whether or not I really want to go.
At this point I've said way more than I meant to say when I'm supposed to be posting pictures. Anyway here's a post I started at the beginning of May, and so instead of throwing it away, I'm posting it here, almost eight months late:
Parker slept late this morning, which turned out to be a good way to start the day. Especially since I wasn't in the mood to put anything away last night; so there were toys to redistribute, dishes to add to the dishwasher, and others needing personal attention. He atypically slept through one and a half showers, giving me the opportunity to do some devotional reading. I'm slowly and inconsistently working my way through Devotional Classics edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith. Today's selection was from Jonathan Edwards, and I confess that it did not get the attention it deserved. Maybe I'll have better success with comprehension tomorrow.
Parker has lately become a hugger and a cuddler and a climber and a talker. He doesn't blab, blab, blab away all day, but he is saying more and more words.
I've emailed two different people blog worthy material this morning, so I'll lay aside the guilt I feel at not revisiting those subjects afresh, and reproduce what I have already written here.
The first item I considered blog-worthy on May 2, 2008 was a story about how pregnancy hormones affect the mental faculty:
Two coffee cups. One has residue from yesterday's coffee because I found it this morning under my bed. The other has been freshly used then rinsed because I've decided to make a cup of tea. Which cup do you think I chose to put the tea bag and hot water in?
My used-to-be perfectly-good brain says, make sure you use the right cup. My perfectly-good brain does not say, put the old cup in the dishwasher before you do this. Thankfully the tea tastes okay anyway, and Parker is temporarily placated. Unfortunately I just realized that I forgot to put a bib on him, so he has oatmeal down his shirt.
Honestly, I no longer remember what the other blog-worthy post was meant to be.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I haven't posted any pictures recently because I've barely even taken a picture of my child since that day over a month ago when I said I had some good ones of him playing in the sprinklers, and then discovered that those pictures weren't so good after all. It will all probably swing around again, but I'm reminded of two similar statements from interestingly different sources.
Norman Mailer (who periodically impresses me with his brilliance, while at other times disgusting me with with his crassness) and Flannery O' Connor write strikingly similar things about writing. They both say to sit down to write at the same time every day for a set amount of time and refuse to fill that time with any other activity, including reading. Inspiration comes unexpectedly, and only if you've proven that you'll be there when it comes.
See you next month (maybe).
Norman Mailer (who periodically impresses me with his brilliance, while at other times disgusting me with with his crassness) and Flannery O' Connor write strikingly similar things about writing. They both say to sit down to write at the same time every day for a set amount of time and refuse to fill that time with any other activity, including reading. Inspiration comes unexpectedly, and only if you've proven that you'll be there when it comes.
See you next month (maybe).
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Movies
Even though I don't expect it to be very good, I really want to see the new Get Smart movie opening next week. What are the chances I'll actually decide to go?
The Need for Sleep
I am much to old to stay out until midnight anymore. Despite my best intentions the following day was totally wiped out by tiredness--though we did get to attend a friend's five year birthday party. Parker was so cute, energized by those around him, running around the house, bouncing and spinning a hula hoop.
Lots of fun last night (out with friends on my own), lots of fun tonight (Michael and Parker and me), but wow, I am just too old. What if I were still in undergraduate school having to stay up all night three nights in a row to finish a mondo Interior Design project? How would I ever do it ten years later? And yet the four hours a night I'll hopefully get once the new baby comes is something to look forward, something I know God will have to get us through.
Wow.
Lots of fun last night (out with friends on my own), lots of fun tonight (Michael and Parker and me), but wow, I am just too old. What if I were still in undergraduate school having to stay up all night three nights in a row to finish a mondo Interior Design project? How would I ever do it ten years later? And yet the four hours a night I'll hopefully get once the new baby comes is something to look forward, something I know God will have to get us through.
Wow.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Animals
GG got Parker the cutest little stuffed monkey (with bellybutton and long weighted tail). Parker hasn't shown any interest in it just yet, but I'm in love with the thing.
I was never really the stuffed animal type myself. I had a teddy bear named Bear Bear that I slept with every night, but little else. I tickled that bear so often that he had bare patches all over his back and stomach, much as Parker's black bear has bare patches where his tag used to be. I would get upset when my mother tried to trim my fingernails because, I said, "I can't tickle Bear Bear anymore."
When I was pregnant with Parker, Carol (that's GG) bought a green and purple dinosaur stuffed animal that I also loved. There's something about being pregnant that makes me care more about stuffed animals. I slept with Parker's monkey tucked up in my arms most of Saturday night.
GG and Grandpa, I want you to know that Parker played with his lion, tiger, elephant and giraffe this morning. He came into our bedroom where I was dozing, with plastic lion in hand saying, "Roar, Roar, Roar." I roared back at him and he laughed back at me.
Also for the sake of the record, Parker has begun practicing the word "No." He said no to everything today whether he meant it or not. My sister asked him "Parker, do you love me?" and he said no every time. And we know that's not true.
He was so tired before his nap this afternoon that he tried to hold every piece of sidewalk chalk in his tiny little hands, and he cried as though his heart were breaking every time he dropped a piece. Michael said it was as though he thought the chalk were being taken from him if he couldn't hold them all in his hands. Eventually we convinced him to return the pieces to the plastic zip-lock bag in which they are stored and hold the bag while drawing with one piece of chalk at a time. He likes to draw on himself, the cement slab in our backyard, and on the Spalding basketball that rolls away every time he lets go of it.
I got some good pictures over the weekend (some of him playing with a water sprinkler in GG and Grandpa's backyard). I'll try to post some of these sometime in the next few days, but we've got a busy week ahead, so I make no promises.
I was never really the stuffed animal type myself. I had a teddy bear named Bear Bear that I slept with every night, but little else. I tickled that bear so often that he had bare patches all over his back and stomach, much as Parker's black bear has bare patches where his tag used to be. I would get upset when my mother tried to trim my fingernails because, I said, "I can't tickle Bear Bear anymore."
When I was pregnant with Parker, Carol (that's GG) bought a green and purple dinosaur stuffed animal that I also loved. There's something about being pregnant that makes me care more about stuffed animals. I slept with Parker's monkey tucked up in my arms most of Saturday night.
GG and Grandpa, I want you to know that Parker played with his lion, tiger, elephant and giraffe this morning. He came into our bedroom where I was dozing, with plastic lion in hand saying, "Roar, Roar, Roar." I roared back at him and he laughed back at me.
Also for the sake of the record, Parker has begun practicing the word "No." He said no to everything today whether he meant it or not. My sister asked him "Parker, do you love me?" and he said no every time. And we know that's not true.
He was so tired before his nap this afternoon that he tried to hold every piece of sidewalk chalk in his tiny little hands, and he cried as though his heart were breaking every time he dropped a piece. Michael said it was as though he thought the chalk were being taken from him if he couldn't hold them all in his hands. Eventually we convinced him to return the pieces to the plastic zip-lock bag in which they are stored and hold the bag while drawing with one piece of chalk at a time. He likes to draw on himself, the cement slab in our backyard, and on the Spalding basketball that rolls away every time he lets go of it.
I got some good pictures over the weekend (some of him playing with a water sprinkler in GG and Grandpa's backyard). I'll try to post some of these sometime in the next few days, but we've got a busy week ahead, so I make no promises.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Question of the Day
Parker pulled his baby book out this morning and had me read part of it to him. About the time he was born I was supposed to take note of things such as the price of a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk. Since these prices will be totally inflated by the time Parker's brother or sister is born, I'd really like to have the answers to these questions.
Did anybody out there take notice of these things in 2006 or no someone else who did? For their own baby books, perhaps? Know where I could find such information on the internet?
Here are the entries that I need:
Gallon of Milk; Loaf of Bread; Diapers; Movie ticket; Cotton shirt; Postage stamp; Gallon of gas; Computer; Car; Family vacation.
Did anybody out there take notice of these things in 2006 or no someone else who did? For their own baby books, perhaps? Know where I could find such information on the internet?
Here are the entries that I need:
Gallon of Milk; Loaf of Bread; Diapers; Movie ticket; Cotton shirt; Postage stamp; Gallon of gas; Computer; Car; Family vacation.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Question of the Day
I suppose it is understandable that I've been napping a lot lately. I don't get to do it every day; sometimes I can't sleep, and sometimes sleep isn't a priority. When I do nap these days it's for an hour, or two, or more, so I guess it's no surprise that when I do wake up I'm fairly non-functional for a while.
Michael suggests that if I limit myself to 20 minute naps I won't have this problem. Have any of you tried it? Compared a short nap to a long one and noticed the difference? I'm not ready to experiment--I just want to sleep.
I've had uncharacteristically late nights the past two nights. Last night Anna and I went to the Bama Theater to see my friend Alyson play. Alyson just produced a CD. You can hear some of her music at www.alysongreenfield.com/music.
Michael suggests that if I limit myself to 20 minute naps I won't have this problem. Have any of you tried it? Compared a short nap to a long one and noticed the difference? I'm not ready to experiment--I just want to sleep.
I've had uncharacteristically late nights the past two nights. Last night Anna and I went to the Bama Theater to see my friend Alyson play. Alyson just produced a CD. You can hear some of her music at www.alysongreenfield.com/music.
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