Giants 2012 World Champs!
We can’t believe it’s all over. Giants fever! What are we going to do now? I guess it will be time to stop dressing Olivia in outfits like this.
Cooking
Olivia is REALLY into helping out in the kitchen. Everything is “I cooking!”, “I cook it.” And that could be from pouring a glass of water to cracking eggs to stirring everything herself. It takes me a lot longer lately to make lunch. So this weekend, since we were cooped up inside with colds anyway, we did some serious cooking.
We made halloween brownies.
And pumpkin cupcakes.
And of course made an incredible mess so ended up naked in the sink with a black frosting mustache looking like a little french-man.
She is really getting prepared for this new baby business. Serious.
Soaking up the last of the summer.
Notice the pumpkins, fall is around the corner.
End of summer days with her buds.
Ok, this one is slightly better.
This is a typical family photo these days.
Loss and Babies
Well we took a bit of a hiatus from Baby Sauce this summer but we’re back up and running. Living with a toddler is 3 parts hilarious and wonderful, 1 part scream at the top of your lungs. Her lungs usually, not ours…..usually.
This July we lost my Dad, Olivia’s Ramps. It was a colossal blow in our world. There aren’t words to describe the loss that I feel but it’s something like the ground abruptly being pulled out from under me. When you lose a parent, it’s like losing your barometer, your guide. I constantly find myself wishing I could pick up the phone and call him, just to ask about something small, or to say nothing much at all but hi, what did you do today? We talked every day. And then there are these overwhelming waves of grief that hit at the strangest times, like in the checkout line at the grocery store or at my desk at work.
Even though he was sick, and people seem to refer to his “long battle with cancer.” We never lived like he was sick or a ‘long battle,’ but that it was his unfortunate burden he bravely carried while still living life, traveling around the world, visiting his family and friends, teaching his son to roll in a kayak and ride the rapids on some of his favorite rivers. We walked the course at the US Open arm in arm that week his cancer actually really took grip and he was gone 3 weeks later. At the end it just came on so fast, out of nowhere and suddenly there was nothing left we could do. It was awful feeling so helpless.
The irony is that Olivia FINALLY finally got his name down after referring to him as Paco for months (her other grandpa) and now every few days I make sure to show her pictures of him and say “Who is that?” She beams and smiles and says that’s “Ramps.”
We will continue to remember him like this every day we can and keep him in our lives. Amidst our loss we have happy news. We’ve got a new baby coming. I’m 6 months pregnant with Olivia’s brother or sister. We were able to share that with Ramps early on and he was thrilled. We are very excited and slightly nervous about how we will handle this new responsibility. I feel like with everything that happened this summer the pregnancy was sort of put on the back burner and I’m not sure we’ve officially even announced it to those beyond close family and friends and of course to those who see my obviously growing belly. Olivia loves babies so she seems quite happy with the idea too. She’s constantly diapering and swaddling her baby dolls so with luck I will have a good little helper. So here goes!
“All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.”
Summer vacay……soooooo happy to be here. Much needed.
Table for two.
