I love Grandma

She is beautiful and wonderful and I can't wait to see her in Alaska.
Goodbye until then...

Sometimes I pinch myself

There are some moments when I look at this little face and can hardly
believe that we created him.

Surprise! Daddy's home.

Due to unseasonably warm weather in Alaska this year (blame el nino), Nick's first installment of Season's of Subsistence is on hold until March. I know that from a professional standpoint, it is a bit of a bummer, but from Finn and my perspective, it is great!

Last night, Nick was reading Modern Love (a very heartwarming essay this week)with little Finn watching on. He got a kick out of looking at the black and white words for a few minutes, but then changed his mind about the best way to 'take in' the Sunday paper...

Great Grandma Love

Finn was sitting on Grandy Nan's lap next to Great Grandma Birdie and
he looked over at her and put his little hand on her arm and just
stared. Then he reached down her hand an held her finger for a few
minutes. There was such tenderness and love in his actions. It made me
realize that babies just know so much more than we think.

Two new things

This is Finn's new laugh. You can hardly hear it over my noises and Uncle Ben's laughing at Finn laughing at my noises and tickles. Oh, my!



And, he learned how to jump in his johnny jump up tonight!



Coming soon...We are teaching him how to say Dada. He hasn't mastered any hard syllables yet, but we think if we say it enough, he's sure to say it eventually too. Like, in the next two weeks before Dada gets home...

When Grandmas come to stay

In the beginning of January when Nick was first making plans to visit New Stuyahok, we didn’t hesitate to think of Grandma Sheila in the UK timing a visit to correspond with Nick’s absence. You see, Nick works from his studio on our property and Finn stays with him during the day while I work. I make a couple trips home each day to nurse (1 minute 37 seconds by bike), thereby keeping Finn out of daycare and saving us a lot of childcare expenses. What were we going to do for three weeks?

Grandma.

Little does Nick know how his shoes have been filled! With Grandma Sheila in the picture, I feel like I have doubled. It is all the little things that only women notice. Walking through the house on the way to empty the trash, I make a mental to-do list something like this: ‘pick that up and bring it downstairs, put that glass in the dishwasher and start the laundry while downstairs and bring up that basket of clean clothes so I can fold them after nursing Finn’. By the time I am finished with the garbage, my to-do list is finished. And Finn has been changed and he is smiling, happy and ready to nurse.



Really, this is homage to Sheila and how much I appreciate the help. Finn and I are awfully spoiled with her here and it has made Nick’s absence smooth (except for missing him so much). This Grandma can come and stay any day as long as she wants! (And next time I will do all the cooking and cleaning, I promise.)

Nick and I read a couple ethnopediatric books (think cultural anthropology meets baby-rearing) while we were pregnant and it was fascinating to compare other culture's parenting patterns to our own. There are so many variations on the same theme. This movie captures one of the books we read and I can't wait to see it!

Talking to a flat Daddy

Finn was playing on the floor and I showed him a picture of him and Nick. He stopped chewing his hands and immediately started chatting at the picture with one of his sing-songy voices that means he is really happy. I grabbed the video camera to try and repeat the scene, but he didn't chat as much this time around. He still looks really happy to see Nick's face and certainly grabbed at the photo.

Teething & talking

Daddy left for Alaska today and Grandma arrived from England yesterday and Finn has lots to say about it.




And he's teething.

Thinking Finn.

Smiling Finn.

Serious Finn.

White Chocolate Cranberry Coconut Oatmeal cookies

When you have so many ingredients in one cookie, it would be prudent to call it something like The Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie or another such three-worded title. But these cookies are so good and each ingredient plays such a critical role in the greater whole, that I feel like the title should describe this cookie exactly. I made up this cookie on accident when I was cleaning the pantry and had a few almost-empty bags of things. It was so good that I have made them again, on purpose. And in case you too want to make them, here is the recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).

In a large bowl, cream together:

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup DARK brown sugar (or add a teaspoon of molasses to regular sugar)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, being careful not to overmix. Then add the following:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cups cranberries

3/4 cups white chocolate chips

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Roll tablespoon sized balls on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are just getting brown. These cookies are dense and chewy and taste best when they are not overbaked. Makes 2 dozen smallish cookies. Double the recipe if you have kids or a hungry husband.

This boy is 14 weeks already

Finn is 14 weeks old and one of these days I plan to start counting in months, but for the time being, I want to imagine that my little boy is still the newborn he was 14 weeks ago. Counting in weeks keeps us closer to birth and further from growing up and for the next week at least, I will allow myself to keep us there.

Is our baby teething?

Could Finn be teething?

I asked the nurse that runs the 3-6month mama and baby group on Wednesdays and she said most definitely.

The teething idea was a crazy one according to friends and family I asked. He is too young they said. But the cups of daily drool and the constant effort to shove handspaciferclothes into the same small mouth gave it away. And then, just so we all know he really is teething, his sleep pattern has gone from a pleasant 4 hours in a stretch, to a wicked 2 hours at a time. And the fussing has started.

At the mamas group, another new mom showed me this amazing bottle of magic pills. I didn't believe her when she said that they would make him sleep and take away all of his teething pain. And that they could be given to a creature so young (you can put the pill directly on their little tongues and it dissolves instantly). But in my desperation, I bought a bottle and to our entire family's relief, they actually work. Finn is back to sleeping 4 hours and is not nearly as fussy.

Hurray for Hyland's Homeopathic Teething Tablets!

Sunday morning in the Hall household

It is Sunday morning and Nick is out buying some arctic gear for his upcoming photo assignment in New Stuyahok, Alaska. Here is what the rest of the household is doing:




Meanwhile, I am baking these:


Nick thinks these are the best cookies ever and I have been forbidden from making them more than once a month. But it just became February and my mother in law Sheila is arriving tomorrow so I guess that is a good enough excuse to bake some cookies. They are white chocolate, cranberry and coconut oatmeal cookies and they are pretty addictive.

Baby bodywork

Saturday was a day of firsts for Finn. He woke up in the morning with his first tummy upset and he had his first bodywork session with the formidable Dhyana. Those two had an immediate soul connection and he spent the majority of the session chatting away to her about this and that.

Finn's birth was pretty violent as far as births are concerned and I think some of our nursing issues are a result of how he came into the world. Also, when we attend the mama and baby group on Wednesdays, I have noticed that Finn doesn't lift his head as high and brightly as the other babies when he is on his tummy. The best he can do is lift his head and stare at the floor. In every other way he is pretty advanced so this is curious to me.

When Dhyana was working with him, she noticed some issues in the back of his neck and head, maybe a little tightness or just not as much movement. Which makes perfect sense because that is exactly what we have been noticing when he has his tummy time. Dhyana is going to work with him some more and hopefully we will have a tummy-talker in no time! In the meantime, here are some videos of our little talker...

Friday night walk.

Strapped to mama and ready to go!

Look what I found in my laundry basket.

I think we'll keep him!