This is what happens when you are married to a photographer

I came home for lunch (Finn's) and was playing with the bambino for a couple of minutes afterward and hubs busted out the Nikon and by the time I was at work five minutes later, these were in my inbox:











I don't have a lot of shots of Finn and I so I am thrilled to get these! Thanks, darling!

Here's how it works...

Finn is almost potty trained.

I guess you could say he is potty trained, but we (the parents) are not
disciplined enough to take him to the potty every time he wants to go,
so it's our fault that he is using a diaper at all.

Anyway, we bought this little white potty a month ago and
started to put him on it right when he wakes up and right after
nursing. We make a pssssst noise, he goes to the bathroom and then we
have a 'you're such a big boy!' praise party! Who doesn't love a
party? Certainly not this kid! He wanted to party all the time. So
much so that he started to tell us that he has to go to the bathroom
by either talking increasingly louder and louder, or by squirming and
looking imploringly at us. He will also go in the big toilet if we
hold him, or outside if need be.

We have significantly reduced our diaper laundry and poor little bug
is starting to get angry when we put one on at all. The only downside
with this potty-trained-at-6-months gig is now he is waking at night
wanting me to take him to the potty. Between night nursing and night
potties (no I have not given in to getting up at night to take him
yet), will I ever sleep again in my entire life?

This one's for you, Uncle Nick

Because these are your pajamas from when you were a little guy. I
remember you wearing them and you had the same big brown eyes.

Light

It's been a tough week.

I work in a very volatile, risky industry and the worst possible thing happened this past Tuesday. A dear friend and business associate was lost with his ship in the Gulf of Alaska. Three of the four people onboard the vessel survived despite spending hours in the freezing water until the Coast Guard could reach them. I am thankful that so many lived, but am devastated by the loss of a friend and colleague.

The greatest light in the midst of all this sadness is Finn. I yearn for the innocence of childhood right now and can live vicariously through the smile of this little child.


You are witnessing the first smile I have shed all week.

May we all live consciously in love, forgiveness and happiness, and savor every moment that we are granted on this earth.

Eggs on the menu!

We have been getting a steady supply of eggs from our girls and suspect that the young ones might have started laying too.

Last week we decided to make a special lunch out of our eggs, inspired by our favorite restaurant from our days living in Brooklyn. The Diner is a farm-to-table type joint without the pretention and they produce a quarterly journal that is handsdown my favorite food magazine on planet earth. (I admit that I am an unashamed foodie who loves to cook and is lucky enough to have married a man who loves to eat anything-- so far it appears the genes have been passed on to the kid, although we don't allow him to eat everything he wants).

So, on the menu with our two, gorgeously-golden yolked, amazingly fresh, very local eggs? Dandylion greens and anchovies. I figured that we would keep the local agenda with this meal. These dandylion greens, they grow in between the cracks on my brick walkway and the only reason they are there is that I have been too busy minding the chickens to weed. And although anchovies are not local, I do work for a seafood company, so I guess it is sort of in the family. And the bread was from a local bakery.

For those of you adventurous to eat anchivies with eggs, I promise that you will not regret it. The dandylion greens are bitter and cut through the fishy flavor of the anchovies so I recommend it even for those of you that don't really like anchovies.

Eggs with Dandylion Greens and Anchovies
1 bunch dandylion greens (yep, the weed kind)
2 garlic cloves
anchovies
2 slices good, whole grain wheat bread
1 lemon
2 fresh eggs
grated pecorino
Olive oil

Wash and spin the greens and set aside. Brush both sides of your bread with olive oil and grill on a hot pan. In a separate, smaller pan, heat more oil (don't be too shy) and add the garlic, followed a minute later by the anchovies. Let your taste dictate how many anchovies you add. We added a whole tin, but you could add two fillets if you wanted. Once the anchovies melt and start to fall apart, dump the mixture on the greens. Squeeze the lemon over the mixture and toss to coat everything. Add some fresh ground pepper and let the greens wilt. Using the same pan, add a little bit more oil and cook two eggs sunny-side up. Put the greens on top of the toast and the egg on top of that and sprinkle with pecorino. Bon appetit!

One last Sunday shot

The three of us and Inca went for a walk on Alki with my brother at the end of the day. Nick and I were filthy with chicken dust, construction dirt, sweat, mud and baby pee (me). Despite the grim, I am pleased with this picture.

Wow!

One brand new egg from our brand new chickens! It was still warm. Only two of the five girls are old enough to lay and we expected the move to disrupt their schedule. The chickens spent the night in the dog crate last night and we let them free range this morning and then spent an hour catching them so we could habituate them to their new henhouse. The first thing one of the girls did was make good use of the nesting box. What a wonderful surprise!

Sunday snapshot

9:33 am Sunday morning. It is a gorgeous morning and everyone is taking advantage of the sunshine. Here is a snapshot of what everyone is doing at the moment:

The brand new chickens are checking our their new yard


Inca is staring at the brand new chickens


Finn is being adorable (as usual)


And Nick is putting the finishing touches on the henhouse


And I am enjoying every moment of this life.

Johnny Jump Up

Here is a short video of Finn in an oldschool Johnny Jump-Up that used to be mine. The new ones hardly bounce, but this old one has enough spring to send him through the roof. Prior to this video, he was doing all sorts of fancy moves, including some Michael Jackson slides. We bought a spring at the hardware store and are going to alter our jump-up at home to make it more fun.

Saturday

On the ferry heading to bainbridge island for uncle Daniel's birthday
lunch. Unfortunately the cute birthday suit was spoiled 5 minutes
later.

Friday

Discovering Dandylions

Discovering Spring

Chickens, gardens and the world's largest morels

So, we are joining the leagues of local city farmsteads and getting ourselves some chickens. 4 hens, to be exact and they are arriving on Friday. These girls are 16 weeks old so they should be laying in the next couple of weeks or so. Nick is doing a masterful job of building their coop. I am helping out where I can, but mostly Finn and I watch, or smell the lilacs, or play with Inca. It has been amazingly, beautifully spring-like here in Seattle.

Last night, Nick was rummaging around under the porch looking for some old wood (our whole coop is recycled except for the wire) when he asked me if there could be morel mushrooms growing under our porch. I told him to pick one and this is what he came out with:

Probably the largest I have ever seen. There are a bunch of them under there. Our own private patch! One of my all-time favorite meals is salmon with morel mushroom tapenade (a recipe made up in Alaska when we found a bountiful patch of morels and the first king salmon of the season was freshly filleted on the kitchen counter). Looks like we are going to have a feast this weekend!

Also, I am planning our vegetable garden and thinking tomatoes, basil, shelling peas, green beans, squash and lettuce. And I found a great hanging strawberry planter that I think I am goint to try out. Hurray for spring!

This is what you do when you have teeth....

...and guess what? I do!

Finn's left bottom tooth poked through on Sunday! The right tooth is quickly catching up. He has been handling the process quite well, all considering. His greatest relief comes in the form of a toothbrush. Perfect training for when those pearly whites come all the way in!

It's official...

...our little boy is a British Citizen! Did you know that kids born in
this situation are of the lucky few allowed by the US government to
hold two passports?

Can you spy the little guy?

He is almost a chameleon.

A not too solid start on solids

After a rather hilarious episode involving a plate of spaghetti, Finn, super fast movements, unsuspecting parents and furious shoving and chewing, we decided that we would try Finn on his first solid foods. He has been showing all the developmental signs that he is ready (except no teeth). We have been starting slow with fruit and a little bit of instant mashed quinoa. No rice cereal, per our doctor and common sense (very little nutritional value and breastmilk breaks it down anyway). We thought all was going well until about a week in with very little, ahem, movements, if you know what I mean.

Poor little bugger had such a blocked system that it took days of tears, hot baths in the sink, multiple diaper washings and lots of kisses and cuddles to get back to normal. Needless to say, we are going to wait on the solids for now. Maybe once he gets a tooth or two in this smile, we will revisit the solid food issue.

Early Mornings

Somebody woke up at 5 am this morning and somebody else had a early morning photo shoot which leaves a mother trying to get ready for work, an empty bathtub, a recently-sitting-up-by-himself-baby, and a solution!

The Modern Dad

Today's Dad vacuums the floor at 830 on a Friday morning after making
his wife coffee, all the while keeping baby entertained by strapping
into the Moby wrap. This modern mama is so lucky!

Happy Easter...grrrr!

Don't mess with this rabbit!