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Friday, July 13, 2012

Seven Quick Takes (1)

1. As of yesterday, Keith is an official PhD Candidate! Before, he was simply a PhD student. But now he has proposed his thesis, withstood intense grilling from his committee, and passed their deliberations about whether or not he's ready to advance to the next stage of his degree. I am so proud of him! Since it was a big deal, and since we never got around to celebrating my graduation (what with having a newborn around and all), we went out to dinner last night to celebrate.

2. I also thought I'd bake something to celebrate. I've had a recipe on Pinterest for some time that I thought Keith might like--honey chamomile muffins. The recipe calls for almond flour, which the little grocery store on the block didn't have. I was tired and had a tired baby on my hands, so instead of going out in search of almond flour I decided to substitute wheat flour and hope for the best.

They are ... interesting. Edible, but interesting. In a way I don't think the original recipe intended to be interesting. They're pretty dense, for one thing ... I'd really like to try the recipe as written, because I think it would be pretty delicious. (Keith has eaten three muffins so far, so I think they taste alright, but the texture's just odd, and they look a little bit like dog food. :-/)

3. Keith has adoration at 9am on Thursdays, and since his proposal presentation started at 9:30, Michael and I took his hour. It was the first time I'd gone to adoration since before Michael was born. What a blessing! I know that Christ has been inviting me back to adoration for a long time, and for various reasons I haven't responded. But he keeps calling, gently. (Often through Father David, who I swear always looks RIGHT AT me when he promotes adoration from the altar, and who, a week or two after Michael was born, said that each parent should make sure the other is able to make it to private adoration.)

4. Our first anniversary is on Monday. We are going to enlist grandparents to babysit and go on a date ... we're still deciding whether we should go someplace with special meaning from our dating relationship (mostly up North where my parents live), or to a nice restaurant down here in the city.

5. And Michael's three month birthday is the day before that. (His due date was the day after our nine month anniversary. My cousin got married three months before us and was also due the day after her nine month anniversary ... we found it pretty funny.) He is so much more aware of the world than he used to be! He gets frustrated easily because he knows what he wants to do with his hands (which he finds fascinating), but isn't able to grab things or reach them very well yet. He's been smiling and "talking" for a long time, but last weekend I actually got these big belly laughs out of him, not once but twice. No laughing since then, though.

6. Like I said, Michael gets easily frustrated ... and easily bored. He also resists napping. Right now he's dozing in the swing (prime blogging time). This morning Keith discovered another way to keep him entertained. (Sorry, you'll have to tilt your head sideways!)



(Please note that I am fully aware of the dangers of leaving children alone to play with plastic bags. I was sitting there the whole time. :) )

7.  The other day someone came to the door trying to get us to join a group for local activism. (I feel like this happens a lot in our neighborhood? Maybe it's just living in the city.) Keith answered the door, but I thought her voice sounded familiar, and concluded from his description that it was someone I knew from school. 


Keith didn't sign anything, but asked for some literature about the organization, which she gave him before returning to talking to our downstairs neighbor. Which is normally the end of that kind of thing, right? Except that five minutes later she rang the doorbell again to ask what he thought of what he'd read. I joined him at the door this time to say hi and, I admit it, to show off Michael. 


We chatted a bit--Keith doing most of the talking. In the end we joined the mailing list but not the organization. We agreed with most of the issues that the group addressed, but we weren't sure we'd always support the ways they chose to address them, and so weren't comfortable with giving our money. I'm not sure how well the woman understood our point, so she might have left with the feeling that we don't care about local issues. But it was friendly conversation, at least. 




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8 comments:

  1. hmm...I feel like this post was a gentle reminder to ME about going to Adoration. I went only ONE time since Sly was born (that's almost two years!!), and got was I perceived to be dirty looks when newborn Sly started fussing. I left, embarrassed, and have not even attempted since...

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    1. I was definitely nervous about taking Michael, and luckily there were people there to cover the hour in case I had to leave. As it was, I did have to get up and stand in the back of the chapel a few times to keep him from fussing ... and also leave once. And when he wasn't fussing, he was just sort of chatting happily ... heh. Luckily the people who were there were SUPER charitable and actually paid him compliments rather than get annoyed. :)

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  2. #1--congrats to Keith!

    #4-- Happy anniversary! Do you like Italian? If you decide to stay in the city, Lidia's has a special on Monday evenings--four courses and 2 wines for $35. A not so expensive way to enjoy a *really* nice (and incredibly delicious!) meal. (And if you opt for no wine, they'll make it $25 if I remember correctly)

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    1. That sounds like a great deal! I will let Keith know. The other place we were thinking of was this little Portuguese restaurant in Shadyside, but we're not sure if they'll be open that day. (They have pretty spotty hours but AMAZING food.)

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  3. I've been doing more Adoration since Katie Rose was born than I have the whole year prior! I put it off too because of my baby, but I realized that if I'm not willing to take my chances in taking a baby I might not go to Adoration for the next twenty years! So far I've been going some Wednesday evenings at 7:00. It's an open Holy Hour with Confessions and recitation of the Rosary. Katie Rose has done great in the Moby Wrap. I also take Anthony to Children's Adoration on Friday mornings, and the mothers take turns covering the rest of the hour.

    It might be less anxiety-inducing to go at a more public time where it's not totally silent, or just stop in when you're pretty confident baby will stay napping, rather than sign up for an hour where it's just you and a couple of other people. Then you can leave if necessary. Also, the time you will be able to leave Michael with Keith for an hour without worrying about his needing to nurse will be here before you know it, if you are not pumping now. Hope that helps! If I can do it, so can you!

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    1. Thank you for the tips! I actually have been pumping but don't yet have enough of a stash that I feel comfortable dipping into it much. (We'll be doing so for the first time when my parents babysit for us on Monday.) There's children's adoration at the Oratory too, I believe, but I don't recall when it is ... I should look into that.

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  4. Congratulations to Keith! That's amazing! I didn't realize he was so close.

    Is it a year already?! Wow... It's amazing how much has changed in such a short time.

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  5. congratulations to keith and happy anniverary! i hope you guys had a fun evening yesterday.

    hmm, as far as claire and napping go, the only thing i can recommend is the book "healthy sleep habits, happy child." i think it's helping, but as we've only been sticking to a routine for a week so far, i can't say for sure!

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