Clean Sweep
Our Christmas went pretty well. There were some high points and low points as there are any time you get together with family, but all in all we had a pretty good time. Autumn was spoiled rotten, as was expected, and we ate way too much in the process. I've gained a few pounds these past couple of weeks, but I'm sure those few would have brought some friends with them had I not been breast feeding. Apparently my body is burning 1000 extra calories a day, which is pretty scary to think of considering I still gained weight. A bag of Reese's peanut butter cups plus sitting on the couch watching TNT between nursing sessions has not fared well for my bottom line. Damn if I haven't gotten hooked on "Judging Amy" though. That's a good show.
I kept busy taking pictures of Autumn's first holiday, though I didn't pop off as many shots as I thought I would. She mostly slept and ate, so there weren't many photo ops. Here are a few of my favorites.
Hanging with Aunt Joy
Listening intently to Grandma Pam
Getting a bottle from Uncle Sean
Cuddling up with great Uncle Dale
The loot from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bruce
As you can see from the above picture, Autumn took home quite a haul, which led Nathan and I to wonder where we were going to put everything. She received many books, clothes and toys and our storage options are rather limited. We originally bought our house with the keen notion that it's limited storage areas would force us to limit how much stuff we actually brought in to the house. Little did we realize that bringing a baby into the house would immediately reduce our perception of how much space we actually had.
Our neighbors behind us have 5 children, the youngest of which is about 3 months old. Their house cannot be much larger than ours yet they've managed to fit a family of seven over there. I've never been inside their house, but if the inside is at all similar to the backyard, it's probably a ruin of Fisher Price and Little Tykes with very little space that mom and dad can call their own anymore.
We've seen how toys can overtake a home until you can't walk two steps without bumping into something plastic and coated in primary colors. Part of me wants to keep things looking nice while the other part of me realizes the futility of it all and is ready to wave the white flag as long as I can get a decent toy box sometime in the near future.
Nathan and I spent Christmas night doing a Clean Sweep of our bookshelves. We have a lot of books, probably more than any two people who aren't really collectors have any right to own. I have been trying to whittle my collection down since we've moved in but have only been able to get rid of a few at a time. Many books I've never read but kept with the intent to read them some day. Well, Christmas night I finally realized that whatever little reading I will be doing, it won't be a 1400 page historical tome about New York City.
The most difficult decisions weren't concerning big hard cover books that were just sitting in my book case so that I could look smart. The hardest to get rid of were the paperbacks. The Stephen King, Ann Rice and Patricia Cornwell that I truly enjoyed but would probably never read again. Those were hard decisions because with them are memories. I had a horrible sunburn when I read Tom Clancy's Patriot Games and stayed in bed the whole weekend because moving put me in excruciating pain. Of course that was when I was in my early 20s and wasn't at all concerned about what the sun was doing to my skin. So with that book is the memory of how stupid I was. Would I have remembered how stupid I was without the book? Perhaps, but the book makes the memory much more vivid.
For the most part, I kept books I really wanted to read, knew I would read again or thought I would need should I ever pursue a master's in English. Besides the complete works of Shakespeare is a must for any home library, right?
I have no idea if Nathan and I are going to win the battle to keep our house clean. I'm betting not. It's not that I'm a pessimist, but I would rather be on the floor with my kid playing with the toys than worrying about keeping the place clean for company. Besides, all our friends and family know we're really slobs anyway.
I kept busy taking pictures of Autumn's first holiday, though I didn't pop off as many shots as I thought I would. She mostly slept and ate, so there weren't many photo ops. Here are a few of my favorites.
Hanging with Aunt Joy
Listening intently to Grandma Pam
Getting a bottle from Uncle Sean
Cuddling up with great Uncle Dale
The loot from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bruce
As you can see from the above picture, Autumn took home quite a haul, which led Nathan and I to wonder where we were going to put everything. She received many books, clothes and toys and our storage options are rather limited. We originally bought our house with the keen notion that it's limited storage areas would force us to limit how much stuff we actually brought in to the house. Little did we realize that bringing a baby into the house would immediately reduce our perception of how much space we actually had.
Our neighbors behind us have 5 children, the youngest of which is about 3 months old. Their house cannot be much larger than ours yet they've managed to fit a family of seven over there. I've never been inside their house, but if the inside is at all similar to the backyard, it's probably a ruin of Fisher Price and Little Tykes with very little space that mom and dad can call their own anymore.
We've seen how toys can overtake a home until you can't walk two steps without bumping into something plastic and coated in primary colors. Part of me wants to keep things looking nice while the other part of me realizes the futility of it all and is ready to wave the white flag as long as I can get a decent toy box sometime in the near future.
Nathan and I spent Christmas night doing a Clean Sweep of our bookshelves. We have a lot of books, probably more than any two people who aren't really collectors have any right to own. I have been trying to whittle my collection down since we've moved in but have only been able to get rid of a few at a time. Many books I've never read but kept with the intent to read them some day. Well, Christmas night I finally realized that whatever little reading I will be doing, it won't be a 1400 page historical tome about New York City.
The most difficult decisions weren't concerning big hard cover books that were just sitting in my book case so that I could look smart. The hardest to get rid of were the paperbacks. The Stephen King, Ann Rice and Patricia Cornwell that I truly enjoyed but would probably never read again. Those were hard decisions because with them are memories. I had a horrible sunburn when I read Tom Clancy's Patriot Games and stayed in bed the whole weekend because moving put me in excruciating pain. Of course that was when I was in my early 20s and wasn't at all concerned about what the sun was doing to my skin. So with that book is the memory of how stupid I was. Would I have remembered how stupid I was without the book? Perhaps, but the book makes the memory much more vivid.
For the most part, I kept books I really wanted to read, knew I would read again or thought I would need should I ever pursue a master's in English. Besides the complete works of Shakespeare is a must for any home library, right?
I have no idea if Nathan and I are going to win the battle to keep our house clean. I'm betting not. It's not that I'm a pessimist, but I would rather be on the floor with my kid playing with the toys than worrying about keeping the place clean for company. Besides, all our friends and family know we're really slobs anyway.
