Friday, September 3, 2010
Song of the Day
I've been listening to Michael Franti every morning on my drive to work, so I'm sharing the joy here.
My commute has been great this week. I've been leaving earlier than I used to think decent, so that I can get home to Noah and Eug can start his work in the afternoon.
Two thoughts on this: first, I could have been a medical resident after all. Second, humans are an extraordinarily adaptable species.
Monday, August 23, 2010
A New Home and a Lot of Pee
Jo Hunter Adams
We're [almost] all moved in to our new place, which is remarkably spacious. We literally have a room just for eating. Which is a common phenomenon, I suppose, but it still feels weird. We have a tiny couch in our living room looking really ridiculous-- surrounded by empty space and some plants. And we have amazing wooden floors. Word on the street (word from Eug) is that we're going to check out wicker furniture on Craigslist and then spraypaint whatever we get one colour. I think it could be awesome. Colour TBD.
So, you ask, why is it so great that the floors are made of wood? Well, Mr Noah is currently on the journey towards continence-- It's a gentle, slow journey because Noah is 103 days old. I was trying out some infant potty training/elimination communication when Noah was as young as two weeks. It worked well when he was peeing and pooping super-often (every five minutes) because there was a lot of success just by chance. But because our floor was carpeted I wasn't too keen on trying out a lot of time without a diaper, just because it seemed too messy.
With the wooden floors, Noah has caught on really well in just under a week. It turns out he doesn't like the potty, he likes the real toilet. It's pretty easy to take him to the toilet every so often during the day, and either give him a diaper or little trousers the rest of the time. I tried out having an alarm to remind myself to take him, and he often cries right before he's planning on peeing. I'm sharing not because we've gotten it all figured out (we've been parents for all of three months!), but because it's been surprisingly easy and not super-out-there-hippy-crunchy (yes, I came in with some pre-conceived notions). My take on EC is that there's no downside to helping him learn while he's amenable, particularly because it's not an all-or-nothing situation-- he can be in diapers some of the time. With Noah really liking toilets, it's also much easier to let him pee when we're out. I actually even took him to the park without a diaper--risky because he was in a wrap on me-- and he made it home without peeing on me.
We're [almost] all moved in to our new place, which is remarkably spacious. We literally have a room just for eating. Which is a common phenomenon, I suppose, but it still feels weird. We have a tiny couch in our living room looking really ridiculous-- surrounded by empty space and some plants. And we have amazing wooden floors. Word on the street (word from Eug) is that we're going to check out wicker furniture on Craigslist and then spraypaint whatever we get one colour. I think it could be awesome. Colour TBD.
So, you ask, why is it so great that the floors are made of wood? Well, Mr Noah is currently on the journey towards continence-- It's a gentle, slow journey because Noah is 103 days old. I was trying out some infant potty training/elimination communication when Noah was as young as two weeks. It worked well when he was peeing and pooping super-often (every five minutes) because there was a lot of success just by chance. But because our floor was carpeted I wasn't too keen on trying out a lot of time without a diaper, just because it seemed too messy.
With the wooden floors, Noah has caught on really well in just under a week. It turns out he doesn't like the potty, he likes the real toilet. It's pretty easy to take him to the toilet every so often during the day, and either give him a diaper or little trousers the rest of the time. I tried out having an alarm to remind myself to take him, and he often cries right before he's planning on peeing. I'm sharing not because we've gotten it all figured out (we've been parents for all of three months!), but because it's been surprisingly easy and not super-out-there-hippy-crunchy (yes, I came in with some pre-conceived notions). My take on EC is that there's no downside to helping him learn while he's amenable, particularly because it's not an all-or-nothing situation-- he can be in diapers some of the time. With Noah really liking toilets, it's also much easier to let him pee when we're out. I actually even took him to the park without a diaper--risky because he was in a wrap on me-- and he made it home without peeing on me.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Going back to work...
Jo Hunter Adams
I'm heading back to work August 4th, which is two weeks away. I'm really surprised by how much I wish I could stay home for... well... for a long time. Noah still seems so small. I had respect for stay-at-home-moms before, but now I have a sense of exactly how much Noah feels like an extension of myself. It feels like presence is all Noah needs right now, and I wish there was a way to give him more of that. The good news is that he'll get to hang out with his dad, and he's not going to daycare anytime soon.
I wasn't sure about about how my childhood, Wellesley and spiritual beliefs about the roles of women would change with motherhood. To my surprise I've felt a new sense of womanhood as a blessing. Even with a lot of late night feedings.
I'm heading back to work August 4th, which is two weeks away. I'm really surprised by how much I wish I could stay home for... well... for a long time. Noah still seems so small. I had respect for stay-at-home-moms before, but now I have a sense of exactly how much Noah feels like an extension of myself. It feels like presence is all Noah needs right now, and I wish there was a way to give him more of that. The good news is that he'll get to hang out with his dad, and he's not going to daycare anytime soon.
I wasn't sure about about how my childhood, Wellesley and spiritual beliefs about the roles of women would change with motherhood. To my surprise I've felt a new sense of womanhood as a blessing. Even with a lot of late night feedings.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
BumGenius and a Very Short Move
Jo Hunter Adams
My mom has just left after a great two week stay, so I'm just getting back to the Concrete Gardener. There's so much I'd like to write about: Going back to work after Noah, our upcoming move, Conferre magazine's next issue, life, the universe, and everything. Since I can't do all that, for now I'll write about BumGenius and our very short move.
Bumgenius 3.0 Diapers (I'm not getting paid to endorse them... actually noone pays me anything to endorse anything, interestingly enough! ) have been great. I do get peed on fairly regularly, as we find they sometimes leak at the back, but I think they're a ton better than disposables, even before considering the environment and the money savings. Washing has been easy and I really recommend pocket diapers as a simple way to do cloth diapering. Pocket diapers are cloth diapers that go on like disposables (no pinning or folding), but they have an absorbent insert that you wash separately, to make drying quicker and increase the life of the diaper. I've been shocked just how many diapers Noah goes through every day-- sometimes he needs a change every hour-- so I'm really liking a diaper that's very easy to put on, and easy to wash and dry. I like having just one kind of diaper: it feels simpler. They ARE expensive, so I had to treat it as an investment.
As an aside: Noah was doing really well at potty training with G-Diapers (he seemed to know when he needed to go) whereas he totally doesn't seem to know with the BumGenius's-- perhaps because they're so absorbent. So if you're planning on trying infant potty training in a serious way, G-Diapers may be a better bet.
Our Big News is that we're moving to the first floor of the same three family house we're living in now. I have mixed feelings about the move: I don't love that you have to bend sideways to do the dishes, and that guests feel as though we can hear them when they're in the bathroom, which opens into our living room...but otherwise I love the place we're in now. I love the price of the place we're in now and the financial flexibility it's given us over the past 3.5 years. I love that cleaning takes 20 minutes. I love that our bathroom has bright pink tiling over the entire wall and floor, and that even the toilet and shower are pink (love in the way you love a strange and eccentric aunty). Our friends just moved to Watertown, and we really enjoy this town, so we were swaying in favor of staying in Watertown over JP despite my commute.
Since the first floor unit is unexpectedly available, and given that we WILL have to move at some point, it made sense to do it now. It doesn't make total financial sense, and given that I'm pretty frugal I had to have a sense of some supernatural approval. I felt like God said that it's a gift for us, and that it's ok to enjoy a bigger place. So I'm stepping into the move as a fun gift, with the hope we'll experience the new space as abundance, not burden. We'll be suddenly able to have groups of people over, which is super-exciting. Expect invitations!
My mom has just left after a great two week stay, so I'm just getting back to the Concrete Gardener. There's so much I'd like to write about: Going back to work after Noah, our upcoming move, Conferre magazine's next issue, life, the universe, and everything. Since I can't do all that, for now I'll write about BumGenius and our very short move.
Bumgenius 3.0 Diapers (I'm not getting paid to endorse them... actually noone pays me anything to endorse anything, interestingly enough! ) have been great. I do get peed on fairly regularly, as we find they sometimes leak at the back, but I think they're a ton better than disposables, even before considering the environment and the money savings. Washing has been easy and I really recommend pocket diapers as a simple way to do cloth diapering. Pocket diapers are cloth diapers that go on like disposables (no pinning or folding), but they have an absorbent insert that you wash separately, to make drying quicker and increase the life of the diaper. I've been shocked just how many diapers Noah goes through every day-- sometimes he needs a change every hour-- so I'm really liking a diaper that's very easy to put on, and easy to wash and dry. I like having just one kind of diaper: it feels simpler. They ARE expensive, so I had to treat it as an investment.
As an aside: Noah was doing really well at potty training with G-Diapers (he seemed to know when he needed to go) whereas he totally doesn't seem to know with the BumGenius's-- perhaps because they're so absorbent. So if you're planning on trying infant potty training in a serious way, G-Diapers may be a better bet.
Our Big News is that we're moving to the first floor of the same three family house we're living in now. I have mixed feelings about the move: I don't love that you have to bend sideways to do the dishes, and that guests feel as though we can hear them when they're in the bathroom, which opens into our living room...but otherwise I love the place we're in now. I love the price of the place we're in now and the financial flexibility it's given us over the past 3.5 years. I love that cleaning takes 20 minutes. I love that our bathroom has bright pink tiling over the entire wall and floor, and that even the toilet and shower are pink (love in the way you love a strange and eccentric aunty). Our friends just moved to Watertown, and we really enjoy this town, so we were swaying in favor of staying in Watertown over JP despite my commute.
Since the first floor unit is unexpectedly available, and given that we WILL have to move at some point, it made sense to do it now. It doesn't make total financial sense, and given that I'm pretty frugal I had to have a sense of some supernatural approval. I felt like God said that it's a gift for us, and that it's ok to enjoy a bigger place. So I'm stepping into the move as a fun gift, with the hope we'll experience the new space as abundance, not burden. We'll be suddenly able to have groups of people over, which is super-exciting. Expect invitations!
Friday, June 18, 2010
What do we need? An Electronics Inventory
Jo Hunter Adams
Recently, in an attempt to make our place feel a little more spacious, I've committed to taking inventories of most of our belongings. Hopefully, we'll see where we have more than we need. I've even tried to list every piece of clothing I have, to take an objective look at an overflowing cupboard. As I've been reading more on simplicity and following the devastation of the gulf after the BP explosion, I've felt tugged towards a more radical understanding of our needs. All our stuff needs more space, and space costs money, and to get money you need a lot of time.
Here's our electronic inventory, for your enjoyment:
Living room:
2 lamps
1 iMac (Eug's)
1 iBook (mine)
1 ipod (mine)
1 EeePC (Eug's)
1 Camera
1 Printer
1 Scanner (all our documents are stored electronically).
1 battery powered swing for Noah (which will only last until he's about 3 or 4 months old)
Big Cupboard
1 deep freeze
1 drill
1 circular saw
1 label maker
Kitchen
1 Bread Maker
1 Rotisserie (don't ask)
1 hand mixer
1 coffee grinder
1 Microwave
1 toaster oven
1 slow cooker
1 rice cooker
Bedroom
2 lamps
1 spare camera
1 old desktop computer (for watching movies or Hulu TV shows)
Bathroom
1 electric shaver
1 electric toothbrush
1 Laundry spinner
Other:
TomTom, our GPS friend.
3 cell phones (two are in use)
That's 33 things items requiring power! (excluding the stove (gas powered) and the ancient fridge, which both use vast amounts of energy, as well as built in lights and fans).
We have quite a few things, particularly kitchen appliances, that would make so much sense to "borrow" from a community resource when we need them. I love love love our breadmaker, for example, but it's just not something we use every day. What do you think of having a bank for electronics that you only use once a week or once a month?
Noah Update
Noah's growing really well. Eug has started feeding him one bottle of breastmilk a day, to gradually prepare him for my return to work. We're transitioned to Bumgenius 3.0 (from GDiapers). That will demand another post next week, but we like them very much. We're also doing Elimination Communication, in our own way. Sometimes we save diapers, sometimes not, but there's really no down side. Sitting with Noah with his tupperware takes about 5 minutes, washing out even one really poopy diaper seems to take forever.
Recently, in an attempt to make our place feel a little more spacious, I've committed to taking inventories of most of our belongings. Hopefully, we'll see where we have more than we need. I've even tried to list every piece of clothing I have, to take an objective look at an overflowing cupboard. As I've been reading more on simplicity and following the devastation of the gulf after the BP explosion, I've felt tugged towards a more radical understanding of our needs. All our stuff needs more space, and space costs money, and to get money you need a lot of time.
Here's our electronic inventory, for your enjoyment:
Living room:
2 lamps
1 iMac (Eug's)
1 iBook (mine)
1 ipod (mine)
1 EeePC (Eug's)
1 Camera
1 Printer
1 Scanner (all our documents are stored electronically).
1 battery powered swing for Noah (which will only last until he's about 3 or 4 months old)
Big Cupboard
1 deep freeze
1 drill
1 circular saw
1 label maker
Kitchen
1 Bread Maker
1 Rotisserie (don't ask)
1 hand mixer
1 coffee grinder
1 Microwave
1 toaster oven
1 slow cooker
1 rice cooker
Bedroom
2 lamps
1 spare camera
1 old desktop computer (for watching movies or Hulu TV shows)
Bathroom
1 electric shaver
1 electric toothbrush
1 Laundry spinner
Other:
TomTom, our GPS friend.
3 cell phones (two are in use)
That's 33 things items requiring power! (excluding the stove (gas powered) and the ancient fridge, which both use vast amounts of energy, as well as built in lights and fans).
We have quite a few things, particularly kitchen appliances, that would make so much sense to "borrow" from a community resource when we need them. I love love love our breadmaker, for example, but it's just not something we use every day. What do you think of having a bank for electronics that you only use once a week or once a month?
Noah Update
Noah's growing really well. Eug has started feeding him one bottle of breastmilk a day, to gradually prepare him for my return to work. We're transitioned to Bumgenius 3.0 (from GDiapers). That will demand another post next week, but we like them very much. We're also doing Elimination Communication, in our own way. Sometimes we save diapers, sometimes not, but there's really no down side. Sitting with Noah with his tupperware takes about 5 minutes, washing out even one really poopy diaper seems to take forever.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Peace Dinners
"Locally grown food and meals for diverse communities"
Eug and I had our first experience of Peace Dinners last Tuesday. The company was founded very recently by a friend from church, with a vision of providing good food in a creative way. The food (pictured above) was wonderful, and lasted us two full meals. It was delivered by the time we woke up, in a cooler outside our door. If you're in the Boston area, they're an awesome option for eating healthy food at home when you're not up to cooking!
Eug and I had our first experience of Peace Dinners last Tuesday. The company was founded very recently by a friend from church, with a vision of providing good food in a creative way. The food (pictured above) was wonderful, and lasted us two full meals. It was delivered by the time we woke up, in a cooler outside our door. If you're in the Boston area, they're an awesome option for eating healthy food at home when you're not up to cooking!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Aicha
It's summer in the Northern hemisphere (which somehow is a much bigger deal than in Durban, where it's really nice all year round), and summers always remind me of the free concerts that happened every summer in Milan. My first year outside of South Africa, Cheb Khaled played a concert outside the Duomo. Aicha became my favourite song for a long time after that. It reminds me of awesome, hopeful times!
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