even more catching up with pictures

Finally--here are a few pictures, most from our quick jaunt up to see grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles in Austin, Minnesota this September. Because I can never get my pictures to post in an orderly fashion, just scroll down to see them all and don't miss the video of Owen laughing under the post "catching up". Love to you all!

more catching up with pictures

catching up with pictures

Happy, peaceful kiddos. Cheers everyone!

Catching up

Hey everyone, it's been a long time. We have been climbing out of the shock of having two children ever so slowly, but things are becoming more manageable day by day. As Owen still only catnaps, the few minutes I have sans kiddos are mostly devoted to eating, bathing and cleaning up (in that order). Any time Owen is content or napping while Ellie's around, I'm working on giving her some attention, which she soaks up like a sponge having had it drop off so radically the past half a year. Ellie's learning to be a big sister and is off and on excited and annoyed by it all. She loves her friends (new and old), school, books and gymnastics classes. Owen has rolled over, is laughing, loves to be close to his mama and is just generally a delight. Ryan is working like crazy and coming home late but doing his best to engage the kiddos the few hours in the week he has with them while really catching up on the weekends. Walking by boxes unopened and empty walls is starting to get to me, so one of these days our house will get the attention it deserves, but until then we're getting the hang of it here. We have two healthy, usually happy, beautiful kiddos and we are grateful.
I know not everyone reading this blog shares my political views and so I write cautiously and respectfully, but I have to share that the election of Obama has greatly enlivened my attitude towards the future of our country, the world and has somehow given me hope that living in Germantown, Tennessee will be okay for our family. This is a relief, as the transition to living in a community in which the dominant values expressed are often at odds with mine has caused a lot of worry, angst, regret and just tears. It's tiresome to be so self-aware. Yesterday and just again this morning folks have commented to me that I was "such an interesting person". (These comments arising after learning I was nursing and then that I'd been to Africa.) Hmmmm --when things are going well I can take that in a positive way, but I often remember that in the midwest, "interesting" and "different" are often euphemisms for things we're not sure about and probably don't like. While I can't be certain that's what that means down here, I'm conscious of being somehow different and have been doing a lot of laying low, even compromising with how I present myself. (I put the Obama bumpersticker on my car, but we didn't put a yard sign.) I still wonder how much conforming (shopping, primping, keeping up with the Joneses) will creep into our lives here despite our best efforts, but with Obama's election I'm keeping my chin just a little higher. Those who have known me for years know of the irony that I'm a "corporate wife" and a stay at home mom living in the suburbs. And while I wholeheartedly embrace being a mom and being married and can make peace with the suburban part, I don't want to be defined solely by those labels. This election is an affirmation that there are kindred spirits in all corners of this country (even Germantown!), that there are people who are passionate about progress, proof that so many who struggled before us have not done so in vain. More personally, it gives me hope for Ellie and Owen's futures and makes me feel that, even in Germantown and Memphis, there is momentum towards change that our family can be a part of and work to affect. That makes me joyful, makes us all joyful. Just look at Owen laughing! And for those of you who know Ryan's dad Dave, can you believe how similar this laugh is?

wow

There's a stillness to this day, a sort of intake of breath as we wonder at all that has happened with this election coming to pass. As Ellie and Owen sleep in our unlikely home in Germantown, Tennessee, I can do nothing but turn this over in my mind, feel gratitude and wonder that our country has reclaimed itself with such an act. There is much left to do, more that will play out, but I am certain that this changes so much for the world that my children will inherit.

Here's what Charles Blow, a NYTimes writer, says:
History will record this as the night the souls of black folk, living and dead, wept – and laughed, screamed and danced – releasing 400 years of pent up emotion.

They were the souls of those whose bodies littered the bottom of the Atlantic, whose families were torn asunder, whose names were erased.

They were those who knew the terror of being set upon by men with clubs, of being trapped in a torched house, of dangling at the end of a rough rope.

They were the souls of those who knew the humiliation of another person’s spit trailing down their faces, of being treated like children well into their twilight years, of being derided and despised for the beauty God gave them.

They were also the tears of those for whom “Yes We Can, ” Obama’s campaign slogan, took on a broader, more profound meaning.

“Yes We Can” escape the prison of lowered expectations and the cycles of poor choices. “Yes We Can” rise above history and beyond hatred. “Yes We Can” ascend to Martin Luther King’s mountain top and see the promised land where dreams are fulfilled, where the best man wins and where justice prevails.

During this election African-Americans, their hearts weary from disappointment, dared to hope and dream again. Tonight their dream has been realized.

Whether or not you agree with Barack Obama’s politics, there is no denying that his election represents a seminal moment in the African-American narrative and a giant leap forward on the road to America’s racial reconciliation.

In fact everyone, regardless of race, should feel free to shed a tear and be proud of how far our country has come.

With love, hope, relief, joy and renewed faith--Laura