A Good Year For Wine, We're Hoping

Matt's parents arrive tonight. They can't wait to see baby, who, by the way, gets more adorable every day. Matt's mom and I are buddies - good gossiping. Just sent Matt to the Cheese Shop for duck liver foie gras, 5-year Gouda & Foi Epi, to be complemented by a Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which we'll let his parents purchase. ; )~

Matt put foie gras in my stocking Christmas morning, hee hee.

We're going to put together Sam's 21st birthday package (am I the coolest mom, or what) of 2007 wines, but we must wait about 2-3 years for the '07s to arrive. It will be difficult not to drink them by 2017. Practice restraint, I always say.

I've been frequenting Baby Gap online. Sam is good until he's almost 3. I hope our birthday-share makes him as organized as I'd like for him to be. I hope he organizes his toys and cleans under his bed, like I did. He is already showing great progress with spelling and alphabetizing (ah, this poor kid has no chance).

Back to freelance writing; the house is quiet.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas, MARRY New Year!

Happy, Happy, Happy!

Back in the Saddle

....Been away a few days on a little "Jill holiday". Nice place, continuous room service, all the care for which one could ask. I slept a lot. ; ) Missed Matt and Sam fiercely, their identical smiles.

T-Ex's photo ID landed here for some reason. I cut out her this-took-me-three-hours-to-get-ready picture, replacing it with a dragon. Saving it for Matt's stocking.

The little man's first Christmas is coming. I say, "Sammy, better burp quickly...Santa is watching."

Matt wrote me a card that made me cry. Amazing grace.

The Song Remains The Same

I'm in love with two people.

I copied lyrics to Happy Tapping with Elmo and sent them to Matt as a joke, saying, "Learn these." I added: Life sure has changed, huh?

He replied: For the better.

Awwww. My boys.

Goodbye Julia

Congresswoman Julia Carson died yesterday morning. She was poisoned...by cigarettes. I liked her very much. I met her a few times, voted for her when I lived in her district, and wrote about her in the Bose McKinney & Evans book. Angie worked on her campaign. Eva posed with her a couple of times for photos. : )

She rescued Mr. McK. at a D.C. hearing over whether or not he was "redlining" at his bank. He certainly was not, and she helped prove it. She was a smart cookie and a soulful woman. Must send Mr. McK. a note.

Kev and I attended an "Alternative Weekly" meeting in D.C. several years back, and Mr. McK. joined us. At a particular symposium, I remember some youngster, born deep in the 70s, rattling off nonsense about JFK. Mr. McK. stood up and said, "Young man, you know nothing about JFK." The kid said, "Yeah, what do you know about him?" Mr. McK. replied, "We were friends...I ran his Indiana campaign."

Slam!

Andy Jacobs gave a sweet speech on TV for Julia. Must send him a note too. Such intelligent, caring, decent people in the world; I worry about Julia's now-open seat.

Cooking and Cleaning

I love including Sam in everything. Today I asked him to hold my letters that I needed to mail - he found this very funny. We made homemade granola together, and we're about to bake a pie (as soon as he wakes from his nap; the granola wore him out). I told Matt that Sam will be so very marriageable some day, since he'll know how to cook and clean a bathroom. Matt said, "Sammy, let me talk to you about the marriage thing....sometimes you have to take a couple of runs at it." ; )

We're eloping. We buy our tickets...maybe tonight!

Mystery in the Diaper

Yesterday, I was changing Sam and a ball bearing rolled out of his diaper. First this startled me. I asked, "Sam, were you trying to make Mommy a pearl...?"

It didn't seem to have "passed" through him...so where did it come from? He hasn't the skills to pick up such an object and digest it. So where did it come from? Matt and I are completely baffled.

I had to get my eyes dilated today (my final follow-up to Lasik surgery in January, under which terms I wasn't supposed to be pregnant, and I didn't know that I was pregnant, but I was pregnant), then Sam and I headed to the grocery. Don't try this at home. I couldn't see a damn thing near-sighted; I bought decaf coffee for God's sake, couldn't see the expiration date on the skim milk. I kind of felt my way around via familiarity, praying that I wouldn't be humiliated when unable to select "credit" or "debit" on the small checkout screen. We made it home unscathed.

We visited Derwood (99 bottles of wine on the wall, 99 bottles of wine...) and the folks at his firm today. D held Sam and Sam giggled at his awkwardness in holding an infant. Sam knows a novice when he feels one; D prefers kids when they're at the "dirt bike" stage.

I stopped by to return a bunch of cds I'd swiped from him 12 years ago. Just cleaning up the Karma. Sam flirted with the secretaries and D said, "Cute kid!" Yep.

I'm tired and Sam will be hungry in about an hour. Sigh. He's always hungry. I bought him a hippo for Christmas.

Long Live The Day

I spent the afternoon at Absolu Spa, thank you, Matt. Every muscle is relaxed, every pore is clean. Rarely do I pamper myself; the esthetician said I have good genes, thanks Mom!

Matt is cooking... imagine that. We usually eat around 11:00. We're munching Foi Epi. We have one month to drink Beaujolais Nouveau before they're all put out to pasture. I've got him drinking Cotes du Rhones, and we spent an hour trying to find a demi glace recipe. We love French fries. Our dear little francophile family.

Sam is really into YouTube now, mostly Elmo, Bert, Ernie. He's easy to please, like me. We watched "Happy Tapping" with Elmo about 29 times today. I held him up and let his feet brush my legs, making him believe in tapping too. He was so giddy. I cherish every moment with that baby. I've turned into my father (as if I hadn't already), and I make up at least 10 songs a day about the ongoings of "Sam." He's a natural born protagonist, that kid. He will be the feature of my prose for years to come.

Matt is singing "I've Got Two Eyes" to Sam in the kitchen right now...I must intervene. Sam prefers a soprano on this one.

Missing

I miss Angie. Happy Birthday, sister. It's Pearl Harbor Day, bombshell. I was just thinking about all the times we hung upside down on our swingset, trying to get attention from the boys. We've grown up, some. :)

I miss Anne. I was just thinking about Fiona walking outside, holding a can of Comet, and asking us how to clean a bathtub. Sheez. Reality check.

I miss Debbie. I was just craving a stromboli (skipping French class) and a beer at Nick's.

I miss Alex. I was just remembering stomping on leaves outside the law school. Funny, funny guy.

This list could begin to get very long, but Sam is crying.

I do not miss a time when there wasn't Matt or Sam...

Christmas Exclusion

Uh huh: 4:02 a.m.

Although it's been said many times, many ways, Matt made note that Sam was overlooked when offered the simple phrase about kids from one to ninety-two...

It's snowing hard, it looks beautiful outside. Mostly, I love that I don't have to drive in it!

Freelancing has begun...

Clean Freak

Just an observation: when I cook, Matt and I both say, "Mmm, not bad," or "Much improved!" When Matt cooks I want to lick the plate.

We invested in copper pots...they really make all the difference as the heat distributes evenly.

I am such a geek.

Our next house will not have an old, gross basement with crickets (yes, we have a growing cricket population...and of course I will not kill them), nor will we ever have shower doors. No matter how extravagant and lovely the doors, they get gross with time, and I'm tired of cleaning shower doors.

I knew it was love when, at Matt's old house, I first cleaned his shower. I took the drain cap off because it kept clogging, and found a large clump of brown permed hair, which I had to cut off with scissors (it had never been cleaned). As I held back the throw up, I thought, "I think I'm in love here..."

Now it's just baby poop and spit up.

Hipster

As you may have heard, I have this thing for the Tragically Hip. I sent some photos of Sam, and Gord Downie wrote these sweet words to me today:

he's a beauty Jill
nice to read you settling into your lifelong love affair.
it just gets richer and richer.
he's a lucky kid to have a mum like you.
happy first merries coming up
happy days always
g

I told Matt that I can't wait to take Sam to his first show soon. Matt raised an eyebrow and grumbled something, but I was selectively listening. ; )

Sam's First Shots

Yeah, it's 2:36 in the morning; Sammy just had a bottle. I am congested, and it feels like I swallowed a ball of wax paper.

Last night I woke in a startling cough that lasted several minutes...enough to even wake Matt, which is highly unusual. If I need to get him up from now on, I'll cough. I got out of bed to get water, and right as I passed Sam's room I felt the dreaded tickle again. I covered my mouth with both hands and ran to the bathroom and cough-attacked into a towel. The things moms do.

Sam had his shots today - KILLED ME. His huge blue eyes looked like the sea in a thunderstorm, poor little lad. I held his hand, kissed his little cheeks and shook his favorite lion rattle while we both beared the pain. The pediatrician told me I needed a flu shot while I was there, and I had a horrified "Terms of Endearment" moment, but luckily no lump. Just the sore throat, cough, breathing passage out of one nostril only. Sam and I, we're survivors.