Project Life (Mar. 1-7)

Matt was in D.C. for the first part of this week, and I was alone in a quiet house, so after Kate went to bed, I spent most of these evenings reading in bed. There's nothing quite like the joy of getting in bed at 8:00!

Monday 3/1: I got a new package from Bookswim (Netflix for books), and stayed up half the night reading For Laci, Laci Peterson's mother's memoir of her daughter and unborn grandson's murder. Heart-wrenching and very raw in places.

This is my bedside table, which always has at least four books on it (and several more on the floor next to it). Right now, there are my three Bookswim books--For Laci, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, and UnChristian (key church-and-culture title I've been needing to read for a while)--Live From New York (an oral history of Saturday Night Live), recent issues of Parents and Parenting magazines, the Bible (NRSV), and for decoration, an early edition of Gone With the Wind.

Tuesday 3/2: Kate usually starts stirring around the time my alarm goes off, so I try to get out of bed and shower before she's wide awake. (Life these days is pretty much divided into tasks I can do while Kate's awake and tasks I'd rather not.) If I don't, Matt's there to get up with her, so when he's gone, I have to go with Plan C: shut her in her room to play alone. The room is safe and she is independent, so it works out okay, but a mess will likely result.... books and diapers EVERYWHERE... and a giddy little girl :0) Wednesday 3/3: One of my New Year's Resolutions was for our family to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. The big challenge for me is remembering to prepare them before they go bad. So, this week I put a spare ice bucket from the freezer into the fridge to hold the fresh stuff and keep it in plain sight, rather than in their separate plastic bags in drawers. Kate loves tomatoes and avocados, and fruit of all kinds.
Thursday 3/4: I broke out the bath letters for the first time, and Kate had a blast with them--especially chewing on them. We'll have so much fun spelling words once she gets to that stage.

Friday 3/5: Kate loves her daddy, and they both love books (we all do!) Parents were invited to come in and read to the kids today, so Matt went and read to the toddlers, only a few of whom actually sat still and paid attention. (I'm shocked Kate was one of them!) At bedtime, Matt read again, while Kate did her own thing--in a precious little mirror image to Daddy.

Saturday 3/6: Kate is in a very "mommy" mood lately, crying when I start to leave the room (only at home--she's still fine when I drop her at school!) or if I won't pick her up when she wants it. This makes it hard to do anything requiring two hands, as you can imagine, so here's me chopping up squash for dinner the other night. (We also made use of the back carrier on Sunday, hiking at a nearby park--the whole weekend was gorgeous!)

Sunday 3/7: Oscar night! Kate got to stay up for the first part, and enjoyed playing with the remote while these random music-guys accepted their award. We haven't seen any of the movies nominated for anything (we don't get out much anymore!) but I thought Sanda Bullock looked fabulous. Love the lacy dress and smooth, simple hair. Lovely.

As always, find more people's beautifully ordinary lives here: