No more Haiku

I have decided that writing a haiku everyday is stupid and I'm not going to do it anymore. OK, its not stupid, its boring. Who wants to read a new Haiku everyday? I certainly don't, and if I don't even want to read my own haiku, I figure I should stop. Yes, I know what this means - I failed my own challenge, but I am a firm believer that life is about evolving and growing and if I failed my challenge it is only because I was able to evolve to a place where I don't need to do it anymore (yes, I was excellent at coming up with excuses not to do my homework in high school).

In other, non haiku related news, my family is descending on us tomorrow. I am actually very excited that they are coming to visit us, but really they didn't have a choice. We declared long before Alice was born that we were not traveling with our baby for the first year - and we have stuck by that promise. Its actually very easy to do when you realize everything that goes into traveling with a baby - ITS TERRIFYING!!! Especially THIS year with everyone stuck at the airport for DAYS!!! I can just see Alice now:

Alice: mom, its been 5 minutes. Why arn't you singing and dancing to entertain me?

Mom: Alice, I would love to entertain you, but we are stuck in this airport and I need to go wait in a line that will most likely take hours so that I can put us on a list that will most likely be for a canceled flight - ask your dad to entertain you.

5 minutes later:

Alice: Mom, why are you not feeding me right here and now?

Mom: Alice, I just fed you an hour ago and you spent the entire time trying to expose me to the entire airport. Don't you want to wait just a little bit longer?

I can just imagine this process continuing for days! My heart really goes out to all those stranded at the airport - especially those with children.

Not having to go to the airport, we have have been enjoying the snow!

Haiku day 17

Tried to take the bus
We waited for one hour
It never showed up

We tried to get out of the house today. We first tried to catch the bus at our bus stop only to discover that the bus was there - stuck. The bus driver told us that our best bet was to walk to Northgate and catch the bus there. We did this and waited about an hour before we just gave up. Our city really does shut down in the snow.

One of my favorite things to do in the winter is to sit in a warm, cozy house drinking hot chocolate and watching movies.

Haiku day 16

Stuck inside all day
What was once fun snow for games
Is now a captor

Haiku day 15

A new idea
Creating my own business
Working towards a goal

A couple of my friends and I have decided to start a business together. I won't go into the details too much but it involves starting something new and the best part is that I can take Alice with me. I'm excited about it.

Haiku day 14

Watching dumb movies
Cuddling on the sofa
What a perfect day

Haiku day 13

Lets just pretend that I didn't forget to post yesterday...

Running through the wind
Snow stings my cheek as I flee
Alice snuggles close

I have discovered the perfect way to put Alice down for her nap. I simply put her in the moby and take a walk in the cold. Her little nose gets cold so she buries it in my chest. Something about the dark and warmth put her instantly to sleep. Its so very sweet.

Haiku day 12

The Aquarium
Swimming fish delight Alice
Fur seals flirt with her

On this record breaking coldest day of the year, Alice and I took a bus to the Seattle Aquarium. This is the first time that she has actually taken notice of the animals. She laughed every time a fish moved - which basically meant that she was laughing the entire time.
I think the cold scared everyone else away because we basically had the place to ourselves. Even the seals looked disappointed with their lack of an audience - they did a little swimming dance just for Alice. The volunteers looked desperate to answer questions, so I talked to them about the octopus while Alice splashed in the tide pool. It was a perfect way to spend a freezing Seattle morning.


Here is Alice trying to grab onto the octopus - if only this silly glass wasn't in the way!

Haiku day 11

I wrote an old friend
I haven't seen him in years
He is a dad now

It seams to me that there are times in your life when everyone does the same thing. When I was 24, everyone I knew was getting married. I think I went to 4 different weddings that year alone. I don't think that I felt any pressure because of that trend to get married, but I did get married as well right around that time. A couple of years later, those same friends were all getting pregnant, and lo and behold, I did as well. I want to say that "I am an individual! I do not follow the crowd! I am not a sheep!" but maybe I am. Maybe we do things more because "everyone else is doin' it" than we would like to admit.

I've been thinking a lot about the things that I do and asking myself why I do them. Christmas is a perfect example. Neither my husband nor myself are Christan, yet we always have some sort of Christmas celebration. It is hard not to when it feels like the rest of the country is celebrating. I want holiday traditions to be meaningful for Alice. While I don't believe in Christmas, I do believe in some sort of holiday magic. I LOVED trying to force myself to go to sleep Christmas eve so that Christmas would come sooner. I LOVED our Christmas tree all lit up and sitting in front of a fire drinking hot coco. I want to continue these traditions for Alice.

Even though it feels like everyone around me is celebrating on December 25th, SDN and I have decided that we are going to celebrate the coming on winter on the winter solstice. This gives our holiday a firm date which will hopefully allow Alice that same wonderful feeling the night before of being too excited to fall asleep. We are committed to treating this day as sacred to us, which means that we might have to take Alice out of school (if her school is still in session on that day) so that this day will always be special for us.

This is such a great time to be starting traditions. I just want to be sure that there are reasons behind the things that we hold dear.

Haiku day 10

Brain functions slowly
Everything is loud and bright
On next to no sleep

Haiku day 9

I give you my sleep
Soaring on the backs of dreams
Soundlessly resting

Why don't babies come with instruction manuals? Each one would have to be different to account for the unique needs of each child. One instruction manual might recommend putting baby to sleep around 9pm for optimal sleep duration lasting no less than 8 hours. Others, like mine, might caution that care of this baby might require sleepless nights.

"Baby has a loving temperament and will instantly be soothed by the sound of your voice, the caress of your hand, and being embraced. Baby will be charming and attempt to make eye contact and smile at everyone you pass. Do not be surprised if total strangers talk to you on a daily basis about the smile of baby while attempting to tickle baby's tummy and touch baby's hands.

"By 6 months of age, baby will need to be nursed once every 3 hours although, it is important to note that baby can go as long as 6 hours without being fed. When eating solid foods, first remove all clothing from baby. Second, place clear plastic food catcher beneath baby's chair. Third, have a hose ready to spray baby off when finished.

"At night, baby will fall asleep easily if a bedtime routine is in place that includes: naked time, bath, story time, and nursing. Baby, however, will not stay asleep for longer than 1.5 hours. Your particular model of baby wakes frequently during the night. To make up for this, we have enabled this baby to be instantly soothed, so putting baby back to sleep should be no problem...just don't expect baby to stay asleep.

"If nighttime wakings should cause distress, please keep in mind that your model of baby smiles, laughs, and cuddles more than other models currently on the market.

"We hope you enjoy this baby. Our help line is open 24 hours a day if any questions should arise."

I can wish, can't I?

Haiku day 8

One more year older
I still feel like a child
Waiting to grow up

Haiku day 7

She's crying upstairs
I want to hold her right now
Wipe away her tears

We have very reluctantly began allowing Alice to cry herself to sleep at night. This decision was made after she woke up every 15 minutes one night. So far, it has worked nicely. She has been sleeping much longer stretches (2, 3, or 4 hours). Every time she cries, though, its all I can do to not run upstairs and hold her and kiss her and show her how much I love her. I know that if I do this, we'll all go back to not sleeping, but it is so hard to listen to her cry.

Haiku day 6

oops, I forgot to post yesterday...

Out with my mom's group
Talk turns to the babes at home
I miss my Alice

Haiku day 5

She looks up at me
And gives me her secret grin
A smile for me

I noticed yesterday, when Alice was playing with all of her friends on the living room floor, that in every picture I took of her, she was looking up at me smiling. Now, maybe she just likes the camera and knows exactly what to do whenever she sees it, but I think that she was smiling just for me.
I have "ninjafide" the other children to protect their identities.

Haiku day 4

The Great Depression
People living on the streets
Things could get much worse

I watched a movie today about the Great Depression, and I realized that while we have had to really tighten our belts since SDN lost his job, we are still quite wasteful.

On a side note, I have no idea why I am writing in italics. I have tried to switch it off, but I think that my computer is cursed because it won't go away. This is how it looks when the italics button is off. This is how it looks when the italics button is on. Stupid technology...

Haiku day 3

My sister called me
Life is hard when you're a teen
I'm glad I'm grown-up

Haiku day 2

Christmas exploding
Alice wants to eat it all
So much excitement

Have you ever noticed how many unsafe things there are associated with Christmas for little babies - tiny light bulbs, pine needles, toxic plastic - she wants to put everything in her mouth and gets so frustrated when I won't let her.

Here is the cutest holiday baby ever!We put up a holiday tree which is just about as tall as she is.

Haiku challenge

One of my friends showed me this book (I can't remember the title...sorry) where these famous people (can't remember who...) wrote a haiku everyday for a year. Some of them were funny, some were sad, some were profound.

I thought it would be really fun to try this. Only not for a year...maybe a month. I'm going to try to write a Haiku everyday for a month. If you want to join in, that would be fun. Just leave it in the comments or link to it in the comments.

Day 1:
Smiling baby
Puts her fingers in her mouth
Banana drips out