Salem

October 8, 2019October 8, 2019

Demo Day

Wednesday is the day we finally say good-bye to those awesome builder-grade oak cabinets, cracked and peeling Formica countertops, and stained shallow sink that made my mom cringe nine-and-a-half years ago when we bought our first home. After we did the basement last winter we were like, hey, this is fun moving all our earthly goods around all of creation in order to have a more beautiful (and clean) living space. So, we called the same contractor, and voila!

Except it wasn’t actually that easy because kids and life and how can you really tell what things will look like from 4×8 samples of countertops and one bitty cabinet door? We brought home samples three times that just sat on the kitchen table until the cabinet place was like hey, bring back our stuff. Lucky for me (and apparently not all partners are this lucky) Eric pretty much surrendered all decision making for this room and the choices were all mine. We’re not moving around the footprint of the kitchen as there’s not a lot of variation possible in our tiny, yet open, floor plan. Because of this, the whole shebang might take as little as a week! A week!

On the last day of oak cabinets, there was much rejoicing and drinking of wine.

Back in the 80s, when my brother and I were little, my parents did something very fun for us kids that I still remember. There was wallpaper all over the house (re: 80s) and when it came time to change the wallpaper (not paint, that would be sooooo “passe” as my mom would say) my parents would hand over the markers and let us go to town ON THE WALLS. I remember the birds in the master bedroom, the tennis players in the den, and the eagles (‘MERICA!) in the family room. We colored on them all. What a hoot, as a kid, to be able to break the rules and do something so naughty!

So tonight, we gave Tyler and Salem Sharpies and let them go to town on the Formica countertops. Rule-following Tyler could not quite believe this but the wild child set herself free with every color we had. We do have some concern that Salem will repeat this on another surface or in the new kitchen, so we will be locking up the Sharpies until further notice. But, it was worth it.

Practicing her “straight lines” she does at Montessori

Salem got some Sharpie on the laminate floor. In case you weren’t aware, the magic potion that removes Sharpie is….hand sanitizer. Hairspray also works. Literally drip or spray some on the offending marker, and wipe off. This won’t work on a porous surface, but it’s solid gold on a smooth one!

October 30, 2018October 30, 2018

Salem: Ten Months

This baby girl was ten months old LAST September. In 2017. Oops. I just realized I never finished this project. I’m sorry, baby girl.

For your 10 month basket photos, you wore my favorite romper that was Tyler’s, with the elephants. Little did you know you’d stay a peanut and wear it again all summer 2018!

I continued to feed you at night and you continued to wake up. But, you slept in so that Daddy could take you to school, so that was great! You crawled everywhere, laughed more, and experimented with the walker. You traveled far and wide (and well…airplanes and random Pack N Plays had nothing on you.) You stayed healthy and (mostly) happy!

Obsessed with the potty and she can’t even walk yet.

We call this thin-lipped almost-smile, “Bonnie-face” and even Tyler can distinguish it.

Just looking EXACTLY like Nana at Nana & Grandpa’s house

Love these jammies (a bigger size of the same pattern Nana bought as a newborn) and love this face. Yakima, WA.

Oh look, I’m screaming in my high chair. Again.

Let me out of here! I can do anything Tyler can do!

July 17, 2018

Salem: Nine Months

Salem rocked nine months in this adorable 80s romper that was, of course, mine. I just love her happy expressions and her Kate Gosselin hairdo (slicked to the side in the front, spiky in the back!) The tiny tree in the background is a gift from Katie & Molly in honor of Nana…a perfect place to take photos of her mini.

Here are some more photos of Salem at nine months.

Tyler definitely didn’t have bomb pops at 9 months old

More red, white, and blue bathing fashion

Sleeping? Crying? Avoiding eating? Probably all of the above.

The only toy she needs is a cup of letters and markers to dump out.

I think it’s fair to say she loves bomb pops and Tyler!

Funny faces in my favorite Tyler-romper at the water table

Very helpful unloading the dishwasher, just like Tyler. If you like your silverware licked.

Her Olivia Newton John “Let’s Get Physical” look

At a wedding in Vail wearing newborn sized golden Mary Janes

She made this face SO often and I only ever caught it in a video, hence the blurry frame!

Don’t you practice the splits in rompers with a car on your head at a brewery?

Lots of playing in the toilet, something Tyler NEVER did

I was so sad when she grew out of this sleeper

Our little ladybug at Tyler’s soccer game

Total second child noshing on ice cream at nine months old…I am certain that Tyler did not enjoy this luxury!

She is crawling like a boss (and wearing a handmade sweater that was mine!)

Salem is starting to walk pushing the walker and her hair is getting longer by the minute. She is still definitely not sleeping through the night!

July 15, 2018

Salem: Eight Months

Salem really started to get FUN at eight months. I absolutely adore this bomb-pop romper that she wore for the 4th of July as well. This may also have been the last time she kept a headband on!

Here are some more photos of summertime fun with Salem.

Red, white, and blue suits are my favorite

Salem began her long career of escaping high chairs at this age

Life was easy when she stayed in the Bumbo

Finally, no more car seat on the stroller

LOVE this beautiful dress…blue & white…Nana would approve

July 11, 2018

Salem: Seven Months

Last September I said I would catch up. I never did. Sigh. Here we go.

At seven months, Salem was getting ready for a cross-country adventure. The four of us traveled in the minivan to Cleveland, stopping in Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana. It was very glamorous, and very fun. More about that another time.

Salem is wearing a duck outfit. I love duck baby things. Maybe because we didn’t know the sex of the baby either pregnancy ahead of time so we had a lot of duck-themed items, or maybe just because they’re so quacking cute.

Here are some photos from the summer road trip adventure.

I adore this romper. It looked soooo long on the hanger and I waited forever to dress her in it…and it stops 2 inches above her ankles. Oops!

A ridiculous swim outfit complete with hat. Hinckley Reservation, CLE.

We thought she was teething. She wasn’t.

Cars! And I loved this celestial sleeper on Tyler.

Salem was exhausted at a family party in Bowen, IL:

Daddy can make her laugh like nobody else:

Salem tried her first bite of ice cream at Mitchell’s in Cleveland. I think she liked it.

It’s funny looking back and posting these an entire year later…in some ways she looks exactly the same and in some ways I hardly recognize her!

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017

Salem: Six Months

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017

Salem: Five Months

September 23, 2017

Salem: Four Months

At four months, Salem was busy being cute. All of her pictures capture her smile, her eyes, her laugh, her outfits.

That’s because we didn’t take pictures of her crying. And not sleeping. And crying. At this age Salem was at the height of “not sleeping through the night.” She woke every 45 minutes. We would cry it out, she’d sleep longer stretches, and then go back to waking every 45 minutes again a few days later.

She didn’t have digestive problems. She was a great eater. She drove us crazy.

As the weeks passed and she slept better, we think she just had a severe case of FOMO. Fear of missing out. Truly, she cried in her car seat (facing backwards, she couldn’t see us). She cried in her crib (again, wondering what we were up to out there). And she woke up often, to check on the world.

She got older, we kept crying it out, and eventually we settled on waking twice a night to snack. That was the same deal Tyler and I had, so it felt like I hit the jackpot, and we’ve been smooth sailing since then. Sometimes it’s hard to remember how cranky she could be because she’s so easy now…but gosh, she was. Sorry, Salem, if you were trying to tell us something, we totally missed it.

Here are the basket photos of Salem at four months old (March 25).

Here are a bunch of photos from March 2017.

Looking back it is amazing how much of her personality was already there at four months old!

August 27, 2017August 27, 2017

Salem: Nine Months

The last time I posted “basket photos” of Salem was when she turned three months old. I had taken her four-month photos right before we left for Cleveland for Spring Break (a couple of days early, in fact, just to be sure). I hadn’t yet gotten around to posting them when my mom died.

And then I just couldn’t. Every month I have diligently taken her basket photos, but it hurt too much to think about posting or writing. So now that we’re effectively six months behind, I’m going to post them, starting with Nine Months–how old she is now. Then I’ll go back to Four Months and catch up.

At nine months old, Salem is crawling like a crazy toddler with a whistle is chasing her. Oh wait, she actually IS crawling like a crazy toddler named Tyler is chasing her with a whistle he unearthed from a pile of ten-cent toys in his room. Video of that to come.

She loves to eat, and it’s like Eric and I are feeding a baby for the first time, because Tyler almost never ate food. We tried and he wasn’t into it and drank plenty of breastmilk so we didn’t push it. So, we didn’t know what it was like to have a messy baby in a high chair. Or what to feed a baby with no teeth. Salem is a pig, and a messy pig at that. Organic homemade baby food blends? Pshaw. This girl eats Chick-fil-A, collard greens, salmon, ice cream, pickles, and Lord knows what else. She has yet to decline anything. Still, she’s only about 15 pounds and rocking 3 month onesies. She must burn a lot of calories crawling away from Mr. Whistlepants.

I have a box of baby dresses that were mine. My mom used them to decorate for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Tyler (we didn’t know what we were having) and then brought the box out to us one time when my parents drove to Colorado. I hadn’t thought much about them after Tyler was born (for obvious reasons) but after Salem was born I was excited to drag them out. I knew they were bigger, though, mostly 12 months and up, so I hadn’t done it yet when my mom visited after Salem was born. I so, so, so wish we could have gone through that box together. I know my mom would have loved to remember when I was a baby and wore them 36 years ago and would have loved even more to see Salem wear them.

The romper she is wearing in her photos was mine. She wore the coordinating dress to church last week. I’m actually surprised how well these clothes have held up baking in a 100-degree attic at my parents house for over 30 years. I think she looks adorable in this vintage outfit.

Tyler, who lately has been resisting looking at the camera, tried to get into every one of these photos. Salem obviously loved sharing her shoot with him.

August 15, 2017August 15, 2017

Four Months

It’s been four months today since my mom died.

There’s so much to freak out about it’s impossible to write it all down.

One strange fact I can’t let go of: Salem was about 4 1/2 months old when she lost her Nana, whom I know loved her the most. Salem is now almost 9 months old. I have taken comfort in the fact that Nana knew Salem for more than half of her tiny, short, just-beginning life. She loved her for 4 1/2 months.

Two weeks after my mom died, I could still stay that she knew Salem for most of her wild baby life. Two months after my mom died, I could still say that she knew Salem for more than half of her bold little life. But very soon, the math will turn around. 4 1/2 + 4 1/2 = 9. After Salem is 9 months old, my mom will have known her for less than half of her sweet, perfect life. As time goes on, the overlap between Salem’s life and my mom’s will become very, very tiny. A dot on the timeline of both of their lives.

My mom spent a little over two weeks, total, with Salem.

She held her when she was 8 days old:

She held her for a week at Christmas:

And she held her in March when we visited Cleveland over Spring Break:

I have maybe a hundred, or more, photos of my mom with Tyler. But this is all I have of my mom with Salem. Five photos. Five photos of my mom and my bitty baby who is her mini-me.

It’s the lips, and her smile. We see her Nana in her every day. Even Tyler calls it out when he sees her “Bonnieface.” I can’t believe my mom isn’t here to see her grow up. Tyler, either, but even at 2 1/2 she could have a conversation with him, play with him, read books with him. They say he won’t remember, but he might surprise us all. Salem doesn’t have a chance.

She has five photos.