calling all visitors.

in case you haven't heard, we're gearing up for the next in a growing list of huge, life-altering changes, our cross country move to davis, california, where we plan to live at least until we retire.  word from the west coast is that the new abode is on schedule to finish in mid july, meaning we have roughly ten weeks left of windy city living before we convert to norcalism for good.  our house has walls.  this is really happening.


































some of you have thus wised up and made it a priority to see us and/or chicago before we relocate, making this past week the new record-holder for number of visitors.  we kicked things off with a long weekend with uncle wilkes who crashed at our place between opthamology lectures.  i came home from work his first night here to find he'd tucked the two kids into bed himself.  bean in particular really bonded with uncle wilkes and enjoyed having conversations with him at 7am while he futilely tried to sleep on our living room floor.

higgs cousins keith and ruth from ohio also did some serious legwork, taking chicago by storm for a few days this week.  i got an email from a childhood camp friend of mine, erika, stating she'd be passing through chicago, and we had a nice, long catch up chat between putting the kids to bed.  we topped off the week with brunch hosting some friends from david's program as well as aunt emmy and uncle eric.  so, if you don't mind early wake up calls and tiny helpers in all your tasks, we're keeping our aero mattress out of storage for the time being in case anyone else decides to drop in.

other than this herculean task lurking in the foreground, life proceeds as normal.  i'm slowly working my way toward some notable career goals before my extended hiatus; within the next few weeks i should hopefully have some new points to mention here and enhance my resume.

i'm increasing my mileage in preparation for the big race in two weeks...so far my body seems to think 10 miles is a glass ceiling and begins rebelling loudly a step after that.  i'm not sure where the last 3.1 miles will come from, but i guess i'll find out soon enough.  honestly, the only reason running has worked for me is my totally lax approach to it.  having to devote more time to the task is no problem, but i'm not a big fan of planning meal times and components and hydration--my current lifestyle doesn't invite much planning.  so, here's hoping for an ultra-casual half marathon.

david too is training in most of his spare time for his upcoming 10k when he's not prepping for oral boards or working what seems to be an undue amount of overnight shifts to polish off his career as a resident.

the kids, free for awhile now from severe illness or injury, are again overlapping in a joyous way.  reese is coming up fast on his first birthday, shocking both because the year has escaped so quickly, and because i suppose for the next year or two he will seem so small compared to his big sister.  we can't believe she was such a baby when we brought reese home last year!  and it feels very strange not to be starting all over with another newborn around this time, and finally to be moving forward.

i have noticed reese becoming more precise in his diction.  he has no words, but seems to be making more effort to communicate.  perhaps this is my impression because he's also taken to pointing and talking at everything, which makes it appear as though he's very interested in understanding his surroundings.  this is the first time i've made a real effort to name things over, and over, and over again. it's a big developmental step.

bean, as her dad said this week, is an absolute treasure.  she's cuddly, curious and communicative.  she gets a little smarter every day.  this morning when david got out of bed, she said "did you sleep well, daddy?"  we had another one year old over today and her parents were truly impressed with how nurturing and gentle bean was with her, showering her with kisses and back rubs and toys.  maybe it's just her nature or her general lack of exposure to other children, or her little brother shadow, but bean is pretty mellow as toddlers go--she's very good about sharing, and while she does have occasional tantrums, she's generally very obedient and mild mannered.

she's also becoming more interested in our opinions and is starting to solicit praise.  she will do something funny, or put on a bow or her tutu, and come out of her room saying "mommy?  daddy?" until we both commend her, and she gets this enormous grin and flexes her arms.  it's pretty cute.

i'm happy to report that one very big knitting project is finally complete, bean's birthday sweater, and in spite of taking several months to finish, she still has room to grow into it.  now i'm singularly focused on my other big project so that i can finally get around to my own sweater!



we have really been slacking on our weekly recipes from our cookbook, but have been enjoying many variations on miso soup.  full of vegetables, it's a great soup for spring.  now we're just waiting for it to warm up again to seasonal temperatures...

happy birthday to dad

well, this has been a very eventful few weeks, all spanning dad's birthday on two sides, so we have many stories to tell in this post.  

for months, we have been discussing when we'll be able to make another solid trip back to michigan before we move outside of reasonable driving distance.  these conversations took a turn when david heard an interview on npr with the mexican guitar duo, rodrigo y gabriela, that we mentioned previously on this blog.  after hearing the interview, they quickly became integrated into our family's musical rotation.  we learned they would be playing in chicago, but for very pricey poor seats.  in the interest of saving up for every last power outlet we may need in our new home, we decided against it...until after a little digging we learned they would be playing in michigan just days after dad's birthday in a much more intimate venue for far less money.  easy decision.



and so, dad's birthday planning began.  of course, in order to get the time off to go to michigan (i have a policy that we do not leave town with both children for less than four days because the pain of traveling, the adjustment, if any in sleep schedules, is too taxing to make a shorter trip worthwhile), he had to pay dearly with six consecutive 12 hour overnight shifts.  i start complaining audibly when i have three 12 hour daytime shifts in a row...that's just not natural.


fortunately, nani was in town to visit and kept the kids well occupied while dad tried to squeeze in a few hours of sleep between shifts, allowing me time to focus on other aspects of the birthday celebration, including birthday breakfast (mexican tofu scramble with roasted potatoes and fresh guacamole) and dinner (orzo salad with all of dad's favorites, asparagus, broccoli, sprouts, almonds, feta) and my ongoing commitment to a year of handmade gifts.  crafting for men is not an easy task, but these coasters were fairly quick and easy to make...on one side, maps of our favorite places in costa rica, and on the other side, a photo of a memory from that place.  we're excited to use them when we actually have a coffee table.

then we were off to michigan.  how my mother packed two small children into a small sedan and drove nonstop to florida once a year is beyond me.  four hours in the car with these two is more than i can personally handle.  they never sleep at the same time, scream and wake the other one up, or scream simultaneously.  while we typically really love to spread out and relax in the suburbs, the kids are overlapping in a very difficult phase right now to be in non child-proofed spaces.


bean was very busy reorganizing the house, hauling around crystal bowls and candlesticks and the like, while reese was trying very hard to tumble down the stairs as often as possible.  glass, table corners, uncovered outlets, it was a constant struggle to keep them confined to a reasonable space, especially now that bean can open doors.  again, one or both of them was usually screaming out of frustration that their evil parents wouldn't let them crawl into the fireplace or jump over the balcony.




the level of vigilance required to prevent grave harm or injury was totally exhausting, and unfortunately, sleep was scarce as well since the big boy, accustomed to sleeping in the pitch black bathroom, could not tolerate a ray of light or the bed he was sleeping in.  in spite of us chipping the paint off many doorways and dirtying many sets of sheets moving from room to room to room to find a suitable sleeping space for him, we were up every two hours and never slept past 7am...  not particularly relaxing.


however, our time spent outside the house more than made up for it.  we accomplished many simple but impossible tasks in the city--my bi-annual haircut, clothes shopping, many outdoor runs, and two wonderful trips to ann arbor, one with kids and one without.




the weather more or less cooperated, allowing us to stroll as a family through campus to visit the museum of natural history where i logged many hours as an undergrad student, first as a docent and then as a program coordinator.  it was my home away from home and a space i will always really love. i have always wanted to take my kids there, and i know we will be back.  afterward, we hung out in the quad, and then went to nana's for a really delicious vegetarian indian feast.  he really outdid himself.

bean counting real dinosaur toes!

michigan mastodons!

hanging out on the quad

strolling through campus

the next day was our big concert outing in royal oak, a nice downtown area about 20 minutes from my parents' house.  we went to a brewery for happy hour and, after a few mixups, finally got into the correct line to maximize our general admission tickets.  i have been to many live concerts in my life (surprisingly, since i don't really like them at all), and this is the first time i've been in the front row, like, reach-out-and-touch close (and i did indeed hi-five rodrigo himself), and i have to say, it was really great.  the concert totally lived up to the hype of this extraordinarily talented duo.  a very memorable evening.

microbrews at bastone brewery

check out her awesome shirt!

the next day, we really let nani fend for herself with two adventurous, strong willed babies and indulged in a perfect ann arbor day, adults ONLY.  and perfect it was.  it started with a silent drive, no screaming children in the backseat.  how novel and miraculous.  our first stop was at the people's food coop for our favorite ann arbor brunch--we weighed our plates and loaded them heartily with heaps of organic salad fixings, soups, grits, eggs and tofu scramble.











next, we left our car where it was parked for free, since parking is free on sundays, and sauntered over to the kerrytown shops where we nestled into the comfy chairs at sweetwaters to do some reading over hot drinks and baked goodies.  well, david read while i knitted, which only goes to show the terrible time i had with these kids...i packed two huge knitting projects and couldn't knit a stitch edgewise on either of them so i actually used some precious kid-free time to do what's usually a kid-present activity.  we took a short break here and there to peruse the shops, sparrow market, hollander's paper, all the old haunts.

just another ann arbor trail...

next on the agenda was a nostalgic run, preceded by a new pair of running shoes for me.  i left the running store without any new shoes since i'm apparently running on the perfect pair already, but with a new sense of confidence about a big running goal i've been pitter pattering about since my friend jane planted a half marathon seed in my brain a few weeks ago, which coincided with a small breakthrough in my lazy jogging with the extra childcare on hand this week.  after much debate regarding what path to run since ann arbor must have more trails than streets, we agreed upon a loop from the medical campus through north ann arbor along the huron river, a trail i ran several times a week in graduate school.

we capped this day with some outdoor vegetarian dining at seva, perhaps the only place you'll find me drinking a margarita and not a beer, soaking in the sights and sounds of this beloved town, wondering aloud when we might be back again.

bean and dad stretching

after another miserable night of wakefulness and five more hours of screaming children in a too-confined space, i was surprised to find myself very excited to return to chicago, where the kids have their moments, but at least i can sit on the couch and knit for god's sake!  they too seemed happy to be home.  suddenly, all the whining stopped as they again busied themselves with familiar toys and spaces, greeting stuffed animals and books, bumping their heads on protected table corners.  all in all, a productive, successful, and entertaining trip to michigan, but we'll be thinking long and hard for the next few months about any visits to non-childproofed spaces.  not relaxing.

other than our constant disagreements this weekend about appropriate forms of play, the kids are doing great.  reese has two front teeth growing in just to look like a very big boy for his first birthday, just around the corner.  he's standing, cruising, talking, and making progress in holding his cup and getting some cheerios into his mouth.

bean is more and more a little girl every day.  every week she is so much more competent, verbose, intelligent and articulate, it's hard to imagine what she was like before and what the [near] future might hold.  she's making real-world observations all the time and can legitimately communicate now about what she sees and hears.  she finally got her first doll, baby anna, and has been so loving and nurturing. it's really cute.












we finally got some new pictures of the house and it's moving right along...we have walls!  and windows!  and some doors!  hopefully things continue to move on track since we really can't wait to get out there, and we know the next 12 weeks are going to fly by.

that brings us up to date...we will check back soon!

stay at home dad.

the weather has been so unseasonably warm all year that it's odd to look at the calendar and see it actually is april, not just that it feels like april should feel, but usually doesn't.  although most years we get one last snow or ice storm sometime this week before we can finally put winter behind us, april does mentally mark the beginning of spring for me, at least.




fortunately, our building now has air conditioning and it has cooled off outside, so we're all quite a bit more comfortable in our skin these days.  i have spent most of the last week plus within the four walls of the hospital which inevitably led to me getting a virus, which inevitably was passed on to reese (but surprisingly not bean), so we had

some rather miserable up all nights with a crying, barfing baby.  taking care of sick kids is no fun, but definitely even less fun when you're also sick.

fortunately, we've put it all behind us and mr. giggles is back to his old tricks.  he's made his parents very proud this week by perfecting his peccary face/snort, and i just watched him cruise straight from one end of the couch to the other when he spotted olivia sleeping vulnerably, just waiting for her fur to get tugged.  curiously, he seems to seek out inedible objects, usually from the floor, to consume, but is utterly hopeless at feeding himself actual food.  a baby paradox.







bean's musical flavor of the week is bob marley.  you can't imagine the way her dad beams with pride when she requests bob marley by name and starts galloping around happily to and upbeat "no woman, no cry."  like many of us, she's now also guilty of handing out bob marley one-liners and tells her brother "no tears, reesey."  today she was reading by herself in her room and i overheard her little voice singing "aaaaaahhhh ahhhhhhh rebel music."  her dad would have been so proud.


i don't know if it's just that life goes a little faster every year you're living, or the absence for the first time of regimented courses, and the addition of two time sucking babies, or working full time, probably some combination thereof, but time seems to be moving exceptionally quickly this year.  we're so profoundly excited about our move and starting the next installment of our life that chicago is slipping through our fingers like grains of sand.

if i wasn't so terribly fond of my work friends, i'd probably be okay with that, but i really do love my buddies from the hospital, so i've committed



myself to capitalizing on what little remaining time we have together.  this week, david enjoyed one of his last relaxing weeks for the next three months.  in a bit of a role reversal, he stayed home with the kids, studied composting, and played social coordinator while i sniffled my way through acls recertification.

in one week, we visited with crazy aunt hilary (still under the weather, reese bonded immediately with a warm body to hold him), david visited my hospital and went for margaritas with some work friends, we had brunch with aunt emmy, uncle eric and lupe, then more work friends joined us at our place in the evening.  WHEW!  that was more socializing in one week than probably the last six months!  it was really fun.

hil learns to eat like a mom.

buddy at rest on a warm body

chocolate guinness cupcakes, yes!

happy birthday to prachi!

we have officially switched over to spring menus in our cookbook, enjoying a mushroom leek strata and a spinach soup with curry vegetable pancakes, both delicious.  my two previous knitting projects are slogging along, but have been regularly interrupted by baby boy

after baby boy

after baby boy.  

no more babies on the immediate horizon, so i can hopefully start making some progress on this lace sweater for bean that was probably a mistake to commit to...

we will check back in soon, hopefully with some pictures of the house!