I'm scared

Harrison has been on a Thomas kick lately, so last month on an exursion to Target, we picked out and brought home this book:

It's a charming story about how the steam engines on the island of Sodor are despised by the evil Diesel 10 and his thugs, who plot to destroy all the "steamies" with the aid of a giant mechanical claw that comes out of Diesel 10's engine. The Conductor, who is supposed to keep an eye on all the trains, is out of magic gold dust, so he can't do anything to protect the steamies. Luckily, Thomas and his friends find Lady, a magic golden engine who refills the Conductor's magic gold dust stash. Finally, there is a high speed chase during which Diesel 10 plunges to his death down a ravine and into a "barge filled with sludge."

What the fuck?

[Doug's theory is that it's a Chinese bootleg that was translated into English.]

Image: Baker

Doug, Harrison, and I baked, decorated, and ate chocolate cupcakes yesterday. Yum!

Happy Second Annual Harrison Day!

It's Harrison Day! Two years since Harrison's noggin was sliced open and then put back together with over 50 stitches!

Doug and I have been telling ourselves that the new baby just has to be healthy, because what are the chances that we'd end up with two f'd up kids?

Age Four Months (September 2004)

I've been terribly lax with photo-taking lately, what with Harrison never stopping with the moving and the jumping and the dancing and whatnot. Instead, here's a favorite picture from two years ago, taken by his Aunt Val.

Food Issues

Based on her 9/06 entry, it seems that I have been waiting in vain for the amazing mom/chef over at Vegan Lunch Box to start posting regularly again. If you've never read this popular blog, it's mostly a food and photo diary of the gorgeous vegan lunches that she prepares for her family--go back into the archives in the school year to see and drool.

Instead, what did I read today? This article over at Slate. It's all about a taste test and nutritional evaluation of Lunchables and other "lunch kits" for kids, and it made me puke into my mouth a little bit.

Then there was this feature on the potential for better school lunches over at NPR last week on Science Friday, and The Nation/Alice Waters series of articles from August.

There are so many scary and stressful issues raised by this collection of stories.

There are so many ways that Doug and I could do better--It's almost paralyzing!

Loviglio Worship Installment #3

"In the conservative universe, women just can't win. Either we're child-hating philanderers or vacuum-toting hausfrauen. I wouldn't fuck us."

Cliff Notes: Harrison's Summer

Okay, now that my pregnancy has officially been acknowledged on this blog, I expect forgiveness for being remiss in my blogging. It's been due to, you know, the incessant gagging and nausea and exhaustion and preoccupation and inability to type while stuffing my maw with food and whatnot.

If I had been able to persevere and were a truly dedicated blogger, oh, how I would have regaled you with detailed tales of our adventures with Harrison. Instead, you'll have to be satisfied with the Cliff's Notes version of our summer highlights:

-picking/gorging ourselves on peaches, blueberries, blackberries, and red raspberries at the lovely Hurd Orchard. [Can I live there, please?]

-Harrison attending and, yes, actually rocking out to his first show: Heavy Trash at the Bug Fest in Highland Park Bowl. [Doug was so proud.]

-Harrison's burgeoning fashion sense as evident in his newfound insistence on choosing his own outfits. [Thankfully his taste seems to be better than that of my coworker Tom's son, who insists on wearing a cat suit every day. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.]

-our summerlong affair with Durand-Eastman Beach on Lake Ontario, just 10 minutes from our house. [With a bizarre lifeguard to swimmer ratio of 1:2.]

-weekend trips to the Public Market for fresh corn, croissants, nectarines, and other yummies. [Which was closed for a day two weeks ago after an 89-year-old guy injured a bunch of people after he drove his Subaru Forester through one of the stands. Afterwards, he claimed that he had been planning to trade the car in because the accelerator and brake in the Forester are too close together, and that what had happened was that he had meant to brake when he accidentally accelerated. Now, Doug and I have a Forester and I have never had a problem figuring out which is the stop and which is the go. You're 89, DUDE! STOP DRIVING!]

-my ten year old cousin Austin looking at Harrison's Daily Sheet from daycare, asking, "What's a BM?", and proceeding to turn 4 deepening shades of red when I explained. [On the same visit, he told my neighbor's son Brad that he had met David Blaine, which is a total lie.]

-an overnight visit (and a beach trip) with Inga, Mike, and Kaiva. [Eating popsicles and watching our two naked children running around my backyard and playing in the kiddy pool=JOY.]

-hanging out (yep, another beach excursion) with my cousin Thong from Saigon who is in the States for 7 weeks. [No, it is not pronounced thong.]

-our as yet unproven candy-based potty-training bribery method. [Two M&Ms for a pee, four M&Ms for a poo.]

-Harrison's passionate love affair with the largest of the cantaloupes growing in our garden: "I want see big memon! OOOOOOOOOOH! BIIIIIIIIIG! BIG MEMON!" [Doug is proudly predicting a lifelong obsession with big melons.]

So, there it is!

Childing #2

Main Entry: pregnant
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: having a child or other offspring developing in the body; with child or young, as a woman or female mammal.
Synonyms: expecting, abundant, anticipating, big, bumped, childing, enceinte, expectant, fecund, fertile, fragrant, fraught, fruitful, full, gestating, gone, gravid, heavy, hopeful, knocked up, parous, parturient, preggers, productive, prolific, replete, rich, teeming, with child

Due date: March 22, 2007

It's Only a Matter of Time Before He Embarasses Us Publicly

Scene: Doug arrives home from work and jumps in bed with Harrison and Sarah, who are reading/hiding under the covers. Harrison wiggles his way off the bed and points at the door.

H: Mama, get down! Dada, get down!
D: Hang on. I've got to change my pants.
H: Dada pooped?
D&S: HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHHA!