Exploring snow for the first time

Owen had never played in the snow before our trip back to Ohio.  I guess in that sense it's a good thing the trip was timed the way it was, since he certainly won't be playing with any snow here in Portland this winter.  He seemed to enjoy it, until it would get between his gloves and coat sleeves... but everyone hates that!

Some favorites from the zoo

We are now official members of the Oregon Zoo.  Hooray!

Bathtime Fun

He was so proud that he could lie back all by himself.  He can even roll over from front-to-back-to-front.  Big accomplishments for a little boy who has hated bath-time for 5 months.

Another neighborhood birthday

Between five households, there are a lot of birthdays and such to celebrate.  This time it was Gordon's turn, and what a fiesta it was!  I made a super special cake, Owen played with guns (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and there was plenty of friends, food, and conversation. 

See me back there as I catch a glimpse of my baby holding the biggest nerf gun I've ever seen?

There's something so jarring about seeing a young child holding a gun, isn't there?  Maybe I'm just extremely sensitive (in fact, I know that is true) and of course I'm a bit naive to think that I can keep him from playing with guns (let me live in this fantasy a little while longer) but wow, it really catches me off guard.  I don't like it one bit.  In fact, I hate it.  Hate.  It.  

We do not play guns, we do not condone gun-playing around him, and we do not watch anything that would promote guns.  We're those people.  (Get over it).  And so, while it was unnerving to see him playing with this huge toy gun, it made me so proud when he started trying to figure out how to get it to make noise.

Seriously, do you see my face?

That's right, folks.  Owen thought it was a musical instrument. 

And all is right in my world.

And the cake, oh my the cake.  I made a cookies 'n cream vegan chocolate cake that was unbelievable.  Kraig said it was the best cake he's ever had.  That's a high compliment in my world.  And nobody knew it was vegan!  Success!

 Gordon and Owen

 Me and Gordon.  Melt my heart, I love Gordon so much!  Happy Birthday!

Always wear clean underwear....

... in case you get in an accident.

We've all heard that saying, I'm sure.  Well I never really thought about it until today.  No, we were not in an accident, but Owen locked me out of the house.

Let's back up for a minute.

We live in a side-by-side duplex.  Our laundry room is private- we do not share it with our neighbor- yet we have to walk out our back door and down our sidewalk to get to the laundry room.  I like this set-up for a lot of reasons, but it does have some drawbacks.

Like, when I go to start Owen's diapers in the wash, and he locks me out of the house.

Kraig was at work, I had just finished taking Owen's dirty diaper off, and instead of putting a new one back on I decided to let him go without for a while.  We do that frequently since we're trying to potty train him and it's also not good for a baby to have a diaper on their bottom 24/7.  So, he's running around pants-less and I ran back to throw the diapers in.  I was "gone" for maybe 60 seconds.  When I was walking back down the 15 foot sidewalk to the back door I could still hear Owen at the door waiting for me.  I had shut it so that he didn't walk outside in the cold, but he was a little mad that I had left. I noticed that now he was just talking- not upset anymore.  Good, I thought.

So, I go to open the door and it won't budge.

Not good, I thought.

I thought he had locked the lock on the handle, since he isn't tall enough to reach the deadbolt (about 3 inches above the doorknob).  Well, after trying to get him to unlock it for a few minutes, I walked over to the window to see which one was locked.

The deadbolt.

Great- I didn't know how he had reached it to begin with, let alone if I'd be able to get him to reach for it again to unlock it.  Not that he was really understanding what I was saying anyway.  He thought it was funny that I was knocking on the door.  Awesome.

After trying again, as well as running through all the other options (of which there were none- we lock all the windows and doors, I didn't have keys or a phone) I went over to our next door neighbors' house to ask for help.

Though the situation was slightly comical up until this point, and I hadn't yet really worried about what might happen (our house is very baby proofed), when Donna opened the door I burst into tears.  I guess saying "Owen is locked in the house all alone" made it seem more real.  She and Gordon quickly got the number for my landlord and he said he'd be over in 15 minutes.  Crisis somewhat averted.  

We headed back to my house to talk to Owen in the window.  He thought it was hilarious.  He especially loves Donna and Gordon, so it was a real treat to see them.  

This is where the "underwear" comes in.

My kid was diaper-free in the window.  How embarrassing.  Not that D and G care, but it was still a little weird.  This, I thought, is why people tell you to wear clean underwear.  It's always good to be prepared for the strange scenarios that happen.  

After playing peekaboo, trying to keep Owen out of my plants in the window, and watching Owen decide that he wanted to finish his breakfast, Don showed up.  Whew.  Owen was no worse for the wear and actually just thought we were playing a funny game.  When I got back inside I asked Owen to lock the deadbolt- just to see if he really could reach it.  He sure could.

Oh snap.

Somedays I wonder if I'm cut out for all this!

I'm not good at keeping secrets

I've not been holding up my end of the bargain.

See, when you move to the Pacific NW you are supposed to tell everyone how awful the weather is.  It rains so much, you tell them.  It's so wet and cloudy, you are supposed to say.  This is all to keep people from moving here- you wouldn't want them to think it's paradise, you know (which it is.)  

Oopsies.

Here I am raving about the weather and how wonderfully warm it is in January (highs near 55 for the next 7 days... this is January.)  Sure, it's raining today, but by the end of this week it will have only rained 3 days.  It's gloomy most of the winter, for sure.  Gray, overcast, yucky.  It's winter, though.  That is what happens.  

I'd take rain over snow any day of the week, though.  Hands down, no contest.  I don't have to shovel rain. I don't have to chisel my car out from under a sheet of rain just to go get groceries.  I'm not going to walk outside and slip on a puddle.  Nope.  Not happening.  I don't miss the snow and ice.

So I can't really understand the pessimism when people keep complaining about "all this rain" and wishing for snow.  Really?  Because I lived in a climate where there is 5-6 months of snow for 25 years of my life and all I have to say is "no thank you."  It's a nice occasional "treat," sure; I can drive up to Mt Hood if I want some snow in my life.  

There are people who love snow.  I'm sure of it.  Skiiers, snowmobilers, etc.  I'm not at all one of those people.  

So I'll bask in the 40-50 degree winters here and try my best to perpetuate the myth that it rains "so much".  (Annual precipitation is 2 inches LESS than Cleveland, and that does NOT include snow, just saying.)

OH MY, it rains SO much less than in other parts of the country here in Portland (but it hardly ever snows).  Don't move here!  It's awful when you get caught in a torrential downpour, which you don't if you live here because you are prepped with rain gear!  The weather is terrible, yeah right!  I wish it would just never, ever snow!  It's so cloudy here but there are more cloudy days in parts of, say, Ohio!

Was that believable?

One last update

... while I deny that I need to upload all the new photos from our camera.  Not sure why that seems like such a huge task, but here I am, putting it off.

Anyway.

Kraig got a promotion!  Woohoo!

I think everyone knows where Kraig works, but if not he works for a small, Seattle-based coffee company called Starbucks.  If you know Kraig, you know that he LOVES coffee- not just drinking it, but learning every. single. trivial. fact about it.  He loves the history.  He loves the culture.  He loves it all.  He's been a regular at Starbucks since he was 12.

Yup.  12 years old.

Anyway- he picked it up as a temporary job while we were wedding planning.  Then he was immediately promoted to Shift Supervisor, so the pay and benefits made it worth it to stay.  I was making substantial money waitressing and teaching dance, we didn't have any kids to support, and our hours were super flexible so it was pretty perfect for our first year of marriage.

Then we got pregnant.  It didn't make sense for Kraig to try to search for a new job in a recession while his wife was pregnant (and our health insurance was through his job) so he stayed put where he knew he had job security.  He did transfer to a new store when we moved from Lakewood to Cleveland, and got a substantial pay raise when that happened.  The flexibility and benefits were still ideal for our lifestyle with our new baby.  We have never had an issue budgeting based on his income, so while he would search for non-profit jobs (his dream) here and there, there was never really opportunity in Cleveland.  He toyed with the idea of promoting again, but a series of bad managers left him sort of jaded so we decided to put that idea off until after we moved.

Here we are in Portland, and upon arrival Kraig was immediately tapped as promotable and the ball has been rolling ever since for his interview and new placement.  I'm going to insert here how proud I am of my husband.  I understand he "just" works a retail job in a highly corporate coffee shop, but he's really, really, really good at his job.  I don't mean just making lattes and pulling coffee.  Anyone can do that (heck, I did it in college, though Kraig does that 100x better than I ever did).  Kraig is really good at leading people.  He is a natural leader and manages others extremely well.  It's shocking to me sometimes, since I  like to be a follower better.  Anyway, he leads well, he is a people person, and he is a natural at the "business" side of things as well.  I could go into all the numbers and tell you about how he has increased sales above and beyond what they ever would have dreamed of, but that's his story to tell.  It's impressive, that's all I know.  In addition to that, he has the best work ethic of anyone I know.  Kraig works extremely hard and I am surprised that every single day he goes to work he gives 200%.  I've never known anyone who works as hard as he does and who does it so very well.  I'm really proud of him.

He interviewed last week and right away two other district managers tried to snatch him up.  Since she had anticipated this happening, his current DM had a plan in place so she turned down the other DM's and is sitting down with Kraig today to give him an offer.  Needless to say, we're relieved and excited.  A pay raise is great, but a pay raise and insane vacation time is even better.  We're looking forward to him taking a few days off before he transfers to his new store.

What all that means is that he is now an Assistant Store Manager, but in Starbucks world that means he is training to be a Store Manager and will get his own store sometime this year if everything goes as anticipated with his training and new store openings.

Did I mention that we are excited?

In the grand scheme of things, this is great managerial experience that will help him in the future.  His dream is to work for a non-profit in an administrative role, so this experience combined with all of his volunteer experience is a great setup for that in the future.  We're thrilled.  Great job, great company, great experience, and awesome benefits.  Plus he gets to be home with us A LOT.  Everybody wins!

Allergies

So, remember how Kraig had been consulting with our physician about his allergy symptoms (severe sinus congestion, sneezing fits, migraine headaches)?  We haven't been back to the doctor in a few months for followup testing but over the last 2 months of being vegan Kraig has noticed that he has had zero headaches.  Keep in mind he has had very frequent (multiple times a week) migraines since he was young and has not found a reasonable way to cope with them.  However, now he is not congested, doesn't have sneezing fits, AND he hasn't even been using his Neti-pot (which had helped clear the congestion previously).  The only (albeit, amateur) conclusion we can draw from this is that he has some sort of dairy allergy.  It's commonly known that humans weren't made to drink cow's milk, but over generations have adapted.  What's less known is that many, many people don't tolerate it at all (The prevalence of lactose maldigestion is above 50% in South America, Africa, and Asia, reaching almost 100% in some Asian countries. In the United States, the prevalence is 15% among whites, 53% among Mexican-Americans and 80% in the Black population. In Europe it varies from around 2% in Scandinavia to about 70% in Sicily (see map below). Australia and New Zealand have prevalence of 6% and 9% respectively. In general, it can be stated that about two thirds of the world adult population is lactase non-persistent.)

I guess Kraig is one of those people.

Good thing we went vegan, right?!  Ha!

We had intended to keep this "diet" for the foreseeable future, but now it seems that we really can't go back.  I'm certainly not going to start buying/cooking with any dairy products if Kraig can't have them, and to be completely honest I find the stuff rather repulsive.  Full disclosure: I haven't drank cow's milk straight up in years.  I have always been turned off by the taste and the awful stench (something akin to wet dog or... farm animal.  Fancy that.)  I did, however, use butter, half and half, and cream by the gallon each week.  I've found awesome vegan substitutions for all of that, though, so it seems silly to go back when this is totally workable.  Cheese, on the other hand, used to be my vice.  I get light cravings for it occasionally now; mostly because it is a handy, easy to grab snack.  But generally speaking, coming off our cheese "addiction" was much easier than I anticipated.

I'm excited for Kraig's followup bloodwork to be done.  His white blood cell count had been OUTRAGEOUS previously, indicating a very strong allergic reaction if that was the case.  So, we'll see what happens next....

Exploring NoPo

Kraig's dealer is in NoPo (north Portland.  And I'm talking about his green coffee bean dealer.)  So every once in a while we have to make the trek up there.  It's really not so bad, but NoPo is very other-wordly.  I guess I should say that Sellwood (our hood) just isn't like the rest of Portland (it's got more of a quaint suburban feel while other Portland 'hoods are more alternative and edgy) so when we venture into other territories it's pretty exciting.

The most exciting part is all of the great shops, little cottage industries, and fabulous restaurants that we discover in other neighborhoods.  Sellwood is great for a lot of reasons (quiet, safe, cozy) and it has it's own flavor (antique shops, nice little restaurants, a few good coffee shops) but sometimes it's nice to explore what other areas have to offer.  Oftentimes those other areas are very congested (uh, Hawthorne? Belmont? Oof.) and seems too bustle-y and busy for us, but NoPo seems to get it right (from a family-friendly perspective) from what we've seen.  I could see us living there.  But we're happy here for now.

And we don't mind the 20-ish minute drive to Vita Cafe in the NE because ohmygoodness they have the very best vegan food in town.  Seriously, so impressed.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

We're back.

Welcome.

After some much-needed time away and quite a bit of introspection, discussion, and processing, we are ready to blog again.  I still don't think I can explain why we/I felt like we needed a break, but as I said previously it was a lot of things all at once.  The best I can explain it is to say that I started blogging 3 years ago just for fun.  I didn't think people would read it, it was just a journal for two newlyweds.  We weren't planning on having a child so soon, but that really upped the sheer number of posts.  People in our lives wanted to see photos and read the stories of the moments that they couldn't personally witness due to time or distance.  As you know, though, we're a quirky bunch over here so sometimes our little family blog includes some things that are different from the norm and so as the posts increased, so did our apprehension as we tried to share the how's and why's of what we do around here.  Just like everyone, we want to be understood and that gets difficult when who we are and what we do aren't necessarily considered "normal".  As the blog took form, the number of readers grew.  That wasn't expected, especially since I was taking precautions to make it as private as possible.

During the break, a lot of people have taken the time to tell me that they love the blog and support what we do.  They have mentioned that reading about our different lifestyle is intriguing and inspiring.  I am so thankful for those people.

There has also been mention that maybe it isn't the content, but the delivery that irks people.  I get that.  So, moving forward I wanted to make a few things clear.

1.  I know you're out there.  It's impossible for me to know who everyone is that reads the blog, but I know how many there are, what city you live in, what browser you use.  (I use multiple stats counters for this, full disclosure.)  One other thing I know for certain is that ya'll don't like to comment.  I get that.  Some people want to remain anonymous.  But as long as I'm doing all the talking, you can expect to only hear one viewpoint, and that is my own.  Sorry.  That's how a blog works.  I know that there are hundreds of you that visit each day, and I don't know who you are let alone what you believe or how you live.  I might say something that offends you and if that is the case, please know that I don't intend that.  I can't filter for everyone, you know.  If there is an issue, question, concern, or maybe you like (gasp) what you see here, you can comment, email, etc.  You know the drill.

2.  I am not perfect.

Read that again.

I know that I act like I have it all together and that we parent just so, and that may give the impression that we get it right 100% of the time. 


Smoke and mirrors.  Smoke and mirrors.


Anyone who knows my wonderful birth plans for Owen knows that parenting has a lot of moving parts and it's impossible- yes, IMPOSSIBLE- to get it right all the time.  Heck, it's hard to get it "right" half the time!  When I talk about our eco-friendly lifestyle, our vegan diet, our parenting choices (discipline, potty training, education, cloth diapering) I know it can seem like I think we've got it ALL figured out and that we are SO perfect (in our eyes).  That is so not true.  If anything, the blog is a place for me to remind myself what our values are so that we can try harder next time.  


We fail.  All the time.  Everyday.  


That is what it is like to be a parent- you fail, you figure it out, and you are more mindful of it next time.  If anything, when I come across as somehow better-than-thou it is only because after a lot of research and discussions with my husband/others, we have found a solution that works for us and I am excited about it!  That is not to say that it would work for you or your family, but I would encourage you to do your own research, have your own debates, be mindful of your own choices and why you make them.  I'm not always trying to convince you to do things as we do, but rather to offer an alternative way of thinking about things.  A good friend recently told me that my blogging about our very alternative lifestyle makes it seem more mainstream, even if she doesn't feel the desire to make the same choices.

Amen.

3. (this one is just a tip, but useful as we move forward.) Have I mentioned how wonderful Google Reader is?  I use mine to aggregate all the feeds that I like to keep an eye on each day.  I read over 100 blogs (only the relevant posts, not each and every one) so I like to have them all in one place.  However, even if you don't read that many, or maybe you just read mine, Reader is still useful for you.  Here's why: I retroactively date my posts so that things are dated with the exact/approximate time and day that they actually occurred.  This isn't usually a problem but sometimes I go back and post something that happened a few weeks ago, thus it gets buried behind newer posts.  If you just check the blog and read based on what's at the top of the page, you'd miss a LOT of content.  No good!  A reader would put those things in your feed as I publish them so you'd never miss a post.  If you need more help setting up a Reader account, let me know.

4.  Finally, I am almost certain that everyone who knows us knows that we are opinionated, we do a lot of research, and we are people of strong conviction.  I am less certain, but hopeful that everyone who knows us knows that we are kind, caring, loving, and fair people who don't degrade others for their lifestyle choices.  We're still not perfect, but please try to keep this in mind as you read.

5.  Go back and read #2.

That being said, I'm ready to blog again.

Handmade Holidays

It was a very busy month of December for me.  I got a very late start on holiday crafting.  I blame a few different factors (the move (when can I stop using that as an excuse?), lack of needed supplies, unorganized crafting space, procrastination....) and next year I plan to do better.  

Yeah, that's what they all say.

Anyway.  I am so glad that I have a sewing machine.  I can only knit so many things, and sewing really opened up the options as far as what I could create.  Like this little number for my sister-in-law:

I liked it so much I wanted to keep it.  But really I'm not cool enough to pull it off so it's better off with Melissa.

I didn't use a tutorial for the headband.  I was just inspired by the fabric and Melissa's sense of style, so I made it up as I went.

However, I did use a tutorial (loosely, at least) for these beauties.

(alert!  Blurry camera phone photos....)

They are Anthropologie-inspired fabric bead necklaces, and I completely love them.  They are fairly easy to pull together, just a bit tedious.  

Don't think I didn't knit anything this year, though.  Boy did I ever knit....

This scarflette was for my mother-in-law:

And this one was for my cousin/friend/theKate:

No pattern for either, just inspired by some neck cozies/scarflettes and came up with a lovely knit pattern (Mistake Ribbing).  The buttons don't look like much, but are from my grandmother's collection.  I love chunky buttons!

The thing I love about the second neck warmer is that while it looks sort of plain in that photo, it is EXTREMELY versatile.  Don't believe me?  Check here and here.  You can wear it however you want!  (enjoy, Kate!)  How awesome is that?

Let's see, what else did I make?  Oh yes, I made a few coffee cozies for my brother-in-law, a coin purse for his girlfriend, and another scarflette for my mom.  Kraig was in charge of other "boy" gifts, and he came up with the fabulous idea of hand-roasted coffee.  Oh yes, he bought a roaster and some green coffee beans and cranked out some delicious, specialty, home-roasted blends for the men in our lives.  Thank goodness for that idea because homemade gifts ideas for men are so difficult to come up with.

In addition to the handmade goodies, I added a personal touch to the gift wrapping.  I made homemade gift bows out of magazine pages.  They turned out quite lovely and are much more aesthetically pleasing than those super-shiny $1/bag atrocities.  Don't you think?

 Kind of weird that this one has an eyeball on it from the M&M's character... Must be more careful next time!

We also attached some of our homemade ornaments on the outside of the gifts.  Sorry I forgot to snap a photo of that, but here is what some of them looked like.

I was also busy with other handmade projects around the house.  Stockings, pillows (not for Christmas but just general throw pillows), and baking, of course!

Om-nom-nom.

What did you make this holiday season?

New Year's Dinner

For a lot of different reasons, we had our New Year's Dinner a week late.  Kraig was taking out the compost and snapped a photo of me working in our super small kitchen.  See me?

We had the traditional German/Polish New Year's feast of potatoes, sauerkraut, and "sausage".  I also made green beans and vegan gravy.  Yum!  For the sausage?   Tofurkey brand kielbasa, which is a pretty good stand-in for the real thing.

Licking the gravy spoon.  He is his father's son.

Playing tourist

Since moving here 6 months ago, we haven't done much that we consider "touristy".  We know folks who've immediately done all the usuals upon moving to PDX- Powell's, riding the aerial tram, Alberta St., etc.- but we never saw the point in doing all of those things right away when we are going to live here forever.  Besides, Powell's is cool and everything but when you live here it's just the bookstore, it's not a "must-see" anymore.  We were too busy putting down roots to be running around with our cameras and fanny packs, anyway.  Priorities :)

But, now we have a fancy new camera and Kraig was off for the weekend so we decided to go on a little day hike through the city.  

The public art here is really outstanding.  I think that's because of the Percent-For-Art ordinance (2% of most publicly funded capital projects goes towards the creation or maintenance of public art).

Little Big Burger- one of the local (and amazing) fast food chains:

We got a bag of fries which we enjoyed with their famous, housemade ketchup and a Gordon Beer.  Delish.

Then we went to Powell's so Owen could peruse the valentine's for his lovers.

And no tour of Portland is complete without a trip to Stumptown.  Owen orders all by himself- "Short soy milk".

One last outing before they depart

We took one last trip to our duck creek to show Kraig's family before they headed back to Cleveland.