Interruption

My nephew has been a little distracting.

There's No Place Like Home

This isn't the first time this thought has gone through my head, but there are times it runs through my mind with more persistence.

It would be nice to be home.

Not that I have any particular home to go to, but especially today it would be nice if I lived in the same town as the most trustworthy mechanic in the world. Sigh.

If you're looking for him, it's Dave (although you could trust Joe with your life too) at Stanley Service Center in Spokane, Washington - 509.327.1460.

Hierloom Recipes

Food is traditional. Inherently it is passed down from one person to another, no matter how indirectly.

I wanted to make sure I preserved my families food traditions, so a few years ago, I contacted my grandmothers and mom to make sure I received the recipes they considered theirs and family tradition.

Maybe I should have known since I had to ask, but I didn't exactly recieve an avalanche of information. I got a couple cookie recipes.

So I've adopted recipes from my best friend, too many ex-boyfriends mothers and other random places of recipes I like.

I figure if you can make families in any way, you can make family recipes in any way too!

Gardenia Sweetness

My memories of my grandparents are inextricably linked to the wafting fragrance of flowers around their homes.

As they have all sold or are selling their homes and moving into retirement places, I try to keep those memories in other ways.

Here, in a photo of the last blooms at the back steps, I even love the imperfections of the bruised petals because that's how they really are.

Persistance Doesn't Always Pay Off

Ok, I think this is the last of the family home videos and photos I'm going to torture you with, at least for a little while.

While Charlie is persistant, he doesn't always find what he is looking for!

A Little Something

A little family time.

So my month in DC with my nephew is over! And as you may have noticed I didn't have much time to post anything, he kept us busy!

A little smile.

In just a month he grew so much and became such a little person! You know, instead of just a sleepy poop machine.

A little look.

A little baby powder, a little fussing, a little giraffe painting, a little crib assembly, a few doctors visits, a little showing off, a little tiring, and it all flew by!

I miss him already!

Good Sleep

Peace

A New Wake-Up Routine

Where Am I?

I miss parts of Nicaragua.

It's a little different here. When I arrived, snow and below 20 temperatures greeted me off the plane.

And this little guy greeted me too!

He's such a little angel... among other things!

But most of the time he's just waiting for us to figure out what we're doing!

Becoming an Aunt!

It's done! Thank goodness!

Corrie's water broke Sunday night and today at 11:58 ET, Charlie was born!

I so look forward to being with the family next week! I'm trying to keep that in my mind and not think about what that means in terms of leaving here.

My Next Step

He's grown quite a bit since this picture was taken, but it is the most recent available.

Let me introduce you to someone very important to me.

He is half Kenyan and half American.

He has community organizing in his background, family background.

He was in Washington D.C. on January 20th, and is there just about every day really.

His name is Charlie and he's my first nephew!

And this is my next mini-interim-gap-audaciousness project.

How can that be audacious? Millions of babies are born all the time! Well, as my sister kindly put it to my mother, 'it will be like the blind leading the blind!'

There's a reason I worked in the construction part of the orphanage!

Although he doesn't know it, he will be the focus of most of my posts the month of March as I stay with his mother (my sister) and his father (my brother-in-law).

He is due March 11th, but he will probably create his own timing if parental predisposition is already flowing through him.

As part of a small family which has sprawled according to opportunity, I'm excited for the chance to be a part of this event!

Note: 10:29 AM - So even though I've had this post written and scheduled for today for about two weeks, Charlie chose this as an important day too! Corrie is currently in labor and if all goes well, I'll have a nephew by the end of the day!