Meeting More Family

Much to our collective joy, more family came to meet Maceo for the first time. Uncle Steve, Aunt Kate and Cousin Mad ventured to Boston from Philly to meet the youngest family member. While the visit was fairly quick, we packed lots of fun into the 48 hours. Unfortunately, the photos only document our final hours together when we went to Chow Chow City in Dorchester for Dim Sum.

The weather was beautiful on Thursday so we spent the day wandering the city. After some general strolling, we took advantage of the crystal blue cloudless sky to take a trip 52 flights up to the Prudential Tower to get a magnificent view of the city. Did you know that they used enough steel in the Big Dig that you could wrap the circumference of the entire WORLD in a three-inch band of steel (factoid from the audio tour of the city that I found especially noteworthy and troublesome). From there we went to the Boston Public Library for a quick tour, and then culminated the day with Burmese take-out. Just when we thought the night was ending, our fabulous family afforded Craig and I a rare date-night opportunity and watched Maceo while we went out on the town for a couple hours. I'd like to note that I conducted the most precarious of diaper changes to date - with Kate's critical assistance - in the 3x3 bathroom of an indian restaurant. With Maceo perched on the top of the toilet we managed to completely change his entire outfit - from head to toe - after a world-class blowout. By the end I was sweating bullets and there was a line for the bathroom, but we managed to keep the baby off the germs and the poop off of us.

While it went by way too fast, we were left with the lingering warmth of having such a wonderful family to share in our joy.

PS. there has been a little sunshine

For fear of total over-dramatization, I decided that I should also post a couple photos from the amazing sunny Saturday we had the weekend before last. It was nearly 70 degrees! This represents Maceo's first picnic, his first time for a sustained period of time without socks on (in the great outdoors), and the inaugural wearing of his sun-hat imported all the way from Barcelona. We took a little adventure to New Bedford in search of a project for the upholstery class that I am taking that begins next month. More on that later. Dad packed a tasty little lunch of gourmet tuna-salad so we stopped for a picnic. Despite the fact that the park was a little grimy around the edges, we managed to do some proper frolicking and enjoyed the feeling of the sun on our bodies.

rain, rain go away!

For those of you living in New England - or people who keep the Boston Globe as an online bookmark - you are well aware that the past two weeks have been an endless sea (quite literally) of rain. Torrential rain coupled with heavy winds and a little baby make a really crappy combination. Despite all this, we have tried to make at least one outside exploration a day despite the weather. Craig is less grumpy about it than me, and Maceo seems somewhat immune to the dampness. What follow is a little documentation of our adventures. In case you can't quite read it, the button on the front of the baby carrier read "My Heart belongs to Craig". Thanks Auntie Mira.

The Refashioning of the CD Holder

Thanks to several readers suggestions - namely Lindy's and my mothers - I ended up turning the CD holder into a victorian ladies "medicine cabinet". Translation: a fancy name for a place to store the run-off toiletires that don't fit in the normal medicine cabinet. I even made-up the victorian part but given the ruffles, I thought it was a fair label. I think I will be using this same idea to create a mini bookshelf in Maceo's room, but this particular cabinet was not sturdy enough to be on the ground without falling over (and we didn't want to screw it into the wall in his room). The little spring-sash curtains were really easy to instal and would be a super easy and clever way to make a puppet show stage. I am pretty sure there are several of these college dorm room throwbacks in the basement, so this summer I will go rummaging around again and see if I can find a larger version more suitable for a stage.

I would like to give my husband public credit for not only accepting this girly creation into the bathroom (which is already the color of a ripe peach), but actually installing hardware so it could get mounted into the wall. As if that wasn't enough, he claims he likes it! Wow.

Side note: One thing I realized after Craig installed it was that the little curtains are just begging to be opened so you can peek inside. We don't have much scandalous in our bathroom, but unlike a hinged medicine cabinet that can ward some people off with the possible squeak when snooping, this little number is an advertisement for visitor peek-a-boo. I suppose the worse case scenario is that someone might be tempted to try some of the Origins lotion I bought as a post pregnancy splurge.

A very, very bad 48 hours

I need to vent about the uncanny string of terrible luck I/we have experienced since Saturday morning. Forgive the list, but there are so many grievances a numbered list is necessary.

1) While washing Maceo, a small baby washcloth slipped down the drain, creating an awful clog. First estimate - $700. WTF? So we sent that plumber packing, while still having to pay the $90 "emergency" fee for him to come over and give us an outrageous estimate. Second estimate - $350. After no shower since Saturday, and in my collective despair about numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5, I gave in and went with the second seemingly outrageous invoice. Mr. Roto-Rooter is wrestling with the clog as I type.

2) As the shower was going kaput, so did the washing machine. I have not attempted to deal with that yet.

3) We have had 3 days of torrential rains here in New England which has created all sorts of homeowner chaos. Our particular brand of bad luck includes the flashing to a window in the hall way being weak/deteriorated, resulting in MASSIVE quantities of rain pouring in. Visualize a constant stream of water running over the wall for 2 days straight. Think cracked, wet plaster and buckling hard wood floors. Need I say more?

4) I went to the dentist on Monday to discover that I have two cavities, grind my teeth, and need oral surgery on two of my teeth/gums. In case you don't know, the oral surgery component (because of receding gums and exposed roots) requires cutting strips of flesh from the roof of your mouth and grafting them on to your gums. Lovely.

5) After leaving the dentist, I lost the SECOND of my two favorite hats last night, despite being incredibly careful. I bought it on Etsy and loved it like crazy. A post-baby treat to myself. Now it is gone, and given that it is March I can't really justify getting a new one. And given that the home repair costs are soaring, I doubt I can justify buying anything non-necessary for an indefinite period of time.

6) After leaving the dentist and losing my hat, I discovered that tea spilled all over my blackberry and fried the screen. In my anger, I then smacked it hard on the table. Ha - take that you crappy phone. THE SILVER LINING: when I woke up this morning, the phone had miraculously self-corrected and healed.

Dear Blackberry,
So sorry for the aggression last night. I never in a million years would have thought that you of all devices would have self-cured. I promise not to take out all my anger on your small shell. Thanks for the small break.
Love, Sarah

PS. Craig came home from work and I did a dramatic reading of this entry. He reminded me that I actually forgot another mishap. On Sunday morning - somewhere between problems 3 and 4, I was washing champagne flutes (from a sip of the bubbly with our neighbor on Saturday night in an attempt for me to cool my jets) and I broke all three in a hasty move of the draining rack. Thankfully they were a junk store purchase, but still. They shattered. For no good reason.

I need your creative suggestions

Maceo is starting to take some consistent afternoon naps, which means that I am beginning to have a bit more time to dive back into crafting projects. Initially when he was taking smaller naps, I ended up spending lots of time trolling various DIY, before-and-after, and design blogs looking at all the groovy things people do to reuse and transform ordinary objects. So, on a recent trip to the basement, I came across this old CD cabinet that was begging for a makeover. Without any real planning or vision, I made an impulsive trip to the hardware store where I purchased some pretty intense fuchsia paint. Our house has just about every color under the sun represented, but fuchsia seemed to be the missing link.

So...now I have a fuchsia college-dorm style CD rack that needs to be turned into something amazing. Craig has noted that unless something somewhat dramatic happens, it will just look like a hot pink CD holder which is neither clever or cool.

I am relying upon all the creative readers out there to give me some ideas...you know you are (HINT: Lindy, Mira, Hana, Ila, mom). I have imagined building glass or fabric doors to turn it into a chachka cabinet; doing something clever to turn it into a craft "station" to organize all my rubber stamps and collage materials...What else can it become? I have plenty of other paint to play with, along with stencils, fabric, beads. Pretty much you name it. Please submit all ideas. XOX Sarah

A Stroll through the Cemetery

These photos were taken in the Forest Hills Cemetery - where Craig and I were married and where I did laps around the pond with the local geese at 41+ weeks pregnant in the hopes of inspiring Maceo to begin his Southern descent. As some of you know, the cemetery features a range of permanent and rotating art installations intermingled with the headstones. These photos are of Maceo laying on a tiny "bed" which is one of our most favorite art installations. While laying a 2 month old baby on a cold cement slab is somewhat questionable parenting, the images are well worth the momentary chill. All in the name of art! (In our defense, I was in the wings ready to steady him if he were to fall).

Nap Time with Mama

Doesn't get much better than this.

Meeting Auntie Mira

Last weekend, my cousin Mira braved a blizzard in Philly and NY (well, almost) to make the shlep to Boston to meet Maceo. Mira is a professional baby expert (much experience as a nanny of little ones) so we were very excited to get live-action tutorials of how to take care of an infant since we are fully winging it. I was also thrilled to spend time with her as she is one of the coolest gals I know.

The visit was stupendous - it was love at first sight in both directions and Maceo spent about 48 hours straight smiling and cooing and impressing Mira with all his new tricks. We did lots of tummy-time (with Maceo proudly displaying his fine head control), took a bath, enjoyed naked time with infant massage, went on a field trip to check out some art galleries (clearly a baby with sophisticated taste), and rolled around on the floor in our PJs and had a blast. We even had some fun after Maceo retired - Craig made us delicious mussels, swordfish "bites", and some fancy "vintage" inspired cocktails which made mom feel very fancy and glamorous. Who needs a swanky bar when your husband will make you a mini dirty-martini with lemon zest, capers, and olives?

We were all sad to see Mira go, but no doubt there will be many more wonderful visits to follow. For all those blog followers out there, Mira is the crafty goddess who made the beautiful quilt for Maceo which was in some December posts. The photos show the love.

Week 10: You can almost see the brain cells zipping by

Despite the fact that I have no photo evidence connected with this post, I wanted to note all the cool stuff that Maceo has started to be able to do in the last week +. It started out when we put him under the "activity mat". Translation - colorful little rug with an arc that you hang all sorts of high contrast rings and such from. At first he would get excited and thrash about, inadvertently knocking the dangling objects into motion and then watching them go. Slowly but surely he is beginning to understand that he can intentionally knock things about and make them move. Several of the object are plastic rings - often he gets ahold of one in each hand and shakes things violently, suggesting he might be the next US gymnastics great on the rings apparatus. He is also just beginning to develop the ability to see an object, reach for it with an open grasp, and retrieve it. Toys these days are pretty darn clever in that most are made with a zillions access points so a baby needs to do nothing more than direct his/her hand into the toy and some part of a finger will curl around a space and levitate the object. This makes the accidental grasps all the more satisfying and clearly encourages the habit. I think these developments may be providing more excitement and joy to mom and dad than Maceo, but he does seem to be growing in his interest to take charge of things.

Tonight Craig did a little experiment by placing a tiny green fabric frog on Maceo's face with the intention of seeing whether he could figure out how to remove the frog from his face and free up his vision (for all you anxious readers out there, there was no threat of suffocation). Sure enough, after about 4 attempts he quickly learned how to knock it off his face. Dad was thrilled. Craig is beginning a pattern of initiating an evening developmental boot camp to test all his new skills. The pressure is on for me to get lots of daytime practice in so that I can get an A along with Maceo.

Smiling is also a regular occurrence - first thing in the morning is prime time for a non-stop smiling show with an equal amount of "dry swimming". Maceo seems inspired to swim the English Channel on his changing table (hands down his most favorite place in the house ) - given his love of being nude and the vigor with which he flails his arms and legs in almost coordinated motion, I am beginning to think the nude beach will be on our travel itinerary this summer.

Other sweet things include much more staring into mom's eyes when nursing with a heart-melting gaze (along with opening and closing his hand around my shirt or stroking my chest); spending most mornings in the shower with dad LOVING the water and the skin to skin time; smiling sweetly just as he slips into slumber; and making a range of cooing sounds that remind me of a small bird.

Since he is still growing at a rate rarely seen without steroids (15.5 pounds and counting), I am finding myself cherishing these baby moments for fear that they will be gone before I know it.

The Night Kitchen...

Grandma has been lending a culinary hand while she has been here. Many delicious meals have been created - braised lamb shanks and white beans, fish tacos, polenta with seasonal veggies and cheese (invented recipe)...

My mom is not much of a baker - although she is a tremendous cook - so she was interested in doing some baking experimenting with me. We made some pretty outrageous oatmeal raisin cookies, a very tasty orange and dark chocolate biscotti, and a wicked chocolate, banana and pecan quick bread. However, most exciting was the no-knead bread from the NYT's. We ended up having to make two separate attempts - the first round was a complete flop. After 20+ hours of anticipation, we made the equivalent of leaden focaccia. Determined to get it right, we went in search of fresher yeast which we finally procured at the local bakery (after several stores were out of any yeast?). The friendly baker Melissa told us that if we had any trouble the second time around to call her and she could help us troubleshoot any problems. Love Canto 6 Bakery.

Paying excruciating detail to the recipe (which is much lauded due to the simplicity of both the ingredients and steps) we were successful. Two beautiful "rustic white" loaves were produced! After essentially devouring the first loaf fresh out of the oven, tonight we made delicious BLT's w/ avocado. I forgot to take a photo of the BLTs before they were devoured, but below is the successful bread. We decided not to document the flop.

Guest Post: Reflections from Grandma Martha

Sarah’s blog friends –

I am making a guest appearance here. I am Sarah’s Mama here from Portland, Oregon to see my baby’s baby, Maceo. I met him when he was only a few hours old on a Saturday night, but since his arrival was several weeks late, I nearly missed seeing him at all since my ticket to fly was on Sunday (after I had changed it once before). Of course I have kept close track of him with Sarah and Craig via email, phone and photos since then; however, the sweet, warm, damp, physical presence of a baby exceeds all other forms of communication. Of course, I have my own bias, but I have lived and seen a lot and I will testify that Maceo is as beautiful, engaging, and amazing a baby as I have ever/or will ever see. (Unless, of course, he has a sibling)

I have really enjoyed this time and am grateful to Sarah and Craig for being so generous in sharing him. I am proud of them as parents. I am also very pleased that they have marvelous and supportive friends with whom to share parental joys and frustrations. I am delighted that Sarah has a circle of ‘crafty’ friends to play with.

Below are some photos of my visit. The photo with the two ladies is of Maceo's two grandmas - Grandma Martha (in the navy) and Grandma Judy. I shall return…soon.
Martha P.

P.S. Anyone coming to Portland should get in contact with me via Sarah. I would love to see you.

Story Hour with Grandma

Grandma Martha arrived last night for a visit and we are already having tons of fun. She had to leave after Maceo was only 1 day old, so now she is back on the cusp of his 7 week birthday. With an extra set of hands around the house, I will try and do a bit more updating to the blog.

While some readers may be shocked, he really is only 6+ weeks old. His 13 pound girth just gives him a mature look! Couple that with his interest in Olivia (thanks Auntie Mira) and he could be mistaken for getting ready for preschool!

Maybe I can convince grandma to do a "guest-post" before she heads home.

Getting into the swing of things

Today Maceo is 16 days old. As we come close to the three week mark, mom and dad are slowly getting a hang of things...speedier diaper changes, less struggling in and with the car seat, breast feeding taking closer to 30 minutes vs. an hour. Unfortunately, Maceo got a big cootie and came down with infant bronchitis 6 days ago which has meant that we have been making daily pilgrimages to the doctors office for close monitoring. There is nothing to do but wait it out - thus far he has no fever, good oxygen levels, lots of wet diapers, but a lot of mucus in his lungs and a fair amount of wheezing.

It has become quickly evident that Dad is much better designed for baby stress than mom - I couldn't ask for a more positive, hands-on and supportive husband to help manage a stressful first few weeks. I have finally started feeling less anxious and am less paranoid he is going to wind up at the hospital ( we made a trip there last week for xrays and I was a basketcase).

At the doctors appointment today Maceo weighed in at exactly 10 pounds! For a baby with a bad cold, he has not let it compromise his eating. I guess this is more evidence that he is indeed our baby!

Craig is the family documentarian and caught some good expressions this morning. I am still in a sleep deprived bubble so will need to wake up a bit before I can muster more intelligent commentary.

Photo notes:
Maceo getting familiar with the turtle pillow I made but never posted
Maceo listening to his dad play the xylaphone in bed (thanks Aunt Mira - both dad and Maceo love it)
Maceo suffering his mom's sense of fashion
A smile! (although apparently babies do not begin to authentically smile until they are 40 days old so this is likely just gas)

Love

At long last

Maceo Isaac Melzer

Born 12.19.09 @ 6:46pm
8 pounds, 7 ounces & 21 inches long

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect holiday gift.

Tick tock, tick tock

Today marks 40 + 1. After several attempts to entice the baby into joining us outside the womb (Cabots Ice Cream in excess, spicy Burmese, Raspberry Leaf tea, long walk...) it seems that this little one is lodged snugly in place for now. To mark our due date, Craig and I took a walk in Forest Hills Cemetery (where we got married) to enjoy the glistening snow and reflect on everything we are so thankful for. I am trying to reframe the waiting to be about more opportunities to either get things accomplished our just relax. I made a stuffed turtle to go along with the owl, as well as a couple snazzy swaddling blankets. I think I am going to stop while I am ahead with the stuffed animals before our living room looks like the castoffs from Noah's Ark.

Will keep the blog updated with any baby news..TTFN.

Just when you thought I was done...

I made a few more booties...the ones with the little wings remind me of the John Fluevog brand of shoes that I used to covet in high school.

Complaining.

Meredith noted that the title of the blog is deceiving. Her exact quote: "I don't see enough complaining to be called piss and vinegar!". In the spirit of not leading people on, I can think of a few things to complain about.

1. That my hands are in a constant state of tingling/painful numbness whenever I am vaguely horizontal.
2. That I was up 8 times last night - including pacing the house from 4-5am trying to wake up my hands.
3. That my body is acting like it is trying to host a cold - which is so poorly timed on about every level possible.

I am sure I can keep adding to the list, but thing I need to create some posts to reflect the "celebrating" tagline. With my immediate family arriving in the next day, I am sure I will have lots of new material across all four domains for some good posts.

And then it came to an end.

With the family arriving for a Thanksgiving celebration in < 24 hours and hopefully the baby arriving shortly thereafter, I have put an end to the crafting madness. While some people may have figured out how to contain sewing projects to one room, my creativity is apparently so large and relentless that it requires spreading itself throughout the entire house. So, I deliberated about what my final project would be, whipped it up, and have retired (temporarily) the buttons, beads, thread, sewing machine, fabrics, polyfill, needles and anything else strewn about the house.

I'm not sure what inspired this butterfly, but it was fun to make - especially the reversible part. I was excited to use the cool beaded detail that Judy had given me nearly a year ago (removed from the dress she wore to Meredith and Rico's wedding) to add some sparkle to the body of the animal.

I think we are going to hang this above the changing table - a little something to bedazzle and distract the baby. When I showed it to Craig, he noted that this baby is going to be experiencing regular psychedelic visions. Between the baby bumper on the cradle, ocean mobile and now glittering butterfly, we are grooming a future lalapalooza-goer.